WoW Inspired Maelstrom WIP

Glode · Jan 2012

Hey there

,

So I've been working on this small scene on and off over a couple of days, was never meant to be a big project, more a side project

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Anyways, Heres what it looks like at the moment:

Currently theres some place holder stuff, such as the rocks and wave/smoke effects by the rocks. Theres also a nasty Seam on the sea mesh which I really need to get around to fixing so it looks nice

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I started some rock sculpting practise for this scene - mainly because I'm not very good at sculpting, and I've always found rocks to be difficult to make/look good. I'm hoping to eventually be able to sculpt out a tilling rock texture in zbrush with what I've learned from this practise:

Any feedback is welcome, would like to hear your thoughts on it so far

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Cheers

jsargent · Jan 2012

That looks great, any chance you can run through your process for making the rocks?

toxic_h2o · Jan 2012

This looks cool! I would love to see it in motion.

Rocks look awesome! Some of the edges look razor sharp though, I might go back with the clay brush and bevel them a bit.

MainManiac · Jan 2012

Holy crap great mood dude

EMC3D · Jan 2012

I can't wait to see the new rocks in, looking forward to more!

Glode · Jan 2012

Wow, thanks for the replies

jsargent: sure can

- I start with zspheres, building up the generic shape by scaling and moving them around. I then convert it to a polymesh and sub devide a few times so i have enough to work with. I turn on surface noise and tweak the scale and amount of noise to help direct the flow and visual information the rock might have (I don't apply the noise to the final HP, I do this later in the UDK with a detail normal

).

I then select the claytubes brush with a hard square alpha, and build up the shape of the rock information, just creating a very rough layout of the rock details, building up the detail to create veriation in each section.

Once happy with the layout, I then switch to the planar brush with the same square alpha applied and then flatten out areas to get the sharp rock feel i want - at this point the noise really helps give the feel of the rock so I follow the flow of it and push the shapes to create a nice blend of different surfaces, then I just use the planar brush and the claytubes repeating the process over till im happy with the end product

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toxic_h2o: Thanks man

, thanks for pointing that out, I will revisit these some time today and tweak the edges. Cheers

frell: Thanks, I still want to tweak the lighting to make it more dramatic for the end video

Mr Bear: McBear! thanks dude, going to try my hand at a tilling rock surface shortly. Might not get around to it till my new PC arrives next week though

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Updates soon everyone I will get a video up asap when I'm a little more happy with it. Huge thanks for the replies!

Glode · Jan 2012

Just baked out the rocks and set it up in the UDK, seems to of baked nicely which is nice.

No texture at the moment, just an AO, multiplied by a constant 3 vector

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Just blocking out where they will sit in the scene right now not hugely happy with it though, ignore the particles as I haven't replaced those yet

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Thanks,

Glode · Jan 2012

Just posting a small update, started working on the rock texture.. needs refining a lot, I'm not great at texturing rock

Glode · Jan 2012

Another update:

just been tweaking particles, working on the sea shader as well. Next I want to work on the middle of the maelstrom as it needs some effects - once the banners are textured that is

(as well as the older stuff being updated)

Still got an annoying seam on the sea mesh, Might be the texture.. might be the UV's so I will check that when I'm close to finishing it.

Thanks,

chrisradsby · Jan 2012

Feels like a scene like this needs to be seen in movement. Next for the Sea stuff would be actual foam and water splashes around the rocks. I'd say. Make sure they look wet as well. Good work so far Glode!

mikezoo · Jan 2012

cool image so far! but agree. Needs more water effects and perhaps unforuante people/ships/Debris caught up in the mix! would be super cool!

Glode · Jan 2012

Cheers for the feedback guys! I've been working on this on and off as I've been busy and not feeling that well these last few days

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Almost happy with it.. still got issues that need fixing (such as bluring issues) but I'm going to carry on working on some other areas now. I need to rebake the rocks and retexture them if I get a chance as well. Not happy with how the texture looks on them (simple as it is lol).

I did a video a while back, but I've not managed to make a new one since UDK keeps storing old camera information in kismet (even though its deleted) and keeps playing old sequances even though they don't exist anymore.. once I've sorted that I will get a new updated video up

will do some break downs as well if anyone is interested in them?

Thanks,

Fnitrox · Jan 2012

i think the effect in the vortex could show more power... as it is now it doesn't seems to be powerful enough to cause that big vortex, which is what my eyes are focusing on while looking at the pic : /

did a crappy paintover hope you don't mind

i think it might needs some hints about what's happening below... like some light passing through the surface of the water from below as if there something down there so powerful to actually rip the ocean

edit: also since most of those rocks would normally be underwater i'd suggest to bring some life onto them like seaweeds or corals or "that sea stuff that lives attacched to rocks"

WoW Inspired Maelstrom WIP

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