[UDK]Noobish sewer level

[CatInAHat]

Hi there,

this is my first enviorment ever, so I hope its not too bad.
Its also not finished yet. I want to add some more things like cabels, trash, rubble piles, fuse boxes and stuff like that.
Everything was made by me, except the water, the mist and the lens flares.

Just wanted to hear what you think about it. Is it okay or crap? How can I improve it?
Any advice or critique is really appreciated!

Thanks in advance!

Here are some screenshots from the UDK:







And some breakdowns of the modular pieces:

[mmcleo11]

Good start for a first time

Some stand out issues are some scale issues with the door frame and handle.
You can easily afford more polys on that curved section it looks too faceted at the mo.
The texture need alot of love but if this is your 1st environment this will take some time to perfect.

Oh 2 more things pls pls pls plsssss get rid of the lens flare and change your image hosting site. Its pop up mania!

[CatInAHat]

First of all: Thank you!

Can you explain what exactly could I improve on the Textures and why the lens flares are bad? They was the only thing in the scene wich seemed nice to me.

I will overwork the tunnel pieces and spend more time on the mesh and put a few more polys in it.

And sure, i'll upload the pictures on ImageShack.us. Hope thats better.

[mmcleo11]

I think lens flare can be nice and when used correctly add something I just feel they are out of place or if you are going to use them here I'd use them along with a post process maybe some DOF. Like that movie Super 8, Jesus it was almost unwatchable due to lens flares everywhere!

Texture wise:
The decal "Pump room" stands too much the black contrasts way too much with the concrete behind. It looks freshly painted but chipped and worn at the same time which is a little bit odd. I'd also use a more industrial font.

The blue border is super satuarated and does blend with the walls.

You are going for a Mirror's Edge style right? I'd look again how they treat the walls and other surfaces.
They usually have very little large colour variations its all very subtle. Thats key I think as even tho its all simple colours all the surfaces are defined well and have lots of detail (not noise, its a fine line).

Are you making hi res and baking down to low res assets?

[CatInAHat]

The decal "Pump room" stands too much the black contrasts way too much with the concrete behind. It looks freshly painted but chipped and worn at the same time which is a little bit odd. I'd also use a more industrial font.

Youre definately right! Will get rid of the decal how it is now and make a new one.

The blue border is super satuarated and does blend with the walls.

Same here. Will desaturate the border and "destroy" it a bit more.

You are going for a Mirror's Edge style right?

Not really. Actually the blue borders are just there because without them the blue pipes (wich I made for a Mirrors Edge styled enviorment) would seem a bit displaced.
I gave up the Mirror Edge style because I have no idea how they did their walls. The textures look shiny and very detailed. Tried this a hundert times but got no statisfying results. Also I dont know how they did their normals. The ME lighting is another point I can't "reproduce".
Also I tried to find that fine line between noise and detail, but everytime I end up with noise.

Are you making hi res and baking down to low res assets?

No. For these I generated the normal from the texture. XNormal isn't a good friend of mine so far. Or is it better for enviorments like this to bake the normals from high poly meshes?

[mmcleo11]

For me the results you get from baked objects is night and day.

1 thing to steer clear from is using photo overlays in your textures. I have to admit when I was guilty of this for a long time but now I use them sparingly and only in the very base colour.

For the materials look at how the examples are in UDK of stone/brick/metal. They are all subltey different esp in specular and gloss maps.

The lighting used in ME is using Beast ontop of the Unreal so you wont be able to replicate it exactly but I have seen some1 do a very good job at it. I'll have a hunt n see if can dig it up, think it was on Polycount forums.

If I was you I'd just polish 1 prop till its of a high standard then apply the knowledge you gained on something small to more of the environment.

[CatInAHat]

For me the results you get from baked objects is night and day.

1 thing to steer clear from is using photo overlays in your textures. I have to admit when I was guilty of this for a long time but now I use them sparingly and only in the very base colour.

Oh...okay. The be honest all the textures you see in this enviorment are photo sourced. Little embarrassing now...
But...I just use photos because I don't know other ways to make textures yet. Hm...embarrassing too.

For the materials look at how the examples are in UDK of stone/brick/metal. They are all subltey different esp in specular and gloss maps.

I just took a look at some of the materials in UDK but to me they seemed more confusing than instructive...
Maybe I just have to get in touch with the depths of UDK soon. If not, there will be just more embarrassment and I will never be statisfied with the result. But the most important thing about this is the learning aspect.

The lighting used in ME is using Beast ontop of the Unreal so you wont be able to replicate it exactly but I have seen some1 do a very good job at it. I'll have a hunt n see if can dig it up, think it was on Polycount forums.

Yes, I've heard about Beast but honestly I still don't know what it exactly is. I knew that ME was made in the Unreal Engine. Still impressiv what the guys at DICE did for an absolutley awesome work there! Just played it a few minutes ago and its still my favourite game.

I'm in the Polycount forums too, but never saw a ME style enviorment thing. Would be cool if you'll find it, but I'll also take a look for myself.

If I was you I'd just polish 1 prop till its of a high standard then apply the knowledge you gained on something small to more of the environment.

Okay, will try this! Maybe I'll take the fusebox I'am working on atm. Will do a high poly and try baking the normals. Maybe It'll work this time!

Thanks again for your great advice!

[RedAppleIvy]

Really good first attempt! The biggest things that stuck out for me was,

The alpha for the decal is bleeding through and showing the background colour, the quickest way to fix this is to just make the background the same colour

I'd chamfer some of the corners slightly, in particular the one right next to the alpha, when you bake out the lighting you will a more 'rounded' look to the lighting so the walls at a 90 degree angle won't have such a contrast in lighting

Boost your spec maps! A sewer would be wet and slimey but it looks pretty dry despite signs of water damage

[CatInAHat]

Really good first attempt!

Thanks a lot!

The alpha for the decal is bleeding through and showing the background colour, the quickest way to fix this is to just make the background the same colour

As I wrote above, the decal is long since deleted.
I'am just working on a new one with a more industrial font and a better alpha mask.

I'd chamfer some of the corners slightly, in particular the one right next to the alpha, when you bake out the lighting you will a more 'rounded' look to the lighting so the walls at a 90 degree angle won't have such a contrast in lighting

I'll completley overwork the tunnel pieces. Make them way softer and add a few more polys and -as you mentioned- chamfered edges here and there. But I'am not this familiar with the method UDK bakes the Light so everytime I build it, I looks absolutley awful. As I said: I need to do more tuts!

Boost your spec maps! A sewer would be wet and slimey but it looks pretty dry despite signs of water damage

I do my spec maps with CrazyBump atm and need to learn what all the options exactly do. I don't really much about the "If the spec preview looks like this, ingame I'll look like this"-thing yet. But I'll try my best to gain as much knowledge I can in the shortest amount of time possible.

[BuLL]

Little tip for all you artist`s who have never worked in a heavy industrial workplace.
Concrete,as in this scenario is usually poured into timber constructed moulds to achieve the desired shape.
Alot of the moulds are made from panels of plywood...So the end result is a concrete surface.that takes on the plywood grain on the surface.....(Not bullshit,but fact)
Something you wouldn`t know unless you worked with or we`re experienced with...I`ve never seen concrete sections done in this way...About time someone researched a little deeper tbqh.
Also tunnel lighting isn`t no where as "light" as that bud...There`s areas of shadow between light extremities...Hope that helps.
ps.pipe flanges like those have a gasket between them & bolt heads are usually angular.