Church Environment

[senor-cojones]

Hey guys,

Had to get stuck into this for one of my uni modules. The idea was that I used Zbrush and a modern games engine to create a scene, so rather than totally focussing on creating characters and fully zbrushed objects (I'm not a huge fan of zb, I much prefer hard surface high poly in Max) I decided to incorporate it into my workflow for various normal maps and detailing in my environment.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmDSo4mEyek

Jpeg compression is killing the light and shadow definition, but the youtube vid is much better

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4052/4576778726_58d9c2850e_b.jpg

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4019/4576140651_1e07e04b6c_b.jpg

Its not 100% finished yet by no means but any crits appreciated

[JohNLA]

I like what you got so far.
I would consider losing the light beams coming from the windows on one side. It makes it seam like there are two suns.
IMO, the door frame looks a bit cartoony compared to the rest of the bits.

[Hboybowen]

yea the light beams should be from one side only your light source it really confusing

[Blade[UG]]

agree, also that door frame looks really out of place there

[Winwarproductions]

"Hboybowen" is right about light source. For the fog coming through windows try using a fog volume. I used it for mine so when you add it to stage, it will look small, well stretch it out the way you want it. Go into properties and turn down opacity a little. It will be more believable. That seems to be the main source of light from what I see, which means the ceiling would be darker but I do see those tiny flames on top there. I really like that circled window design on pic 2 at the top. I see the light coming through it but remember the fog,or something else. You have some nice textures for the walls but the texture leading up the stairs on the wall seems wierd. Seems like you use the normal map for the arches on the wall. It doesn't have to be in Z brush, but create some type of awesome wall texture in Photoshop, Download Nvidia plugin and create normal map that way or download "Crazy Bump" which is great also. If the walls of the stairs area is of a BSP brush then it would be more detailed then that if you tile it more. If you did it in max, tile it more there. I also really like the arches though, but at the ends of each one can you put some type of design or prop piece so it doesn't look like you just plopped the arches in between the poles. It seems like they might be glued on there.The floor texture looks cool and I like the design symbol on the floor. I also noticed the wall near the stairs with the tiny candles, well it has strong light on it. The light from the windows are pointing down and the light from the flames up high are near the ceiling should effect the ceiling only. Then there is the light from the small window above. Just subtract the light from areas that you would think in reality wouldn't have an effect on leaving that area a little more darker than what you have now. It will look more believable. You didn't state the style of the game so I can only go by what I see. Overall it looks like you are ahead of many because you already have a whole room textured and with effects. I would also like to know whats' upstairs. or downstairs in the secret area. One more thing. You can do hard surface modeling in Z brush. If you don't like starting from there that's fine, model it in max, yet export that model to Z brush and try some alpha modeling. Create a cool design in Photoshop, one that you would see in a church,and make it a .bmp
Import that into Z brush Alpha's properties and if you know Z brush well enough you can drag that alpha as geometry onto your model without you hand paint modeling. Export a normal then from there. Take that normal map to Photoshop and create two layers of that normal on top of each other and apply an overlay so that the normal map increases strength and will stand out more in the game. There so many ways you can do it, just choose what's best for you to make your game of course. Still every program helps to make your game pop out more. I like your color scheme as well. Keep working on it, and it doesn't seem high poly so I know it would be easy to explore the stage without lagging or anything which is great as well.

[junkens]

At first sight: good.
at second sight: well different styles.
My favorite is actually the door frame. It just looks nice. Has a nice style.. the other things have their own style too.. but well.. I don't know.
So far good.

for the rest I /sign winwar

[Drevlin]

Cool, I like the door the best but im not sure if it fits with the rest of the visual style. Is it all wip and will go more in either direction?
The grey-ish fog on the floor looks a bit out of place and, as already mentioned, godrays comin in from both sides is a bit weird.

[Piranhi]

I have to agree with Junkens and Drevlin here, the door frame looks awesome, reminds me a bit of Monkey Island's art style. But, saying that, it does look out of placed compared to the rest of the level. The window above the door also looks awesome, but...is that another light beam? :P