WIP Japanese Temple Environment

**LiveWireDX** · 05-29-2012, 11:05 PM

Starting work on a Japanese temple themed Environment. I've traveled to Japan a number of times and always wanted to model some of their traditional architecture, so here goes.

Early days yet. No textures (just some temporary ones to aid with UV mapping), needs to be optimized for polycount, and no lightmaps (hence the lighting is all busted).

This Image Was Automatically Resized by using the Screenshot Tag. Click to view the full version

Based off Shomaninaizen-do temple in Osaka. I plan on using the construction meshes and textures from this first temple to construct others.

**Private Tux** · 05-30-2012, 03:37 AM

Nice environment. Maybe a little exact height as the inspired photo below, but great work.

**skwisdemon666** · 05-30-2012, 05:47 AM

Beautiful modelling. Is it UV mapped? I can't wait to see when you finish the textures.

**LiveWireDX** · 05-30-2012, 10:03 PM

It is UV mapped, using some quick working textures. No doubt some of the mapping will change before it's finished though.

**foxrenderfarm** · 05-30-2012, 10:34 PM

Japanese ancient architectures are usually styled,so I think it is not very easy to work on,but your model is very good,similar with the original picture.

**LiveWireDX** · 06-08-2012, 05:13 AM

I was hoping to post updates to this far more frequently, but unfortunately real life has been rearing it's ugly head this past week.
Never the less I've managed to get a few other props built and some first pass texturing done.

Hopefully once this weekend is over I'll be able to get stuck into this environment a bit more and post more frequent updates.

**ambershee** · 06-08-2012, 06:30 AM

Looks like a great start on the textures

**farzadmh** · 06-08-2012, 10:20 AM

good work
have fun

**EmAr** · 06-08-2012, 01:58 PM

This is coming along nicely man, keep us updated

**joshua.fontany** · 06-08-2012, 02:34 PM

I've modeled a temple based on the Shrine at Ise to render with Maya/Mental Ray, so I can tell what level of detail you've gone for. Love this one, really nice work.

**LiveWireDX** · 06-17-2012, 06:49 AM

Spent today obsessing over what is probably too small a detail to care about.

Compare the two images in this screenshot:

The smaller struts along the top of the recessed section have always been in the material, but I decided to try to include some of the other details a well to cut out a few polys. Problem is I can't get them looking as nice as I would like. But I've been looking at it for hours now so I need fresh eyes on it. What do you think? Does it work? Is the mesh version vastly superior? Should I stop obsessing and move onto something more important :P The luxury/curse of no deadline

here's a highlight of what I'm talking about:

Also, does anyone know how to solve this problem:

I think if I could push the bump offset values further I could get the effect I want, but if I push the Height Ratio too far I get the problem above. It can be fixed (sort of) by playing with the Reference Plane but pushing that too far causes other errors. It's annoying as I'm not pushing the values very far as it is. Does anyone know any way to minimize this problem?

Edit: This is what the heightmap looks like

**skwisdemon666** · 06-17-2012, 10:19 PM

The bump version looks good, I wouldn't be able to tell the difference if you hadn't told me.

**jak_carver** · 06-18-2012, 02:57 AM

That's looking purty good buddy!

**mAlkAv!An** · 06-18-2012, 03:24 AM

Originally Posted by LiveWireDX

Also, does anyone know how to solve this problem:

I think if I could push the bump offset values further I could get the effect I want, but if I push the Height Ratio too far I get the problem above. It can be fixed (sort of) by playing with the Reference Plane but pushing that too far causes other errors. It's annoying as I'm not pushing the values very far as it is. Does anyone know any way to minimize this problem?

Edit: This is what the heightmap looks like

The bump offset is quite limited. You'll probably won't achieve the look you are aiming for because the height ratio has only a small range of usable values. The reference plane value should actually match the darker grey of your heightmap.
One thing you can do though is blurring the heightmap. This makes the transition more smooth and artifacts will occure later.

**LiveWireDX** · 06-18-2012, 04:27 AM

Originally Posted by mAlkAv!An

The bump offset is quite limited. You'll probably won't achieve the look you are aiming for because the height ratio has only a small range of usable values. The reference plane value should actually match the darker grey of your heightmap.
One thing you can do though is blurring the heightmap. This makes the transition more smooth and artifacts will occure later.

I was afraid of that

The height map is already blurred a little. I've played around with it a bit to some effect, but not enough to counteract the amount of bump I wanted unfortunately.

I've decided to go with the bump textured version rather than the mesh. Looking at it again this morning I was like: "what was I thinking, you can hardly tell the difference". I'll just have to accept that I can't push the offset out too far.

**LiveWireDX** · 06-25-2012, 09:13 AM

Most of the texture work is done now, except for the the ridges that run along the to the roof diagonals (they're still using an old blockout texture).

I want to give all the textures another pass before the scene is finished, - especially the green metal parts, I'm not happy with them - but for now I've enough of the temple. I'll finish off the ridges first thing tomorrow then move on to other props and the rest of the environment.

**LiveWireDX** · 06-27-2012, 02:54 AM

Torii Gate!

**Private Tux** · 06-27-2012, 07:07 AM

All of these environments and assets just very perfect and pure imaginary, keep it up matey!

**LiveWireDX** · 07-01-2012, 03:33 AM

Blocking out of terrain + work begun on second building

**LiveWireDX** · 07-05-2012, 07:56 AM

A lot of bits and pieces done this week. New bridge, some work on the landscape textures, learning how the foliage and decal systems work, begun replacing some of the blockout rocks with final meshes, and a bit more blocking out of landscape with some quick trees and shrubs that look like giant cabbages

Playing around with the landscape textures and a vertex blend material on the rocks to blend them into the terrain. Works pretty well I think and the illusion should be seemless once some grass and other foliage is placed around it.

**LiveWireDX** · 08-09-2012, 05:27 AM

It's been quite a while since my last update, it didn't help that I had another project pop-up a few weeks back that took priority, but I'm finally back into it. I've been spending most of my time working on getting the trees and foliage looking right. Playing around with various modeling pipelines and experimenting with shaders. I'm fairly happy with it now, and can start building a whole host more of them. The small yellowish shrubs need a bit of work still though I think.

**Private Tux** · 08-09-2012, 08:57 AM

Very inspiring!

Great use of lighting and blooms. Some new spring themes, trees, grasses, and the temple may be useful.

**LiveWireDX** · 08-26-2012, 10:21 AM

This will be my last update for a while. I made a rather last minute decision to travel to Europe for a couple of months with friends, and while I pushed to get this environment finished before I left there is still a little bit of work left to do when I get back in November. In the mean time, here's some shots of where the scene is currently at: