Content
- Crafting the idea
- Reference
- Lighting/Color correction
- Detail shots
Crafting
the idea
I had wanted to do a
post-apocalyptic environment for a very long time, somehow I felt very
overwhelmed and couldn't really choose which direction I should take it. I got
very inspired to do this thematic environment because of Unreal Tournament 3,
Gears of War series and lately a game I'm hyped about is The Last of Us. I always
had a warm heart for “the beauty of destruction” but this time I really wanted
to step up to the plate and just do it.
As I am writing this I must admit
that I started to notice how much I have learned throughout the last couple of
months, not just with texturing but also modeling, organization, shader
creation and optimization.
During this breakdown it’s obvious
to me that I could have used a more efficient workflow and I figured how I could
improve this when I start a new project. Also I’ve become more daring to show
off my work in progress, when I started the environment I wasn’t sure at all if
it was a good idea or if fellow artists would like it at all.
I must say that all this knowledge doesn’t come out of
nowhere, I’ve read whitepapers from other developers, I read books about
lighting and composition.
Goals: Large
post-apocalyptic environment, create detailed textures, lots of high poly asset
sculpting, shader experimentation (environmental shader and screen shaders e.g. vignette effect, lens dirt), use
DX11 features like Tessellation and IBR.
Timespan:
I have been working on this project on and off for the last 6 months, in total
I estimate I would have worked on it for 2-3 months. And it’s still on going
with additional asset creation.
To do: Vehicles
(Modeling/texturing a Taxi and Bus), re-adjust/improve additional buildings,
perhaps a fly through video?
During the process I looked up a lot
of reference just to establish the main idea or props that I felt would fit the
scene. I’ve heard it isn’t always a good idea too just focus on videogame
concept art but when I got inspired by The Last of Us it was hard stay away
from this style.
When I started to work on the
project I didn’t had in mind in which direction I wanted the environment to push.
Later on you’ll see my starting point, where I just had been messing around
with temporary meshes and started crafting a broken wall in UDK. From there I
started looking for possible ideas and came with this post-apocalyptic city.
