Hello, time for an update :)

I've been having more time recently to work on this, so I'm really hoping to get it done this month. I've been on it on and off since March and I'm very ready for a new project, or to focus on some smaller projects and painting.

The main things I've done recently are to re-do the palm trees, finalise the texture under the water, and start adding small things like rubble falling down and more ivy. Just lots of little tweaks really. I'm trying to make a start on texturing the building properly too, but it's hard to motivate myself on such a large object!

The other big thing is the water, specifically around the back of the diorama where I wasn't really liking how it looked... it felt a bit empty and boring. So since last time I've added some more rocks into the water to balance it some, and then I've added some tiles like around the front of the scene. It just adds a bit of consistency and interest. The waterfalls are made using a modified version of the shader I was initially using for the waterfall at the front of the diorama. I've made it so that it has more 'foam' which is generated based on the normal map of the water, and the proximity of the water to other meshes. It's not perfect but if I compare it to water on other projects I've done, I've definitely improved!

There are some ambient particles floating around now too- one set is just slow moving small orbs with lights on to give a magical feel. The other is more like a falling leaf, but currently it just has an orb texture like the floating lights. I kind of like how understated it is, so I may just make some small modifications to that for the final thing.

Feels good to look at my list of stuff to do and feel like the end is somewhat in sight. Sometimes projects feel like that will go on forever. The solution I suppose is to make smaller personal projects... but that presents its own problems- I find it easier to abandon projects if they're small, and then I'd never get anything done!
  

Anyway, just got to keep at it! Cheers for reading :)
  

Hi there, just thought I would share some updates on my diorama. Sculpted a lot of bits, started working into the textures, and most importantly playing about with colour. I still have a lot to do such as the palm trees, more foliage, finish the building, fountain, ground... But I'm liking where the project is going! I was stuck for a while but I think I'm out of that rut.

At the moment I'm having a small crisis about what to do about the background colour and fog. If I add fog the background will be lighter, and I tend to prefer black backgrounds. But I really like the fog. So I may have so see if I can hack it or make a shader.

Almost decided on the building colours, then I can finalise the textures. I'm not super happy with the tile colours yet.
  

Steps area is not finished texture-wise yet, but it's getting there.

Back area needs a lot of work still. I want to add greenery and vines to the underside, and some on the front underside too. Water looks weird from a distance too, which is annoying.

Generally lots of little things to do. I really don't like how the water behaves at a distance but I'm not sure what I can do about that. I think the underside arches will look nice with some subtle greenery- there was ivy there for a while but it was a bit distracting.

Crappy gif to finish;

I still plan to make a water breakdown video too, but I'm too busy right now.

:)

Hi guys!

I used to be very good and disciplined at keeping a blog, but it's been a couple of years and often I find that I don't have the time to write one anymore. I thought I would try and share updates on my current personal project here where I can. Here and here are the links to my old blogs, if you're interested in what I got up to before I started working full time as an Environment Artist. :)

So, I suppose I'd better get this blog up to date!

This project began when I was asked a couple of months ago to teach a 10 week class for Game Art Institute, so I decided this was going to be a good chance to create a new diorama scene in UE4. In my first class I demo'd how I create blockouts for concepting, experimenting with lighting/composition/design etc.

I did an initial blockout, overpainted that, and then revisited the blockout until I had something I was happier with.

At this point I create a sketch over the blockout to get a feel for the scale of objects and designs I might use for decoration.

I created a back view too... that's the nice thing about working with a 3D blockout- you can experiment with all sorts of angles... and lighting, colour, and quick compositions too.

Working with a 3D blockout is great for so many other reasons too. Working with a blockout means I wont run into any weird issues down the line where the 2D scene doesn't translate into 3D. I also can use the blockout to build my 3D scene around, meaning I already have a frame work to work with, and that saves me a ton of time.

I'm also toying with the idea of cranking up the saturation on my concept, but I'll see what happens. I quite like how it looks, but I like the desaturated version too. Colour stuff tends to happen a bit more naturally over the course of working inside UE4. I'll show what I mean below.

So once I've got a colour palette, lighting scenario, and design in mind, I take my initial concept blockout and start a more solid blockout with colours. They're just quick messy meshes with an unwrap and a painted texture. Now I can see what the colours do in a 3D space.

I'm currently at the stage where I'm making the more finalised sculpts and applying quick blockout materials, and I've been working on the water shader. I'm going to make a separate post about that another day and I'll show what I've been sculpting and so on. But in the meantime here's a gif :) I may also make a quick Youtube video talking through my water shader, though I may yet tweak it. It's been a while since I made a Youtube video, should get back on that!

So much to do! It feels good to have a project again. If I leave it too long between big UE4 projects (sketching, painting, sewing, etcetc instead) I feel like I'm not an environment artist any more!

Hope you found this post interesting, I look forward to sharing more- hopefully a bit more in depth as I catch these posts up to where I am on the project.