UE2 environment - crashed vessel

[Matroskin]

Hi everyone
here is the stuff I work on for pleasure and to learn unreal engine 2 editor.

I have also posted it to some other forums, but since all the feedback I received there was really useful and helped me to improve my stuff, I want to get even more of feedback to improve it as much as possible ;)

I started this scene for a CGTalk challenge entitled Sapce Western, but due to complexity of the scene and so on I continued this stuff as an individual project.

It is about what it shows... A strange vessel crashed a while ago and and hut that was built underneath. I did not figure out yet who lives there :P
Accessible area is surrounded by chain of huge stones.

The messy reflective texture on vessel's main body is temporary. I will make a cube map after I am done with all surrounding as well as add details to diffuse channel.

would be cool to get ur C&Cs guys.

http://img508.imageshack.us/img508/8003/shot00009md9.jpg

http://img508.imageshack.us/img508/1742/shot00012jp2.jpg

http://img99.imageshack.us/img99/939/shot00014kb6.jpg

http://img99.imageshack.us/img99/5458/shot00013rc9.jpg

http://img99.imageshack.us/img99/1893/shot00018ey1.jpg

http://img86.imageshack.us/img86/2122/shot00017fg8.jpg

http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/5203/shot00016mf5.jpg

http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/2098/shot00015yt1.jpg

and some wires (it looks pretty complex in editor view, but I did not do any optimizations yet):

http://img508.imageshack.us/img508/5277/wire04mj6.jpg
http://img508.imageshack.us/img508/3696/wire03sm4.jpg
http://img508.imageshack.us/img508/9388/wire05va3.jpg

[vinny]

that's pretty awesome! i'm also a bit curious as to what the reflection on the overside of the vessel is :think:

[Frozan]

that is cool. makes me think that i should use this editor more instead of trying so hard for next gen. sweetness. looks great! but yes u should try and make a reflection cube for the environment thats around the ship that way it looks like its actually in the environment even more. also the makers it made on the ground even though its been there a while should look a little more disturbed still. all in all though nice work. do u think u could send me that file. i want to walk around in there a bit. again nice work. Lets see more!

ps welcome to the forum!

[Mogster]

wow that looks awesome when i first looked at the images i thought it was a painting, totally awesome well done

[Matroskin]

thanks people for c&cs!

vinny , that is one of my early cubemaps generation tests in max. It came out to be a bit buggy, cause it has some interior of the vessell on it... That was when I didn't even think about making the scene in a realtime engine. The, I just kept it cause it still has some sky and sand. Plus I assigned them roughly without any top-Side-Bottom correspondence whatsoever.

Frozan, yes, that was my goal. I want to make it available for download with all the instructions on how to open and launch it. Probably I will even put earlier WIP version. Hmm,
I will think about the trail, good point. I rerally didn't want to make it sharp cause the ship is rounded, plus winds etc. But I will consider this for sure, thanks.

thanks, Mogster , I'm glad u like it.

Ah, btw, just forgot before, here is a preliminary sketch:

http://img134.imageshack.us/img134/5401/sketch2ul8.jpg

[ShadyD]

Looks really cool!
Though I think the ship would leave some land damage, or atleast a small trail on the ground.
Keep it up!

[Frozan]

im really surprised at how much geometry is actually put into that ship.

[Matroskin]

thanks for comments people:)
And here we go, an update of what I ve done this weekend.

Major change - the terrain. I ve redone it completely!
First one was too hi-poly, plus I got some comments on other forums about that, so I decided to optimize it more. Unfortunately UE2 is not enough flexible for that, so I needed to redo it :(
It is harder to do precise texture painting and shrubs placement because of fever polys, but at least now mesh is 16 times less dence and it gives 5 times less tris in camera view:

http://img230.imageshack.us/img230/5623/imgwireza5.jpg

I also added ruined mine entrance to explain somehow the place where player spawns ;) Right now the texture looks too low-res to me comparing to other architecture, so I guess later I will add larger one:

http://img130.imageshack.us/img130/4350/img06gf8.jpg

And there is a ramp that allows to enter the hut:

http://img140.imageshack.us/img140/4659/img03eg6.jpg

Hut has got some basic furniture inside and some volume lights that pass through the gaps:

http://img255.imageshack.us/img255/7321/img02dh1.jpg
http://img405.imageshack.us/img405/9137/img01jl8.jpg

And I also added some more variety to shrubs` colors and a bit more saturation to env. textures, and I made the impact trail a bit more burned and rough:

http://img228.imageshack.us/img228/3593/img05js1.jpg
http://img211.imageshack.us/img211/468/img04ms1.jpg

Eventually I did final cube map for reflections.

Finally, next weekend (or the week after) I hope to finish it. I still need to add grayscale detail textures, some sounds/music and optimizations perhaps.
And then it goes for free download ;)

[Amethyst]

Hi Matroskin,
This is a very ambitious project and I think the end result will be just marvelous. Can't wait to see the completion of it....

[Frozan]

nice to see your adding more to it! keep it up very cool.

[zeke3d]

depending on how your textures are layed out, you might be able to bake in all the cool lighting into your diffuse, from mental ray. I did this on a mod I worked on with my friends, all the buildings had the lighting from an offline render in the diffuse itself, and the ambient turned up a bit.

[Beartastic]

This is looking really great and I can't wait to open up the finished version and play around with it. My only suggestion now is to add a (subtle) projector inside of the cabin for where the light rays hit the floor/table. Great style, reminds me of the awesome Guild Wars concepts.

[QuikBE]

your atention to detail as well as your textures are great

[Matroskin]

thanks people!
Indeed, light spot projectror is added ;) With it I like it much more. There r also some objects added: dishes, lamps and corn bag (that I don`t like much yet) :

http://img99.imageshack.us/img99/7170/shot00022hi1.jpg

http://img509.imageshack.us/img509/1050/shot00033ls5.jpg

http://img514.imageshack.us/img514/3313/lampae0.jpg http://img81.imageshack.us/img81/8259/baghn3.jpg

[Matroskin]

...and a bit more stuff.
Additional objects/props, deeper crash trace, retouched floor and bag textures.

http://img258.imageshack.us/img258/4494/waterpumpyd7.jpg

http://img258.imageshack.us/img258/27/toolsrg4.jpg

http://img258.imageshack.us/img258/7180/jarsgi2.jpg

http://img258.imageshack.us/img258/4757/interiorfj9.jpg

http://img258.imageshack.us/img258/4636/crashtraceob5.jpg

[brome]

Fantastic! One thing I find off is the scrub brushes you have. They generally retain their rich green colour and don't absorb much of the red dirt you'd see in this type of desert:
http://www.ca.uky.edu/Agripedia/GLOSSARY/agriart/desert.jpg

http://cache.eb.com/eb/image?id=3073&rendTypeId=4

http://staffwww.fullcoll.edu/tmorris/elements_of_ecology/images/mojave_desert_4.jpg

As well, you may want to try and sell the damage to the ground from the crash a bit more by creating some large rock/stone cracks and slabs that could be placed within the ridge. It'll help show that besides this large indentation, some actual damage was caused to the surface.

[Razorb]

jus wanna say good work dude it looks really nice :D ive been playin with ue4 recently ! tis a fun program heh

love the vessel btw ! look v nice... u got some kind of shader on there?

[Matroskin]

Thanks guys.
brome, thanks for refs dude!
Razorb, yep, it is just a regular UE2 material where beside Diffuse I used Specular with Specularity Mask to get some reflection. I used Cube map for actual reflection effect.

And here is a bit of update.

1) landscape got more variation with addition of kaktuses, second type of shrubs and by increasing plants' saturations globally. I also added kinda huge flying cities/ships to the sky zone along with some dust particle effect that they produce. I decided to add a small improvised landing spot as well. It will have a couple fuel tanks on the side:

http://img149.imageshack.us/img149/5997/landscapesy6.jpg

http://img149.imageshack.us/img149/28/fueltanksey3.jpg

2) crash trail got more rocks and junk along it:

http://img149.imageshack.us/img149/2312/junkvy7.jpg

Voila, that's it for now. Hope u like it, C&Cs r welcome ;)

[Deto]

I love this scene, its very professional and well designed.. Almost like its from artbook or from actual world :) There's a lot of very nice details in it, like the 'wooden' structure of the ship and remains of the crash :)

I've got two crits though, I myself prefered the 'desert color scrubs' more, but somehow they seem more 'flat' than the desert color was. Maybe you could randomize their colors more? Have some more desert shades, some slightly greener, some less and so on.. :)

And the second one. The two other 'vessels'.. They are nice, but I think the scene had much more feel and depth when you only had one crashed vessel in the middle of nowhere. Now it sort of looks like someone just dropped old vessel down on the desert and forgot about it (I don't mean to sound harsh with this). I don't think the "outside" really needs any 'special' large size details, its great as it is now :)

[Matroskin]

thanks Deto, I thought about ur comment concerning suspended vessels, and eventually I killed them :) I agree after all, they kinda add unnecessary detail that kills main idea. I also killed landing field, so nothing more, just polishing.

I guess plants will remain like that for now since most of refs show them like that. I want to finish this stuff eventually, anyways it wont be perfect, but I hope not bad neither ;)

Meanwhile here r some updates. Refined crash trail, more roughness / distortions on the terrain and some fogged far-far mountains in BG:

http://img212.imageshack.us/img212/7569/trailmh0.jpg

http://img211.imageshack.us/img211/96/bgcq1.jpg

[kirilot]

man this thing keeps looking better and better, some crits from me...although i dont know how valid they will be, just my 2 cents.

=If the trail that the vessel traveled is old then you might want to bury the parts and rock into the grown more like sand and dirt has swept over them with time, or if its still fress maby give the dirt some coloring texturing to make it seem burnt up. Maybe smaller rock fragments that became from the high temperature are still scattered around in the path.
= i think the shrubbery is a bit to green and uniform and maby a bit too small, i know youre probably tired of toying with this thing but i feel some noticable size variation would help a whole bunch
= it would be cool to have one of the mountains in the distance that somewhat matches up with the path have a huge chunk missing from it to show the collision. (sorry if im repeating myself...)

either way looks great! i cant wait to get my copy of unreal3 with the engine and the DVD so i can try and do some environments.

[myles]

That looks great Matroskin especially the fact this is just UE2.

I cant really give many crits but here are a few :

1.) Maybe you have too many sun light actors? I cant see any shadows from the cacti or the larger rocks. Even if they wouldn't normally cast shadows is does look slightly strange.

2.) Some of the closer rocks do look very cartoony and only use one texture, maybe some vertex texturing would add a little more variation.

3.) I agree that the shrubs look better green but some more variation of size, saturation and scatter would be great.

4.) Some burn marks and built up sand around the rocks would look nice, especially the ones that were flung across the map by the explosion.

5.) It seems like there is a little green in the sand this looks a little strange the crater.

7.) There is a very large black/brown thing in the crater that seems to be tiling to much.

Generally those things are more effected by the capabilities of UE2. But a very nice job!

[Matroskin]

kirilot, myles,
thanks a lot for ur feedback.

Yes, I will try to tweak shrubs' scale variation a bit more.

The crash trail actually has sand/dust and clean rocks in it. I did not add sand and dust everywhere, cause it reduces the impact effect of the crash (it was like this before ;) ). However, I added soil sand where stones and other object penetrate into the ground, not to make them intersect with pure rock which would look awkward :)

I have burn marks, but they r very subtle, cause they normally would be covered by dust and disappear after some time. So my burn marks r more for just slight variation of brightness of terrain layers.

Yes, I got several sunlights because I have made a simple sky dome. Without it everything not affected by key sunlight was looking plain and volume less:(

But the sky dome does not affect shadows. As u can see, vessel has pretty distinctive shadow. But it is because it is large enough. Since terrain in UE2 is shadowed by vertex, smaller objects can't have precise shadows because my terrain is not very dense, lol :). That is why some shadows look kinda blured or not at all activated (like for cacti). With only one sunlight shadows won't be better anyways :(
I would love to have correct shadowing (and I will in UE3!), but with this kind of technology imo it is rather ok.

Since it is not the hardcore desert, but mostly kinda American western type of thing, ground is not supposed to be yellow/orange everywhere:
http://img257.imageshack.us/img257/8917/img0069ht0.jpg
http://img257.imageshack.us/img257/1681/407031zy5.jpg
http://img257.imageshack.us/img257/3/407072bt6.jpg

The large black/brown thing with tiled texture is a part of outer shell. Yep, it looks tiled, I agree. Well, honestly it is supposed to be repetitive, cause it is just inner layer of something, so for me pattern was ok.

Thanks again guys! I will be finishing it soon ;)

[Matroskin]

ah, sry I forgot one more thing.
yeah, all stones have two textures on them mixed through vertex color. It is more noticeable from close up though, since it is geared for an first person.

I promise, u will be able to play it very soon ;)

[Matroskin]

FINISHED!!
yep, it is done now 8)

Thanks everyone for ur C&Cs, and also feel free to post "postmortem" ones if u want, I'll take everything into consideration for my future works.

This was my first exp. with UE2 which I was learning while doing this environment, which wasn't going very easy so many thing were redone, f%&ed up and sometimes improved, lol.

Eventually I have made a second lighting setup for an alternative ambiance that I end up liking more

Anyways, it is possible to play both levels for ANYONE.
There is no gameplay, nothing happens, it is just a setting.

Ok, here r 4 easy steps how to run in those levels:

1) Get UnrealEngine2RuntimeDemo form this official source:

http://udn.epicgames.com/Files/UE2/Runtime/UE2Runtime-22262002_Demo.exe
Install it

2) Get my stuff from here:

http://194.44.185.57/dergachov/downloads/SpaceWestern_CrashedVessel.zip
Unzip.

3) Copy/Move content from each folder that is in my pack into a respective folder of UE2 that u have just installed. For example, files from "Maps" folder go into "Maps" folder within UE2 on ur machine, etc.

4) Launch UE2Runtime and you will see both maps to select in the main menu. There will be some default UE2 maps, so my levels won't be alone ;)
Note: default graphical options r pretty low, so u might go there before and adjust them for a bit more fancy look.

That's all.

I've made some ambient music so u might also turn on the sound.

Also I've recorded a realtime footage. If u can't get the stuff working with UE2, u r welcome to check the short video (http://194.44.185.57/dergachov/downloads/SpaceWestern_CrashedVessel_vi.avi) (R-Click > save as)


And here r some closing screngrabs:

original idea:

http://img247.imageshack.us/img247/5948/spacewesterndaytimeshotls1.jpg

and a second variation:

http://img241.imageshack.us/img241/9719/spacewesterneveningshotru8.jpg

[Kalango]

Looks very very nice man :). I'm taking a look at the video....seems pretty solid and pro :D. Keep it up man keep making levels :). Would love to play one ffa in this level hehe.

[freakmean16]

Amazing work man, been interested in the UE 2, but you did this in the editor of unreal or the Environment demo or you bought one.

[Matroskin]

thanks freakmean16.
i did in Unreal Engine 2 Demo available for free from the link listed bellow in my final submission. That version is intended for educational and non-commercial use and i find it a bit (just a tiny bit :) ) worse that the UT2K4 one, but they r pretty much identical. So yeah, anyone can play this stuff and his own, for free ;)

[DreameR]

the table and chairs need some sort of faked shadows. Ambient occusion map on the floor maybe? They blend into the walls to much :(

Everything else is fantastic

[Frozan]

from what ive learned about unreal and shadows, ur relying on unreal to much to light your building. especially interior. if u want to get those nice shadows bake it in an outside 3d app like max or maya. if u want to do it in engine. u need to make a second uv set for everything that u want to have a nice light map on. also in unreal ur gonna have to turn up the res that the shadows bake out in unreal. learned this in the last few months so figured i would share with you. very cool scene. currently just lacking in the lighting.

[Matroskin]

thanks for feedbacks.

Actually the scene is finished, i mean I did not plan to go back to it, but to keep going with something else. But i agree that interior lighting is not great :(

i know about baking stuff. My problem was that I didn't find UV channels selection in Combiner Shader. Actually there was such an option for TexCoordSource shaders that make part of Combiner, but such an option was absent for actual Mask texture (in my case - Vertex Color used to mix dust with original material). but maybe it was absent in this particular case, cause i was using Vertex Colors, but if I would have used TexCoordSource for mask as well I maybe could make it use different UV channel for shadow mask...
I will try it later, cause I am really curious if that may help, but that is not my priority rigth now cause I am into UT3 map right now ;)

Btw, Frozan, unfortunately in UnrealEngine 2 Demo that I used here there is no option to add/modify shadow map for Terrain:( Shadows r always baked by vertex in contrast to UT2K4.

[corrosion]

hey Matroskin!!! love the scene, it has a lot of good atmosphere, it doesn't look artificial, it looks great! very cool use of UE2!!!