Looking great! If you’d ask me, I’d stray a little from original DS concept and make lighting a little more contrasted, as it is one of my biggest issues with DS art in general. Some nice glowy flame would go really well with darker shadows, even if it wouldn’t go same way DS goes.
And some materials could really use better roughness, no? Seems pretty flat, even some tiling roughness texture would give some nice variation in those specular reflections (especially on that bar in the upper part of the screenshot and on ground tiles).
Thanks for the comments and feedback. I am still deciding on the lighting. I do want to be close to the original but I think I’d like to push it slightly considering all the extra power I will have in that area with UE4.
You are correct, right now I am doing a polish pass of all my SM’s and adding colour/rough variation. The image you quoted is a little old but the more recent one you can see I have added a bit to that particular part. I am also considering adding small wet leaks and patches to add some glossiness. As for the ground blocks I agree they are far too flat especially compared to the original, so I am even going as far as adding extra normal map detail to these.
All of my dark areas seem way to black, but increasing the sky light/indirect bounces does not seem to help.
Everything on the left side wall is really difficult to light. Right now I only have the stationary sky light, a stationary directional light, and the torch flame up the end as a static point light.
I am wondering if now is the time to implement a post processing volume to possible fix some of these problems? But it could also be the Albedo is too dark for some meshes or light-map issues.
in the original the sun light seem to be dawn very light yellowish colors alil bit. Plus the shadows look like they have a tint of blueish/purpleish? i guess both of that can be fixed with post process
plus the skybox is alot darker.
This looks really good! I love seeing the process, it really gives me a lot of ideas on how to improve my own workflow.
My one suggestion would be to mess with the FOV to get it looking closer to the original, that would probably help.
Thank you for your observations! Yes at the moment I have no post processing, I was trying to get the look with lights alone, but now I will add one to make the adjustments you mentioned.
Thank you! I am glad it is helpful to you. That is actually a really good point! Am I able to edit the FOV on the editor camera or is it just for play mode view?
Another thing I have noticed is that using the high res screenshot function creates an image that is a bit lighter/blown out than what I am seeing in my darker/more contrasted viewport. I have tried disabling eye adaption on both the post process volume and on the camera settings but no change, anyone else had this problem?
Thanks for all the comments and suggestions guys. I took it all on board and adjusted the lighting, post processing and fog a fair bit, and I think its starting to look somewhat souls-ish.
There is still a bit of tweaking to do (UE4 High-re screenshot function has been driving me mad) but one large difference is that DS3 seems to always have a slightly blown out/bloomy appearance to everything which I am lacking in my scene.
Other things I have noted:
-Unfortunately for me I will have to painfully re-do the ground tiles. Mine only look ok from above, but too flat and sharp/low poly from a player view so I will try make them more damaged and angled like the original.
-The LUT was very helpful, I am wondering if I would like to adjust it again, I have to work from the default image right? I can’t somehow build onto my current LUT texture?
Thanks again for the input and any suggestions would be incredibly helpful!
I am getting close to calling this done, so it would be very helpful to borrow your eyes and to let me know if there is anything else I can do to push this section closer to the original or just improve upon it in general. Some notable changes include the new floor tiles which I think look much better now from a player view:
This is just preview lighting but I notice the Ivy on the far back wall has some kind of shading error, almost looks like its glowing against the dark background but I am not sure what this is.
As I mentioned in my very first post I am now testing the modular use of my pieces by expanding this scene to the secondary area outlined in my map. I will post more shots as I progress, thanks!
Would be interesting to see how much textures/modular pieces is going on in scene that you made, it looks quite a lot, or perhaps you just have composited it so well. Either way great job so far.
Thanks mate! I tried to stick very close to the original so it is just about all modular pieces. I use things like foliage, vertex moss and simple broken versions to try to suppress the repetitiveness. The real test is happening now though as I extend this environment by about five times using mostly the same set of static meshes.
The light coming through the two windows kinda shifts your eyes to that direction. (light always draws attention) in the Original, those windows were either fogged or blocked with planks/wooden boards.
In the original the sky looks like it has a layer of fog (atmospheric fog?) on it, including the top edge of the tallest structures.
Kind of reminds me of Watch dogs 2012 trailer with the light orange fog on the sky.
The light on the flame lamp is too bright. In the original it looks more natural, soft and subtle.
You are right, I need to block those windows, in the original the rest of the game is there, but I will have to figure something out to stop that distracting light.
I also agree with the sky, it seems more like a soft bloom in the original too I think? I already have a height fog but you can see that mostly up the far end of the scene near those windows. I wonder if it is possible to add additional types of fog? Or perhaps a mesh with some cloudy animated texture?
Right again with the torch, thanks I will soften that up.
Here is an overview of what I am doing now: basically the red section is the main part I have been working on until now and I have started blocking in the secondary section.
Still a lot to do in the new sections. I really need to block sight in some areas, my height fog is pretty strong but never completely obscures sight. Does anyone know if I can set an absolute end to player sight or some kind of additional thick distance fog?
!
