My question may sound redundant but I’m new here.
I wanted to know, what are the essential components to make graphics look atleast decent enough (Examples are recent UE games like Crossfire X, Ghostwire Tokyo or even Sherlock Holmes Chapter One).
I cannot get myself to create such textures. I can make the assets (since polycount is prettymuch not an issue anymore thanks to nanite) but still the stuff I create lacks that proper realism. Whatever I create looks good in Blender and Substance Painter but not that much in Unreal, though I setup the PBR materials correctly.
This one such example from my videos.
I’d really appreciate some articles or tutorials that may guide me to create better graphics overall or maybe have an improved pipeline for my textures.
Thanks @ZenLeviathan .
I was afraid that it will be about Materials and shaders (as I personally find unreal shaders a bit intimidating) but nevertheless I shall learn more. And yes I was aware of post processing its just that it is good for the look and feel/mood of the lighting but not the actual textures/meshes
But still, thanks !!
With out the asset in hand it’s difficult to critique based on what is presented or to define “better graphics” over all. In my opinion what is presented is at least a good starting point as to have a beginning to improve what you have in hand to what you hope will be the final result.
What I found most useful is lecture series that demonstrates how the artist goes about tweaking to taste such as
That said, If you wish, I could point out a few things that could be done as what it would take depends on the final result you are shooting for. It’s not so much a how to based on what will work but what might work taking into consideration what your eyes are telling you and not the idea that you “set” up the perfect PBR material. It’s more about the conversation.
It is indeed. Your point is totally accurate and I relate to it. And thanks for this.
But my problem is getting the certain look and feel of the graphics
Let’s say I wanna make my game look like Call of Duty MW 2019 for example. Since now we have a precise example, now I wanna learn how to achieve that aesthetic of graphics (not lighting). The textures or assets etc. Because if you see my video, the textures look good but not as realistic/PBR as I’d want them to be and I’m confused on proceeding next. I feel I lack something in Unreal Shader Pipeline, because these same textures in Substance Painter/Blender look stunning but in UE5 they look a bit… old (if you know what I mean).
That’s the problem I feel.
Still, thanks for your input.
OK lets stick with the technical requirements of a PBR material.
Just because your material is PBR does not mean that it will work as to expatiation, and more so as to maintaining fidelity from Substance Painter, as in a sense it’s just another ingredient as part of the process of making a chocoholic cake. Unreal 4/5 does not have the same “hold your hand” abilities of showing your work in the best possible light as each has their own needs as to practical use.
So what is a PBR? The label says “physically based rendered” but not real as it’s just a set of instructions that defines the surface of the object, as in object aware, that reacts to other ingredients such as lighting and most important the camera.
So you make a material that says this object is a brick based on a set of instructions. The lighting solution now has “information” that says hay this is a brick as to it’s rendering properties and the camera does it’s final gather thing based on it’s cinamatic settings.
Soooooo
If you want to focus on materials then you need a scene with proper lighting set up as well tuned cinamatic camera that produces the type of result your looking in a rendered image.
I totally agree and understand with what you explained. COD MW’19 was just an example (since I’m making a FPS Game). And yes, Ik that lighting is an essential component but not the only ingredient. My steps were to first have as realistic materials as possible and then setup lighting. And since writing this article, I have improved my workflow and have started using UDIMs which are giving me around 15-20% improvement in texture look and feel. Rest, I can cover the details aspect with other props and decals and ofc lighting.