Sunset Continued

Some new images, I changed the main light to directional lighting and that seems to have sorted out some of the issues I was having with shadows. I added tracks, something I've been meaning to do for a while. With the help of Ben we got some soft lighting coming from the station lamps. The telephone booths now cast directional lights; the ticket machines do too. I also added lamps to the tables in the "Relaxation Area" and I added a couple of contemporary cube fountains which I thought were ideal for cover if they need arose.

The pillars running through the first floor glass partition will be swapped out, I promise. ;)

Ben and I discussed the texture situation, that is, making them monochrome etc. We have a couple of ideas but I'm going to have to put a bit of research in first.

From this point on I'm going to be focusing on the 2nd and 3rd floors, which entails adding furniture and lighting. We have some nice ideas for the 3rd floor in particular, more posts will follow their progress.

Sunset

Some screenshots of what I have been up to recently, some of the shadows casts strange shadows but I am determined to figure this out.
Originally I was using a lightmass volume and had a point light illuminating the entire scene. This time I removed the mass and allowed the emissive glows to light areas. I added some lights to boost this.
I chose to try the sunset theme because when I was looking through the sky domes for something a little less cloudy, I found the sunset and it seemed like the perfect opportunity to play with lights. As you can see the level looks very dark, I have a few ideas on how to realistically illuminate some areas. More screenshots coming soon.

Group Members: We are meeting tomorrow, I would like to discuss lighting in depth.

ScreenShots

I finally got around to producing some screenshots, there are still quite a few problems with it (specifically shadows), the various lighting effects have not really been implemented in full yet but there will be more changes by friday, at the moment the player can run through the level, everything you see has collision and I added a couple of basic textures that have glows to indicate lights. I'm still learning the ropes with unreal's lighting but I should have something soon. Some more basic objects have been made in 3DS Max and I'll have them in soon, then I'll upload some more screenshots on thursday.

3D Progress Update

I've been working on modelling the level in 3D Studio Max and exporting everything into the UDK. Yesterday I realised just how bad the alignment of some of the objects were, this was due to the method I used to create the models in Max; so last night, using the old level I created as a basic guide, I began creating a new level with much better grid alignments and so forth.

Sorry for not uploading any screenshots as of yet, I'm working to make it look better before I upload anything.

Please post reference images for the shops, bar and lounge, I know we have rough ideas but they are still to be outlined. Any sketches would be appreciated, I'll try to find some time to get some done myself as well.

Note to group: A meeting will be held on Monday.

Project Update

I thought I might just add a post saying where we are currently up to, Ben is working on getting some sketchup models he has been working on into 3ds max including stairs and so on.
Today Ben and I discussed walling off the interior and having the light come in from the roof. This will provide some direction for the lighting at the same time providing a limitation; an edge of level scenario that is realistic. We have yet to decide specifically what the roof will look like but we think that it will eventually take the form of our concept images.
I have been working on blocking out the level in unreal, getting to grips with it and making sure that things look as they should when running around inside the station.
We have ideas for interior objects, they have not yet been added to the greyboxing stage but should be over the next couple of days. More screenshots and renders will soon be up.

Renders and Screenshots

I've been working hard with max and unreal attempting to get our basic structure working, I feel we can do a little more with the area, like boxing off the wide open gap where the carpark lies so it all becomes enclosed with light flooding in through the blue roof and the train/tram entrances and exits. With the new wall we could add a couple of small curved floors which provide extra relaxation / shopping zones. Leaving it open to the world seems strange, but I'll let you judge for yourself with the renders :)

As I said, I have been working hard to import this thing into unreal and it is obvious that I am yet to figure a few things out like why the roof looks the way it does; but i'm confident I can figure it out. The light from above comes through the blue mesh and distributes the colour through the station and, in my opinion, looks great (at least it will do when I sort out the problems i'm having). By the way, that roof is temporary and does not reflect the final choice ;)



I'd like it if we could meet on monday, discuss any references and ideas (especially lighting because it looks a bit grim at the moment) and look at how we could best implement them.

Post Visit to Bizarre

Hey guys, meeting went very well and I thoroughly enjoyed presenting our ideas to the guys at Bizarre and they gave us some great feedback on them as well as the overall project as a whole!

I can see that Stewart has made himself a follower of our blog so I look forward to any input that he can put across for us!

Just thought I'd upload the printouts I took to the studios, so they're here for all you guys to review!

A meeting tomorrow would be great to get to grips with where we will be heading and what we need to do over the next few weeks :)

indesign