Hey everyone!

A week late at this point but I was pretty busy this week but some good progress has been made!

I mocked up a simple gas station logo design but trust me, it is far from finalised haha It will prob change soon. As well as this I have messed with the atmosphere some more to create a more creepy feeling. I have done this by reducing the canopy lights, increasing fog, raising tree height and even adding a spooky ghost lady in the gas station. The ghost lady is a real early concept that I am not sure as of yet how to highlight it.

Right well I will see you all again next weekend to show off even more progress! Prob will have a gas pump by then.

Let me know what you think!

Hey Everyone!

I am back once again to show the progress I have made so far. The main parts I have done so far is a lot of the main road and started on working on the trim sheet for the main gas station canopy. One thing I forgot to mention before is that this scene is actually using Real Time Ray-Tracing thanks to the driver update allowing me to use it on my 1080 GTX

Here is the main camera angle image as well as a secondary one I have made, though I'm still not sure which I like more at the moment.

I have added road stripes by using deferred decals so I could make sure they were detailed as well as having more control over them, including on the gas station itself as markers for the cars refuelling.

For the road I have used a vertex painted material with 3 materials plugged in, with main material is a wet road with puddles in it.

The second material to paint is a dry variation of the road so that I can put it under objects that are around the road that would shelter the floor form the rainfall like the gas station canopy and streetlights. This detail might be a little over the top but if you can't go all out in a portfolio piece, then when can you? haha

  The last material is a mud material the same as the areas around the road so that I could simulate some grime getting on the edges of the road as well as some splatters generally about the main road itself.

Here is the full result of the layers on the road around the gas station.

You can also see the curb there that I made a trim sheet for. It might be a bit excessive having a sheet for just the curb but I wanted to make sure there wasn't any real noticeable repetition so I made 3 strips of it that tile horizontally to make sure of it.

Last thing of all I have worked on making a Trim sheet for the Gas Station canopy that should work easily enough for the whole canopy to be made for next week. The white paint is there so I can mask and repaint it using material instances in Unreal. I might do some work on it before next time as it might not tile perfectly yet but we will see.

That is it for this week! I plan to continue to give a more detailed breakdown in future updates as well. Tune back next week when I should have the canopy done and textured!

Let me know what you think and see you all next week.

Hey Everyone!

After a nice break after finishing the Shogun scene, I have started work on a new project! This time it is a moody and kinda creepy gas station out in the middle of nowhere. I would be lying if I said that this wasn't inspired by the recent Resident Evil 2 Remake opening, in fact I have opened up my copy and took a whole bunch of reference shots for my mood board. Despite this though, it definitely won't be just a remake of it, It's more reference for mood and general propping.

One of the things that I have realised in the past is that I haven't shown much of a breakdown of how I have done elements that I feel I should definitely start adding so expect that for the next update. I may go back and add a breakdown for previous projects too.

Now so far I have mainly just finished a blockmap for the scene, obviously note that nothing is in any way final, including lighting, camera angle and everything. I am happy with the general mood and layout so far so I'm looking forward to completing more.

That's it for this week, let me know what you think and I will see you all next week!

Hey Everyone!

Feel like a big update this time, finished off the second building  is finished. I changed the brightness of the sky that was too light as well as changing the lighting overall for the main castle. The main castle balcony lights are bigger and brighter, there is snow at the ends of roofs as well as on some of the wood beams as well as changing the snow distribution currently on some elements already done, added more grime to the plaster walls to make them less pure white.

One of the last main things I have done is added some cherry blossom trees. I have very very little experience making tree's so I am happy with how they came out but at the same time I am having problems with the leaves being way way too dark. I have boosted the brightness of the textures to brighten it as well as have a light pointing at them to try and help too boost them. I have SS material on the leaves as well as edited to the normals but it hasn't helped too much. I will have to play around with some stuff and figure it out.

I think with luck, next weeks update shall be my last! Mainly just need to do the mountains really though I have no real experience in that field either so It might take a bit to get it all right. From there it's just making some other camera angles and a animation I think. Last big push!

I hope you enjoyed my update, let me know what you think with any crits or problems and I will see you next week!

Hey Everyone!

Sorry for the late post, I was pretty ill but I have had a lot of progress this week, so much so that I think I am fast approaching the end.

So as you can see I have made pretty much all of the main castle and I have started working on the second one. Mainly I need to finish of the second building roof as next priority. I have tried to make some kind of interior for second castle but I'm not so sure about it so I might go back on this. After this I want to make a couple of cherry blossom trees for behind the wall and then the mountains in the distance. After that I think its about done! 

I plan to create some extra camera angles at that point and an animation before calling it done. Might go back and improve on some stuff as well.

Well that's all for this week, stay tuned for next week as It might be the last!

let me know any comments or improvements to be made

Hey Everyone!

So this week I have worked on the roof for the main wall as well as start the front of the main castle.

I am pretty happy with the roof and how it's come out, I'm terrified of doing the major roof because of its weird forms but I am also looking forward to getting it done. I am very happy with the metal details on the front of the wood beams of the entrance, I feel it creates a nice contrast with the red wood . Also It is nice to make something that isn't just stone or snow at this point haha

Next up I will be doing the big doors and then working upwards until I finish all of the castle. I think prob by next week I feel like I will at least be up to the roof at least.

Well that's all for this week, Looking forward to working on more for next week already.

See you next week! Let me know any comments or criticism that you have. 

Hey Everyone!

So you may have noticed that it's been 2 weeks since my last update and the reason for that is got very sick this week unfortunately. On the plus side I am on the mend now and have got back to work!

Since the last update I have finished the stairs, messed around with the sky some more, as well as work and then rework the stone leading up to the walls. At first I went more for an organised brick layout but when i checked my references I noticed that these kind of castles typically have a more disorganised style to the brick so I went back and redid it. That's what you get for not checking references haha

Speaking of references I finally downloaded pureref so I could organise my references instead of just having folders and I am definitely happy I have done so. Here is a peek at my moodboard

Hey everyone!

I have managed to stick to my timing at getting this out on Saturdays now though it means a little less content this week.

This week I have added some snowy cliffs as well as a snowy landscape with some grass poking through in some areas. I am definitely not 100% on these elements i think but I feel I will probably come back to it later to refine it some more. For now the main goal for next weeks update will be getting the steps area done and finished along with finally starting the castle area. I think I will start from the walls and move on from there.

Well that's it for this week, please let me know if there is any feedback or criticism so far.

Catch you all next Saturday!

Hey everyone!

had a good week this week and I did some other work on the side and still got a bunch done so I am definitely pretty proud haha

I have got the bride done for now, I am happy with it for the moment. The snow looks good vertex painted on and it fits with the rest of the scene so far. Apart from that, the main changes are i blocked out more of the background currently. I am not that sure on the sky to be honest but its a step in the right direction at least.

Next port of call will be the cliffs in the front. I've been testing out a couple of methods and I think I am on tracks. Here to getting this done by the end of march!

 So that's the main update this week. I think I'm going to start enforcing a day for these instead of "around the weekend" which it now is. It's difficult because I do a large amount of the work at the weekend but I think Saturday is the best day as it is #screenshotsaturday after all haha

As always let me know any questions or feedback you can give, always happy to know how to improve! 

Until next week!

Long time no post!

I got very busy over the Christmas period as did we all, though with the lack of posts until now it would be assumed that I have been lazy. This I assure you is anything but the truth! I have been working all January and some of February working on a side project which I unfortunately cannot fully disclose but be assured, I'm am looking forward to around April time to reveal what It is. For now I will give you all a little sneak peak:

Now that I have wrapped that up, it's onto the main attraction! Since finishing that I have moved back onto the Shogun Challenge that never was. I have spent the week working on some of the foreground elements as well as a good setup to vertex paint snow onto the scene and I am pretty pleased at the results.

There is still much more to do but I am pleased with the progress so far. By next week I plan to have the bridge and hopefully the area up to the building done. At this rate I don't think it will take long until its complete!

As always let me know any feedback or problems that you can find and see you all next week.

Thanks!