My UDK Scene

[Psy]

Hey guys. This is my first *real* project in the UDK and, really, the most major modelling and texturing project I have ever undertaken. My aim was to create a test environment with the sole purpose of learning the ins and outs of how to build a small part of a level using models and a handful of textures.

Bearing in mind that I would never consider myself an environment artist, this was going to be a tough challenge. Still, I pushed on for several weeks, reading through tons of tutorials, threads, and general internet things until I eventually I ended up with the following.





(Foliage, fire hydrant, sidewalks and the leaf models/particles are stock content.)

Here are the models and texture sheets that make up the building. The general idea was to create modular pieces which fit together and can easily be swapped out and replaced with one another. I also kept everything in one texture and utilised it for a variety of different models.



And, finally, a virtual handful of the props I made.



Empty space at bottom isn't a true representation of the texture as the aircon part sits in the texsheet of the building. I might add some vent holes along the side for extra detailings.



Shiny sign looks silly, I know. Empty space at bottom could be filled out with the rest of that metal texture. Might be useful for some other random prop.



Not too sure about the polycount on this. Then again, I've seen many props in the UDK that have very high poly counts. I guess the engine can handle it because it's awesome like that.

So that's that. And thank baby raptor jesus because I was getting sick of the bloody thing. I still consider it a work in progress as there are a few things I want to change/add (fix bad lightmap uvs, add decals, make more props, etc) but I just want a nice break after working on this for a few weeks straight.

Now I know that it may not seem like much, and it certainly wasn't as architecturally adventurous as originally planned, but I'd say that I've learnt a lot about modelling and texturing, and I'm happy with the result.

It certainly feels like it was time well spent, I feel a lot more confident with my skillz and maybe now I can work on that little DM level I've had in mind for a while now. hmy:

(PS: UDK is a joy to work with. Mostly)

 

[Trotim]

How long did this take you and what were the biggest problems you had?

 

[Micnax]

Holy crap.

I could never work my head round UDK with it's add/subtract level creation system so I chose to use Unity instead.

Now you make me want to use UDK again, hnggggggghhh.

 

[Seba]

240V, what is this, Europe?

inb4 someone yells at me for something electrical-engineering related about which I do not care

 

[NinjillaX]

It looks great, and props on using such a confusing engine!

 

[Micnax]

240V, what is this, Europe?

inb4 someone yells at me for something electrical-engineering related about which I do not care

Looking at the road sign, street sign and the style of the 240v sticker, I'd say It's a British scene.

Then again, that'd make the 2nd picture impossible. Britain doesn't get any sun.

 

[Icarus]

Nice work!

As someone who is just learning modeling and will most likely be looking into UDK in the near future, this is very encouraging.

 

[Empyre]

That scene looks awesome! My apologies, but what is UDK?

 

[tyler]

Unreal Development Kit

 

[grazr]

UDK is the development kit for the Unreal Engine.

It's a BSP based engine, just like Source. Although with it's own nuances. To create a world you seem to have to carve it out of a solid world rather than create a solid world within a void. I guess the advantage is it's impossible to create a leak when you compile your level, but it's goddamn frustrating for creating outside environments as you literally have to create a massive box; which in Source is a big optimising no no. Not to mention it seemed impossible to change the grid size. UDK custom maps are plagued with world unalignments.

I tried my hand at a little Killing Floor mapping (UDK) and found it one of the most annoying level design creation software kits i've ever used. But if i got used to it maybe it would be OK; still, i never felt frustrated in the same way about Source when learning it. I've only tried my hand at (now 4) 4 FPS engines and 3 RTS. One of the interesting things though is the freedom to scale models. It's a crying shame the Soure Engine doesn't get licensed out as much as the predictable UDK. I want to learn the UDK simply because if you want to get into the games industry, experience with it is almost a necessity. Nobody cares about Source.

 

[Empyre]

Oh, I had never heard of a game with those initials. I dabbled with Unrealed for the original Unreal Tournament (but never made a map), before I tried Hammer, which was then called WorldCraft for Half-Life (TFC). I remember a contest Epic had for making a UT map with 5 brushes (possible with the hollowing-out idea). I was amazed with what was accomplished with 5 brushes. Also, even back then, you could make portals (teleports you could see and shoot through) in the Unreal Engine. I heard they changed that hollowing-out thing with UT3.

For easy mapping, try making maps for Doom. Doom Builder is much easier to use than Hammer. If you look at the maps they are making now for Doom, you'll ask yourself "That's Doom?"

 

[Pocket]

It's a BSP based engine, just like Source. Although with it's own nuances. To create a world you seem to have to carve it out of a solid world rather than create a solid world within a void.

They changed for Unreal 3; now you can start building from nothing and get real-time lighting previews without even having to seal the void. The problem is its general slowness to catch on; there are still games yet to come out that will be on Unreal 2.5.

Not to mention it seemed impossible to change the grid size. UDK custom maps are plagued with world unalignments.

You mean poorly aligned textures? Yeah, it's not just custom maps; actual games have issues with this. (If you have Bioshock 2, look up at the ceiling sometime. And weep. Or laugh, if you got the game at a huge discount like I did.)

It's a crying shame the Soure Engine doesn't get licensed out as much as the predictable UDK. I want to learn the UDK simply because if you want to get into the games industry, experience with it is almost a necessity. Nobody cares about Source.

Unreal seems to generally be ahead technologically; even with Unreal 2.5 you had phong shading offered on every surface and dynamic lighting almost on par with Portal 2.

Plus, is there even actually a way to get a raw Source SDK with the latest engine features anymore and the ability to create an original game? It seems to have devolved into a game-specific (if still very powerful) level editor ever since Left 4 Dead.

 

[HellJumper]

Not really knowing what the UDK was, I have to thank both grazr and stevethepocket for explaining some things to me.

Also-- Psy,

That is brilliant work! Absolutely amazing!

 

[grazr]

Not just texture alignments, brush alignments also.

I believe Rexy has a little experience with the UDK. As a modeller he mentioned that the software is better fit for a modeller rather than a level designer.

This though, the OP, is impressive. Very efficient use of materials.

 

[tyler]

by the way this thread has good tags

 

[StickZer0]

Wow Psy, absolutely great work!
Very inspiring, i'd love to try some stuff like this in the UDK when I get the chance after exams

 

[Psy]

Thanks for the positive comments. :thumbup:

How long did this take you and what were the biggest problems you had?

I started this in March, I think, but the whole thing has gone through a load of changes since then as I've adapted my workflow and techniques for making the assets. For instance, I spent a whole freaking weekend working on one texture. I sculpted a few bricks in Mudbox, brought them into 3DS, rendered them out and began to work on it in Photoshop which took a lot of trial and error until I was finally happy with it.

In terms of problems...honestly, I can't think of many. Probably the biggest one of the top of my head is setting up lightmaps for models. The issue was that you need a 2nd channel UV map where every face of the model is uniquely mapped. IE, no overlapping UVs. It's not so much a problem as an annoyance and I really wish there was a tool which could intelligently unwrap them automatically.

It's a crying shame the Soure Engine doesn't get licensed out as much as the predictable UDK.

And for a good reason as Valve know that there is no way that they're going to be able to compete with the monthly updates and support that comes with the UDK. Just look at how some SDK updates have been plagued with issues that remained unfixed for months. :X

 

[Rexy]

Given the broad range of environments I've seen people make, both in novice and professional/commercial products that use the UDK, this is one of the more impressive environments I've seen, and is absolutely going to be a bolster to your portfolio. And it's vanilla, nothing fancy, just straight to the point demonstration of your skill. Nice work.