Post Processing

I've been messing around with post processing effects for the past couple of days and I've added some stuff that has really added to the atmosphere in my opinion. I added some slight chromatic abberation to the scene to make the camera seem more realistic. I've also added very slight film grain to help make it look a little more cinematic. I decided the water I had previously looked like crap so I deleted it and started a new water material from scratch. I think this one is much more convincing. And lastly, the thing I'm majorly proud of and excited about is that I worked up a way to add some water caustic reflections on the ceilings! Not a huge thing, I know, but it definitely adds to the realism and I think it came out amazing.

New Water Material - Fully animated

Caustic reflections - fully animated

Post effects - Chromatic abberation and film grain. More more apparent when playing

Fixed the puddles! Proper reflection and distortion. They also flow and ripple slightly

Current progress

Here's an update on what I've been working on lately. After checking out a lot of photo reference of abandoned buildings and such I decided it wasn't nearly dirty enough, even though it's supposed to seem "untouched." Messed with lighting a bit, added some more light sources, flickering lights,puddles etc. There is also some basic sound at this point.

At the moment my biggest annoyance is finding out the proper way to create reflection distortion for the puddles. I've found a couple of tutorials but they all seem to be a bit dated, and links are broken etc.

Finally I think everything still looks sort of sparse and underpopulated so that's what I would be working on over this last month.

October 21

I was getting a lot of critique on the lighting and specular effects happening in the scene, so recently I've been devoting a lot of my time to creating a better looking environment in regards to lights and post processing. I've also begun adding in decals and other small details that help with realism. Also, fluorescent lights! I checked and yes those were around in 1960 :] As for mood, I wanted everything to feel very cold and empty with a lot of the lighting adding to the warmth. Sort of like when you enter and flip the lights on, you're beginning to bring the place back to life after so many years.

October 16

I spent most of today working out a couple of kinks and beginning to populate the scene with clutter to hopefully add some realism and a bit of a sense of chaos. I also blocked in a new room for the "Minor directives" area. the main room with all the desks is the "Main Directives" area.

New room

added folders/notepads/coffee cups

October 14

Things are starting to slow down a bit in regards to obvious progress. Since most of the level is blocked in, I'm moving on to details and smaller issues such as reflections and proper lighting. Here are some up to date progress shots:

entry way - mainly finished

entering the base - not much has changed in this shot

main conference area. probably going to add a projector to the table hence the lighting on the wall

closer view of reflections on glass - very subtle effect

View of the main office space, will soon add various papers strewn about as well as desk details

desks from down stairs

sewer line entry

Like I said, most updates probably aren't immediately apparent, but overall I really feel like the space is coming together.

Sept 30

As of right now a lot of my time has been spent optimizing what I have in the scene so far. This is still somewhat of a learning process for me in regards to playability and what a players computer can and cant handle. I noticed a small amount of lag, so Ive been going through and compressing textures, removing unnecessary items etc. Basically cleaning up the pallete so its a simpler job the rest of the way.

Here are more progress shots of  what I have actually added:

ALL of the lighting present is temporary, as I will make a more detailed lighting passed once the scene is built.

All of these details are story-insensitive, due to the fact that the story is still being fleshed out.

I have been reading up and watching some era specific documentaries in order to build a more accurate information base for the story.

That's it for now.

-Ben

Sept 23

After a long weekend of working on modular props and blocking out my spaces, I've finally gotten to a point where I can begin to add in detail pieces.

Here are some shots of what I had done before the weekend (not including the railings. Those were built in class wednesday) -

And some shots of what I had after class today -

For now I'm moving on to realistic glass and then on to proper texturing and light sources.