Creating a dungeon

[arkaos]

Well, I have officially started designing my sets for the fantasy story I'm creating. This is a prelim of the first of many scenes.

 

Here we have is a corridor leading....somewhere. Wherever is goes, it looks like a friendly face is sure to greet you.

 

Preliminary. At this time I intend to add more to this set.

- debris on floor and in corners

- a few cute(?) little rats

- maybe some carvings/runes/grafitti on the walls (?)

- definately a carbon dioxide like fog rolling across the floor (some early attempts were pretty bad)

- maybe a spectral form roaming the corridor.

- more glowing effects from the lanterns

 

Take a look, let me know what you think.

[Dhar]

This is way freaky Mark. As the picture was loading my eyes were drawn to the red eyes staring at me in the dark part of the corridor, but when I kept looking at it, ever so slowly a shape of a head with horns starting appearing How on earth did you manage that on a still?

 

Aside from my heart racing, you got some awesome texture work there. I love it....I'm still scared...but I love it.

[Zaryin]

This is way freaky Mark. As the picture was loading my eyes were drawn to the red eyes staring at me in the dark part of the corridor, but when I kept looking at it, ever so slowly a shape of a head with horns starting appearing How on earth did you manage that on a still?

 

Aside from my heart racing, you got some awesome texture work there. I love it....I'm still scared...but I love it.

 

 

Holy Crap, you're right! That is pretty cool.

 

The idea of building a dungoen is something I always wanted to do, but never got around to it. Now I stopped playing roleplaying games and haven't had the need. Good Luck with this.

[CreativeAustinYankee]

A word or three about dungeons (As I slip on my old DM cap):

 

Sure there's plenty of generic dungeons out there, but to really give it a sense of reality, consider who it is that built this dungeon.

 

A human necromancer is going to have a considerably different fashion-sense than a dwarven king. This is were all the subtle little details really distinguish a well-crafted dungeon from the everyday generic dungeon. Also, it will make a BIG difference in the types of denizens that lurk about.

 

The undead (with perhaps the exception of a vampire or some other more refined creature) aren't going to be as concerned about the pleasantries, the stonework is going to be old, cracked, and filled with dust and cobwebs. Light sources will be in disrepair if they are even present. More than one victim might be visible... and on and on....I'm sure you get the idea.

 

A magic user will have made excellent use of runes, spells, and traps.

 

A warrior will have sturdy hardwood, stone, and iron throughout.

 

There's plenty of other examples, but the point is, dungeons are going to fit the characters that created them The dungeon that you have now, while functional, lacks character.

 

A few nicely thought out details should flesh things out a bit.

 

"What do you mean he rolled a 20! I had my magic boots on....Fine!"

 

Steve P.

[arkaos]

This is way freaky Mark. As the picture was loading my eyes were drawn to the red eyes staring at me in the dark part of the corridor, but when I kept looking at it, ever so slowly a shape of a head with horns starting appearing How on earth did you manage that on a still?

 

Aside from my heart racing, you got some awesome texture work there. I love it....I'm still scared...but I love it.

 

I actually stole Eugene's head and crammed a coupla horns on, added red ambience to the eye sockets and positioned him a little outside of the fall-off of the lights. Trial and error got just the shot I was going for.

 

A word or three about dungeons (As I slip on my old DM cap):

 

Sure there's plenty of generic dungeons out there, but to really give it a sense of reality, consider who it is that built this dungeon.

 

A human necromancer is going to have a considerably different fashion-sense than a dwarven king. This is were all the subtle little details really distinguish a well-crafted dungeon from the everyday generic dungeon. Also, it will make a BIG difference in the types of denizens that lurk about.

 

The undead (with perhaps the exception of a vampire or some other more refined creature) aren't going to be as concerned about the pleasantries, the stonework is going to be old, cracked, and filled with dust and cobwebs. Light sources will be in disrepair if they are even present. More than one victim might be visible... and on and on....I'm sure you get the idea.

 

A magic user will have made excellent use of runes, spells, and traps.

 

A warrior will have sturdy hardwood, stone, and iron throughout.

 

There's plenty of other examples, but the point is, dungeons are going to fit the characters that created them The dungeon that you have now, while functional, lacks character.

 

A few nicely thought out details should flesh things out a bit.

 

"What do you mean he rolled a 20! I had my magic boots on....Fine!"

 

Steve P.

 

Spoken like a true D&D nerd! Bravo! Being an ex-Dungeon Master myself, I value your insight. Thanks.

[oakchas]

I have to agree with Steve... While I like the head with the glowing eyes, this is the "feeling" I get when looking at the corridor.

 

Beautifully finished basement! So this is the entrance to your Home Theater? Awesome! Musta cost you a bundle! Restroom's there on the right? Okay, thanks! You did a beautiful job on this, who was your stone mason?

 

Sorry, that's just the feel I get here... I know you're going to add stuff. A plastic rat here, a rubber bat there, maybe a resin skull.

 

It's just way too clean, orderly, architectual.

 

Now that's not to say that that clean architectual look can't be hiding some very nasty stuff... But then I start thinking it's a set for a S&M shoot...

 

So, you're not "getting me" with this one.

 

I'm sorry, the work you've done here is very nice. It's just too nice!

 

YMMV

[Rodney]

Looking nice.

 

I'll suggest spending a little time adding detail where the walls meet the floor and ceiling/boards.

Using a little displacement will go a long way here too to make it look built rather than just rendered.

 

There is a thread on a basement corridor (I think it was by one of the Bradbury brothers) that has some good tips on lighting and adding detail. Not all would apply in your case of course but some would.

 

The wood at the ceiling for instance could benefit a lot from another map added to it to make is seem less modern and perhaps more hand hewn. The marble(?) columns you might want to experiment to get some differentiation. If you are mostly happy with what you have just adding the grunge maps would go a long way. Its a very clean dungeon hallway as it is right now. The repetition of rock pattern (mirror image) on the left side wall is too noticable right now too.**

 

I like it!

 

**Unless this is the location of a secret door made invisible by a magician in which case... disregard!

[arkaos]

Thanks for your input, Rodney. As stated this is still very preliminary. Just trying to get a feel of what's going on and what I need to do. So far I've gotten some excellent input from everybody and I'm sure the final product will kick-butt because of it.

 

Yes, the texture on the left is messed up. I knew that when I stamped it, but I didn't change it because it took forever to get all the stamps done. That is one I shall fix. I'm also experimenting with different column designs, because I agree with you, the ones shown really don't work for me either.

 

I have seen the corridor model from Mr. Bradbury. Very nice. Those guys are tops when I comes to modelling and lighting and adding the fine details. I have been studying it the past day or so.

 

As for the texturing, I am thinking of trying to create my own image textures based from material renderings. The ones I used are images that ship with A:M and are not big enough to give a good render at this resolution. If anybody has any tips or ideas about this, please post. I am eager to hear from you people.

 

And yes, the wood beams are a little too perfect and new looking for this scene. Some tweaking will have to be done. For now, I am going to concentrate on getting my modelling detail done, then worry about aging later.

 

Aside from the walls and floor, everything else is textured with materials. I might want to re-think that if I want to use the set for animating.

[frosteternal]

And yes, the wood beams are a little too perfect and new looking for this scene. Some tweaking will have to be done. For now, I am going to concentrate on getting my modelling detail done, then worry about aging later.

Aside from the walls and floor, everything else is textured with materials. I might want to re-think that if I want to use the set for animating.

 

An easy way to "rough-up" the scene is using some volumetric lighting (makes it look dusty) and maybe stains etc, also shallow depth-of-field really adds to the claustophobic "feel" of a dungeon. I threw this together last year as a web-site background to promote one of my books, it's not perfect, but might give you some ideas as far as texture/lighting/etc. [attachmentid=14980]

 

Nice work thus far, I particularly like the ghostly-lit head with the eyes. =) Gorgeously creepy.

[trajcedrv]

I like it so far! Good start, lots of potential....

 

Everything mentioned above stands- dungeon would benefit a lot from some little detail here and there.

 

I would add some dark fog in a distance... it would increase the feeling of claustrophobia...

 

...and maybe just a touch of the light volumetric fog around the demon figure...

 

Keep us posted!

 

Drvarceto

[arkaos]

Well here is my latest update. I completely changed out the textures for the flooring and walls. I re-designed the column. The style of the first ones really didn't go with the scene. I still have to dirty it up a little, but as I said, that will be last on my list.

 

Currently I am working on the webs (not included here) and some ghostly effects (not here either).

 

My lighting still needs a bit of tweaking, so for now, I am post processing in Paintshop to get the feel and temperature. I know I should use compositing for that, but I am just now learning that, and I think this project is too complex for me to learn on. Later when I am more practiced at compositing, I will use it more.

 

I don't seem to have the bump mapping very good on the floor. It still looks a bit flat. Right now I used a color map and a grayscale for texture with a displacement setting of 100%.

[frosteternal]

Well here is my latest update. I completely changed out the textures for the flooring and walls.

 

Yay! Blood-stains!!

 

Looking much, much more creepy. Nice work and best of luck with this project!

[Joe Gamblin]

Looking great! One little note, while I love the blood on the floor (looks greasy, sticky, perfect), the blood on the column just doesn't look right. It's too Kool-aid red. Imo, it needs to be a much deeper and darker red (esp. with spec highlights) and there needs to be more splatter and splashes to get that good and creepy feeling. Also, with the chain loop being centered so well on the stain, it reminds me of an person's outline (chain being the eyes). Just food for thought, it really is looking good. I just it nitpicky about blood since I see it so often in the basement MWUHAHAHAHAHA!!! Roll a D20 of will save or run screaming.

[Rodney]

You are making some tough decisions and I think you are heading in the right direction.

Its hard to do that sometimes.

 

You last image for a moment led me to believe you had cut back on the number of lights but I see some are just hidden by the new columns. You may want to experiment with cutting a few of them out to better control the light in your scene. Just a spur of the moment thought. A really well lit dungeon works against what you are trying to achieve perhaps. Removing or spreading out the lights might work to your advantage. Is there light behind the camera for instance? I'll suggest removing the middle four lights and keeping the outer four. Then adding two more off screen behind the camera.

 

I like the way the wood is starting to look. nice shadow effects being thrown on the wood from the foreward lamps.

 

Added: While it may work against your purpose I'll suggest you might adjust the camera angle so that you see just slightly more of the right wall than the left. The near perfect symmetry from your current angle adds a little to the modern/perfect look whereas offsetting would help work against that. It would also help in the composition and allow some more detail to be seen on the door and columns that otherwise gets missed.

 

I love the new grainy look in this last image. Its nice!

It looks a little like an image that could be found in a print (pulp paper) magazine.

 

One more suggestion in the symmetry area. Please disregard as you see fit.

Almost everything is symmetrical in the image. Lights perfectly aligned and distributed. Evil red skull pefectly centered... etc. I think if you pushed the door frame closer to the first column on the right or at least adjusted its position the composition would improve. This would be even more evident with the above camera adjustment and some recentering of the fewer lights.

 

Again... just suggestions. This is not my image and its looking nice as you have it designed now.

Keep it up!

[arkaos]

Hi Rodney! I've been reviewing your comments and I think you have made some really good suggestions. Your comment about the camera angle is one I will definitely explore. As far as the symmetry, I intend to keep that for now. In architecture, you see a LOT of symmetry--even (especially) in ancient architecture. By the way, the skull is NOT centered. The camera angle and distance from the camera make him appear so. You mentioned I've made some tough decisions, and you ain't lying. I'm still not sold on the flooring texture. It looks better before I render it (if THAT makes any sense). I used a darktree material to get the current wall texture. I rendered it out to a *.tga at high res and used that as a texture map. I really like the way it turned out. I basically did the same thing for the new floor, but it still doesn't look right. Any suggestions (or better yet, free textures) will gladly be accepted .

 

I have actually revised the lighting a bit, I have it so I don't need any post-processing, here is a tidbit:

 

The green you see on the floor, has been changed to a dark red. I decided to make it dried rivers of blood, so disregard the green.

 

Remember, at this stage, I haven't added any age to the objects in the scene. As stated, that will be left for last.

 

Achilles Desire wrote: " the blood on the column just doesn't look right. It's too Kool-aid red."

 

Yea, I know....it's already been changed. "Hey Kool-Aid.....Oh, Yeah!" lol

[frosteternal]

IThe green you see on the floor, has been changed to a dark red. I decided to make it dried rivers of blood, so disregard the green....

Yea, I know....it's already been changed. "Hey Kool-Aid.....Oh, Yeah!" lol

 

Does anyone even drink Kool-Aid anymore? I don't recal even seeing it advertised any longer...

 

Oh yeah...the rivers of soon-to-be-blood...VERY nice and icky. Love it!

[arkaos]

Now it's time to have some FUN!

 

Here is my latest version(s). I've created different artistic interpretations from the same render.

 

First is the actual render output from A:M.

 

And a couple of others:

[Rodney]

Wow. You are speedy.

You've been busy.

That angle change worked even better than I had imagined.

 

No suggestions for now. I'll just sit back and enjoy.

Keep up the experimentation!

[Dhar]

I've enjoyed the views, quite artistic.

 

Suggestion: cobwebs in the corners and fog

[oakchas]

looking much better! Rodney was right about the composition... the angle really helps..

 

Also, I think you need some way to show either the natural pooling of blood in the floor, which would follow the grout.... Or the blood, from a dragged object might be somewhat more linear and sporadic. Like a nearly dry paintbrush? Or, from an arterial flow standpoint... maybe some splatter on the walls.

 

just things to consider. It is looking much creepier.