Dark Fantasy Environment and Props

Hi BlenderArtists,

I am currently working on a model pack for the Unity Asset Store. I am however not satisfied with the overall look of these game-ready models. There would be many objects from gates and windows to lamps, furniture, decoration etc.

The style would be a gloomy, mystical, dark fantasy-inspired look, similar to a dark elf or vampire castle interior. For modeling I use Blender, for texturing Substance Designer and PS. These are powerful tools in the right hands but I think I’m missing something here. Please take a look at my work and help me figuring out how should I improve the textures.
I use Base Color / Normal / Roughness/ Metallic workflow, and would like to add Ambient Occlusion separately (screen space).
If you see some obvious flaws in contour, colors, etc please note those too. In these images I throw the objects into Unity, no light setup and compositing was done (I still need to learn those for presenting my stuff).






Thank you for your attention!

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Here is a link to my Sketchfab page where I already uploaded some of the crystal lamps and chandelier: Runemark's 3D models - Sketchfab

Neat assets!
I would expect the braziers to be much darker on the inside than the outside, and to not have much wear on the outside. Also, probably tone down the white texture.

The table stands should probably be bent from a single wire. Your basic design on the left, my suggestion on the right:
image
And then tone down the texturing on the stands as well. Unless these are supposed to have been uniformely handled by ash-fingered sprites, I can’t think of a reason for them to have a layer of grey splotches on them.
I suppose it also depends on what other assets these are supposed to fit in with. Case in point, the door, while really neat looking, appears to be from a different aesthetic lineage than the braziers and lanterns. Different coloring, different decoration style, etc.

On the door itself, I would color the clavos, straps, and hinges dark like the other metal. Might want to add handles too… like so:

first thing, is this is great work
i think that you still need to add AO as you mentioned because it add,s an element of realism that we dont note,
but what i really think is that you need to add imperfections , finger print,s , dirt and dust , scratch,s ,to your models to add some sort of extra realism , at least it,s the only think i can say for now ,of course thats if these imgs you provided are the finale result

I worked this week on the gate and gatehouse. I reworked the gate textures and modeled a gatehouse, and set up a simple 3-point lighting in Unity (please ignore the gray backdrop thing for now). I think I’m getting into somewhere! :slight_smile: (Didn’t touch the crystals yet)

You’re doing okay so far.
But I would add moss and cracks on the wall (depends on the condition you want your castle to be in) here is a good reference(can you guess where it’s from😉):

Also it’s great and all that you’ve added edge wear and color variations but I don’t get a medieval castle vibe from it.
I liked the previous door more tbh.
Try also more prominent gaps, variation in height, add wear and tear to individual bricks(you can do it by exporting your textures after you’ve load your textures then export them and reimport them then rebaking the other maps).

Some vines would be awesome as well.

If it’s on the ground think of adding dirt at the bottom of the castle.

You gotta visualize it the way you want it to look and think of the condition you want it to be in. Then find a sh*t tonne of reference.
You’re welcome.

Hi Igor,

I want this castle to be in quite good condition, since it is used daily and people live in it. I planned to add more details (iron grates, flags, sculptures etc.) to underline that the castle is not vacant and is maintained carefully by the servants.
I already tried to add some variety in form of moss decals to the edges and crevices of the walls. Since I have only one wall variety (a 2.5 m x 3m piece, tileable in any direction) I have to figure out how to do that. I found that in Realtime GI light setup, my moss decal (using Unity’s standard shader, transparent Cutout setup) ruined the shadow in those crevices, and it became brighter than it was without decal. I think I need to use a special decal shader for that? I want to use Amplify Shader Editor but I’m quite new to making custom shaders, so it will take more time.
There is another option in the Standard Shader, namely, the Detail section. This has albedo and normal maps only, I will try those out by adding different decals to that slot and see what happens.

will it looks good so far,
there are things that we cant control even if we are taking care of them, ,this things add realism depth to anything,
cracks dirt’s un wanted plants but waht you did is already looking great
one thing i would say is that castel bricks are more of smooth and shiny ,
when i sow yours it makes me feel like if it was clay ,
maybe you need take the roughens down a little bet, or maybe it,s something else

I’d recommend using Substance Painter for the edits I’ve mentioned previously.(you can easily get a free trial, or student license, or buy it).
I’ve also had a lot of struggle in the past with decals in unity so I’d highly recommend you get a paid decal system from unity asset store.

I use Substance Designer for a while now. I tried Painter too, but I don’t have a digital pen so painting with mouse is a bit harder to control. I might give it another try soon, since it is very effective to paint with a whole material instead of generating masks and adjust all the stuff manually in the graph. Do you have a preference / good experience with any asset store decal system?

Decalicious Deferred Decal System is the one I bought for 20 something dollars.
Regarding Substance It’s hard to explain, but you certainly don’t need any drawing skills nor a digital pen.
If you want we can hop on a quick skype call and I’ll show you.

Hi everyone! Long time since my last reply, but I was busy working on the furniture for the pack! Here are some of the models:

The concern I see is with all of the furnishings that have spikey legs. These are going to be impractical to use since the weight of the object, and anything resting on it, is going to be concentrated in a very small tip. You might want to reconsider that design; maybe give it a scorpion-barb foot or something.

I’m finally making some progress here. The pack is near ready, I’M already packing it all up nice & tidy into Unity.