arena net environment test

Arena net had an environment art test for their 2013 class, but deleted the entry requirements not long after they posted them up!!  I was halfway through my entry when I saw they had extended the due date to November 14, letting me complete this at a more relaxed paced.  When I went to check the date again it said November 16, and the Environment test portion was gone.  I decided to complete the house anyway!
The rules were:
-no more than 3000 polys
-up to 2 1024s for textures
The concept included:

My Environment Art entry:

-2545 polys

-1 1024x1024 and 2 256x256

Some of the normals/spec maps:

logo!

I made a logo for my sister's baking site http://honeybeebakingcompany.com/

I decided to change the floor texture to make the wood be realistically parallel to the structure of the ship rather than perpendicular.  Updated most textures, remade the wooden grates, and added a "glow" to the lanterns.

Below are some screenshots of the gundeck, with some added trims and some ambient fog, as well as a few emitters that I believe brought everything together.

I haven't posted in a very long time because:
1. I decided that doing an ENTIRE ship was too overwhelming.  I originally wanted to build a pirate town, narrowed it to a ship, and finally decided on the gun deck of the ship.
2. I revamped all my assets and textures.  I also had no idea about shadow maps until I already had all my assets in UDK.
3. My UDK skills had totally gone down the drain and I had to re-familiarize myself with the engine.
4. I was also trying hand-painted textures, which will take some time to get used to.

Even with all these setbacks, I have produced a result which I am proud of -

Busy busy busy..

I've been super busy today! I made a couple of trim pieces that I'm going to use on the top deck of the ship, and the balcony area at the aft of the ship as well. I think the little balcony pieces might be a tad too dark though...

I've also been trying to get a good fog going in my ship scene. I included a concept art piece I found that I'm using as a reference. I'll get there!!!!!

Up to date

Finally we are up to date, and I will keep updating this blog with screenshots of where I am with my pirate ship scene. Today I learned how to import models from 3ds max into unreal, how to make a shader, and spent a few hours tweaking post processing effects and making fog shaders and emitters. Of course, this isn't the final screenshot, I will be sure to give this blog a beauty shot of what I've created. I'm so proud of it.