Hey guys! Just found this awesome forum while searching the net for a particular tech artist! Thought that I would post up my work here!
I’m embarking on a self taught project along with my University work in the UK and it will be a project based solely in UDK. It will be the creation of complex holographic shaders using the available tools and features of UDK.
What inspired me in this project? - Science fiction mainly got me hooked into this project, especially with the release of recent titles such as Mass Effect 2, Iron Man 2 and Avatar which all feature super awesome looking holograms.
I’m hoping to recreate some of these effects into a custom shader in the UDK material editor, which can then be used in conjunction with another material (or 3D mesh) and even feature some dynamic elements such as movement and activation with the help of kismet.
I’m currently working on a 3D environment to display these holograms as shown below. (Some fans may notice the similarities from this and the beginning of Mass Effect 2) - The environment is far from finished but the modelling is almost complete. I most likely won’t be texturing this though as it’s more focused on the shaders.
I’ve been working hard from January onwards building these shaders based upon some research from different artists and unreal techniques etc. Here is a short video of the holograms that I have so far…
Now here are some closeups of three instances I have of them…
I was hoping that somebody could give me some critique on my work so far… Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Looks like you have yourself a good start, but i think the best way to achieve the hologram work is to work with the motion/look over time. Its easy to make a static hologram, but to make one look good while moving is the trick. Looks like you have some of that, but id suggest a bit more, more subtle stuff that you “feel” rather than see. Bringing in a detail texture for some of those close spots that has smaller noise texture to break up solid colors helps alot too.
Also try to think about a hologram as “how is this being made/projected” Is it from the sides?, from the ground, from a projector across the room? Having details like the edges of the hologram are brighter because they are being projected from the sides always brings in the extra touch that makes them feel more believable. Lightning form your level also helps “plant” a hologram within the world.
Looking forward to seeing more!
~Cheers
Edit: I apparently missed the video when i first posted, edited my post accordingly.
@JeFX - In UDK i’m using the Bumpoffset node in the material editor which is typically used for parallex mapping as well… but thanks for the suggestion =)
The bump offset is giving the illusion of 3D on a plane
I only brought it up because you could easily have been using two pieces of mesh layered on top of each other, and might actually be cheaper (shader instruction wise) then using the bump offset. This obviously wouldn’t work in every situation though.
Looks great Scott! I would layer them like JeFX said. Would present a better 3d look to them. There’s some great hologram references in the Final Fantasy: Spirits Within movie also.
Nice one guys!! Was looking at some of the Tron holograms! funny enough I love the colour scheme so been implementing some of that into my shaders… Can you guys crit on the scanner I have made at the end?
(oh and can someone tell me how to embed youtube on this! driving me nuts.)
The scanner at the end: Id have to say its a bit simplistic and you could easily take it further. Dont try to think i in terms of “this is an effect and i have to only use material tricks to achieve it”. Throw a light in there and animate it traveling through the level, attach a Post FX boundary and move iot along with it, Fade out the plane based on pixel depth so you dont have the “pop” as the poly flys through the camera, add in some dust thats being lit up by the scanner, make the scanner leave behind a mark somehow, Make the depth fade transition into another material that would invert the colors of stuff based off of screen depth.
This is when you need an art director saying “hey do this now”. Because Its a good first pass, but id say think more about “how is this being scanned”, “why”, and how you can take it and push it more.Its making ALL of those elements come together that really makes these effects shine.
Looks great! Well done! The core elements are there and i think its missing a crucial element, being “planted” in the world. Right now they are “floaty” and dont receive/cast light onto the scene. I think the next step would be to add lights into your scene and bake them, or make a nice projected decal to show the holograms lighting up the room.
That looks pretty awesome considering my assumption of you being on a tight deadline like it always was for me in my classes. I agree with JeFX it would be nice to see them illuminate their surroundings a bit. This whole setup inside of UDK is just begging for some Scaleform as well.
yeh I definately understand what you guys mean…needs more like believability! I will try to work a bit more on it for an exhibition coming up though =) Will keep you’s posted
