Ok, big update, the level looks a lot different. I've changed the lighting back to what I originally was planning. I think this looks a lot better than before. The lights are going to be coming from candles and torches.

I've also started work on the Garuda. Here's the sculpt so far.

Added a few more things to the level. Firstly, I vertex painted the plants, so that they are now swaying. The level looks a lot more natural now that in. Here is how the vertex painting looked in max.

Each colour controls a different part of the movement. Once it is tweaked, I'm going to make a video to show it in motion.

Another major thing to go in is another hero asset. This is sculpture that goes in the cave part of the level. I changed the design a lot, but that is becuase of some new reseach I have been doing. These statues of Hanuman looked way too interesting not to put in in some form or other.

Here's how the final sculpt looked in the level.

Sorry I haven't updated this in a while. The presentation went well this last Friday. It was suggested that I add some animals into my level. I have started on a fish for the pools of water, but I was having difficulty with the animation. I could get it animated, but my animation skills are lacking and I'm going to have to give it some more work.

Today I redid the vines and added some new ones. I remade the textures for the tree vines and made the old vines into alphaed planes as I thought it would look better. I then made the vines that hang between the trees.
I also redid the tree leaves. I made a highpoly branch then baked it down to make the textures. The colour needs to be tweaked, but I think it looks a lot better. I also changed the normals of the leaves to face outwards using the speed tree plug-in in 3dsmax, which makes them shade a lot more naturally.

In the last week, I made height maps out of some of the patterns I had researched. The normal maps from these I am planning to use throughout the level.

I also added a new medium sized plant, based on one from my Birmingham trip.

Finally, I changed the cliffs and added more variety to them to make them more natural.

Since the last update, I've added a new hero asset. This is the dragon statue. I modeled it then added a little bit of damage in high poly sculpt. There is still some detail in the texturing that I would like to add, but I'm going to add them using a height map.

Here's how the asset looks in level.

I also made a large wall, both a whole and damged version. I think this adds a lot to the level, as it implies that there was more buildings before this area became ruined.

Here's what I've been working on today and yesterday. Firstly, I added the texture to the entrance gate. I've still got to create normal maps from height maps for some of the detail on this, and also the next thing.

I textured the small wall, and reduced the tri count of it. Its not got normals yet, although I have painted the height map for it. I'm prety happy with it, although a lot of the detail is lost in the 512 texture. However I don't think I can make it a 1024 as its not a hero asset.

I also made a tilable texture for the floor. I made this by sculpting out different bricks and then arranging them before baking the textures. For the walls I made a smooth mossy rock tilable texture. I changed the material ids of the cave and added these textures.

I also used the new floor texture to remake my path as I was not happy with it.

Next I am going to make this asset:

Here's what I've made on Friday and today. I made this small wall from this reference. Its unwrapped and I'm going to use hight maps to create the normals for it this week.

And I've started to make the entrance gate. I've scupted the detail and I'm unwrapping it tonight. I'm also going to use hight maps for the detail of this one.

By the end of this week I want these assets done, some more tilables for inside the cave baked, and another hero asset sculpted. I've really got to start to get some of these important parts made.

Just a quick update. Added the banana tree today and populated the level some more. I'm going to alter the vertex painting if I get the time. Tomorrow I'll work on the water. I'll try and give daily updates on things from now on, even if its just screenshots of the level.