For snow and ice there was a material somewhere —
If you can get hold of that material you will be able to texture very good looking frozen and snowy ground directly in zbrush, with renderings in your animation software… you will have to search for it though 
Is it in these forums or google? Exactly what file format should I be looking for?
To tell you guys the truth all I know how to do in zbrush is messy zspheres and making tileable textures. Im making this scne in 3dsMax and main texturing in PS, but I plan to use Zbrush for more detailed textures. Ofcourse if I can get this done mostly on zbrush once the main objects in the scenc ehave been modeled and textured - setting things up in Zbrush would probably be the best.
I need help though - I can model in Max really well, I cna paint textures in PS, but putting them all together is my problem - one with a final render that looks really good.
The gatehouse now is still unfinished on texturing. It is lowpoly - under a hundred - the texture is still being painted so right now it is 3000x3000 which may be small for some but this is so far the second largest texture I have done - largest would be 4000x4000. I will resize this texture to around 1024x1024 since this structure will be in the background anyway.
Still lacking snow texture. Is it a good idea to manually model the snow so that they look fluffier?
The ruins so far, took around 40 mins each to model, UVunwrap, and texture paint. Gatehouse texture is 3000x3000 8mb PNG, the shed has a 2000x2000 2.5mb PNG. Looks great up close.
While texturing, you can try using the spherebrush tool with depth to create fluffy ball type appearance…will need lot of trial and error though…
Well the buildings and the other props will be fully textured using Photoshop primarily. I guess Zbrush will be most help ful when detailing the ground which I expect to have alot more detail.
The layout would be:
Ruined buildings at the back, depth of field used and focus on the foreground slightly -I have the zdepth plugin for 3dsMax for this.
Then comes the first trench wall, presumably the german trench walls which will be tall parapets covered in a blanket of snow and decorated with small pine tree tips with candles -I dont think detail is a concern here since it will still be far and still be blurred a bit by depth of field.
Next would be the barbed wire - I guess I will just twist some cylinders around or simply use an opacity filter and texture the wire. This may require some detail as debris will be all around this.
Snowy field - around 20-40 feet of snow covered ground with slight debris and signs of cratering - may require some detail
British trenches - wooden trench walls covered in snow, signs of recent activity - hand prints on the snow. Main object in the scene will be a Springfield1903 and a helmet on the parapet/sandbags. The rifle is almost done but hasnt been skinned yet, I will position it so that I dont have to complete the rifle at all. I havent made the helmet yet. This part requires the sharpest amount of detail.
Camera positions? well I wont know for sure till I actually build the trenches. Im wondering if anyone can point me towards tutorials for making and textuinf highly detailed sprites for trees and the barbwire. That would be helpful and saves alot of time and processing rather than building them in real 3d.
This image update now has the shed texture fixed because the side incorrectly joins with the roof.
This would actually be the first time I make something with actual texture and UV skins - before I only used procedural but that is because for that past 5 years all I have been doing was learning to poly model - now im learning to texture and render as best as possible as my software can go - I dont know how and wehre to ge tbetter renderers and textures without going for the expensive prices of the commercial ones. 
that is what makes this hard for me, lack of software and textures to work with.
Time to make the trenches, the snow, and the rest of the snow. I have finished the visible part of the ruins, all fully textured up to 3000x3000 reaching 73Mb compressed and 380Mb uncompressed.
Any suggestions on how I should put the snow on the ruins and how to make the snowy fields and trenches? Im thinking of doing this in brush now - where I can easily sculp (but still dont know how to) a displacement map and a normal map that can be applied to the mesh at max.
I have modelled the terrain and trenches manualy… now I need to know how to paint it? Obvoiusly because of its size, manualy mapping UVs isnt going to be a good idea with a 22 day deadline. I have Zbrush, but I cant seem to paint it without Zbrush making it look like glass of metal or low poly. Is there a way I could just use Zbrush to take the mesh and flatten it so that it is easier to paint? or any other suggestions on how I can paint it?
Use bump maps to paint on the texture, that will give you high detailing of snow and dirt and all.
then displace the bump map and you ahve a low poly plane with high details, now simply color shade the mesh in zbrush(while mesh is in displaced viewing) with appropriate materials and export the texture.
and combine them all in other software…
If I was you I could have tried this one , but be very sure before you invest time on it.
The only problem is this would really be the first time I use Zbrush for production texture painting.
There is a section of a trench along the walls… painting the insides seem to be harder in Zbrush if I do it in 3d because it is hard to move it around in Zbrush.
Plus, should I divide the mesh first before painting because I am getting a really horrible lowpoly look.
Any links to texture painting tutorials for Zbrush - ones especially for winter and snow?
Use the hide and seek method…
hide the part which you do not need, have a look at the practical guide(downlaod from zbrush site) and properly go through it once for sculpting details and texturing. It is very important.
Divide the mesh to have about 2 million polygons, do some sculpting on it first.
When creating the bump texture take highest as possible or import a bigger base texture from photshop) 4096 x 4096 is highest in zbrush.
While creating details always hide other portions to save system resources and work smoothly.(turn quick 3d off as well)
For texturing check out Auricks precision texturing tutorial in these forums, they are two of them. Remmbering painting bump maps is like painting texture, differnce is gray and white will give depth, so both ways Auricks lessons are very important.
Check out the wiki for bump map tutorials and I am looking for that ice material for you. 
Thanks…
So in 22 days I should be able to get the snow painted in with debris detail and some dirt. I have to get trees and lights in between that time and final rendering. So much to do…
Thanks. Here is what I have so far. Now that the dirty snow is out of the way, time to model debris, barb wire and trees. I am having a hard time doing the mental ray lights as I have never used mental ray to render a scene before.
As for the trees, is there anything Zbrush can do to create realistic trees but maintain low-med poly? Besides normal maps.
Yes you need to look for a material here on zbrush- its wood and tree material some kind. When you apply that material to a low poly say 5k model(I hope thats low poly) it will render it like having bark and details. leaves i cnat help as I use fiber brush for it, that wont work for you though.
Alright… So by low poly model do you mean a sprite or a low detail mesh tree? I should attemp to get it under 3000 poly each and if possible looking as real as possible.
I suppose I can use the same trees in 3dsMax’ AEC foliage package. They are quite mid poly but have no textures at all.
I figured out Mental Ray - all that remains is the set of barbwire fencing and a bunch of Christmas trees and snow fall.
Any tips on the trees and barbed wire?
Updates on what I have already done. I tweaked the lighting, it isnt finished yet since the candle light hasnt been installed yet.
Im still looking for ways to make quick background trees, and foreground christmas trees both in lowpoly and highpoly.
Then I still need around 50meters of barbed wire.
Some snow fall - but I got that handled.
The test render is already uploaded, it has global illumination already. Any comments, tips, suggestions on how to make it feel more christmasy (ofcourse taking into consideration that I have not created the trees with candles yet)? Any would be appreciated.
With 5 days till Dec21st, the day before my deadline… this is what I have so far.
Everything here is directly modelled - except for the sky and bricks.
Does this scene feel wintery and christmas already?
Any tips besides the candle lights on how to make it feel alot more like Christmas?
With all respect, and the best intentions… I don’t see anything… It’s way to dark. I can’t see bricks, nor snow. I see some dim lights in a dark background and some barely visible poles in the foreground stuck in the ground. I am sure that it will look great once you work on the lighting. Winter nights are really not that dark as the snow reflects a lot of light. I’d introduce a moon and light it brighter without loosing the character of the scene.
Good luck with it!
Lemo
PS:Maybe google for ‘winter night’ and look at some examples popping up. Then transfer the lighting you like the most to your scene.
That is still a WIP . I did mention in previous posts that the lights are still being worked out. The final image will be PSed and then uploaded to deviant art. I will give the link. It should be done before deadline by the 20th.
This is the newest one. Comments, tips?
Finaly done! http://xenosilence.deviantart.com
Its the first one on the front page (click to open, once open click to enlarge) and its kinda big at around 1600x800.