NES Mother Brain & Tourian

Brandross

I was working on this a little while back as a fanart/practice project in 3ds Max, and I figured this was as good an opportunity as any to dust it off and put some polish on it.  It's a 3D interpretation of Mother Brain's room from the original Metroid based on the that game's graphics and character art. Does anyone have any thoughts as to what the scene's strong and weak points are?

Lt_Commander

I had a hard time figuring out what was going on until I saw the perspective shot - there's not a lot of separation between the foreground/midground/background right now and all the reflections make the environment even harder to visually decipher, like trying to focus in on one thing in one of those endless mirrors in an elevator. 

The color palette isn't helping, everything is some tone of orange, and even through there are a lot of shapes, it's hard to see where one thing ends and the other begins.

You should try adding in some contrasting color and work on your material definition to reduce the amount of 'shiny.' Maybe separate out the background using fog/volumetric lighting, and try some more angled/dramatic lighting to add emphasis to specific objects. I hope that helps!

Brandross

It does, thanks!  Dulling down the reflectivity on the metal probably would help cut down on some of that orange as well.  (Admittedly, it probably doesn't help that the old NES graphics I used for a reference were mostly orange and gray.  I may have been a bit too faithful to the original in that respect.)

Brandross

Revised version:Thoughts?

Opilo

There sure is a lot going on, but the revised version is a huge improvement on the original. I think you have captured the creepy organic feeling very well. I think that the "pièce de résistance;)", the brain, should be presented and lighted more powerful. I know it's hard with your palette though. Anyway, nice work. Waiting to see it finished

Brandross

Thanks for the input!  It's getting there, although I will admit that the lighting has been a bit of a sticking point; I'm trying to find a happy medium between "dark and imposing" and "easily visible".
Here is a shot of the brain jar/pedestal structure, along with the original game's graphics for comparison.
A close-up of Mother Brain submerged in brain goo:

Also, comparison shots of two versions of the brain texture:
Left side is the exposed brain look used in the previous renders.  The texture on the right has a smoother look more in-line with Mother Brain's original art.  With that version I tried to make it look as though the actual brain was covered by a layer of skin.  I'm currently leaning towards sticking with the exposed look, but if anyone has any thoughts about it, I'm all ears.

Brandross

Tweaked some of the textures, shuffled a few lights, and decided to try a more translucent liquid in the brain jar.

JoseGR

Love the first image, the "2D" like in the game. I remember to play this game when I was younger  
The reinterpretation you did of the brain is really good, it keeps the 2D essence. My only suggestion is, as it was said above, to light up the brain because right now the tubes are attracting the attention.
Hope to see more soon

Brandross

The latest revision of the scene:

Lighting has been somewhat improved, background clutter was reduced, and some minor changes were made so as to better match the original map.

Brandross

2D ortho view.  Added in two square bits on the floor that I somehow missed when setting up the previous render.  Probably going to put some thin scaffolding or something under them so they don't look so awkwardly balanced on top of the floor pipes.

Brandross

Thought It was about time I revisited this project.  I redid the background environment, some of the lighting, and added a bit more detail.  As always, if anyone has suggestions as to additional ways I can improve the model, I'm more than happy to hear them.

Brandross

Made some improvements to the detailing on Mother Brain.  The displacement mapping is working a bit better, and it just has more depth in general, though I'm still not quite happy with the "gill" pipes on the side of the brain.



It only now occurs to me that I never modeled a shattered version of the brain tank...

Brandross

Just for fun, I did a quick model of the armcannon from old-style power suit art and photoshopped a Prime style HUD.


(EDIT)  Wow, I posted this and just hours later they announced Metroid Prime 4.  Apparently, I am some sort of wizard.