lighting and texture help

Gail_Blitzy

okay, so I am still a little new to the whole 3D game and i was hoping you guys could help me in assessing what i am doing wrong with this ...

I have attached an image - on the left is what i want it to look like, nice and vibrant text
and on the right is what i've got, the light is all washed out and the colours look pants!

What exactly am I doing wrong?
Is it the texture that needs making more saturated? should I add a specular map? does the lights need changing (which reminds me, I am just using 1 standard directional light on the render)

dbz123

Try using 2 gradient materials on Grand and another on the Ambitionz part. You can play around with gloss/blinn effects to get a better glare out of it. Some self illumination on the texture may help as well. Then of course, your light set up. Throw in direct light and maybe even a couple of omni's. There are a bunch of ways to make this pop.
I recommend browsing online for some quick tutorials on lighting fonts or something.