[UE4]Writer's Desk

riot

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I've started working on a small scene to get used to the unreal engine 4 and its new material system mainly, but also to have some fresh art for my portfolio.

I've also created a rough concept of the scene, specially for the mood but also the layout, even though I plan on adding some more things.



For now I have the typewriter created. The specs a little bit excessive(5 layered materials, 13k tris) but since its a next gen "hero", closeup prop, I figured I'd go a little bit crazy this time. The wood planks material is the default from UE4, I'm using it as a placeholder until I create the desk.





I'd like to get some honest feedback on this, if I'm heading in the right direction or not. Thanks!

DWalker

Have you considered adding a partially-filled sheet of paper to the typewriter?

riot

@DWalker: Yes, I thought about it, but I'm biased between adding it to the typewriter or just putting it on the table like in the concept. Going to try both options, to figure which one works best.

JoshWilkinson

Judging by the scale of things, I'd say your planks in the back ground are three inches long and one inch tall; not really practical at all. I'd suggest swapping them for desaturated bricks. I see that your concept has small planks/ bricks like that but it just isn't working in 3D. If I had to guess, those planks are painted to act as "noise" to keep the eye focused on the center. Add some noise to your brick specular and you should keep everything focused

riot

@BringMeASunkist - You're right, the planks are totally off. They're used only as a placeholder until I'll have the desk, so I'm not really worried about them. And yes, the wall behind the desk will be made of white painted bricks, like in the concept.

LuCh!

nice, that typewriter is looking sweet!
though it's not in the concept i suggest adding an ash tray with a smoking cigarette on the left side,
adds a little light on the opposite side of the desk light and some sweet particles that are still different from the coffee steam,
also fits the theme perfectly

great start, keep it up!

Jeff Parrott

The typewriter is looking cool so far. But that concept! More of that stuff. Really like how you rendered the concept.

riot

Thanks guys! I had some time to work on this these days, so I made the table and a chair:



Still early wip. Feedback is very welcome!

atomander

Loving the atmosphere of this piece.

riot

a little update on this:







I'll start working on the books and paper sheets next.

riot

had some free time last couple of days so I did some progress on this piece:





next i'll create some assets to fill the right part of the desk since it's a little bit empty, probably a coffe mug or something similar.

riot

worked on the lighting and colors a bit to give the scene more mood and also added an ash tray and the mug.

snow

Looking good. Not entirely convinced on the wall texture, looks more "handmade" than the other objects. Were 4 people smoking at the same time or did he have 4 ciggies at once?

riot

worked on the lighting a bit since it was really dull and boring, also added some new assets. painting on the wall is by Andrew Glenn, all credits to him.



@snow: lol, now that you mention it, it looks really silly. the guy might have been a beast, but I don't think he would be able to smoke four at once, will fix that. I agree about the wall, I'm not really convinced either, will definitely change it once I finish creating all the assets and approach the final stages.

@ESFGames: thanks, artforgames looks awesome, I will post there once the piece will be closer to finish.

riot

Messed with the lighting and colors, added some flowers and the guy's hat. I think I'm done, at least for now, with this project. feedback is welcome tho', will probabably get back to it if there's many things to fix.





More images on my portfolio. article is still wip, so most of the description text and some breakdowns are missing.

Cobra8472

Great work! I really don't do a lot of stuff like this, so take anything I write with a heavy handful of salt. Perhaps just a fresh perspective than anything else.

I must admit; I'm not a fan of the blue/yellow lighting setup. It's fairly jarring, and in your newest iteration it doesn't seem clear where the light is even coming from (the shadows look very very strange).

The first iteration of the blue + yellow light seems better, but still not quite optimal.
It certainly does not capture the mood of your initial concept piece: a somewhat noiry scene where the rickety old writers' desk is illuminated by a single solitary light.

The beer bottle/coffee/ash placement does not entirely make sense to me. The tilt of the typewriter and the coffee placement indicates (to me) a right handed individual, yet the beer bottles are randomly placed on the left side.
Looking at my desk, which is a terrible mess at the moment, including beer bottles, they'd be clustered on the right side, standing fairly close together, close to the edge.
He had plenty of space to put them there, avoiding the stretch to the other side. The same can be said for the cigarettes.

The beer bottle caps would also be better served to be separated from the bottles themselves, I do think it's fairly rare to put it back on, especially if he's a fairly "messy" individual (as witnessed by the general tidiness of his workspace).

The wall texture feels very flat and misplaced. Almost like prison-esque painted bricks. Perhaps some wallpaper from the era would fit better?

Your images also feel somewhat over sharpened, almost as if they lack proper AA.

All in all, great stuff!

Nam.Nguyen

look great !

I agreed with cobra. the two-tone setup is too strong

KrisLW

Great work overall so far! I love the mood of the piece, and the old beat up feeling of the desk!

I agree with Cobra on the blue/yellow lighting being a bit jarring. I personally am a huge fan of warm/cool lighting set-ups, but I personally think it works better when they aren't battling each other.

That being said, the blue light as a whole is kind of throwing me off. The shade seems a bit too bright and cyan-ish to be emitting that purpley-blue color of light. I personally liked it better when it was just the white-wash bloom from post #15 (although I don't think the light is quite bright enough for that level of white to be justified.)

Secondly, I also agree it seems something is weird with the lighting itself coming from the blue light. I mean, it's lighting up the light ray of the yellow light and turning it blue, but it's not lighting up it's own shadow at all? Also, that downward shadow cast by what appears the wooden base of the blue light - it's as if the light source is off to the side?

Other than the oddities of the blue light, the rest of the piece is looking pretty awesome!

Pancakes

wow people used to use type writers wow, hard to imagine that

riot

I've changed the brick material and the lighting to make it less confusing, more focused and clear that the main light is coming from the desk lamp. Also lowered the brightness on the blue wall light so it doesn't draw so much attention.





Thanks for the feedback guys, was really helpful! More screenshots and also breakdowns on my portfolio

@Cobra8472: Yeah, practically it makes sense to place all the bottles on the right side, but I put them on the left side because of the composition to compensate for the light on the right, to make the image more stable

DWalker

The rear-most bottle is penetrating the book on which it's sitting.

Also, why in the world does he have 5 copies of Jane Eyre? If you want to save texture space by re-using the same book, then I'd recommend either a generic book or something like an encyclopedia which would come in a large set of similar covers.

KassEscoe

beautiful scene!