[UE:4] Black Cube Lobby

kohg

Been working on the last month on this piece and am calling it done now, though i was initially thinking about doing more than just the lobby, like an office, bathroom and a special room with a black cube and a room inside.

I wanted to use very simple shapes and geometry to keep up with the cube thematic. My biggest struggles were by far the lighting, initally i was thinking about doing it a night scene, but because of time constraints i decided to keep it in daylight. I added a volumetric light under the ceiling window to better light the Cube but it wasn't working as expected. The Hedge/bushes were also a difficulty and i need to come up with a better way on how to tackle that sort of plants.

There are also quite a few screwed up light maps , another thing i need to work on.
 

kohg

Went ahead and did a night scene.

Kid.in.the.Dark

This is a nice start, I wouldn't say it's done to be honest... I guess depending on what you want with this... if you're going for ArchViz then yeah that's fine I guess but I still feel it's missing a lot of dressing.

- The scene is weak on dressing, there's only a few small scale props which sits on top of the table & counter but nothing else to back up the idea of the environment being lived within... it's like a single step towards committing but without any other props to back up the idea of life interaction it's going to come off as an odd prop... Suggestions: Bins, water dispenser, plug sockets, floor panels where power sockets are usually hidden under, a printer/fax machine somewhere, telephone on the counter desk, etc... still loads you could add to the scene.
- The walls are long and empty... I would expect to see something on them, text, minimal wall designs, picture frames, support beams to break up those long empty spaces.
- most of your props are all sitting in 90 degree angles and it just doesn't bring much life to the composition either... but again that's all to do with where you want to go with this piece... realism or hyper realism, adjust accordingly
- The lighting seems wrong, on the daytime lit version you have cross beams shadowing onto the floor but nothing to demonstrate why that's happening (I'm assuming you're using a directional light and ceiling geo that's not closed off. I also feel like the lighting doesn't really tie into the objects you have in scene, you have loads of spotlight sources on the ceiling but none of them actually look like they're emitting light into the scene.
- To add on top, I personally feel the concept of this is a bit weak since it doesn't display what this location actually is... it's an office but what is this office for? what do they do? It's easy to discard an idea and say it's just an office but to really attract and go the extra mile it's necessary to embed story telling into your artwork... at least for the games industry so it's worth revisiting your concept brief and building upon it.

Either way, really good start... definitely has potential Keep going!

kohg

Thanks for the critiques. I agree with most of them. I was going to add a few of the props you mentioned but eventually this project started taking way too much time and i really wanted to wrap it up and be done with it. As far as the design go, i could definitely have spent more time in it, i did wanted it to keep it very minimalist.

Working in UE4 so far, the lighting is the area that needs the most improvement,  i really struggle to set the mood i envision.
I'm already starting a new project, and will keep it less modular this time, and will make sure to have your last comment in mind, since being able to convey a story is something that i really want to achieve.