[WIP] Critiques Welcome - Sci-Fi Corridor
polycounter lvl 4
Hello all! I'm a CG student in college. I've only been introduced to 3D modeling, texturing, rendering, and compositing for about a year now. I decided to push my limits a little bit and went for a space corridor. Do you guys have any comments on the composition, style, etc? I went for a more realistic, industrial sort of sci-fi style. Thanks in advance!!
Replies
The main problem with the door, and why it looks a bit dumb, is because of the orientation of the boxes that *aren't* part of the door seam. These look like reinforcing supports (can't think of the exact term but you see those a lot on machined surfaces, like engine blocks), except their placement at seemingly arbitrary angles makes it seem unlikely that they'd support anything efficiently. If you look at various pieces of machinery (either from life or concept art) you should be able to find some good designs of reinforced edges that could serve as inspiration.
Oh, and the floppy tubes are kinda weird. Those that aren't being pushed away (by a pipe) should fall down straight, imo. Heavier and bigger objects tend to conform to gravity more (something to do with material tension, I think?) so it's a bit odd to see these big tubes bend around like shoelaces, and throws off your scale.
An additional trim for the floor would just be a section of geo where your wall dividers meet the floor. Right now, the floor is kind of a flat plane (with a mesh grate in the middle), and the walls basically come up straight from it. If you lowered the grating a little, you could, for example, create a foundation for the walls which gives them the impression of being slightly raised (the part where you have loose cables running across the floor). I actually think it's good that your floor is flat, because it creates a good contrast with the rest of your geo which is bumpy all over. But it would give a more pleasant read if it was composed of multiple flat shapes, rather than basically one plane.
I wouldn't break symmetry through these tubes - if you're intent on having them be asymmetrical, it might be better to redesign their shape, so they run across the ceiling (rather than drop from it), and have them be clipped on, with some of the clips more spaced out so some sections of the tubes can drop a little.
The thing to keep in mind with asymmetry is that it's mostly the result of natural processes, while humans prefer to create symmetry. In fact, there's nothing wrong with having symmetrical designs in man-made creations (vehicles and certain interiors are two examples). Asymmetry will confer a "lived-in" character to your environments, so a good way to break up the symmetry of a scene is to look at how the original symmetry of a man-made construct could become "broken". Dirt and wear are good examples, though they wouldn't apply to a clay render. A really good idea could be to place a couple items that could hint at the purpose of your corridor: boxes, crates, tools, or maybe a maintenance vehicle (belonging to the guy who fixes those pipes). You could remove a section of the mesh grating and leave it there with some tools and a toolbox, to hint that someone was performing maintenance on some of the electronics/machinery under the floor. The fun thing with those changes is that they help not only break symmetry, but also confer a lot of personality to your scenes by telling a story about them.
http://www.therookies.co/projects/film-production/sector-g-13/