[UE4 / WIP] Bathhouse Environment

LordSebbington

Hi everyone!

I'm in the middle of working on a bathhouse scene in UE4 and thought now would be a good time to start posting progress and asking for feedback - it's not so far through that everything's locked in and I want to try push this environment further than I could on my own.

These model dioramas by Ronan Jim Sevellec really got me going initially and has been the reference - the website's well worth a look, he manages to squeeze so much character into these tiny spaces:

http://www.antoninecatzeflis.com/artistes/uncategorized/ronan-jim-sevellec/
http://www.thisiscolossal.com/2015/10/miniature-film-set-museum/



I've got a lot of my own critiques but I'd rather get other people's feedback and first impressions without me listing off what can amount to excuses.
(although I will say the ferns are megascan freebie stand-ins, I'm still working on my own)

Any and all is appreciated!
Keep up the good work everyone

FreneticPonies

Could use some refraction and screenspace reflections for the water, at first glance.

sybrix

I LOVE this concept. Onsens and bathhouses were one of my favorite parts of Japan when I visited so I may have squealed when I saw this thread title, lol.

The most noticeable thing for me is the intense blowout occurring with the lighting. There seems to be a lot of super bright, blown out areas in the scene that's washing out details. Main offenders are the ceiling lights. I'd tone those way down. It also looks like you have some cool pattern on the ceiling lanterns but they're completely blown out by the light. 

The intense lighting is also blowing out your shadows. I feel like some more nice contrast could be achieved with your shadows with toned down lights as well.

Also I love the set dressing you've got going on so far, those discarded towels really help me buy the story of the environment. I know this is still WIP but would love to see more of those little storytelling elements, like bathing items in the buckets and slippers by the bath like in the first reference. Looking forward to more! 

LordSebbington

@FreneticPonies Cheers for the heads up, the water was looking off but I didn't realise it was a fairly simple change for reflections and refraction



@Sybrix I've never been to an onsen regrettably, although it's on the cards by the end of next year  

Good shout - I've pulled to emissive intensity way down now and tweaked the colour grading to have less blowout and lower contrast.
Threw some slippers around, re-textured the lockers and there's a laundry bin for towels off camera (still WIP).
I'll be focusing on story-telling details and plants over the next week - everything's still a bit flat for me.

I like the shadows from the skylights but it could do with an overhaul most likely

Cheers for the kind words