[WIP] Old Detective Office

Seal40k

Dear Polycount Team,

I am working on an old Detective Office scene, which I want to share with you. Currently I am using Marmoset for some basic testing and will move to UE4 next.

Any Comments and suggestions are welcome. Thanks in advance!

Best,

Sebastian

Seal40k

Here is what it looks like in UE4:

Next I will add some decals to the walls and the interiors to break up the shapes a bit.

FreneticPonies

The shadows don't make a lot of sense. The sunlight should be a directional light type, not a spot/point light, which makes the shadows obviously stretched in odd ways. It's also odd that the light in the room is as bright as the sunlight.

I'd also say you could up the contrast in the lighting a bit, darkening the shadows for a more Noire like feeling. As well as sticking a volumetric fog volume in there and try to get it to look like dust, so you could get the effect of sunlight streaming in through the windows.

JordanN

Double check your AO settings. Right now, it's producing that strong "halo" effect between objects. It's very noticeable on the clock or coat hanger.

Seal40k

JordanN said:

Double check your AO settings. Right now, it's producing that strong "halo" effect between objects. It's very noticeable on the clock or coat hanger.

Jeah, you are right with the AO settings, I reduced the AO quite a bit, which is fixing most of the shadow issues:

Jack M.

Your shadows don't get dark enough. Basically the whole thing feels blown out. Near the back of the room should be a lot darker, while closer to the window should be about how bright it is now. 

To me it looks like there's some weird issues with the back wall in general. Like it's not accepting light correctly or something because I don't even see shadows on it.

I think you might have overshot on  the ao reduction. I think something in between what you have and what you had might be best.

Are you doing baked lighting or dynamic?

Seal40k

Jack M. said:

Your shadows don't get dark enough. Basically the whole thing feels blown out. Near the back of the room should be a lot darker, while closer to the window should be about how bright it is now. 

To me it looks like there's some weird issues with the back wall in general. Like it's not accepting light correctly or something because I don't even see shadows on it.

I think you might have overshot on  the ao reduction. I think something in between what you have and what you had might be best.

Are you doing baked lighting or dynamic?

I am going with dynamic light. jeah I am still trying to tweak the values, its slowly getting better I believe

Jack M.

You still definitely need to keep more things in shadow. Right now everything is full lit, and as a result is very boring to look at. It has no mood or atmosphere, despite the assets being pretty good overall.

Here's a little paintover I did to show you what I mean. It's a little too extreme, but it does illustrate my point.

Seal40k

So you mean something like this right?

Jack M.

That's a huge improvement. I think your light source is way too close to your window though. There's a lot of distortion happening on your shadows that take away a lot of the realism in your work.

Seal40k

I just changed the last picture the second you answered. If you look at it again, I just adjusted the distance like you said

Jack M.

That's looking a lot better. It still looks too close imo, but it definitely improved. At this point everything is looking a bit fuzzy imo. Maybe crank down the bloom a bit.

Also your books in the back appear to be a bit too bright. I'd multiply their diffuse down a bit.

Finally I think your color situation is a bit monochromatic. Try adding some new colors to the scene. For example your scene is very warm, maybe your primary light should be cool. Or maybe just add some assets that mix up the color balance a bit.

Jack M.

Also your camera fov is a bit revealing imo. Try bringing the fov down to 45.4 and reframe your shit. This will more closely resemble a 28mm film lens.

Seal40k

Here is another try. I changed the light colors so there is a better contrast between warm and cold.

I also added volumetric fog and fixed some minor issues, like the books in the background you mentioned.

Jack M.

@Seal40k That is a MASSIVE improvement. Great work man. The only thing that's a bit off-putting right now imo is the record player in the back. I think the highlight is a bit too bright. It's drawing focus away from the primary focal point a little too hard. If you reduced that a bit I think you'd be set to having a great little scene here.

Seal40k

Thanks man, appreciate your support during this one.