Dark City - Automat Environment in Unreal - seeking feedback
ngon master
Hey y'all! I'm at the point of putting finishing touches on this scene and I'd like to know if there's something I am missing that could push it further. This is my first environment and first time working in Unreal so I'll do my best to incorporate your feedback to the best of my technical ability. Cheers!
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There is a few subtle things I get from the reference that give it some "oomph" that I think your scene is either missing or isn't executing quite as well. Overall, to me, if the reference is 100% you seem to be at 90%, but that last little bit is the difference between an environment I just travel through to get to the next brawl or an environment where I stop and think, "I'll have a look around here. This is cool."
Overall the reference has a sharper, more clearly defined sense. I think it comes from a couple factors. One is a bit harder lighting and maybe a touch more contrast in the base colors as well. Could also be a touch of post process as well that could give you a little more clarity.
Two is a stronger delineation between metal and non-metal materials in the reference versus yours. The trim on the tables, the mailbox things, and the window covers all pop a bit more and kind of give some order to the reference scene, whereas in yours everything seems to blend together just a little more. It's really, really small difference but it does change the mood for me. In the reference you even have a small, blurred but noticeable environment reflecction on the table trim corners, which gives a sense that the place is meant to be a clean, polished, kind of 50's futurism aesthetic, but it's just old and dirty, whereas in your scene it feels liike it was designed to be old and dirty first simply because of these small details.
Grime. In the reference, there seems to be a little more reason behind the discolorations on the wall specifically, whereas in your scene the dust and grime feels a bit more random. I would try to imagine what the ventilation in the room is like, where dust and grime is orginating from, where is settles... I mean, you could easily get carried away but I think if there is just a little more of a pattern is helps to just make the place feel more real and lived in.
Color. In the reference I think there is a bit more brown, tan, and yellow in the walls. A bit higher value in the base colors as well. So the place feels like it isn't trying to be a dark grimey hole, it just ended up that way. But without that small difference, in your scene it seems I can feel the creator telling me, "this place is dark and grimey," rahter than it simply existing that way. Just a matter of having a tiny bit more color variation and slightly higher on the value scale but it certainly makes some difference. I mean, that's what I think the difference is, I may be way wrong.
Sorry it's just looks and feels -- I can't really suggest how to fix these things technically which is kind of lame, but hope this helps anyway.
From what you've said I think these are actionable changes that I could make:
1) Lessen the bloom
2) Up the Global Illumination slightly
3) Change the duller metal areas (Steel material) to a slightly roughed up Chrome/Aluminum like the drink dispenser on the right. That should help pop some reflections... or just play with Screen Space Reflections to get some quality still images (I think SSR looks pretty bad in action)
4) Grime... I'll have to consider where I can improve my decals (first time trying them)
5) Getting the color on the walls / benches right has been a real PITA but I can give it another tweak.
Let me know if these seem accurate to what you were saying.
besides tweaking the actual textures of the metal and adding a touch more color and higher value in the walls, perhaps most of it is just tiny tweaks in lighting and post process.
If I were to boil it down to just two things, it's a need for higher clarity/sharpness and a subtle but wider range of color.
additional : I think to get the color variation in the walls part of it can be in the grime but in the base color I might start by using the smooth noisy brush or something like that with a super low opacity and just lightly touching here and there with a range of yellows and tans until it just have a bit more life in it.
Good start on the scene. I'm a big fan of this film and your thread makes me want to go back and re-watch it. I think you've done a good job with the scale, proportions and layout of the space. Overall color feels close, but will need some color correction when you get to the polish phase. @BIGTIMEMASTER is right in that a scene like this will really need some love in the subtle details to be compelling. Here are a few things that jump out to me.
1) Don't hesitate to spend a few more polys to define curves in the scene, especially large curves like the end of the Automat or anything close to the camera.
2) Along those same lines... Spend the polys to bevel all your long linear edges (assuming you're not adding bevels with bakes or trim sheet, etc...)
3) The dispensers could really use more modeled details, like the spring / hinge mechanism to open the door. It also looks like some of the doors are slightly ajar.
4) Consider adding some subtle worble to the long, linear shapes in the scene. This goes back to what BIGTIMEMASTER spoke to with regard to this being a place that was built and aged overtime. Wood and other materials will warp and distort over time, especially in a place that hasn't been cared for. Slightly alter the linear shapes in silhouette so the model reinforces the aging / weathering in the textures. This should be subtle (to the point that a casual observer probably wouldn't notice) so it doesn't start to feel stylized.
5) Strive for accuracy in your high frequency details. The wood booths have a strong directional patterns, but that's much more muted in the reference pics. (Hard to say if this is also due to compression / post in the film shots, but at a minimum I might lower the contrast of those linear details.) I cranked the levels on your scene and the reference so this is a bit easier to see (I hope).
The other challenge you'll need to think about is how you want to drive the composition of the scene. The movie does this with characters in dark clothing moving through the space (and a dark wallet). Try to think of some way to incorporate storytelling elements in the space and use that to add a focal point to the composition. Food half eaten with the coffee spilled on the table. Trench coat hanging on the corner of a booth (large dark character like form without having to make a character!). Maybe the wallet on the floor near the table as a callback to the film.
Anyway, hope that helps and looking forward to seeing updates!
1) I will give those areas a few more polys, for sure.
2) I will give those spots some love... I think the bevel was too tight on the glass divider and so its not popping.
3) There are details in there though its very primitive. A spring, some screws, a hook and a panel for it all it rest on. Wouldnt say its mechanically sound
4) Is this kind of detail something that should be baked in from a sculpt or from shifting polys?
5) That was a conscious decision on my part to add that heavier grain that has been brought up elsewhere in critique... I was trying to differentiate the material of the wall and benches a bit further since everything reads so similarly. Perhaps I've pushed it too far though.
Storytelling... that's still something I need to work on across all my projects. You've offered some good ideas (i think a puddle of coffee under the dispenser would work well, for instance) and ill try and put more emphasis on what i have added (the wallet is in the scene in the exact same slot as in the movie)
Thank you!
edit- yeah you should definitely go rewatch it. it's one of my childhood favorites!
Good to hear it was intentional and deliberate and there's is good rationale behind the decision. Dialing it back a bit would probably be a good compromise as the homogeneous nature of the space serves the motif of the movie.
On the story front... Don't hesitate in breaking from 1:1 in how the scene is laid out in the film (like the wallet in the dispenser). The movie tells a story with characters and moving images. Your challenge is to tell a story and create interest without the characters in there.
https://www.artstation.com/artwork/VdL4NN