[UE4] [Environment] Diorama ruins environment

Thoughcrayish

Hey guys! I just finished working on a new diorama environment. This one was pretty cool to do since i did 3 different lighting setups. 
Rendered in UE4. 
You can download and play this scene built as a standalone app using link https://mega.nz/#!xh9zyAyb!1uGiPiOMGUvGFZu1EbXWQcPMu_5QNcPLaReNf5KbEbo 
Controls ingame are: z, x, c, v, b - quality (Z - best, B - worst). 1 - 5 lighting setups, 9 + zoom orbit speed, 0 - zoom orbit speed, tab - switch movement type

Looking forward for your critique/questions. I will put all the blockouts and progress screenshots below.
Main concept:

Thoughcrayish

Here are some blockout pictures from blender


And here's materials for main platform and second floor platform. I used vertex painting to blend different layers.

Thoughcrayish

And here are just some WIP screenshots from the engine

Thoughcrayish

Bump

Thoughcrayish

Bump

Aydhe

That's nice little diorama but i think it feels a little bit empty. It shows especially much in the dark shot, it's lacking some sort of heavily illuminated but that would really bring attention to the work.

I think the biggest issue you have here actually is a scale, the environment feels quite big which results in a lot of details getting lost when you take a shot capturing everything like you did.

I'd say, try to focus on capturing elements you want viewer to prioritize.

Thoughcrayish

@Aydhe Thanks for the feedback! While i agree for the most part, i would mention that the original concept itself have some weird proportions (bricks for example). Still, my priority was not to make a busy scene by itself although i tried to bring some details anyway.
I get the point though. I dont have any focal point sadly and should have spent more time detailing the thing. I'll keep that in mind next time.

Ubuska

@Thoughcrayfish looks good, though diorama ends kinda abruptly imo. Also texturing is a bit boring, try more color variation and surface definition next time. Keep it up!

Thoughcrayish

@Ubuska thx for the feedback! 

Ashervisalis

I love the scene, it has a lot of character. I think the lighting could be redone though... Except for the night scene. You could get rid of the light beams in the night scene, but the rest of the lighting looks mysterious and cool! The day time and red sky lighting I'm not really buying. I think light shafts are really effective when there is a small break, allowing the sun to beam through the canopy or a window or something. Here you have a tree and a light beam, but the entire scene should have so much sun coming through that a light beam wouldn't be that visible.

Thoughcrayish

@Ashervisalis appreciate the feedback I agree that light beams seems overdone a little bit and that the night setup worked very well for this scene.

Mark Dygert

Nice! This is solid work! It looks great and shows well!

Thoughcrayish

@Mark Dygert Thanks a lot!