(WIP) Tefifon player scene / Diorama

ninetitle

I've finally decided to try my hand with an environment after my last one disappeared with along my late hard drive

I was inspired by the Tefifon, an odd music player produced and almost completely used in Germany in the 50s.


A pretty interesting design.

if you want to find more about it this video is my main source:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBNTAmLRmUg&t=175s

Here some shots of the block-outs or the main assets:

main






The scene looks boring right now so I'm looking on how to frame the scene and scatter the assets to have some nice visual for the final shots.

I'll probably export the scene in Unreal to try out lightning and composition.
If you have any feedback or advice you are more than welcome to add a comment below.

griffitii

YES! A small scene! 

Like you say, get it into Unreal next and get some cameras and lighting setup up that way you can really work on composition (get a few more props in there to make it look more natural) and to see where you need to focus your efforts. Reminds me of a scene Jeryce did: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/qWkxe (keeping the camera close). Have a look at some of Hannah Watts's assets to get an idea of level of detail you could aim for on the table and props: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/Vdb8en

Check the height of the player as the reference shows it to be quite flat compared to what you've modelled.

ninetitle

I've added some more props and began to make sense of the composition and position of the cameras.

I like the idea of some of the dioramas that I've seen on Artstation with the edge crumbling or disappearing, and I've gathered some reference about that.

I've also transferred some block-outs in Ue4 to test lightning and composition.

I'm quite rusty with Unreal so I'm dusting off some tutorials and resources to refresh my memory.

In the meantime here some screenshot from Blender.


This will probably be my main view

a possible more close up camera


don't know about this, feel off

I'll probably also add some more closeups of the assets.

Tune-up for more updates, probably in a week or so, critiques and advice are always appreciated. 

griffitii

I would get the scene into UE4 as separate meshes and play about with the composition in there. That way you know what the final image will be from very early on and you can adjust all the meshes individually to find a stronger composition. 

In order to do an effective scene edge crumble think about the different materials in the scene and break up the edge depending on the materials (eg. wooden planks will splinter vs concrete will crack into blocks and dust). 

Think about other objects you could have in the scene that would help add detail: a rug, light fittings, shelving, picture frames, posters, a window? Getting the shapes blocked out and into UE4 will help you lock down the composition even quicker while keeping interest in what you're doing.

I think you should move the cabinet away from the wall corner and have a lamp shade there instead. This will provide a light source and make the scene more interesting (objects at different heights). Hope that helps!

ninetitle

I've moved my main block-outs in Unreal but I'm fairly unsatisfied with both composition and lighting.

I like the idea of a little corner crumbling away with the view looking like a small diorama





and some detail views with a realistic field of view 













I also tried swapping the place of the big radio to remove from the shadow the smaller props











Another experiment was changing the traditional looking light for a more space-age one, taken from a Fallout concept.

It may make the scene a little too sci-fi, I would like for it to be a little weird or unsettling in some ways but I want the main incongruence to be the strange device.
I feel that the lamp grab most of my attention, especially when the Tefifon player is in the shadows.








I still have to try with the other configuration but I think I'll stick to a more traditional looking lamp.

My other concern is the lightning and general mood of the scene:
I really can't get a grasp on it, I may have to look in more reference to add to a mood board and then change the lightning to match.

Anyway thanks again for the attention and critiques.