Environment and Prop Art

CowmasterStudios

Ok so I've added a new basement scene and a couple of quick gun props since the last time I posted here.

GUNS

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Both guns are still in WIP stage... I did each in about 2 days. I just want some crits for I have never modeled a gun before. So these two are my first attempts at it.

Basement

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Built to look like a basement that would be seen in a realistic FPS. The thing I'm unhappy with about it is the texture on the wall. I need to redo them... suggestions would be helpful.

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bluekangaroo

haha I like the desktop for the laptop. for the basement, the floor and walls look a little low rez, you could probably tile it more for a quick n easy fix

SHEPEIRO

nice but textures need some loving, more unique dirt.

also your lighting looks too black-white add some colour

ImSlightlyBored

agreed
the lighting is the major killer. Im not great at it myself either. But throw some colour in, decide on a colour theme maybe (This would go far in adding some character to it) and some more dynamic sources, or just higher contrast?

CowmasterStudios

I'll play with the lighting more and fix the colors... hopefully have a refreshed version by tonight or tomorrow.

I want it to look like the natural light would be night, so maybe adding a purple or dark blue ambient light would help... I'll also probably change the lights colors from the whitish color to a more stale yellow to add to the grungy feel of the basement.

Any crits on my guns? Also any tips on what else I should do to the basement?

thanks for the help thus far

EvilPixills

I like the desktop too

For your barrels, the texture looks good but is there even a normal map on it? I can see it for the surface detail but for the actual model detail the top and bottom lips look like they run straight, it's hard to tell that there is even a lip there. Did you model a high res version for your barrel? Keep it up though man.

CowmasterStudios

BASEMENT
Ok I played around with some lights in the Basement Scene as well as adding a Normal Map to the Oil Drums.

SUB-MACHINEGUN
I put in a blue texture to give it a bit more personality. I am unsure what else I can do to it without making it look unrealistic. Feedback would be appreciated.


I'll fix more tomorrow. But it's late now and I've been "arting" all day so its time for a break.

Let me know what you think!
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Marcan

CowmasterStudios wrote: »

Any crits on my guns? Also any tips on what else I should do to the basement?

thanks for the help thus far

I think your guns could use a bit of a mesh cleanup, I see a lot of unnecessary edges going on. Are they supposed to be in-game or subd'd? I can't really tell from this mesh. It looks like a sub'd mesh, however I can see the polygons edges around the iron sight. You do know how to model however, I just think you should reconsider your polygon placement or your triangle count will be way too high.

Edit: I completely skipped the shotgun. Do you have any wires to post? And did you have any references? Pump-action shotguns usually have a lot of details on the side that will break the flat areas I currently see on this model.

As far as the basement is concerned... Did you have any refs when you made this? Like it has been mentioned, the lighting is currently not helping, pretty much everything that has been said before makes sense. Try to add another light source, perhaps. Can you post your normal map applied on your barrels? I don't see any difference. It may be the lighting, it may be the normal map.

TIP: Focus on one piece at a time. Either the basement, or the weapons. Take the time to polish one or the other. It's better to have one quality piece than many unpolished pieces. Quality vs. quantity.

By the way, the laptop desktop, as funny as it it, isn't really professional and shouldn't be included in a serious portfolio.

Kawe

I'm not sure if it is the texture or the lights but the environment feels like it is outside cause of the blueish tint on the floor, espeically the shadow areas. also the lights feel more like lights you'd have outside than ones you'd have indoors right now.

hmm.. and I think a basement like that would be darker in the dark areas. the shadows cast are really bright (relative to bright surfaces) for being shadows in a basemenet imo. or maybe it is a really well-lit basement but it doesn't look like it.

frubes

i think you need to check your texture resolutions/scale on the walls and floor. Compare those to the barrels which have a much greater pixel density/scale and it stands out like a sore thumb for me. I think they are much too big btw.

CowmasterStudios

Ok, I'm changing the lights around in the scene. I basically deleted all the lights and redid them this morning.

I also changed the Desktop background for the laptop prop. I didn't even think it would cause that much attention, but I've always been meaning to change it to a more serious and military-ish theme.

Once I get the lights down solid I'm going to redo the normals for my Oil Drums. I'm going to make the normals on Mudbox and have them done by tonight.

I will also address the low resolution thats going on in the wall and floor textures.

But yea, let me know if you like this light setup better! Also any suggestions on what I can do to make it better are always welcome! I really want to get this piece looking great.

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Kawe

personally I think just having a light bulb hanging where the laptop is would be a lot more dramatic and purposeful. gotta tell a story you know. where's the player supposed to go next? I assume just checking the computer and going back up. so basically that's two places that need more focus and the others need less so to say.

erh.. it is looking slightly better though I guess.

SHEPEIRO

agree with above, reall fast paint over, you need to get all the shadows pointing the right direction, if you needt to make the bounce lights not cast

CowmasterStudios

I'm trying to get the lighting down more. Thank you for all your suggestions. I reduced the amount of ambient light I had going on, and went a bit more dynamic like the picture supplied by SHEPEIRO. I don't want the light above the laptop to be quite as glaringly bright as the paint over, because I still want this basement to be dark and looming. I think this new light setup draws more attention to the computer and hints at going upstairs next.

I will continue to tweak it some more, but do you guys think that overall I have at least a decent light setup? Or at least on the right track to getting one? I haven't had the chance to play around with lights as much as I want to... but I'm learning!

I'm really trying to get this looking nice and I hope you can all see that I am serious about my work. I take every one of your comments into my deepest consideration.
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BradMyers82

The lighting looks way better now, good job on it that.
It really makes everything in the scene believable and the texture issues already mentioned much less noticeable.

I think you said something about doing a high poly in mudbox to make the normals on the barrels.

If you talking about sculpting high poly barrels, I would suggest you don't go this route. Unless your going to have major dents or slices in the surface, your better off with a nice SubD model from you 3d app, followed by some minor surface details produced in a 2d app like Photoshops normal map filter or crazy bump. Really small surface details turn out better in most circumstances generated from 2d and you can get the nice clean gradients on the normal map from your subD model. Put them both together with an overlay, you should be good.

Kawe

good work. if you want it to be more dark and looming I'd do more stuff to the roof. make beams come down a little bit more. maybe have cables and pipes going around. makes it feel less tidy while still keeping the floor clear for movement.

you should also change your point of view to something lower so people feel smaller when looking at the image.

hmm.. and it annoys me that the light in the roof is the same as the ones on the walls.

EDIT: you might want to just remove the light on the roof

Wendy de Boer

You also need to add some glow coming from the laptop screen (possibly bluish). Computer screens glow quite a bit, it's very noticable in the dark. Right now the laptop looks like it isn't on, and the onscreen content looks dull, like it's only a cardboard picture pasted to the screen.

frubes

tis the season for paintovers. So i shall share mine with you. Having said that take it with a pinch of salt because i dont know what your final goal is.

Questions:

- is this to be rendered in a 3d package as opposed to a game engine?

- if the above is 3d do you have free reign over the lighting rig?

Problems:

- your shadows are not dark enough but they also shouldnt be black. Turn the shadow density down and make them a bluish tint (a really tiny blue tint)

- Your shadows are all sharp. Especially the foreground pillar shadow. Nothing screams bad lighting than sharp shadows. The further light moves away from an object the blurier the shadow becomes.

- If your trying to frame the laptop have the shadows encompass the outside of the image to lead the views eye into the middle.

- lastly your scene has no specular to catch the edge of objects. Its making it look really flat and lacking depth. The lighting is a lot better now but it still needs help. My paint over has a bloom on it hence the hazy style light on some objects. Kind of a cheap specular if you like.

By the way the desaturated look of your scene is not your lighting, its the diffuse maps of your objects. I would highly suggest posting some so we can take a look.

This is what i came up with. Its not that much work but it has (imo) more colour, depth and also frames your laptop better. It might be too contrasty but thats probably my monitor.

Lonewolf

=O

that looks like Al bundy's basement lol

looking good..

CowmasterStudios

I love that paint over! Thanks so much man! Ok, I'm trying to implement the tweaks you all have graciously suggested... and I think I am getting closer to a pleasing final product.

Changes
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-Upped the contrast and vibrancy in the Oil Drums
-Darkened the Wall slightly
-Did away with the light on the ceiling and replaced it with a dangling light bulb.
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I'm still trying to get the over all piece as vibrant as the paint over below. So I shall keep playing around with that. Any tips on how to achieve that are most welcomed.
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Thanks for all the help thus far! I think this basement is looking legions better than when I first posted it!

frubes

thats looking better. Like i said i think the contrast on my monitor at home is too bright so pull back the dark shadows a bit more. Either lower their density or make their colour slighting lighter.

Also as a final step you might want to duplicate your final image in PS on a new layer, desaturate it (cntrl, shift, U) then lower the brightness down to 0 and up the contrast so that you only get the highlights. Blur it with a gaussian blur and set the layer to screen. That way you will get a bloom effect which will help your lighting slightly.

CowmasterStudios

I have a high contrast monitor as well. This version is looking a bit better.
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