damn I`ve seen soooo many people on these boards do this test and eveyone has failed is seems to.- I get the vibe that they want to see ability to produce atmosphere more than anything else. I spend time up front with lighting, and maybe telling a bit of a story, then with your extra time run through and polish up all of your assets.
To build on what konstruct was saying.... I believe there is more to this than just building assets and tossing lights in. You should just do a greyscale render and go to photoshop and paint in all your colours. This is important so you can guide the "players" eye and lead them through the scene, just like a painting. Composition plays a huge part in env art, its not the same as making props (to me atleast). make a story, and sell it with the textures then i think you will have a solid shot.
i love everything except that boat, great job too bad you didnt do this in your first pass hopefully some splash damage employees se this and give you a ring :P
If he has them set as translucent material... I don't think it accepts lights, I know mask does though.
i second what killingpeople said, I mean from what i can tell its a pretty clean scene, so maybe you don't want to add a lot of "dirt", but maybe putting something in the water may kick the interest of the scene a bit higher. I say if anything, darken the water a bit because you can see where the platform base ends, maybe add a fog volume?
Two things stuck out to me on the close up of where the ramp meets the platform:
1) The pattern on the diamond plate (thread plate) looks a tad too big for the scale. not sure how it would work being smaller though, it may look 'tiled' if you make it smaller.
2) The bollards (with lights) at the top of the ramp. Think about the connection of these. It looks as if these would have been a retrofit and put in place after the the platform was constructed. A few bolts around the connection plate may add a bit more to the realism.
I guess that goes for all the poles on the platform. Especially the ones placed were the bricks border. Maybe they can be moved to the center of the bricks. A little dirt at the base of the poles (where they meet the brick), maybe.
I like the security cameras and how they don't fit (look very new and un-weathered). Nice touch. makes me think "...there is something going on inside that building that needs further investigation. Why would an old building like this need hi-tech security cameras...i must find out!"
erik- looking good but i dont think your done, i think your nearly there.
personaaly i think theres a few thinks to tighten it up.
1-way too clean- you have wear and tear in the scene but its a bit too consistant, to solidify the scene you need another texture or decal pass, add a blend decal to the bottom of the wall (just a set of polys that will blend from ground to wall), puddles and patches of dirt on the floor, drips from under the windows etc
2- more water damage/stain everything under the water line or even where the water laps, ie just above the water line should be wet this dosnt mean just add specular this means darker and possibly green with slime on certain materials
3- you deffinatly need another spec pass, so far your materials look diffuse or plasticy, you need to change the focus or glossiness of the specular in the shaders, so that the materials mimic real ones
very high focus values=water,glass,
medium=plastics
low=metal
4- youve missed plenty of chances to add loads of cool detail, i reakon you could have made sweet zbrush love to loads of the assets here and reall added some solidity to the scene, for eg.
-the door a major component to the scene, is very bland and square, a quick bit of zbrush or HP modelling could have given you some nice dents, wobbly metal edges, bolt and edge details
-the windows, another major component, feel unloved, they could do with some more wear and tear the same as the dorr, plus i would really push the spec and reflection on the glass, plus add some transparency and a poly behind with a dark warehouse scene slapped on to add a little more depth
-zbrush a couple of planks then rotate and flip soften the ends and add cracks and wear etc, this is right in the foreground and yet looks ps2
5- the frequency of detail and composition feels forced, add some smaller props rubbish, boxes etc and use that to create a more considered comp. things would be stacked and dumped in piles against the wall
6- you need another decal pass for posters signs etc that sort of thing really helps sell a scene and makes the veiwer imagine that people use it.
it is a good scene, it just needs some more schezzam to make it up to standard.
shep covered a lot of what I was going to say. Also the wall to floor transition is pretty harsh. something to make it blend or connect better would be nice. Also... don't be afraid to go in and make cuts to the floor and walls to add some more detail. the floor is pretty flat.. A few cuts here and there to give the floor some sag and bend can go a long way.
I agree, the first thing I noticed was the edge of the wall/floor looks too clean. I'd add some moss, or barnacles or whatever. You could even indicate where barrels had previously been placed for long periods by spreading that moss out and almost forming a circle where previous barrels stood. Nice work on this though.
Oh balls it's not done. Added a little here and there. More decal grunge. Most obvious change is lighting, which I like better so I'm going to stick with it or something pretty close to it. Signs.. mmm, maybe. Door needs more rust streaking down. Unfortunately with my new lighting you can't see the extra normal detail I added! Dents and bumps! The skiff a pretty meh, not sure if I'm going to leave it in there. The wood planks on the docks just don't feel like having their normals pop even though I gave them chocolates and a very nice card so instead they sit sulking in the shadows. I've got something other projects going so this will see sloow updates. Happy singles' awareness day tomorrow!
Hey man, I have seen many people do this art test on PC and I really like your approach so far. I'm more of a character guy, but possibly since I am looking at this with fresh eyes I can help some. My crits:
I think the green metal wall with white chips is a tad too noisey at the moment. I would lessen the white areas some. The roof could use some grunge alpha textures to make it more interesting (bird poop maybe?) The barrel in front doesn't work that well in my opinion. Its hard to tell what it is made of. the inside of the boat is pretty bare. The textures could use some love in there.
Overall its looking really good though man, I especially like how the concrete and wooden planks are looking. Keep going!
this looks better but to me it hasnt addressed the issues...
quick fixes- get some AO in there not sure on the engine but maybe a quick vertex would help.
annoying big probs =-( - what still really bugs me about this is the disparity of detail. you have some seriously high detail props (not a prob in itself) against big straight line polys.
also your prop placement still looks un-natural, this could make such a difference
The scene looks not half bad, I only have a couple of crits:
- How is the metal bridge being held up? By what supports/anchors, looks like it is about to fall in the water. The concept has metal anchors holding/ supporting the bridge.
- The boat needs some grunge inside of it, make it feel like it has been used for a certain purpose, what's stopping the boat from floating off, it's not tied down. The bottom of the boat looks very dry and floating above the water because the water is too perfectly clear maybe.
Other than that the scene looks ok, and good luck to you on your art test!
Replies
ps. this is probly why the drawing is so vauge.
You need some spec on those chains. Cannot see them at all.
i second what killingpeople said, I mean from what i can tell its a pretty clean scene, so maybe you don't want to add a lot of "dirt", but maybe putting something in the water may kick the interest of the scene a bit higher. I say if anything, darken the water a bit because you can see where the platform base ends, maybe add a fog volume?
Two things stuck out to me on the close up of where the ramp meets the platform:
1) The pattern on the diamond plate (thread plate) looks a tad too big for the scale. not sure how it would work being smaller though, it may look 'tiled' if you make it smaller.
2) The bollards (with lights) at the top of the ramp. Think about the connection of these. It looks as if these would have been a retrofit and put in place after the the platform was constructed. A few bolts around the connection plate may add a bit more to the realism.
I guess that goes for all the poles on the platform. Especially the ones placed were the bricks border. Maybe they can be moved to the center of the bricks. A little dirt at the base of the poles (where they meet the brick), maybe.
I like the security cameras and how they don't fit (look very new and un-weathered). Nice touch. makes me think "...there is something going on inside that building that needs further investigation. Why would an old building like this need hi-tech security cameras...i must find out!"
Anyway, great work.
Marc
personaaly i think theres a few thinks to tighten it up.
1-way too clean- you have wear and tear in the scene but its a bit too consistant, to solidify the scene you need another texture or decal pass, add a blend decal to the bottom of the wall (just a set of polys that will blend from ground to wall), puddles and patches of dirt on the floor, drips from under the windows etc
2- more water damage/stain everything under the water line or even where the water laps, ie just above the water line should be wet this dosnt mean just add specular this means darker and possibly green with slime on certain materials
3- you deffinatly need another spec pass, so far your materials look diffuse or plasticy, you need to change the focus or glossiness of the specular in the shaders, so that the materials mimic real ones
very high focus values=water,glass,
medium=plastics
low=metal
4- youve missed plenty of chances to add loads of cool detail, i reakon you could have made sweet zbrush love to loads of the assets here and reall added some solidity to the scene, for eg.
-the door a major component to the scene, is very bland and square, a quick bit of zbrush or HP modelling could have given you some nice dents, wobbly metal edges, bolt and edge details
-the windows, another major component, feel unloved, they could do with some more wear and tear the same as the dorr, plus i would really push the spec and reflection on the glass, plus add some transparency and a poly behind with a dark warehouse scene slapped on to add a little more depth
-zbrush a couple of planks then rotate and flip soften the ends and add cracks and wear etc, this is right in the foreground and yet looks ps2
5- the frequency of detail and composition feels forced, add some smaller props rubbish, boxes etc and use that to create a more considered comp. things would be stacked and dumped in piles against the wall
6- you need another decal pass for posters signs etc that sort of thing really helps sell a scene and makes the veiwer imagine that people use it.
it is a good scene, it just needs some more schezzam to make it up to standard.
I think the green metal wall with white chips is a tad too noisey at the moment. I would lessen the white areas some. The roof could use some grunge alpha textures to make it more interesting (bird poop maybe?) The barrel in front doesn't work that well in my opinion. Its hard to tell what it is made of. the inside of the boat is pretty bare. The textures could use some love in there.
Overall its looking really good though man, I especially like how the concrete and wooden planks are looking. Keep going!
quick fixes- get some AO in there not sure on the engine but maybe a quick vertex would help.
annoying big probs =-( - what still really bugs me about this is the disparity of detail. you have some seriously high detail props (not a prob in itself) against big straight line polys.
also your prop placement still looks un-natural, this could make such a difference
- How is the metal bridge being held up? By what supports/anchors, looks like it is about to fall in the water. The concept has metal anchors holding/ supporting the bridge.
- The boat needs some grunge inside of it, make it feel like it has been used for a certain purpose, what's stopping the boat from floating off, it's not tied down. The bottom of the boat looks very dry and floating above the water because the water is too perfectly clear maybe.
Other than that the scene looks ok, and good luck to you on your art test!