I'm working on this for my final graduating scene. It will be finished with in a few weeks on account its when I graduate! Please feel free to comment in any way, im open to everything. Thanks!
Right off the bat, the lighting doesn't make any sense. It looks like you threw a point light in the center of the scene, and it doesn't have a visible source. Everything is lit with this flat ambiance that doesn't do anything to enhance what looks like some decent detail that you've put into the textures. I think if you take a step back and think about lighting sources then you'll add quite a bit.
Also, do you have any alternate shots, wires, flats, assets, or breakdowns of any kind? One screenshot isn't much to go off of.
Hey sorry, been busy. Yea i hear ya on the lighting. I have some flood lights in the scene right now ( matte gray texture atm) which will be my main light sources. Also i have added a skylight to the scene in udk to light it up a bit more. Ill be getting new screens and model sheets up here in a couple days.
I also added a post process volume and did some scene desaturation, ao, shadow and highlight adjustments so that'll be in the new screen as well
You added desaturation? I was just about to say it was in need of some colour. The space looks solid, but I agree some care with the lighting will make it pop better.
Hey man, I think apart from the lighting my other issue with this is that there isn't much to identify it as a subway station? Like I only realised what it was after I had looked at the train. I don't know I could just be a retard but I think some stuff like train time boards and signs could make it a more identifiable place?
It looks awesome so far though I am loving the broken concrete!
Ok so here are two screens showing the full color and then the desaturation i used. it isnt much but i felt the overall scene had to much of a green/brownish tint, so using the post process volume i desaturated it a bit.
As of now for lighting i have a skylight, and 4 spots for each flood light. any other lighting sugestions?
also here are a couple model sheets
SaferDan - yea i was planning on adding a station / location side on the right of the shot kind of broken and hanging.
thanks for the feedback everyone! keep em coming. this project will be done in a few weeks. i got 3 other scenes to touch up as well.
Huge improvement! Just having the colored lights add a great deal of interest to the scene. There's still something about it that seems to be flattening everything, I would really bump up the falloff/decay to put some of the areas in deeper shadow. The uniformity of everything still bugs me. And get some lightmaps going for some cast shadows!
Huge improvement! Just having the colored lights add a great deal of interest to the scene. There's still something about it that seems to be flattening everything, I would really bump up the falloff/decay to put some of the areas in deeper shadow. The uniformity of everything still bugs me. And get some lightmaps going for some cast shadows!
Thanks! yea ive been busting my ass. umm everything has light maps atm, and each mesh has it set to 128. i do have a small blue point light just behind the camera to give illusion of maybe and opening behind the camera. i think this may be the problem cause it gets rid of the cast shadows of the sandbags and vending machine and what not. ill mess around with it more.
what do you think about re adding a post process volume? to help with the shadows highlights and midtones?
I really like the damage on the ceiling...looks good.
Post process volume would be fine..just don't desaturate the heck out of it.
Your lighting is boring. You have one lit lightbulb in the middle of the room...it shouldnt be giving that much light to this area. You have the lamps that you modeled...have them lit. Those could be strong shadow casters in the foreground, which you need. Also...maybe have the coke machine still lit up and on..will add a little more variety and cut the drabness.
This may not be important, but it might be cool. In an environment like this...light can really direct a player where they are going...with your current layout..it looks like you reach this area and stop. Perhaps having light in the tunnel behind the train can give a sense of direction...like your supposed to go in it. It would really make me curious about what is beyond the tunnel and would add visual interest to the scene overall.
The bend that appears directly to the right of the camera...those hard edges look nasty...if you are going to keep that close to the camera bevel that corner.
Here is my suggestion, I made a quick paint-over to prove my point. You've highlighted the area to make the viewer/player interested but the rest of the scene is flat. Maybe have something interesting lurking around the corner by showing som kind of strangeness from further within.
I'd say try to make the ambient lighting ie the shadows a bit more bluish to get away from the yellowish feel of the scene. One light is fine, maybe another one around the corner to create a little more depth to the scene.
I'd try to dirty up some of those pillars as well, show some grime around the bottom
Looking really good man, I'm really looking forward to the end result!
@chrisradsby - thanks for paint over, i'll definitely try and get it looking closer to that. i like it alot! and i hear ya about the pillars. easy fix ill get on there tmrw.
on the pillar right where my main light is, i plan on putting a map of some sorts with red ink markings and circles as well as maybe mug shot type photos hanging up on the pillar.
@zacD and Rhoutermans - i was actually thinking about putting an emissive on the vending machine although the idea is that the station it-self has no power, the generator is whats powering the lights and equipment. but i will keep it in mind
@Rhoutermans - yea tile dirt is easy fix ill see whats up
just started working on it again for the day so ill have new screens later today
Hey Jeff, congrats on almost finishing! You're project is coming along nicely.
Do you plan on having the generator lights on? It would be a shame to have your subway in the dark background barely showing. Maybe you can turn the light stand to the right more towards the subway and have it emit light to light up the background a little.
Dark moody scenes are fun, make sure to spend lots of time with the lighting. Keep up the good work
Yes, looking at your screenshot you have two of them standing behind the sand bag piles.
Maybe turn the left one to slightly face to the right to make the spec on your tiles shine a little, or leave that off and just have the emmissive light from the coke machine light up that area.
The light stand to the right, turn it towards the left to throw some light in the direction of the train car.
Great job on your scene the lighting is looking a lot stronger but I agree with the paintover. The balance of warm and cool lights makes the scene interesting and helps hide areas with low details vs higher detailed areas of interest. Remember not to pack too much detail into areas of dark in order not to divert the eye to such busy noise.
I also have some concern with your individual props in terms of uv/texture optimization. While I think your Soda Machine is definitely the strongest, you can literally achieve the safe look and density using a 512 and optimizing your uv's. Here's what I mean.
remember my paintover scaling is exaggerated, im just suggesting more space at a lower texture cost, this is something that is a bonus.
Notice in the areas in the back, or bottom of an object, rarely do you see, you can get away with scaling those UV's down and breaking them if theyre welded.
Something I like to do usually on box shaped objects, is Project the face of the object, and weld the seams on the sides, leaving the top and bottom separate islands to scale down.
All in all good work, and keep on pushing that scene!
sweet thanks will! I'll get on uv optimizing probably tmrw.
Nono don't spend anymore time on it, what you have right now looks good. Its sheerly an optimization thing thats good to have in your folio, shows studios you think about texture sizes, memory and performance.
The most important goal is to complete a solid piece/enviro so keep pushing your main scene, which is definitely shaping up!
Nice going! I'd try to amp up the contrast a little bit more, making the bright spots a little bit brighter and the dark spots a little bit darker. I guess you could have like a fogging effect going on as well.
I would take a good look at Metro 2033 for similar scenes. They have a lot of places where the specular is really sharp and the normal maps pop. Mess around with your post-process effects
@chrisradsby - Sweet thanks. Im just about to start working again, i got a few small props i need to texture and then ill mess around some more with lighting. I just have to mess with it, cause i dont want it so dark that the background gets lost. Ill post updates tonight thanks again
Looking pretty good, only crits I have right now are mabey add another light near the coke machine to show it off. I also find the main light is washing out the map a little bit, although that could just be my eyes. Keep it up!
You should think about doing a short camera move and show off some particles and post proc/fog.
Would look very nice to see that vending machine (and possibly some other lights) flickering as well. Really add to the ambiance it's missing right now and give it some life.
Good job though, this scene has really come a long way from that first post.
Ok so im getting to the end of this project. I plan on making any final changes within the next week and thats it. So with that, here are the most up to date screens. please comment !!!
I will be making changes and updates to another scene to add to my graduating portfolio. I'll be throwing that one up in a new thread here in a few days. Also i just re updated my website so any comments on it will be greatly appreciated as well
Whats up Jeff! I believe you're latest shot shows allot of progress. Though there is one thing that is really damaging your scene at the moment. That is the lack of shadow, you have shadow sides, but very little shadow. My guess is that the indirect illumination radius is to high for your main light, thus converting it to an area light. Therefore the things that are close to the light have shadows (Table), but a few feet away they all disappear and you're scene looks flat.
Here is a paintover with fake shadows to drive the point home:
Notice I added two extra light sources, therefore the scene goes from light, to dark, light, then dark again... This helps creating more depth. Notice the same happening with colors going from warm to cool.
Replies
Also, do you have any alternate shots, wires, flats, assets, or breakdowns of any kind? One screenshot isn't much to go off of.
I also added a post process volume and did some scene desaturation, ao, shadow and highlight adjustments so that'll be in the new screen as well
Thanks!
It looks awesome so far though I am loving the broken concrete!
As of now for lighting i have a skylight, and 4 spots for each flood light. any other lighting sugestions?
also here are a couple model sheets
SaferDan - yea i was planning on adding a station / location side on the right of the shot kind of broken and hanging.
thanks for the feedback everyone! keep em coming. this project will be done in a few weeks. i got 3 other scenes to touch up as well.
Please comments are encouraged!!
Thanks
Thanks! yea ive been busting my ass. umm everything has light maps atm, and each mesh has it set to 128. i do have a small blue point light just behind the camera to give illusion of maybe and opening behind the camera. i think this may be the problem cause it gets rid of the cast shadows of the sandbags and vending machine and what not. ill mess around with it more.
what do you think about re adding a post process volume? to help with the shadows highlights and midtones?
I really like the damage on the ceiling...looks good.
Post process volume would be fine..just don't desaturate the heck out of it.
Your lighting is boring. You have one lit lightbulb in the middle of the room...it shouldnt be giving that much light to this area. You have the lamps that you modeled...have them lit. Those could be strong shadow casters in the foreground, which you need. Also...maybe have the coke machine still lit up and on..will add a little more variety and cut the drabness.
This may not be important, but it might be cool. In an environment like this...light can really direct a player where they are going...with your current layout..it looks like you reach this area and stop. Perhaps having light in the tunnel behind the train can give a sense of direction...like your supposed to go in it. It would really make me curious about what is beyond the tunnel and would add visual interest to the scene overall.
The bend that appears directly to the right of the camera...those hard edges look nasty...if you are going to keep that close to the camera bevel that corner.
Here is my suggestion, I made a quick paint-over to prove my point. You've highlighted the area to make the viewer/player interested but the rest of the scene is flat. Maybe have something interesting lurking around the corner by showing som kind of strangeness from further within.
I'd say try to make the ambient lighting ie the shadows a bit more bluish to get away from the yellowish feel of the scene. One light is fine, maybe another one around the corner to create a little more depth to the scene.
I'd try to dirty up some of those pillars as well, show some grime around the bottom
Looking really good man, I'm really looking forward to the end result!
on the pillar right where my main light is, i plan on putting a map of some sorts with red ink markings and circles as well as maybe mug shot type photos hanging up on the pillar.
The green wall tiles came off a little clean as well I think there
@Rhoutermans - yea tile dirt is easy fix ill see whats up
just started working on it again for the day so ill have new screens later today
thanks guys!
Do you plan on having the generator lights on? It would be a shame to have your subway in the dark background barely showing. Maybe you can turn the light stand to the right more towards the subway and have it emit light to light up the background a little.
Dark moody scenes are fun, make sure to spend lots of time with the lighting. Keep up the good work
when you say turn the light which one are you talking about? the flood lights?
Maybe turn the left one to slightly face to the right to make the spec on your tiles shine a little, or leave that off and just have the emmissive light from the coke machine light up that area.
The light stand to the right, turn it towards the left to throw some light in the direction of the train car.
Great job on your scene the lighting is looking a lot stronger but I agree with the paintover. The balance of warm and cool lights makes the scene interesting and helps hide areas with low details vs higher detailed areas of interest. Remember not to pack too much detail into areas of dark in order not to divert the eye to such busy noise.
I also have some concern with your individual props in terms of uv/texture optimization. While I think your Soda Machine is definitely the strongest, you can literally achieve the safe look and density using a 512 and optimizing your uv's. Here's what I mean.
remember my paintover scaling is exaggerated, im just suggesting more space at a lower texture cost, this is something that is a bonus.
Notice in the areas in the back, or bottom of an object, rarely do you see, you can get away with scaling those UV's down and breaking them if theyre welded.
Something I like to do usually on box shaped objects, is Project the face of the object, and weld the seams on the sides, leaving the top and bottom separate islands to scale down.
All in all good work, and keep on pushing that scene!
In the mean time here is an updated shot Lighting and added a couple more props
Nono don't spend anymore time on it, what you have right now looks good. Its sheerly an optimization thing thats good to have in your folio, shows studios you think about texture sizes, memory and performance.
The most important goal is to complete a solid piece/enviro so keep pushing your main scene, which is definitely shaping up!
I would take a good look at Metro 2033 for similar scenes. They have a lot of places where the specular is really sharp and the normal maps pop. Mess around with your post-process effects
Nice textures and lighting - all works well.
...maybe some small rubble on the floor to support the visuals of damaged ceiling
comments please!
Would look very nice to see that vending machine (and possibly some other lights) flickering as well. Really add to the ambiance it's missing right now and give it some life.
Good job though, this scene has really come a long way from that first post.
I will be making changes and updates to another scene to add to my graduating portfolio. I'll be throwing that one up in a new thread here in a few days. Also i just re updated my website so any comments on it will be greatly appreciated as well
Thanks all!!
Here is a paintover with fake shadows to drive the point home:
Notice I added two extra light sources, therefore the scene goes from light, to dark, light, then dark again... This helps creating more depth. Notice the same happening with colors going from warm to cool.
Can you post an unlit, texture only screenshot?