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Interior Environment with Hero Assets WIP Log: 1960s Apartment Crime Scene

jbeck3d
polycounter lvl 5
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jbeck3d polycounter lvl 5
For my first full environment portfolio project, I am working on a homicide crime scene in a rundown apartment in 1960s New York, aiming to push realism inside a playable, but believable space that could (hypothetically) be in a game with an investigation element.

My hero assets are a period-appropriate CSI camera, murder weapon (large pipe wrench,) and the victim (covered by a cloth.) At the moment, I am finalizing my establishing shot, the pacing within my greybox/blockout, and the base lighting.

Below are some examples of inspirations of the space from my larger mood-board (which consists of shots from neo noir films and photo references of abandoned/derelict spaces of the era.)


From the inspiration, I fleshed out a Narrative Guidance that I can refer to as the environment develops:


This was my initial blockout (using simple shapes and model placeholders) that I started with in UE to feel out the space/dimensions:


Then I moved to setting up the bases of an architecture kit in Blender (one for the unit, one for the halls) - along with more placeholder props (
I attempted this project a couple years ago and have some meshes from then that work perfectly as placeholders.) I also put in some very basic lights. 
Over the past month, I've done more detailed kitting (vents, pipes, cabinets, fixtures, etc.) base lighting, and further defining of the architecture kit along with starting in on the environment settings (fog volume, indirect lighting from the sky, etc.) to further flesh out the greybox / feel of the space.


This past week, I focused on exploring the establishing and supporting renders along with general tweaks to the greybox/lighting etc.

Establishing shot:

Supporting "Investigative" shot:


Does this approach to lighting and the shots I am trying to lock in evoke that contrast of desperation/grunge alongside a crime scene investigation effectively?

Next week will be starting the modeling of the heroes (starting with the murder weapon) while also fitting in some more lighting tweaks / trial and error with finding the right shots I want to stick with throughout the project.

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  • sacboi
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    sacboi godlike master sticky
    Great start! 

    Especially like what looks to be a 4x5 Press type camera (glass plate) unit, with synchronized flash including tri-pod. I believe was still used until late 1970s or maybe early 80s for long exposures plus wide angled shots particularly for law enforcement agencies prior to transitioning toward more modern equipment. 

    Sorry I'm a bit of a photo hog wannabe, kinda into this stuff  :#      
  • jbeck3d
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    jbeck3d polycounter lvl 5
    sacboi said:
    Great start! 

    Especially like what looks to be a 4x5 Press type camera (glass plate) unit, with synchronized flash including tri-pod. I believe was still used until late 1970s or maybe early 80s for long exposures plus wide angled shots particularly for law enforcement agencies prior to transitioning toward more modern equipment. 

    Sorry I'm a bit of a photo hog wannabe, kinda into this stuff  :#      
    Thanks! Super excited to continue sharing updates.

    You're spot on regarding the camera hero; my original research for this project led me to the Graflex Speed Camera (with many of my references below being from 1960s models/videos of fixing up ones from that time period.) Your note on long exposure, angle, and it being favored by law enforcement echoes to a t what I found and why I went with it for this project.


    The model right now is my low poly from my original attempt - I will actually be running it back through using Plasticity as a way to show off the efficiency gains (a sort of "with purely blender poly/sub-d modeling, it took x hours, but redoing in Plasticity took y.)


    Absolutely no need to apologize, I love diving into this stuff!  =)
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