So what can I do to make this scene look better...
cdemerit
Posts: 505
http://i.imgur.com/b26YJOb.png
So this is my apartment hallway. All in all, I'm very happy with it, but I know it can be better... What details have I missed?
BTW: it's a little overdressed, as it's supposed to be a bit of lower quality apartment complex.
It is lit using 4 area light panels and uber enviromental 2 in occlusion w/ directional shadows and a occlusion strength of 90.
I realized I don't have that office fake baseboard wallguard yet... what else am I missing?
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nm - I see the link now. We can attach images to the post using the Browse button under the typing box.
Yeah.. I'm just used to posting links... I'll have to work on that.
Hmm I think adding the mouldings to the walls will add a lot, check this thread out http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/39180/
Or more specifically this part http://www.daz3d.com/forums/viewreply/582271/
Also is it possible to increase the tiling of the texture on the walls it looks a little chunky.
Nice work so far its looking good!
The plants and pots look identical.
Turn the plants within the pots to random angles. Add a different x offset to the texture of each pot. Retexture some pots. Get a couple of different plants.
Retexture some doors/frames.
Add a ball and a a tricycle. Every hallway like that needs a tricycle. It's mandatory.
Some carpet stains.
Should that exit sign be glowing like that?
Okay ... I like the hallway however for improvements the first ideas that cross my mind for an apt complex:
No plants. Baseboard along both sides. Doorframes not white, something that doesn't show fingerprints. A "you are here" sign by the elevator doorway {is there is one - if not, somewhere mid-point in the hallway}.
If smoking is allowed in the building, ashtray on the wall {nothing to be on the floor, not even welcome mats - law around here}. Emergency light by the Exits. Door needs an identifing letter or number on it. {A, B, C, whatever}. A little red gadget for "Pull in case of Fire" along with that silly sign about what not to do in case of fire. The emergency box for the trained professionals to use which holds the fire extinguisher and hose, maybe an axe.] The hallway is on the wide side. Walls could be brought up almost to the edges of the ceiling lights.
Carpet, wallpaper and lighting are good.
If you want to go all out, a few cobwebs and black smudge marks on the wall where people have ended their existence.
Dust on top of the baseboards when they arrive. A few little clumbs of hair, fur, feathers, stains, etc. on the rug.
I like it. It appears a little bit wide, whether for a hotel hallway or an apartment hallway, but it could intentionally appear that way if you're using a wide angle camera lens. It does appear a little bit too "regular", but I think the eye will not care if you put a character or animal in the scene. If you want, lay a bit of character in one or two places to break up the perfection a little bit. Maybe like a single stain on the carpet in front of one of the doors. You know, as if somebody dropped a bag of groceries and their tomato sauce bottle broke. Or maybe a rip or two in the wallpaper at the point where the camera depth of field is most in focus...or maybe a place that is out of focus; that would work too.
Are you planning to put a person in the hallway, to give the viewer some perspective? Maybe a couple arguing or making out, a young lady coming home with her groceries or a kid chasing his puppy down the hall, or an alligator snooping around. Zombies don't frighten me, but alligators are another thing entirely!
I like the look of the overhead fluorescent lights, the electrical socket on the left wall. Not sure about the little "window" (the frame smaller than the doors on the left side beyond the electrical socket), unless this is a hallway of a commercial building with business offices. But then we wouldn't have carpet, we'd probably have tile, wood, concrete, or terrazzo, right?
Looking forward to seeing it develop.
I like the attention to detail overall and I like the lighting, considering that there are no people present here.
Perhaps a bench or two, some wall art. And I would perhaps add a runner down the center of the floor. Maybe a dinner tray outside a door.
One thing that got me was that it looked almost twice as wide as any apartment hallway I've ever seen... there's usually only enough room for three people to squeeze past each other, and occasionally just a wee bit more room.
It's always a good idea to test your scene with figures in it, so you can check scale. As to the pots and plants, if this is like a hotel or office building corridor or something, the pots would likely be the same. Rotating them so they're a bit different from each other so the positions of the textures (even when seamless) vary will be more realistic to the eye. Plants should definitely differ in the way the leaves are, how full or sparse, coloration...just add what happens in real life...variation.
Others have given you some good suggestions as well. The figures will help you see if things are too big or too small or wide/narrow.
theres not one "better"
what kind of purpose should that room have ?
what kind of story should it tell ?
what kind of better should it be ?
or just trying to please the audience (us) ?
theres not one "better"
what kind of purpose should that room have ?
what kind of story should it tell ?
what kind of better should it be ?
or just trying to please the audience (us) ?
I agree with ruphuss. It is really all about what you are trying to convey and what your particular aesthetics are. The only issues should be how you can technically match your vision. I like the mood of your picture, and anything wacky or off-kilter in it simply adds to that mood. Beware of experts who tell you, "this should be lighter" or "that should be in a different position". What do they know? It's not their picture.
This was the first thing that grabbed me as well. But overall, depending on the intentions of the render, for what it is; minus the wideness, it looks fine to me.
But i also like the idea of randomizing some art pieces along the walls.
-MJ
I would increase the tiling on the walls and carpet and do something to vary the color of plants. I'd also go into photoshop and post-work some wear pattern to the carpet. It all feels a bit too fresh and bright.
The first thing that occurs is that the corridor is waay too wide - it must be bigger than most of the apartments! If the building can afford that wide a corridor, those apartments must be something else! Which leads to the second thing, those are really tiny apartments, given the spacing between doorways - they look more like hotel rooms.
And the plants haven't been stolen.
Aside from all the (very good) suggestions here the question of what are you trying to say with this scene will determine what you need to do.
for instance if this is not a brochure for a motel you need to use the colors and lighting to pop this scene from the mundane.
For instance; is this a scary scene? If so move the camera on an angle, change the filed of view for a longer shot, keep the background slightly out of focus, disable some of the lights in ceiling and/or adjust the lighting in your scene, add some prop to suggest something is out of place, possibly a stain on the carpet, maybe it's blood, maybe its gluten (this assumes you have a character in this who is gluten intolerant)
The picture tells a story. Ask yourself; What story is this picture trying to tell?
Thank you all for some good ideas/comments... However, 5 minutes after crawling into bed last night I realized I forgot to give you the rest of the story to get proper feedback. I've been having some problems conceptually with materials... maybe once I give you the back story, you will change your minds on how it looks... But first:
Thank you. Yes the width of the hallway is a bit more than most standard hallways, and this is on purpose, as is the lack of characters in the scene. I'm going to explain more in a moment, but as for these two questions, I'm working on a VN (visual novel) and as I can't really draw, I'm using Daz for the artwork. When I add the characters in Ren'py, they will fit a bit better in this width... This is ment basically to be a blank background. As for that "little window", bad camera angle.. It's actually a Fire Extinguisher cabinet.
Agreed, especially when you hear the rest... I actually am likely to remove the carpet, as I don't think it's gonna fit the project in the end.
Well, funny you say that... They are intended to be Studio apartments that aren't much bigger than hotel rooms... How I came up with the spacing... I built my apartment first, then took the front wall, and copy/pasted them together in a line.
Here is the Back Story:
You are in a shipwrecked colony of about 2000 "people", Starships wreck at a rate of about 1 every 6 months or so. Due to the nature of the planet, no rescue is possible. The colony is about 100 years old, and grows at about a rate of 50 people a year. The colony has a sustainable technological level of about 1940's, and scavenged high tech. but no way to replace it. (they have the knowledge, just not the manpower). There are no known fossil fuels on the planet (thus any plastics are recycled and limited), Limestone, a byproduct of the monazite sand quarrying, means concrete is readily available, as is scavenged steel. survival has taken up most peoples time, so there has been little time for artistry (hence the lack of wall art) and everything has a functional use even if decorative, it has only been the last 25 years or so that more decorative works have been available ( ever wonder how many people it really takes to make a pair of jeans?)
So these are the free apartments for new arrivals, which are intended to be small and cheap... after much thought, I doubt the colonists would put the manpower into making that kind of carpet. I'm thinking some kind of rough wood floor or raw concrete. The walls were supposed to be a rough stucco look, but I guess people see wallpaper... I'm still deciding on the casing material, was going to leave it as painted white, but maybe raw wood?
So with that info any new thoughts? I'm actually having a hard time mixing the high tech/low tech materials in a way that makes sense.
If derelict is what you're after, maybe concrete flooring with a tattered rug or two going down the center? Scuff the whole place up, this area is free housing right? Not likely to be all that clean, but not totally filthy. Less pronounced door frames, simply beveling and rounding the outer edges will help if you intend them to be wood. (or stair-stepped if steel frames) I get the feeling of a semi ritzy hotel from your image, but what you write doesn't seem to fit well with what you're showing.
As far as mixing the high/low tech, the 1940s broke from decorative architecture and into less expensive utility/engineered styles. Machinery would typically be hidden inside large rooms, or inside paneling, leaving the rooms open for people. Metal constructions were still thick from large casting. Vents, pipes, sockets, and paneling are pretty easy ways to convey technology without cluttering a scene too badly.
I really wasn't looking for derelict, as the "colony" is about 70 past shipwrecked shanty town, but more "limited choice". We have hundreds of choices every day, part of the story is about adapting to limited choices. Would you rather someone spent their time making gallons of paint in 100 different colors, or would you rather them growing food or keeping the generators going... That sort of thing. figuring out the proper materials to show this of course has been driving me nuts. Things like The pottery jars the plants are in, a single skilled potter could dig and process the clay, make a dozen or two jars in month, fire them, and with some luck find enough raw materials to make some interesting glazes... However a nylon carpet on the other hand...
So here is a updated version of the room... Yes it is still wide, by design, and some things still need some tweaking, but I took many suggestions, and think it looks much better. I need to work on the molding some, there is texture on it, but it gets lost in the bright, and a few more things to add.
http://i.imgur.com/NXi76pD.png
http://i.imgur.com/zqsigA2.png
http://i.imgur.com/DIhdPpb.png
http://i.imgur.com/RxHLET5.png
And this is how it is going to look in the game/story I'm writing... Sorry about the potato quality, the screen shot program isn't great quality, and the game still needs tweaks.
http://i.imgur.com/Xir3bCD.gif
Given your backstory, I like this new image better!
But be sure to put a little bit of wear pattern in the floorboards. Even "gently used" items will show wear after a time. The block walls, maybe not so much, but those white dorjambs and wooden floorboards, most definitely. More so if your newly shipwrecked are working people; having to find jobs plowing the fields, sweeping floors in the printing press shop, stoking the fires for the blacksmith, or shoveling the horse stalls. Three generations or more of workboots will definitely leave a path.