Georgian Office Environment

[Walrus]

Hi Polycount,

I recently finished a draft version of an office environment in UDK. The art assets are designed around a georgian style, but with mahogany and wallpaper substituting painted panels. The environment draws its inspiration from and is loosely based upon this photo, and others like it.

http://www.instituteofman.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/reading_room_small.jpg

The desk and chair are reproductions based upon the (far superior) work of a fellow Polycounter. His name escapes me and the reference material appears to have been deleted. Apologies to the games artist concerned, if you know his name I will update this thread and give him mad props and credit.

This environment is being prepared for a portfolio, so any crits or tips are gladly welcomed. I'll include some break downs later :)
I'm not sure how to deal with the outside environment. I don't have time to create any worthwhile buildings for the background.

http://i54.tinypic.com/2s9aumb.png


http://i56.tinypic.com/xnxbn7.png

http://i53.tinypic.com/33u8ro2.png

[keres]

I would make the computer screen something other than red. Plenty of it in the last two screenshots already. Other than that, good start :) keep it up.

[biofrost]

Looking pretty good but just seems like their is a little too much red in the scene.

[gsokol]

Looks like a nice start.

The scene does look really red, but it has a nice atmosphere...feels warm and cozy. I really like the ceiling too.

The ground is throwing this off for me. First of all, there are no shadows. I mean, I can see the light coming in from outside, but there is no shadows cast from the pillars, under the desk, chairs, or anything. That makes everything feel floaty.

Also, some slight reflection and a tiny bit of spec on the wood floor would help quite a bit. Hardwood floors usually have a lacquer coating to protect them from getting damaged...the lack of this makes the wood appear worn, and in bad condition.

I think you should consider putting something outside the windows...the plain blue is an eyesore...make this look finished. If you don't want to spend a lot of effort on it, drop a skydome in there and make some low quality buildings and place them very far away...or only in silhouette even.

[MephistonX]

Really nice start, but i agree with what others are saying a bit too much red in the room - try desaturating a few of the textures before importing them into udk

i would also say the floor needs something else - like a rug or small carpeted area - just to break it up a little bit

but keep at it - its looking really good !

[myles]

Yeah the scene really lacks shadows at the moment, and the lighting appears to be quite low contrast, I can't really tell where the light sources are by just looking at it quickly, the lamps / wall fixtures appear to be a source of light, but they are not bright enough and are a colour that matches in too much with the scene already, also the lamp shade itself is not bright like it should be.
I would check your lightmaps/ resolution as other than the shadows from the window blinds I can not see any shadows really. It may even be worth turning off lightmass and creating the lighting completely yourself.
Oh and as gsokol said - Get a skybox in!

[Walrus]

Thank you very much for your words and advice. I'm sorry this isn't a content update, but I'm on a two week hiatus. Next post in this thread will be a content update I promise!

[SnaFuBAR]

While it's off to a good start, I feel like you're missing architectural and spatial cues in the photo. The things that stand out to me most strikingly are the pillars you have in your environment, which are flat, large slabs, rather than the cylindrical, ornate and unobtrusive pillars you see in the reference. Another thing that stands out is the furniture. I'm not sure if the style you see in the ref is what is commonplace, but you can see it has swooping curves and brass tack detailing with tufted leather padding. The legs of the desks are also a far departure from anything modern. The style you have in the drawer pulls is reflecing that, but the straight, blocky build is not.

The Georgian office also looks very collaborative. what i'm getting from your piece is that these are all separated work stations. I think what you need to try and convey is that space where they do research, collaborate and have meetings. Very classical and less modern.

Observe more and I think you can execute this nicely.

[Walrus]

It's been a while since I've updated this thread. I've had a look at the lighting and reworked some the textures. I've tried to create a set of lights that are as realistic as I can get them. I've tried to kill off most of the red by switching up the textures, desaturating and modifying other lighting & postprocess settings. Lighting is rendered at preview with lightmass.

Using a combination of emissive lighting and spotlights. The left upper lamp has the spotlights, the right upper lamp has only emissive lighting.

http://www.env-art.com/images/office_nu.jpg

http://www.env-art.com/images/office_nu2.jpg

I've still yet to propogate this scheme throughout the rest of the environment. I just wanted to get some crits before I move on to the next task.

[toxic_h2o]

Are there normals on the wallpaper stuff? It looks kind of odd right now, especially the wall without lights in the first screen shot. Im not sure what they used back then, but when I imagine wall paper I think of it as being smooth. Like Keith Stone.

Also I think the finish on the wooden table could have a bit more shine to it maybe a slight reflection.

looking good though keep going!!

[Walrus]

Hi there, thanks for the reply! The wall paper is embossed, it's similar to the stuff in my local pub.

http://img.diynetwork.com/DIY/2009/07/21/DIYW115_Embossed-Wallpaper_s4x3_lg.jpg
http://i-cdn.apartmenttherapy.com/uimages/la/atla-032508-doors01.jpg
Similar to these. The wooden table does have a cubemapped reflection, only it's not showing as much as I'd like, and the cubemap isn't capturing the scene as a whole.

http://www.env-art.com/images/office_cube.jpg

Here's a shot inside UDK, it appears that it's only capturing the front, the rear of the cscenecapturecubemapactor is black. This is puzzling me. If anyone knows why I'd really appreciate a heads up! It's also not captuing the sky environment

http://www.env-art.com/images/office_cube2.jpg

[Oniram]

on the scenecapturecubemap properties take the far plane to a bigger amount. its 500 by default i usually just set it to 1000000000000000000000000 (and it will correct for the highest number it will process). though if you want to be extremely accurate you ca go by putting in the measurements n whatnot.

[Walrus]

Hey there, it's me, back again. Updated shots of the light rig propogated through the scene. Rendered at high. Still having issues with the cubemapactor, can anyone help please?

http://www.env-art.com/images/office_shot1.jpg


http://www.env-art.com/images/office_shot2.jpg
Some issues with the lightmap on one of the desks, will have a look at that.

[Oniram]

http://www.polycount.com/forum/showpost.php?p=1417245&postcount=12