Venice Inspired Environment

# 1 08-08-2011 , 08:23 PM

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Location: Vancouver, Canada

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I have this piece in my reel that I've been reworking a bit, and I think it's almost there, but it feels like it's missing some elements to me. So I'm posting it here to get some feedback from you guys. I took a lot of inspiration from Assassin's Creed 2, and a more modernized Venice.

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https://www.kevincincinnati.com/

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# 2 08-08-2011 , 10:07 PM

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Join Date: Oct 2007

Location: London

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how many light sources are there? the light reflection on the water seems strange if the light hitting the building on the right of shot is coming right to left.

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# 3 08-08-2011 , 10:29 PM

The thin red line
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I think Doms right about that, I have to say I dont like the sun set light in this scene it should have more direct sun light to show of your scene, sorry for being so negative........dave

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Last edited by daverave; 08-08-2011 at 10:34 PM.

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# 4 09-08-2011 , 05:01 AM

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how many light sources are there? the light reflection on the water seems strange if the light hitting the building on the right of shot is coming right to left.

Originally Posted by honestdom

I'm using one area light, set as a sphere in the mental ray options. It's offset to the left slightly, but because it's set as a sphere shape, the light spreads out, and that's why the light is hitting both the building and the water like it is.

I think Doms right about that, I have to say I dont like the sun set light in this scene it should have more direct sun light to show of your scene, sorry for being so negative........dave

Originally Posted by daverave

No problem dave! Appreciate the feedback.

While I was working on it back in college, I had tried some daylight settings but I never really got the right lighting I was looking for. And the setup I have now felt good to me, and my teacher quite liked it as well, so I ran with it.

https://www.kevincincinnati.com/

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# 5 09-08-2011 , 08:03 AM

The thin red line
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I was wondering why the boats on the left were sticking out like a sore thumb there have no reflections from the waves on them and they all look the same...........dave

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# 6 22-08-2011 , 04:02 AM

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First of all, if you didn't ask for scrutiny, I wouldn't have noticed anything 'missing'. Taking it at surface value, I think it's a very beautiful scene. But if I must go through and look for flaws, I would say the first thing I noticed is that there is a lack of imperfection in the architecture. More specifically, in the edges. They stand out to me as being very straight, which contributes to the overall feeling of excessive symetry or perfection. I see that you offset this phenomenon a bit with some of the mossy-looking textures at the bottoms of the pillars, but I would expect to see some cracks in the walls, perhaps starting at the top of an arch and traveling up about a foot. Only one or two, maybe three cracks in appropriate places - it should look weathered, but not ancient. And I would roughen-up the edges of the architecture some more, perhaps with some bump maps. I like how the shutters aren't all doing the same things (some are shut, some open, some in-between), but maybe some of them could have some signs of wear like some missing slats, some with excessive fading of the paint (perhaps because they get exposed to the sun longer because of where they are), or some with a different paint color because the tenants didn't like the stock color. And maybe there are some props you could add in to make it look 'lived in'. Maybe some empty bottles where someone had been lounging earlier or some old shoes on the dock. Any little artifacts left behind by the people who live/work there would probably really help the viewer experience your scene and imagine themselves in it. The more lived-in it looks, the more it goes from a 'scene' that they can see, to a 'habitat' that they can relate to. But as with anything you don't want to over-do it.

Finally, there seems to be some disagreement between the direction of sun light for the background buildings and the direction of sun light for the foreground.

But all in all, I think it's very good! Hope this helps.

Last edited by danielames; 22-08-2011 at 04:07 AM.

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# 7 18-10-2011 , 09:56 PM

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I am not going to repeat what everyone else has said as I agree with most of it, but for me the scene is too dark. The light is not reflecting off of the buildings, they are white so should reflect some the the sunlight back onto the water lighting up the boats area. Try adding a few fill lights, like ambient lights or volume lights to lighten up the darker areas.

Have a look at the 3-point light tutorial, it's free and might give you some new ideas on using lighting.

Chris (formerly R@nSiD)
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