Background WIP

[cobra79]

This is supposed to be a small and cramped lab in an underground bunker. Before I add the lab-stuff like flasks, books and papers I would like to hear your opinion.

2x


I have a hard time with the colors. All walls (except the back wall) and the floor are supposed to be concrete. The door should look metallic (steel or slightly rusted iron).
At the moment it all looks very grayish.
Also, are the lighting/shadows right as they are? Any other suggestions?

[Nikolas]

I'm not a graphic man, just in case you don't know.

This Bg, looks perfect! I can't find a flaw! Really I can't! But don;t know shit about technics, so wait for more!

Just wanted to say that it strongly reminds me of Quake 2...

PS. The light seems too little for an underground lab of sorts. I would expect the whole selling (sp) to be a light source, especially the thin that goes over, but still...

I really like the feeling of your BGs.

[Tuomas]

I like it, you really captured the tight cramped look. I'd change the lines on the tiles though, they really don't fit the picture. They look very freehand drawn.

[Babar]

tiles blurry + rest of background not = doesn't match

Otherwise, great!

[cobra79]

I am glad you like it. Here is a newer version with fixed tiles. I also began to add little details, but they are so time intensive...

2x

[Khris]

Flawed and pretty rushed, but to give you some ideas about the lighting:



I also changed some pixels here and there (books, door, vial stand and some others).

Although it looks pretty good, the gradient on the wall under the lamp looks out of place, considering that there aren't any gradients in the rest of the pic.

Btw, shadows from a single lightsource don't add. Use not only dark, but desaturated colors for the parts in shadow, and don't be afraid to lose definition there.

[cobra79]

Very nice Khris. I followed most of your improvements and now it looks like this:

2x


I have to admit, that I don't know how to create the shadows, nevertheless they look reasonable enough to me, that I think I will leave it there and will concentrate on adding details.

EDIT: Just realized that I forgot to activate one layer. The ceiling is darker.

[Medical Waste]

I don't like the new lines on the back while, they look painted on. If you want it to look like concrete you should add some sort of texture, like this perhaps:


If you want the door, the cabinet or the vent to appear metallic then you should add reflections.

[radiowaves]

Hey cobra, that bg in your last post is just kickass! Awsome perspective and view point, man, good you applied some contrast to it. Only crit is that the left side (the one closer to the door) of the sink should have a shadow. The other correction would be something on the ceiling,, but that is just a nitpick that actually doesn't bother.

[cobra79]

Ok, I have been experimenting a little bit with with textures and I am really satisfied how it turned out. Now it feels like a bunker. 

2x


Thanks everyone.

[Babar]

I actually preferred the one without the textures. I don't know about Medical Waste, but they didn't really look painted on to me. One thing I should have mentioned before (but only noticed now) is that a yellow lightsource would not give off white light. I'd suggest that you change the colour to bright white. The other thing you could do would be to change the lighting to a yellowish colour, but that would change the mood in a way I'm not sure what the effect would be.

[radiowaves]

Do not ruin it with textures. Low res is for retro  and therefore doesn't support textures. textures make it ugly. Especially considering the fact that you probably cannot draw photorealistic (texture) quality sprites for it.

[InCreator]

I'm not against textures, but make them by hand. Yes, manually.

Phototextures simply, plainly, clearly suck.

[ildu]

NO! Textures... out... NOW. If you want to texture, either paint or pixel it in. Anyhow, the vector style is very much more appealing than having textures. If you want to make the brick seams less prominent, just bright them up a bit closer to the brick color.

[cobra79]

Uhh, that took me by surprise. Personally I thought the textures looked good.
I will try it manually and if it doesn't work will leave it as it was with the slight modifications babar and ildu suggested.
cheers

[Khris]

Yup, get rid of the textures. It looks horrible.

About the shadows:


I isn't illuminated by the lamp directly.
II is hit by gradually more light from right to left (wall) / up to down (floor).
III is hit fully.

In theory, only small light sources cause shadows with sharp edges, and only at a small distance between shadow and object.
Especially with a big light source as yours, there shouldn't be any sharp edged shadows, but putting gradients everywhere will ruin the nice clean style, so I'd use 2 or 3 levels of darkness.

The shadow of the locker can't run straight like that on the wash basin, it should follow the form of the basin, as in be further to the right than the shadow on the wall.
As you can see in the picture, the only part illuminated is the left front, if even.

And check my sloppy edit of the door in my previous post. The door is back inside a hole in the wall, so we should see the underside of the wall above it (although it should be wider to the left; think of the lamp, but smaller and mirrored). Plus, the bottom left of the door should be higher.

[cobra79]

Thank you Khris, that is very helpful.

[Medical Waste]

I think the textures look fantastic.
Babar, how did those dark lines NOT look painted on, or should I say, look realistic at all? Especially considering the lightsource.

And I never meant specifically to use a photo to add a texture to it by the way, I meant give it texture. Anyways, I think it looks a lot better now. Before it was boring and cartoonish.

[Nikolas]

Khris, how lovely

This thread will be immortalised when done with

[radiowaves]

Medical, at least say the edges need some antialiasing. Realistic textures and pixelsharp edges suck, especially in low res.