Light or not to light? BG C&C

[InCreator]

Okay. Let me show the bg I also showed in "Release Something!".



Now, for those who might be guessing how do such things happen, here's a render of very simple flat-textured render in 3ds max 4.



I didn't find good photo of diner to trace, so I made reference image by myself... in 3d. And simply redrew it in ArtGem.

It's about evening time, with a bit foggy weather.
So, it's a bit dark inside and it would be believeable that the lights inside diner are lit.

So...
As you can see, there's an omnilight at upper right area of the room which caused these shadows of tables, adding strong amount of reality. Problem is, should the light source be visible? I tried and ended up with this...




What do you think? Should I use the one with light or the on without?

Any other suggestions and traditional C&C is welcome too.

[DanClarke]

It's not a question of weather it should be visible, more a case of how visible it should be. Try reducing the opacity of the shadows, or softening their edges. I like it .

[Mozesh]

Really nice, maybe make the outside a bit darker, looks more mid-day to me. (well not exactly but a bit to light I think)

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

Rather than just have one at the corner, there would probably be several small point lights, either rounded or long flourescents like the one you have.  I'd put one or two more in there and reduce the overall output of each source.

[Erwin_Br]

I know it's not about the light, but the base of your buildings outside are too low. It's like the diner is situated above ground level, say on the 3rd floor or something. The horizon of your image is about 10 pixels above the base of the windows, so you should see the street.

--Erwin

[Kweepa]

My biggest problem with the image is the one pixel steps, at the top of the wall and on the left of the left hand window.
I love what you've done with the surfaces.

[skw]

Hmm... an evening time you said? Might and hope it be helpful:



It has the mood, I like it.

[InCreator]

a...mazing!

Johnny's edit is a bit too desaturated and dark, (close to night already) but I'll try to find a medium here, I really love what you did...

we'll see.

[CoffeeBob]

Johnny's edit's really great, but a tiny bit too dark. But overall, it's a very nice background. Reminds me of Fahrenheit.

[skw]

Hmm...Ã,  it doesn't seem too dark on my LCD monitor so maybe it's a fault of my brightness setting. Anyway, glad you like it.