Mostly I need help with shadows. I feel like the console should drop a shadow someplace but I have no idea where that would be.
The room is lit a bit from above, and also from the window. The console buttons, the holographic poster on the wall, and the panel next to the door all give off a small amount of light as well.
Any help with where large shadows should go would be much appreciated.
(http://img231.imageshack.us/img231/7519/bridge12es.gif) (http://imageshack.us)
x2
(http://img231.imageshack.us/img231/7519/bridge12es.gif) (http://imageshack.us)
I think I lost a couple of colors when I converted to 256 gif, particularly what is supposed to be a purple highlight on the left side of the right-hand door.
Also, for reference--this room has several functions, which made it difficult for me to figure out how to design, but they are:
1. Cutscene (so it needs to be at least very very vaguely cinematic)
2. Normal puzzle room
3. It must be able to comfortably fit at least 4-6 NPCs
Hence the empty space, which will be partly filled up at some points by a projection courtesy of the domed holographic projector in the floor. :)
You've done a great job with the layout and shading, but I think you may have made the room a bit too dark to warrant shadows. Maybe you should make the top of the walls a much lighter metallic color and the floor a less saturated color of blue and then start applying shadows. It's just my opinion, but I find it much easier to work with a bright room and then add shadows than to work with an already dark room.
I think the room looks great and the shading makes sense already for a kind of diffuse light coming from many sources. I'm not sure where the light sources really are - there's some coming from the red pushbutton, some coming from the holographic display, but where is the rest coming from - from outside? Or from the ceiling? If you want sharper shadows, just place the lights (even offscreen if that's where they are), and trace where the shadows would fall. But as I said, I think the room is great already, so a few extra shadows wouldn't do much.
It never occurred to me that it might be appropriate for it to not have large shadows like that--I just assumed I didn't know where to put them.Ã, :=
ProgZ and fred, your advice sounds good to me, and the room works all right in testing so maybe I'll just leave it as is. Thanks to both of you for replying.