Architecture Scene

Hello,

This is a WIP thread for my CG Cookie Architecture Competition Entry. I am going for a luxury/modern loft/office area:

Image:


Notes:


Please provide suggestions/critique!

Maybe use Cycles if you’re not already for a more realistic result? For the outside, use an HDR so there’s no hassle and it gets natural lighting if you know how to work with HDR’s and nodes. You could make the ground wood or something and the walls have a pattern as well so it’s not so plain and boring. And the books look fairly fake because it doesn’t look shaded realistically. It kinda looks like a sticker or something. I really love the cushions and the glass desk, and it’s a very good job so far!

Thanks for the reply!

Its cycles with 300 samples, I plan to go higher for the final render eventually though. I hope I can find a good HDR for the outside but I also want to have some visible nature items. Thanks for pointing out the books, they do look somewhat fake.

Thanks again,
Spencer C

Architecture is all about proportions. You have them wrong.

Using an HDRI Image is fine but it will look more creative if you actually model some nature like grass, trees and small plants.

You can find tree png and good textures for architecture at cgtextures.com.

Lightning plays an important role here. When lightning a sunny exterior, always use proper sun size and color. I used 7mm sun size and R: 0.900 G:0. 900 B:0.400 color. It worked well for me. When lightning an interior, use mesh lights for best results.

Here is a quick Image to 3d re-render:


Yea, I noticed that after stepping back for a while. I have adjusted the stair size and the table size, but let me know if you see anything specific else to change.

Thanks for the reply.
I was thinking I would do both an HDR and have some trees/nature items (I will probably use a few off of CGTextures, but I want to model some from scratch as well because I think it might give an even more realistic look). Thanks for the render, the lighting does look good on that and i’ll try, after this update, to make the sun like that.

One other thing, I ended up using a spot light to get the strips of light across the ground and floor (-setup-), because I put it through essentially a filter. I tried it with a mesh light, but it didn’t give the same effect, is there a way to direct the direction or type of mesh light besides just emission?

Thanks Again!


I also added a texture to the pages, a texture to the books, a wood flooring (not sure i’m happy with the outcome of that), and a rug design. I changed the pictures color to a grey temporarily, although I will swap that out for an image later. Nature still needs to be added as well.

Image:


Update. Critique or Feedback?


Notes:


The railing is way too thick.
The wooden structure feels unstable and its textures look out of scale. Surf the web to see how those are made in real life.

Good lightning overall but the wooden structure is starting to look odd to me. Improve it.

Thanks for the replies,

I adjusted the thickness of the railings slightly although I may do more later depending on how it looks overall. I also changed the style of the structure, i’m thinking about adding something else underneath because it kinda looks like it’s floating right now.

Update:


I plan to add a floor texture and put another picture frame up, as well as change the nature outside.

Thanks Again,

Update:


Still plan to add a floor texture and mess around with the nature more.

Thoughts?

you’re off to a good start. A piece of advice I would give…

Take a look at how things are actually made in the real world…

The wooden floor for example would not be a single plane with a texture. There would be individual planes of wood. Change your wooden floor to individual beams. line them up nicely with some inconsistent spacing, and it will instantly make it better. Also use a couple of variations of the texture for the wood texture for each of the beams to avoid repetitiveness.

Same applies with the bannister. Look at references…How do the banister struts actually fit into the floor and railings.

Little things like this will help you in the future :slight_smile:

Thanks for the reply,

I especially like your suggestion of splitting up each piece of wood in the flooring. There will be alot of UV unwrapping to do, but it should look good in the end. I will look at more reference images as well, I want something a little modern for the railing but also a little different so I will look at some images for that.

Thanks again,

If you create 1 beam and UV unwrap that before duplicating the beams, it will save you a lot of work :slight_smile:

Yea, I realized that about half way through :). Thanks

Here’s the result I got, I may space them farther apart:


Thanks,

Added a floor texture and separated wooden planks farther apart:


Thoughts?

Hey man, have some great aspects to your scene. A lot of great textures and nice little details such as the sockets and smaller items.

As mentioned before proportions are a big part of architecture. To me your steps and banister still seem to large. The banister especially, it should be thinner and more elegant to reflect the materials used (marble and chrome?). The uprights should maybe be flush with the hand rail, nicer to hold and a nice detail on top with the square posts showing in the top of the rail. Possibly the same with the table, but its more likely that the glass is just a single piece without any holes through it.

Your deck seems to float but this could be the idea that your trying to convey and any real structure hidden from view. The stairs could be the same but the final support seems too long and made of two boards stacked which wouldn’t support the weight, unless like the deck the main structure is hidden.

As I said before your materials are great but for me you possibly use too many. You mix a lot of cheap materials (deck and flooring) with really expensive materials (Stairs, banister). For a lot of architects “Less is more” for others “Less is a bore” you just need to find a happy medium and tailor your scene to a client.

I hope I don’t come across as negative, your scene has a lot of great points, I’m just picky.

Keep up the good work and I cant wait to see how it turns out.

Aldrez

Thank you for the reply!

I made some of the changes you talked about including shrinking the railing and stair size. I’m not sure I followed everything you said about materials, I could remove some of the more “elegant” materials like the marble but i’m not sure if it would be a good idea to replace it with something like the wooden flooring…?

The floating look to the platform has grown on me some, although I may come up with something I like more eventually. Finally, on the last stair support it doesn’t seem like a good idea to completely remove it as that would end the pattern; but i’m not sure how to make it look better and more stable.


Thanks Again!

I like the marble material, you use it well. Its thin and elegant which I like, its just you use a mix of other materials that are a lot cheaper. I mean this person can afford to buy marble they could probably use more expensive timber especially if you can see it ( the structure) The steps are very Mies Van Der Rohe in style (Farnsworth house) and i am a big fan of that they just need to be a bit more floaty looking, which a rethink of the structure would help with (see my crappy drawing).

Still think the tops of the banisters should be flush with the rail (see other crappy drawing), imagine you run your hand around it, much nicer if you could move it around the whole thing instead of bumping into all the posts.


Really it comes down to what you want to make your scene look like. Im providing you with my opinion and criticism, I’m not a blender expert and have only been using it for a few weeks so i couldn’t tell you how to model much. But i do have a good basis in architecture and design which is mainly why i pick up on those points. It could be really helpful for you to think of the type of person that lives there, how old they are, gender, what they do as a living , hobbies, family, job, income all that stuff and design it for them, use materials they could afford or like then it will look real because people will be able to pick up on those things.

Good luck dude!

Thanks very much for the feedback!

Now that I understand what you meant about the railings, I understand and like the result as well. I was unable to find a wood texture I liked better then the one I already have, however I did darken the wood because I felt it gave it a more “elegant” feeling. I also liked your adjusted stair style sketch and have now implemented it:


Thank you very much!