Here is a subway sort of place. Just bored today and i did it, but it turned out better than i thought so i’d like some suggestions on how to make it better.
thx
swatdojo
That is one clean subway! You could add some dirt and scuff marks here and there. Some grafitti would be nice too. Or even hang that sign on one thread like in those B-movie horror shows.
Lighting is excellent. Very moody and forboding
I really like the wall texture you have. With that hanging sign I think grafitti would really work well on the walls and such. I keep thinking smoke stains on the roof would be good from the people smoking as they ride up the escalators too. This is a very good start though, keep it up.
-Anthony
subway stairs have a nothcing on the underside of them that lets them stay together, in your shot they are smooth. Just a minor detail that might add to the realism. Also, the central staircase could be a bit brighter, never seen pitch black stairs before, especially with a very low light enviornment like a subway, usually everything is greys and whites. 
Scene is great though, reminds me of all the days of going to school in SF.
thx for the comments guys :D. here is a render with some basic stuff added, nothing too fancy. the “black staris” are actually supposed to be an escalator. o and khnum i dont understand what you mean about the staris.
swatdojo
This is going to sound a little ignorant, but I’m not near any cities with subways or metro systems. I’ve been on the NYC and DC systems though, and I seem to remember (at least in the DC system) there being an escalator going each way, and a saircase in the center. The places I got on and off in DC always were very far underground, and the escalator rides seemed almost necessary considering the amount of stairs you would have to climb.
Is this not true of most subway stops?
Also, as for the grafitti, I really like the one saying, “Hell,” but the other part on that same wall seems like it would benefit from being more transparent. It would be nice if you could make out the surface of the wall behind it a little bit more. You’re doing a very good job of dirtying up the place though.
-Anthony
yeah well i thought about the whole two way escalator thing but for this i wanted it to be sort of like someone coming out of the subway. so that this would be the way to get out and somewhere else would be the way in.
I think your first shot was better… the sign looks bad hanging like that, and the graffiti has become a visual cliche’. Therefore I would lose both.
What stood out as unrealistic to me was the escalator… there’s no detail in the steps and no texture to speak of. No specular highlights anywhere.
At this point, the shot needs just one more visual gag to make it work. How about a long series of identical business-suited men, wearing identical bowler-hats, on the ascending escalator, facing away from camera, and a row of … I don’t know … skeletons? cardboard boxes? … coming back down?
If you add something like that, now the picture tells a complete story, and it makes a complete statement… Magritte style. The phrase on the sign now becomes an expression of irony.
What I ment about the stairs is that on the underside of all escalators there is a ribbing, that when the stair goes underneither and back around it slides on these slits. Your stair faces don’t show this. Plust they are usually made of aluminum so they have a high shiny finish to them with the black sandpaper tap on them for tractions. I’ve never seen black escalators. As for only having the one in the middle, they does go against every stair well I’ve seen in a subway as well. Always one up, one down, and a standard both ways. The graffiti and sign don’t bother me as much as the stairs do, but since the stairs are the darkest part, perhaps if it’s brightned a bit it will take some emphasis off the wall and sign? Keep it up!!
you need a bump map for the bricks and the stairs could use like a more dirtied texture (alot of people walk on them) I really like the bottles though. Sorta reminds me of max payne. Is it for a game?
BUmp mapping would be good.