so it’s not great, but it is a WIP. I’m not sure what needs to be changed. any suggestions? what can you tell needs improvement?
thanks much,
marty
well first your lighting is way too bright!
then you could downsize the wood texture a little and maybe add another bump map to the floor to make it look not so plane.
try turning down the spec a lot, it’s much too reflective as a wood material.
what is the scene going to be in the end? a real looking interieur still or something logo like?
if it’s some advertising or so then add the text with photoshop or gimp…blender text looks so plastic to me
you could apply a wall texture to make it look not that sterile…
that’s what came to my mind, do what you like 
I’ve worked with blender since february this year, and I’m not a pro.
the text on the wall was not good at all. it doesnt look nice in my eyes. try to learn a little bit more about lights and how they works.
and the thing on the table… what is that? 
try to make a little bit more comfortable texture on the table. it looks so bright
the floor pattern is repeating itself too visibly, try to find more wood materials/textures to give more variation to the floor.
great critiques, thanks guys!
@chop: you’re absolutely right about all the texturing and lighting. i have added any bumpmaps, because i don’t know how that works yet. (been using blender for like 3 weeks) i’ll see what i can do with the lighting. as for the end result, it’s supposed to be a splash screen for a contest (on this site actually). i haven’t been too accurate on the modeling of the folder, the paper, and the scope on the table at all, so i’ll work on those. as for adding text via Gimp (which is all i have), i’ll give it a shot. i was wanting to have some 3d text though.
@wib: i’m not quite sure what you mean by “it doesn’t look nice in my eyes”. how so? i think i may need to apply some better lighting and material to the text, if that’s what you’re reffering to.
about the text, it doesn’t look “right” maybe because you don’t expect to see 3D text on a wall. [There are 3D texts on walls: logos, company names, etc but not in a “normal” room like this seems to be]. Why is there the text? what are you trying to say with it?
ok, here’s on update. i’m still working on the telescope eye, and well as the wall texture and wood reflectiveness.
@dare: i was simply trying to incoprorate the slogan for the software this is for into the image, but your right, 3d isn’t the best way to go about it, so i’ll keep working on it.
Attachments
Have you tried Wood Workshop? (found here: http://www.spiralgraphics.biz/ww_overview.htm )
What’s neat about it is that you can make some really nice wood, turn around and make the same wood in black and white and use the second for a bump map - which is what you need here. A little bump mapping would make the wood really stand out, especially with some light ray mirror. Also some low-power yellowish lamps with quad/sphere on for more mood.
Just suggestions, hope they help. You can make your own bump map with a photo program using the texture you have too - just make it b/w and up the contrast.
To add bump mapping, put the b/w tex in a second texture channel, turn Col off and Nor on. Adjust nor slider as necessary.
actually the wood is from wood workshop.
thanks for the tip, i’ll give bumpmapping a shot.
the table doesn’t leave shadows in you pic. That’s not what tables do 
hahaha, yeah, i forgot to turn on the shadow button for that render. i’m testing the bumpmap settings now. as for everything else, anymore critiques, or does it just look like artistic liberty at this point?
A problem with the woodgrain is that it is continuous for the floor as if the individual boards aren’t really there. By that I mean that if you look at a real floor, the woodgrain changes from board to board because they are different pieces of wood. In your picture, you see grain elements that start on one board and continue seamlessly into the next (likely because you’re just overlaying a bumpmapping onto the floor as a whole to define board edges).
See some examples here.
You should get or create a texture where the individual planks have their own texture. You can do this within a single texture image, you would just have to combine a number of different textures to do so.