Well, I've been coming along nicely on my lab today. I think I'll call it Malevolence - I'll probally add a few more models and change some textures, but I'm starting to be happy with it. On a side note, I did try both bump maps and displacement maps - I wasn't happy with either of them. The displacement maps gave a sort of 'streched' look on the panels, and the bump maps interfered with the shadows on the texture. I tried removing the shadows on the texture map, but the result was 'flat' . Comments? Criticism? Requests? Anything?

Looks fantastic to me.~Kirsten

Any chance of getting this? Any Chance of it being in the Free stuff....

For my preference? I model all geometry or displacement map it in (I usually render in Max). I don;t pur any shadows or anything right ont he maps of my work as I can't ever tell what lighting I will be using it in.

Oh... it looks great btw - you're doing really well :)

Butch: This will be put in the MP, but I do intend to put up a few freebies. A cryotube, computer, and a green slime. Soulhuntre: Thanks for the input. I put very small shadows on my models. This gives the illusion of a 3d panel being there, but saves polys. I agree, it can backfire in different lighting, but for the most part it works great.

I remember your early versions with the different grill work.... I like this new version except for the flat red brick things on the walls. It makes your wonderful 3d model now look like a low budget broadway stage set (if you know what I mean) It looks like things just painted on the walls..... I suggest that you run some simple pipes and conduits around the walls and possibly a cluster of them coming down from ceiling to floor. Pipes will be easy to model and texture..... Try a steel one, a copper one and a large black corregated one (like automotive wire harness) Possibly bright orange or the black and yellow "warning" type to compliment your floors. For wall art.... how about radiation or bio hazzard symbols....... Just my two cents..... I'd like to see it when you're done.... Much of my work is sci-fi so I can see all kinds of uses for it.... good job

TalleyJC: Thanks for the idea with the pipes. I'll do that. I'll consider the biohazard and radiation symbols as well.

Good work Kagato98, but I agree with TalleyJC on the wires, pipes, and conduits.

Hmm....So if I take out the red bars, what will I fill the wall with then 0_o? And what exactly doesn't look right about them - color, texture, or are they just flat out ugly? I could change them instead of cutting them out - but other than that, I don't know what I would fill the walls with.

Coolness. With some reddish lighting, would remind me of any number of levels I shot my way into and out of in Quake II and Halflife. It's got that feel to it. ;] Agree on the 3D pipes.

Maybe model a conduit as a prop? Give a pose file to load it into the blank space on the wall and we can move it around if we want or add more of them. That way you don't have to sweat the poly count, those who can handle the polys load the prop and those who don;t tant to can drop it.

Small props will go a long way to add to the set....
Think about that room and what it would be like in the real world.... Fire extinguisers, fire alarm switces, fire hose,
the classic spinning yellow or red lights (like on top of an old police car) a black board with formulas written on it... schematic drawings pinned up....
clip boards (there are always clip boards in sci-fi.)
Electrical juction boxes, control or monitor panels, xray viewing light boxes, emergency power kill switch, an observation window (for another room or control center)
Big oxygen cylinders, A tool tray, a sink, a emergency eye washer, small wall cabinets for first aid, or goggle sterilzation. alien fetus or brain in a jar...ok maybe not...heheheheh.

Whoops.... me again. What I meant to say is that some of the elements I listed could be part of the base model (like the wall things - fire extinguishers, switches....etc) but the set lends itself for a whole slew of new props that, in the long run you could offer as freebies, to compliment the base set (should you start selling it). Other artists as well could start making props for it.

1. Include trans poses or seperate the side walls from the main prop to turn whole walls on and off. A single prop for a room with all 3 or 4 walls solid can be a pain to pose. The same goes for all the floor models. Its a great scene, but I wouldn't use the floor models much. I'd be more likely to use it as a monster lab with a slab. 2) Include alternate textures and transmaps for the balcony. A railing instead of the solid upper wall would provide more variation, and make it much more versatle. You also might consider a large window up there. For that matter, an extra set of textures turning it more gruesome or maybe gothic would be neat (maybe in freebies to get people to buy). I might even package it as the base lab with two textures, and then sell textures and prop sets specificly designed for it to turn it into different rooms (see below). 3) I always look for the number of seperate props incuded with the scene, compared to price. Fewer props, smaller price. If I can use the props from one scene in another setting, I'm much more likly to buy. I'd add a control console, maybe some posable tubing. Any of the wall pictures you decide to do (biohazard, etc) I'd make seperate props so the user can put them up where they like. I'd also include a stairway and a door to the top that could be added to either side. 4) Include two or three camera poses to emphisize different areas of the lab: balcony looking down, closeup of the central chamber, etc. Different lighting poses would add value too: Weird green focusing on the chamber, bright white, soft bloody red. Just some ideas. Remember the more variation something has, the more likly someone is to decide that they want it. The base model you've done could be used for everything from a living room with loft to a barn interior with the right texturing. Hope this helps.

...and I can't spell this morning. At least I'm sonsistant...

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