Posted by ReNo on Fri Aug 26th 2005 at 10:54pm
Very nice first effort, congratulations
Ok, well I've fixed a few things even since puting this up. First, that light your talking about was part of my unfinished lighting on the first floor. It was just there so you could see. I just finished actually doing the lighting down there, so their are now lights in the ceiling and everything.
I'm listing the changes in the description so you can see what I've done differently.
Posted by Tracer Bullet on Fri Aug 26th 2005 at 7:30pm
Yup, you've got my meaning in terms of the lighting. There also seems to be a light in the last screen which has no source... bad.
In terms of the landscaping:
Yes, I think the tufts of grass look out of place, but you might go for an abandoned look which would also enable you to have more fun with the interior lighting. I.e. lots of broken light fixtures allowing you to get good light/dark contrast in areas you might not otherwise.
Most companies in suburban America have berms that front the streets to cut down on noise, and the corporate sign is usually a massive concrete thing which is situated on it's own little artificial hill with flowers, bushes etc. surrounding it. These things are indeed tacky as hell, but it would be realistic! If you go for the abandoned look, you could have the sign cracked, with dead bushes and weeds everywhere. Maybe a dry fish-pond with lots of debris in it... I dono.
I'm assuming for the lighting you're talking about the lights inside? I was trying to mimic those in office, but I can see what you mean when you say they look odd. In the 3rd picture, I noticed how one of them is bright around the ceiling and the other isn't... so yeah, I'll look into that.
If you're referring to those in the room with the projector, they should be exactly the same as in the official cs_office, I don't know why they look so out of place. They do appear to be glowing though, just not giving off light. I'll look into that as well
As for landscaping, That's a good idea, and I'll do my best to make it more creative out there for the future. What do you think about the grass texture? Should I lose the one with all the little sprouts? At first I thought it look alright, and added depth, but it doesn't really fit in with the setting. Not many offices would have weeds and long grass growing in the front yard.
EDIT - I tried making some fountain thing in the front yard, but to me, it just looked tacky, like I was trying to fancy it up, and it just looked bad. I think I'm gonna leave that how it is, or perhaps add a corporate sign or something like you said.
Posted by Tracer Bullet on Fri Aug 26th 2005 at 4:06pm
Looks Damn nice to me. It feels like a real office building.
The main thing you need to work on is lighting. There is nothing terribly wrong with the character of it, but many of your light sources just look odd. I'm not sure how you've constructed them or how you might want to fix them, that's just what I see. I'd also suggest more variation in the landscape outside. Most business don't settle for a flat lawn, and you shouldn't either. Try a big corporate sign with a fish pond and various other landscaping features!
