Sci-fi Lab WIP (Maya)

[Dee Bingo]

Hey everyone! I've been cruising this site for awhile now and finally have gotten the courage to make my first post. I currently am a second year student at the Art Institute of San Francisco in the Game Art and Design program. I am completely new to 3D but am starting to enjoy it the more I get into it and get my hands dirty. I aspire to become a concept artist for games/movies with equally good 2D/3D skills. Unfortunately my 2D is severely lacking at this stage because of all the time I put into learning Maya.


So this is a WIP that I turned in for a Environment design class. The assignment was to design an "urban" or "man-made" environment with "next-gen production values" in Maya. I decided on sci-fi laboratory with humanoids in glass tubes (I know, really unique!:P). We had a 80k poly limit
and I think I hit 50k (including an unecessarily high-poly character model in one of the tanks). I would also like to note that this is the first time I've textured anything and had to learn that on the fly in another class while I worked on this project.

Overall I'm pretty pleased with what I have but would like to continue to build on this to get it to portfolio quality. All crits and comments would be appreciated! Thanks!

Quick concept render (pen/photoshop):
http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e285/deebingo/labconcept3.jpg

Mental Ray Renders:
http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e285/deebingo/rndrtst2copy.jpg

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e285/deebingo/rndrtst3copy.jpg

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e285/deebingo/rndrtst1copy.jpg

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e285/deebingo/rndrtst4.jpg

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e285/deebingo/rndrtst6ccopy.jpg

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e285/deebingo/rndrtst5bcopy.jpg

[Yrat]

i love the tubes, the figures combined with the lighting and distortion from the glass is awesome.

one thing that struck me was the emptiness in the control-room/viewing area. it looks so cold and sterile. i feel like that place should be more comfortable to work in, sort of like an office with carpeting or something, or some warmer colored lights, or even just white lab-like walls. it's something about the metal finish that is throwing me off. i think that would also create a great contrast between the two areas separated by glass.

[Dee Bingo]

Thanks for your response! Yeah, I noticed the emptiness in the observation rooms too. I didn't have time to put much attention into it as the deadline forced me to do a "once-over" on that area. I actually wanted the whole place to feel kind of cold and sterile, but the emptyness is bothering me. I think if I throw in some more equipment and maybe try a different texture for the walls that will help. As for the lights being sterile and cold, I want it that way. I think I went with the brushed metal texture because I wanted it to stay consistent with the rest of the piece (which was a requirement for the project). Maybe I should try and split the difference so that the contrast isnt TOO high (which I think carpet would create). These researchers aren't benefiting from the perks of their employer like say, employees for Google. ;)

Thanks again for the input!