Stairs, trying for photoreal

[protohiro]

I think you have a very good start here (not a bad image as it is) but I think your textures need a lot of work if your goal is photorealism. At the moment it seems like you have tiled textures on pretty much everything. I'd expect to see some wear on the center of the stairs where people walk, paint on the bottom the rails and clean metal on top. There should be some rain streaking on the cement, etc etc. The best thing to do is to go out and take some pictures with a digital camera of an area similar to the image. Make some nice textures from those photos and also look at the real place and see how the textures vary in reality. Wear and tear is not evenly distributed. You should be able to see how people use the stairs, how the trash can has been treated. I like the grafiti wall though, that's cool.

[Dan-o706]

I agree with Protohiro. Also everything seems too smooth. Add bump maps. The highlights in the concrete are perfect, in real life there would be flaws, nicks etc. The windows seem a little too small compared to the stairs, also the windows need more detail (most windows have a subsill's), maybe add a little reflection. The lighting could be improved, maybe by changing the position so that its to the left and up from the camera, pointing toward the stairs. That would lighten up the vertical walls and steps.

[bdemented]

anything else?

[Dan-o706]

Oh yea - I would recess the windows a few inches into the brick, also I think there would be more debris in the corners where the wind blew it. Hope this helps a little.

[Dragonbreath]

Hi -
The things I see in order to make this more realistic...
1) The stairs look too rounded - I know beveled edges are a must, but this seems to have gone a little too far. Maybe if they were a bit sharper where noone ever walks...
2) The newspapers are angled weird. Not the way they lay on the ground - they don't look as if they've been cut into rectangles.
3) The plastic garbage can looks too flat. I know it's not supposed to shine, but it needs some kind of hilight.
4) I agree with the comments on the bump maps for the bricks and the reflection in the windows.
5) Try cloning your cement wall texture down instead of across. I can see yellow and purple bands all the way through it. If you clone down instead, you might get more of that rain streaking feel that Protohiro mentioned.
6) I don't know what that thing is at the bottom of the steps (with the nipple sticking out), but it takes me away from the realism. I can't figure it out.

7) The coke can on the ledge looks absolutely beautiful. Don't change it.
OK, so... I know it's easy to tear apart something that's supposed to be real-looking. I only want to see this get better. Keep it up!

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