Seeing all the techniques come together is quite nice indeed :)
But i agree the overall ambient lighting is killing lots of the possible atmosphear here. The contrasts need to go up.
And i cannot make out the actual lightsource for this scene. It seems the 2 lamps are just glowing but not lighting up the scene at all... the light comes from somewhere else? Well the shadows correspond alright but i'd expect a hotspot right beneath the lamps and then a visual fading of light . Right now the floor seems uniformly lit if you see what i mean ;)
I think you should revise the lighting model. Use inverse square falloff for interior lighting. It's more natural than linear falloff. And in this scene the white lamps don't seem to have any falloff... that makes the lighting unbelievable.
Other than that - great work Josh! You're on a good path.
But i agree the overall ambient lighting is killing lots of the possible atmosphear here. The contrasts need to go up.
And i cannot make out the actual lightsource for this scene. It seems the 2 lamps are just glowing but not lighting up the scene at all... the light comes from somewhere else? Well the shadows correspond alright but i'd expect a hotspot right beneath the lamps and then a visual fading of light . Right now the floor seems uniformly lit if you see what i mean ;)
I think you should revise the lighting model. Use inverse square falloff for interior lighting. It's more natural than linear falloff. And in this scene the white lamps don't seem to have any falloff... that makes the lighting unbelievable.
Other than that - great work Josh! You're on a good path.