Interior Render Realism

[Adept]

Hi! I am working on an animation that I am having take place indoors. I have been modeling and texturing part of the scene, and have been fairly happy with the modeling, but the renders just look a little off. I am going for a fairly realistic look, at least enough to sell it in a busy animation (not too focused on the scene/still shots) but the lighting seems funny and it just doesn't look right. Is there anyone that is more experienced at stuff like this that can help give me some tips on what to change or any tricks or techniques you use to get your scenes to look more realistic? Thanks!

Renders:
https://gyazo.com/706f520f2ab234cccc0a2826382b3e0b
https://gyazo.com/7e1e4e6d91a4f8c7430e545889b266d1
https://gyazo.com/cce280abf5b034ff7775053f5c2ed354
https://gyazo.com/717fcfe970997da761a7da39af96daef

Keep in mind this is still a wip so I am still adding new things such as dirt on the floor and more clutter on the ground.

[grimm]

I'm not a professional so take what I say with a grain of salt. It looks like you are using the direct light kernel as I can see that you have almost no secondary light bounces (the shadows are real stark). If you are using the PT kernel (or PMC) you must have the light bounces turned down? That would be the biggest issue I can see. Another is that you have evenly distributed light sources so your scene comes out flat. Having a main light with smaller fill lights looks better and more real. You might want to study some of the paintings of Dutch masters like Rembrandt. They were masters of light and dark and using it to convey meaning. Dark is just as important as light in my opinion.

http://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/light ... arster.jpg

http://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/light ... Ostade.jpg

[Adept]

I'm not a professional so take what I say with a grain of salt. It looks like you are using the direct light kernel as I can see that you have almost no secondary light bounces (the shadows are real stark). If you are using the PT kernel (or PMC) you must have the light bounces turned down? That would be the biggest issue I can see. Another is that you have evenly distributed light sources so your scene comes out flat. Having a main light with smaller fill lights looks better and more real. You might want to study some of the paintings of Dutch masters like Rembrandt. They were masters of light and dark and using it to convey meaning. Dark is just as important as light in my opinion.

http://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/light ... arster.jpg

http://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/light ... Ostade.jpg

Yes, I am using DL, didn't realize I was! Thanks! Ill also try messing around with the lights some more and check out the paintings.