Rendering problem

[justynaro]

This is my first post here and I hope I'll be able to get some help.

 

I've been using 3ds max for the last 2 years and started off doing my own projects and renders to be able to learn it and then use it for my college projects.

I had 3ds max 2011 installed at the time but something happened (not sure, think it was a virus) and couldn't open the programme anymore. I decided to install 3ds max 2012 but nothing seems to work the way it used to before!

 

The 'then' image is what I did about 2 years ago but after improving my skills slightly in this area I decided to finish it off and make it look better but the image called 'now' is what I'm getting trying to render it now. The ceiling seems to be reflecting the colour of the floor and overall the picture looks very unrealistic and there is no shadows ;/ It is very frustrating as I used to be able to produce better images...

 

I tried using 3ds max design and even though the colours seems to be better, there's no realism in my renders. I won't even mention the fact that applying materials is a struggle...

 

I would really appreciate if anyone knew how to sort this out