Post Your Renders - #4: A New Hope

Garstor

-_Milo_- said:

Thank you for those that looked. I said it was probably something I was doing. I have been plunking at that since 7 and that simple step was what I was missing. I even turned on full indirect lighting and I didn't get it.

7 years old or 7am? ;-)

That's one of the great things about this forum - plenty of knowledgeable people who are happy to help out and explain a few things.

scottidog2

WIP - CLOUDS
Suggestions and constructive criticism to improve the image most welcome.

Headwax

londonmarlo said:

WIP - CLOUDS
Suggestions and constructive criticism to improve the image most welcome.

wonderful work. ! Clouds look amazing. Care to share your secret.!?
My only suggestion would be to blur the horison line to suggest distance - you could do it with a 3d cloud or in post

evilproducer

Cool! I wish my WIPs looked half as good.

FractalDimensia

evilproducer said:

Awesome detail!

The blotchiness is sometimes called ashing and it's an artifact from using GI. There may be some things you can do to correct for it. Might help if you could post a screen shot of your render settings for the GI stuff like the photon count, accuracy, etc.

Also, for the fire, try using a lighter color for the base- A nearly yellow/white and a slightly less saturated orange for the tips. If the tube light is causing problems for you, like banding artifacts, replace it with a bulb light or two.

Thanks, Evil, for the suggestions. I had already started a render replacing the tube with a bulb light. I also cranked the GI to max (see screenshot below), but as you can see in the attached image, it's still there. I had no photon or caustics settings. I think I'll take a break from the scene for a few days. Maybe fresh eyes will give fresh ideas.

I was also thinking it would be nice to have an option to add objects to a scene by reference or link instead of having to embed objects into the scene file. You could then work on each object in a separate scene setting and not worry about messing up it's position, size, rotation, etc. in the main scene file. It would also reduce file space. Also, updates to objects in one file would automatically get revised in others where the object is referenced/linked.

Also, thanks Garstor, Wendy, and Holly for your feedback. =)

BTW, I lied. I forgot to mention the corbels were from a 3D site. ;)

FractalDimensia

londonmarlo said:

WIP - CLOUDS
Suggestions and constructive criticism to improve the image most welcome.

The background behind the clouds is a nice contrast, like a foreboding storm on the horizon, and she seems quite unconcerned! Also excellent shading of the column and the vines are a nice touch.

Only one thing - I would expect there would be more clouds being reflected off the surface of the water, or a hint of the dark clouds to the left on the surface of the distant waters.

And BTW, ALL of my work is WIP. ;)

Phenomenal work!

evilproducer

JimDHart said:

evilproducer said:

Awesome detail!

The blotchiness is sometimes called ashing and it's an artifact from using GI. There may be some things you can do to correct for it. Might help if you could post a screen shot of your render settings for the GI stuff like the photon count, accuracy, etc.

Also, for the fire, try using a lighter color for the base- A nearly yellow/white and a slightly less saturated orange for the tips. If the tube light is causing problems for you, like banding artifacts, replace it with a bulb light or two.

Thanks, Evil, for the suggestions. I had already started a render replacing the tube with a bulb light. I also cranked the GI to max (see screenshot below), but as you can see in the attached image, it's still there. I had no photon or caustics settings. I think I'll take a break from the scene for a few days. Maybe fresh eyes will give fresh ideas.

I was also thinking it would be nice to have an option to add objects to a scene by reference or link instead of having to embed objects into the scene file. You could then work on each object in a separate scene setting and not worry about messing up it's position, size, rotation, etc. in the main scene file. It would also reduce file space. Also, updates to objects in one file would automatically get revised in others where the object is referenced/linked.

Also, thanks Garstor, Wendy, and Holly for your feedback. =)

BTW, I lied. I forgot to mention the corbels were from a 3D site. ;)

Hi Jim, to reduce ashing, you could try lowering the the lighting quality (near the photon count) to good instead of best and try and increase the number of photons from 5000, maybe try 20000 to see how it works. You could also try and increase the photon map accuracy from the default 10%. I know sometimes people have luck with turning the interpolation off and others swear by it. To be honest, I rarely use GI so your mileage may vary. I do know that for me at least, increasing the photon count didn't seem to hurt the render times.

Another trick I learned is to enable the Save Photon Map option, render a low res version of the scene and then when you wish to render the full res version, un-check the Save Photon Map option and enable the Use Saved Photon map option, then load the low res map you had saved previously. You will notice a significant reduction in light calculation time! I learned this from somebody on the old forums and it has helped immensely!

FractalDimensia

evilproducer said:

Hi Jim, to reduce ashing, you could try lowering the the lighting quality (near the photon count) to good instead of best and try and increase the number of photons from 5000, maybe try 20000 to see how it works. You could also try and increase the photon map accuracy from the default 10%. I know sometimes people have luck with turning the interpolation off and others swear by it. To be honest, I rarely use GI so your mileage may vary. I do know that for me at least, increasing the photon count didn't seem to hurt the render times.

Another trick I learned is to enable the Save Photon Map option, render a low res version of the scene and then when you wish to render the full res version, un-check the Save Photon Map option and enable the Use Saved Photon map option, then load the low res map you had saved previously. You will notice a significant reduction in light calculation time! I learned this from somebody on the old forums and it has helped immensely!

Many thanks, Evil. I'll give those ideas a go in the next 1-2 days and post my results here for feedback. I've been elbow deep in this scene for a full month and need a short hiatus! :)

evilproducer

FractalDimensia said:

evilproducer said:

Hi Jim, to reduce ashing, you could try lowering the the lighting quality (near the photon count) to good instead of best and try and increase the number of photons from 5000, maybe try 20000 to see how it works. You could also try and increase the photon map accuracy from the default 10%. I know sometimes people have luck with turning the interpolation off and others swear by it. To be honest, I rarely use GI so your mileage may vary. I do know that for me at least, increasing the photon count didn't seem to hurt the render times.

Another trick I learned is to enable the Save Photon Map option, render a low res version of the scene and then when you wish to render the full res version, un-check the Save Photon Map option and enable the Use Saved Photon map option, then load the low res map you had saved previously. You will notice a significant reduction in light calculation time! I learned this from somebody on the old forums and it has helped immensely!

Many thanks, Evil. I'll give those ideas a go in the next 1-2 days and post my results here for feedback. I've been elbow deep in this scene for a full month and need a short hiatus! :)

I hear you! A hiatus can be a good thing!

RoguePilot

FractalDimensia said:

I was also thinking it would be nice to have an option to add objects to a scene by reference or link instead of having to embed objects into the scene file. You could then work on each object in a separate scene setting and not worry about messing up it's position, size, rotation, etc. in the main scene file. It would also reduce file space. Also, updates to objects in one file would automatically get revised in others where the object is referenced/linked.

You sort of can get that type of functionality by dragging each item to the browser as you build it. Any changes you want to make to a prop; simply load it into an empty scene and work on it in there (or double click it in the browser which does that automatically). Transfer it back to your original scene via the browser again.
If you drag and drop to and from the scene list, instead of the scene window, the location of any props will be preserved.

Did you really model all of those items one after another in the same scene?

scottidog2

Thank you so much for your suggestions and observations.
Head wax, the clouds are volumetric Clouds with an orange distance light hitting it from behind.
Each Cloud is actually a cluster of clouds to give it volume and depth.
This is a straight up render with only contrast added so far in Post.
Yes you are spot on with the Horizon line being too clean and sharp. Will fix it in Post.

FractalDimensia, thanks for your tip about cloud shadows and reflections. Will definitely fix that.

Headwax

londonmarlo said:

Thank you so much for your suggestions and observations.
Head wax, the clouds are volumetric Clouds with an orange distance light hitting it from behind.
Each Cloud is actually a cluster of clouds to give it volume and depth.
This is a straight up render with only contrast added so far in Post.
Yes you are spot on with the Horizon line being too clean and sharp. Will fix it in Post.

FractalDimensia, thanks for your tip about cloud shadows and reflections. Will definitely fix that.

thanks for explaining about the clouds, I've never played with them much as clouds because of render times - guess I'll go and havenother play courtesy of your superb render

cheers :)

FractalDimensia

RoguePilot said:

You sort of can get that type of functionality by dragging each item to the browser as you build it. Any changes you want to make to a prop; simply load it into an empty scene and work on it in there (or double click it in the browser which does that automatically). Transfer it back to your original scene via the browser again.
If you drag and drop to and from the scene list, instead of the scene window, the location of any props will be preserved.

Did you really model all of those items one after another in the same scene?

Thanks, Rogue. I'm still rather new to Carrara and still haven't learned all the nice tricks. This trick may do just fine! And I did not know locations/etc were preserved. That's good news.

And no, I built each object in separate scenes and then imported them into the main scene. But, of course, that was followed by 1-2 weeks of refinements, which WERE done in the main scene.

The primary reason was that I encountered a problem when I attempted to import some objects into the scene, like the clock. (Again, here goes my noobness...) Some objects did not import correctly. The position/size/rotations of some components of some objects did not transfer, and I had to reposition/size/rotate them individually all over again. I tried saving the objects (exporting) and then importing it into the scene, I tried dragging the object into "My Objects" and then dragging back, and I tried copying and pasting. I got the same results each time. I finally resorted to copying and pasting each sub-object one at a time. Of course, that left me with a ton of shaders and other problems....

Like I said, I learned a LOT making this scene. And DEFINITELY due for a hiatus! :)

FractalDimensia

<<duplicate>>

Headwax

FractalDimensia

Have you played with grouping?
Something tells me that might help.
If nothing else, if you double click a group it will take you into a mini assembly room where only the elements of the group exist

FractalDimensia

head wax said:

FractalDimensia

Have you played with grouping?
Something tells me that might help.
If nothing else, if you double click a group it will take you into a mini assembly room where only the elements of the group exist

Head, I grouped all my objects (in some cases 3-4 levels). The techniques I tried to move the objects into the scene were on the grouped items. I actually think I "infected" my scene early when I imported the carbels, which were originally DAE files. When I imported them in, they went crazy. I finally had to do DAE -> OBJ -> CAR to get them to import properly. It could be that was the source (but as a software engineer, that doesn't seem likely). Anyway, I learned early not to touch a burning stove. ;)

And I remember now reading about the mini-assembly room. Thanks for the reminder. I'll try that next time. :P

K0daKumi_8e8836aac0

I don't always use V4... but when I do, nine times out of ten I'm playing with this freaky character, lol :gulp:

Dartanbeck

Very cool! I just love your renders. Your lighting, shaders, framing, backgrounds, shadows... not to mention the thoughts that inspire them.
Said it before... Sayin' it summore.... Koukotsu, you freakin' R O C K ! ! !

Dartanbeck

londonmarlo said:

WIP - CLOUDS
Suggestions and constructive criticism to improve the image most welcome.

Not feeling a bit critical right now. But I must say that I like this render. Keep that up!
FractalDimensia,
Really like yours too.
Great stuff everyone. It's really neat to just stroll through these pages looking at all of the cool and inspiring things that peeps use Carrara for. Thanks for sharing!

bigh

Dartanbeck said:

Very cool! I just love your renders. Your lighting, shaders, framing, backgrounds, shadows... not to mention the thoughts that inspire them.
Said it before... Sayin' it summore.... Koukotsu, you freakin' R O C K ! ! !

then you all ways say that :-)

Dartanbeck

Yeah... I guess you're right, bigh :ahhh:

Gips

picture

Dartanbeck

Very cool! I like how that one guy is totally checking out the car! :) Great shader on the car paint, btw. The rest of your shaders look good too. Some may say that the yellow bench is really bright... I'm not from the big city, but I just saw some city decor just like that! Nice shadowing without getting too sharp. Looks great.

Headwax

FractalDimensia said:

head wax said:

FractalDimensia

Have you played with grouping?
Something tells me that might help.
If nothing else, if you double click a group it will take you into a mini assembly room where only the elements of the group exist

Head, I grouped all my objects (in some cases 3-4 levels). The techniques I tried to move the objects into the scene were on the grouped items. I actually think I "infected" my scene early when I imported the carbels, which were originally DAE files. When I imported them in, they went crazy. I finally had to do DAE -> OBJ -> CAR to get them to import properly. It could be that was the source (but as a software engineer, that doesn't seem likely). Anyway, I learned early not to touch a burning stove. ;)

And I remember now reading about the mini-assembly room. Thanks for the reminder. I'll try that next time. :P

pleasure to be of assistance

Headwax

Bot inok said:

picture

love those colours and how sureal the scene is

Headwax

Koukotsu said:

I don't always use V4... but when I do, nine times out of ten I'm playing with this freaky character, lol :gulp:

Heh, your characters always engage the viewer, love that, and the way she has something ghidden behind her back - probably a maneaterraygun...

Gips

Dartanbeck and head wax, thanks.

Headwax

no prob, always a pleasure to give feedback, post some more don't be shy :)

DustRider

Koukotsu said:

I don't always use V4... but when I do, nine times out of ten I'm playing with this freaky character, lol :gulp:

Koukotsu ..... ummm .. WOW!! :bug:
(forum version of being speechless)

DustRider

Bot inok said:

picture

Got to agree with Dart - the car shaders are perfect. A lot going on in this image, well done.