Pool Side

[heni30]

Studio/Institution: SI3D
Genre: Commercial Exterior
Software: max + vray + photoshop
Description:

Here's a prelim of a pool side shot I'm quickly putting together for an exterior sample which I don't have many of.

 

Condos model cost $11 US online which can be cobbled into different configurations. Elements are surprisingly well separated.

 

Juraj - I know, I know - you think sky is too blue.

 

Need to get some better vegetation that will blend in better

Edited August 25, 2014 by heni30

[Francisco Penaloza]

I didn't get the part of the $11 USD condos, so you bought the actual design of those buildings?

 

Being work in progress there is a lot that can be done, but as always everything depend of your client, of if you are doing this for your portfolio.

I would definitely ditch the girl with the back to the camera, very distracting, or move it far from the camera, Your shot already is very enclosed between the bushes and the foreground tree. More articulation in the buildings would be nice too, colors? materials, if not, people or plants colors inside or just more contrast in some way.

Also try to get some 3D palm so your lighting match better your scene, and less clouds in the sky would be better too, again with the foreground tree and white building and white clouds it seems like too busy. That's a big pool any ways.

[heni30]

Hey Francisco, thanks for the comments. Yes it's a portfolio piece for this large landscape/outdoor planning studio I'm courting; most of my work has been interiors. Yeah - maybe the trellis work on top can be made of wood in keeping with a Tropical environment. The pool is kind of gigantic now that I look at it.

 

Yes - it's a site that sells building models of all types for any use you have. I would imagine most people use them for ready made contextual pieces. It's nice to just be able to focus on the artistic part.

 

You can't beat $11 for a 5 story condo model - it's almost as good as a $5 rendering!

 

Are you a displaced Latino in Canada - brrrrr? I have a Mexican background - Sandoval is not as bad as Smith in Mexico but close.

Edited August 25, 2014 by heni30

[Francisco Penaloza]

ha ha ha Yes I am a displaced Latino but in USA, I live close to Ontario California, not Canada, although it was a city named after the Canadian city.

I am actually from Chile, living for a while here in USA. If this image is yours alone, I would put more love in the materials of the buildings and also fix the landscape now it seems a little scattered, in the background, I think a think line of landscape with colorful trees and bushes with give more depth to your image, sun shades/umbrellas and such also may help

Put some Mexican colors there man!!

[heni30]

[ATTACH]51782[/ATTACH]Playing around with different entourage possibilities.

Edited August 26, 2014 by heni30

[Ismael]

It is shaping nicely.

[Chris MacDonald]

Sky is too blue/underexposed compared to the foreground. The apartments need some life to the balconies in the form of furniture, plants, towels and people. The people in the foreground need some contact shadows.

[Nic H]

the buildings look like massing models

id model up some proper ones with materials if its a folio piece

[Chris MacDonald]

Agreed, they might be good enough as a starting point, but they lack just about everything when it comes to detail.

[heni30]

Here's the detail I have now at a lowish quality render. I don't think I need a lot geometry much more because the buildings are so far back and it's never going to be seen at a very high res.

 

Of course I need a good glass material which will make a giant difference. I was trying to keep it a simple plain white to evoke a Mediterranean vibe. The CG-Source HDRI is casting a pale blue hue which I don't know is good or not.

 

Also I'm using Reinhard at .15 burn. Don't know if I need use linear multiply to get more contrast.

Edited August 26, 2014 by heni30

[Chris MacDonald]

Contrast can be introduced in photoshop afterwards; I would rather keep the low contrast version than lose pixel information through blown highlights & clipped shadows for the sake of 5 minutes of post production re-introducing contrast. Just be sure to save out at 16 bit, not 8.

 

I agree, a decent glass material will go a long way - but that's like 30 seconds of work. Try adding curtains to the rooms, some open, some closed, some half open.

 

Add details to the building. I can't imagine you'd get away with building that without ANY flashing details around the rooftops, even coping stones would make a big difference. Then perhaps consider adding some subtle dirt beneath the flashings; this could either be done with a UVW Unwrap, VRay Dirt, Vray Distance Tex or even photoshop; all of them have their advantages and disadvantages.

[heni30]

Chris - thanks for the info!

 

I thought I'd start with the glass first. Here's what i started with from a downloaded material - seems way too dark. Glass geometry is 1/2" thick blocks

 

Edited August 26, 2014 by heni30

[Ismael]

Affect Channels (All Channels).

[heni30]

Testing some reflections on the glass.

[Chris MacDonald]

Looking quite a bit better, though I do agree it's a dark material. Have you tried making one from scratch? It is worth keeping in mind that on a bright day, glass will look almost black unless there is some extreme lighting in the room. Check your reference photo for example.

 

I always go to the same starting point for glass, and simply work from there...

 

Pure black diffuse,

fresnel reflections on,

IOR 1.6,

pure white reflection,

pure white refraction,

affect shadows ticked.

 

This always gets to a basic, but real-world starting point for glass. From here I will (depending on how it looks in the scene) add fog colour to tint it, or increase the IOR to boost the reflections; I've never had to go above an IOR of 1.8 though - the rest is usually down to scene lighting and depending on how far you want to take it, bump maps and dirt speculars etc. Though I suspect this will be overkill for what you're after.

 

One thing I would suggest is you use 3D trees. They just look so much better that the additional render time is so worth it.

[heni30]

progress...........

Edited August 29, 2014 by heni30

[Chris MacDonald]

Looking much better. I think if some better "contact shadows" were added under peoples feet, etc it would make a massive difference.

 

Some excellent compositing videos here;

 

http://www.ronenbekerman.com/dune-apartments-by-jakub-gramczynski/

[heni30]

Wow! Those tutorials are excellent. I think the most valuable part that I wasn't aware of was the Color Balance adjustments where you can work with specific wanded areas. The biggest problem is not lighting but value - making everyone blend into the scene uniformly. Every cutout you find is going to have a different color saturation which makes them not work together even if the lighting direction is correct for all.

 

And you're right - those layered shadow accents on that scooter make a huge difference.

 

As far as trees go, which do you think is better, both in looks and rendering efficiency - Xfrog or Forest Pack?

 

little more detail..............

drapes, lights, flock of Pelicans

Edited September 2, 2014 by heni30

[heni30]

quick night test...........

[klonk]

I think it is getting much better, but have you tried with a different hdr just to test, or rotating it and see if you can get some more interesting shadows? Your scene in the front is very evenly lit, which I think takes away from realism.

 

Another thing that struck me is how the buildings are lined up very uniformly. I don't mind the design, probably very typical for a tourist resort, but maybe you could offset them a little in relation to each other, or perhaps angle them.

[heni30]

Niclas - thanks for the suggestion. I tried a couple of rotations before but maybe I'll try some more.

And look at a lot of pictures.

 

It's very easy to move things in and out since it's 6 separate blocks; I'll play with them and see

how it looks but in the back of my mind I keep thinking the architecture should be a relatively neutral backdrop for the pool area activity.

 

Like I don't want it to become too chaotic visually. But maybe some variation would be good.

Edited September 3, 2014 by heni30

[heni30]

Here are a couple of hdri rotations - No 1 is what I am using now.

 

Edited September 4, 2014 by heni30

[Francisco Penaloza]

IMO, I still don't buy the palm at the left of your image, to me it feel like you are narrowing the field of view in your image, I would just take out and leave a nice wide inviting feel to the pool.

Also as mentioned early the landscaping in the background should be a little more wild if I can call it that way, but more bushy, Jungle stile, no white planters for them, make them at ground level, I think there is enough white in this image already.

Regarding the pool I recommend to add and edge in stone or tile all around the pool, it will accentuate more the pool and make the rest of the paving less big.

Over all this image look a lot better but there is something that still feel missing, I think it is a strong focal point. the arrange of the buildings is fine, no need to twist them around, but maybe the lighting need to change to create more contrast in shadows to give more articulation. I guess put the sun shining in one of the blocks to make difference between the front block and the right block, so one of them should be more shiny.

Here I am attaching some images references to explain better what I meant.

Keep the good work man, it is always nice to see the whole process and not a short write down at the end of the it

 

PS, no flares !!! :)

Fco.

 

http://photos.luxurylink.us/images/sho_505b8101/2716_03-630/Resort%2Bpool.jpg

 

https://perisicmarija.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/beau-vallon-bay-beach-resort-casino-seychelles-pool.jpg

 

http://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-s/00/17/e9/3c/resort-pool-with-waterside.jpg

 

http://www.hawkscay.com/media/images/content/pools/big/ResortPool1.jpg

 

http://www.kohtaosimpleliferesort.com/site-images/resort-swimming-pool.jpg

[heni30]

Thanks for the pics!

 

See above for what different sun positioning does.

 

I really hadn't spent much time on the landscaping. I see what you mean and I agree.

 

I grabbed that palm in the foreground quickly and think it's too vertical and weird looking

but I like the shadowed foreground feel of it. I think it really creates a feeling of 3d and acts

as a proscenium sort of and suggests that there is stuff in back of the camera as well as in

front of it. I'll try to find something more interesting.

 

As far as realism goes I love this image that was done by a Chinese firm I collaborated with

a couple of years ago. That water is exquisite. Really nice.

[Francisco Penaloza]

nice image, is that the Evermotion competition house?