Ken Walton

Hey everyone - it's been quite a while since I've even been on here, so I figured I might as well ask what could be an ignorant question... Our company is planning a fairly large waterfront mixed-use development that will consist of, among other things, two concrete condominium buildings at least 6 stories high. A problem we're running into is with the land that's left for the structures, and the architect's original building footprints, the pools (ground-level) are really getting hit by shadows in the studies we've done. Just playing around, we've come up with some ways (besides a rooftop pool - we may consider this but we'd like to keep them on the ground for now) to get them back into the sun. The most effective so far has been to basically "kick" or "pull" one side of the building back at about a 30-45 degree angle from the rest of the structure which is a straight line (so there's only one "angle" in the whole structure). What I'm worried about with this solution is the column grid and the parking bays underneath the building. One of the architects that we've been working with stated that it was impossible to "angle" part of it back because of the grid. I understand his point, but part of me thinks that somewhere, someone has found a way to pull it off. If anyone knows of an example where this has been achieved, please let me know. I apologize if this is completely unclear or confusing - I'm no architect and I wouldn't even pretend to be - so if there are any questions I can further answer about what I'm asking, I'll be glad to give it my best. Respectfully, Ken Walton

LOL @ Dibbers... Office is gonna wonder what the hell I'm doing in here.

Mine's the dog from the Guy Ritchie movie "Snatch", as is my signature...

The crappy thing about these condos is that the landscaping on the back will be practically null and void. There is definitely NO ROOM for any type of sidewalk between the back of the building and the surrounding deck. The building lines are appx. 10' from the start of the decking and that 10' is actually a pretty steep incline. (Although not shown, the buildings will be roughly 11' higher than the water surface. As far as the chunkiness of the slab - on one of the four buildings on this site the top of the slab will be exposed almost 2'. Now that I think about it, if I were to put the incline in and the real slab heights, I may be able to add some plants around the base of this thing. What's the best method for creating that type of sloped terrain?

Would adding a slight "grass line" around the bottom of the slab help this issue? That might break up the distinct edge, but I'm not sure I understand what I might be able to do if you mean more than that. Please advise... Also, I darkened all of the windows a little bit by decreasing the transparency of the glass. I just exaggerated the effect on the lower ones by using a brightness/contrast adj. layer with those windows "color selected".

Okay - I've tried to implement all the suggestions posted so far (but I forgot the mooring hardware - next time I promise...) Let me know if I'm on the right track. Thanks, Ken Walton

EBII - I'll try your cropping suggestion on the next shot. Good idea. I can adjust the plants in PS afterwards since all the foliage is done after the render anyway. As far as the windows go, would you make this adjustment in PS or is there a way to do it at the render level? Strat - Thanks for the comments. How would you suggest tweaking the AA. The water is a standard Max material with a Raytrace reflect map. I've got the Max Star Supersampler on, but the antialiaser is off. Will turning it on produce dramatically better results, or should I try a different Supersampler? As far as the GI goes, there's none in the scene if you couldn't tell already. I used the "ring" technique with standard materials and lights and the scanline renderer. Implementing and seeing changes isn't that big of a deal, cuz the render time is only 2 min 55 sec. How would you suggest adding the effect you're speaking of with my current scene setup? Any advice would be greatly appreciated... Dibbers - Thanks for commenting on my image. Since the "water" is just that clear raytraced mat applied over my background image, how could I darken it? Reflection color filter? 3DP - Great idea about the water stains on the bulkheads and pier supports. I'll implement that and the mooring hardware into my next render. I'd LOOOOVE for you to buy one - I can get you some sweet pre-development pricing right now if you want! And I can get some sweet commission (I work for the developer ) Again everyone, thanks for the input. I hope to get more feedback as helpful as what's been said so far. Respectfully, Ken Walton

The same condos as before, but from the better side. C&C desired... Thanks, Ken Walton PS - If anyone has any advice for my water - PLEASE give it to me! This is my first try at it and I'm not that happy w/the reflections.

Jeez - is there something in the water where you guys hang out? Excellent work - you guys are two peas in a pod... You're among a handful of people I've seen whose work truly has a "feel" and style all its own.

Nice one. No AA problems here either.

Awesome man, truly awesome... I've always loved this scene and it just seems to get better. I'm a little ignorant about your methods though - I'm a fR user and I guess I haven't looked into it as much as I should have. What exactly is color mapping? Thanks in advance, Ken Walton

Like everyone here's said - the modeling is really good and I can't find any problems there. I don't know that much about Accurender, but it seems to me like it takes quite a bit to master it. I've seen quite a few renderings done with it that don't look much better or realistic than ArchiCad's native renderer, or for that matter - the renderers you get with a $30 home design program. Again, I'm not dogging your work - it's just the quality of the render that's bugging me. I have seen a few really nice images done with this renderer, but I'm curious as to how much time and effort it took to get them right... Again, I really like the modeling and composition in these images. Ken Walton

Nisus - do you paint your foliage in afterwards? I'm working on a site rendering and this seems to be the only way to do it without killing my machine with polys. If you do - I'd pay to know how to get those results... Kenny Walton

Thanks alot Jeff - looks like I'm gonna be doing some shopping...

I'm looking into getting a tablet(probably an Intuos2), but know very little about them. I'm under the impression that it replaces your mouse with it's own that you "move" along the tablet itself. This part seems fine, as I don't really "stray" from my mouse pad as it is to get between monitors. But I wonder about the actual "pen" part... When I use Photoshop, the work area's maximized to one display and my palettes reside on the other screen. In this case, is the surface area of the tablet still representative of the entire (dual-screen) workspace (if so - it seems to me that drawing on it would actually be a kind of "squeezed" aspect ratio) or is it "smart" to what you're working on? I hope this question makes sense - I'm not really sure how else I can word it... Thanks in advance, Kenny Walton