jasondutoit

I'll try answer a few of these... 1: I use a gamma of 2.2 (linear workflow). I set max to 2.2, as well as the colour pickers, but I leave the output at the default. 2: Its more flexible to render a seperate dirt pass and blend it in photoshop. Just set up your scene as you normally would, and when you want to render a dirt pass just put a vraylightmtl (with vraydirt in the diffuse) in the 'override material' slot in vray's global switches. Sounds confusing, but after you've done it once its really easy to set up. By doing this, you don't have to change your lighting or texture settings, so I tend to use it for test renders during the modelling phase. 3: You can use the f-stop (lower = brighter), ISO (higher = brighter) or shutter speed (lower = brighter). Some photographers post the camera settings of a particular shot (check out some photography forums/blogs), so use these as a reference for your vray settings. For instance, an outdoor scene like yours would probably have settings like F:8-16, iso 100-200, and a shutter speed of 1/250s. The beauty of this is that you can have one lighting setup but multiple camera's with different settings for interior and exterior renders. 4: check out the site mentioned by Remy, and reverse engineer the materials to see what the settings do! 5: Same as point 2...I'd personally rather do this in photoshop. Hope that helps!

Hi Novel, I can't really help in terms of mental ray settings as I use vray, but do a quick search for 'linear workflow' or 'gamma 2.2 for 3dsmax'. Other than that...the most noticable problem in terms of modelling is the oval void above the stairs...you need to increase the amount of segments to give a smoother appearance because its the first thing you notice!

I'd recommend using linear workflow (google gamma 2.2 for 3dsmax). It helps get more light into darker area's without washing out the brighter area's as much. My renders tend to lack contrast straight out of max as a result, but I find you can push the image a lot further in photoshop to get the contrast you need. If you're using photoshop, or even G.I.M.P, you should try increase the contrast using 'Levels' and not brightness/contrast...you have more control that way. Hope that helps!

Hi Mark, I found the WIP post quite interesting, one thing though...in the first render the glass is too reflective, and I think what it is is that you haven't ticked 'fresnel reflections' in your vray material. Good job though!

I agree with Nick...Presuming you're using vray, change your focal length on your vray camera to anything above 28mm for a 'normal' field of view and around 80mm+ for some interesting telephoto renders. I think the reason why a wider angle looks wrong in a render like this is becuase if you see a wide angle photo there's normally some form of lens (barrel) distortion, and when you don't see that on a render it just looks a bit odd... Other than that it looks cool!

Hi Steven! Its got a nice feel to it, and the exterior looks good! If anything, I'd add displacement to the stone wall section because its quite flat. I think the plant below the painting draws to much attention. Maybe its the size, but I also think the style of the plant and pot looks out of place in this setting. From a design point of view, I'd definitely add a coffee table and/or side tables...maybe with some reading lamps or magazine's etc to add a bit of interest. I'd also add a touch more reflection to the floor, but that's just a personal preference.

Hi Alfa! I think its a really good image but I agree that it lacks contrast overall. I hope you don't mind but I've done a few simple tweaks in photoshop and add some more 'punch'. I changed the hue of the foreground to make it feel a bit warmer, but I left the sky close to the original and I blended the two in PS using layer masks (similar to using a gradient filter on a camera). I then adjusted the white balance slightly using curves. I felt the image was too 'soft' and slightly blurry, so I've sharpened it a bit, and at the end I added some specular bloom to make the really bright area's feel almost overbright. Have a look at some photo's of brighlty lit white building's and you'll see what I mean! I guess the amount of contrast that you apply is a matter of taste, but I always sharpen my renders in PS at the end.

@Amer: looks much better! I guess the only thing that still bothers me a bit about the image is that the sky looks too light closer to the building...if it was that brightness there should be more ambient light coming from the sky than what there appears to be. @Arnold: I really like what you've done with the image in photoshop! When you mention that you've 'painted some glows', are you referring to the burn/dodge tool in photoshop? I'm like Amer in the sense that I tend to try and get as much right in Max before moving into photoshop, but looking at what you've done in such a short space of time I think some more work in post is a great idea!

Wow! These images are great! I hear what you're saying...there's so much emphasis on perfecting interiors, and maybe not enough time spent on exteriors...I'm definitely looking forward to the next exterior I get to work on!

Hi Amer! The model looks good...must've been interesting to build! The first thing that I noticed was that there are too many 'daylight' shadows in the foreground of the image for the trees and people. Because of the multitude of light sources you'll have in a night time enviroment, the shadows will generally be alot softer and diffused. It looks as if you've still got some type of sunlight affecting the scene? As suggested before, first start with your HDRI in terms of lighting, and once that looks right (think of a full moon illuminating a night scene), then move on to doing test renders with your other lights on. I quite like the lights you've got illuminating the building already, so you're almost there!

I agree with Andy...the brighter exterior immediately lifts the whole image! Good work, by the way Mark!

Hi Vakis! I think its a good start so far, and the modelling looks good. Right...a few points. Fistly, the grass texture in the first image is out of proportion. You should try using a grass texture that you can tile, similar to the attachment. Secondly, there's not enough contrast in the image...it looks kinda 'washed out'. I would add gutters etc. to the roof because it looks odd that the roof sits 'directly' on top of the walls. Its good that you've added some tree models, but they're a bit too blocky, and there's no textures on the trees, so it'd probably be better if you use photoshop (Or something similar like G.I.M.P) to add some photo's of trees, although this is less versatile than good quality 3d trees. If you have the time, you should also add some more small details...maybe some grass and plants in the garden, paving in the driveway...that sort of thing. As for your vray settings...I personally wouldn't play around with the linear muliply settings. Leave them on their default setting, and then search for some tutorials on setting up 'Linear work flow' for max...its really worth it! Good luck

I hear what you're saying about accessorizing, and I do agree that the scene is a bit 'empty' overall. The reason for this is because at my office (property developers and interior designers) everything in the image is purpose built exactly as seen in the CGI, including the furniture. Even the layout of the curtains and the recessed blinds in the image will be built according to the image, so we use the cgi's as a design tool for the client and all the contractor's involved on site. It was a bit wierd when I first started working here, because I was used to adding accessories etc, but its really rewarding seeing the finished project and comparing it to my CGI's at the end! I'll try in future to add more interest to my images and I'll keep everyone up to date One last thing...any suggestions on getting soft shadows from vrayIES lights? Thanks!

Hi! I like the general tone of the images, but I think there's too much grainy noise in the images, which could just be strong jpeg compression, but I'm guessing its the renderer. Can I take a guess that's you're using vray and 3dsmax, judging by the evermotion content? If you are I'd recommend reading through this forum about some settings that might reduce the noise in your renders, specifically things like the 'clr thres.' setting in the adaptive dmc sampler rollout. One other thing...The buildings that you've photoshopped in the background look a bit '2d' if you know what I mean? Especially the first one. One last thing...on the shelves in the second image you've got some IES lights, but no light fittings to show a light source. Adding little details like that will definitely add to the realism of the images! Keep up the good work!

Right...I'm back with a small update! I've added displacement to the blanket on the bed, which really helps to soften it and add interest. Basically all I did was do a google image search for 'beds' and I found an image with some nice creasing. I upscaled the image to around 1600x1000 then added a guassian blur so that the displacement wasn't too harsh. I used a box UVW map that was the same size as the bed, with the map only tiled once. I've also changed the layout of the carpet at the request of my boss, and the ottoman by the bay window has had its height increased. As for the exterior, I'll try and liven that up when I get a spare chance at the office! Thanks for the help and suggestions everyone!