OllyNicholson Posted May 12, 2005 Share Posted May 12, 2005 Hi I am looking to focus on a rendering & lighting solution for the Architectural Visualisation work I do, but I am having problems with each route I go down as one renderer won't work with another light or that GI solution or plug-in etc. I am using 3DS max 7 and some important other neccesities: * I often use the Architectural materials (although can't get shiny metals to work with any solution thus far) * Sometimes I need to use Archvision RPC content in the scene (cars, trees etc.) * I want to be able to use HDRI environment (back ground & reflections) * I also wanted to try to light a scene simply with an HDRI map If anyone can recommend a fairly simple Lights/GI/Render configuration for outdoor architectural scenes I would be really grateful. I am open to 3rd part renderers in addition to scanline and MR, but I am aware that some do not work with these features. I have a fairly fast dual xeon with 2gig ram and mostly render stills. To date I have had to stick with Scanline/IES daylight and Radiosity & Exposure control but this makes RPC content tricky and provides shadows either too sharp (raytrace) or too soft (others I've tried) here is some of my work http://www.loungecore.co.uk any pointers greatly appreciated - Olly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jennifer Posted May 13, 2005 Share Posted May 13, 2005 Hi, If you can get away from Architectural materials, then the PURE card from http://www.artvps.com does what you need. The architectural materials are nice, and simple, but I just use the Architectural bitmaps in Standard materials and adjust them to approximate what I need. The Arch. materials address a need for simplification of the user interface, including Advanced Lighting Override built in, but their effect can be duplicated. Have fun! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OllyNicholson Posted May 17, 2005 Author Share Posted May 17, 2005 Hi Jenni, thanks for your reply! - I was ideally looking for a software solution as we have already bought 3DSmax7 and a pricey graphics card, so we don't have the budget for new hardware ;-( In other words some techniques/configurations for existing Max features in addition to possibly a 3rd person renderer e.g. vray etc... I guess the reason we wanted to use architectural materials was that we inherited a large library of these and didn't want have to recreate and fine tune each one to achieve a good likeness (E.g. the effect the Arch mat's were designed to give quickly when configured cleverly with compatible lighting and rendering settings) In otherwords the main problem I'd like to solve is: * How to render archicterul material metals correctly (I have been using photometric lights - but to no avail!) If you or anyone had any ideas on that and/or the other issues, it would be marvelous! thanks again....! O Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesTaylor Posted May 17, 2005 Share Posted May 17, 2005 Vray will allow you to do everything mentioned. However, all 3rd party renders will need you to experiement or new pieces of software for that matter. Vray supports RPC content, although i'm very keen on using RPC's as i don't think they look real enough. HDRI is supported for lighting and reflections and the wrapper material which comes with the advanced version will allow you to still use the architectural materials by placing them inside the wrapper. As with most 3rd party renders tho Vray comes with its own material type and light type. I'd suggest that if you want to get the best results from a 3rd party render you need to get used to working with the elements specifically designed to be used with them. Good Luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesTaylor Posted May 17, 2005 Share Posted May 17, 2005 Vray also allows you to run unlimited - i think, certainly 10 - installs on render nodes at no additional cost, unlike many other 3rd party renders who require extra licences Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OllyNicholson Posted May 17, 2005 Author Share Posted May 17, 2005 Yes I'm inclined to agree about RPC - I have been used to modeling my own content, as my background is in CG for games, but we need to fill car parks and building with cars and people quickly, I guess turbosquid is an option but we bought an RPC starter pack and the results are adequate for most of our uses. I have heard lots of good stuff about Vray and understand the necessity to work with custom shaders, I was keen though to find out how the Archmats were intended to be used before I try/buy a new renderer - if anyone has positive experience with these presets please let me know... O-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesTaylor Posted May 17, 2005 Share Posted May 17, 2005 Having used the archmats alot with radiosity before moving onto Vray, i always found that they acted as a good base for materials but would always need adjusting to suit the lighting setting up for a scene. Again i can't praise Vray enough - eventually will only be 2nd to maxwell. On the issue you've mentioned about rendering metals, i found that the Strauss shader type worked well for this after some tweaking. give it a go and see how you get on Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nisus Posted May 17, 2005 Share Posted May 17, 2005 If you use Max7 with arch materials, I found the best solutions for exteriors are to use the standard MR-settings with FG=500 (GI=OFF) nisus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OllyNicholson Posted May 18, 2005 Author Share Posted May 18, 2005 Thanks Nisus, in that case what lights do you recommend to replace the IES daylight system (skylight & Sunlight) with Exposure control that I currently use for outdoor scenes? (as exposure control won't work with MR) - O Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nisus Posted May 18, 2005 Share Posted May 18, 2005 just use the IES sun and the skylight... and DO use the exposure control... As far as I remember I use 65 / 50 / 1 / 9000 rgds nisus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nisus Posted May 18, 2005 Share Posted May 18, 2005 good results for skylight coloring: multiplier = 6 FG has very smooth color bleeding and is very controllable... ;-) rgds nisus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OllyNicholson Posted May 19, 2005 Author Share Posted May 19, 2005 Aha, I had been using 'Automatic exposure control' and had been recieveing the message Exposure control "Automatic Exposure Control" is not supported, I took that to mean all exposure controls were not compatible with MR. Do you tend to use Logarithmic for outdoor scenes? Pity MR doesn't support RPC content.... - O Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nisus Posted May 19, 2005 Share Posted May 19, 2005 always logaritmic... How comes MR does not do rpc? moeehahaha... that's great! (I don't like rpc, btw...) rgds nisus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OllyNicholson Posted May 19, 2005 Author Share Posted May 19, 2005 yes mooeahhahaha indeed... anyway tried all those settings with mental ray and here were the results (pretty saturated with washed out contrast - compared with the scan-line one I did the other day - see attached pics) any ideas what I might be missing? fg-500 sky mult = 6 Logarithmic, 65, 50, 1, 9000. I'll experiment some more but feel free to take a look (MH_NW is the scanline MH_NW_MR is the mental ray) Olly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joske Posted May 24, 2005 Share Posted May 24, 2005 loss of contrast is because of use log exp control (personally i never use it, it kills contrast and turns color upside down) if you use photons you can get lower FG settings (and much faster renders with simular results) altough you do need a few milion photons with big radius to get any decent result. but the longer photon calculation is made up by faster FG calcultation you might also consider using a flipped sphere to focus the photons on your building (delete the skylight as the sphere will block out the skylight effect) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nisus Posted May 24, 2005 Share Posted May 24, 2005 Just desat your basic color (even if you use the bitmap slot...) rgds nisus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now