metal paneling and more....

[Tim Saunders]

i have several concerns, but first off, thanks everyone for all your replies in previous threads. though i'm not yet satisfied, things are coming along.

 

1) i have struggled making a good material for colored metal panels. yes, it would depend on how the panels are colored, but for the most part, i am looking for a somewhat anodized type finish. something that you can tell is metal. i've posted a couple images. the first image has brown metal panels on the left, the second image has metal panels everywhere the bright colors are. i'm not happy with either of them.

 

2) the first image is me still trying to work with radiosity. my main conserns are with the exposure control. i used logorithmic exposure, brightness-40, contrast-60, mid-tones-1.25, physical scale-100, with ext. daylight checked. are there better settings that will make it look not so washed out?

 

3) why do i have double shadows everywhere? i have shadows un-checked on my ies sky. i do have multiple suns in my scene, but they are hidden for this particular solution. will radiosity be calculated for those other lights? any other gueses if not?

[Victor Erthal]

Hi, i'm not a big radiosity user but in max a light still participates of the lighting when hidden. You should uncheck the "on" box in the specific light you want to be off. Also, some types of metal are better defined by their reflectivenes (is there a work like this in english) or the amount and quality of reflection. In most cases, using a blurred reflection with a good spherical map works, in others its, better to use photoshop and ad some shinness to the surfaces. Also, in max, you can add some omni lights affecting the specular component only, and then with the command "place highlight" you can pick any point in your surfaces you wish the highlight to be added and voila. Then all you have to do is play a little with the shinness of the material, maybe adding some anisotrophy etc.

Good Luck!

[AJLynn]

3) why do i have double shadows everywhere? i have shadows un-checked on my ies sky. i do have multiple suns in my scene, but they are hidden for this particular solution. will radiosity be calculated for those other lights? any other gueses if not?

 

Don't hidden suns still generate light? For all light sources if you want to not use them you have to turn them off.

 

I think you also need to do some more tweaking in the exposure control, your first image seems a little dead. More brightness and contrast, more physical scale, daylight should be brighter. This may require faking the funk.

[Tim Saunders]

you guys were right about the lights. shadow problem is worked out.

 

i've never done blurred reflection. what is the best way to go about that? i have seen a map in the viz files, i'll attach it. do i apply this map in the reflection slot? just not quite sure how that works.

[ecastillor]

the images seem too dark...especially the first one..the peeps look dark

[Victor Erthal]

I'm not sure if max's raytracer engine supports blurry reflections (i think i've seen some tutorial about it, but not sure). One thing that can fake the effect is to use a small value in atenuation (around 1 meter). The effect is very good, check ted broadman's column. The important effect on the metallic feel of your surface is the specular highlights you can add with "place highlight" command.

[Ricardo Eloy]

Max's raytracer DOES support blurry reflections. You can set it under the Raytracer Acceleration options.

[Tim Saunders]

Max's raytracer DOES support blurry reflections. You can set it under the Raytracer Acceleration options.

where are those options?