beginner's annoying questions

[robert_mcg]

Hello,

 

I've been using LW since the Amiga days, and in that time my harddrive has been clogged with many objects. Among the usual starships I've got a huge collection of buildings, from homes to skyscrapers. Also when I troll the internets I've found that the pix of 3d nudes and gun-toting tuff guys hardly get a glance from me but a nice interior or architectural work will stop me cold.

 

It's taken me a long time to realize that I like architectural visualization. The question I have for you all is how does a beginner start to make the kind of images in LW that I see here and in other places ?

 

I have ver 7.5 on an xp machine to which I have fairly limited access, this machine is the only one that is web-enabled, I have continual access to 5.6 on a mac which is not on the internets. I also have no $ to invest. With these conditions in mind, what would you suggest if I were to consider putting together a portfolio for freelance work ? I realize it is very competitive, but I have the time and I do love the modeling the objects and rendering them.

 

I have Palliser's Model Homes (1878), a magazine of small home floor plans (ca. 1999) and have been over the years doing some of them.

 

What are good web resources that are :

 

1) a guide to architectural terms.

 

2) a web-based industry guide to manufacturers of window treatments,

doors, stairs, and all of the others stuff that I would fill the interiors

with, something that would have dimensions and color pictures would

be nice.

 

I am making a bunch of clipmaps of vehicles, people and foliage to serve as

set pieces for the buildings.

 

I have not so far been able to get a handle on doing decent radiosity and

hdri images, so I'll need advice on that as well.

 

I thank you all in advance for any advice on any aspect of this field. This is

obviously more involved than my normal animations of battling

starships. But the images I have generated for individual buildings and more

involved urban scenes demand a more structured approach.

 

Thank you,

 

rbt mcgill

[Limbus]

Hi and welcome to the forums,

since you are on LW 7.5 (or 5.6) it will be hard to get really good renderings. Its doable but it will take more work. See this tutorial for a nice way to achieve a GI look without GI:

 

http://www.hdri3d.com/xtra/11estrada/index.htm

 

Once you have money to spend you will probably want to looka at:

 

1. Update to LW 9.x

2. Fprime (http://www.worley.com)

3. KRay (http://www.kraytracing.com)

4. LWCad (http://www.wtools3d.com/)

 

Best of luck, Florian

[robert_mcg]

Thank you for your reply,

 

could you post some url's showing pictures that LW couldn't do ?

 

Until I'm able to upgrade I'll work with what I have and update my webpage (someday), my best work is on my non-webbed computer, and while I'm learning 7.5 I'm in the process of accumulating lwo's and doing a new set of beauty shots, but it will take time.

 

Who would you say are among the best in architectural visualisation ?

 

r mcg.

[Limbus]

Thank you for your reply,

 

could you post some url's showing pictures that LW couldn't do ?

 

You can do everything but GI in 7.5 is so slow that it is now fun at all. You would have to use the tec described in the linked tutorial.

 

Who would you say are among the best in architectural visualisation ?

 

Just browse the gallery here. You can search for software used. There are alot of very good LW pics in there.

 

Florian

[IC]

It's not architecture based or oriented but Spinquad is a great learning resource for LW and there are some great viz artists there.

The Newtek Forum is good too.

 

This is a great site for general architectural stuff but you won't get much LW content.

 

LW can do anything in the right hands but the render engine, although high quality, is slow for the demands of viz work so most users have switched to FPrime or Kray.

Saying that, it is currently being revamped with great speed improvements and Maxwell-like realism features so start saving for an upgrade

[IC]

If you want to see good quality work from LW studios, check out Paradigm and Mir.

 

http://www.2dimes.com

 

 

http://www.mir-visuals.com