How do you render your scenes?

[PGD]

Hi folks, mr 1st post here

 

I dont mean where is the render button with this thread I'm working with architectural visuals, in Max 9 with Vray 1.5...

 

I'm wondering how you all, especially the experts render out your scenes, as in do you render everything including glass at once? Do you render the glass separately? Do you save out a specular pass separately? Do you save out reflection separately? etc etc

 

I'm looking to discover new techniques to improve workflow and the quality of my work with this thread if possible. I know we may all do things slightly different to each other, but if there's a better way I'm missing then lets hear it!

 

If there is a thread about this somewhere else then I missed it

 

Thanks in advance

[PGD]

Dont all go answering at once...

[Ricardo Eloy]

I guess it depends on the scene, Phil. I often find myself rendering everything at once, but sometimes I need to render some elements in separate in order to gain more control over it when doing post in Photoshop.

[aaron-cds]

For interiors, I render everything at once. I'll do about 15 - 30 minutes of post work mainly focusing on adding blooms, adjusting contrast and hue.

 

For exterior buildings, I give the glass a basic glass material like shown in the attached render which is straight from max. I'll render it as a tga file so I have the alpha channel which has the transparent sections of the glass. Those areas are usually at the corners where you would see the exterior through the building. I render a seperate pass for the glass so I can get the selection area for the glass in photoshop. I then complete the glass in photoshop adding reflections and other effects. It's taken me a while to get where I am with glass and I still feel like I'm not there yet.

[PGD]

Thanks for that aaron. Good to hear other peoples way of working.

 

For external shots I have been rendering the building with the glass hidden on another layer. Then make a Matte object of everything in the scene, unhide the glass and render again, saving as png each time to retain the mask. Then in PS I add the glass and play with the opacity and layer types till i'm happy with it.

 

So thats my way... any other opinions/methods on this?

[aaron-cds]

With your method, how do you get the building reflections in the glass? Post?

[PGD]

As everything is still visible in the scene, just not renderable, the reflections still appear.

 

Try putting a slight bump map on your glass too, just noise set at 1. I always do, as glass is never perfect

[Nic H]

I do teh same with glass using matte -1 on everything but glass. Render a png mask and use it in PS as a mask to add some clouds and adjust levels.

 

I do the same with areas of coloured stucco / paint and use a hue/saturation mask adjustment layer in PS to tweak the colour, often clients get pretty picky about having exact colours and its alot easier to get it 'about' right in max then adjust in PS without a re-render.

 

Id like to start using render elements to get reflection and diffuse etc passes. Anyone got any tutorials? That said I should really try first before asking for help!

[PGD]

Id like to start using render elements to get reflection and diffuse etc passes. Anyone got any tutorials? That said I should really try first before asking for help!

Same here, I think this could be the way forward too. If you come across some good tutorials on the subject please post them up.

[Trevor Tizard]

From the tests I've done the rendered elements don't alias well so they have very jagged edges. I think your method with the -1 matt is probably the best to date.

[PGD]

Thats interesting. Thats not just down to the alias settings is it? Did you try various settings?

[Trevor Tizard]

Apparently AA settings have no effect, although the VrayMaterialSelect element is better than MatID. Dissapointing huh? Would be very useful otherwise. I'm hoping this will be addressed soon!

[kippu]

guess you guys dont keep up....mackevision have released a script to get antialiased edges with render elements and separate by object ID or mat ID ...get to the chaosforum

[Trevor Tizard]

Unfortunately there is not a version for RC4 yet

 

Hello............200posts for me!

[PGD]

I havent rendered an element yet so I'm waaaay further behind than that! I'm working on it though

[redzuan3828]

For exterior buildings, I give the glass a basic glass material like shown in the attached render which is straight from max. I'll render it as a tga file so I have the alpha channel which has the transparent sections of the glass. Those areas are usually at the corners where you would see the exterior through the building. I render a seperate pass for the glass so I can get the selection area for the glass in photoshop. I then complete the glass in photoshop adding reflections and other effects. It's taken me a while to get where I am with glass and I still feel like I'm not there yet.

 

If you have a time can You make tutorial on this topic. I like to see how you can make you glass and compost your Images in Photoshop.

thanks

[aaron-cds]

If you have a time can You make tutorial on this topic. I like to see how you can make you glass and compost your Images in Photoshop.

thanks

 

Sorry, no time. All you have to do is experiment. Look at a lot of buildings and observe how the glass looks. Try to replicate that in photoshop.

[redzuan3828]

All you have to do is experiment. Look at a lot of buildings and observe how the glass looks. Try to replicate that in photoshop.

 

Thanks for your advice