MR Image ouput with log exposure is flat!!!!

[dominique44]

Hi

 

New in the MentalRay world (max 9) , i find 2 problems :

 

1) The output image are low saturate and flat ( see attach file)

 

(I must open in photoshop and make settings on the levels )

 

 

have you see tips for this ?

 

thank

 

dominique

[dominique44]

Ok Brian

 

 

Use Ambient Occlusion, either in the A&D Shader

 

can you describe a little the workflow

 

 

thanks

[mdviz]

To apply ambient occlusion to the whole scene, use the Material Override selected in the Processing tab in Render Options.

In the Mat Editor create a MR material and put a Ambient/Reflective shader in the surface slot.

Drag this new material into the empty slot on the Material Override tab.

 

Turn off FG/GI and auto exposure. You will find that even really large scenes will render in just a few mins.

 

I usually render 3 occlusion passes. One wide and grainy, one very tight and dark and one somewhere in between. The renders can be layered into photo shop as a 'Multiply' layers and the opacity tweaked to suit.

 

Using object masks I can also get just the look I want for each object in the scene.

 

You can set the Ambient/Occlusion inividually on A&D materials in the Special Effects roll out but test renders mean rendering the full scene to see results. I prefer to get better control in Photoshop.

 

If you have never used this technique you should try it. It can save hours of render tests where getting the definition just right never seems to go right.

[dominique44]

Hi

 

 

Thank for this tip, i will test this and return you the results

 

dominique

[Peter M. Gruhn]

I notice that the shadow from the fridge is dark but the shadow under the bar is light. And the island is casting two shadows. It seems like you have some fill lights washing out your shadows.

 

I notice that most of the light seems to be coming from roughly the same direction as the camera. This does two things: 1) it hides the shadows that make things stand out and emphasize depth and form; 2) it lights things evenly making them flat.

 

As an aside, I'd rotate some of those wine bottles either a little or a lot depending on what kind of person lives here, but since they are all exactly the same, having the same labels at the same orientation sets up a distracting pattern.

 

Might need to go back to Photoshop to make the cabinet drawers match the drawers, they stand out right now. Maybe clone from the side panels.

 

Some bump mapping on the heavy panels of the cabinets might help too.