Montage Issues

[portisgreg]

Hi!

 

I've got to montage these buildings into this hill for a planning application. I'm using 3dsmax 8 and mental ray with a standard daylight system. I think the position of the buildings is ok now.

 

But a few things i could use help with though...

 

1) I don't think the glass looks right. White??? Surely dark inside would be better.

 

2) the colours are quite burnt out still i feel.

 

3) and where shall i begin when it comes to montaging it in photoshop? how should i render it? with a black background?

 

Obviously anything else you think i could improve would be great. It was modeled in sketchup and i spent a day or so just flipping faces and texturing so i'm quite relieved to have gotten this far.

 

I only have 1 day left.

 

On a positive note, I've received confirmation the directors have approved a new quad PC and the latest 3dsmax for me! WOO HOO!

 

Thanks

 

Greg

[SandmanNinja]

I think you need a custom BRDF for that glass reflection.

 

My notes on the subject:

* BRDF

BiDirectional Reflectivity Distribution Function

This lets you control the reflection based on the angle of incidence of the viewer's eye.

0-degree reflection is looking directly at the surface

90-degree reflection is looking parallel to the surface

If you wanted to look directly THROUGH the glass, set the 0-degree reflection to 0

If you want to get reflection when you encounter a sharp angle, set the 90-degree reflection to 1

A Daytime scene would have a higher 0-degree reflection value than a night time scene

A Night time scene would not have much reflection and the 90-degree reflection would be lower

 

Curve Shape: adjusts the fall-off or the sharpness of the curve between the two values

 

Some custom BRDF settings:

Daytime, outside a building: 0.0, 1.0, 0.7

With the settings above, looking straight into the glass, it is still somewhat transparent but also reflective.

If you move the camera so that it's close to the glass and looking at about 75 or 80-degrees on the glass, it's practically a mirror.

 

I think it's white because reflecting ..er.. something other than sky.

If nothing else, try dropping a sky map into the reflection channel on your glass.

 

It's been too long since I mucked with Max 8.

 

One day?! Wow... wow.. hang in there!

[stylEmon]

One day?! Wow... wow.. hang in there!

 

You mean, slow down!

[blowback]

Hey Man,

 

I don't use MR so I can't help there .....

 

From what I can see ..... it looks like you just have a day of photoshop work. Don't like the color .... (tweak) need to sink it into the hillside ..... tweak (cut /clip /and paste) ..... you know what I mean I think you could pull it off with that. ..... a day, u couldn't incorporate all those changes that designer wants

[malevy]

That is cool I have never tried doing any of that with photoshop. Is there a tutorial that explains how its done.

[blowback]

....... I have never tried doing any of that with photoshop. ............

 

 

really? How the hell do u do it? Photoshop is your mega mega friend. there r tonnes of photoshop tuts (try creative cow) ..... I can't recall anything specific on compositing, unless it's in AE. The only drawback is you need to reduce your images to 16 or 8 bit for maximum editing capabilities.

[malevy]

lol ill have to search and see what i come up with.. I am not very good with photoshop only because i dont use it very much but i know the day is going to come when i will need to start learning it

 

really? How the hell do u do it? Photoshop is your mega mega friend. there r tonnes of photoshop tuts (try creative cow) ..... I can't recall anything specific on compositing, unless it's in AE. The only drawback is you need to reduce your images to 16 or 8 bit for maximum editing capabilities.

[stylEmon]

it would be VERY simple to composite your render into the background image with photoshop.

 

Render the architecture without that background.

 

Import your render into the photo, use "Image/Adjustments/Levels" and "Image/Adjustments/Hue&Sauturation" to match the tone and contrast of the two images.

 

Place your image where it needs to sit, use Edit/Free Transform to adjust scale or perspective as needed.

 

Once its in place, you can erase the parts of the building that should be covered by trees or whatever. I like to apply a layer-mask, then erase the area out of the mask, but that might be too much for now.

 

You can also use RPC trees, or use the paint brushes in Photoshop to paint trees over your building (on a separate layer). PS has a nice leaf brush.

 

That is a crash coarse to get you started. I think anyone that can opertate 3d software can pick up PS VERY quickly, so dont be afraid of it and good luck.

[portisgreg]

it would be VERY simple to composite your render into the background image with photoshop.

 

Render the architecture without that background.

 

Import your render into the photo, use "Image/Adjustments/Levels" and "Image/Adjustments/Hue&Sauturation" to match the tone and contrast of the two images.

 

Place your image where it needs to sit, use Edit/Free Transform to adjust scale or perspective as needed.

 

Once its in place, you can erase the parts of the building that should be covered by trees or whatever. I like to apply a layer-mask, then erase the area out of the mask, but that might be too much for now.

 

You can also use RPC trees, or use the paint brushes in Photoshop to paint trees over your building (on a separate layer). PS has a nice leaf brush.

 

That is a crash coarse to get you started. I think anyone that can opertate 3d software can pick up PS VERY quickly, so dont be afraid of it and good luck.

 

Thanks for this Nick, thats really helpful. I assumed this much, thats basicaly the way i've always worked, maybe i didnt phrase myself too well. I've been using photoshop for over 10yrs (thanks for the sarcasm from the others btw, thats really helpful and encouraging *claps* [i hope you detect MY sarcasm] TBH i don't much see the point of posting on forums for help from peers in your profession if all you get is demoralising sarcasm. We all had to learn.) however I wanted to know if you guys used any other methods, i.e. alpha channels, layer masks/erasing, 3d trees or photoshopped etc for a smoother, more straightforward workflow, sorry if i didnt make myself quite clear enough.

 

The white reflections.... Those renders are using a sky map in the raytrace channel yet its still white. I'll look into BDRF, thanks Joel.

 

Re: 1 day left - I can montage in less than a day I just thought it'd be helpful those i'm asking for help from to explain how much time I had left in case you guys decided to crit the model and tell me to revise lots of other things. At least i didnt just post an image without any settings huh??

 

Thanks again to those who helped and to the others for their exemplary teaching skills, i've really learnt how belittling others is the way to further enlightenment for all.

[stylEmon]

Glad to help and thanks for clearing that up.

 

try not to take anything too personal. All of us are here to learn. But it's nice to have a little comic releif even in the most serious matters.

[Trevor Tizard]

Hi Greg,

 

I may be tempted to add reflections to the glass in photoshop. You could render a refraction pass and use that to make a mask.