townhouse project - WIP

[Stan Zaslavsky]

hi all,

 

here is something i'm working on. max 2009 design, MR as renderer.

 

i'm getting some weird caustic effects under the roof on the upstairs floor - any thoughts why that may be?

i haven't put any lights internally - so i'm not sure how its happening.

 

my exposure settings are mr photo exposure, 700, 8, 700.

 

look forward to your comments.

 

still some more material tune ups to be done (grass, ground floor)

[Tay othman]

Dear Stan...

 

I Thing you need to raise the Final Gathering Settings a little bit more....use MR Physical sun & Sky with Exposure....That will be enough to get good results...

 

the problem of the splotchiness under the roof on the upstairs floor ... is because you didn't set the GI Solution Properly. Please Tell me What type of GI you're Using.

 

Also increse the Reflections and Refractions Trace Depth...to Get a more Transparent Look for the Glass....

 

Any additional Clarifications PM me.

Cheers

 

/Tai

[SandmanNinja]

I agree with Toxic - looks like a splotchy GI or FG.

 

Can you post your settings?

[Stan Zaslavsky]

here is another one with a bit more modelling/scenery done. this time the output came out very blurry. the splotchy GI is gone.

 

Toxic - i am using mrSky and Sun. i've also put in mrPortals into the window openings and that took out the black windows. now i've got to work out how to put in an HDRI into the reflections so it reflects something other than the sky and the green ground.

 

My settings are in the pics enclosed:

 

thanks for your help guys

[Tay othman]

Dear Stan....You Should Disable the Global Illumination....and Delete the Portal Lights....Since you are making an Exterior Shot....you dont need a Sky Portal Lights...this is only useful in interiors...

 

To make an HDR only For reflections.....I Recommend you to use the new environment switch production shader...here you can find a tutorial how to use it.

 

http://download.autodesk.com/us/3dsmax/2009demos/09%20Production%20Shaders.mov

 

for the better GI solution ....... I Recommend you to see the render presets that ships by default with max.

 

Cheerz

Edited September 23, 2008 by tayOthman

[SandmanNinja]

Those are completely non-camera-related settings.

If they work, great, but I tend to go with more realistic camera settings.

Outdoor, the ISO should be 100.

Shutter speed around 1/250 or 1/500

The f/stop is fine.

 

If you want to use GI, then shoot more photons.

[Stan Zaslavsky]

thanks for your comments Tay

 

before having the skylight portals in the windows - the windows were coming out black - now they have a reflection of the sky. so thats why i kept the portals in. also i was trying to get the effect of yellow light coming out from the rooms - to highlight internals but that didn't quite work

 

i followed the example from the video for the HDR reflection in the windows - but the windows have once again come out black. i used the environment switcher in the Environment map. any thoughts?

 

Joel - thanks for the exposure comments - the image looks a lot better with more realistic settings.

 

oh and i've now put in a cloudy background too

 

See enclosed:

[Tay othman]

Dude.....To Get a Sky REflection on your windows.....Assign an Arch & Design Shader...with glass preset ...and turn of The Fresnel reflections....

 

then make the 0 degree reflection is 1....this will give you a totally reflecting glass in relation to your facing ratio.

[SandmanNinja]

Looks heaps better, but I don't like the 100% reflective mirrors for windows.

 

Here are my notes on BRDF:

* 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.

Just imagine a wall of this material, stretching up to the sky...

 

 

Ex: Glass's reflectivity depends upon the light levels on either side of the pane of glass.

If you have a lot of light on the OUTSIDE of the building and not much light on the INSIDE, you tend to get a lot of reflection in the glass.

The opposite is true also.

If you were OUTSIDE the building at NIGHT with more light on the inside than the outside, there would be a lot of transparency.

[Stan Zaslavsky]

Thanks for the notes Joel - you're a champ!

 

at the end of the day we are picking on something that the client won't even notice - but i'd like it to be the best it can be within the deadline.

 

see enclosed two copies - i'm with Joel - having something so highly mirrored is a bit distracting from the overall image.