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Making my work suck less!


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Guest calumreid

Yeah good luck to you, in whichever path you take. You could always try character modelling for stuff like film and games on the side as a hobbie, just to fuel your main 3d interest, its what i plan on doing when i get into blender.

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Don't be too hasty Tom, don't forget you have a very good grounding in 3D and with some appropriate mentoring or tutoring you could be on your way to new heights.

 

I was feeling jaded with arch viz so I enrolled in an online course at CG Society Workshops last year and it has re-invigorated my interest in digital imagery/animation and opened up new avenues that I didn't think were available to me. http://workshops.cgsociety.org/courses.php

 

Something like this is not the final answer but it is a cost effective way to explore other areas that you might be interested in and with an industry professional to guide you. There are also many more websites offering online courses.

Edited by Noise
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Thanks for the encouragement guys.

 

Other 3D areas are something I've considered, and to be honest, it would be somewhat of a dream to work with characters for games/film but the level of work some of those guys are putting out intimidates the hell out of me! I actually used to study artistic anatomy as a hobby and attended life drawing classes but I've never seriously tried my hand at 3D characters. I'm not sure where to start to be honest.

 

I think the thing that I find the hardest is the sense of urgency. I feel like I'm running out of time for everything so if it isn't likely to happen in the next few weeks, I'm unlikely to embrace it for fear of 'taking to long'. It's hard to explain but I'm 27, and I already feel like I'm far older than a lot of the guys in the film/games industry.

 

That course you mentioned Niall, was it good? I've often considered enrolling on one of the mentored courses but always been concerned of the potential quality. I used to subscribe to a lot of the online training providers, like Digital Tutors and Gnomon, but I found the lack of professional feedback and mentoring was not helping.

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"All self-taught, a lot of time just messing around and looking at online tutorials, forums etc."

Me too. Actual work, I've only done about 1 1/2 projects in my some 12 odd years. My line of

work is Electronics. For 3 years I've been at my present workplace but prior to that I

went through a period of 4 years working 2 full-time jobs which left no time for CG. I am still

recovering from all that I forgot in the meantime, (not that there was much to forget...)

 

Anyways, your work is very good as it stands and I am a fan. Take care and as we say around here, 'Chill out!'

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I haven't seen you mention anything about post-production. Do you use Photoshop? Have you experimented with vrayrenderelements? I took the first image you posted and spent about 10-15 minutes on it in Photoshop and came up with this. I'm not sure if its the mood you were going for but you get the idea. I personally use 3ds Max and Vray to get my image halfway there but the second half is all Photoshop.

pshop.jpg

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I had that "running out of time" thing happening also but, you are too young for that, I only started in CG at 26.

 

The most important thing you need to establish is - what are you passionate about ? Once you know that then you are more than half the way there. If it's 3D character modelling then you can either enroll in an online mentored course OR enroll in a full course at Escape Studios for example (if they do that) OR apply for a job in a CG company which will more than likely be in London - this is less likely until you have some relevant skills under your belt.

 

Don't be intimidated by what you see in films, all these artists started somewhere. I think you are at a pivotal point in your career that requires a leap of faith. Go for it, you have nothing to lose.

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Guest calumreid

I know that feeling man, even though im only 21 haha Im doing a degree in architectural technology at the moment, about to go into my final year. I realised my favorite part of a project was the visualisation and actual modelling, so i got my placement and a visualisation studio. So im only just finding out about my interests in this field...and i am overwhelmed, i want to try out everything, visualising, animation, character modelling etc etc. But i think i will go with visualisation, seeing as i have an architectural background and connections in the industry, and just get into the other fields in my own time as a hobbie.

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Hi! Im just starting with 3D visualization, been learning for less than a year and i am kind of overwhelmed with information and techniques, but I can say that I really like the image you posted. Like they said i think that you could push it farther with photoshop, but you already have good renderings skills. It´s not that easy to make a clean looking render like that.

Being self-taught is not an easy path, it´s common to ran out of self esteem. But take some time and you will be fine.

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Thanks so much for the encouragement guys.

 

I think I'm gonna stick with the arch-viz stuff. As tempting as it is to jump into another area, it kinda makes sense to stick with what I know, especially from a financial point of view.

 

Bradley - that looks great! I'm actually quite shocked that you managed to make it look so much better! I did do a bit of post, but I must admit I'm guilty of spending far too long trying to get render perfection, which often leads to a reluctance to do to much in post, whereas I know it's the post work that often can make or break an image. Would you mind explaining what you did? I can't put my finger on why it looks so much better but it does.

 

As an aside to all of this, and back to the composition thing, I really want to get the hang of it a bit better, so does anyone have suggestions on how to compose the shot on this project in particular?

 

I'm going to check out that film you linked Calum, looks awesome.

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I suggest focusing on composition and post production. This is a very basic building that can be given a mood using lighting and ALOT of photoshop. I'm more interested in the style/mood than trying to make the render look perfectly photo-real.

 

 

 

postproduction2.jpg

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Couple of things I notice straightaway...

 

You should really correct your verticals (as with all architectural photography).

 

Also, a really important rule I've learned recently... never 'make do' with textures. If the texture doesn't look photoreal in photoshop or windows explorer, it won't look real in your renders.

 

Also, your textures, I would say are a little too saturated.

 

Also, on the second image, my eye is drawn to the dark lobby with lack of, well, anything in there.

 

On the plus side, the grass is awesome (if a little too bluey-green).

 

To be honest, I'm good at giving advice, but rarely take it myself. Hope I helped though.

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Sorry mate - wasn't my intention at all.

 

I suggest those things because I personally had completely disregarded the basics. I was obsessed with getting materials right, the model perfect with every rivet yet I still wasn't happy.

 

I had been doing it professionally for longer than you and it wasn't until I read a couple of great articles that I went back to the basics and found that I was getting happier and happier with my images.

 

Hope that clears things up a bit.

 

Ooooh. Perhaps you could enlighten me with those articles! :)

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Mate, I really like it. Dropping the saturation of the wood and greening up the grass a bit helps. It seems you've corrected the verticals (almost). Did you listen to my advice!? That's a first!

 

I still feel the lighting is a bit odd. The shaded side of the building seems a little too bright considering the darkness of the sky. Though it does sometimes happen in stormy sunshiney scenes. Like our UK weather!!

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Hello Tom, I also get frustrated when I can not get a result agreeable, more importantly, never give up. The CGarchtects forum is very good, because exchange information with users cg worldwide.

 

Your work is not bad, but can improve. You already know the tutorials viscorbel? They were very good to me.

 

http://viscorbel.com/ ;)

Edited by chavespunk
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i don't think the subject matter helps - its a pretty bland building...

 

apart from that getting there - except there is too much colour bleed and way too much burnout. not sure what from, perhaps unaturally bright and saturated diffuse colours. also check your white balance there is a yellow cast to all the images

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Yeah I can't help thinking the building is pretty boring, and those orange boards just look awful no matter how well I nail the texture. Bad choice of project.

 

Feeling pretty unmotivated again now, I got some feedback on the project from some local Architects and colleagues who said' it's pretty good but there are some clients who would prefer photorealism. :mad:

 

I don't think I'm ever going to get to where I want to be, and I don't appear to be dealing with criticism very well.

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