Sharing Your Render Settings

[Michael J. Brown]

Let me open by acknowledging that while there are those of us who are fortunate enough to be able to freelance full-time or even run their own Architectural CG practices (full-time), I must assume that most of us hone our craft while in the service of an employer.

 

Years ago I was put in a position at my job where management insisted that several of my coworkers be 'brought up to speed' in producing renderings of the same caliber as mine. (Up until that time, I had been the go-to person for 3dsMax imagery). However, contrary to common rationale, they wanted 'instant' results. I tried to explain that my renderings were at the level they are because I have spent nearly a decade mastering my craft. And for me to train someone to produce work equal to mine would require weeks of training followed by a year or more of them perfecting that training to finally arrive at a sound level of competence.

 

But since my employer was demanding instant results, the only option left was to basically hand over my "secret render sauce". All of lighting, rendering and environment settings that took me years to perfect. Including my entire catalog of custom materials. They basically wanted an "EASY" button so that any Joe coming in off the street with zero experience could pop out the same results that my 10+ years of experience provide.

 

I'm sure I need not even tell you how de-humanizing this process was for me and how angered I was as a result. What they were asking me to do was to basically make myself obsolete. And, yes, I do realize that it was definately their perogotive to demand these things of me, given that the work I was producing was property of the company anyway. But that still didn't make me feel any better about it.

 

I am no longer with that company. But I wanted to just put this out there to see how many other people have been put in similar situations. What are your thoughts?

[Corey Beaulieu]

It all depends. In our Studio we all have a lot skills of our own so we are all sharing everything we do. I see our whole studio rise a s a result. The honesty in sharing of tricks and whatnot tends towards creating a friendly competitive vibe. Every one playing on a level field means that each of us are now trying harder to find the next great move and push out better and better images. No amount of sharing will ever make us all the same regardless, but I find it important to note that what we do is an art form and an artist without an individual perspective, an individual sense of color balance, composition, or taste, is hardly an artist at all.

 

If you are asked to share/teach you are doing your job by sharing and teaching. Your 10+ years will always place you 10+ years ahead in terms of understanding. New ideas will come to you faster with a greater depth of understanding and level of mastery that cannot be match without time and effort. The more important part is that you don't become complacent and assume that in 10 years time, you have learned all you will ever need to know about creating a great image.

[Michael J. Brown]

Well said, Corey.

[Chris MacDonald]

I personally have found that despite a "level playing field", there is a world of difference in image quality/style/time between the different members of the team I'm in, no matter how many of my "secrets" I've shared. I believe the two expressions that sum it up best are;

 

"You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink"

 

and

 

"It's not the tool, it's how you use it"

 

For example, many people on these forums and others see VRay as being some god-like thing that can instantly create amazing results, but the sheer amount of shite that I see people producing with it is absolute proof that it is down to the person that's pushing the buttons and not the software.

 

You can teach tips & tricks, and give people lots of opportunity to catch up to you, but nothing will beat years of experience and a careful eye for detail.

[Michael J. Brown]

Very true, Chris.

 

But what I had been asked (no, told) to do was to prepare a detailed breakdown of every setting from IES files and lumens of lights; height, angle, apeture, shutter speed and film speed of cameras; IL & image sampler settings; complete library of materials and 3D models; Daylight settings; post-production Photoshop techniques; EVERYTHING!

[Chris MacDonald]

Shouldn't your question to them in this situation have been "why are you hiring these people if they don't already know the majority of this?"?

[Michael J. Brown]

Shouldn't your question to them in this situation have been "why are you hiring these people if they don't already know the majority of this?"?

 

 

Their goal was to make it so that everyone can do everyone elses tasks interchangeably. They wanted everyone to be a "jack of all trades". People that were hired to do as-builts and Photoshop now have to learn to render and vice-versa. But as we already know, the "perfectly well-rounded employee" who can do Photoshop, AutoCAD, construction documents, design and 3D rendering all at A+ level is as rare as an M.D. with good handwriting. They've looked, but can't find peole with all these skill sets. The ones coming straight out of school have only the level of 3D skills necessary to get them through a studio presentation. The folks with the experience to handle CDs are clueless when it comes to 3D.

[Scott Schroeder]

The only way I see that it would be shady is if they wanted you to share everything then made your position obsolete and showed you the door.

 

The very first task I was asked when I started at my new company was to teach them my knowledge of Vray, which I gladly did. I created a nice PowerPoint doc, with star-wipe transitions mind you, that laid out the general settings and why they were set like that. That was one of the reasons I was hired was my experience with Vray. My settings are no secret. Let's face it, 99.99% of ALL of our settings have been distilled from another source, be it online, book, or forum post. Like others have said, you can teach them everything but in the end they will still have to put in the time to get up to your level. Many moons ago, I purchased the Gnonom Vray dvd's by Christopher Nichols and at the end, was I at his level? Absolutely not. I had to put the time in and use the knowledge I had, but I actually had to do the work.

 

In this day, rendering is no longer some mysterious process that only a select few know. Granted if the old place you were working at was looking at watering down it's product and turning it into a outsource-like uncreative, uninspired, and generally poor quality render, I would want to leave too. But I wouldn't leave just because they asked me to share my knowledge. If everyone kept their knowledge to themselves, we'd still be in a world where only 5 people knew how to make fire.

[Michael J. Brown]

..., but I actually had to do the work.

 

 

My point exactly. They didn't want to take the time for the people to 'get to know' the software and 'learn' things on their own. They wanted instant results. But how many of us got to where we are in an instant. And if you did, I guarantee you don't carry the same sense of pride in your work as if you had gleened bits and pieces of knowledge from here and there to arrive to your present skill level.

 

I don't mind teaching my skills. Heck I taught this stuff at two seperate universities for 9 years. So I'm no stranger to sharing knowledge. But their thing was that they wanted to make it to where ANYBODY - regardless of their level of experience or total lack thereof - could step and in 2 days produce the same caliber of work that took me a decade to master.

 

Do you mean to tell me that you would not feel any sense of being rapped by a corporate mindset such as this?

 

Now, Scott, your situation is a bit different. You were hired in to bring people up to speed. But what if you had been functioning as the only dedicated 3D specialist there for years, then all of a sudden management decided they wanted everyone to be able to turn out renders. But they were not going to pay them to learn on the job nor wait for them to be taught by you and learn the rest at their own pace over the course of several months to a year? We all keep saying that "nothing is secret" but try telling that to someone who has struggled for eons to get their lighting just right and turn out a realistic image.

 

They were not interested in people 'perfecting their craft'. They essentially wanted a big fat 'Staples "EASY" Button' approach.

[Tommy L]

It may seem cynical but you could take a 'strategic' approach. Set up a bunch of presets, but make sure your secret sauce is missing a few ingredients. When the new recruits arnt up to speed in a few weeks you can just say that art is art, not a clone tamp and you did what you were asked.

Edited February 21, 2013 by Tommy L

[Scott Schroeder]

I have still agree with the others who have commented, there is no way they could have gotten to your level that quickly. Even if you wrote a document the size of Lord of the Rings book, there is no way anyone can learn that quickly. This isn't the Matrix. No one gets to a high level in an instant. Even those people posting in the Vray and Max section that just want 100% spoon fed answers. You can give them everything they are asking for, or Google it for them, and they will still produce trash renders.

 

To a lesser extent, has a plug and render solution like Solid Rocks really created better artists? I don't think so because I still see terrible renders and those people are being spoon fed exact settings. Has the Vray Materials website made people any better? Again, I don't think so. All of the named sort of plug and render solutions are all missing the one thing that makes the render great. That is the artistic eye, skill, and actual experience of the end user. You simply can't replicate that.

 

As I said, everything I have ever learned I have gotten from other sources. I didn't seal myself into a room and learn rendering solely on my own. Since others taught and shared with me, I should pay it forward to those coming up into the industry. The things that I did learn on my own or are my own little artist flair, cannot be taught. At least not until they learn how to clone my brain into AI.

[Michael J. Brown]

I hear ya, Scott.

 

And while it is quite true that no one can 'learn' that quickly. They can, however, produce results equal to mine that quickly. I have physical evidence to prove it. When you're in an environment where you're turning out XYZ interiors and exterior day in and day out, all it takes is just the right camera, lighting, material and render settings to put everyone on a level playing field. Well, at least in terms of final output.

 

Actually knowing 'why' certain settings create the output they do, however, is a totally different story. THAT is where the true learning comes into play. (The very thing that management doesn't have time for staff to do - hence the 'EASY' button approach).

[Scott Schroeder]

The fact that they wanted to become a McDonald's render facility. No matter where it is made or who makes it, it all looks and tastes the same. That, I would leave a company for if they wanted to go down that path. That is certainly not a creative place to be. I would be more concerned about that aspect rather than being asked to share my set ups. I don't blame you for leaving that place if that's where they wanted to take things.

[Devin Johnston]

I would be highly suspicious if my employer all of a sudden asked me to give them an info dump and start training people to do my job. I agree that you have to have some skill at this to make good renderings and while there are people and firms out there that understand this many do not. If you were hired knowing this is what they expected then you have no reason to complain but if this just came out of the blue I'd be reluctant to comply. The opinion of the regular architect about rendering today is much different than it was a decade or two ago, back then renderers were very respected and sought after because there weren't that many of us and it was difficult to do. Today you can get a rendering from China or India for pennies on the dollar overnight while you sleep. Granted the quality isn't great but many architects don't care because the clients don't care. You wouldn't believe some of the bad renderings I've seen clients get all excited over, it's no wonder management is starting to think they don't need a rendering guru any more, that anyone can do it.

[Noise]

Unless someone is using their knowledge every day it won't stick and it's actually counter productive to make employees learn something that they are only going to use sporadically.

 

Michael, did you ever speak with the management about their plans and the potential pitfalls ?

[Michael J. Brown]

Unless someone is using their knowledge every day it won't stick and it's actually counter productive to make employees learn something that they are only going to use sporadically.

 

Michael, did you ever speak with the management about their plans and the potential pitfalls ?

 

I agree, and yes. I vocalized my stance on the matter. However, my warnings were not heeded. Their thoughts were that in time these employees would 'pick up' the necessary knowledge and skill to become competent on their own. This, however, can never happen in a pure production, 'assembly-line' environment where deadlines trump creative license and artistic freedom.

[Noise]

Flawed on so many levels, you are better out of there !

[M V]

I say, go ahead, make the document. No friggin way anyone is going to take any document, no matter how concise, and be able just to render professionally. It takes a decade to get good and another decade to get great. Not to mention, by the time you finish this document, the info will be outdated. Part of our job is staying current with the trends and software. By all means, take this document and go "learn rendering."

 

Another point would be to tell the bosses that you would be reinventing the wheel. Why dont they just go out and buy a few books and some DVDs and lock the folks in a room and make them go through it all. Bing Bang Boom! Now everyone is up to speed!

 

Just goes to show you the ignorance among the higher ups in thinking that you can just read a PDF and learn this stuff.

[M V]

It's funny. I look at the How-Tos on this site and look at the render settings and every person has a different way of doing things. The results are usually going in the same direction. A well lit interior or a captivating exterior scene. No two workflows are the same. Making a How-To manual is sounding more and more like a dumb idea. What a waste of time on your part too. Why don't you just save out some of your render parameters and make a library of parts with your typical IES lights, material libraries, etc. That's way more useful than a manual.

[M V]

This thread has me heated (as you can probably tell). I bet the person asking you to do this is an architect, am I right in saying this? If so, ask them to write a manual on how to be an architect. Should be pretty easy. One chapter on design, one chapter on CAD, one chapter on construction should do it.

[Nic H]

i would delete the server and leave this place.

sounds completely stupid