Home office scene > any tipps?

[olydarko]

Studio/Institution: self-study
Client: none
Genre: Residential Interior
Software: Cinema 4d, V-Ray
Website: http://none
Description:

Hey folks,

 

I'm working on my second V-Ray interior scene right now. I just tried to create a plain office room (probably somewhere in russia^^) with some cold winter light from the outside, and just a few warm highlight from the lamps inside the room. it should not be that kind of image where the room is very light-flooded, i'd prefer to achieve a more dark kind of room, smoothly illuminated by a cloudy winter sky, but with clear details.

 

i think it's not that bad already, but still, i know i can enhance the overall quality of it. i am just not sure how to go on from here.. but i know i'm gonna change the ceiling texture, it because i think it should get a more rough concrete look.

 

The only light sources in the scene are 1 HDRI light dome, and the 3 lamps of course (well.. they don't actually lighten up the scene that much..). Not sure if i need to add some more lights? maybe from behind the camera?

 

Also, there seems to be some noise in the black textures (check out the black sideboards on the left and right wall, and the organic Züco chair). I used the "Low" setting in the V-Ray GI settings, and have between 12 and 32 samples on the specular channels of the black materials. Any ideas how to reduce it? It took like 3 hours to render it with 2400x1350px (mac pro late 2013, 4 core model).

 

Of course I am also interested in every other improvement idea!

[Ernest Burden III]

I work at a desk by a large window, and while I love seeing all that sky and the Hudson River, I cannot see my monitors with all that light behind them. So I have to pull a shade to work. At least I also have a huge window just to my right so I can see my world while creating fake ones.

 

It is a problem in real rooms and in your scene. The light levels are very different from what is out vs. what is in. Perhaps try a very overcast day, or very early morning, so the light levels can be more in balance. That could be good, coffee with steam rising...

[adamsargeant]

Feels a bit cold. Not an overly welcoming place to be, especially to work.

 

However, the scene is very good generally speaking. Maybe the outside backdrop is too over exposed - It would be nice to see some detail of what the view has to offer?

Excellent use of maps to achieve the accurate reflections on the wooden floor!

[olydarko]

hey guys

thanks for your tips! yea it is very dark, this was the actual idea.. but anyway, i changed the outdoor situation to a more sunny, less cloudy sunset. so the image turned way warmer, of course. i also changed the position of the workstation @ernest. also, i've added some more depth to the layout and turned this room into a interior balcony (not sure if this is the correct term in english), which gives it a less narrow feel.

 

but there are a few things i still don't like, and "bugs":

- the overlaying window glasses are generating a heavy refraction and dimming, i think i have to fix that - but why? by changing the IOR in the refraction channel? and, how to change the glass transparency so that the glasses don't get darker while overlapping, but having a little bit of a color or opacity?

- the carpet looks a bit rogh (i added a fabric texture on the object which is provided with the vray fur tag). maybe i need a softer one, with a smaller mesh to make it look softer..?

- do you think the floor is OK? i changed it a bit. maybe the glossiness is not strong enough now.

 

btw i am working with arroway textures, and sometimes i am not sure in which slots (inside the specular channel) i have to put the reflection maps! i tried all of them, but still not sure, since it accidentally looks good sometimes..

and i'm also aking myself if i have to set the reflection glossiness by hand (fix value) or also have to put that refl. map there? sometimes this looks weird.. any recommendations? the bump map on the floor is set to -2.

 

there are also 3 new windows on the wall on the left (not visible, downstairs) who let in some light (area light / plane, placed in front of the windows, with a white/yellow light). otherwise the area on the top left (corner and walls) looked too dark..

 

thanks & cheers!

 

 

[fredericlavender]

I agree with Adam, the outside looks overexposed and it would be nice to see some of the internal detailing maybe by adding some subtle lighting

[olydarko]

hey guys

 

thanks for your tipps! in the meantime i changed several things:

- i added some more depth to the room layout; the office is now on an upper level, in some interior balcony, so the room feels less narrow (there are also 3 windows on the left wall, downstairs, but invisible of course).

- i changed the weather situation to a more sunny sunset, and also the environment. now we can see more details.

 

and i had some trouble with the carpet: when i placed it downstairs, it looked great. but the higher i placed it (closer to the ceiling), the blurrier it got (no contrast or details in the "hairs", it looked like 1 color). so, to make it look as it looks now, i had to deactivate the "use GI map" in the carpent material. after that, it looked cool (check out the image). but why is this? any ideas? is this usual? o.O

 

thanks and cheers!

oly

 

 

Edited December 9, 2015 by olydarko

[adamsargeant]

I'd say maybe the space feels too bare now? There is nothing on the walls. behind the workstation is nothing there?

 

Again though your floor is spot on! And the outside looks gorgeous

 

Edit sorry the stairs are there.. Still could do with something, maybe a different wall treatment?

[olydarko]

thank you adam!

what kind of different wall treatmen could it be? i know what you mean. but is a different surface a good idea? maybe the windows could be very large and almost reach the ceiling or something..

[olydarko]

hi again,

here's a little update. i've added some concrete texture to the wall on the left, and some wood texture to the sideboard on the right. and i optimized the sunlight and the brightness a bit.

 

question: does anyone know how to get rid of the noise in the aluminium of the floor molding? it only generates noise in the areas where the reflection shows an also reflective object. the problem disappears when i set "treat glossy rays as GI" to "always", but then the aluminium doesn't reflect glossy elements anymore (just dark, instead of bright). so it doesn't look realistic.. increasing the subdivs up to 32 doesn't help.

 

thanks!

 

[adamsargeant]

hi again,

here's a little update. i've added some concrete texture to the wall on the left, and some wood texture to the sideboard on the right. and i optimized the sunlight and the brightness a bit.

 

question: does anyone know how to get rid of the noise in the aluminium of the floor molding? it only generates noise in the areas where the reflection shows an also reflective object. the problem disappears when i set "treat glossy rays as GI" to "always", but then the aluminium doesn't reflect glossy elements anymore (just dark, instead of bright). so it doesn't look realistic.. increasing the subdivs up to 32 doesn't help.

 

thanks!

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]53809[/ATTACH]

 

Maybe a shadow gap between the wall and the ceiling? Because they meet perfectly in the current situation, it looks bare? Maybe if the plasterboard stopped 10-20mm before hitting the ceiling surface, that would help. Also, does it all need to be an exposed concrete ceiling? could it not have parts which drop like floating ceilings, maybe with strip lighting to make them 'glow'?

 

I just think large expanses of the same look can become repetitive. Plus, with varying ceiling levels, it allows for a variety of different light fittings, again adding variety to the scene. That floor again.. Gets better each time

[olydarko]

hey there!

okay i changed a few things again, like the environment, the big lamp, the hanging lamp, some furniture on the balcony, the bookshelf and the ceiling. i think it's the final version for the moment. thanks guys for the help, and see you later when i show you the next room haha.

 

cheers

oly

 

[christosviskadourakis]

I would just like to ask you what technique did you follow for your carpet. It's more than impressive

[fredericlavender]

Wow Oly great improvement from the 1st image you posted a few weeks ago!

 

The floor looks great, really nice work with the materials and the way the light hits the ground too.

I think the only thing that is putting me off is the 1x pear right at the front of the shot. I don't think it needs to be there. The other 2x in the bowl are fine.

 

One other thing - maybe you could add more contact shadows especially in the corners of the room where the walls meet the ceiling.

I came across these images which explain what I mean - http://1dot61.co/portfolio/interior-rendering/

The exterior scene and exposure looks perfect

[olydarko]

hey guys,

thanks for your constructive replies! this is really helpful.

 

@Frederic, the shadows in the corners is a good Idea - how can i achieve that? maybe vray dirt? and yea, it this room was real, i wouldn't put that pear next to the bowl haha you are totally right. )

 

@ Christos, in this project i used some arroways textures. they include a diffuse map (just the photo of the wood), a bump map and a reflection map. tha last one allows the glossiness and reflections only in the white parts of the black & white image, so with with the correct amount of that refl. map (around 25% in my pic) you get that look pretty quick. you just have to play with the glossiness (here it's around 70% i think).

 

@ betsy, yea i had some snow on the balcony (easysnow plugin) in an earlier version, but somehow i didn't like it so.. i deleted it let's say there is a roof covering the balcony )

[christosviskadourakis]

@ Christos, in this project i used some arroways textures. they include a diffuse map (just the photo of the wood), a bump map and a reflection map. tha last one allows the glossiness and reflections only in the white parts of the black & white image, so with with the correct amount of that refl. map (around 25% in my pic) you get that look pretty quick. you just have to play with the glossiness (here it's around 70% i think).

 

You are talking about the floor but I asked you about the carpet Is it VrFair?

[olydarko]

You are talking about the floor but I asked you about the carpet Is it VrFair?

 

 

oh sorry, my bad! xD

no, it is cinema 4d hair, but with a beige standard vray material on it (i also placed an image of a beige fabric texture into the diffuse channel, multiplied (mix ca. 20%) with the beige color, to get some structure into it). i just had to turn on the hair renderer in the render settings, and move it above the vray slot to make it work.

[fredericlavender]

@Frederic, the shadows in the corners is a good Idea - how can i achieve that? maybe vray dirt? and yea, it this room was real, i wouldn't put that pear next to the bowl haha you are totally right. )

 

 

You can achieve this by activating ambient occlusion