Exterior Light Study

[Inxa]

Hello,

This is one of the first renders from my side in Exteriors. Learning a lot on this.
Worked with VRAY and 3DS VIZ. Buildings has been given over to be by a friend of mine and plants are from various libraries.

This is a totally non-professional study work done for my portfolio.
Main aim is to learn Exteriors.

Exterior.
http://img257.imageshack.us/img257/4041/exterior2vx6.jpg

Hope you like the render.

Direct light, Expo, Irmap + Lc.
No Hdri.

Hope you like it.

Looking ahead for crits, comments and helpful tips.

[archie3d]

Hi Inxa,

First of all i would say, its really a very good job for the first time.
Though there are some artifcats left here n there.... am sure you will overcome them very soon. Try to use QMC instead of IRR, results should much more convincing.

The ground floor ( may be place for car shed ) is bit wierd and has reflection of the enivronment, which should not be there for walls ( i think so ).

Its simple archie but looks very nice.. keep it up and keep posting.

Regs
Vijay

[mukks]

good to see an exterior render from ur side man...

lighting looks good... but the building !, it looks like a cage... hiii..

u need more detail on shadow areas,,look at the left side of building...contact area between wall n ceiling.. wht u say... an AO pass ll help in this case,, but its up to some personal taste... if its me, ill not waste my time adjusting GI details , ill render an AO pass n add it as multiply layer on PS...

n bout vegetation... those plants on front looks repetitive ...
nice sky ,,, whts that behind ? beach ? wow...........

keep going man.............

[archie3d]

Hi Mukks,

Is this the correct way of doing AO pass... just wanted to know if i am in right direction...

Step.1 Overide all the vray materials using "Override Materials" option in Global Switches.

Step.2 Drop a Vraymtl or a VrayDirt mtl with white value ranging from 200-255

Step.3 Add a skylight or turn on environmental Skylight

Step.4 Render the scene

Step.5 Add the rendered AO layer to final render image in PS

Step.6 Blending the AO layer to "Overlay" and adjusting the opacity to around 50-75%.

Am i correct .. ? do let me know

Thanx
Vijay

[mukks]

u can take AO pass even in mental ray or in vray,,,

u need to use vraydirt map to get AO in Vray....

ill explain how u can take AO using Vray dirt,...

1. save another capy of ur file n remove or turn off all the lights and GI..

2. make ur env color to white...

3. open material editor - add a vraylightmtl

follow these settings...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v281/mukks/Vray_dirt.jpg

4. add this shader on override mtl at global switches .

5. after render use PS or any other compositing softs -

u can add ur AO pass as multiply n adjust the opacity - u need to mask some area to get rid of unwanted dark shadows where cove-lights n glass r visible....

hope u understand it... u can even try another blending mode like, color burn , linear burn etc... but with overlay , ull get a burned out image na ?

any way give a try....

[archie3d]

thanx mukks... :)

[Inxa]

Hello,

Mukks that's real help dude. Thanks a ton.

Alright. Here we go another Exterior.

http://img168.imageshack.us/img168/6889/extres2ji0.jpg

http://img509.imageshack.us/img509/3096/extres24dz3.jpg

Simple again same setup. Direct light, Expo, IR + LC.

Hope you all like it.

[warriorash]

looks good... next time chamfer or bevel(maya) the 90 degree edges as it makes it look more CG and sharp!

an AO pass is used to fake G.I
did u do it ??

look at the place where the wall meets the ground and the corners in the wall
with an AO pass they wd be a bit dark

mukks has given a detailed explanation
check this evermotion tutorial about the AO pass in 3dsmax
http://everflow.com/support/tutorials/AO/Everflow_AmbientOcclusion1.html

[Inxa]

Hey,

Warrior all the edges are chamfered. :). It's checked.

Nope no faking Gi or anything or dirt.

[jigu]

an AO pass is used to fake G.I
did u do it ??


AO pass just fill the shadow details and used to enhance small details in image. it doesn't fake or create GI solution. it's used to get more attention to small details.

PS.Nice work Inxa.

[mushir_q]

HI,
I luv this. Nice lights..

[warriorash]

AO pass just fill the shadow details and used to enhance small details in image. it doesn't fake or create GI solution. it's used to get more attention to small details.



I agree with u about the shadow details, The Ambient Occlusion Pass is also a rough approximate to G.I

read on
Ambient occlusion is a shading method used in 3D computer graphics which helps add realism to local reflection models by taking into account attenuation of light due to occlusion. Unlike local methods like Phong shading, ambient occlusion is a global method, meaning the illumination at each point is a function of other geometry in the scene. However, it is a very crude approximation to full global illumination.
Souces : Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambient_occlusion)


Inxa : Warrior all the edges are chamfered. . It's checked.

but i feel that the edges still look sharp, dont they ??

[archie3d]

Inxa,

Nice render but is this just a sample you did for practice or a commercial project... bcoz the architecture looks too simple ( hardly some boxes & splines ).
Petty details like handle to the door, multicolor materials to steps would enhance the image more i feel.

Lighting & Vegetation are quite good . Keep up the good work.


By the by guys... am also trying to fit a AO Pass in my current running project... but is it something that AO render takes almost double of time to the original render... ? For me its taking :(

[mukks]

but is it something that AO render takes almost double of time to the original render... ? For me its taking :(

oops.... tweak that dirtmap settings,, r u using any displacement ?

[archie3d]

ya am using vraydisplacement for grass.... i noticed that time is taken too much with vegetations and not with architecture....

[Inxa]

Thanks guys for the replies.

Archie,

Yes, it's complete a light study. Not professional. And ofcourse even though it was professional, if the structure would have been this, it had to be worked on.

yes I completely forgot to get the handle :rolleyes:, I think the steps are pretty good as of now.

Ao / Dirt map do you really need it.

Jigu, Mushir - Glad you liked it.

[archie3d]

Ya, I feel AO/ Dirt map gives really good effect on the final render.... as mukks said instead of wasting time by tweaking GI parameters its better to pass a AO render... but, may be not for all the renders...

[mukks]

its up to personal taste,,, not must

when u use it with GI ,it only brings up few minor detail, specially on corners and some good contact shadows...

[Inxa]

Another Exterior rendering.
Thought of keeping this thread going and not starting another one.

Car is from a library.

Exterior -

http://img440.imageshack.us/img440/8992/buildingcommercialfinalvn8.jpg

High resolution -

http://img249.imageshack.us/img249/345/buildingcommercialfinalkr2.jpg


Softwares - 3DS VIZ and VRAY
Bg is a mix of two photos I found from the net.

Hope you like it.

Crits and comments welcome.

[creator]

hey its nice work..........
your lighting is really good, hav u used physical sun light or a Photometric light?.........
..........if possible just give some metallic effect to the lamp post, as it seems simple flat color

neways nice rendering..................keep it up.......

[mukks]

hmm, this one is g8,.lighting is very good..
it ll be nice if u show some interior via clear glass,,, ... wht u say,,,,

[Inxa]

Hey,

Thanks guys for your replies.

creator - Glad you like it. No, it's a simple light setup like always. One Direct light for Sun and environment. Yes, good catch for the streetlights.

Mukks - Yeay glad you liked it mate. Good idea for the interior, this is a finished render, next time surely work it out.