3D modeling and rendering feedback


Recommended Posts

I've just delved into 3D design and am having a blast. Sketchup seems to be best for my needs so far and I am using Indigo for my renderer. This is my first scene:

2aiq5p0.jpg

Every aspect of it was modeled by me. Here is my latest with the same scene:

23icqqq.jpg

I used stock models for the chair monitor, and desk lamp. Everything else was modeled by me. Does anyone have any feedback on how to improve my modeling techniques? I am open to suggestions on different modeling software and renderers too. Obviously in my latest attempt, I learned a lot more and was able to add some reflection to the screens, got better wood grain on the desk, etc. I also played around quite a bit with making the lights into light sources. I know it's a very simple scene, but it was very fun to create and know that everything in it was an object and rendered. I am looking to try and get even more photo realistism.

Link to comment
https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/1279946-3d-modeling-and-rendering-feedback/
Share on other sites

First bit of feedback - there are hundreds of 3D packages out there to use, some more advanced then others. I would say just use what feels right with you, and once your comfortable with it, move on to another package. The saying is Be great at all, and a master of none. 

Feedback to that particular scene is - the textures should be uniform, what i mean by that is, the wood grain on ure desk should be going in one direction, not two. 
Lighting seems to be too bright for the scene. The lights are on, but it seems like there is sunlight happenning too, doesnt make sense. 
Id say just pump out another image with the brightness dialed down a bit (apart from the lights of the lamps) and re-map the wood texture. 

  On 27/11/2015 at 02:59, Anarkii said:

First bit of feedback - there are hundreds of 3D packages out there to use, some more advanced then others. I would say just use what feels right with you, and once your comfortable with it, move on to another package. The saying is Be great at all, and a master of none. 

Feedback to that particular scene is - the textures should be uniform, what i mean by that is, the wood grain on ure desk should be going in one direction, not two. 
Lighting seems to be too bright for the scene. The lights are on, but it seems like there is sunlight happenning too, doesnt make sense. 
Id say just pump out another image with the brightness dialed down a bit (apart from the lights of the lamps) and re-map the wood texture. 

Cool thanks for the advice. Some guys at the Sketchup forums told me to mess with the wood grain so that was what I was trying. There shouldn't be sunlight. I'll go check and see if I made a mistake. Here is a newer one I did tonight:

jt2cmu.jpg

 

things that make the difference between a "wow" render and "is that real" render -

  • light and shadow play -
    • light does not have same intensity over distance, fade them off - from the point of origin to the opposite wall fade them by at least 40% (so at opposite wall a light's intensity will be 60%)
    • never use multiple light sources so close to each other, if you have to, only one of them has to be the "main" light source and rest of them should be much dimmer and cast even softer shadows
    • shadows in real life are never so crisp, they always have soft edges
    • for "night" renders, make the ambient light darker (i think thats what @Anarkii is pointing to as sunlight), most 3d softwares have "ambient light" manipulation capability, i have never used SketchUp, if it does, play with it...
    • directional light should have more darkness behind them - the table lamp seems to be illuminating in 360°
  • objects - try to depict objects as they are IRL -
    • Wooden / Metal based object are sharp edged and planer surfaces (which are good in your scene)
    • Cloth / Leather based objects should have softer edges, irregular surfaces - your sofa cushions seem very un-inviting  :) & i have not seen any sofas with "one single" cushion or backs, they always have some from of stitching that breaks the continuity
    • object should not look like they are floating - all carpets have shadows under them - get rid of them by making the model a little thicker and then inserting the model into the floor (yes, you have to cheat :) )
  • texturing -
    • Glass reflects and has transparency - your cupboard in the 2nd render - even if it is black glass it should reflect and show a little bit of the inside
    • cloths dont reflect / shine - your carpets look like they are shiny / glossy
Edited by PacificAk
  On 27/11/2015 at 04:25, PacificAk said:

things that make the difference between a "wow" render and "is that real" render -

  • light and shadow play -
    • light does not have same intensity over distance, fade them off - from the point of origin to the opposite wall fade them by at least 40% (so at opposite wall a light's intensity will be 60%)
    • never use multiple light sources so close to each other, if you have to, only one of them has to be the "main" light source and rest of them should be much dimmer and cast even softer shadows
    • shadows in real life are never so crisp, they always have soft edges
    • for "night" renders, make the ambient light darker (i think thats what @Anarkii is pointing to as sunlight), most 3d softwares have "ambient light" manipulation capability, i have never used SketchUp, if it does, play with it...
    • directional light should have more darkness behind them - the table lamp seems to be illuminating in 360°
  • objects - try to depict objects as they are IRL -
    • Wooden / Metal based object are sharp edged and planer surfaces (which are good in your scene)
    • Cloth / Leather based objects should have softer edges, irregular surfaces - your sofa cushions seem very un-inviting  :) & i have not seen any sofas with "one single" cushion or backs, they always have some from of stitching that breaks the continuity
    • object should not look like they are floating - all carpets have shadows under them - get rid of them by making the model a little thicker and then inserting the model into the floor (yes, you have to cheat :) )
  • texturing -
    • Glass reflects and has transparency - your cupboard in the 2nd render - even if it is black glass it should reflect and show a little bit of the inside
    • cloths dont reflect / shine - your carpets look like they are shiny / glossy


Exactly this. 
Personally I use Maya 2016 along with Arnold Renderer. The results it produces are highly realistic. This is an example of just what lighting can do. Nothing in this scene is actually textured. So I would suggest if your doing the realistic look - really play with your lighting first, and then apply the textures. 

171909_499492846747616_1588607556_o.jpg

  On 27/11/2015 at 04:25, PacificAk said:

things that make the difference between a "wow" render and "is that real" render -

  • light and shadow play -
    • light does not have same intensity over distance, fade them off - from the point of origin to the opposite wall fade them by at least 40% (so at opposite wall a light's intensity will be 60%)
    • never use multiple light sources so close to each other, if you have to, only one of them has to be the "main" light source and rest of them should be much dimmer and cast even softer shadows
    • shadows in real life are never so crisp, they always have soft edges
    • for "night" renders, make the ambient light darker (i think thats what @Anarkii is pointing to as sunlight), most 3d softwares have "ambient light" manipulation capability, i have never used SketchUp, if it does, play with it...
    • directional light should have more darkness behind them - the table lamp seems to be illuminating in 360°
  • objects - try to depict objects as they are IRL -
    • Wooden / Metal based object are sharp edged and planer surfaces (which are good in your scene)
    • Cloth / Leather based objects should have softer edges, irregular surfaces - your sofa cushions seem very un-inviting  :) & i have not seen any sofas with "one single" cushion or backs, they always have some from of stitching that breaks the continuity
    • object should not look like they are floating - all carpets have shadows under them - get rid of them by making the model a little thicker and then inserting the model into the floor (yes, you have to cheat :) )
  • texturing -
    • Glass reflects and has transparency - your cupboard in the 2nd render - even if it is black glass it should reflect and show a little bit of the inside
    • cloths dont reflect / shine - your carpets look like they are shiny / glossy

Great advice, exactly what I was looking for. I am still learning with my modeling but I can't help but dive into rendering right away and see my results. My main concern is to get as much realism as possible for whatever I create. I haven't really figured out the light settings that much yet in Indigo renderer. I figured out how to create a light source from an object and give it a brightness value but that's about it. I'm not sure how I would fade the intensity. I wanted the 2 lights because I envisioned the room having 2 and it seemed to make sense. However, every time I adjust settings for one of them, they both get the same settings. Not sure why it's doing that.

I know what you mean by the table lamp. I actually deleted it and found that the area was still illuminated. After some messing around, I found that the power button on the back of the iMac was set to illuminate and so was the iPhone dock (those 2 objects were from the 3D warehouse of Sketchup). I just removed that light from the scene as it didn't make much sense anyways with the 2 wall lights. This is how it looked with that lamp gone:

jt2cmu.jpg

The floating has been a real problem for me because when I move my objects in the 3D space, I find it very hard to place them right on the surface I want. Like the phone and tablet on the desk and the stuff on the floor. If I zoom way in, I can still see that they are off the surface. I don't think that there is a shadow of the 2 rugs, it is just depicting the thickness. I do agree that they should not be shiny. I have to figure out how to edit the material to remove that shine.

 

Anarkii - great scene. I love the ambiance. That is the kind of look I am after. I want to create environments that look very realistic.

Can you guys explain how materials work? For instance, I have a desk which I applied a wood material to. I decide I want to add a bit of reflection to it. How exactly do I do that? None of my renderers has any options to add effects to a material. So, if I want to add some reflection to the glass doors on my bookcase, how would I go about it? Would I paste a copy of the door on top of itself and add a transparent reflective material to the copy?

to go a step further, how do I tone down something that shines too much? I have my rug objects but no options to remove shine. Would I do the same thing and duplicate the object and paste it on top with a less reflective coating?

Here is my latest render of this scene:

2whnp95.jpg

After a lot of research, I found out that my lighting settings weren't changing because I was using Reinhardt rendering instead of camera (not sure of the difference though). Here, I switched to camera and lowered the intensity of the wall lamps and the lighting changed dramatically. I added a desk lamp and took out the computer and other stuff because something there was emitting light for some reason. I changed the rugs from phone to diffuse, played with the glass in the bookcase a little, bumped up the phong on the desk surface, and added a slight amount of phong to the chair mat. How does the realism look to you guys now?

This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
  • Posts

    • RIP Prince... for over 50 years you entertained us, brought us musicians that wowed the masses... you brought us into your home, your life and your loving insanity for life itself. You'll never be truly gone, because you'll be with us for the rest of our own lives.
    • This is why you NEVER use AI for development unless you are intelligent enough to know what it is doing.   100% the developer's fault.
    • im an MS fanboy and even this is hilarious to me... so many issues with 24h2, how can MS say this with a straight face?
    • Every vendor does this. Its just software dev. Do you release a current set or fixes or wait for them all? What if those fixes are taking really long?
    • Google Drive videos finally get thumbnail previews, but there's a big caveat by Usama Jawad Google Drive is a pretty decent cloud storage solution, especially if you're well-invested in Google's ecosystem. If you use an Android phone, you've probably used Google Drive to store your media content, emails, and WhatsApp backups. Just a couple of weeks ago, Google announced a UI revamp for its desktop sync client for Drive, and while it has announced a much smaller feature today, it's definitely quite handy. Videos stored on Google Drive are finally getting thumbnail previews. This means that if you hover your mouse over the progress bar of a video, you'll see a thumbnail for that time frame, just like YouTube. And similar to YouTube, you'll also be able to drag your cursor (or finger, depending upon your input mechanism) to scrub through the video while seeing thumbnail previews. This is a very useful capability that feels long overdue. When trying to locate a specific scene in a video, you no longer need to guess the approximate time, you can simply use thumbnail previews to sift through the video and reach your desired frame. There is a big caveat, though. Thumbnail previews in Google Drive videos are just available for newly uploaded content. There is no way to leverage the feature on the videos currently present in your Drive library. If you have turned on automatic backups to Drive through your Android phone or are just a Drive user in general, you likely have hundreds, if not thousands, of videos in your library. However, there is no way to enable thumbnail previews on any of them. In terms of rollout, this capability is now being made available to all Google Workspace customers, Google Workspace Individual subscribers, and personal Google accounts over the next few days. There is no way for Google Workspace admins to disable the feature from their side.
  • Recent Achievements

    • Week One Done
      SmileWorks Dental earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • Community Regular
      vZeroG went up a rank
      Community Regular
    • Collaborator
      Snake Doc earned a badge
      Collaborator
    • Week One Done
      Snake Doc earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • One Month Later
      Johnny Mrkvička earned a badge
      One Month Later
  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      583
    2. 2
      Michael Scrip
      199
    3. 3
      ATLien_0
      196
    4. 4
      +FloatingFatMan
      129
    5. 5
      Xenon
      123
  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!