A few images just in case anyone is terminally bored :
((Sorry, no javascript slideshow - my dot-com website got thoroughly FUBARed and this page was only a quicky, mostly so I could see whether uploaded files were even accessible via the dot-net URL.))
- K.
Kris, Nice attempt, are you looking for some C&C, if so I might be able to help you out to get them looking better? What 3d software are you using?
Regards, Mark
"Mark M \(NJTermite\)" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@comcast.com:
Hi, Mark, thank you for your comments (and for looking !) I always appreciate suggestions and constructive criticism a lot - that's how one improves :) .
I know that one major area I need to improve is my lighting, so as to get it closer to real lighting. That's something I'll be able to do once I get the new computer (which I'll be ordering, at last, today or tomorrow), because I'll be able to render many times faster, and therefore see results of experiments much faster. So that will help a lot.
((I've also finally figured out how to FTP-upload to the dot-net permutation of my website (there's been a problem with the dot-com registration at the registrar's end). So I can work now on getting up the updated site, more samples, and new samples. So I'll be doing that this week as wellas ordering the new graphics machine.))
I'm using trueSpace6.6. I'd tried Lightwave and thoroughly loathed the interface, couldn't figure it out. I've been considering trying out some entry-level CAD as an adjunct to the 3D modeler, mostly (but not exclusively) because I've heard that CAD programs yield more precise dimensions.
I'm self-taught but it's always great to learn different ways of doing things so as to improve the quality of what I'm doing. Constructive criticism is a very important part of that - 3D people are generally very helpful, but their perspective is a bit different from that of architectural poeple, so suggestions are always welcome and appreciated - especially since I know that people take time out of their busy lives to offer those suggestions.
Thanks!
- Kris
Kris,
Lighting had to be tricky for me in the past too; I would use a light dome for the sky and then use a point light or a direction light for the sun. if you don't mind reading you might want to check out a book called "Digital Lighting & Rendering"
I think if you used better texture maps I think that would help it improve a lot, for the house render I have a few grass textures you could try for it, I also have a few roof textures but there not the greatest yet..
One thing I see with the model (house model) is how the roof ends shouldn't there be a box (not sure of the right term) were you could hang the gutters.
I guess it also depends on what style you would like your renders to be, are you going for photo realistic?
I like your trademark idea
Regards,
Mark
Remove "NOSPAM" out of email address when replying directly
"Mark M \(NJTermite\)" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@comcast.com:
Thanks!, I'm checking it out on Google. I've been using "3D Lighting: History, Concepts, and Techniques" by Arnold Gaillardo, whose work I respect - there is good info, tho' theory is never quite the same a s practice ;) Also, I'm still trying to pin down goniometric lights versus "regular" 3D lights and so on. That's something I'll be better able to expereiment with in a few days (after the new computer arrives), since both screen and file renders will be a lot faster.
I also have to tweak the horizon/fill lights - right now, for the sake of render-time, I have them all set to the same values, but technically, they should all have different values based upon their azimuth. There is a circle of 16. I might also need to add another circle midway or so between the horizon and the sun light-group, and then cut back on the directional light component in the sun group.
For the sun group, I'm using a circle of 32 local/point/"light bulb" lights with a directional light whose directional axis is perpendicular to the plane of the circle. I want to tey IBL (image-based lighting) but again, in a few days, once the new machine gets here. Current one is too slow, it's only a Y2K 1 GHz Athlon Thunderbird =:-(
One problem is that I also have a conflict between trying to represent light as I see it, and the typical/popular representation, which seems to me to be more like "overcast daylight". Still not sure how to resolve that one. My experience of light and shadow (and their colors) seems to be more intense than is typical, they're almost palpable/sculptural, so it's often difficult for me to judge how much light is "enough" for the average/typical viewer.
Of possible interest, I just found this freeware program:
This is also a nifty and veryinexpensive shareware sun-angle calculator:
Thanks!
Also, tho', I'm beginning think sometimes that if a texture is *too* detailed, it ends up looking splotchy. That's something I still have to pin down. It's no doubt also influenced by light, so I'm thinking i'll get better textures if I cut down on the contrast and "diffuse" the light just a bit more. I also ought to try out my cheapie digital camera on some textures, see how I like it and if I do, maybe get a better one at some point.
OTOH, if I can avoid it, I avoid mixing too many scanned photos into 3D (tho' I did use one, for the sake of time, for the background in the the "rock haus" image) because they look too different from the 3D parts, and I don't like that. Photos are good for finer textures, i.e. at a distance or with a lot of repetitions, but for major items, such as trees, I prefer modeling the object and then rendering it, preferably in the same light I'm using in the scene I'm working on. Of course, I'd prefer to put in an actual tree model (or several...), so I'm hoping the new machine will be able to deal with that many polygons. I increasingly model my textures - troof tiles or whatever - so that the texture looks more like the rest of the 3D stuff.
The ground is just temporary but I'm trying to simulate a "scrubby" look, dirt showing between low scrubby plants and rocks. It's got 5 layers, so each has to be tweaked separately, and I admittedly didn't spend much time on that yet. At the same time, I generally avoid grass in my "made for me" pics because I hate lawns. For grass patches, I'd use a grass generator and then render the result to use as a texture. That's what I also do for roofs, model then render then adapt for texture use, but I think I tend to "over-bump" the graininess on, for example, asphalt shingles. Probably most things actually...textures tend to look "sparkly" to me, so I need to remember to cut back on that for other viewers.
But all in all, yup, I'm still trying to refine texture use and lighting...
I didn't realize that the roof structure didn't show up at all in the pic - I know what it is so I sort-of "saw" what didn't really show up... The roof in the pic isn't a roof, but a line of vertical stone bricks arranged around the rim of the flat roof to form a hollow that would function as a rain collector, funneling the water down to a cistern. Yeah, it's true, I have a "thing" for that idea in a desert house ;). I'll have to choose another camera angle to show that, and refine the brick texture - your observation makes it clear to me that there are too many repetitions, so the thing is indistinct, which is not a good thing.
I am considering adding a "skirt" just under the vertucal stone bricks, maybe copper. I really like those metal roofs.
That's a tough question, because I don't think I see light the same as others do. Even my photos look different from those of other people I know. I go in heavy for contrasts in light and shadow because (as I mentioned above) to me, light and shadow have in and of themselves a sort of sculptural quality that is, to me, almost palpable. A white sruface with shadows on it to me "feels" like a three-dimensional object, a sort of bas relief. So, to me, "photorealism" isn't "realistic", it's "photographic". Also, photos are not reality and not unbiased representations of reality. Take a photo, then go one F-stop up or down, and the next photo (even of the exact same view) will be something different from the first. Whcih is reality? Both and neither. It's like taking bird photos - a white bird will show up as a white blob unless you play with the F-stops so that the shadows can be seen. Then there is focus, which is another issue - using a long lens blurs items as they get away from the object of hight focus, but to me, that isn't actually "real", because in reality, you can move your eyes and the forground immediately comes into focus - IOW, it doesn't remain a blur. Additionally, photo lighting generally seems to be more diffuse in most photos than I generally experience or even tend to get in my own photos (because I prefer crisp light and non-noon sun angles, and seek out high-contrast subjects). So I think that the word "photorealism" is an oxymoron and think "photorepresentation" is more accurate.
At any rate, going back to your question re: what sort of look/style of render I'm reaching for: although I tend to try to represent "Kris-o- vision", I know that, for the average viewer (IOW paid work), I might have to learn how to cut back on the lighting/contrast and increase the diffusion. At least, that suggestion has been made to me. I like a lot of "sparkle" but that isn't the visual norm, and really, most paid work does have to appeal to the norm. OTOH, that sort of thing is always difficult for me to judge. Some people like "sparkle" and others don't - but I do need to cut back on the contrasts a bit.
So I suppose your could say that what I *hope* to achieve is realism - but not necessarily a "photographic" look.
Thanks :), I've been up and down on it because it's very different from my usual thing. I do have a liking for interlocking shapes, tho' I tend to go for interlocked spirals (round or square). Following the recent screw-up of my dot-com website, I keep thinking it might be good to get a trademark at some point. OTOH that might just be an extravagance ($273 or $373, depending upon which form you use). I'd tried my initials interlocked, but it never did much for me. And I was trying to avoind making something that looked overtly Oriental - I do like a lot about esp. Japanese style, the rythms and the clean lines, it's just that I think direct transfers (as opposed to adaptations or even translations) of the building and decorating styles, and esp. the written characters, has been overused to the point of tiredness. So I was trying for something with clean lines, that interlocekd, but was not a character/word. My first website was blueparrot.com, but the site host screwed it all up and the site name was bought out by someone else, I think it's a Danish pub or something like that, but point being I can't really use that, even tho' I retain the 3D parrot model on the current pages.
At any rate, once the new machine comes in, I'll re-render some things and get the new/reworked website up, and there will be more images and updated images.
Thanks for your comments!
- Kris
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