Demo Reel Production
 

Hey all, I know it may seem like I've got a bunch of WIP threads on the go, and well I do. But a lot of projects which are still in progress.

So over the next three months roughly I will be starting a few more and finishing off those which have gone unfinished so far. All of which will be completed for my demo reel.

Anyways I like this thread right now cause it doesn't give away what you will be seeing here. But the first screens should be coming shortly. Bear with me and please comment and crit where necessary.

Thanks!
-Alexander

More work done.

Some more progress Still.
Slowly but surely she's staring to take shape.

And a Wire of the current situation.
4349 faces and counting.

Some idea of the scale here.

Some More wires.
Lots of progress made today.

another angle to see more detail

lookin pretty good so far.

thanks Neo Strider.
Progress is steady so things are good.
I'm not going to post any more wires I don't think, not of the scene anyways as it is becoming far too dense.
Even the occlusion are starting to look silly. So just have to finished modeling and then I can start preping for light and texture.

that looks pretty cool,

More progress still.
Benches have been omitted from the file until final rendering comes along as they have way too many polys.
Quick default physical sun/sky just for clearification.

Im loving the way this is turning out to look like, im into this enviromental architect building stuff ;)

also how come the floor brackets of the train tracks seem to angle abit though?

keep going :)

Yeah see what happend with the rail ties is I was thinking more domestic/industrial rail when I built them. And they would be a lot less perfect. But after days of journey through the subway I realized my local transit authority hasn't used rail ties at all, instead metal brackets to fasten the tracks down. So I am going to have to re-visit that. But at the same time too I am contemplating building trains that would then cover the track, or most of it. So I'm not 100% sure on that specific right yet. Hopefully in the near future.
For the exception of the train (possibly) and the track I am done on the platform level of the station, so I am moving up into the transition between ground and underground. And then onto the station entrance. So a bunch more architectural features to be created and presented before I get to lighting/texturing. I can't wait, this is so much fun to do!

Thanks for the cheers and I'm glad you like it thus far.

-Alexander

Done a lot of work getting the Elevators built and installed. the two bottom elevators are done, the third is waiting on ground level construction. I will have some pics once they are placed in the station. Also done a bunch of work on the news stand as far as structure is concerned, those pictures will be up soon as well.
Ticket booth is next on the project list, that and the maintenance rooms. Once complete the mezzanine level will be done and onto the ground level! Success.
Lots of things to come and lots of progress to show!

A wire of the news stand and one of the elevators.

News Stand Update.
Added magazines to all the racks. Atleast with a bunch of geometry for the time being. I am thinking about just texturing it to look like piles in the end but we'll see how that goes in a couple weeks I guess.

a wire of the entrance to the station.

a quick occlusion render sans roof.
A lot of the structure is glass to let in natural light. So much more to come!

quick render default physical sun/sky to see how things are going to shape up eventually.

keep up the good work... the level of detail in the newsstand is pretty intense. me likey.

the first real render.
After getting 90% of my lighting set up for the scene this render hogged my system resources for almost 4 hours.
I know it doesn't look like it should have but then again there is a lot not seen in the shot and I was trying to find out what my upper limit is going to be when it comes to rendering out this bad-boy textures n all.
Anyways, I'm happy with how it looks and the fluorescents are looking pretty good I think.
Mental Ray Area lights - cylinders, with global illumination and anti-aliasing (the time consumer) to get out the noise.
If anyone knows how to optomize my lighting setup a bit that would be much appreciated! So here is the info.

GI only by the way.
Each light fixture has two bulbs and thus two MR_area lights. Each light emits 500 photons and has a very low intensity.
There are two rows of fixtures, each row containing 15 fixtures.
So there are 60 bulbs and 60 photon emitters.
So 30,000 photons in the scene (60 * 500)
Mental Ray settings at Production with AA contrast upped to .01 .01 .01
GI is default except for Max Photon Depth which is 10.

Anyone have any ideas as to reduce my render times or optimize the lighting setup/rendering setup at all?

Thanks kindly!
http://ahosking.com/3DAnimation/tracklevel%20lights.png

even though you want the light fixtures to mimic the fluorescent bulbs, you don't have to make them LIKE the bulbs. you can just make one area light for each light fixture, and create two cylinders with self-illumination and glow to LOOK like the bulbs.

are mental ray area lights visible in renders? if so, make them hidden! they should still emit light and such...

that should save you half the lights. if you don't get the same effect, just up the intensity.

Thanks for the tips neostrider.
That brought my render time down to 2 hours and 7 minutes.
That's pretty good I must say. Though there is a little bit of different it sure seems to be worth the extra hour and 40 minutes.
http://ahosking.com/3DAnimation/trac...%20lights2.png

yea just keep on cranking them up in intensity til you get the look you want. glad to help with the render times :)

thanks NeoStrider. I thought I'd update on the progress of this section.
The whole subway set is on halt until further progress. I started to texture, and am having some serious issues with my glass that should be reflecting the geometry around it instead the glass is reflecting the outer environment. Beyond that is the fact that it will take me almost a month to render 10 seconds of it. Considering the demo has to be done in just over 7 weeks, that's not really an option for me as I need more on my demo than just a ten second clip of the subway section.

So, I have decided to take on some smaller ideas, shine em up and make em look good before going back to the subway. I would like to eventually get the subway done and looking better than it currently does so in time I'm sure it will pop up again.

In the meantime I will soon be adding the new work to this thread.

So I've been hard at work trying to figure out what to replace my subway station with.
So I started by building a condo unit. Almost done with all the modeling, just need to get the bathrooms done and a few accessories. Started to set up my lighting rig for daylight.
I'm happy with it so far and it takes no time at all to render, thats a good thing:P.

So lots of progress shots to come, as I hope to start texturing in the next couple of days and hopefully animating the cameras and rendering by the end of the week.

Comments and crits appreciated as always!
-Cheers
Alexander

Onto the images:
http://ahosking.com/3DAnimation/condo/Lighting01.png
http://ahosking.com/3DAnimation/condo/Lighting02.png
http://ahosking.com/3DAnimation/condo/Lighting03.png
http://ahosking.com/3DAnimation/condo/Lighting04.png

you making a lighting / texturing reel?

Trying to do an arch viz reel, so yeah essentially. Still tweaking up the lighting system. Getting blotchy light with GI/FG still so trying to figure that out and then I have to change the Sky colour. Just doing some testing with the HSV values.

If you've any suggestions please help me out:)

Edit:
Also if it's like the last indoor project I did I'm going to have to add some area lights at the windows to get more precise and accurate lighting in the rooms. But if you have a better suggestion for that please do let me know:)

Done some more lighting work, things are starting to look a lot better. Added in my area light to cast photons directly into the first room. I will get to the other rooms soon.
http://ahosking.com/3DAnimation/condo/Lighting05.png
http://ahosking.com/3DAnimation/condo/Lighting06.png
http://ahosking.com/3DAnimation/condo/Lighting07.png
http://ahosking.com/3DAnimation/condo/Lighting08.png
http://ahosking.com/3DAnimation/condo/Lighting09.png
http://ahosking.com/3DAnimation/condo/Lighting10.png

The last image is the most current and what I think looks the best. The sky color has been fixed as you can tell and the lighting is starting to look much more realistic in my oppinion.

And better still. I'm getting much happier with the results.
http://ahosking.com/3DAnimation/condo/Lighting11.png

http://ahosking.com/3DAnimation/condo/Lighting12.png

I purchased some Digital tutors DVDs and am waiting for them, got the mental ray tips and tricks dvd the other day though and it is so very very helpful! I'd recommend the purchase of it to anyone interested in rendering and compositing:)

Ok so these Digital Tutors things are a massive help. Not only have I reduced my render times on the scene by about 80% but they still look the same. This is going a long way to getting things back on track for the subway part of my demo:)
Either way this scene is starting to shape up itself. Will start texturing and posting some of those pictures in the next few hours/days.

I think this'll be the last update for the day.
Got my lighting set up for the kitchen area, so I tossed in a colour on the walls just to see what its going to look like on colour with the lighting as it is.

Also a few wires for those who might be curious.
Enjoy!

http://ahosking.com/3DAnimation/condo/Lighting13.png

http://ahosking.com/3DAnimation/condo/Texture01.png

http://ahosking.com/3DAnimation/condo/Wire01.jpg

http://ahosking.com/3DAnimation/condo/Wire02.jpg

Hey alexanderH, I was checking your thread here and have a few comments for ya.

1. Polygons are fun, but not everything is polygonal. There are more straight edges in your models than a slide rule store. ;) Make some organic shapes to break up the monotony and offset the angles.

2. Also concerning polys, try beveling a few edges. The main rule to remember when working with hard surface modeling is, unless you're making a razor blade, nothing should have razor sharp edges.

3. As for lighting - If that's what you're trying to center your reel on stop using the Physical Sun & Sky. As a lighting TD, you need to study all aspects of light, from color to temperature. It needs to be your lighting setup, not Maya's. Anyone can press a button to light a scene. Do it yourself. You are relying too much on Maya to do all the work. That is evident because I can see you have no interior lighting... anywhere.

Turn off all lights, then start with your main light source. From there, add fill lighting to soften shadow areas. Also, don't make all of your lights the same color. Lights aren't always 'white' - unless you're taking that trip to the big, pearly gates. :p

Good luck!

Thanks for the crits and the comments dave, they are much appreciated. Just to let you know though, I am not using any default maya setups here. Infact I have created my own based on a whole lot of information I have read up on and after studying several different methods via tutorials.
I have an environmental sky casting FG into my scene. I have a directional light casting back light to lighten shadows and help give a more realistic daylight look. As I have had absolutely no training whatsoever in lighting, I am trying to learn it as I go, so if you've any help on that I would love it!

As for the modeling, I agree nothing is straight edged as I notice about everything around me these days, it sure is weird how you start to notice these things when you get into 3D. As in most of my scenes so far if I am doing straight edge objects and what not I do have items and props to help offset that. As I am still setting up the scene and trying to get my lighting/texturing done on quick renders I have not included any of these objects just yet. Though as I get further into that stage I would like to know what you think.

As for all the early subway station, well I think I bit off more than I could chew for the moment and yeah I agree, it looks absolutely ridiculous. But again I will keep in mind what you are saying when I get back to work on it.

As for my current lighting rig, it is experimental as explained before, and I am working with many varying methods to find which approach I like best and how to work with several different styles. As I said the only real light I have is a directional at the moment. All the shadows and light depth has been created by my environmental sphere (Not the subway, but nix that).

Thanks again for the awesome crits/comments they are much appreciated!

Edit:
I forgot that there are also area lights, you can see em in the wires. The area lights are at the windows providing GI photons for me as well.

Some more light addition, tweaking, and fixing.
http://ahosking.com/3DAnimation/condo/Lighting14.png

http://ahosking.com/3DAnimation/cond...16_Kitchen.png

http://ahosking.com/3DAnimation/cond...g16_Living.png

Okay, that's great. You can light from the exterior okay. But how about some interior lighting? There are no lights in the ceiling or any lamps for that matter. Try adding some of those and work from there.

Try using quadratic lights with intensities starting around 5K. See how those work. You may have to adjust them give or take, but remember, light is additive so the more lights you add to the scene the brighter things become.

Thanks for the great advice Dave.
I am going to do low outdoor lighting as well but am trying to get down a somewhat realistic daylight if possible. I will definitely keep that in mind when I get to adding light fixtures and using them to light the interior. As always I will update as I go. :)

well we finally got a new teacher here at school, one who understands 3D... lol.
So anyways it's back to the drawing board overall. I've learned how to properly create a scene and composite it together instead of trying to make shit all in one file.... yeah not how we were taught before.. don't get me started.
So anyways literally had to start at the basics, creating a schedule first, and starting with research and concept creation today. So over the next 2-3 months we'll be starting clean and I will hopefully have a progress going of step 1 all the way to the end. So if/when I get some concept sketches done they will appear and it may be easy enough to follow this time:P

Might want to start a new thread on that, otherwise it may get lost in here.

that I most definitely will. This one can be closed or deleted or w/e. Thanks for the tip dave.