Introduction to Maya - Rendering in Arnold
This course will look at the fundamentals of rendering in Arnold. We'll go through the different light types available, cameras, shaders, Arnold's render settings and finally how to split an image into render passes (AOV's), before we then reassemble it i
# 1 22-10-2008 , 08:39 AM
ben hobden's Avatar
Subscriber
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Chelmsford, Essex, UK
Posts: 1,162

help my houses!

Below is the stage I have got to with the houses I am trying to create. In the next post I'll show the picture I am working from/trying to replicate.

Can anyone point out ways i could improve what ive got, and anything else I could do to make a final image more closely resembling the one I'm trying to copy. Im really pretty embarassed of my image, i'd like to produce something that looks at least a little more half way professional. I dont know if my issues are in the texturing, or the lighting, or more the post production side of things? probably a little bit(alot) of each.

Attached Thumbnails
# 2 22-10-2008 , 08:40 AM
ben hobden's Avatar
Subscriber
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Chelmsford, Essex, UK
Posts: 1,162
this is what im working from

Attached Thumbnails
# 3 22-10-2008 , 08:44 AM
DJbLAZER's Avatar
Registered User
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: Gothenburg, Sweden
Posts: 1,318
The thing that you need to learn more about is rendering.

# 4 22-10-2008 , 08:46 AM
honestdom's Avatar
The Nurb Herd
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: London
Posts: 2,381
hey Ben,

The image you are working from is 3d!

you could try switching to mental ray, and use physical sun and sky under the enviroment options at the bottom of the mental ray render options. if you do this you should dsable default lighting. (this is near the bottom of the common render settings),

...but before all that, do you have a bump map on the model? and have you beveled the edges of the buildings? they look kinda sharp. (maybe thats just the anti-aliasing)

# 5 22-10-2008 , 09:04 AM
BennyK's Avatar
Registered User
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: IL
Posts: 738
*Bump maps
*Sky dome + lighting / physical sun and sky or something
*Texture the street
*Create glass material for windows (reflections + specularity)
*Improve texture for roofs
*Windows on roofs and on first floor aren't accurate. so is that thing above the doors(sorry, forgot how it's called)
*Model the gates
*Create grass (paint effects probably)

Nice start overall
Benny


When in doubt, delete history and freeze transformations.

My latest snake game
(Requires DirectX9 SDK and Framework)
# 6 22-10-2008 , 09:34 AM
ben hobden's Avatar
Subscriber
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Chelmsford, Essex, UK
Posts: 1,162
this is good. Thanks guys. I havnt bevelled the edges and it hadnt occured to me to do so, so that'll be step one.

Ive wondered for a while how to add an image as a background, like a sky, or something, so i will look into all this. Every point sounds good.

thankyou

# 7 22-10-2008 , 11:19 AM
elephantinc's Avatar
Level 32 pachyderm
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: England
Posts: 1,859
use mental ray physical sky/sun

# 8 22-10-2008 , 12:04 PM
Gen's Avatar
Super Moderator
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: South FL
Posts: 3,522
The first thing I noticed was the proportions, the houses in the ref are deeper, more space. And the bricks are too large, it makes your houses look even smaller. The image for the bricks in the ref looks like the same image they used for the roofing except with some color changes so you could try that as well. Its a great situation to use MR physical sun but you're going to have to plug gamma correct nodes into the textures to prevent them from getting washed out. And since you said you wanted to replicate, there are a few details that are missing.

Attached Thumbnails

- Genny
__________________
::|| My CG Blog ||::
::|| My Maya FAQ ||::
# 9 22-10-2008 , 12:17 PM
gster123's Avatar
Moderator
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Manchester Uk
Posts: 6,300
Well pointed out Genny on the gamma front, like most things MR sun/sky aint the magic bullet and needs a tweek.


"No pressure, no diamonds" Thomas Carlyle
# 10 22-10-2008 , 04:02 PM
ben hobden's Avatar
Subscriber
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Chelmsford, Essex, UK
Posts: 1,162
well, i just rendered out this in about 3 minutes. I was quite excited about looking at physical sun sky, so i jumped ahead to that. this is with just the default settings, all i did was raised the sun up in the sky. I can see how its given everything a softer look.

GecT, I wanted to get something that had more of a professional feel. In 'replicating' the picture, i mean more in the overall quality of the render, i see what you're saying about missing details in the brickwork, the depth of the houses e.t.c. The roofs are also taller in the picture im working from and the proportion of the window roofs to the rest of the roof is severely different. I will be trying to remodel some of the parts though, and ive hit some problem with my textures now so i'll be redoing some of them. gonna call it a day for today.

will post updates over the next few days. I feel up for it now, got some good issues to get to grips with..

Attached Thumbnails
# 11 22-10-2008 , 11:00 PM
BennyK's Avatar
Registered User
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: IL
Posts: 738
It looks like you have multiple shadow sources. I don't think Physical sun and sky should do that user added image
Anyway, look for some more tweaking of that one - horizon height, blur etc. (stuff I've seen in Maya's help. take a look there...)
Also, the render quality is good enough for test renders but you're going to have to raise it later...
Benny


When in doubt, delete history and freeze transformations.

My latest snake game
(Requires DirectX9 SDK and Framework)
# 12 23-10-2008 , 01:35 AM
NeoStrider's Avatar
Registered User
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: Cleveland, Ohio (USA)
Posts: 1,541
if you're rendering with multiple lights, you ARE allowed to turn off 'casts shadows' on some of them to get the idea of one light source with bouncing light...

also please do increase your anti-aliasing quality... seeing the jaggies on the roof and front fence are kinda distracting.

otherwise, in order to attempt to duplicate the image you saw you'll need a lower camera angle, a different background color, and brighter and warmer colored lighting. that should be enough for starters.


Accept no substitutions.
Posting Rules Forum Rules
You may not post new threads | You may not post replies | You may not post attachments | You may not edit your posts | BB code is On | Smilies are On | [IMG] code is On | HTML code is Off

Similar Threads