Some recent renderings.

NearHi · 11-23-2016, 02:57 PM

At work we're putting together some trade show booths and get some standardization in hopes of creating an affordable package for exhibitors and help increase some of our sales.

In doing this, they've wanted to make some renderings so clients can see what the booths looked like. They hired me because I had a bit of experience in 3DS Max (I literally took one class during college and only, really had one video to show for it, and I told them this and showed them the video during the interview, and they were ok with this. This is the video I made for class)

Our CAD guy designs the booths, and I, literally, make some placeholder graphics for them, and assign the materials to the model, light it, and render. So I'm not making the next ultra-real scenes or Toy Story, but I'm proud of them, and I'm looking forward to getting better.

I made this as a refresher and it was slow at work. I hadn't touched Max in almost 3 years, so I just started messing around to re-acclimate myself to it.

The booths:

Evil Ash · 11-27-2016, 04:30 AM

White kind of lights are you using? Your shadows are all over the place and really harsh.

Good overall illumination but I think you're adding a lot of unneeded mess.

The graphics materials look fine, a little flat, but okay.
But the metal (is it metal?) trim is kinda wonky. I can't tell if it's supposed to be reflective like polished steel, or mirror, or some kind of high gloss plastic? It's confusing. And I THINK it's not the material but your bizarre shadows.

It seems like you have 30-40 lights just SCATTERING shadows everywhere. I think you need to clean it up.

Have you worked with lights much? Have you used a skylight before? It's a basic bitch way to make shit look sexy, but it works. Slap one in there as your sun. Add an omni light (WITHOUT SHADOWS) to fill the space. Then reduce all that other shit. Also edit the metal (IS IT METAL?) material to handle the shadows/reflection a bit better. Also please blur your shadow maps.

It'd self-illuminate the logos/photos to ensure visibility. Maybe splash some well diffused spotlights on 'em.

Also don't forget - you can TURN OFF shadows from the light source. That's helpful in reducing all that bullshit you see on the ground.

Jacob Adams · 11-28-2016, 06:35 AM

agreed. all you need is ambient light, a sun/skylight and one other directional lamp for backlighting or to generally highlight any shaders you have enabled on your materials

NearHi · 11-28-2016, 12:51 PM

Thanks. I'm using an array of 8 omni lights and the idea was to try to simulate the lights of a convention hall, since that's what they're going in to. I'll try the skylight and I totally forgot about being able to turn shadows off... I've been battling them. Thanks.

Evil Ash · 11-28-2016, 11:54 PM

Oh shit yeah convention hall lighting, ugh.

Try spotlights instead of omni. You get more control and isolation.

NearHi · 11-29-2016, 06:36 AM

I had them, and the shadows were really harsh, and managers were complaining, so I turned them omni to try and unsharpen the shadows.

I really think I'll just use the skylight next time.

Evil Ash · 11-29-2016, 06:39 AM

You can control the shadow scattering and etc. just read up on it. But yeah.

NearHi · 11-29-2016, 07:14 AM

I'll look into that.

NearHi · 01-23-2020, 06:22 PM

Ash, totally started looking into different ways of lighting and everything back in 2017. Didn't do a lot of rendering the past few years. Something discrete here or there, but then we took on a new business path, and my duties swapped from 80% graphic design, 20% render, to 90% render and 10% design, and most of that design time is for placeholder graphics in the rendering. So, thank you.

It's been a trip. I love doing this 3D stuff and am mad at myself for not getting into it sooner in life. Now I'm at a point where I want to learn more but am having a hard time finding where to learn. The City of Plano Libraries offers access to Lynda courses with a library card login, so I think that my next step is to get my card and get that going. Hard part is that I only have ART and Arnold, and it looks like a lot of the Lynda courses are Mental Ray which is phased out, iRay and vRay. Need to carve out time to sit and run the courses with the render trial and try to convince my employer to upgrade.

Anyhoo!

Been getting better with just Arnold.

I feel like my biggest setback right now is my modeling, and the fact that I'm using a CPU based renderer.

Bobby Swisha · 01-24-2020, 06:53 AM

yo... Those are phat. Put those in as scenes for 3dmm 2.

Mabdog · 01-24-2020, 06:58 PM

definitely see improvement

11-23-2016, 02:57 PM	#1
NearHi Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2001 Posts: 6,483	Some recent renderings. At work we're putting together some trade show booths and get some standardization in hopes of creating an affordable package for exhibitors and help increase some of our sales. In doing this, they've wanted to make some renderings so clients can see what the booths looked like. They hired me because I had a bit of experience in 3DS Max (I literally took one class during college and only, really had one video to show for it, and I told them this and showed them the video during the interview, and they were ok with this. This is the video I made for class) Our CAD guy designs the booths, and I, literally, make some placeholder graphics for them, and assign the materials to the model, light it, and render. So I'm not making the next ultra-real scenes or Toy Story, but I'm proud of them, and I'm looking forward to getting better. I made this as a refresher and it was slow at work. I hadn't touched Max in almost 3 years, so I just started messing around to re-acclimate myself to it. The booths:
NearHi Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2001 Posts: 6,483

11-27-2016, 04:30 AM	#2
Evil Ash Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2003 Posts: 15,534	White kind of lights are you using? Your shadows are all over the place and really harsh. Good overall illumination but I think you're adding a lot of unneeded mess. The graphics materials look fine, a little flat, but okay. But the metal (is it metal?) trim is kinda wonky. I can't tell if it's supposed to be reflective like polished steel, or mirror, or some kind of high gloss plastic? It's confusing. And I THINK it's not the material but your bizarre shadows. It seems like you have 30-40 lights just SCATTERING shadows everywhere. I think you need to clean it up. Have you worked with lights much? Have you used a skylight before? It's a basic bitch way to make shit look sexy, but it works. Slap one in there as your sun. Add an omni light (WITHOUT SHADOWS) to fill the space. Then reduce all that other shit. Also edit the metal (IS IT METAL?) material to handle the shadows/reflection a bit better. Also please blur your shadow maps. It'd self-illuminate the logos/photos to ensure visibility. Maybe splash some well diffused spotlights on 'em. Also don't forget - you can TURN OFF shadows from the light source. That's helpful in reducing all that bullshit you see on the ground.
Evil Ash Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2003 Posts: 15,534

11-28-2016, 12:51 PM	#4
NearHi Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2001 Posts: 6,483	Thanks. I'm using an array of 8 omni lights and the idea was to try to simulate the lights of a convention hall, since that's what they're going in to. I'll try the skylight and I totally forgot about being able to turn shadows off... I've been battling them. Thanks.
NearHi Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2001 Posts: 6,483

11-28-2016, 11:54 PM	#5
Evil Ash Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2003 Posts: 15,534	Oh shit yeah convention hall lighting, ugh. Try spotlights instead of omni. You get more control and isolation.
Evil Ash Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2003 Posts: 15,534

11-29-2016, 06:36 AM	#6
NearHi Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2001 Posts: 6,483	I had them, and the shadows were really harsh, and managers were complaining, so I turned them omni to try and unsharpen the shadows. I really think I'll just use the skylight next time.
NearHi Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2001 Posts: 6,483

11-28-2016, 06:35 AM	#3
Jacob Adams Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2003 Posts: 3,799	agreed. all you need is ambient light, a sun/skylight and one other directional lamp for backlighting or to generally highlight any shaders you have enabled on your materials

11-29-2016, 06:39 AM	#7
Evil Ash Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2003 Posts: 15,534	You can control the shadow scattering and etc. just read up on it. But yeah.
Evil Ash Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2003 Posts: 15,534

11-29-2016, 07:14 AM	#8
NearHi Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2001 Posts: 6,483	I'll look into that.
NearHi Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2001 Posts: 6,483

01-23-2020, 06:22 PM	#9
NearHi Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2001 Posts: 6,483	Ash, totally started looking into different ways of lighting and everything back in 2017. Didn't do a lot of rendering the past few years. Something discrete here or there, but then we took on a new business path, and my duties swapped from 80% graphic design, 20% render, to 90% render and 10% design, and most of that design time is for placeholder graphics in the rendering. So, thank you. It's been a trip. I love doing this 3D stuff and am mad at myself for not getting into it sooner in life. Now I'm at a point where I want to learn more but am having a hard time finding where to learn. The City of Plano Libraries offers access to Lynda courses with a library card login, so I think that my next step is to get my card and get that going. Hard part is that I only have ART and Arnold, and it looks like a lot of the Lynda courses are Mental Ray which is phased out, iRay and vRay. Need to carve out time to sit and run the courses with the render trial and try to convince my employer to upgrade. Anyhoo! Been getting better with just Arnold. I feel like my biggest setback right now is my modeling, and the fact that I'm using a CPU based renderer.
NearHi Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2001 Posts: 6,483

01-24-2020, 06:53 AM	#10
Bobby Swisha Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2002 Posts: 46,012	yo... Those are phat. Put those in as scenes for 3dmm 2.

01-24-2020, 06:58 PM	#11
Mabdog Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Posts: 5,670	definitely see improvement
Mabdog Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Posts: 5,670