Rendering Critique

[jsimanyi]

George -

Thanks for the quick PhotoShop tutorials! There's always more to learn...

John S.

[George Godwin]

This side by side comparison of the original and the adjusted image shows the subtle nature of the differences.

An opinion on Art (Chief Renders) is in the eye of the beholder.

[Jay Roberts]

Hmmmm. How about some steaks cooking and the hired girl turning them (animation)... non-still life style?

Actually, the PS tweaking salvaged things. Nice work and description. Floor still too intense.

[HARRYBSTANFIELDJR]

i did some sweakin

[George Godwin]

Harry, - I presume your 'sweakin' consisted of a desaturation of some colour to your taste. Adjustments are subjective and I would not have made that adjustment because I do not believe it shows the intended paint colour on the wall. Although I won't argue with Jay that the floor colour is too intense and this is very easy to selectively adjust using selection tools with either desaturation, lightness or a hue shift or most likely a combination of all these adjustments.

For another side by side example, I have attached your raw render with an adjusted version beside it. The adjustments are explained on the images.

It is yet another example of how a raw render can be improved in an image program.

[George Godwin]

The attached image takes changing the floor a step further by changing its colour altogether to simulate a lighter type of hardwood. And notice the shadow cast by the maid on the floor.

[mcqueenhomes]

Going by the picture that maid must be nearly 7' tall!

[George Godwin]

Jason, - You are right, the maid is too tall and I was aware of this but was focusing more on the room scene. I adjusted the scale of the maid in the upper image and she may still be a little too tall. But if you look at her waist, I estimate relative to the counter top of 36 inches that her waist (top of hip) is about 42 inches high which would make her about 6 feet tall. I am 6 feet tall and that is the height of my waist. The ceiling looks too low to me which raises a point I wanted to make earlier.

The focal length of the camera in Chief in this render distorts the room dimensions in my opinion. I have not done much rendering and so I have not worked with the camera adjustments. I presume these room distortions can be addressed with the camera adjustments.

To me the room in this render seems to be captured with a wide angle lens and, while it includes a lot of the room, it seems to cause the ceiling to look lower to me. The camera adjustments will correct this I presume.

[alobartn]

Thanks guys for all the input. I haven't been ignoring you; I've been in NYC with family (I live in Indianapolis), and just now returned. Here's a rendering I did while away, with medium radiosity and high anti-aliasing. I agree with most of the comments, but have not yet addressed the image in Photoshop. So this one is raw again. Especially the lights. George, I may have to hit you up for some PS advice, as I'm not nearly as adept as you!

[jsimanyi]

Adam - I honestly find yours to be a bit more appealing than many of the modified ones. The issues are diminishing rapidly, and it feels pretty natural. The only oddities I personally see are:

Faux suede on stools. Add a bump map. Almost any random noise generated in a photo program can be resized to give them a bit more character.

The blue lights overpower the rest of the scene. You might try darkening the material, playing with emmisivity, reflectivity etc. to make them look a bit darker overall.

Although I am impressed with the options available through Photoshop et al, I really prefer to see a decent rendering straight out of PovRay and Chief.

You're narrowing in on a great image - keep us posted.

John S.

P.S. ...and I like the floor now!

[George Godwin]

Adam, - I would be glad to help you with PS advice and if you want, I can make some adjustments to your final image to make it easier and send it back to you. I can do these adjustments very quickly due to about 20 years experience. Some effects may involve 5 to 30 steps that I can do in a couple of minutes. I wish that I was as adept at Chief but I am moving into the advanced level in a number of areas.

John's points are well-taken. The ideal is to get the best CA render possible and work from there as desired.

The improvements possible in an image program are subtle but that is what finishes a job to its highest potential. There is not a render in the world that cannot be improved in my experience and I have used high quality 3D rendering programs like 3dsMAX etc. But art is in the eye of the beholder and what satisfies one person may not satisfy another.

When it comes to matching specific colours precisely, such as a floor, a wall or a furniture colour, an image program can achieve that result. A render is harder to manage due to the render engine's reaction to light and shadow which is often overdone. The colour may be too bleached by the light or too saturated and detail is lost in the shadows while detail in highlight areas is washed out. Shadow and light areas often have sharp, unnatural outlines. The overall effect can be an unevenness of light and dark tones and inaccurate colours. If your goal is accuracy of colour, light, shadow, detail, and realism, adjustments are necessary. If you are satisfied with a simulation that is dramatic but not entirely accurate or photorealistic, then a raw render will do.

[cgirerd]

It is looking a lot better! The main areas I'd work on now are the cabinets and the ceiling. If it is too difficult to adjust the lighting placement so the cabinets are farther from the light source, then try changing cabinet material and/or reflectivity (maybe make them "dull" or "matte") to see if you can reduce their yellowish glow. Increase the emissivity on the ceiling - or if it isn't already, make it the same color as the walls first. That plus the emissivity might help reduce the grey cast.

You might also consider doing the "slab with an image" for your refrigerator (again, unless you are able to adjust the lighting in that end of the room) so that it doesn't look so white. Here's a kitchen where I did the slab/image trick for the refer. http://www.girerddesigns.com/project...6_kitchen4.jpg For the difference, here's one with the actual symbol where I had to tone down the reflectivity so I wouldn't get a glowing whitish rectangle... http://www.girerddesigns.com/project...Feb13_kit2.jpg

I also agree that the blue lights are overpowering as the rendering is now. If you added similar blues in plates, vases, pottery, other doodads on the counter or shelving, I think it might be okay.

Christina

[Larry Kumpost]

John's points are well-taken. The ideal is to get the best CA render possible and work from there as desired.

It does not take that much time to raytrace views once you get things set up. Here are some tips:

Unless you are doing a lighting study (not sure Chief is the best for that) or want to show special lighting the general rule is to keep it simple. Only turn on the lights you need, if any.

Copy materials you use to your "My Materials" folder and adjust the render settings to what you want/like. Some of the Chief initial (out-of -the-box) render settings are a bit...strange. Use the "Preview" window on the "Raytrace" tab of the "Define Material" DBX to review your changes as you go.

When you raytrace a view use the lowest setting for a preliminary run. Then if you need to make any adjustments to the render settings you will probably want to do another quick raytrace to check before you use higher settings.

The Raytrace Parameters are up to you but I find that the "Low Quality" setting for Radiosity and "Normal" for Anti-aliasing are all I need in most cases to work with clients. I tend to bump up the anti-aliasing more than the radiosity settings and then mostly just for larger images.

Plan your work so that you can raytrace during the off hours, especially if you use higher radiosity settings. At the higher settings it may need to run all night anyway. I work at home so this is easy and I can check the progress from time to time.

[George Godwin]

Larry, - Thanks for the raytracing tips. I expect to finally get into raytracing soon and will apply your advice.

[Larry Kumpost]

Larry, - Thanks for the raytracing tips. I expect to finally get into raytracing soon and will apply your advice.

Your Welcome George. Have fun.