Exterior Critique

[John_Kelley]

Thank you guys for all the critiques. Everything in that image was done in chief I used everything from the library including the grass. As far as stucco and the the roof texture I just took them from chief and put them into photoshop and changed them to the desired color. The clay pipes were done using molding polylines.They were a little tricky to move around...


What did you guys do to lighten the image up? Did you just adjust levels?

[George Godwin]

Thanks for the compliments on the adjustments. They were done in Photoshop (CS3) and took about 5 minutes. I basically look at the original and determine areas of the image that need adjustment.

For example, the sky and clouds were close to reality in the case of John’s original render although I reduced the saturation of the turquoise hue a little to a more natural blue or cyan. Also, I blurred the foreground branches in the upper left corner to reduce the square pixilation which was a distraction.

I use layers and masking a lot to blend finished sections with other layers containing adjusted copies of the original. This image was fairly easy to adjust. Some images require more complex processing.

In the area of the house, I used Levels to adjust mainly the lower and higher levels of dark and light to find a balance that looked natural. I also used Hue, Saturation and Lightness to adjust the colour of the stucco to what I thought was close to the real colour for the lighting adjustment. Some Sharpness was used to bring out the stone. I chose to keep this image a little ‘warm’ and ‘fresh’ and so I made the colours a little more saturated.

In the foreground, I reduced the saturation of the green hues, although as a matter of taste, the grass could have be reduced a little more in saturation. I chose to lean towards the ‘warm’ and ‘rich’ colour effect in this case as I did with the house.

[John_Kelley]

As far as photoshop goes I don't do much. I lightened it up a bit but other then that that its all chief. I really like the 2 that the other guys rendered. Soo much better when lightened up a bit! Also with the grass some textures you have to tweak the size because a lot of them just tile and leave big squares all over. If I cant change that i try and break it up with more land scape and shadows. heres one i did. The key for me is just setting up a shot. that way you don't have to landscape everything!Once I know my shot it takes me about 15mins to landscape my scene. Heres an example

[John_Kelley]

Dang george, you are a photoshop master! That image looks great! Ill have to sit down and fool around with it more to get it looking more like yours. On a more recent one I blurred the branches, but... I just posted a new one, maybe you could lighten that one up haha.

[dshall]

I am working on a house with the round clay pipes and I used 6" dia round fixed glass window with a 1-/2" frame and a sash set at zero and it has worked fairly well. I also set the frame inset at a MINUS 3" to get the pop out
-scott

[George Godwin]

John, - Here is your Lot 12 adjusted. Note the entry door area. My goal is to achieve the lighting balance that is seen by the human eye. That balance is really not easily achieved by any rendering software on its own.

By the way, I can offer my services to fine tune any important client render.

[Larry Kumpost]

Excellent job with the adjustments George.! In just 5 minutes? Probably would have takenme an hour...or more. You do have photoshop wired.

John:

Have you resolved the printing issues?

Since you did the landscaping in 15 minutes I assume you set up blocks of the images for the style you use. Is that correct?

[George Godwin]

You do have photoshop wired.

Hi Larry, - I have been using Photoshop for over 20 years and so the processing comes naturally. Photoshop can take a long time to master.

I too would be interested in how John sets up his landscaping. Great job!

[hawkmoon36]

I wish you guys could see the envious look on my face. I was never able to get my renders looking that good.

[George Godwin]

I wish you guys could see the envious look on my face. I was never able to get my renders looking that good.

Greg, - Now you know why Chief is such great software. You can create a great 3D model which can be sent to Layout for Construction Drawings and you can also create a great render that can be the basis for high quality, photorealistic renders or manipulated artwork. The base for high quality 2D and 3D work is all there in Chief.

[John_Kelley]

Wow thats amazing how quickly you can change that image. it already looks soo much more pleasing to the eye!...As for landscaping, I just set up my shot and then place a few plants in the foreground. Placing plants closer to the camera help cover up a lot of space and give the illusion that there is a lot of landscape when in reality there are just a few patches here and there. Ill see if I can post some shots of how i set up my plants

[John_Kelley]

Okay here is an overview from that shot I just posted. As you can see there is far less plants in my scene then it appears.

[John_Kelley]

The printing is an issue but I have learned to deal with it. I adjust the lighting a bit before the print and they seem to work just fine. I want on of those laser jets!those things are amazing

[George Godwin]

John, - Could you post a Plan View image of the whole scene with Terrain and Vegetation or better still post a zipped copy of your file? You do excellent landscape work indeed.

[cls designs]

John, I love your work. Can you please share with me which grass texture you use and what size ratio it is? Also your tile roof is outstanding! How did you do the ridge and rake tiles? Top notch. Thanks, Chris