Japanese sunset

[blenderjourney]

Here is a project I've been working on for a long time. It's gone through many different versions. It started as a multipart beginner's tutorial I did for modeling the sake set through setting up the interior and materials in cycles. Since I did the tutorial, I started making a lot of changes and adding more elements. Ultimately I'm going to do an animation. I have animated the textures on the sake set so that the flowers fall off the branches. But before I get to the animation I still have some work to do on the scene.

Here are the things I see that need to be done
1) adjust the light color in the top right
2) add something to the shelf on the back wall
3) add pillows to sit on by the table
4) get the clipping values balanced correctly
5) need a different wood texture for the outside area. that was just a temporary filler.
6) add string at the top of the windchimes for hanging

I had thought of adding a bonsai tree to the shelf, but it created too many polys because of the leaves.

This is only 500 samples - I need closer to 3k to get rid of all the noise.

I have a licensing question for folks (in addition to welcoming feedback). The image of mount Fuji is a freely available desktop background. I could find no information about the photographer nor any information about who to contact at the website for licensing info. Is it ok to use an image like this for noncommercial purposes? In addition to the background, the image texture I used for the wall hanging is from a product that is available online. How does licensing work for product images?

As always, I welcome any constructive feedback.

[blenderjourney]

Update with a larger render. This is 5k samples. Still have some noise.

Thoughts/critiques?

[DDD]

I like it, but the background stands out really bad. its obvious its not part of the render...
Lighting also needs improvement

[MadSquirrel]

I agree, mount Fuji is looks weird. It seems that this picture was taken in sunrise / sunset, with the sun behind mont Fuji. But the sunlight in your scene comes from the left / back.
What about a simple trick like keeping the background image, but adding a simple mapped cone to fit the shape of mont Fuji ? So it would receive your sunlight.
... Well, I'm not an expert, his is just an observer's first impression

[blenderjourney]

I'm glad it's not just me. I felt the same about the light but sometimes when you work with something a long time it's hard to have perspective on what is wrong with it. Something felt "off", but I couldn't figure it out.

Any other feedback would be surely welcomed. I'll work on the lighting more tomorrow.


btw, in the picture the sun is not directly behind the mountain, but back and to the left. The problem is that if I match the angle of the sun in the picture then it would be shining directly into the room.

Thanks for the feedback. I really appreciate it.

[MadSquirrel]

IMO, you shouldn't try to match the picture's light into your scene, but trick the background picture instead. Except mont Fuji, your scene is great !

[gundamf91]

very nice, a bit noisy though plus flip the bushido wall scroll, right now you got the words flipped left to right

[blenderjourney]

Can you explain what you mean by "trick the background picture"?

@gundam - glad you mentioned the wall scroll I didn't realize that.

This is my first "full" original scene. I appreciate all the feedback!

[ROUBAL]

Hi, I like much your scene. I also agree with previous advices, but I didn't noticed the flipped frame, because I have no knowledge at all of Japanese.

I have done as an exercise some tweakings on you image, if you don't mind, to try to achieve in Photoshop Elements the effect you are looking for.
1 - As a first step,I have duplicated the original image.

2 - On the duplicated image, I have selected the sky with the magic wand, and removed it, including the orange rim around the mount Fuji.

3 - On the second layer, I have made the sky almost uniform grey with the clone tool.

4 - I have added a transparent layer over the original image.

5 - Then I have painted in orange and yellow on the transparent layer in soft light blending mode to add light on the left side of the mount Fuji.

6 - I have added a yellow halo on an other transparent layer, over the sky, and I used the trasparent area to select and remove the halo behind the window frame.

My explanation may not be very clear... but I hope that you understand the process.

A more realistic effect could be achieved by using as said by MadSquirrel a modelled cone with the texture mapped in camera view, and lit as the rest of your scene.

[blenderjourney]

Wow! I really appreciate you taking the time to do that. It gives me a much clearer idea of what people are talking about. I'll play around with this in the compositor to see if I can come up with a similar technique to what you did as well as try to reproduce it in gimp. I guess this is what people mean when they do clean-up in photoshop/gimp.

Again, I really appreciate your time and help!!!!

[ROUBAL]

I have just changed the image with the flipped frame, just for fun. Keep on, this is a nice render !