Bowl of Fruit - Update 10/11/04 @ PG 2

Artwork Works in Progress
#1

Hi. One of my classes for school is 3D still life and this is my first assignment. I started work on it in the beginning of September, so it has been about a month now. I am going for photorealism, but I am not sure how I have faired. :-?

This is a full render (ie OSA 16, Raytraced, high resolution, etc.) and I would like some criticism. I am proud to say that there was no post-production (minus title and copyright).

http://blender.sixmonkeys.geek.nz/view_photo.php?full=1&set_albumName=Laurifer&id=fruit

Be harsh. :wink:

Thanks.

-Laurifer

Scroll down and next page for updates.

#2

the banana need to be more soft. and the raisins, need some more work. i think it’s only material though. get them a bit darker maybe.

#3

Your apple is definitely the strongest of the subjects. I think you’ve captured the glossy aspect of the surface and the uneven texture very well. The only thing that I can think that would really bring the apple to the next level is to add a color map so that it isn’t the same red all over, maybe it has some green streaks.

The bananas are probably the weakest subject with regards to the models. They seem to have a circular cross section. If you slice open an un-peeled banana is seems to have a polygon cross section. This is especially apparent in the stem. I think you’ll also need to work on the banana texture to get it more close to life. You usually don’t see a completely yellow banana, usually they turn green towards the ends and/or have brown spots. The banana in the bowl has much too strong of a specular highlight.

The grapes are difficult, especially under such a strong light. Grapes have a translucent quality that your picture has not captured. I’m not sure how you would get that effect. In this situation I think I would consider bringing the window lighting down and bumping up the fill light. There seems to be some odd light banding on the shadowed side of the grapes where the grapes are under direct light.

You might want to ditch the background for something more ordinary. Simple white plaster walls with a traditional window (maybe some nice moulding) would probably provide enough interest. Since they’re simpler to model they’ll look more realistic. With the stone walls we are left wondering why this fruit has been thrown into a medieval prison. Also, you’ve given quite a lot of area around the group of subjects. If you down-play the background details by zooming in and keep us concentrating on the good stuff, like the apple, then the over-all effect will improve.

A hint I’ve heard for achieving a balanced composition in still-life is to arrange things into a triangle resting on it’s base. Right now, if you were to draw a polygon around your subjects then you’d end up with a sort of parallelogram. It’s top heavy and wants to fall over towards the right.

#4

Sorry I havn’t replied but I was away and I didn’t have access to a computer.

Well, thanks for being harsh. I will definately work on all these materials. The grapes do have translucency, but I guess I have to give them something more. I agree about the bananas. They are polygon-ed, as in they do have straight edges, but I will make it more strong. The banana color map does have, I think three, brown spots, but I will make them stronger as well. The apple’s color map is just like the apple I took pictures of. It has a lot of color variations, and I tried really hard to conserve them, but there was no green.

I like the bricks I made. (Duh) I was going for something that would be like what the old masters (ie da Vinci) would paint. I could zoom in, but then I would loose a lot of the window. Also, I have a layer of dust particles, but under some advice, took them away. I anyone thinks it will help, I will do a render with them in.

Thanks.

-Laurifer

#5

I think the apple would benefit from a famp shader

#6

This is the first update for my bowl of fruit:

http://blender.sixmonkeys.geek.nz/view_photo.php?full=1&set_albumName=Laurifer&id=fruit2

I added a ramp shader to the apple so it has a slight green around the edges, along with the bananas. I also changed the color, bump, and spec maps for the bananas and I made them more polygon-ed. I gave the grapes a little Ztransparency, but it seems like it made them worse.

I am not sure how much more I am going to update this before I call it done.

-Laurifer

PS The weird shadows, mainly on the green grapes, are a result of the translucency.

#7

The apple is amazing. The oranges are pretty good too. I really like this scene. Great work!

#8

Thank you very much, Ic3Cold! :smiley:

Well, I have been tinkering with the grapes, and I think what I have in the first image will do. If anyone sees anything strange, please let me know and I will attempt to fix it. I will be bringing this project to a close soon, so, again, C&C are more than welcome. :slight_smile:

-Laurifer

#9

The banana and apple definitely improved in your second picture. The apple was already pretty good but definitely improved with the ramp shader. The orange is very good as well. Excellent reflections in the bowl, too.

I have a few things to say about the banana, however. I don’t think that bananas look greenish around the brown ends ;). You should try making the brown ends a bit more rough as well; they seem too smooth. (Use a bumpmap or just manually move around some vertices.) The bananas definitely need some more brown spots. There are some odd lines running diagonally on the banana in the bowl in the second render (they are more apparent in the first one). Try to fix that.

I think the problem with the grapes is that they’re not dirty enough. If you look at grapes, you’ll see some brown spots on them. Maybe adding another texture with that will help.

I think if you fix those problems, it’ll look very nearly photoreal. But I may have just been giving you bad advice (unintentionally of course). Good luck!

#10

I changed the banana, yet again, and I think it is really getting there. I also added dirt to the grapes. I was very pressed for time, as it is 1 AM and I have to get to bed, so the render is smaller and OSA is only on 5.

http://blender.sixmonkeys.geek.nz/view_photo.php?full=1&set_albumName=Laurifer&id=fruit3

-Laurifer

#11

Yeah ! This image is going to become a great image :smiley:
Reflections of the “container” are very good : how do you make the fuzziness ?
I think that if you out texture on banana, it will very well .
Rock of the walls appear not rough.

But it’s very a good image :slight_smile:

#12

Looks pretty good I would reccomend the following:

  1. Make the stones less wavy.
  2. Make the stones more rough and sharp.
  3. Work on a non-procedural texture for the fruits (try some uv-mapping) that will make them a hell of a lot better.
  4. Keep up the great work :smiley:
#13

Thank you. :smiley:

I will change the stones, making them more sharp. I made the bowl’s reflections like brushed chrome by adding a cloud texture and stretching it in the X direction. The fruit have no procedurals, except the dirt on the grapes which I added in the most recent update. They are UV mapped. This was the first time I used the LSCM, and let me tell you, its a fantastic tool!

-Laurifer

#14

This is looking very good, the apple especially. The other fruit could use some work though. I looked for some good reference images (using google’s image search tool) to help you out:

Grapes:
http://www.wegmans.com/kitchen/ingredients/produce/fruit/images/grapes.jpg
http://www.voyagenow.com/travel-references/en/media/6/64/more_grapes.jpg

Bananas:
http://www.tycoon.mxm.cx/files/bananas/banana.jpg
http://7art-screensavers.com/screenshots/fruits/banana.jpg

The light reflecting off the orange seems a bit too extreme. Tone that down a bit. Otherwise, the orange seems pretty good, as long as we assume that both oranges seem to have hidden their navels from us. I think it would make more sense that we are able to see the ends of at least one of the oranges.

The bananas are far too singular in color. Look at the reference images to see what I mean (particularly the first. Also, the stem and the end both seem to be more balls then they are proper ends. If you look at the first banana reference picture, you’ll notice that the ends are anything but round. Maybe you could use a more sharp displacement texture on the black parts. The shape of the bananas seem a bit wrong too; I’m not good at describing this though, so observe the reference picture. Oh, also… bananas aren’t round, really. They have parts that can easily be peeled away. Look at the first and second images to notice how that works. You might want to use the loop cut tool to get that effect. Finally, if you want really good detail, you should add a minute bumpmap of line textures that run up and down the banana. But I don’t think that’s absolutely necessary.

As for the grapes… the new texture you added is good, but they look like plastic. I’m not sure of the best way to fix this… but I sugest observing the reference images.

Finally, tweak that table! The grain in it looks disturbingly perfect. If you are going to use straight lines like that, you should have multiple “planks” of wood in the construction of that table, I think.

#15

use ramp shaders for the grapes…

and UVMAP the bananas

#16

Thank you for those images. :slight_smile:

I changed the banana and the table and I also changed the bricks and the grapes.

All of the fruit are UV mapped, including the banana. I do have a ramp shader on the grapes, along with textures for color, bump, and spec.

I am not going to post an image tonight as I have not fixed everything on the list yet.

-Laurifer

#17

Im not going to list the updates, they are pretty much stated in previous posts.

http://blender.sixmonkeys.geek.nz/view_photo.php?full=1&set_albumName=Laurifer&id=fruit4

Almost there. :slight_smile:

-Laurifer

#18

You’ve done really well with this image. It has a really nice mood and setting.

I’d like to see you address scale. The fruit, bowl, and table should be smaller in scale vs. your window and walls, for example. The fruit, bowl and table however are in proportion to each other.

Well done. Keep working.

#19

Thanks! But, I am done with it and will not be updating it any further.

https://blenderartists.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=31798

-Laurifer