Here’s an experiment with an external renderer. The chess was modelled in Blender, then imported into Cinema 4D (free from PC Format magazine). The picture took 3 days from the start of modelling to the final render, including time to learn Cinema 4D.
Any comments, suggestions? I was thinking of maybe adding some other objects, though I don’t know what exactly, yet.
http://www.geocities.com/grafixite/gallery/chess1_glass_dof.jpg
Zsolt
vary nice although you might want to back off on the dof since almost everything in the scene is blury… no real focus. can’t wait to see it cleared up
Very nice!
I agree with tmtechie though, reduce, or even get rid of the dof. Just doesnt look right.
BgDM
Ok, here is the same image without depth of field:
http://www.geocities.com/grafixite/gallery/chess1_glass_nodof.jpg
I think I’m also going to try shifting the focus a back a bit (but those rendering times! :).
Zsolt
Wow, that looks great with the reflections and refractions and all. It is amazing how an external renderer (raytracing) can add so much realism to a picture.
Wonderful work. Looks bloody real.
I vote for the depth of field blur! Go against the grain, man!
No, really - I like it. It makes it look more optical.
I’ve seen plenty of renders of chess boards, but has anyone taking a picture from a very small spot on the board looking up at the figures. I think it might be neat to see what it would look like for an ant on the chess board.
I LOVE the pieces. I have always tried to replicate the glass effect. But now I’m learning Virtua Light, so hopefully I’ll be able to do realistic glass eventually.
Jorx
hey do i need any special script to import blender files??? i downloaded the Cinema 4D go, does that work???
Cool!
Pieces and checkboard are great, floor is rather ugly but, well…
my question is:
what is getting reflected/refracted by white pieces? you can see a upsidedown landscape which does not match with the scene!
Stefano
Like S68 said, you’re missing a proper background and there seem to be no shadows… does 4d do caustics because you might want to add some of them too. I like the bottom of the see-through models a lot (the pinkishness)! The blur makes it look better, just try and have focus it on SOMETHING :-? .
nice render.
WeWa
Cinema 4D 5 SE doesn’t do caustics.
SatoriGFX.
Stefano:
the pieces are reflecting/refracting the scene around them, nothing else: the other chess pieces, the board, the… um… not too well looking floor, and there is also a blue sky, which you can’t see. I had to make that to have better reflections.
WeWa: Cinema 4D doesn’t do caustics, but its renderer is more than adequate for me for now (especially compared to Blenders’ 
). As I said I’ve only used it for a few days, and I haven’t figured out why it doesn’t render the shadows yet (it should). The pinkish stuff is the red fuzzy fabric at the bottom of the pieces, showing through the glass.
harkyman: true, I think it looks more “photoreal” in the literal sense of the word. I’ll try to fix it up, so that the focus is better.
Thanks for the comments, I’m going to try posting a better version soon, especially replacing the floor with something else, I’m still not decided on what, though (anyone have any suggestions?)
Zsolt
OK, here’s a newer version, the floor was changed, and also the DOF, so that only the back of the board is blurred, the larger part at the front isn’t.
http://www.geocities.com/grafixite/gallery/chess2_glass_dof.jpg
There is also a newer non-dof version, where the lighting was also changed, and there are now soft shadows (there were before too, but pointing away from the camera).
http://www.geocities.com/grafixite/gallery/chess2_glass_nodof.jpg
If you can’t see the shadows, load the older pic, and then the newer one, and step back and forth between them, you should see the shadows in front of the black pieces. The light pieces barely cast any shadows.
Zsolt
links aren’t working 
tmtechie: copy and paste the links.
Zsolt: newer versions are great! The DOF looks better this time and the floor is much improved. Maybe a little bit more of a bump on the floor though? Seems seems to be flat.
BgDM
Yup!
much better with new floor, I still like the nonDoF better.
Why you don’t drop that mist and place a couple of walls and a ceiling to make the scene an interior?
Stefano