Chrome, brass, gold, etc - what am I doing wrong?

Support Basics & Interface
1

Hi

For some reason, I am having a problem creating shiny objects like chrome, brass, gold, etc. I just followed a video tutorial, paying careful attention to every detail and even playing the video over and over again to make sure I wasn’t missing any steps, checking and re-checking settings, etc and am still having no luck at all. The tutorial is for chroming an object. It was easy enough to follow and looked pretty simple. Not sure what I am doing wrong here but I have included the .blend file if anyone would care to take a look at it. I would really appreciate it and welcome your replies. Here’s where I got the tutorial from…

Attachments

chromeexperiment.blend (1.83 MB)

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did you add some objects or environment map HDRI which would creates reflections on your objects?

happy cycles

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Thanks for your reply. I only added a single object (a subsurfed UV sphere) but no environment map HDR. Where can I download these from…is there a site with free or open-sourced ones?. Also, is there a site where I can download skydomes, pre-mapped textures (for realism) and other things?. I’ve got regular textures and a pretty good supply of materials but I’ve never been sure where I can find some of these other things I’ve mentioned.

Just saw your recent post. Thanks for the link (those objects are absolutely beautiful!!). What kind of texture should I add to the background plane?.

4

well depends on the scene your planning too

are you going to have a lot of other objects around

for HDRI map see

Pack of free HDRI

http://www.general-files.com/download/gscbe48b0h17i0/Studio_HDR_giveaway_by_zbyg.rar.html

thanks

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Thanks for the link. The links says “file removed” and the other free HDRI maps have been taken down and are no longer available. To answer your question, I would be creating a simple test scene with a single object. I’m not really doing it as a project but more or less just to get some skill under my belt for chroming objects :slight_smile: .

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well that’s kinf of a problem for a chrome object

to see reflections you need something to reflect on the object

an HDRI map will help

try these sites

http://www.lizardq.com/sample-images/

http://translate.google.nl/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=nl&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fblog.adrianoponte.com%2F2011%2F10%2F21%2Fdownloads-textura-hdri-materiais-modelos-referencias-cg-blender%2F

http://www.blendernation.com/2012/12/13/tutorial-custom-studio-hdri-creation-for-cycles/#more-31440http://www.hdrlabs.com/sibl/archive.htmlthanks

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Ricky - I’ve not been feeling well lately (and other issues) so sorry for the late reply. I just wanted to say thanks. A few of the links had some issues but the one at http://www.hdrlabs.com/sibl/archive.html I found to be an excellent resource and I was able to use them to crank out some pretty awsome affects. I’m still working on the technique. It’s a little tricky but I have the test scene saved and pull it up to play with it every now and then. For some reason, I am able to cast a nice shiney reflection on only a small portion of the sphere but not the rest of it. Perhaps I need to adjust the angle of the camera background or find a different material for the curved plane. Anyway, your help is much appreciated :slight_smile:

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How are you using the HDR image? For best reflections you should set it up as an environment map.
http://www.blendernerd.com/environmenthdr-lighting-in-cycles/