is it lightning or what ? (yafaray)

hi guys,
I completed a scene and overall I am quite happy with the modelling and the textures, but I think there is something very wrong about the lightning or so, cause it doesn´t look that realistic, but the objects and materials are ok I think, but maybe its all to bright or so, i don´t know.
So I am asking your for an answer about a general fault in this image, no little upgrades but some general (lightning) thoughts to make the rendering look more realistic, I know its a silly question and very pat but i have to know it. second image yafaray settings.

http://students-unlocked.com/blendernation.png
http://students-unlocked.com/yafaray.png

Overall good work…but there’s definately missing something: for one… the lamppost doesn’t seem to be casting a shadow and the ground seems to be just an immage without depth, there’s lacking definition of the seams in between the bricks. And the transition from grass to bricks is too sudden.

Daniel

the lampost is too clean and shiny, usually they are scratched up and dirty not glossy

P.S. same with the bench legs

ok,thanks for c&c
i have updated the image just to see if higher quality will solve the bad overall look, it didn´t alter anything :slight_smile:
next image will be with your suggestions (which i presumed partially)
http://students-unlocked.com/blendernation2.pnghttp://students-unlocked.com/yafaray2.png.jpg

update : lamppost and bench legs with dirt
ground with bit grass on it and more bump mapping
and… ah yes, image rendered with LuxRender this time ^^
render time 6 hours on a P4 3,06 Ghz with 1,6 Gb Ram
http://students-unlocked.com/default.png

not really looking better :slight_smile:

Just for the record, because many people that are native German-spoken say it wrong for some strange reason (I hear it often at University) and i thinks it´s a terminology you should be able to say right for the sake of “know your tools”:

lightning = Blitz
lighting = Beleuchtung

So in reply to the OP topic… no, is´t all sunny :stuck_out_tongue: jk

And actually @topic:
You don´t missing light, you miss shadows in the second render :smiley:
With the position of the sun, the bench and the lampost have to cast a pretty hard shadow towards the viewer… you got no shadow at all.
The grass might be tricky, you´d need deep shadows to make it look realistic.

I like the 1st render ways more, but there the lamppost got no shadow and the shadow of the bench does not match the position of the sun.

Once you got the shadows right(of the light position for that) you prolly notice that the sidewalk looks pretty flat as well as the wood, there you might want to use bump/normalmaps then to give it some depths.

IMO lighting a scene properly is an art for itself.

If you are interested in lighting in depth and you are fit enough in English for an English book, I recommend:
Digital Lighting & Rendering

Here is my critique:
http://img196.imageshack.us/img196/3848/defaulth.th.png

And realism is one thing, composition is what… showcases your picture. It leads the eye to the point of interest, here are two ways to composite the image.

Rule of thirds, the idea is that the point of interests (where you want your viewer to look, the bench in this example), should be approximately around where the lines cross:

http://img13.imageshack.us/img13/4681/defaultcomposition.th.png

Another way is diagonals:

The idea is that you view from one of the corners, and “Lines” in the picture drags your eye across the picture.
In the western world we read from the left, so it should start from the left, to the right.
In the middle east, and some asian countries you read from right to left, and should be reversed if they are you target group.
Example:

http://img31.imageshack.us/img31/566/defaultcompositiona.th.png

lightning = Blitz
lighting = Beleuchtung

you make me feel ashaemd:o but I know you didn´t want to, and the hint is worthful thinking of the fact that I work with 3d programs…

next render will be with yafaray and/or luxrender, considering all your suggestions and again : thx for that! :thumbs up:
to the composition images: i will take the first one into account (with the rectangle, but I think it should be moved just a bit more below, I just heard that its also done like this in newspapers and so, if the object of interes is vertically in the middle it looks like its a bit more above for the viewer…but I might also have slept in art class…
update coming soon

There are many ways of compositing an image. And you can easily move the image, the rule of thirds is bendable :wink: Its called an offset rule of thirds.

ok.
:spin:
Let´s see how it works in the next image.
Luxrender still at work, will be nearly a new image with way better materials, cause in Luxrender its quite easy to set them up I think. Generally it has the best workflow, by which I mean very fast and easy but efficient, compared to all the other renderers.
And compared to the other unbiased one for Blender, Indigo, the set up is 1000 times better, but Indigo is still faster. Think I will open a Lux render thread when I have a few finished works :chear:
btw for the rendering issue: is it really reducing noise when setting the anti aliasing more blurry? couldn´t make out big diffrences…
Using predefined mats and easy objects worked quite well in this image, will assume it in the bench-one
http://students-unlocked.com/2.png

enough plasticty on the floor ? displacement mapping, but very weird and overdriven, will have to tweak…

bench now in the middle of the image
lamppost mat altered
shadows recognizable
http://students-unlocked.com/blendernation4.png