This is my first post here in the Focused critique section. And I am primarily looking for some C&C on lighting and reflections. I assume this topic is appropriate here, however any C&C is welcome.
Here’s what I am curious about. 1 The chrome parts of the chair look nice, but since the room is actually ‘what you see’ (2 walls & no cieling), thus there is nothing behind the camera, giving the chrome a fake bland-looking appearance. Any suggestions. I thought maybe placing a few fake walls behind the camera, with a generic uvmap of realistic wall things. I thought of HDRI for reflectons, but I want the immediate room (the floor mainly) to be in the reflection.
The reason for no walls or cieling is that it gives the room a nice ambient glow.
2 The shadow on the chair (other parts of the room too have this effect), from the chrome, has weird repeating dark spots. I can only assume that this is because I used CACHE/LOW/SkyDome setting. To fix this, would I be correct to say that if I used High/FULL no Cache and increased my Area lamp from 4 samples to 10 samples?
3 Would it be “wrong” to do post-processing to make the shadows on the walls a bit smoother? I hope to submit this project for the Blender.Org gallery.
This is one of those projects that I feel that I will alwyays “never be finished with”. There are a million ways of doing it right or wrong. I think a true artist can be satisfied for a given time, but never finished.
I am still new at using Blender, and there is a lot for me to learn. The C&C in the WIP section has been extremely helpful for this project, so I know you guys can be a big help too.
I really like this picture. To me, the crome looks pretty good just the way it is. The only thing that really stood out to me at all is that the sizing of some of the objects seemed slightly off. The clock on the wall seems a little thin and maybe a bit small and the frig handles look a little petite, but that’s just my opinion I really like the rest of it. YOur “employee of the month” looks like a real winner
Trevj -
Some of the objects are not sized correctly. I will tweak that. It is strange, though, a scene like this and size matters based on the camera too. I noticed that using the 35mm setting distorts scenes like this, so I changed it to 45mm. The 35mm setting made the objects, those which are near the border, seem extra large and a bit distortted. Every object that I used in this project has an actual reference (to keep them proportional), for most of them, I used background images and traced vertices around them to make the meshes look close to perfect as the original. Somehow, when I am near completing this project, I’ll come up with a standard scale and resize everything to make it look better. I have a “Scale Python Script”, that I never used, maybe that will help.
No CACHE is used here, and I like the results better. Medium with Full.
The clock has a clear plastice cover and the refrigerator has a clear water puddle in front of it. Both can’t be seen in this Yafray rendering. I need to experiment with the different shaders.
The refrigerator has a NOR texture, and seems convincing. A bit more NOR and it looks fake, a bit less and you can’t see it.
Ignore the GUCCI purse next to the chair. It is still “growing”.
i have been watching this for awhile, just have not got around to commenting. i like the lighting now, the shadows seem less dramatic. less contrast is good, for this scene.
the baseboard under the counter stands out as a void, you could add some scuffs or variation down there, to break it up a bit.
other than that, i would say the image is very successful. i feel miserable just looking at it. it is bringing back all sorts of repressed memories from my life in retail. brr.
So will that Gucci purse grow into a nice big gucci suitcase soon?
I have been watching this image progress, and every new update find it more and more interesting to look at. superb job!
The reflections, though… the reflections… the coffee urn is the biggest place that i would have an issue personally. that and the legs of the chair. The coffee urn, because the reflections look a bit odd. well, empty, i guess. the legs of the chair seem like they are lit quite strongly from just outside the left edge of the image, which seems a bit odd as well.
the fake walls would probably help a ton in pusing those reflections up a level. even if it is something as simple as a plane with an image mapped onto it of a real breakroom wall or something…
i think some of the boxes still look a bit too clean for my tastes, but i believe i already commented on this over in the WIP thread for this. (most boxes i have seen in break rooms are scuffed, kicked, dented edges, torn, and just plain ugly).
i think it shows your work great! I like the lighting and the over all image - have a few problems with it though:
the tracking on the floor is unrealistic - it’s break room, what do you do - stand in the middle the whole time - make the ware around the fridge door and just under the chair - maybe some deep scratches - metal chairs often due that - make one or two show scuffs too!
cigarette on the floor - if you want to keep it (i’d get rid of it or move it over some more) then you need to add some tobacco pieces around it - if it’s squished then stuff comes out right?
boxes need more texture - and they should be slightly more “beat up” - but they are okay…
floating purse is great touch -
no fork for the cake on the counter!?
floor boards and wall aren’t “dirty” enough comparred to the floor - usually ware is uniform everywhere and focused in high traffic locations - so it’s good to assume that the walls have more dirt on them… I like the loner pin on the wall though!
slightly too much AO or perhaps not enough samples around the counter and over the trash can but that can be fixed with some rendering time…
to enhance the look of the image make the microwave slightly more transparent and add the inner detail and add leftovers to it and next the coffee maker add a steaming cup of coffee - with some spills around it…
to enhance the reflections on the coffee maker add an alpha mesh around the metal and apply a enviro map with very light alpha - it adds reflection without taking away from overall quality of real reflections… that or HDRI!
lastly the phone coord is too stiff - it should curl and touch the wall and then curl off… just loosen it up some more!
Overall wonderful image and bart is bound to accept it into the gallery along with the other great bits! keep it up!
Things are happening. I added a white plastic fork for the cake. The purse “grew up”. The baseboards, I assume the area below the cabinet doors, was suggested to be dirtied up, this will be taken care of.
The boxes already have a texture, but I need to boost the NOR a tiny bit.
I noticed that the lighting has a ‘hot spot’ on the floor, in the center of the room. I think I can fix that with possibly assigning a TGA file to the light (with a semi-dark center).
That telephone cord is going to be a tough job, again. I’ll give it another try at making it look more natural.
A quick preview of the purse.
That purse was a project in itself…
the general lighting is ok… but I would like to see some extra lamps that normally are in kitchen to bring more light to the dark places… like above sink and the whole working area… why not try putting some working lights under the cabinets and see how it looks?
Wow, this is looking very nice sofar. Very detailed. Looks like something I have seen before, not sure where though. :-?
The phone cord doesn’t really look strait enongh though. I can tell that you were going for the slightly tangled look, but I think gravity would have a stronger downward pulling effect. Maybe add some slight drit to those cabinets too.
The fridge needs some reflection with highish fresnel on the surface, it is too plain. (if you already have this try cranking the mir up)
cupboards look too clean compared to the rest. There would be smudges and dirt around at least the handles. (I notice one cupboard has this, but not the others)
The pin -board is too vibrant compared to the rest of the scene, some of those textures should be desaturated possibly (try in post pro to see how it’ll look)
The wall with the clock looks a bit plain.
The scene needs that bit more before it leaps out at you, at the moment there are too many areas that distract from the realism.
