The Paper WIP (a few questions)

Artwork Works in Progress
1

Hey, heres a new project which took a few minuites to make. Now i want to know how i can:

  1. Make a better table to put the “paper” on
    2)How to make a nice backgrond
  2. How to use nodes to make it look better
  3. why doesnt my yafray work!!!
    http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u292/DanielSDZ/TheTable.jpg
    TheTable.jpg800×600

    Thanks!
2

im a little confused as to what you are trying to portray here… one thing to improve your work, would be 1) adding more light sources, there are wierd shadows, and some very dark areas, try using multiple light sources. 2) the wood texture is too big, try sizing the texture down a bit or using a UV/bump map texture from an image. 3) you can find node tutorials here

3

Try using Ambient Occlusion. It’ll help your lighting a lot and usually helps add realism to a model. Turn it on by going: Shading(F5) > World Buttons > Amb Occ. Approximate is quicker to render. You could also try turning up the energy to around 1.4/1.8 depending on how strong your other lights are.