I was just eating Oreos with milk (yes at 1:00 in the morning lol) and I had one of those “DING” idea moments. So I started on this:
But I’m not considering this to be finished just yet. I want to see what you think needs to be improved. Mainly, I really need help on the background. I didn’t really want to leave it blank, because its just so boring, and I wanted there to be a little bit more going on in the scene. The idea was “We were made for each other”. Super cliche :D. Thanks in advance for all advice.
Oh, and here is the texture for the Oreo if you had any questions about it.
I do. Normally this scene would make be hungry, but I’m so stuffed full of Easter candy not even oreos can tempt me.
Edges of cookies are too smooth, glass needs work shape and material(if you aren’t already, use ray transparency), I think the milk material could benefit from sub-surface scattering and you might try experimenting with fluid simulation. As for the scene that is a personal preference, but I would suggest maybe a table with the cookie leaning up against the glass and maybe the open pacackage nearby with the plastic tray partway out of the open rapping. If you want more action maybe have the cookie dropping into the glass of milk with a splash or the glass got knocked over and is spilling and flowing on the table and cookie. It all depends on the amount of time you plan on spending.
Don’t eat too many.
Ok, I made a new glass, but still with the same style of milk(without fluid sim). Added and extra Oreo and a table. But I’m just not satisfied with the overall look of it. And you said that the Oreo’s were to smooth, how would I make the edges rougher? And I will have to look into the fluid simulation. I might do the open bag but I’m not sure if I want to go with that approach.
Here is an updated picture.
make the UVs of the sides use up some of the sides of the cookie textures. It looks like right now the cookie is sat right on top, but the sides of the cookie should be like the edges of the top of the cookie.
The problem with your composition is that it lacks any real dimmension. Laying the oreos less perfectly and adding a few, and perhaps a bitten one, and changing the position of the glass so it isn’t lined up all on a “side scroller plane” like that would be a definite improvement.
If you make a bitten one, don’t make it with consecutive teeth marks. Oreos don’t get teeth marks, they crumble and shatter and such. Bite one, look at it, model it 
Same as what mortalhuman said.
Quick and easy improvements would be to have the top cookie leaning up against the bottom cookie so you can see the top cookie texture better. Also if the cookies and milk are going to be the focus(no background stuff) increasing the camera angle and getting closer could help. A whitish plane that blends in with the background(better on the first picture) and is only there to show a shadow instead of having a modeled table can work too. Glasses are usually much thicker on the bottom than the sides.
Type ‘oreo cookie and milk’ into google image search might give you some ideas. And please do not feel obligated to use anything I say or provide. These are just suggestions and I will help with whatever direction you go. Your art is your art:).
If you go with a wood table I have a few textures that might work here and here
Alright, I realized what you meant about how everything was just so perfect. I moved some stuff around, and did a new render and did some post editing in Photoshop. I like this render more than the others that I have done so far. I still haven’t edited the textures of the Oreos yet, but I will get there. And now thers is an Oreo saturating in the milk :D.
Much more interesting.
Thank you for the advice, any more? I’m on an advice high right now. Still thinking about the other things I can add to the scene. I might just go with the open bag. Or maybe throw some mini oreos in there somewhere.
I’m on a sugar high, mmm…bags of cheap Easter candy.
In the direction you are going with it I wouldn’t add too much more that could distract from the focus. The right side is a bit bland, but to fix that I would just go with less of a wide screen look and just chop some of it off(or maybe a bag to add color). I like how light your first render was, somewhere between your first and last renders might look good.
Ok, I think that this is going to be my last render and I’m going to call it finished. There might be some more things that I can add, but I sort of feel accomplished. At least I made something that looks somewhat realistic. Thank you for all the help. If you think it needs something, let me know. Here is the render. Done in Blender, with nothing but lamps(aka one Hemi and one Spot). All other edits done in Photoshop.
Cookies need shadows. There’s always something more that could be done, sometimes different is just different and not better not worse and that point is when its usually time to call it finished.
I knew that there was more to do, like you said there always is. To be honest I didn’t even realize that there were no shadows on the Oreos. I will mess with it some more and see what I can come up with. And most likely, I will add something else to it, just gotta think of something that won’t throw off the scene.
You really should put some SSS on the milk, it will make it look a lot more milky.
What IS SSS? I have heard people metioning it a lot and I can’t seem to find anything about it, probably just looking in the wrong places. What does it do and what is it used for?
SSS is short for Sub-Surface-Scattering you’ll better luck finding something with the full name.
Ok, I looked into SSS and I used it on the milk. It does look a little bit more like milk. I changed the background color so you can see the milk better because it almost blender into the background. And I just thought of making a background with a little bit more to it, so I’m going to see what I can get done. I have also tried my best at giving the Oreos a shadow.
Its good enough so they don’t look like they are floating anymore, the cookies that is. Specular hardness could be turned up to make glass smoother. If you move the cookies closer to the glass you might be able to get the camera closer. If you want to add color so the milk stands out better, a colorful table cloth/picnic blanket could do the trick. Example
Ok, I went with your idea about the table cloth, it made me think of a sunny day in a park. So I made a simple round table-top and added a checkered table cloth texture to it. Here is a render of it.
Is it just me or do the cookies look a little plastic? They are too shinny IMO. Just tone down the shine on them and it could make a huge difference.
I noticed that a while back, but I can’t seem to get rid of that shine and still produce the shadow. I know it has something to do with the lighting. Isn’t there a way to tone it down somewhere in the material??