Pool with Swim-up Bar

[Stu]

Probably a bit of 'Pool-Style' over-kill, but it takes all kinds

[posodrac]

Well ... we all want plenty of sunshine when we go to the pool, but this scene could earn more if you low the angle of the sun. You know what they say, the sun of noon is the most dangerous. Let the shadows extend along the floor. Resize or reposition tiles on the ground, give them a small bump and shine, give a push or pull on pool to match tiles edges. In some way you manage the plants well, although some of the 2D shadows oriented to the opposite side. Everything else is good

AN UNEMPLOYED TRUCK DRIVER TOLD YOU THIS

[red_shift]

A couple of suggestions: the pebble texture below the plants in the foreground is out of scale and too flat. You might have to scatter some 3D pebbles to make that look realistic. Also, I am distracted by the background sky and vegetation. Skies are never that color of blue, it should be lighter. Also, the color of the vegetation is too saturated. Maybe try adjusting that and see if you like the result. I really like the pool water and overall scene. Keep going with it!

[Stu]

Thanks Guys.

The sky probably did look a bit dramatic so Ive just gone with the physical sky.
I agree, the plants were a bit busy....removing a couple of palms seems to improve it. And I desaturated this image which tones it down a bit.
The Pavers and pebbles are the size I want then, the pavers dont have a sheen and I have bumped them [any more and the aggregate starts to look un-natural.]
I have continuing problems with pebbles....bumping doesnt help, mixing mini rocks with the texture generally looks worse...I think the best solution is to just about hide them

[Fletch]

the ground texture definitely needs help. if you are going to use the same sidewalk everywhere, having a bit higher-resolution standard one built will be a good investment of time.

if you pm/remind me in a couple days I think I will have time to share one I made.

meanwhile, all you need to do to dramatically improve the image is some quick tonemapping in post-pro as described in post-pro secret number 1. takes about 1-2mins unless you set up a photoshop action then takes about 2 seconds. but is well worth it (imho).

I deviated from the post-pro tutorial with this... so I saved the psd (13Mb zipped)... if you want it, send me a pm.

[red_shift]

The improvements you have made to the foreground and sky really help I think. I'm still bothered by the background vegetation, and I think I know why: lack of shadow. I realize these are 2D images, but in post-pro you could paint in some darker areas where they would naturally occur to give more a sense of depth and layers to the vegetation. And also be sure that the lighting of the images is coming from the same direction as your sun location. There's still plenty of potential in this image!

[Stu]

Thanks Fletch..I'll look a bit more carefully at you tut.
This is actually the first time I've used this paving texture [Arroway] and I thought it was some improvement on what Ive been using.

Red_Shift.....representation of planting in CG has lots of limitations. I could use generic 3D models from a range of 100 or so and get correct shadows and crappy plant realism. Even apps [like Vue, Max] which can handle larger poly counts can only produce stylised stuff.....although more realistic than typical SU content.

So, being in the business of planting design, rather than simply using the odd tree or two to decorate architecture, Ive gone with photo-real 2D images....and Ive got about 6000 to choose from.

The down side of course is that we have to work with the lighting and shadow conditions that existed when each individual plant was photographed. Good entourage will be fairly consistant but there will always be variation when you stack so many plants together like this. I always shoot with the sun behind the camera.....[and hope that's what the original photographer did also ]

This latest [mid-winter, 5pm] has some more shadow....but thats about it.

[red_shift]

Stu: You are so right about vegetation if you are trying to show realistic plantings from a landscape design point of view. I work in architecture using an non-photorealistic style so I am able to take liberties with vegetation to some extent, since my focus is more on the building. I have worked some with Vue in the past and found it excellent for placing large quantities of vegetation for backgrounds or site plans, but not so strong when wanting to have realistic plantings close to the camera that were convincing representations of local plants. But in the right hands I've seen some mighty good work done with Vue. Since you are wanting very accurate plant material I only see two options, modeling your own 3D plants (or purchasing good ones here and there) and using a tool like Max with Vrayscatter, etc. to get the sheer quantities of plant material that you need (SU just cant handle the polygons well enough), or using 2D imagery as you are doing here. In the 2D case it takes , IMHO, a good deal of tweaking by hand in Photoshop to get that imagery to be less flat looking. But at least you can get the plants to look the way you want them to.

I think all of us would love to have better vegetation solutions. I'm looking out of my window right now and see very long marsh grasses falling over into algae-covered water, with a variety of deciduous and evergreen trees and shrubbery scattered about. I know the only way I can come remotely close to depicting that in a render would be to use photographic images and a lot of hand work in Photoshop to get the lighting right. To me it is far and away easier to paint it than to model it.