Attempt at a 'serious' render

Show what you're working on, get feedback and help
baz
Posts: 24
Joined: Sun Sep 20, 2009 1:50 am
OS: win 7
SketchUp: su-pro-2016

Attempt at a 'serious' render

Post by baz » Tue Sep 02, 2014 12:16 pm

Part of a laundry remodel, my attempt to show the client how it will be.
Although I use SU extensively for design and presentation, this is the first time a client has asked for a real visualization.

They are happy with the result, but I know it could be a lot better, so C&C's are most welcome.

My main problems are:
View thru door is not convincing. Fence and plants are SU. Background is imported photo. (Room is watertight, sun is on).
Despite having strong bump on the baskets, they look flat.
Counter top is polished Ceaser stone and should be the hero of the piece, but I can't make it pop.
I have a exaggerated 6mm gap between the cupboard doors, but they don't show very well as individual doors in the first shot. (they have a 3mm radius to the front edges)
Cupboard doors are meant to be high gloss 2 pack. Cant figure out how to achieve this without them looking like mirrors. (Pushed 'plastic' shininess to 600).
In second shot, can't figure why one box (left side, middle) is illuminated, this seems to happen randomly.

Happy to send the skp if anybody wants to investigate my settings. As I said job is gone to client, but I would still like to improve this.

Baz
Attachments
Green splashback
Green splashback
Long-view-web.jpg (321.37 KiB) Viewed 13638 times
White splashback
White splashback
3-web.jpg (90.34 KiB) Viewed 13638 times

jo-ke
Posts: 1130
Joined: Tue May 11, 2010 6:30 am
OS: WIN 10
SketchUp: 2021pro
Location: Germany

Re: Attempt at a 'serious' render

Post by jo-ke » Tue Sep 02, 2014 1:10 pm

In second shot, can't figure why one box (left side, middle) is illuminated, this seems to happen randomly.
Take your time and take preset #9, it won't happen there but takes much longer (but quality is much better)

sometimes I render a scene 2 or 3 times in preset low and mix them in Photshop to save time.

kronox
Posts: 399
Joined: Wed Jan 30, 2013 4:48 pm
OS: Windows 8.1
SketchUp: 2015
Location: Bucharest
Contact:

Re: Attempt at a 'serious' render

Post by kronox » Tue Sep 02, 2014 3:55 pm

Pay attention also to some functional details, such as the door handle, which seems to be a little too high than in reality. Could look better with a powerful light plane in the window, and also the lights seem to be too bright. Floor looks like a tiled epoxy texture, way too bumpy.

nickchun
Posts: 129
Joined: Thu Dec 22, 2011 12:15 pm
OS: Windows 7
SketchUp: 2015 Pro
Location: West Wales

Re: Attempt at a 'serious' render

Post by nickchun » Tue Sep 02, 2014 5:50 pm

Your door gaps aren't showing up because the lights are too bright and they won't look very glossy because most of the scene is light, there isn't much contrast to reflect. Probably the the same thing with the worktop. I have the same issue in light coloured kitchens. The boxes look flat because they are flat and there is a limit to what a bump map can do with a non reflective material. The random illumination looks like a light leak which I believe can occur with lower render settings or where geometry is not completely closed and light leaks in from outside. If the shelving is touching the wall sometimes it seems to be regarded as breaking the surface of the wall allowing light in. Try moving the shelves a few millimetres off the wall.
Still nice work though. What setting did you render with?

Fletch
Posts: 12897
Joined: Fri Mar 20, 2009 2:41 pm
OS: PC 64bit
SketchUp: 2016-2023
Contact:

Re: Attempt at a 'serious' render

Post by Fletch » Tue Sep 02, 2014 6:50 pm

These are really great first try - 100x better than my first renders, so congrats!

The powers of your lights are too strong, lower powers and assume power of 1 for a point or spot is like a 100w light bulb.
Be very careful with imaginary fill lights and try to avoid them if possible. If needing a general boost in amount of light in the room, a "flash" bulb behind the camera is not uncommon. Or a few well-placed "fill lights" just like an architectural photographer would place are ok. Spot lights are ok as fill lights, but avoid using point lights as they result in odd glowing sphere reflections in nearby surfaces. Set your spot light to point up at the ceiling and set them at low power with wide angle spread for both falloff and hotspot. see:
Image

Change color of light to be warmer light to match real world light colors.... see the light color list in the Tips and Tricks Master List
Then increase the exposure of the rendering in the Camera Tab of the Render Dialog or do it in post processing in a photo editor. Try increasing exposure to 1.2 or 1.3, with the lower powers for the lights it should look much better.

Be sure there are no pure whites in the scene, they increase rendering times and render artifacts such as light flares - those pesky random lights in your boxes.

The floor - for ceramic tile, use ceramic material Template. Be careful to be more subtle with the bump.

For cabinets - if they are supposed to be glossy acrylic, try the perfect reflection material libraries in the resources section here:Subject: Perfect Reflection Library Like Glossy Solid Acrylic
EXPLORE ALL THE RESOURCES AVAILABLE TO YOU IN THE Master List of Resources
FOR INSTANCE:
Subject: Varnished Wood - How To Create
or
Subject: Granite Countertop Texture

For the exterior, after you fix the light power and exposure of the image, read a bit in tips and tricks master list for the thread on exposure control of exterior when doing interior renderings.

Subject: Best Of Tips and Tricks - The Master List

baz
Posts: 24
Joined: Sun Sep 20, 2009 1:50 am
OS: win 7
SketchUp: su-pro-2016

Re: Attempt at a 'serious' render

Post by baz » Tue Sep 02, 2014 11:54 pm

Wow! Thanks guys, great stuff, should keep me busy for a while, but has to be evenings, so I will need a few days.
I''ll be back...
Baz

baz
Posts: 24
Joined: Sun Sep 20, 2009 1:50 am
OS: win 7
SketchUp: su-pro-2016

Re: Attempt at a 'serious' render

Post by baz » Sun Sep 14, 2014 12:53 am

Client requested some changes so here are the updates with the comments from you guys acted upon.
Got rid of all the fake lights, reduced the power of the downlights to near real world.
Reduced the bump on the floor etc.

Think I'm going backwards tho. The whole scene looks dull even tho you can now see more detail.
Doing something wrong with the glass door, can't get the outside to show properly.

All a bit depressing really. And I cant afford to spend any more time on it at the moment.
Attachments
Long-view.jpg
Long-view.jpg (74.45 KiB) Viewed 13522 times
side-view.jpg
side-view.jpg (104.09 KiB) Viewed 13522 times

nickchun
Posts: 129
Joined: Thu Dec 22, 2011 12:15 pm
OS: Windows 7
SketchUp: 2015 Pro
Location: West Wales

Re: Attempt at a 'serious' render

Post by nickchun » Sun Sep 14, 2014 10:39 am

Don't get depressed! It has improved, the light leak is gone and the floor looks better. Is it supposed to be a night shot and are you using a background image or spherical or HDRI sky? You may need to increase the brightness of the background and check the base colour of your glass. There is a tutorial about exposure and background/sky settings by Fletch I think but I can't find it at the moment. I'll post the link when I can unless someone else beats me to it.
Keep going, they are still decent renders
Also most raw renders look a bit lifeless and need post pro

kronox
Posts: 399
Joined: Wed Jan 30, 2013 4:48 pm
OS: Windows 8.1
SketchUp: 2015
Location: Bucharest
Contact:

Re: Attempt at a 'serious' render

Post by kronox » Sun Sep 14, 2014 10:43 am

Yay! Looks better now :^:

Fletch
Posts: 12897
Joined: Fri Mar 20, 2009 2:41 pm
OS: PC 64bit
SketchUp: 2016-2023
Contact:

Re: Attempt at a 'serious' render

Post by Fletch » Sun Sep 14, 2014 10:49 am

These are really well done, I am not sure why you are disheartened. There are of course many things to be improved, but learning to make absolutely photo-realistic renderings is a long process with any software, and you are lucky to have something as simple as SU and Twilight. :D

I noticed the nice green glass is gone, everything is just white, which makes it look boring in comparison to first design.

For the floor, you need a proper specular and bump map. Try better tiles textures here:
Subject: Tile - bump and specular maps and scene
Subject: Textures: American Olean St. Germain Ceramic Tile

For background, The questions is if you have done the window glass correctly: if so, it's an exposure question.
Subject: Interior Renderings - Exposure for Background Outside

For window glass be sure to use one sheet of glass, not two, and that the Template "Architectural Glass No Shadow" and make sure opacity is 1% or 0% and color is white.

For more about the light through a window glass see the first of the FAQ - frequently asked question:
Subject: Light through a window...
admin wrote:How to get the sun shining through your windows:
  • Be sure all windows are only modeled with a single pane of glass.
  • Be sure you have applied a material to the glass using SketchUp's materials, such as the typical "translucent_glass_grey" or whatever
  • Be sure you use the Twilight Material Tool to click that glass material on the windows and apply the Architectural Glass>"Common" or "No Shadow"
  • Set the sun in SketchUp to cast as much light as possible into your room... the more light the better.
  • Apply material templates that are appropriate to your other objects.
  • Render a small test render with Easy01-Prelim
  • Adjust tone mapping exposure in the camera panel of the Render Window if image is too dark.
  • When happy with camera, materials, etc. Render test render at 800x600-ish on Low or Medium easy settings.
  • When happy and ready for the "final" render on Easy09 progressive. This will give you best results with so little light.

...

Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Semrush [Bot] and 38 guests