Trying to get window muntin or outside light reflection

[rjhuber]

I'm trying to get the same window and door muntin reflection in my scene as it is in the "real" photo. Actually, I think it's not so much the muntins reflecting as it is the outside light reflecting.
Changing the IOR and Shininess isn't getting me what I want.
I don't need any Bump because it is Pergo flooring and does not have any wood grain to it.

In the photo the sun is coming from the left (notice the semi-hard shadow from the cardboard box).

Render setting = Easy 09

Spherical sky brightness = 1

Sun setting:
% Hazy = 10
Sun Strength = 5
Corrected Shadows "On"
Rotate Sun with Sky "On"

Settings on the wood flooring are:
Template = wood gloss
Color = SketchUp
Bump = Color - Black
IOR = 1.7
Shininess = 80

Should I be using a different Template?
Different render setting?
Or just different settings on the wood gloss template?

[Chris]

You are off to a great start, good job.

As far as reflection, you are already getting some reflection. If you look directly below the door and the left-side windows you will see the (very) blurry reflection in floor. You should be able to sharpen that reflection by changing the shininess for the floor. Start with something excessive, like 500, and then back it down until it's where you like it.

However, it's important to note that reflection is very dependent on viewing angle. In your reference photo, the eyepoint is low and has a pretty shallow angle with the floor. Your render, on the other hand, has a pretty steep viewing angle which will result in less reflection.

[rjhuber]

Thanks Chris.

It's the little things in life that go unnoticed. Just to prove your point, I stood in front of the door and watched the reflection as I squatted down and sure enough, it did get sharper the lower I went.

Anyway, I'm still not able to get what I wanted so here is a link to the SU file if you or anyone else wants to give it a whirl.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B-Eyg ... y1GUEJPaDQ

Let me know if the link doesn't work. I've never tried to link to a file on google drive.

[Chris]

I played with your model a bit. BTW, this is a really good model!

I think the #1 suggestion I can make is to use an HDR background instead of a JPG background. I don't know if you are familiar with HDR vs LDR images but, long story short, HDR images (as a background) emit more light with greater contrast. You will get a stronger reflection against a background that emits more light. If you need a good resource for HDR backgrounds, try hdrlabs: http://www.hdrlabs.com/sibl/archive.html.

If you are looking for sharper reflections (rather than simply brighter reflections), two suggestions: 1. Apply the Wood High Gloss template (you can even push the reflection higher by increasing sharpness or 2. go all out and use the Perfect Reflection template.
If you want brighter reflection, you can also increase the intensity of the background image using the environment editor Brightness setting.

High Gloss Wood

floor_250.jpg (79.65 KiB) Viewed 10524 times

Perfect Reflection

perfect.jpg (79.41 KiB) Viewed 10524 times

4x Brightness

4x.jpg (92.72 KiB) Viewed 10524 times

If you want sharper reflection, try the different templates. If you want brighter reflections, you will have to find some way to get more light to shine on that part of the floor (either increasing the Brightness of the background, or adding lights).

Hope that helps

[rjhuber]

Hey! Thanks again Chris!

Yeah, I was a CAD designer for 25 years (Caterpillar Inc.) and know a little bit about manipulating 3D geometry.

I do know about HDR but forgot that I actually had that JPG in there. I will change that for sure as I was also thinking that I had to get more light through the windows.
I do use the sIBL GUI and editor.

I did try other templates but didn't find one that I liked enough to use.

Thanks again Chris!

[Fletch]

Turned off sun, adjusted exposure using Linear algorithm, used spherical sky image at intensity of 2.0.

I like the Polished Concrete material template.

woodfloor-5.jpg (614.03 KiB) Viewed 10510 times

[Chris]

Please note that the Advanced Reflection templates (which really are great for realism!) are a Licensed Pro feature only.

Nice job Fletch.

[rjhuber]

That looks real nice Fletch but unfortunately I don't have a Pro license.

[Fletch]

Use Tempalte>Wood>High Gloss
change Shininess to 2000
go to 3000 or 4000 for less blurry reflections.

[rjhuber]

I didn't think about going that high with shininess. Thanks Fletch!