Model presentation?

cookedpeanut

I was looking through the 'Pimping and Previews' section and I was really intrigued by the high quality presentations people were making for their LP models.
In particular I'm seeing allot of the mild background grunge texture, outer glow (Possibly a stroke) and a nice vignette trend going around...

I have Marmoset in the draw, although I know jack all about anything beyond adding a model and textures in it.

Do any of you guys (Or girls) have some nice tips for making some professional looking renders to showcase models?

Please feel free to post any resources such as backgrounds if you wish :poly124:


P.s. Making a few of these, what do you use - how do you use - what should I use threads... I'm pretty new to all of this so bear with me.

Eric Chadwick

We have some stuff here.
http://wiki.polycount.com/CategoryPortfolio

For the backgrounds, often people use some custom Photoshop brushes to block in some splatters or grunge. Pretty easy to do. Do a search here for Photoshop brushes.

achillesian

I have a similar question. Is there any other software like Marmoset for previewing models/making them look good? Like a condensed version of UDK for previewing stuff?

ZacD

achillesian wrote: »

I have a similar question. Is there any other software like Marmoset for previewing models/making them look good? Like a condensed version of UDK for previewing stuff?

Why not just use viewport shaders?

achillesian

ZacD wrote: »

Why not just use viewport shaders?

thanks, for some reason I thought those only worked in max,

this looks awesome though:

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlMuQYgnKm4"]Maya 2013 Extension Release: Direct X 11 Next gen viewport Shader - YouTube[/ame]

Eric Chadwick

Shaders work in Maya too. And it doesn't have to be DirectX 11, that just adds a few more features.

Some popular shaders here
http://wiki.polycount.com/CategoryShaders

cookedpeanut

Unfortunately Blender doesn't support viewport shaders which is a pain, however I spent some time today in Photoshop and the compositor and managed to cook up a little scene.
Came out pretty well I think, I'm sure there is plenty of room for improvement though - especially the lighting...
Here is what I have:

Thoughts?

And yes, that is Racer445's AK - test purposes only...

Eric Chadwick

It's a good start!

Usually the best presentation for untextured highpoly models is the simple approach... Plain background, good 3-point lighting setup (key, fill, rim), and some ambient occlusion. For example:
http://www.polycount.com/forum/showpost.php?p=900460&postcount=17

Eric Chadwick

Another good example.
http://www.ivassago.com/generator.htm

Also, make sure to put your name and contact info on the image. People tend to download images, so it's good to "brand" them so people can find you. This is good reading: http://www.thejonjones.com/2005/10/07/your-portfolio-repels-jobs/