Getting realistic renders the right way??
polycounter lvl 10
I know this is a gaming site but I wanted to ask about realistic renders. From what I understand the polycount is usually very high but I wanted to find out for example if u sculpt details and peels and rough surfaces on a table or cupboard.To get the best results,is it best to import the high poly mesh into 3dsmax to render or use a displacement or normal map.Are normal or bump maps used at all for very realistic renders/animation or displacement maps or using the very high poly mesh better.
Also are there advantages of using a displacement map over rendering the highly detailed mesh?I intend to use a renderfarm.
Also are there advantages of using a displacement map over rendering the highly detailed mesh?I intend to use a renderfarm.
Replies
for pure rendering i would just use bump maps for very small detail that will blow the polycount of your highpoly.
of course the rendertime will be very high, so stick to very low settings to get the lighting etc. right, before go to final render settings.
a normal map makes sense when you bake something to a lowpoly for faster render speed.
I suggest you look at training websites like Digital Tutors for visualisation pieces.
Creating a realistic render is a combination of several skills - modelling, lighting, texturing and then actually understanding the render settings to make the most of what you have in scene.
In regard to Fade1's advice, I believe that's incorrect. A high poly object can look just as good as a low poly object; obviously this depends on what the subject matter is, but at work we use normal maps, bump maps, and displacement (only sometimes); and the majority of our assets are low poly or we'd struggle to unwrap them; try drawing seams on a 3D model with millions or hundreds of thousands of polygons, and then if you finally succeed in that - see how long your software takes to get a decent result - it purely isn't feasible.
Detailed as they are, these scenes are all low poly and what distinguishes a scene looking photorealistic, is the lighting and materials used more then anything else. These could easily be imported into Game Engines like UDK with no issues.
Of course you can use normalmaps and get good results. i just meant it will never look better then the source highpoly.
I wanted to point out, that it makes no sense to use time to make lowpoly versions and mess around with unwrapping and baking if you can use the highpoly. It will never look better then the highpoly, all you get is better performance, which is, agreed, important for scene handling.
And yes, like you said, the most important thing about realistic renders is lighting and shaders. no wonder they have own departments at pixar for this.
@fade1
U are right,to get the best realistic results.High poly is the best way to go.
Any suggestions on forums or websites that mainly focus on realistic renders especially with tutorials.I do know of some but there is a possibility that there are better ones I can learn from.
I am currently doing an arch viz course in uni here in the UK.I am really passionate about games and realtime renders but I am being told by everyone that game engines aren't viable in arch viz companies.They are more interested in realistic renders.I am thinking of doing a realtime arch viz using unreal engine4 but it will probably not get me a job in arch viz but probably in game companies.
Question is do game companies employ arch viz graduates and are there more arch viz companies than game companies in London and which pay more and has more security in terms of job longetivity? I am kinda confused right now.