WiP/Near Done: Advanced Lighting Techniques

senor-cojones

Hey everyone,

Well this is my first 'proper' post on here- I don't often like to show my work. Thought Id post my near complete renders of a project I've done for university- not strictly 'game' work but its for a lighting module of a Games Design course. Basically it was to light 2 scenes- one has to be interior night and day, one exterior summer and winter and additional marks are awarded for more advanced techniques like HDR/DoF/Caustics. Decided to put it up here, as although they are nearly finished I'd like any C+C people have so I can improve it and also maybe ask a few questions.

Aiming for the most aesthetically pleasing renders possible.... here they are;

Interior Day:



Interior Night:



Exterior Summer:


Exterior Winter:



Caustics (The pawn on the bottom has been rotated so it doesnt look like it has a unwelded vert/artifact):


High Dynamic Range Imagery/Depth Of Field:



All of the above are rendered using Mental Ray in 3DS Max 2009 and are using Mental Ray Arch And Design Materials. Interior is lit using Mental Ray omnis/spots and exterior using a Mental Ray Daylight System.

Currently the winter one is heavily WiP- it doesn't look wintery! So a few questions if I may ask- any C+Cs? Does anybody know how I can lighten the glass/image in the interior daylight? It should be totally clear glass... but the image still appears grey... I suppose I could just post process in Photoshop. Also does anyone know how to create reliable water and ice shader/texture/etc to use on the pool?

Anyways I'm happy so far- Im just continuing to tweak.

Thanks for looking

sprunghunt

If this is a games course why are you rendering the lighting? I would suggest a good exercise would be to get one of these scenes and try to replicate it in realitime.

For winter I'd go for a cold grey light. It seems you have too many yellows and browns in your light for it to look truly wintery - it looks like sunset at the moment.

JohnnyRaptor

try and increase the refraction bounces in either the material or mentral ray render settings, that could be the reason your glasses are darker.

also, you can set the refraction color i believe somewhere in the material settings, usually they are set to black by default.

Daaark

sprunghunt wrote: »

For winter I'd go for a cold grey light. It seems you have too many yellows and browns in your light for it to look truly wintery - it looks like sunset at the moment.

It looks nothing like winter.

In the city winter days are gray, and the nights are purple / orange because the street lights and city reflect off the clouds and snow.

I really like the interior at night shot. But the buildings are different! Your interior day actually looks more like winter.

senor-cojones

sprunghunt wrote: »

If this is a games course why are you rendering the lighting? I would suggest a good exercise would be to get one of these scenes and try to replicate it in realitime.

Thats just what the assignment is. Its a Games Design Bsc- basically its spread over the skills to allow us to use 3D applications in general, how to use level editors and the theory behind games design. Im focusing on the modelling aspect though as I quite enjoy that- hoping to refine it by continuing to a 3D Modelling Msc. These techniques can be taken over to a realtime engine though.

Thanks for the crits- Ive changed the refraction colour to pure white and off white (like 0.0001% slightly blue) and it still appears the greyish colour- ill turn the bounces up and set it to white and see what happens- falling that i'll just post process in photoshop.

The 'winter' one is still wip- It was mainly just a test to get a different image from the summer one using the same light set up- I need to change the pool, light colours and add a steam outlet to enhance that its actually cold.

The images are different- the problem being I couldnt find a high res source that had day/night images of the same location and I havent had the time just yet to go out and take photos myself- does anyone know of anywhere I might get the same location in day and night flavours?

Thanks

Joao Sapiro

the overall too cleaness of the scene is what give it away as beeing 3d appart from that pretty cool ! agree with the winter comments too.

butt_sahib

senor-cojones wrote: »

. These techniques can be taken over to a realtime engine though.

Hey
Ummm, no they can't. For a realtime engine, rendering with all the fancy stuff realtime isnt really possible or feasible.

Also, do you have to have DOF and HDR in the same image? Does the assignment require you to have HDR based lighting or HDR imaging? If its the former,which i believe it is, i dont think you should have an HDR as a background. Really makes it look amaeture-ish. Cant you just have a simple studio rendering without the HDR image as a background? IMO,dof would be better and more noticeable that way...

Great work though!

ImSlightlyBored

when he said the realtime thing I assumed he meant the lighting principles and theorys, not necessarily the tech? Because obviously caustics, for one, are a fail. Also, whilst there are G.I realtime solutions (I think!), I'd in the future (if you want to go realtime) start working on manually placing and colouring up fake bounce lights.

The work is really nice. I think the winter water could do with work, but I get the feeling thats missing your point
As for your winter dilemma, i dont think I can help but I will say that at times, your summer can feel like winter too. Dont know precisely why, but it can also feel like one of those real gr1m and frostbitten mornings where the sky is empty and the sun is blaring and nothing is moving, but despite all that it is real cold.

Maybe something to think about?

senor-cojones

Thanks again

very helpful advice- When I said the techniques can be taking over to an engine I meant for example the theory... ie colour/placement etc. Regarding the HDR/DOF no- neither are even required- basically a well 4 well lit renders could attain a 2:1 but to get the 1:1 techniques including camera effects, hdr, caustics, etc should be investigated.

I did only post the winter one up as an example- I do realise it needs work- I'm still working on the update but hoping to have it look much more cold and actually sell the idea that its a winter image.

Thanks for the advice and encouragement though. I'm still learning and its great to get feedback from people with more experience