Hardsurface concept Presentation help [WIP]

srinivasjlkm · Jan 2020

Hi Artists,
As the year started I thought to take up another challenge and start learning moi 3D as I find it very handy and useful for hardsurfaces so I started with something simple as below. But to put it into my portfolio I would like to know how to present it better as I am not satisfied with what I got and am not able to recognize what is wrong and what to fix.

It looks cool in Moi3D application itself, but after texturing and getting it to Marmoset I don't feel the same way.
I feel I need better textures and better lighting. But how to get to that point. If I know how to present these types of small concepts I would love to make more. Or should I just keep them as grey renders and not texture them just to show them as concepts? That is one reason was trying to keep the textures relatively clean with less dirt.

So any critiques and advice will be very helpful. Please let me know what and how to get better at it as I do intend to show the progress on the forum before uploading it into my portfolio.

Marmoset View

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/08/rdr4i7f59lph.png

Moi3D View

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/u5/f98hjj9ddw1j.jpg

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/mc/a4283gqd3bvx.jpg

Grey Renders

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/qq/xwqwvpgdbq7i.jpg

Bigg__D · Jan 2020

Hey, it looks pretty good man to be honest. Sometimes when you have been working on an object, since you have worked on every little detail on it, you naturally see every tiny flaw in it. The perception from a fresh pair of eyes will always differ. With that said, I see you are using marmoset for rendering. Unless you are trying to be a game artist, there are other ways you can go about presenting your concepts. Even as a game artist, your job is to present your IDEAS, and so unless you want to be a PRODUCTION MODELER, you don't necessarily need to perfect the process of uv mapping/unwrapping, normal mapping and all that jazz, that will be someone else's job, your job is simply to make cool concepts. Anyway, some options for you would be to try out Keyshot, or even get something like VRay. A renderer like VRay will have a reputation for being difficult to setup, but as a concept artist all you really need is to present your model in a nice way, so setting up an environment lighting with HDRI mapping is not complicated. A few pointers I would suggest is, when it comes to trying to make your models look more natural, you need to focus on LIGHTING, trust me.

Material definition is also very important, I try to have a variety of material surfaces to make my models pop. For example, having some surfaces with a matte finish, other parts with a glossy finish, other parts look more rough, this really pushes the realism. Just take a look at anything in real life, for example look at a steering wheel: The rubber grip NO gloss obviously while the thin plastic lining will be highly relfective, etc. I would honestly go with trying out different camera settings, mainly the field of view which becomes important depending on the object. For example, a car benefits GREATLY from finding the correct FOV for the particular angle you want to capture. Next, the lighting pretty much will dictate the majority of how "beautiful" the final look will be. Rendering is a skill in its own, but if you want to reduce some of the pain, I would focus on trying out some production rendering instead of a real time renderer like marmoset (dont get me wrong, marmoset can produce some EXCELLENT results). VRay has student licenses for like 90 bucks I think per year, or you can try out Blender which of course is free & just mess with its renderer. Sometimes we are limited in how far we can push a product, like in this case this model if fairly simple (no offense) and so there isnt too many changes in surfaces to capture different lighting. But you can still experiment with the way you place these models, like place one flat on the table while keeping the other one standing like it is in order to have one cast a shadow on the other. And then mess with the HDRI map's rotation to try to get the lighting bounces off the surfaces just the way you would like them. Just play around, I love this part of just messing around with so I understand people like & dislike various parts of the process but just focus more on the part that you really like. If you just like modeling & designing then just focus on that for now. You can also get a student version of Keyshot Pro for like 100 bucks a year. Keyshot will most likely give you what your looking for since it allows you take the position of a photographer & mess around to find the exact shot your looking for.

srinivasjlkm · Jan 2020

Thanks a lot and no offense taken. im just beginning to learn this software. Thats why I started simple.
And thank you for the advice. I think I will try using vray and keyshot since my intention was to present concepts using moi3d.

I will just create a new page in my artstation for these moi3d hard surface concepts and make the presentation good by trying to get the materials and lighting right and not much of texturing process.

Will keep this post updated once I get a hang of what im looking for with the rendering.

srinivasjlkm · Jan 2020

Kinda satisfied compared to my marmoset render.
Keyshot Renders. Any advice or feedback ?

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/bu/uovogcycv3f6.jpg

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/yn/sktnw8ux7x57.jpg

srinivasjlkm · Jan 2020

It does take time to adapt to this way of creating objects after getting used to years of always modeling with heavy consideration over topology. But ill keep practicing to get a hang of it.