Thought I'd Share A Sample

[Guest EricFoy]

Here's a couple renderings I've recently done. The filenames describe rendering time and the settings of the super-sampling and global illumination quality. The fast one is medium, medium; the slower one is high, high. Photons were enabled in both, not because I know what they do, but because it sounds really cool. I think the IronDudes need to figure out how to enable tachyons. That would really be cool.

 

The scene contains one directional light (moonlight) casting ray-traced shadows, and five spotlights, three of which cast shadow buffer shadows - two of those with glow enabled. Background is a simple 2D image that I found on the web.

 

I used Picasa (a great tool) to convert the BMPs to JPGs at 95% quality and original resolution. As you can see, the difference in the images hardly justifies the increased render time -at least for this image. In other cases, I'm sure the longer render time would be necessary.

 

For whatever reason, I can't ever get this upload thingy to work, so here are the links:

 

http://ericfoy.com/files/IC/107_5h40m59s-h-h.jpg

http://ericfoy.com/files/IC/107_2h4m26s-m-m.jpg

 

I was, however, able to attach this one. I think it's not bad for an initial attempt at approaching photo-realism. Can anyone offer tips as to how to make the water streams more real?

Edited February 8, 2008 by EricFoy

[Cary OConnor]

Nice work for a start!

 

If you attach the original scene, we may be able to tweak it a little.

 

The time is probably from the Volumetric Spot Lights (they are slow).

 

Maybe the Flags can be tweaked to look more Fabric like.

 

The Water may be able to use some sort of Gradient Transparency with noise to make it look like it is dispersing.

 

Just some thoughts.

 

Cary

[Guest EricFoy]

Yes, a fabric bump map on the flags was my next step. I've been so focused on all the other textures, and I was so stoked about getting the decals on all the flags initially, that I never got back to thinking about their surface textures 'til today.

 

Do these rendering times seem long to you? I wasn't complaining. I think, however, that my HP AMD Athlon64 x2 4400+ is actually somewhat of a dog. I Have single-core athlons that render faster. I'm looking forward to the new Phenomes (the bugless ones), but we'll have to see if they can keep pace with the intels...

 

Actually I was impressed by the fact that adding all the lights (and volumetrics) didn't seem to increase the render times much.

 

I don't actually own the file, so I'll have to pass on your offer to do some tweaking for me. Can I take a rain-check?

[tlehnhaeuser]

Thought I post some samples.

tom

 

 

 

Edited June 6, 2008 by tlehnhaeuser

[Guest EricFoy]

Sweeeet!

[Guest EricFoy]

I've found that there are times when I don't really want true photo-realistic rendering. Sometimes communicating a design can be better accomplished with rendering settings that run much faster. So here are a couple samples of my latest project. I used no GI, turned the ambient light up a bit, all stock directional lights, and a simple gradient background. Came out pretty nice, I thought...

 

1.pdf

2.pdf

Edited June 17, 2008 by EricFoy

[Guest svangeldern]

Eric,

 

Perfect.

 

Photo-realistic rendering is cool. But you a correct, these would be do the job 99% of the time. At least for me.

 

Steve

 

[Cary OConnor]

In future versions of IronCAD, we are looking to add reflection plans and shadow planes/maps to the real-time environment. This can be used in conjunction with the settings you are using to help add that extra bit of realism to your design without the need for full realistic renderings. Example attached.

 

Nice work Eric.

 

Cary

 

 

Sample:

[tlehnhaeuser]

The Water may be able to use some sort of Gradient Transparency with noise to make it look like it is dispersing.

20626[/snapback]

 

Cary,

Can you show an example of this? Would these settings allow me to render something like a cottonball where the outer edges are "fuzzy - dispersed, etc...)

Thanks

Tom

 

[Bryan Cargill]

Yes- you can use the transparency to get a cotton ball effect.

First, create an image to be used as the transparency mask.

Something like this:

alpha.bmp

 

Next, use the transparency mask in the transparency of a material. From the transparency tab of the Smart Paint dialog, choose to use an image shader. Select your image to be used.

 

The trickiest part is getting the texture mapping correct. Youll probably want to use slide-project mapping for this. This implies the effect will only look correct when viewed from a certain angle. Once the mapping is correct, you should get an image something like this:

 

Note that the bumps on the cotton ball are made using perlin noise- not the transparency mask.

 

Alternately, you may try to use a non-image based shader in the transparency channel-- although it will take much trial and error to find suitable settings.

 

Good luck!

[tlehnhaeuser]

Thanks Brian,

Can you possibly send me your scene file. Like you said getting the mapping correct is no easy task.

thanks

Tom

 

[Bryan Cargill]

Unfortunately, the file was created in a development version of IC-- so you will not be able to open it. Here is a trick to make the mapping easier-- start out using a decal. Use the decal positioning UI to put the decal where you want it. Position it correctly and jot down the settings. Then you can turn off the decal and turn on the shader. Transfer the settings you wrote down over to the shader's mapping.

 

I know this is a silly extra step, but it is better than doing it by just changing the numbers in the dialog. Hopefully we will get a UI for the shader mapping soon. If it is important to you-- post it as an enhancement request so it is on the radar.

 

If you still have trouble getting it set up correctly, let me know and I will recreate the example in a previous, released version of IC.