Paul Swanson

[Paulgswanson]

Hello everyone. I'll be joining the competition from this point. I started experimenting with different setups a few days ago with the house so I'll just start my WIP from today.

This challenge is a lot easier to manage than a few of the others Iv attempted solo so, to everyone I wish you the best of luck! And may the best pull through to the end!

I'm having some trouble deciding on angles so for the time being I'll just be rendering with Mental Ray Presets. When I find something I like I'll push it into VRay.

Here's Just 2 of the 8 cam angles I'm using to do test renders at.
Oh, and for the record I've already solved the problem with rendering extra large resolutions. And it doesn't require indigo renderer.

My tools of the trade are:
3DS MAX 2009 Design
VRay
Maya 8.5
Gw:Ivy

As I said before, Good Luck in the challenge, I'll be around!
Peace!

[Paulgswanson]

Got roughly the materials I like into most of the places that they need to go. Vray has been activated and I'm now in the process of cleaning up the mess the conversion left. Silly raytrace glitches

Atleast, I have my pre-made vray material library :P
I wish i could say something about what is going on in my mind about my creative process but I'm kinda winging it. If the colors look good I just go with it.
I chose the Wood, Red gradient, blue gradient, and Shiny black things color scheme because it usually works well for me in my projects.

With that in mind, I simply tried it here.

Some notes about the scene setup so far however:
No Global Illumination or Light setups yet. This is still an unrefined light setup. Also not using Vray cams yet. Also no enviroment map yet for the IORS or a Sky Box.

Still Working on Applying materials to the house in general and fixing UV maps when needed.

Those of you who may have seen me on other forums know how I avoid UV maps when possible. >_>;; I don't think I can avoid it in this battle however.

O wells, Here is my day 2 progress. So far so good, but there is much work to do yet ahead. Forgive my somewhat slow updates, I am working on my Post 2009 Demoreel on the side as well.

One thing I do want to mention is the scene I will be placing the house. I will have the house supported in Mid Tree canopy almost like a tree house. When all is set and done I'll be placing a green lens on the environment to acquire the color hue I want. (I refuse to do Photoshop, I feel that if you cant get what you want in 3DS solely then you haven't worked hard enough; hehe but thats just my personal opinion.) As such there will be 0 compositing for my final image other than stitching them back together post script.

[Paulgswanson]

I'm not very talkative today so instead I'll simply demonstrate my progress with images. I finished texturing the actual house structure and those dreaded UV maps.

Time to start working on the little details like furnishings. Once thats done I'll place it in the environment that I'v planned in my head. Sorry I don't draw my stuff out, I just think about it and put it into effect.

[Paulgswanson]

Since my submission is for the most part being altogether ignored by the forums, I have a few theory's on why this is.
A. I'm not famous yet... (Its coming tho)
B. No Foliage Yet. (Fixed, Nyaa So there)
C. Possibility that I just suck at this ^_^;; I'm an Optimist however that that must in fact NOT be it. And for only 6 months of being purely self taught I like to think I'm doing very well for myself.

Oh well I digress. Here's a previz of My foliage as Sparse As I was Willing to do for tests. I'm still working on the defining materials but its coming together slowly. (For the record this is my first try at actual foliage so be kind, and by all means offer suggestions)

The first image just needs some highlights and slight reflectivity, Its already a 2 sided Vray Material. The back sides of which are slightly less reflective than the top.

Image 2 is a tree set I'v setup in Onyx a while back, I still need to overhaul the Material Set on those tho x

Image 3 is the placement distances of the initial sets of Foliage, they are already set in the correct places in the dimensions. All I need to do is fix the materials and unhide the rest of my layers.

Alright you Professionals, all I gotta say is a novice is coming through so get ready to be plowed down! Theres still another 60 days till We are done here, And I'm working on this 24/7

[annkos]

Hi Paulgswanson! Nice ivys you ve got here!! Some Povs are very interesting...i think you should start play with your lighting and capture a basic mood..Good luck!

[robert]

I find it hard to appreciate the images without GI. The first thing I do when I start out is setup an initial lighting, usually VRaySun & Sky and also turn on the GI to render. Good explanations running through your process, looking forward to seeing how you develop your ideas.

[Paulgswanson]

Well today I messed around with making leaves using Opacity Maps. So far its just with Opacity, Diffuse and Bump mapping on a 2 sided vray material, but whatever right :P Its a start

All I got for now, but I'll start making a atmosphere tomorrow after i fix my leaves and what not.

Oh and thx, Annkos and Robert
:P at least I know I'm not talking to myself anymore lol

Anyways Lights and Sky Maps are coming once I finish my Tree corrections. Shouldn't be more than another day or two until its ready.

[annkos]

Nice leaves!!! By the way, you dont speak to yourself for sure!! For me the competitions first target is to learn from the others and get better, so give us more and more, i ll be watching you and if i can i ll help you

[Peralta2010]

Your A,B&C caught my attention cause i have the same thought. Well me for example cannot also comment on each and everyone here especially w/out WIP moving on, but trying to give my opinion to others as much as a could.

Nice going on your update, looking forward for more.

[brodie_geers]

A few general suggestions on leaves (general, as I don't know Vray).

Lighting: it can be difficult to test your materials without some good lighting and something for reflections to reflect. A simple exterior scene with a sun can be good. Ideally you'd use an HDRI map of a studio or something. If your reflections don't have anything to reflect they can get washed out.

Specularity: Your leaves are looking pretty diffuse right now. For leaves you might want to add some more shine to them. Ideally you'd have a specularity map which will make the shiny parts shiny and the diffuse parts (like the stem) more diffuse, otherwise it will be unrealistically even.

Opacity maps: Your opacity maps have to be spot on or maybe just a touch smaller than your leaves. For example that leaf in the bottom left looks like it's map is a bit too big which gives it that black outline.

Bump maps: Adding some bump will go a long way to not making the leaves look too flat.

SSS: If you really want to get crazy subsuface scattering can really add some realism to leaves. But be careful with it as it'll lengthen your render times much more than any of the above suggestions.

-Brodie

[Paulgswanson]

I've noticed a lot of you guys having long discussions about the best way to scatter objects.

I find the simplest method is just using 3dsMax PFlow. Best part is that it works with instanced geometry. And since its a particle you don't need to display even the bounding boxes that proxies will display. You can also control it to place them randomly rotated and with a specific amount of space between each object. You can also control variable scale after placement.

I'll write up a tutorial with screen shots explaining how to do this for those of you who are unfamiliar with this method.

Thx for the tip Brodie, I'll try them out. I'll be honest here though, I have idea what HDRI does. I've looked into it heavily but all I seem to get out of sites is that it simulates environments for reflections?

Iv been experimenting with light setups I may have actually lower the quality of my trees >_>;; A single tree with full visuals is using 216,768 Polygons. *facepalm* And I'm at almost 3 hours for a HD render.

I'll be reducing leaves until I can get a render under 10 Minutes again. Once that's done I'll try out your suggestions. (And No, my PC is actually a pretty decent HP G60)

As I'm at work right now, I'll post my test render once I get back home. Well off to lunch to let this thing finish rendering

[3DBLUE]

I look forward to see the foliage in place.