First attempt at a car render

[tomas_p]

Hi all.

wide objectives in real world shall only very smal DOF bluring and this render shall wide angle of view.
If is the focused point in space far, the background is lesser blured.
If is the focused point in space closely, the background is more blured.

[geo_n]

I think the camera lens would be good to use 20-35mm. Nothing smaller than that or it would look like a scale model unless its a very dramatic angle.

[mike]

Hi!

I happen to have the same 3D model as you. It was given away on the cover disk of 3D World DVD 128.

Having access to the same model motivated me to try and give you a few friendly pointers.

Please note I created this image tonight while my wife and son slept...so, it could be better, but anyway its good enough for some tips.

I tried to stay pretty much true to how you had your car placed, though I did angle it a bit more so that you could see the engine inside. Which leads me to point out, that if a person was to try and make this car look "Real", it needs some extra complexity tossed into the engine compartment...some wires running around inside, a battery with warning labels etc...you get the idea.

For the lighting I used a HDR file I have....and then I set Octane to use pathtracing.

Set the materials for your car, glass etc as you desire.

Then using the interactivity of Octane, spin the HDR around till you get a lighting and reflection look that you like on the cars paint and glass.

Another area I like to tweak (mine in the example could be better) is the headlights. Don't forget to make the internal reflectors shine by making them like chrome. It really helps to make the car look more real, for the headlights are like the eyes of a person.

The background scene is from Daz3d...I placed the car into that environment to give it something to reflect in the paint.

I am looking forward to one day perhaps having Backplate support with a shadow catcher in Octane..such makes compositing awesome..and it really adds a realistic touch to your renders. Without having a realistic backplate you run the risk of making your scene look "fake" due to the quality of your background models. There are some that can probably post great tips on creating realistic backgrounds. I'm still trying to find that magic forumla.

As to the camera, I just slid the sliders till everything was in focus. I prefer it that way for scenes such as this...though your taste may vary depending on the look you want.

In my sample I could have let it cook longer, for the glass has that grainy look you get if you don't let it cook long enough. But, since its getting late and I need to run off to bed..it has to do for now.

I hope the image and tips help a bit.....people here are friendly and willing to help...so, I thought I'd try and contribute a little help as well.

Mike

[foxid]

Much better, but need some more realistic material of tires, metal, maybe tune other mats. And aliasing. And shut doors)

[radiance]

very good. do try to supersample to get smoother anti-aliasing: http://www.refractivesoftware.com/forum ... f=21&t=878

Radiance

[realTimer]

Thank you very much for the pointers!
I clearly have a lot to learn here

I was trying to go for the studio look with my render - similar to the Mercedes, Audi or Lamborghini in the gallery. Even though I understand the importance of a proper background environment, these renders seem quite photorealistic to me and not like small scale models despite the fact that there are no other objects to put them into a context.

Like you pointed out, the engine is not detailed enough which is why I used a lower camera angle to try to hide it - I guess that didn't work out that well
I'll also have to remember to keep the entire car in focus - I see that now.

Materials are a real problem for me at the moment. I have very little knowledge about what settings to use for photorealistic materials since my background is in realtime graphics where everything is approximated or cheated. Your tips for the headlights are exactly the kind of knowledge I'm missing so thank you very much for the input

BTW, what settings are appropriate for windows/glass? Do you tweak the opacity or should the amount of transparency be controlled by the transmission parameter? Transmission is new to me so I'm not sure what it does exactly.

[mike]

realTimer:

I am attaching 3 sample images.

1) Settings I used for the glass
2) Settings I used for the car paint
3) Another test shot without any reference background for scale

A side note....I always have a problem with getting a good RED car paint...I had a friend try on his computer(demo version)...and he could only manage a "Red Orange" as well. Hmmm...

Anyway, maybe it will help you a little...the numbers are just what I ended up with by eyeballing it. I don't have a specific forumula for textures. Though when the material library is added to octane, perhaps we will have a way to share great materials then.

Oh and in regards to transmission I've only used it for coloring the glass.

Mike

[realTimer]

Thank you very much, Mike!