From Barn Find to Pebble Beach (Update)

[Speedster]

Hi all!

To continue my foray into using accurately modeled Physical Lighting, I decided to test out my "Studio Rig", and up the ante by rendering out the fabulous 1953 Cadillac Eldorado model by Curro Astorza.  Also wanted to work more with Matgraph.

You can download my Studio Rig .ksp at https://www.keyshot.com/forum/index.php?topic=13871.msg69752#new.  Looking forward to seeing how you guys use it!

My system is based on using accurately modeled studio lighting equipment, like soft boxes, spots with snoots and barn doors, umbrellas, pencil wands and a long light bar.  The latter are to emulate the "Hosemaster" techniques invented by Aaron Jones, which I've mentioned before.  I designed and prototyped his system for him back in the early 1990's.

The main thing is that the modifiers like barn doors really do shape and control the light with great precision, unlike just dropping in an emissive or IES sphere or plane.  And, with Physical Lights, chrome actually reflects just as it should in a real studio!  The other advantage is that you are working in a "real" studio, kinda like playing with your sister's dollhouse as a kid, and hoping nobody sees you! 

Important notes:
1)  Set your HDR at zero brightness!  You can light it up a bit to see the lamps during setup.
2)  Use "Interior Lighting" mode.  I prefer Maximum Time, usually 20 to 30 minutes on 32 cores, for a 5000 wide image.
3)  After all is set up, apply "Emissive Light" to the lamp bodies, and set it at zero brightness or wattage.  Then Hide from Camera (and maybe shadows, etc.) so you don't see them.  Or do like in a real studio and simply position them out of the camera sight lines.
4) Of course you can duplicate, rescale and move any or all of the lamps.  My kit just has an example of each to keep the file size down.

So anyway, here's my "Barn Find", followed by hopefully a ten-point trophy at the Pebble Beach Concourse de Elegance!  The slight scratches in the chrome may knock me off the podium, however!  The last image shows my rig.

I did two rust passes, a color pass and a special "windshield" pass with the HDR up a bit just to capture the highlights I wanted, as well as a "dust" pass.  These were comped in CS5.  Barn finds are usually covered with dust, which then gets damp, trashes the paint and creates rust on top surfaces.

Comments always welcome, and do enjoy my Studio Rig!  Post your results!

Bill G

[NM-92]

The final render looks awesome. I really like the mood and the warm lights. There are some hot pixels when viewed in high-res if you look closely and that's precisely what makes me want to avoid physical lighting on my renders. I still want to try your studio though, i'm just searching for a test model to play Thanks for sharing !

[Speedster]

There are some hot pixels when viewed in high-res

Yes, I've noticed that also.  Been playing with Bloom and Radius, which may be the culprit.  But this is all experimental and a learning experience, and a blast to boot!  Thanks for the comments, and looking forward to seeing your experiments as well!
Bill G

[NM-92]

Enabling bloom brought hot pixels up in my images sometimes, but i still do not know why. Depending on the HDRI used they appeared or not.

[HaroldL]

Both images look pretty impressive. Do you find that setting the lights is similar to SolidWorks or PV360?

I think the tire and hub cap in the "barn find" image could use a little distressing, maybe some cracks or checking on the white wall and the chrome to match what you did around the head lights or on the bumper.
What did you do the grill on the second image? Not to sound critical but it almost looks like a set of dentures.

[Speedster]

What did you do the grill on the second image? Not to sound critical but it almost looks like a set of dentures

LOL!  They do look like a rapper's new "grill set"!  It's just a function of blowing out the chrome when I increased the environment brightness to better see the lighting rig.  I had not turned off the lamps either.

I have never used SolidWorks (since about 2008 when I got KeyShot) or PV360, so I don't know.   

I plan to keep working on the barn find image, and appreciate your comments about the tires and wheel cover.  Also noticed that the reflections are too strong, especially on the rear.  Each layer rendering looked OK, but when stacked in comp and tweaked it compounded the brightness.  Being dusty and stuff, it needs to be more "gloomy" and moody.

A general note- I model in inches.  If you switch to mm the lights blow out.  Also, Area Light Diffuse and Emissive work best, while IES won't.

Bill G

[Speedster]

Did some work on the "Barn Find" image- I like it a lot better!
Bill G