Franklin Printing Press update

[Speedster]

Hi all;

Sneaking up on my Ben Franklin Printing Press. 

Egon made a valuable comment that the lighting on my first post was quite flat, and I totally agree.  So for this new rig I used a large (physical) "soft box", a small key spot and a large prime key spot.  Just to make it fun in my fantasy KS world I modeled the spots sort of realistic just so I could go back to the "old days" of studio lighting.  Area Light Diffuse on the soft box and Point Light Diffuse on the spots.  The large has a blue "gel", the others a warm-yellow "gel".  Even got out my old gel sample set!

The spots have "barn doors" to boot!  And yes, they affect the lighting just like the real ones, as you can see in the two small rigging shots below.

The HDR brightness is set way low, with almost all the illumination from the diffuse lamps.  I like the shadow depth now, and it has a nice range of blacks.  At least I think so!

The oak was a pain in the rear.  But my "rear" was saved when I found out that the main press components were actually elm!  Oak is tough, in that the rays run perpendicular to the grain, which creates havoc with bump maps.  Procedural Oak is way too coarse and not convincing for high-end rendering.  So "Elm to the rescue"!  FYI- the platen is a tight grain old-growth mahogany.  I also tweaked the cherry "furniture", used to lock up the type in the "forme" on the marble stone, or "chase".  I have actual furniture from about 1830, and they are very tight grain and oxidized to a nice reddish-brown.
Anyway, it's moving forward now.  I'll soon put it in a context environment that I think will surprise you.  It's all about the First Amendment.

My SolidWorks "spotlight" is available below if anybody wants to play with it.  After setup, just hide the body and make the lamp invisible to the eye.  You know the drill!

Bill G

[TpwUK]

Wow that's a massive difference - Did modelling the lights in that way add much time to the rendering ?

Martin

[Speedster]

Hey, Martin- nope, no time at all I think.  1200 x 1200 rendered out in about 2 minutes on 8 cpu's.  I'm becoming a big fan of physical lights!  And, although it's subtle, the barn doors actually do work.  Of course, if you use them, the lamps have to be out of the sight lines.
Bill G

[TpwUK]

That's good to know, I have had problems in the past with light for-ever bouncing around the casing before exiting adding hours to renders, I gave up trying to emulate lights after that and used software provided ones but I was never happy with the results. Maybe it's time to look at them again ... Have you tried it with a rebound brolly yet ?

Martin

[feher]

Bill
I love your models !!!!!!! Always so interesting and the detail is amazing !
really like the image too. Amazing what a few lights will do brings it right to life.  Do I see speckles in the wood ?
This is a big keeper in my book on many levels.
Thanks for sharing You Da Man
Tim