My First KeyShot Diamond

[Will Gibbons]

Could use some help here. I skimmed threads tagged with 'diamond' here and did find some helpful hints, but I'm wondering if anyone has some 'rules of thumb' that describe certain outcomes.

I've attached scene settings too. I let it render for about 45 min. with max samples set to 500

For example:
1. What kinds of lighting should I be using in my scene if I want to see color/caustics/light being scattered across the floor?
2. What causes an increase or decrease of 'color/fire' within the diamond?
3. Why do the reflections within my diamond look swirled rather than like sharp triangles?

Also, I'm assuming the actual shape of the diamond matters. I modeled this in MODO without trying to accurately represent a real-life diamond.

Thanks in advance for any help!

[Esben Oxholm]

For example:
1. What kinds of lighting should I be using in my scene if I want to see color/caustics/light being scattered across the floor?
2. What causes an increase or decrease of 'color/fire' within the diamond?
3. Why do the reflections within my diamond look swirled rather than like sharp triangles?

Hi Will.
I'm not very experienced with diamonds, but here is what has helped me.

1. I've had luck using a focused IES light... or a high contrast HDRI. Or both
2. I believe the abbe number inside the gem material has an impact on this.
3. My guess would be the way you modelled the diamond. To get the look of sharp triangles you need to model it as sharp triangles. I gotta admit that the swirls looks kinda weird, though.

Lets see what the more experienced diamond renderes has to say to this

[syrom]

Since its a unbiased renderer, i suspect it's the angles on the diamond. 

[Chad Holton]

Hi Will,

Open the default scene called "ray_bounces" and delete the mirrors. You will have a nice diamond to work with as your current one doesn't have any facets and seems to be rounded. Post what you end up with or what you're trying to achieve and we'll try and help.

Chad

[Despot]

Since its a unbiased renderer, i suspect it's the angles on the diamond.

KeyShot is biased, is it not ? physically accurate and with a 'progressive' renderer, but still biased

**disclaimer**

I could be completely wrong

J

[Will Gibbons]

Hi, thanks all who commented. I followed Chad's suggestion and bingo. Must have been my geometry. I learned that the shape of a diamond is specifically so in order to get the light to do cool stuff. haha.

Here's my next goaround using the diamond included in the stock KS scene.
I wasn't happy with the raw render so I did lot of stuff to it in PS. Next time around, I'll try to do all adjustments in-camera (KS) and try to not add effects in PS. I've got ideas on how to do this.

First image is my final composite.
Second image is the raw render from KS.
Third image is just a screenshot of my scene setup.

[Josh3D]

Very NICE. Love the way you set up the light. The color is phenomenal.

[Will Gibbons]

Very NICE. Love the way you set up the light. The color is phenomenal.

Thank you! Excited to play with this some more. Have some cool ideas for the contest ; )

[Speedster]

"Diamonds are Forever", just like KeyShot!  Good work, and very creative lighting! Looking forward to seeing more!
Bill G

[Zen]

for future reference, the reason why your diamond rendered that way was because the normals weren't proper.  whenever you export gems after modelling, export them without normals; this will keep their edges sharp/blocky/faceted. 

Also, vertices matter, because each face on the model will interact with how the light is handled when passing through a gem, even if that face is on the same plane as another face (like how there are intersections on the bottom part of the diamond).  That's something to take into consideration because it can affect render realism.   

[Will Gibbons]

for future reference, the reason why your diamond rendered that way was because the normals weren't proper.  whenever you export gems after modelling, export them without normals; this will keep their edges sharp/blocky/faceted. 

Also, vertices matter, because each face on the model will interact with how the light is handled when passing through a gem, even if that face is on the same plane as another face (like how there are intersections on the bottom part of the diamond).  That's something to take into consideration because it can affect render realism.   

Thanks for the detailed explanation. Seems obvious now that you put it that way.

[Magnus Skogsfjord]

That's really cool. Loving that light scattering effect!

[Will Gibbons]

Thanks Bill and Magnus! Always appreciate the encouragement.

[Doug Didia]

Inspiring workflow and information. Great work, Thanks.

[Will Gibbons]

: D Thanks for the compliment!