Rendering big machines

Started by bendixs, November 18, 2015, 11:07:37 AM

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bendixs

Hello everyone,

I'm new on this forum, so first of all hi!

I am working on rendering bigger machine-lines and workshop layouts similar to those I have attached. As I am new in KeyShot and still learning, I am having a hard time getting my results to look realistic. Can you guys please share which basic settings you would use for an assembly like this?

My settings come from various tutorials, forum threads etc. and till now I have been working with the following:

KeyShot 6 Pro

-Materials: Stainless Steel Brushed Light, Matte paint colors and Hard Rough Plastics.
-HDRI: Light Tent White Open 2
-Global illumination: On
-Background color: White

My render settings:
-Filetype: TIFF
-Resolution: 10.000 X xxxx
-Quality: Maximum time ~1-4 hours


Anyone that can help me comment on my choice of lighting, materials or settings?

Will Gibbons

I hate to be the first to offer advice you may not wish to hear, but a common answer to your question is that there are no 'basic settings' that will allow your model to just 'look realistic'. Also, please don't take this reply as sarcastic ;)

My true suggestions are as follows:

The biggest improvement you'll see is in lighting. Try using the HDRI that looks like a factory with overhead fluorescent lights. You're using what looks like a photo booth environment, which is not a realistic lighting scenario.

Next suggestion is to not use the materials without making changes to them. By that I mean, try changing some of the parameters. I'd try increasing your bump or texture so it's easier to see. Right now I don't see any.

I think your paint (or the blue area) looks too saturated and bright to be believable.

Self shadows is turned on, right?

If you're using KeyShot 6, turn on interior lighting mode (if you haven't already).

Finally, the reflections and shadows that come from a more convincing HDRI should give your images the most credibility.

Good luck.

theAVator

Quote from: willgibbonsdesign on November 18, 2015, 05:06:23 PM
The biggest improvement you'll see is in lighting. Try using the HDRI that looks like a factory with overhead fluorescent lights. You're using what looks like a photo booth environment, which is not a realistic lighting scenario.
Ditto!
When I first started with KeyShot I ran into the same issues. First and foremost was figuring out some of the lighting and seeing how the models look in different lights/brightnesses/colors/temperatures, etc.

I'll ditto the materials thing too. The basic materials are a great starting point, but put your personal touch on them and even check out the KeyShot Cloud library. People have done a lot of work for you and posted it up there for everyone to use. Especially look at metals and plastics. On a machine like that my supposition would be there are at least 4 different types of metal being used, so if a part is steel use steel, aluminum use aluminum, if its brushed used a brushed... you get the idea.

A great start though!

Speedster

A "big machine" can be both a challenge and a blessing.  You want to indicate size and scale, of course, but your does that already.  But a big machine has a lot of goodies to cast shadows and reflect light.  So yes, really play with your HDR dome- that's the key!  Tweak the heck out of it using the KeyShot HDR Editor...
Bill G

bendixs

Hey guys,

Thank you for the replies, they are appreciated. Sorry for the misunderstanding, but the photos I provided are not something I have made. I make similar stuff and actually just strive to get it looking like those ones. So what I really was asking was tips to how to get similar result. Like what kind of lighting and materials they could probably be using.

About he materials. Everything is stainless EN-1-4301, except a few plastics, because it is dairy machines. So it really makes it hard to make anything stand out :(

If anyone has more feedback after my added info here, feel free to post :)

But I will start learning about the things you guys mentioned.

Speedster

Render something of your own and we'll offer feedback. Please, don't show another's work without giving credit to the artist/designer. It is very unfair for us to comment or criticize another's work without their permission or request.
Bill G

jhiker

Quote from: bendixs on November 19, 2015, 02:41:06 PM
Hey guys,

Thank you for the replies, they are appreciated. Sorry for the misunderstanding, but the photos I provided are not something I have made. I make similar stuff and actually just strive to get it looking like those ones. So what I really was asking was tips to how to get similar result. Like what kind of lighting and materials they could probably be using.

About he materials. Everything is stainless EN-1-4301, except a few plastics, because it is dairy machines. So it really makes it hard to make anything stand out :(

If anyone has more feedback after my added info here, feel free to post :)

But I will start learning about the things you guys mentioned.
A lot of the stuff I do is 316SS and, as you say, it's sometimes difficult to make a rendering sufficiently 'interesting' when all the materials are the same. Is any of the stainless patterned? Brushed? I often resort to adding slightly different textures or tinting adjacent parts to differentiate them a little - 'artistic license', I guess you could call it.

Will Gibbons

Yes. I'll echo what Bill said. We were lead to believe this was your work and that you wanted to improve upon it. If possible, please post your renderings and we'll help you with those. This forum is often a very safe place to share works in progress too.

bendixs

Quote from: willgibbonsdesign on November 20, 2015, 05:11:55 AM
Yes. I'll echo what Bill said. We were lead to believe this was your work and that you wanted to improve upon it. If possible, please post your renderings and we'll help you with those. This forum is often a very safe place to share works in progress too.
I'm sorry you guys believed that. As you can see in my first post I am saying "similar to" - and the pictures I attached were just official product renderings from Tetrapak - not something "someone" personally made and shared - so no harm :-) I get your point though, critiquing something that might have been someone else in here's work without permission would not be ethical.

I have requested permission to post my work, but I have to get the green lights first, as I am unsure of the secrecy of the machine - since it is brand new stuff. I will post the photos as soon as I either get a green light to share - or the product is officially released. I could hide all the mechanical parts and just share my results of the frames though. Will look into it ASAP.

Speedster

#9
We understand now.  You were asking for some direction for a project under an NDA- we've all been there!  I think the advice we've given will get you started along the path, and hopefully you can get permission to share.

Also, be really creative with your lighting, even to the extent of using colored pins to draw out the form and features.  Most machine renderings are really boring, and it's often hard to convince your client to think artistically and out-of-the-box.  Interestingly, when I've shown a client something they were not expecting it ends up as their hero shot!

Bill G

Will Gibbons

Quote from: Speedster on November 20, 2015, 11:32:33 AM
We understand now.  You were asking for some direction for a project under an NDA- we've all been there!  I think the advice we've given will get you started along the path, and hopefully you can get permission to share.

Also, be really creative with your lighting, even to the extent of using colored pins to draw out the form and features.  Most machine renderings are really boring, and it's often hard to convince your client to think artistically and out-of-the-box.  Interestingly, when I've shown a client something they were not expecting it ends up as their hero shot!

Bill G

Great advice!

bendixs

Here we go with a rendering I did. Please feel free to critique this one :-)

Also, please note that I am sacrificing some realism, to try to make it look about the same as some of the examples in my initial post. I am aiming for something that looks similar, but better than what they have :-)

Hope you guys will give me some feedback.

JST

Old post, but...

You mentioned stainless.   I had a problem with brushed stainless, and the advice given here may be of use to you

https://www.keyshot.com/forum/index.php?topic=11169.0

INNEO_MWo

Quote from: bendixs on November 24, 2015, 12:40:05 AM

Hope you guys will give me some feedback.

That Rendering is a good point to start from. Just a few thoughts.
Move that machine lil bit to or into the ground.
Use a ground plane for better shadow results.

Speedster

#14
Yikes!  That is one BIG machine!  And very well modeled!  Well, now we can help...

I agree that a ground plane will help a lot in creating the shadows you need.  I've attached a "photo plane" that I often use.  It's in SolidWorks, but you should be able to import it into your model or .bip.  It will have to be scaled, of course.  But clever use of materials on it can give some amazing results.

I'm sure your client (boss, ad agency, marketing department, whatever) has a basic story board of desired images.  I would suggest that, before getting too deep into materials, that you establish some basic views, including some close ups.  You can save these as a "Camera" to start.  Play with perspective and Depth of Field.

What happens is that materials, especially metals and brushed stainless, are greatly affected by view angles and your lighting, so by having a few basic setups you can at least search for an average.

Then apply basic brushed stainless and other materials to suit...  but then really start experimenting with your lighting, as this will have the biggest impact on the "pop" or "wow factor".  Then start focusing on the materials.

Then, when things start to shape up,  start saving Viewsets so you can go back to them as you work, again seeking that "average" look of all the views.

Keep them coming!  We're all interested in what you come up with, and are willing to help!

Bill G