Mini MP3 player

o9p · August 04, 2016, 03:46:34 PM

Working on this mini mp3 player as a personal project. Was wondering if anyone could lend me some tips on boosting the overall realism. Is there anything else I could add to the scene to help add interest to the shots?

NM-92 · August 04, 2016, 04:09:16 PM

Hello o9p. You can add a groundplane if you want to improve realism. That way you can have reflections and shadows on that ground. This way, your object won't be floating in the air.

o9p · August 04, 2016, 04:15:29 PM

Quote from: NM-92 on August 04, 2016, 04:09:16 PM
Hello o9p. You can add a groundplane if you want to improve realism. That way you can have reflections and shadows on that ground. This way, your object won't be floating in the air.

I actually have the ground plane on, and there are some shadows, but I was using a backplate that's rather dark I fear. I have a tendency to go heavy on the "black on black". I'll try lightening the scene some.

NM-92 · August 04, 2016, 04:18:23 PM

Sorry, my bad. I didn't noticed. Then you can texture it a bit to make it more noticeable. Some slight bump or roughness texture can increase the detail. A noise texture on the diffuse slot can help making the ground a bit less flat. Everything depends on what look and style you are after.

SebasDesign · August 04, 2016, 04:46:04 PM

I agree with Nico, your model looks fantastic but the ground plane appears to have specular set to black (as default) what you can do to make it look a bit more visible is to change it to a gray or something if you want a little bit of reflections and also, if you want, add a little bit of roughness

nicordf · August 05, 2016, 01:02:24 AM

I agree with the bump. The model looks perfect (sometimes juust a subtle screw misalignment could help it look more realistic, model-wise) or some dust from poliigon.

Nice design Seba!

nicordf · August 05, 2016, 01:09:45 AM

It kept me thinking haha, have you tried adding some noise and chromatic aberration in post? As it's lighted by one big light spot, on a physical camera the darker areas would have a bit more noise than the lighter ones.

Will Gibbons · August 05, 2016, 07:34:59 AM

Since you asked, I'll chime in. This is an overall low-key image meaning it's dark and you haven't got a lot of contrast in the light. You can still keep it in a dark environment, but I'd make the lighting stronger/brighter on the area you wish to make your focal point for each image.

o9p · August 08, 2016, 11:31:36 AM

Quote from: nicordf on August 05, 2016, 01:09:45 AM
It kept me thinking haha, have you tried adding some noise and chromatic aberration in post? As it's lighted by one big light spot, on a physical camera the darker areas would have a bit more noise than the lighter ones.

I'm aware of what chromatic aberration is and is used for, but not really sure how to do it. Post processing in photoshop I assume?

o9p · August 08, 2016, 11:40:36 AM

Here's another go at it with some of your suggestions. I'm not sure how well the dusty ground planes works for me. the dust seems to be a bit too distracting. I dont know if adding a DoF to the render would help, or if it would simple make all the dust meaningless since its likely to disappear.

Quote from: Will Gibbons on August 05, 2016, 07:34:59 AM
Since you asked, I'll chime in. This is an overall low-key image meaning it's dark and you haven't got a lot of contrast in the light. You can still keep it in a dark environment, but I'd make the lighting stronger/brighter on the area you wish to make your focal point for each image.

Regarding this, I tried boosting the brightness and contrast, but I was then blowing out the top surface of the model. Its a pretty reflective material. And the differentiation between the materials for the top plate and the buttons is very minor. I loose the buttons if I bump the brightness.

Will Gibbons · August 08, 2016, 02:12:35 PM

Hey! I like this better. I don't personally think the dust is too much. Some DoF could help as you mentioned. On your point of blowing out the reflective material... yes. If you're using any kind of Metal material in KeyShot, this will be tough to control at times. Even a basic plastic material is really reflective. Try paint instead. You should be able to reduce the reflectivity by adjusting the material properties to work with your HDRI. I dig your latest rendering though.

nicordf · August 08, 2016, 05:15:13 PM

I like the last one a lot! I agree with you both though, the dust might be a bit too much, but the light setting gives the object a lot more depth.

Regarding the chromatic aberration, I've attached a photoshop action that might help you! Convert the image into a smart object and run it; it gives a bit of chromatic aberration, an unsharp mask pass, some tiny bit of noise and an S curve (that you should adjust later on to fit what you'd like)

There are a few other actions included that I don't think they're too useful for you, but couldn't take them out haha

Tell me how it goes!