Improve render quality

jblaze · February 20, 2017, 03:39:50 AM

Guys,
I need help improving the overall quality of my renderings.
Generally I render section views of different pipe tools - sets of pipes (2-3m/8-10ft long with small diameter 50-100mm/2-4") screwed together and use the renders in product brochures. Usually the rendered images are scalled down to fit on a single A4 page. The main problem is that it's hard to distinguish the different parts on the final render.
The scene settings I use are pretty basic - Startup.hdr environment, front view, ortographic view mode, white background color, ground shadows turned off (the last 2 are used so I can produce images without background), steel polished material.
I've attached a sample rendering.

It would be great if you could direct me what and how I can improve.
Thanks!

Esben Oxholm · February 20, 2017, 04:00:38 AM

Hi jblaze.

What about inducing a slight color difference between the different parts?

DriesV · February 20, 2017, 04:36:15 AM

Hi jblaze,

Are you able to give the cut faces a different color/material in your CAD system?
If so, then you can assign a separate material to those faces in KeyShot.

Dries

jblaze · February 20, 2017, 05:14:37 AM

@Esben Oxholm:
I've used your approach and the results are better. See attached. But I'm still not completely satisfied with the renders. Maybe if there is a way to emphasis on the different parts edges so it's more clear when a part ends and begins the next one. Or something like a wireframe render overlayed over the original render.

@ DriesV: Interesting idea. I'm using Solidworks. Generally it has the ability to apply different appearance to each face but since I'm cutting the assembly in half to show the section view SW doesn't treat the section faces as regular anymore and doesn't allow me to apply material to a single cut face. I can apply material to the Cut Feature which will affect all the cut faces.

designgestalt · February 20, 2017, 08:39:47 AM

well, I am not really an expert in SW and I am also rather new to Keyshot, but here are my two cents:
I would not use the standard clipping tool in SW to show the section, but really cut the part right there where you need ist. therefore the surfaces should behave like normal and you can apply a different colot onto them.
also I think you should add small radii at the corners (i.e. even at the chamfers 0.1mm), so there is something that can catch the light!
you might as well use the radii tool in keyshot, although in my cases it never behaves the way I want...
than you have to add more light again in the scene. in the first image the parts were still recognizable as 3D parts, they totally lost that in the second image.
Than I would try what Esben and DriesV suggested and see what the result is...
regards
designgestalt

Speedster · February 20, 2017, 10:46:21 AM

I have to do this often for my medical device clients, and unfortunately there is no KeyShot workaround yet. Maybe in KeyShot 7!

So I do a physical section of each part in SolidWorks, and apply any color to the section faces for KeyShot to recognize later. A different color for each part, of course. An advantage is that you can use a spline to vary the cut, or do partial sections if needed. I always do this cut-extrude last in the tree, and after saving and importing into KeyShot, go back and suppress the cut. I also name the SW cut so folks in the future know what it's for!

Then, in KeyShot, you can apply any color or material you want to the sectioned faces. I often use a slightly different tone of the part's base color.

However, if you are going for color in an assembly document, for example, I often use strong colors like red, blue, green, yellow and the like. Remember, it's all about imparting information.

There is one problem. Your clients will like this so much you'll be stuck on it forever!

Bill G

bdesign · February 20, 2017, 05:54:17 PM

I haven't used SW with KeyShot, so I'm not sure if this would work...have you tried using the Geometry Editor to split off the sectioned faces into separate surfaces?

If you do go the route of physically sectioning the model in SW as suggested by the others, here are some additional ideas that may help:

1. Apply an Occlusion node to the inner recessed areas to add some contrast to the shapes and bring out detail.
2. As well as color variation on the sectioned faces, perhaps add a brushed texture at 45° for a hatched look.

Quote from: jblaze on February 20, 2017, 05:14:37 AM
Maybe if there is a way to emphasis on the different parts edges so it's more clear when a part ends and begins the next one. Or something like a wireframe render overlayed over the original render.

Here's a Material Graph setup to get a Toon outline on any type of material:

Apply a Toon material as a label to your main material. Set the Toon color to black. Connect a Color To Number node > Opacity of Toon material. Set the "Output From" value to .01. Connect a Color To Number node to the Contour Color of Toon material. Set the "Output From" value to -100. This will give you a "black" outline. For a "white" outline, set the "Output From" value to 100. You can try values between -100 and 100 to get various shades of the main material color. Example renders and KSP file attached.

Cheers,
Eric

Will Gibbons · February 21, 2017, 08:12:54 AM

Also, if you haven't modeled fillets or chamfers on all your edges... in KeyShot, the 'rounded edges' option works incredibly well for catching some light on the edges which will help to separate those various parts/faces.

jblaze · February 24, 2017, 07:00:58 AM

Thank you all for your comments and ideas. They were very useful.
What I did - I've used the Toon contour materials that @bdesign provided and added Round Faces to all the parts (selecting them one by one is a pain but the it is worthed

). You can see the results attached.
PS I skipped the color each section face part because the assemblies I use are with 20-50 parts and it would be very time consuming to assign material to each section face in Solidworks and then modify all of them in KS.
PS2 @Speedster using a spline for the section cut is very nice idea. Unfortunately the assemblies I use have circularly spaced holes and the spline cut may mess the holes' visualization and give the wrong idea about the tool.

Speedster · February 24, 2017, 07:48:56 AM

Excellent job! You have created an appropriate rendering that is targeted to your user, who is likely trained and knows what it is. We always have to remember that we are not rendering for ourselves (most of the time), but for the end target user. This is true whether for an automobile ad, house design, consumer products or sophisticated technical folks.

Perfect!

Bill G

Will Gibbons · February 27, 2017, 06:24:53 AM

Quote from: jblaze on February 24, 2017, 07:00:58 AM
Thank you all for your comments and ideas. They were very useful.
What I did - I've used the Toon contour materials that @bdesign provided and added Round Faces to all the parts (selecting them one by one is a pain but the it is worthed ). You can see the results attached.
PS I skipped the color each section face part because the assemblies I use are with 20-50 parts and it would be very time consuming to assign material to each section face in Solidworks and then modify all of them in KS.
PS2 @Speedster using a spline for the section cut is very nice idea. Unfortunately the assemblies I use have circularly spaced holes and the spline cut may mess the holes' visualization and give the wrong idea about the tool.

Good results! Though, I'll mention, you don't need to select each part one at a time when doing rounded edges. You should be able to hold shift to multi-select multiple parts.

jblaze · February 27, 2017, 07:42:33 AM

Yes, I figured the multiselect option by myself. What I meant was you can't select all parts at once from the parts tree or shift-select all the parts shown on the scene but you have to click on each part on screen (or in the parts tree) individually.

Ravenswood Design · March 08, 2017, 05:44:35 PM

Hey jblaze,

Good job on cleaning that up so well, it's looks vastly improved (good on you keyshot forum for having good advice). If you're still looking to improve it, it might be worth changing your environment and increasing the contrast a bit, that will help the filleted edges that keyshot has put in stand out, and for your shadows to pop a bit more.

Something I often do is pick one of the photographic environments and bump the saturation down to 0. That lets you keep all of the interesting detail it adds to your render, and maintain colours and finishes accurately. Also, try rotating the environment once you have it set up, as this can significantly change the way all of your shadows and reflections play on the model.