WIP Sequence and renders

[mattjgerard]

So, fairly new to Keyshot (about 4 weeks in) coming from Cinema 4D and a very short stint with Octane Render.

My boss at my new job declares that I must take at least 1 hour a week on training and "alternative projects", so without a blink I started in on researching something I've always wanted to do, some sweet sexy car renders. I've drooled over the images in the forums, and inspired by the "anyone can (should) be able to do this" attitude of the nerd on youtube that taught himself to dance using nothing but video tutorials and practice, here I am diving in as a rookie.

I intend to keep working on the same model until I get an image I'm proud of, but I will post the WIP's here, even the ones I'm not proud of Will be interesting to see the progression. I am learning that there is more to Keyshot than just dragging and dropping prebuilt materials and lighting setups. So, here we go-

First is just 45 minutes of model prep of a McLaren P1 I grabbed from GrabCad. I am not a modeler, so I will need to go with freebie stuff I find out there on the interwebs. After picking tinto this model, its not the best, and if the geometry gets to limiting for textureing and stuff I might have to find a different model. The smoothing isn't very good when zoomed in, but I might learn some things about dealing with less than optimal geometry.

[Josh3D]

I like your boss Keep pushing it! And be sure to check out some of the quick tips, tuts and especially the webinars. Look forward to seeing what you do next!

[Speedster]

Hey, Matt;

Welcome!  You're off to a great start, and practice will only make it better.

Your scale is off to the backplate, a common problem for all of us. It looks a little "toy like". 

When I set the model into the environment (backplate) I always look for visual clues to help establish scale.  For this now famous backplate, look at the height of the electrical panel- electricians usually put them at eye level.  Also, look at the size and spacing of the steel ladder on the wall.  The height of the cubbyhole recess is likely about eight to ten feet.

Then scale your model to something, like the tire diameter or door height, allowing of course for perspective and foreground enlargement.

Also, make use of the "Perspective" tools available to precisely align the model to the backplate.  But yours is well aligned.

Keep em coming!  We're all here to help!

Bill G

[Will Gibbons]

As Josh pointed out... that's a gem of an opportunity you have there for self-improvement!

If you're looking for C&C, I'd start making a list of what works on the renderings you like and see online.

Some things that I'd do to take this good rendering to great:

- Take advantage of those sexy Axalta paints in the KS library. Choose something that really pops.
- Find a lighting environment and backplate that match. You'll want reflections and lighting to match the backplate. I'd scrounge around online to see what you can find.
- Choose a backplate that allows for a larger-scaled car. Let's make it the hero of the shot.
- Finally, orient your light source and car so that the light on the car is creating a nice focal point.

You're off to a good start.
Good luck!

[mattjgerard]

Thanks everyone, the positive support on here is fantastic. I've never posted any of my personal other work anywhere because of the derogatory comments made towards people trying new stuff. Its so different on here, I really applaud the mods for keeping a positive experience.

Got more "training" this week, so I'll be making more improvements!

[mattjgerard]

OK, was a session of discovery-

1) Decided to focus on a studio setup to simplify getting and image that I like. The environment issue was complicating things, and distracting myself from the real problems of material and lighting skills that I need to work on instead.

2) I have to find a different model. The geometry of this one is messed up, the normals are all over the place, and there just isn't enough detail. Granted it was free, so i can't complain at all. Need to look around for a new model. Anyone has a good resource of a model I can just use for practice, I'd appreciate it.

3) Without letting myself blame the model for everything I found a webinar on doing car renders, so I am in the middle of watching that. Already 20 min I'm taking notes faster than I ever have before. Great info.

So, here is the next image, not much better, just different. More work next friday!

[Will Gibbons]

Great work. Discipline and attention to detail will pay off. I highly recommend creating a new HDRI from scratch and try to light the car with the following:

1. Key Light (brightest and where you wish to establish a focal point)
2. Fill/Bounce Light (secondary surface illumination)
3. Rim light (Side/Rear lighting to establish crisp edges... think the opposite of a silhouette)

That should help out immensely!

Cheers.

[Josh3D]

Oh, and also check out the KeyShot Automotive webinar that Tim Feher did. One of my favs.

[mattjgerard]

OK, haven't posted any images, partly because I'm still a rookie with KS, and its hard to post mediocre work compared to the insane images normally posted. But hell, I'm putting them out here. If I can learn something from the comments, then I'm happy.  Time to bury the pride and put some stuff out here. That being said, here's the picks of my best so far.

I'm currently in a personal modeling project of one of my favorite watches, trying to model it from scratch, which is tough as I'm not a modeler by default, more of an assembler

Thanks all for the awesome community and the sharing of knowledge. I'm getting the matgraph worked out (still some stuff that's confusing) but next thing to work on is lighting and composition.

[richardfunnell]

Matt these images are awesome, thank you for sharing!!!

Some of your materials look pretty tough to work with, especially some of the cloudy plastic + LED/light combinations. That alone can be difficult to master.
I'm a really big fan of the MA_19mm image, your material work there is top notch.

It looks like the lasers (I'm assuming they're lasers?) could use a little love, even as an emissive they can be too "solid" looking. I will often add a bit of noise as an opacity map to give them a little bit of variation, that way they're not so solid. Another option would be to apply a gradient to them (such as camera based) to control the intensity as well.
I'm attaching a try I had recently for a similar effect; I used a noise texture as opacity + PS glow to make it look laser-ey. Not sure if mine is close to your intent, but you can always push the textures on these kinds of materials.

[mattjgerard]

Thanks Richard, that 19mm image is one of the cleanest I've worked on. Doing products leaves very little to the creative artsy side of things, so its nice to see a crisp clean image sometimes.

The beams you are seeing are infrared coming from fiber optics, they are mainly used for parts counting, as parts fall off a conveyor they fall through and break the field resulting in a part count to the controller. But yes, you are totally correct in that they are a bit solid. Unfortunately, this was the standard look for these product images that was set before I started, so as of right now I can't change them. I have a half dozen images where I used just like you said, some noise, a gradient and some transparency to get a much better effect, but the "Decision by comittee" crowd shot it down in favor of consitency. Only 6 months into the job, so I don't have much pull on those matters yet

Anyway, thanks for the kind words. We are all our own worst critics, and its very uplifting to hear positive feedback. That's what I love about this community is that the critical feedback is so very positive as well, not just condescending as it is on many other forums of other renderers.

I'll keep posting! I don't seem much product stuff on here anymore, lots of character and car stuff, so time to balance it out:)

[mattjgerard]

Here's another one I just wrapped today.  Back wall and floor are from poliigon, finally am getting the hang of using thier textures in KS. Some tutorials would be nice, I'm doing a lot of guessing and knob twiddling to get something that works without really knowing what is affecting what.

Most of these are imports of old 3DSMax files that were built years ago, I'm swapping new products in an retexturing them.

[Will Gibbons]

Looking good. Progress can feel slow at times. Once you're feeling comfortable or familiar with the program, I'd focus on efficiency. Focusing on the 20% efforts that get you 80% of the results is something I like to recommend. Speed will come in time.

Regarding those textures from Poliigon, check out the Material Graph webinar on the KeyShot Youtube from a few months ago. That covers lots of texturing tricks that may be a good refresher on how to use those textures.

[mattjgerard]

Thanks Will, good advice. I am an effeciency nutball, so I can certainly get behind that theory. Especially with this sort of thing where its all somewhat real world, there's little "art" to it other than composition.

I will rewatch the matgraph tutorial. I watched it a while back, but now that I'm using the texture maps for more there's probably a boatload that I missed out on.

[richardfunnell]

The Poliigon folks also created a quick tutorial on how to use their textures in KeyShot: https://youtu.be/_yj9zQ_oacY

The metal tanks look awesome! Good job on those materials