WIP Sequence and renders

mattjgerard · September 15, 2017, 10:08:40 AM

Here's a couple more I've gotten done in the past month or two.

Most of the hardware was sourced from GrabCad and Turbosquid, and our own CAD engineers, of course. Very practical stuff, nothing too artsy.

Despot · September 15, 2017, 12:10:15 PM

Love the 'stopper feeder bowl', really cool stuff Matt

**edit**

Please don't take this as a crit, but there is a strange halo around the DOF areas on'Stopper Feeder Bowl' - it's really noticeable on the full res version - still love the image though !!

mattjgerard · September 15, 2017, 12:52:49 PM

Quote from: Despot on September 15, 2017, 12:10:15 PM
Please don't take this as a crit, but there is a strange halo around the DOF areas on'Stopper Feeder Bowl' - it's really noticeable on the full res version - still love the image though !!

Yeah, I saw that too. I had a ton of adjustment layers and masks in that one, and I think one of the layers with a transfer mode on it freaked out when I exputted the jpg for this post. I double checked and its not in the production piece, so I'm gonna be a lazy bum and just leave it here for now

They don't let me use DOF very often, and even in that one I think I went a bit overboard with it. These are all engineers here, they don't really have that "artistic eye" of appreciation for stuff like that.

Josh3D · September 15, 2017, 03:34:25 PM

This is some great work Matt! Cool to see more of what you do.

Will Gibbons · September 18, 2017, 07:16:52 AM

Yeah! Lots of progress here. I remember your earlier work and it's cool to see how you've grown.

If you were interested, I'd suggest picking up a book or two on lighting for photographers, read through them in your down time and see how it affects your renderings. The work here is all solid. If you're looking to push it further though, I think you could get more effective with your lighting to create focal points (since DoF isn't often accepted at work). Just a thought.

mattjgerard · September 19, 2017, 05:51:26 AM

Thanks everyone. I do think I have a solid grasp of the materials and using the MatGraph to get the surfaces technically correct, so yes, lighting is next. Specifically product lighting. I think starting a series of images where I'm building the HDRI's from scratch would help me understand what the HDRI's are doing to the look.

Will Gibbons · September 19, 2017, 06:37:12 AM

Quote from: mattjgerard on September 19, 2017, 05:51:26 AM
Thanks everyone. I do think I have a solid grasp of the materials and using the MatGraph to get the surfaces technically correct, so yes, lighting is next. Specifically product lighting. I think starting a series of images where I'm building the HDRI's from scratch would help me understand what the HDRI's are doing to the look.

Definitely a good idea. My suggestion is get a model or two from Turbosquid, apply a white diffuse material to it and try lighting it with one pin or one physical light. Do 5 of those with different light placement. Then, do the same exercise with 2 lights. Then with 3. It's a fun challenge that can push you to consider things you might not usually.

mattjgerard · September 19, 2017, 08:19:31 AM

That's some good ideas, I will do that. I do really well with instructive processes such as this, I did a ton of classroom style training for other disciplines, and that works very well for me. Having assignments and deadlines pushes me to accomplish more than having a couple of hours of free time to noodle around and experiment.

mattjgerard · September 29, 2017, 07:10:41 AM

More to post- Finished off a couple of tough ones, I am dealing more and more with LED's behind cloudy plastic, and I need to really nail down how they work. Dries had some good advice having to do with HDR toning (which I still don't totally understand). The group image below had a ton of PS work done to it, and while they all look technically accurate, as far as how the light blooms and highlight go, its a bit drab. But, it looks good on the catalog spread, so mission accomplished. The others are just more production work. Haven't had time for any personal stuff, but possibly next week!

guest84672 · September 29, 2017, 05:28:42 PM

Very neat - thanks for sharing.

mattjgerard · October 24, 2017, 07:09:07 AM

Couple more. I did not have the time to put in a submission for the contest, but maybe next time!

Josh3D · October 24, 2017, 08:05:03 AM

Dang nice, man!

NM-92 · October 25, 2017, 01:51:48 PM

Ha, i love to see your journey, mainly because i had to do that myself not so long ago. I don't know if you feel it, but you're making a hell of a progress on your images. I strongly reccomend to read and learn what each texture channel means. Once you get that, you'll be much more confortable playing and even creating your own textures.

I'm willing to share one of my models with you (if you like, of course) if you are having a hard time finding something for practice. Check my Artstation page and read the project descriptions to see which models are mine, and which ones are downloaded. Just PM me or reply me on this thread if you are interested on one of them !

Cheers and good luck with that !

https://www.artstation.com/nm_92

Will Gibbons · October 26, 2017, 12:59:21 AM

I agree with Nico! That first image is super nice. One tip... maybe an occlusion texture on the threaded area to pop out the threads. But that's a great image already!

Magnus Skogsfjord · October 26, 2017, 05:57:15 AM

So much nice stuff here. I don't have much to add besides what has been said, but I must say I love the details on that cell phone imaging picture (that milky plastic button with the lights!) and the ones where the soft rubbery gloves are hanging out (they probably have a particular name).

WIP Sequence and renders

guest84672