Rings on a Stick

[Ed]

Always experimenting:

Modeled in MoI.
Titanium metal texture created new in PS.  I'll write a tutorial if any interest.
Metal normal map in Smart Normal.
Backplate in Paint Shop Pro.  
Post in PS using Topaz Adjust plug-in.
Subtle stone glint in Adobe After Effects using Optical Flares plug-in.
Desert Sunset HDR modified in PS:  Desaturated HDR a bit to reduce blue sky color influence on the metal. Also cloned out the green plants.

Ed

[feher]

Ed,
That looks really nice, the rings have a nice weight to them. Very hard to achieve.
Thanks for sharing.
Tim

[elliasp]

Nice ! Thanks for the tips ! 

[Chad Holton]

Nicely done, Ed!

[EGON]

http://www.mitch.fr/ 

[elliasp]

http://www.francoiskalife.com   

[Ed]

Thanks everyone for the comments and the links.  There's a lot of inspiration in those two references.

I guess if I'm calling this "Rings on a Stick" then I may as well make it a stick:



Ed

[elliasp]

Cool wood material !

Maybe you can play with the background (some light effects ?...)


+++
Francois.

[guest84672]

Very nice!

[Ed]

Francois - The wood material is from the Keyshot library:  Red Oak.  The trick was to make the angle 80 degrees so the grain is not exactly parallel to the stick.

Yes, I want to experiment with more complex backgrounds and lighting.  Using the deformation tools in my NURBS modeling program I can create interesting sweeping curved shapes with folds.  I don't know if it's always possible to ideally light the subject and the background with the same HDR, so maybe I'll need to combine subject and background in Photoshop. Maybe back light a semi-transparent background with an emitter material?

Ed

[jaimedc]

Awesome render ... I wonder you did to get the material in the rings. I have a model and need this material. Congratulations on the great work. Excuse my poor English. 

[Ed]

jaimedelac -

Begin by reading the manual section on Texture Maps if you are not already familiar with this area.

Start with a standard metal material.

Create your own 1024 by 1024 pixel texture in Photoshop (search the web for tutorials on creating Brushed Metal in Photoshop) and load into the material's Texture tab. Check Enable, Repeat & Sync. Pick the best Projection method for your model.

Use the free program, Smart Normal, to create a Normal Map from the same texture image and load into the material's Bumpmap tab.  Check box Normal Map.  Check Enable, Repeat & Sync.

If you can see where the texture is repeating, there is a technique to modify your image so it becomes a Seamless Texture.  Search the web for Photoshop Seamless Tile or Seamless Texture Tutorial.

Experiment with all settings until you achieve the look you need.  Notice that the intensity slider on the Texture tab will make the metal lighter or darker.

Go back to Photoshop and adjust the tint and contrast of your texture as needed to match the metal's tone.

The HDRI and it's settings have a big impact on how the metal will appear.  Experiment a lot with different environments.

Try to get as close as possible in your render to keep post work in Photoshop to a minimum.  Slight adjustments in Photoshop using Curves can make metal look more "intense" and give it weight.

Ed

[guest84672]

Thanks Ed, this is much appreciated!!