First presentable render

[aebstract]

I'm pretty new to 3D modelling and rendering, right now at work I'm beginning a big project of rendering the equipment that we build. In some of my spare time at home I'm trying to get better at both modelling and rendering. Below is my first render for work that I feel is worth showing, would like any and all comments/critique since I'm a beginner and trying to expand my knowledge as much as possible.

[elliasp]

Very nice !!!

[Chad Holton]

Great start! Practice, practice and practice some more seems to work best. 

[PhilippeV8]

imageshack is blocked here at work  
I'll have to wait till I get home, unless you upload on the forum  

[aebstract]

Oops! Sorry, I added it as an attachment instead of using the imageshack link. The material and scene lighting is tough, I think I'm fairly close to the correct metal material that I'm trying to achieve but I haven't really gotten in to textures and mapping that much yet. I've been a web developer and media designer for so long now, doing this is refreshing and very fun. Something I can see myself trying to get in to career-wise if possible down the road.

Thanks for the comments


PS: I forgot to mention, for time saving with this project I am not fully rendering but using the realtime render and using a screenshot after letting it sit until everything seems smooth enough. Not sure if this is acceptable for what I'm doing or not, but I'm having to do between 5 to 15 shots roughly per machine for like upwards of 100 machines so I figured that would be best?

[Tiho Ramovic]

Nice model and render 
You could only make shadows on the ground smoother (make sure that Sharp Shadows option is checked in the render settings).

Tiho

[guest84672]

@ Timo - Sharp Shadows won't help. Increase the Shadow Quality in the realtime tab.

@ aebstract - great! I suggest that you use the realtime render mode. Open the render tab, set your resolution, and check "Use real time render". Then go to quality, uncheck "Max Number of Frames", check "Max Time in Sec" and set the time (in seconds). Now you can crank out those renderings in a predictable manner. The best part? You can stop the rendering at any time, and still get the full image.

If you have KeyShot Pro, then this works with the render queue, too.

[PhilippeV8]

Yes !  Nice ... the ground shadow needs attention indeed.

I also started using the realtime renderer lately.  It's handy in the sence that you can hit deadlines anytime.  Qulity will vary depending on how much time they give me, but when using normal render mode, you pass deadline after deadline cuz its you who has to pre-determin quality and then guess how long it will render.

[aebstract]

Thomas Teger: How does the render queue work? Do I need to set up my environment, materials, etc all before I set up a queue? Then just add the various angled shots that I need to the queue individually and then process it? This is how I assume it works, but will it automatically update a material to all of my queued renders if I change it after adding a few to the queue? I think by setting the render time I'll be able to control how long it takes more accurately and know when it is done, thanks for that advice!

[guest84672]

You set up lighting, materials, angle, etc per image and add it to the queue. If you make a change, the scenes sent to the queue will not be affected.

[aebstract]

Ah sweet, is it just so you can set everything up and then render it all at the end? I'll play with it and try using it out this afternoon

[Ed]

aebstract - Great model and very good start.  I would work on expanding the material palette.  Looks like the sheet metal, hinges, bolts, machined parts all have the same material applied.  Unless the actual machine has been painted or coated all one color, try assigning a different, better matched material to each part.  You'll see a big improvement in realism.

Ed

[aebstract]

For the most part that machine is correct on material, most of our machines are sandblasted stainless steel for easy washdown. The machines process poultry equipment and have to be easy to washdown and most of the material used has to be stainless. Next machine I'm doing has quite a bit of various materials so it should be more fun, though it's taking forever to prepare the geometry during the import process.

[PhilippeV8]

The Q is very handy.  It saves a copy of your file in a list, and doesn't render yet untill you render the entire Q.
So if you got e.g. 10 files in the Q, you can edit any file without affecting the Q.  Then render the Q over night/weekend/holiday.
It's very much appreciated by the boss if you work 24/7 ;p  With KeyShot ... you can

[feher]

Nice, Ground shadow needs some love.
Thanks for sharing.
Tim