Too SIMS Looking =P

multitech · April 02, 2013, 02:38:10 PM

Hi Guys,

I imported some character models from DAZ 4.5 and some model geometry from Solidworks into Keyshot 4. I didn't do much with the DAZ characters other than to change the color of the wetsuits/swimsuits. Probably should have picked a better material than rough plastic. Their skin/hair textures are unchanged other than I had to manually set the opacity maps. I think my humans are a little too plastic looking. It looks like I'm playing the SIMS in HD. What do you guys think I should do to make this (a little) more life like. I'm using the startup lighting and all the default settings. Renderings are 16 samples, 6 bounces, 3 shadow.

Mike

evilmaul · April 02, 2013, 03:38:47 PM

well ..startup env is what it contributes the most to how flat looking is the image. First its an indoor lighting and second it basically doenst have any color in it. Your render suggest that you are outdoor (unless its an indoor pool? but i dont hthink so)...and therefore try some sunny enviroment which i am sure, that alone would made the render already better. As for the skin you have to play with the skin shading settings a bit. The subsurface scattering depends with the scale of the object so yeah you need to experiment it a bit.

Anyway ..about the lighting I said so because even if its meant to be outdoor with overcast lighting...I think it would still be more interesting if it was a sunny day

PhilippeV8 · April 03, 2013, 12:20:58 AM

This is an interesting project. Keep pushing this forward .. I'm curious to see your progress on this.

edwardo · April 03, 2013, 02:51:02 AM

You need to use the translucent materials with SSS, and play about with the depth of translucency. Also, try altering the poses of the Daz models (all daz preset poses look too contrived and never very dynamic!). I think you could do with and outdoor lighting environment too.

I like your water surface - how did you achieve that?

A good start i recons

Despot · April 03, 2013, 05:06:48 AM

I'm still trying to work out what the subject title means...

PhilippeV8 · April 03, 2013, 05:09:03 AM

@biomechanic >> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sims

multitech · April 03, 2013, 05:36:32 AM

For the water, I used clear glass material with a bump map of a water surface image. The bump is not very noticeable because the height is very small. If the height of the bump is too large, the red graphics on the boat reflect off the glass too much. It beaks up the step reflection a little. The bottom of the pool (separate model from the water) has a pool bottom photo mapped to it. I've tried many variations of liquid, transparent, and glass settings. My Keyshot skills are pretty limited so I need to experiment a lot more.

I did pose the adult female on the step. That took awhile to figure out with only two days of using with DAZ. Thank you Youtube tutorials! The children poses are stock. My coworker said they look sad.

Quote from: edunabie on April 03, 2013, 02:51:02 AM
You need to use the translucent materials with SSS, and play about with the depth of translucency. Also, try altering the poses of the Daz models (all daz preset poses look too contrived and never very dynamic!). I think you could do with and outdoor lighting environment too.

I like your water surface - how did you achieve that?

A good start i recons

multitech · April 03, 2013, 05:47:19 AM

I tried the stock forest outdoor environment and it does make the image more interesting. I only have three outdoor environments: forest, urban night, and Iceland. I'll have to search the net for some more. The forest environment makes the water surface look pretty cool. I think those are tree reflections on the right side of the pool. I guess I need to import some trees now.

Quote from: evilmaul on April 02, 2013, 03:38:47 PM
well ..startup env is what it contributes the most to how flat looking is the image. First its an indoor lighting and second it basically doenst have any color in it. Your render suggest that you are outdoor (unless its an indoor pool? but i dont hthink so)...and therefore try some sunny enviroment which i am sure, that alone would made the render already better. As for the skin you have to play with the skin shading settings a bit. The subsurface scattering depends with the scale of the object so yeah you need to experiment it a bit.

Anyway ..about the lighting I said so because even if its meant to be outdoor with overcast lighting...I think it would still be more interesting if it was a sunny day

PhilippeV8 · April 03, 2013, 06:10:02 AM

You need to take some gloss out of the girls hair and the wetsutes. But your water does look a lot better already. Still I think you need to add some more ripple in it. It's particularly obvious that the stairs are not refracted.

multitech · April 03, 2013, 11:39:35 AM

I added a better bump map to the water surface that breaks up the reflections. I also made the wetsuits less glossy. I need to work on the character's hair and skin textures a little more.

Quote from: PhilippeV8 on April 03, 2013, 06:10:02 AM
You need to take some gloss out of the girls hair and the wetsutes. But your water does look a lot better already. Still I think you need to add some more ripple in it. It's particularly obvious that the stairs are not refracted.

multitech · April 05, 2013, 06:22:22 AM

I changed the water from glass material to liquid. I was using glass because I could not figure out why the liquid was so black. Bruno at Keyshot support helped me out. Make sure Global Illumination is turned on and the refraction for water is 1.33. I had it on glass 1.5 Now there is some nice refraction distortion.

The SIMS people still need a lot of work.

Mike

PhilippeV8 · April 05, 2013, 06:30:47 AM

Aaah yes ... poolwater is 100% better now

Keep up the good work !