Hey all,
I posted this over at cgtalk forums but thought I should post here as well, so I can get all the constructive criticism possible, as it is the first model I have ever done. It was rendered in maya in about 5 minutes, I am not to sure as to why there is a bit of noise on the background, so if anyone can shed some light on that, that would be cool. The lighting is HDRI lighting because I am still getting mu head around 3 point lighting.
Crits welcome.







this is the 3 point lighting attempt.

pretty good for a first model. I have not used image based lighting that much but it looks like you need to use final gather. Also try and ambient occlusion and composite the occlusion with the render to added some shadows. You probably should put a small bump map on the camera and play with the reflections and refractions for the glass viewer.

it's good

nice work with shape, and unlike my first 3 models it looks like you did a bit of texture mapping?

the flash at the top looks faceted(?) you can see the edges used to make it... try softening them to see if it does any better

i don't like the 3-point lighting though, the camera looks really flat and looks like it's floating above the ground

good work with the reflections

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that's a "Ch" pronounced as a "K"

Computer skills I should have:
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No texture mapping just the standard shaders that come with mental ray, we weren't aloud to use anything else for the assignment.

Yes the flash was quite a bit of trouble, it actually has beveled edges which was stupid of me, but I know what I would do next time, I just ran out of time.

I am really trying to work on the 3 point lighting, but don't know what I am doing wrong, perhaps you could point me in the right direction.
Thanks for the kind words.

Model looks pretty good, especially for a first. I think the HDRI renders are blotchy because of your final gather settings, you may need to boost the accuracy a wee bit and also increase the point interpolation and go from there. Personally I don't think HDRIs are a cure all, as it can be a pain in the neck at times, its nice to have a backdrop being reflected but its even better to have the reflections make sense or even be abstract, its kinda becoming a cheesy effect as many people are using the same 3 HDRIs circling the net. A few light cards, maybe even some textured geo would help in the reflections department. As far the render with the three point lighting, did you make the shadow color lighter? I ask because its really disappearing onto backdrop and making the camera look like its floating. Also it seems to be missing a rim light.

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- Genny
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Yeh since I am very new to all this, I am having a hard time wrapping my head around light, lol. What do you mean when you say textured geo, and by light carsd do you mean, say a spotlight with a card attached to the back, or like an area light.
As for the 3 point lighting, no, it was just a shadow with ray tracing enabled.
Also whats a rim light?

Thanks heaps for your help guys, I'll get there eventually.

What I meant by textured geo is using primitives to fake a backdrop, like for example you want a bright window in the reflection, instead of modeling a window, you could just use a polygon geometry with an image of a window on it, its all about creating illusion of an environment, kinda like concept of using images of trees slapped on poly planes to help fill in a forest. And yes you can use light cards as well, or just different shapes. In 3 point lighting, there is the key light (main light, casts shadows), fill light (well...it "fills" the dark areas) and the rim light (this accentuates the lines of the subject and makes it pop out, so its usually placed in the back of the subject) In the case of the rim light, you may want to have it only affect the subject sooo you may want to check out light linking.

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- Genny
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wow, awesome very informative. I still don't quite know what you mean by light card, is this a spotlight with a card attached to it or something on its own. Light linking, sounds complicated hehe, know of any tutorials. Another quick question is there a way to make shadows softer or a bit lighter, because all the shadows I am making at the moment are like pitch black and way to hard for the scene.
Thanks for your help man.

I had another crack at 3 point lighting and this is what I came up with.



I also tried the textured geo thingo. You can faintly see a photography studio in the reflection. I used HDRI for this one.



Another question, why does using HDRI make it look so realistic yet I cant get anywhere near that with the 3 point lighting.

Cheers

Because if you only use three lights in Maya (with de default render settings) there are a lot of things missing. For once there's no environment to reflect (unless you modelled one) and if you want realism you have to use final gather, global illumination, advanced shadows etc. etc. etc.

So by modeling an environment to reflect do you mean, say a polygon plane with a picture of a landscape on it, or something more advanced.
Final Gather was used here with accuracy set to 500, no global illumination, don't know what that is, perhaps you could shed some light on it for me. Also advanced shadows, what are they.
Thanks guys.

Wow that looks great, i have to try HDRI

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https://users.ecs.soton.ac.uk/as28g11/

I think you should take this to the W.I.P section.

Originally posted by midduke
Another question, why does using HDRI make it look so realistic yet I cant get anywhere near that with the 3 point lighting...

Originally Posted by

HDRIs make things look more realistic because not only do they provide an environment to reflect, they also contribute to lighting, create contact shadows, soft shadows and all that other good stuff.

It would just make sense for me to advise you to check the help files to get familiar with the maya lights (skipping the basic stuff is never a good idea) but as far as making softer shadows, increase the light radius in the raytrace section of the light's attributes. That'll soften the shadow but it'll be grainy unless you increase the light rays (that'll increase render time so don't go cray with that lol)

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- Genny
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I'm not to sure how to put it in the WIP section, if the mods want to do it, thats cool.

I had a read through the lighting parts of the help files, and it is starting to make a bit more sense now, I think I will have a look at a few tutorials as well, I am currently making a scene of a couple of batteries to practice UV mapping and lighting on, so I'll let you know how that goes.