Request for ideas to make the render look more photorealistic

[steven talbott]

I am looking for any and all ideas to help improve the quality of the render so far. What I have now I really like although it does take a long time to render across 2 machines to look this good (the grass added a lot since I went with displacement). Lighting is currently using hdri with the sun off because to me it gives it a softer look (I don't know if its more realistic or not but I like it). What I'm looking for from you guys who have used nXt a while is more ideas to mke this pop out and look like a photo so I can use it to sell. Sadly some of the models like the rock on the left hand side I am stuck with a lower quality model so there isn't a lot I can do to change that. Other than remodeling, what type of changes would you make if you could?

Thanks!

[akinlolu olugboji]

I prefer the sun due to the shadows, it helps give the scene, depth. Also colour saturation is better here. The background is what am worried about, move it down so the base of the trees are on the same line as the end of your grass, that way we do not have two types of grass. 

[Jorge Javier Lara Domínguez]

Hola Steven, para esta imagen use un esquema de il.uminacion combinancion el Sol con un HDRi, en dos canales distintos. El fondo es el generado por el HDRI. 

steven talbott said:

Jorge ¿cuáles son sus opciones para la iluminación y el fondo se añadió después de el render o antes?

[steven talbott]

Jorge hizo cambiar las texturas? o eran los mismos que mi modelo?

[steven talbott]

So far just from what I have seen lighting wise Jorge's seems to be the closest to what I am trying to achieve as far as looking realistic. Now I know he has changed the playground surfacing to a more pebble base which in this particular case I have to stick with poured in place surfacing so I'm limited there. The textures on the latest 2 renders were copied images from hi resolution pictures of the equipment in question as far as the metal and plastic involved. So I'm not sure what else I can change texture wise to make it look real. The only thing that is leaving me with is the lighting and the background, which I can use gimp to fix up the grass issue where it blends. Lighting seems to be my weakness as far as if it is a balance between the hdri and sun or what gives it the most believable look. Is there some kind of sweet spot that you guys find for the sun blending with hdri's in general or is it mostly just you just keep adjusting the channel til you find a spot you like? If so are you starting out by increasing the strength of the sun? Is there something I am missing here because this is starting to drive me nuts.

[Jorge Javier Lara Domínguez]

Cambie las texturas por unas que he generado con la contribucion de mi buen amigo Marc. No existe una regla general o magica para la iluminacion, estos se logran con ensayo y error, ah y los comentarios del el grupo de amigos de este foro.

steven talbott said:

Jorge hizó Change las texturas ? o Eran Los Mismos Que mi Modelo ?

[Jorge Javier Lara Domínguez]

En esta pagina puedes cnseguir unos HDRi muy buenos (son los que uso). Solo faltaria calibrarlos

steven talbott said:

Hasta el momento sólo de lo que he visto de iluminación inteligente de Jorge parece ser el más cercano a lo que estoy tratando de lograr en cuanto a buscar realista. Ahora sé que ha cambiado el campo de juego a la superficie para una base de piedra más que en este caso particular, tengo que seguir con vertido en el lugar la superficie, así que estoy limitada allí. Las texturas en la última 2 hace que se copian imágenes de hi imágenes de resolución del equipo en cuestión hasta el metal y plástico implicado. Así que no estoy seguro de qué más puedo cambiar la textura prudente para que se vea real. La única cosa que me está dejando es con la iluminación y el fondo, que puedo usar gimp para arreglar el problema de hierba donde se mezcla. Iluminación parece ser mi debilidad en cuanto a si se trata de un equilibrio entre el HDRI y el sol, o lo que le da el aspecto más creíble. ¿Hay algún tipo de punto dulce que ustedes encuentran para la mezcla de sol con hdri en general o es más que nada te quedas con el ajuste del canal hasta que encuentres un lugar que desea? Si es así estás empezando por el aumento de la fuerza del sol? ¿Hay algo que me falta aquí porque esto está empezando a volver loco.

[Roy Hirshkowitz]

Use the sun and sky, the HDRi looks like a pretty gloomy day.  Good for some things but not for playgrounds.  You want a bright sunny day to sell the thing.  Playgrounds should have sharp shadows and nice contrasts.  Rendering playground equipment in isolation might be appropriate to do with HDRi.

Your composition is still terrible.  It's best to come down to a more human viewpoint and maybe increase your field of view to capture a little more of the playground.  It will help with the background blending.  It might also be fun to try a kid's eye view of the thing.

Work in low-resolution.  These high resolution renderings aren't helping anyone.  Crank it up for your final if you must.  Don't try to combine HDRi and sun--even if Jorge can do it successfully-- it's a lot of trouble for minimal benefit.

steven talbott said:

Ok which do you guys thinks looks better and more realistic of the following 2?

[Jorge Javier Lara Domínguez]

Imagen 30 pases, 13 minutos, 1280x960 pixeles. Retoques photoshop ara el pasto, Filtros Nikon

[Ian Foster Griffith]

Jorge

This is the money shot Steven, remember I was talking about hiding things that you don't have. This is perfect example. Again Jorge has used a  lighter/textured playground matting which makes the images POP. If you need the red matting then texture it up. Need people to make it perfect............

Jorge have you photoshopped the grass or is it a material. Love the grass....

It over lap's concrete, which looks real cool...............

[steven talbott]

Ok so low resolution render. Took all of 3 min to render at this res but just for testing. I'm not sure if you can tell but that red is actually textured to the poured in place material (it came from www.surfaceamerica.com website since that is the product in question). Background I did a search on google for large size horizon and then stripped out that yellow grass from above and turned into hdri with the widge tool. I did actually use both hdri and sunlight on this one, and maybe its like you guys said the angle that's doing it but I like this one.... Now I just have to convince the salespeople that this angle is better for a sale.... Comments on this one?

[Ian Foster Griffith]

Wow this is miles away from the image you started with..............................................

Don't have to stay true to the material, copy out another material and change scale and texture to suit the distance you need. I find sometimes the detail in a texture is lost with distance so cheat.

Try a lower deg of sun and more from the front, get some longer shadows. Bright up posts.

Remember you can change brightness etc in nxt edit after the render is done.

Interested in Jorge's grass, how....did he do that.

[akinlolu olugboji]

From the site, the poured in ground has texture so do same to yours.