Denmark
Joined: Jul 7, 2013
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Re: Light & textures - rendering examples of this and that.
PART TWO
The final output of any 3D project will often be an illustration of some sort, like f.i. this snapshot of SweetHome3DExample4 , here placed in a rural environment,
or like this interior from 2014 (one of my first projects),
or a snapshot of a toxic camping ground,
or something completely different.
So...
ABOUT THE SKY
Yes – I am aware of the fact that for most users the technical quality of a snapshot from SH3D is of less importance – but since the program offers to create photographic snapshots (and since there has – in the past – been held competitions here to score the best SH3D-rendering), I assume that for some users both the artistic and the technical quality of the end product has a certain value. Being one of these users myself, I prefer to have something other than a tiled lawn, a pixelated sky and a sharply drawn horizon surrounding my creations. Avoiding that, has been a priority since I first started using SH3D.
EXAMPLE
A morning shot of a small farm surrounded by a lively horizon:
or in a totally different mood – created by a sky with a moon and a couple of stars:
This is easy to do for anyone with basic knowledge of any photo-editing software. I use Photoshop, but Gimp is a totally free open source equivalent that's easy to use.
The sky is basically a 360° backdrop.
When I want to create a certain environment and atmosphere for my projects, I can either use one or several separate standing backdrops, or I can use the sky. The advantage of using the sky is that I don't have to move my backdrops around and adjust the lighting every time I want to shoot from a different angle or change the perspective. The disadvantage is that it can be a bit tricky to determine where to put things on the sky: The equirectangular projection has played tricks on me for several years, and it's only recently that have I been able to uncover the basic principles – and how to handle it. To help me find my way around it, I have constructed a handy template that enables me to pinpoint quite precisely where to place a moon, a sunset or some decorative clouds on the sky image, in order to make them appear exactly where I want them to be on the final renderings. The template looks like this:
and renders like this:
________________
So, if anyone think they can find it useful: Right-click on the links to download.
As you might notice, I have made some quick ( and dirty) modifications to the project file, like replacing the sky with my sky template and adding a swimming pool (to get a reflective surface). I have also added some other stuff that you might find useable.
Now you can render a preview where you will see the coordinates for the part of the sky that will be visible in the final rendering.
Find an image that you would like as background, and open the sky template in a suitable editor. Don't choose a small image – choose an image that is at least 1024 px wide, but preferably bigger. The best size is an image you don't have to stretch in order to make it fit inside the coordinates, and remember that if you have an horizon in your sky image, it should preferably not exceed the green area on the bottom of the sky template. Make sure that your image is aligned at the bottom ( preferably moved a few pixels below) so you're absolutely sure there's no gap, as a gap at the bottom will create an ugly line along the horizon.
Save the edited sky template under a different name. Use jpg @ high or maximum quality.
Hope this was helpful.
Cec
______________________
Oh yes, almost forgot, my final image:
Lots of luck, and don't hesitate to ask if something is unclear.
Italy
Joined: Jul 18, 2018
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Re: Light & textures - rendering examples of this and that.
It is clear, thanks. But, for the ground? How did you create it? Is it the part of the sky image below the horizon or is it another image that you used?
Denmark
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Re: Light & textures - rendering examples of this and that.
But, for the ground? How did you create it? Is it the part of the sky image below the horizon or is it another image that you used?
The ground is textured with an image that I have created with Photoshop – an image that you can access and use, as it's used in the project file. The ground texture is a low-res compromise between resolution and weight. This grassy ground weighs 1.2 Mb. If I could choose freely, I would choose to use a file that weighs like 200Mb, or even more. But Sh3D can't handle files of that size. It just goes white, even with 64Gb of memory assigned in the plist-file .
Anyway; the ground plane will always be tiled if it's textured – the tiling effect is mathematically unavoidable. But if you make your grassy ground texture into a 20000x20000 cm tile ( like in the project file), then the ground will no longer appear as a matted green bathroom floor – unless you really zoom out and watch it from a 1000 meters altitude.
Please download the project file. If you still have the same question after examining it, I shall have to make an effort to explain myself in an even simpler manner.
