irradiance particles and hdri. update

An update of my Irradiance particle study.

As it is, I do not have access to hi resolution HDRI's so... any who, I just want to learn how to set-up Irradiance Particle along with Image Base Lighting.

irradiance particles and hdri

I feel like a kid on his first bike ride without the rear training wheels. Let me tell you why. While trying to figure out how to make my exterior archiviz render with mental ray better, I have stumbled upon Jeff Patton's entry on making interior renders "unique". Here he recommends IBL with Irradiance Particles. I'm hooked!

After 4 hours of tweaking with it here is what I have.

I'm still figuring out if I got it working right. The shadows seem soft compared to the HDRI environment which is bright daylight.

 Here are the settings. You can find free HDRI's at www.hdrlabs.com and some at www.hyperfocaldesign.com.

I will surely be updating this.

wip_exterior

I've been around the net looking to challenge myself for something new to render. I've noticed that I haven't posted any exterior renders except for one that I never really got to finish.

I have stumbled upon this very nice looking house at http://www.trendir.com. It's called Crockett Residence. Designed by Elemental Design. (Please do not sue me. I do not claim ownership of the design and of the house. If I violate any laws please contact me immediately. )

Modeled this from scratch in Sketchup. Here are some study renders.

You can find the image I tried to emulate at the http://www.pbelemental.com.

Back inside

Hey, is this thing on?


Man, it's been quite some time since my last post. Work got in the way. And a long overdue vacation was something I would never trade for. I stayed away from the computer while I was "away" as much as I can just to give myself some space to breathe from everything.

I will be posting some stuff in a few days.

Ciao!

Bedroom in Sketchup

For weeks I have been playing around with a very nice sketchup model of a good friend. For such a small scene it is not suppose to take 3 to 4 weeks. But I only toyed with it in between my spare time.

I know I would have a good time rendering this one out. And I did. I had a few issues with some of the models which came from the google sketchup 3d warehouse but nothing too serious. The chair, the fan (which I opted out of the final rendered image) and the blinds.

Click for higher resolution

Depth of Field

I remember this post at cgpinoy. I wanted to test mental ray's DOF and tried to come up with a pure out-of-the-box rendered image without using any post editing. The funny thing was I only had a core 2 duo machine. I cannot  recall how many hours it took but it finished without a problem.

I came up with this:

Click to enlarge

CGPinoy First Exterior Rendering Competition

This is the first exterior rendering competition that I will be joining. It's quite interesting because I've been a big fan of Stephen King's The Dark Tower novel and the main subject is a tower. I have read all the seven books in the series and I have so many ideas running in my head of how to approach (should I say) the problem just thinking of The Dark Tower.

Artwork from the original Marvel comic series based on Stephen King's epic The Dark Tower.

the third & the seventh

Just keep in mind while watching all of this (in FULL screen) - it is CG. I had to slap myself a few times midway in the (short)film just to keep from drooling. The musical score just lulls you into this dreamy state that convinces you into thinking that the scenes "are" real; the lights, the textures, the ambiance... (are they not?). This is something I can only dream of achieving.

I'll just shut up now because you'll enjoy it more by seeing it for yourself. It's not enough to use a single word to best describe this magnificent work by just one man. This is just truly awe-inspiring. Check out Alex Roman's site and see more of what I'm talking about.

The Third & The Seventh from Alex Roman on Vimeo.