Finally had a chance to work through the Piranesi tutorials, so here's the first result. [image: CJzP_6-LWadsworth-SH-viewS-alt.jpg] A higher resolution version of the same image is available in this gallery on Picasa. (The faked "etching texture" of the background texture is more visible in the higher res version.) I rather disliked the original view towards the South (north elevation in perspective) shown in the first post of this thread because of the non-human (but not particularly bird-like) point-of-view. This is more reasonable, from eye-height for a 6' tall human. Pity it's too late to re-submit the image. I'm finding Piranesi to be a fight...so far, it seems to be the most expensive Photoshop accessory ever (as far as I am concerned), because almost inevitably the output needs pixel-scrubbing and layering in ways that don't seem easily achievable with Piranesi alone. I'm not sure I like this as much as the "bad photocopy" pre-Piranesi NPR renderings posted before, although it is in fact much more like a Schuiten-type illustration (which may not be a good thing--there's something deceitful about faking older illustration media with digital means. This is not a pen-and-ink drawing, anymore than a VRay rendering would be a photograph).

yes me too

Thanks for the crits guys. Remus, the lens flares are agreeably too distracting, they were just to play around with lighting affects in PS. I would definately not put them in a final rendering. And damn Julius, I didnt think anyone was going to catch that about the untensils. They definately give off a blueish reflection. I think it has something to do with the refraction layer for my glasses. But good catch. Im gonna try to fix that.

Thanks for the people Majid. Looking forward to seeing the final project. I would need to have an idea about the materials you are using before I could offer a crit. Mike

Lovely arrangement and design Fernando! I like it allot!

Thanks for adding the person, Maverick. That really is going to be a beefy powerplant. I wish we could have plants like that over here in the UK. When I see all the huge expanses of wasted rooftops out there it just saddens me that we don't utilise them and help our environment. I've only ever used Podium as a renderer so I can't comment on the others like Kerkythea but I've seen its output and they have been impressive. Altho the free version of Podium does have a limit to the resolution size, it isn't an expensive programme to buy and it is incredibly easy to use and learn. In my opinion it is well worth the money.

Also, have you made sure all faces are front face.

Dear Malaise and Teezer, Thank you for your kind comments. The thread textures (which could be improved) make a difference to the 'readability' of the 3D model, but what Sketchup could do with is a good (low poly) library of mechanical parts, like nuts and bolts. I'm surprised that no one has written a ruby to generate metric fasteners. For example, one could imagine clicking on the icon of a bolt and then a window opening. The window would ask: Size (M1 to M40 say) Type (Hexhead, CapHead, Countersunk etc) Overall length Thread length Data are readily available. For example: http://www.engineersedge.com/iso_hex_head_screw.htm The ruby would then generate the fastener. Ideally, the ruby would also apply the thread texture too. Kind regards, Bob

Very impressive, you've got me ideas for an easiest way to broadcast some animations. Thanks for sharing. MALAISE

Looks great, Eric. The column, too.

looks like a lot more of the original design intention got carried over in the second set the renders give a great representation of the character of the future space though

another view.. [image: orientaldesignfront.png]

@unknownuser said: Nice. Slow day at work? Well . . .. actually I started this on my home machine playing the the SubSmoove tool . .etc. etc. Beibel .. .Yeah the ghosties chase MsPac unless they were all blinking blue but I wnated to play with the colors. . .so we can call it . . ..Missie's Revenge!!!!

@plot-paris said: ... rather high poly, isn't it? Yes. But I'm still working on how to do organic models at all, so I'm not too worried about the poly counts. All of my stuff is just for fun, as I'm a hobbyist user of SU, not a pro.

Wow thanks Dylan. That's praise indeed. I hope to post more in the next day or so. Just trying to get the lighting right on an interior.

Thanks all and especially for the tree link Boofredlay, can always use new components. I really need to take some time and learn photoshop better. Any suggestions for a good tutorial or book. All my work is Architectural related so a series geared toward that would be best. I've downloaded Kerkythea 2008 and plan on reading up.

very nice design and good visualisation too. really came out like you intended it. cool (when I saw the first live-shot image, I thought for a second "oh my God, this is some rendering!" )

Tom, I prefer the last two images from the first set. They remind me in colour and style of detailed hand drawn interior perspective watercolour techniques that existed before computers came.The bottom two of the last bunch seem kind of over done with the brush strokes going in all directions. I think it would be better to get rid of them. They seem to distract and take away all the attention from the fine detail in the background. By further postprocessing this image in photoshop for example by using adjustment layers hue/saturation, curves etc. it is possible to further enhance your original image without going into dramatic measures of using artistic tools , brushes etc. How much is too much, a difficult question, and I suppose we will never have a general agreement on that one and that’s why we are here to help each other out . I am asking myself through my work every day this question and it is very difficult for one to judge his own work. Cheers, Mateo

Hi Yannleo. For me the first thing that really jumps out is the texture of the canvas. Its very dominant and distracts somewhat from the images, which would otherwise look very good. If you can tone down the canvas a bit I think it would really help to improve them.

Thanks guys for your coments, rcossoli, i don't remember the time of the render of the bathroom, but the preset was "mlt preset". For the lighting, it's only lamp preset. mlt preset aload you to have a better render but longer than others...i prefer this one because it's nearly the same render than maxwell.... :