Clay Rendering

numbthumb · 6 Jan 2010, 14:25

Hi everyone,
( and sorry if this is the wrong place to post ).
I am thinking of doing some clay renders of a model I am currently working on, and I would like to know which settings in SU ( sun, shadow, background, etc ) will affect the render. Are there any recommended ones? I am trying out Kerkythea and Twilight Render.
Thanks in advance.

Gaieus · 6 Jan 2010, 14:32

Hi NTh,

Only shadows (and camera settings). Both in Twilight and Kerky, you can control the warmth of your simple SU front face with the sun shine colour (give it a very subtle yellow). Then either use a spherical background or rather a simple (say mid- or light grey) background colour. See some examples among my Basilica WIP's here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/csaba.pozsarko/Bazilika#

However if you have already applied bump maps to your model, they will also affect the render - like in this image:

numbthumb · 6 Jan 2010, 15:47

Thanks, dude!
I am going to give this a try.
BTW great work! Where is that?

massimo · 6 Jan 2010, 15:48

Hi numb. If you want to use KT for your clay renders I suggest you to download some "extra" presets here . Look under "renders settings" towards the bottom.

Gaieus · 6 Jan 2010, 15:52

NTh - it's in Pécs, my place. Of course, we could only find the foundations.

And indeed, have a look at those presets - BTW they (exactly or a bit modified?) are also included in the latest Twilight render, too.

I am actually rendering like a madman parallel on Twilight and Kerkythea (this latter is for the volumetric lights now).

numbthumb · 6 Jan 2010, 16:05

Thanks for your replies, guys!

Fletch · 6 Jan 2010, 22:11

I think Massimo meant to link you to this one:
search for the word "clay" on this page

Gaieus · 6 Jan 2010, 22:14

But then you also added some nicer presets in Twilight, right?

numbthumb · 7 Jan 2010, 17:18

Is it possible to use Kerkythea render presets with Twilight?

Gaieus · 7 Jan 2010, 17:34

Yes (in fact, TL uses them, too) although I myself do not know how to add those (I think) xml files. Fletch would probably be happy to enlighten us.

numbthumb · 7 Jan 2010, 20:13

Ah, pardon me for being an idiot once again, but how exactly a geographic location ( and solar orientation ) of a model is important for an accurate rendering? I mean, if a model is not representing an actual building with an exact location ( like in the case of that basilica), can it be randomly assigned?
And when I open Shadow Settings from the Window menu in SU - if both options are ticked ( Display shadows and Use sun for shading ) SU becomes unresponsive or very sluggish.
Is it my PC or am I doing something wrong here?
Thanks!

pilou · 7 Jan 2010, 21:26

@unknownuser said:

... model is important for an accurate rendering?

A basilic has not always the same orientation?
So we can see easily that is a fake if it's not well oriented!

Gaieus · 7 Jan 2010, 21:29

That building is actually (quite) precisely geolocated. Say max a couple of metres can be the difference. You could even place it on GE

And yes, locations should affect sunshine thus shadows.

You don't relly need both settings. Plus Twilight/Kerky will cast shadows anyway so you can even turn them off and only on when you want to set a nice shadow.

Also, in Twilight, you can hide layers but still render them. This makes sure that your model can be responsive while you render every important thing.

Pilou, this basilica has its apse on the west and front entrance on the east.

numbthumb · 7 Jan 2010, 21:55

Oops! Sorry, guys for that lapsus calami - what I really wanted to say was an actual building with an exact location ( like in the case of that basilica ).
Anyway, thanks for the explanation.
Pilou, how can you tell if a basilic is properly oriented?