Looking for comments on a house

[Will03]

Hey all, I'm trying to perfect my method for completing houses as quickly and efficiently as possible. This, as per my norm was modeled in SU and then Rendered in Kerkythea. Let me know what you think, good or bad! I've basically tried to replicate This method http://forums.3dtotal.com/showthread.php?t=60333 rendering a few different passes and compiling them in photoshop.

A HUGE thank you to tak2hata for the AMAZING and long awaited fur plugin http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?f=323&t=28092 I've used it for the grass, and the snow on the mountain plants.

Thank you in advance!
-Will03

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[flipya]

TBH it's pretty hard to comment when there's no reference. You say you are trying to optimise your 'time spent vs quality' ratio, but without knowing how long this would take (or what it would look like) using your normal workflow there's really not much to be said.

@unknownuser said:

Let me know what you think, good or bad

I think my clients wouldn't go for an image like this. On the other hand, if it's a hobby-project or a quickie you did for a friend then it looks allright to me.

[Bryan K]

While far better than what I can do at this time, it does look kind of flat.

I looked at the tutorial you linked to as the example and maybe the problem is that is uses an indoor scene instead of an outdoor scene.

Have you tried using any standard presets that come with the program. (if they come with the program? I am not familiar with it)

[D-space]

I think it's looking great.
Probably depth or occulsion pass would be more desireable.

[D-space]

I think it's looking great.
Probably depth or occulsion pass would be more desirable.

[d12dozr]

I like it all except the windows on the building don't look quite right...maybe too opaque or just need some thing to reflect in them.

[olishea]

yeah windows too light. from this angle the windows wouldn't appear to reflect much....but at sharp angle they would....fresnel. so darken them.

grass image (in photoshop) would look better than 3d grass and significantly reduce render time.

tree looks fake, sorry i know its hard finding good trees.

materials need more work, have you applied any templates to them? or are they all plain diffuse textures?

I would choose a lower view angle, as if a human has taken the photo.

Brighten exposure or sun strength, it seems quite dark in contrast to the bright sky.

Try overlaying a depth render in photoshop.

Reduce the amount of diffuse glow/bloom as image is not bright enough to justify. you would not perceive a hazy atmosphere on a dull day as your render suggests.

Yeah I don't think that tutorial you read would apply to an exterior shot like this.

Hope this helps.

[Will03]

-I like it all except the windows on the building don't look quite right...maybe too opaque or just need some thing to reflect in them.
-yeah windows too light. from this angle the windows wouldn't appear to reflect much....but at sharp angle they would....fresnel. so darken them.
Windows are the bane of my existence! lol, good point though, I have artificially lightened them with light blue

grass image (in photoshop) would look better than 3d grass and significantly reduce render time.
I've tried that in a previous version of this house, I was a little undecided which I liked better.

tree looks fake, sorry i know its hard finding good trees.
understandable, any ideas where to grab a better one? turbo squid? this one is from formfonts.com

materials need more work, have you applied any templates to them? or are they all plain diffuse textures?
Every single texture has diffuse, bump, specular. obviously the effect wasn't strong enough? The siding could use a stronger bumpmap probably

I would choose a lower view angle, as if a human has taken the photo.
heh... I guess I've worked on this long enough, and adjusted enough things that I didn't notice I raised the camera at some point! thanks for that catch! I bet that will help a bunch.

Brighten exposure or sun strength, it seems quite dark in contrast to the bright sky.
Humm I'll have to give this a shot too

-Probably depth or occulsion pass would be more desirable
-Try overlaying a depth render in photoshop.
A couple of people have mentioned this... but there IS one of each, and I thought the effect had come off quite well! maybe the bloom effect I've overlayed on top has removed the effect of the depth render..
D-space, is there a tutorial somewhere for occlusion passes in Kerkythea?

Reduce the amount of diffuse glow/bloom as image is not bright enough to justify. you would not perceive a hazy atmosphere on a dull day as your render suggests.
I'll give this a shot too, hopefully it will bring out the depth render.

Yeah I don't think that tutorial you read would apply to an exterior shot like this.
I've read just about every tutorial I can find, and this one seemed to have the best method for bringing out textures and reflections, which is what I was after

Have you tried using any standard presets that come with the program. (if they come with the program? I am not familiar with it)
I've rendered in quite a few of the presets (MLT, Depth, Ambient Occlusion) and I've used a few preset materials (the car is probably the most notable one)

TBH it's pretty hard to comment when there's no reference. You say you are trying to optimise your 'time spent vs quality' ratio, but without knowing how long this would take (or what it would look like) using your normal workflow there's really not much to be said.
I've spent about 10-20 hours on this house. I've probably rendered it 20 different ways, and composed it 40 different ways in photoshop. To go from 2d drawings straight to this, using these techniques would probably be around the 10 hour mark (4 hrs modeling +3 hours rendering + 3 hours photoshop)

I think my clients wouldn't go for an image like this. On the other hand, if it's a hobby-project or a quickie you did for a friend then it looks allright to me.
This started as a client project, then turned into a hobby when the client's company folded