Rayscaper render.

ntxdave

OK guys, this is not a very good one, but I have been doing some fooling around and testing. First, I will share some pictures of something I received from a fried that I then did a 3D model of using SketchUp and then rendered with Rayscaper.

Here are some images of what i received: (OK, images too large)

Here is my render with Rayscaper:
Jesus Rayscaper 1.png

I know this is not very fancy. I would like to have some advice as to how it might be made better.

Rich O Brien

HDR environment light. Search the Studio category and set the Transparent flag on.

Setting HDR to Transparent in Rayscaper

With the lighting set you can play with materials to see how they interact with the light.

ntxdave

@Rich-O-Brien Thanks @Rich-O-Brien . I will try this later.

I have some images/photos that I took with my iPhone that I would like to share, however, I am having problems opening them. They say that are PNG file but every app I try to open them with says they are not a valid file type.

Can someone give me some advice about how to open these files so that I can get them into a format/size that I can share on the forum?

One of the things I would like for people to see is that the item that was share with me, and the model I created and shared in the previous post is not really created the way viewers might suspect. The word "Jesus" was created by creating pieces that are attached to a wood block that outline the word. It was not created by adding text to the block. I found this kind of interesting and is what inspired me to create a model using the same technique.

@Rich-O-Brien Here is a new render using the approach you suggested. Jesus Rayscaper 2.png

I also have done an animation that show creating "Jesus" one letter at a time. However, I have not found a way to create the animation using Rayscaper. If someone can tell me how to do that, I would appreciate it so a can "bring the model to life".

pixelcruncher

Maybe the easiest is to attach one of those image files so we can have a look?

Nice, it played a trick on my brain because it took a while before I saw the word "Jesus".

I also have done an animation that show creating "Jesus" one letter at a time. However, I have not found a way to create the animation using Rayscaper. If someone can tell me how to do that, I would appreciate it so a can "bring the model to life".

Currently, Rayscaper does not have animation support. But that will come with the next release, although that will only support SketchUp scene animations (camera & sunlight). How are you animating these letters?

Cheers,
Thomas

Rich O Brien

@ntxdave kinda hard to suggest improvements. Share the file

ntxdave

@pixelcruncher said in Rayscaper render.:

Maybe the easiest is to attach one of those image files so we can have a look?

OK, I finally got a couple of the images so I can now share them.
Jesus Img 1.png
Jesus Img 3.png

Nice, it played a trick on my brain because it took a while before I saw the word "Jesus".

That is part of what triggered me developing the model in SketchUp

I also have done an animation that show creating "Jesus" one letter at a time. However, I have not found a way to create the animation using Rayscaper. If someone can tell me how to do that, I would appreciate it so a can "bring the model to life".

Currently, Rayscaper does not have animation support. But that will come with the next release, although that will only support SketchUp scene animations (camera & sunlight). How are you animating these letters?

In this case, my animation is a set of scenes animated. Yes, I am animating presenting the letters.

Did I also see/read that you are also looking into working with Animator?

Cheers,
Thomas

@Rich-O-Brien said in Rayscaper render.:

@ntxdave kinda hard to suggest improvements. Share the file

Although there are some problems in the model, I am sharing it here: Jesus Animation.skp

And here is the animation: Jesus Animation.mp4

ntxdave

Was kind of hoping for some feedback.

Rich O Brien

The camera is set to Orthographic which doesn't suit Environmental maps so you won't get the correct lighting.

Your textures applied to the main board are a herring bone floor texture. Not quite sure if that is correct? Unless it is some type of intentional choice?

Your texture for the 'font' are scaled to a large value which seems to clash with the tiny herringbone texture.

When you consider the object itself is 1.5" x 5.5" there seems to be a non-physically correct texture dimension.

Hard to create a great or meaningful render if your textures are not physically correct. Having textures reflect real world objects and appearance helps sells believability.

The model itself has textures applied to both the groups and geometry within the groups.

If it was me, I would consider what it the object made of and go source a texture that helps sell that aspect. Polyhaven has loads of textures but most important is they tell you the size:

So if you make a texture using these in SketchUp you can set that size for the correct appearance.

Rich O Brien

ntxdave

@Rich-O-Brien said in Rayscaper render.:
First, let me say I really appreciate your feedback. Although this model is very "elementary", it is far different from the type of modeling I have done in the past.

Now I will respond to your comments (positively I hope):

The camera is set to Orthographic which doesn't suit Environmental maps so you won't get the correct lighting.

OK, I will change that that in a future version.

Your textures applied to the main board are a herring bone floor texture. Not quite sure if that is correct? Unless it is some type of intentional choice?

Agree, this was not a good texture choice. Again, I will try to improve in a newer version.

Your texture for the 'font' are scaled to a large value which seems to clash with the tiny herringbone texture.

When you consider the object itself is 1.5" x 5.5" there seems to be a non-physically correct texture dimension.

The size I used when creating the model was based on the actual dimensions of the object I had received. Creating it at that size caused several problems (some of which you have pointed out). I will redraw at a much larger scale and then look at resizing later (not sure I will need to really do that though).

Hard to create a great or meaningful render if your textures are not physically correct. Having textures reflect real world objects and appearance helps sells believability.

The model itself has textures applied to both the groups and geometry within the groups.

If it was me, I would consider what it the object made of and go source a texture that helps sell that aspect. Polyhaven has loads of textures but most important is they tell you the size:

So if you make a texture using these in SketchUp you can set that size for the correct appearance.

I like the texture in your image much better than what I used and will do some looking around (including the site you referenced.

There really was no "font" (as I think you pointed out) The texture I used to "outline"/create the text was something I used to try to emulate what was on the item that was given to me. I might stick with that or try to find something closer to "real object".

Again, I REALLY appreciate your comments and hope I can use them to improve my model. This project has some meaning to me that I do not know how to share. As I said before, the original object was a gift that I found inspiring, and I would like to be able to create a got SketchUp version.

ntxdave

@Rich-O-Brien
I like the material in the image you posted.

Can you point me to the source or is there a source for "free" materials you would recommend?
How do you add materials to Rayscaper?

I have redrawn the model completely to overcome some of the problems in the version I posted. One of the main things I did was draw the model at a much larger scale so that some of the problems will be overcome. I also made each segment of the panels that create the text are individual groups which should solve some of the goofiness that showed up in the version I posted. At some time later I will decide whether to resize the model to more closely match the original object or just leave it at the new (larger) size for rendering and animating.

Can you help me understand the issue related to orthographic? BTW: In the new model I used perspective as part of the camera settings. Should I stick with that or do something different?

I know this is a very simplistic model, but it is far different from what I have done in the past (car wash equipment and @Majid Alpha Inspired Sketches of buildings) so please be patient with me.

Rich O Brien

@ntxdave said in Rayscaper render.:

Can you point me to the source or is there a source for "free" materials you would recommend?

Poly Haven • Poly Haven

The Public 3D Asset Library

Poly Haven (polyhaven.com)

Those are already bundled with Rayscaper

@ntxdave said in Rayscaper render.:

How do you add materials to Rayscaper?

Materials

Explains how to use all the different Rayscaper materials.

Rayscaper (rayscaper.com)

@ntxdave said in Rayscaper render.:

Can you help me understand the issue related to orthographic?

HDR environment maps a equirectangular. If your camera is Ortho then it cannot 'map' the environment to surround your scene.

If you want the Ortho look then set your FOV in SketchUp to something really low 5-6deg when using Perspective.

@ntxdave said in Rayscaper render.:

Should I stick with that or do something different?

You should experiment and learn in small bits and pieces until you begin to understand. There's no magic bullet. Just trial and error.

Butif you have the object to hand then you have all the reference you need.

Mike Amos

Just a simple observation. I tried the new designation for the diffuse hey eye render, now simply ai render. It prevents Rayscaper from opening. Tried it several times with the same result. Disable ai render and Rayscaper will function As intended.

I thought I would report this here as information.

ntxdave

@Rich-O-Brien said in Rayscaper render.:

@ntxdave said in Rayscaper render.:

Can you point me to the source or is there a source for "free" materials you would recommend?

Poly Haven • Poly Haven

The Public 3D Asset Library

Poly Haven (polyhaven.com)

Those are already bundled with Rayscaper

OK, I went there and see one I would like to use, however when I downloaded it, it was a "blend" file. Yes, it is available in Rayscaper but I would also like to use it in SketchUp. Is there a way to do that?

Rich O Brien

@ntxdave said in Rayscaper render.:

Is there a way to do that?

In SketchUp you can apply any bitmap based material onto faces to represent whatever you want.

Then in RS drag any of its materials onto that and it will inherit the UVs.

Just give it a go. Paint a cube in SketchUp with a Brick material. Then press render and drag one of the bundled materials on to the cube.

Rich O Brien

ntxdave

@Rich-O-Brien yes, I know how to do that. However, for my animation I wanted some better looking materials. Currently you cannot render animations in RayScaper (although @pixelcruncher has said that will be in a future release).

Rich O Brien

If you are referring to creating SketchUp materials then in SketchUp you can press F1 at any time to go straight to their help docs and get info on making material libraries.

If you are referring to getting just the bitmaps off Polyhaven then choose ZIP:

Then you can pick to just grab the bitmaps in whatever format you need.

pixelcruncher

@Mike-Amos Thanks for the heads up, will have a look.

ntxdave

@Rich-O-Brien said in Rayscaper render.:

If you are referring to creating SketchUp materials then in SketchUp you can press F1 at any time to go straight to their help docs and get info on making material libraries.

If you are referring to getting just the bitmaps off Polyhaven then choose ZIP:

Then you can pick to just grab the bitmaps in whatever format you need.

OK, but for SketchUp, which format should I pick/download since SketchUp uses SKM files?