Tips for product/furniture rendering
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I am curious what others have done to set up rendering for products, furniture, etc - basically anything that is rendered in what I would call a studio environment. I'm using Shaderlight and can post this question on their forum as well, but I think there might be some universally applicable rules of thumb for setting up the scene. For instance would you use several spot lights or global illumination to light the product? Would you render with shadows on or off? Is there some type of stage/surround/background that is most suitable? Are there other considerations that make these type of renders unique compared to complete scenes with a room and other furnishings? Thanks for the help.
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There are some great rendering studio setup tutorials out there if you search. How to build a studio, light placement etc.
In fact Pete shared a studio here for a render this challenge.
Also on deviantart there are great studio hdr images.
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I am certainly far from being an expert on rendering but my approach to rendering is the same as I would use to photograph a real piece of furniture. I would have shadows because you need them to provide some details but I would make sure they aren't too dense by adding some lights on the background. Think about setting your lights as if you were using softboxes so that shadows provide some modeling without being too harsh. That might include lights behind the piece itself. Of course if you don't want any background, light it evenly so it can be easily removed later.
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Rich: Thanks, I'll search the forums a little more using those terms. I did search before I posted but wasn't quite sure what I was looking for.
Dave: Great tips; thanks. What are softboxes? When adding lights around the model, would you use spot lights, or does the type of light depend on the render engine being used?
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Here's a fairly easy to follow tutorial on product and vehicle studios...
http://www.cgarena.com/freestuff/tutorials/max/studiolighting/index.html
Here's some nice studio hdri that i like...
http://zbyg.deviantart.com/art/HDRi-Pack-1-97402522
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Thanks, Rich. That's exactly the type of stuff I was looking for.
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Wyatt, soft boxes are large diffusers for studio lights like this:
How you add them probably depends upon the engine. In Kerkythea, I have done a couple of things. Adjusting the radius on spotlight will give the effect but I've also created faces in SketchUp with materials that I then set to be illuminators in KT The benefit there comes when there is glass in the model. You can control what appears in the reflection. Sometimes I also set up reflectors off which I'll bounce light to provide a reflection.
In this render experiment done some time ago, I set up a large surface behind and to the left of the camera to which I applied a Maxfield Parrish painting. You can see it reflected in the glass on the tall case. You can't really tell what it is in the reflection but it isn't a flat white reflection. You can also see if reflected on the backs of the chairs in the distance.In that render I didn't add any walls of ceiling so there's nothing to keep the light in. In a studio setting, you usually do have surfaces to keep the light in, though.
In studio photography you might use Gobos, too. These are basically black card or sheets to block some light to create dark areas. You could do the same thing in setting up a render. Look closely at studio photos and you can often get an idea of what might have been done. Especially if there are reflective surfaces.
In this image you can pick out the shadows from the different lights and see that there was a light placed behind and to the left of the table as well as one to the right and behind. There was also one behind the camera and to the left to light the near end. Notice how the one behind the table and to the left puts a little light inside so it isn't totally black in there.
Also, if you want to create a white background, you need to light the background separately from the foreground.
As I said before, I am not an expert at this. there's probably easier ways to set things up for rending. I just use what I know.
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If I may be of any help, I followed that tutorial for a Studio Setup some time ago, and applied it in Sketchup. I attach the light studio setup, which works very fine with vray
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Dave: Thank you for the detailed explanation and examples. That is very helpful.
Broomstick: Thank you for sharing the file. I'm not using Vray, but I am sure I can modify the file if necessary to work for my purposes.
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