Maxwell Render For Google SketchUp Competition
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Bah, just went back and I was mistaken. Apparently your eye is better than my memory
It is indeed lit by skydome. As I recall I tried HDRI first but didn't like the color cast I was getting and didn't find any noticeable difference when switching to skydome other than the fact that I could choose a white light so my final render was already 'white balanced' - a feature I wish I had control over within Maxwell. Both provided the same even light and very soft shadows.-Brodie
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I guess I was not clear enough. My main point is that you could make the render realistic but a proper composition is still what defines a good image. You can never fool the eye. For instance what appeals for me more in the reference image is that warm and cold contrast in combination with the tonal contrast leads the eye towards the most detailed- center part of the image. In your image- I feel this is lost and I can not find clear boundarys that would lead my eye around the image.
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Aw, I see. Interestingly, the concentration of detail in the center of the image is actually one of the things I least liked about the original image. This was the driving force behind most of my changes, not least of which was to zoom in the camera a bit, effectively eliminating much of the negative space around the border in order to fill up the frame more with the more interesting bits.
I may have been a bit biased when it comes to the tones. This images sister (the exterior image below) was very difficult in terms of tones and had an aggressive tendency to go from cool to cold as I tweaked it. The warmer overall hues of this image may have been a reaction to this.
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If this had the option to render edges/lines, i'd buy it. This is very important when using them as textural elements (panel breakup lines, etc).
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Why not just use SketchUp to export the edges / lines?
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That's how I would go about it as well. JD has done a great job of matching the SU viewport with the Maxwell output so exporting an image with SU linework and overlaying it in photoshop is a pretty straightforward process. It's a nice trick to have under the belt, I've used it once before. But I can't see Maxwell incorporating something like this as their aim is for photorealism and that's more of a NPR trick.
-Brodie
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@unknownuser said:
That's how I would go about it as well. JD has done a great job of matching the SU viewport with the Maxwell output so exporting an image with SU linework and overlaying it in photoshop is a pretty straightforward process. It's a nice trick to have under the belt, I've used it once before. But I can't see Maxwell incorporating something like this as their aim is for photorealism and that's more of a NPR trick.
-Brodie
JD?
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Sorry, JD is the NextLimit employee who has written the script which operates Maxwell through SketchUp (as well as a couple other programs). Things were good before him but since he's come along things have been stupendous in terms of SU/Maxwell integration.
-Brodie
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JD is the man!
I loved seeing all those great entries... -
Congrats Brodie!
Iwan will be pissed off though
They put my name instead of his. -
Thanks
There were a lot of good entries submitted. I'm very honored to have won.Which entry was your Speaker?
-Brodie
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Here's the link BTW: http://www.maxwellrender.com/index.php/maxwell_for_google_sketchup/competition
Congrats to those who won.
Best,
Jason. -
I ended up 2nd in both categories
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@speaker said:
I ended up 2nd in both categories
Oh, haha
Your entry is great. The 'dusty light' effect is really well done.-Brodie
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Congrats Brodie! First place gets an iPad right?!?
I got 5th place!
I guess I was the loser of the winners!
Do you guys recall what the prizes were?
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Ya, can't wait to get my IPad
I'd actually won a really nice digital camera from them awhile back for a material competition. The only downside was that the charger plugs were European rather than US 
Hopefully I don't have that issue again, but either way I'm sure I can get some US style plugs if necessary.They took down the prizes announcement pretty quick and I couldn't find out what they were. As I recall there were some more licenses and then a bunch of lomo cameras.
Gui, I loved your rendering! I've never seen mechanical systems look quite so artful! I'm really glad the NL team recognized the beauty there.
-Brodie
Edit: just emailed the NL employee I've been in contact with and he said they'll send my IPad over via a US retailer so no worries on the charger plugs
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Good thing they are sending the iPad from an US retailer...!
I remember something about licenses and cameras as well...
I don't think my rendering was really at the same level as some of the other images, but I think it caught their attention because it is different...
(I did that image as part of my architectural thesis project. You can see some more images of it here: http://issuu.com/guitalarico/docs/urban_data_center) -
What kind of camera did you get Brodie?
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I'm delighted for you Brodie. Really chuffed
Great image and well deserved
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@speaker said:
What kind of camera did you get Brodie?
I'm not sure if this is the exact one but it's real close
It's got the little image viewer on the front for self portraits which my wife and I take a lot and it's got a great touchscreen on the backside with great haptics. It's a point and shoot but it takes some great photos and is really slick. It also doesn't seem to be very common, at least in the states, so I get a lot of comments on it. It also came about 2 weeks after my previous point and shoot died on me so the timing was great. If you're in the market they seem to be pretty inexpensive now and I highly recommend it.
-Brodie
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