"you need to make sure the folder where your model and vray materials are, is shared with all the other machines"

thanks, thats actually very important to know... (I never bothered to check it before)

When I set to render a scene in a network, I must have the SAME scene open in all computers, right?

But what about the materials? Must I copy the scene + all used materials to every computer too?

Hi... I just tried rendering a scene that rendered well on my previous computer (a Q9300) on my new computer (i7 2600).

the scene rendered well and fast, but I noticed some problems on the reflections. Basically, some black, aliased (as not anti-aliased) reflections.

After some tinkering, I noticed that adjusting the Exposure of the scene could increase or decrease the problem... at -0.27 exposure, the bad reflections disappeared completely.

Then I turned on Clamped Colors (which I have no idea what they are) and I noticed that at -0.27 there were no clamped colors... the entire screen was gray... but when I increase the exposure (at -0.27 its TOO dark), the SAME AREAS where the bad reflections appear, also appear when I turn the Clamped Colors layer/mask of the render window.

What the hell is going on after all??

well, as they said, Lumion is probably about 3-4 months old only. I suppose (or hope) that they will improve things for architects and people who want realism. Correct sun positioning is a MUST for people working with architectural models.

one more question... I noticed in the videos that you change the sun position by just setting its direction and its height.

but what if I want the PROPER sun positioning relative to the model geographic location? If I want to show a client an animation of how the sun interacts with his house?? Unless the videos dont show it properly, I think the Lumion team should seriously consider (since they ARE doing the program for architects and community) to include proper geographical location sun positioning, and users change the TIME of the day (instead of sun height) and the sun moves accordingly, in the correct location.

edit: and ONE more question... what about interior lightning? All videos I saw used only light from the sun. And night videos?

btw, do you think a i7 2600, with 8gb RAM and a Geforce GTX460 card can properly run Lumion?

@solo said:

I believe I got a 1Gb card, at least as far as I remember.

Here is another quick play, takes longer to upload to Vimeo than start to end of entire animation project.

[flash=800,400:vl4ojjcf]http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=18370475[/flash:vl4ojjcf]

Solo, are the clouds changing that fast (it seems like a 3 hours timelapse movie) on purpose? Can you choose the speed the clouds change during the animation?

people, I returned from Carnival holiday just yesterday night, so I will attach the images today, for anyone having problems. Its just weird to me that some people cannot see the images. Imageshack NEVER asked for me to register to see images (from any computer, seeing any photo), specially because it IS a site made to host photos and show to others. Requireing registration would make no sense.

I am not sure location should be a problem too, since Edson lives some 35km from where I live.

@d12dozr said:

I meant like this - this is what I am used to but maybe you have different architecture in your location?

Roof trim

Joints between 1st and 2nd floors

hard to say if they are common or not. I think Edson has more to say about it (I am from the same area as he is).

but I didnt projected the houses, and the client (architects) who asked for the renders never mentioned wanting those trims, not even after seeing the final renders.

yes, VRAY for Sketchup.

thanks for the replies guys. Its carnival holyday here in Brazil, and I am going to the beach (where I dont have ADSL internet access) and will be returning only wednesday. See you soon!

@d12dozr said:

@aceshigh said:

I am not really happy with my efforts. I think there is still a lack of photorealism, and I want tips on how to improve it.

I hope you guys can comment on each house

@unknownuser said:

House ONE

-Exterior lights likely would not be so bright in daylight

yes, I know... but the architect insisted she wanted to see the lights in daylight... do what... she is the client

@unknownuser said:

-Perhaps show trim around roof and joints in the walls

hmm... what exactly do you mean? Remove 90 degree angles?

@unknownuser said:

or dirty up the cladding -- its just too clean as it is

1 - any tip on how to dirty up the cladding??? One of the reasons I try to project tree shadows on the walls is EXACTLY because I think the walls are too clean! Without the shadows it gets worse!

@unknownuser said:

HOUSE TWO and THREE
-Add some variation to the vegetation...you did pretty good but there are still repeating elements that look unnatural

do you mean the vegetation NEAR the house or the vegetation in the background??

the background was quite of a headache... the client didnt want any wall around the house, and then it gets kinda hard to mix the model with the background. Unfortunatelly, I dont have any "tree wall" to serve as a wall... so I had to put lots of individual trees in the distance...

@unknownuser said:

Overall, a very good start though!

thanks

I am not really happy with my efforts. I think there is still a lack of photorealism, and I want tips on how to improve it.

I hope you guys can comment on each house

House ONE

HOUSE TWO

HOUSE THREE

@thomthom said:

Note that the material will be visible in reflections and refractions.

what about the checkbox right below that one? (Exclude All Materials from Reflection/Refraction)

@thomthom said:

[attachment=0:2mhtdcot]<!-- ia0 -->grass01.png<!-- ia0 -->[/attachment:2mhtdcot]

Here's a quick test.

I am not a fan of displaced grass.

• It does not look real - looks like spikes. Especially when the displacement is overdone. If reduced it's usually so subtle that displacement is not needed.
• You need to the UV coordinates 100% right to avoid gaps when displacing irregular geometry this this sample.
• It slow!
• It chews up memory like a cookie monster at the cookie factory. Bad thing for VfSU that is locked inside SU's 32bit system.
• Adding grass in post is quicker, more reliable and yields better results.

how do you add the correct shadows, to post processed grass?

how do you make the post processed grass looks real (3d) when in contact with other surfaces. I mean... post processed grass looks FLAT...

@thomthom said:

The default settings for displacement is view dependant - ( displaced edge size depend on view ).

never really understood what this means.

tell me something btw, what do you mean with "It's best to not make too large faces - split it up into smaller parts."

does that mean I should create different groups with each face? Or that its enough that I divide the faces with lines? Meaning that instead of using a 10x10 meters face, its better that I use a 10x10 meters MESH made of several 25cm sized triangles?

as soon as it crashes again I will check it out. I divided the grass into several groups and now its rendering. But its taking such a long time, which is weird, because from the other angle (front of the house) it was quite fast...

@thomthom said:

@aceshigh said:

My VRAY version is... er... dont remember. Where do I check it? Its 1.48.94 if I am not mistaken.

Window > Preferences > Extensions > V-Ray for SketchUp

That is a beta build number, and an old one.

Latest stable is 1.49.01: http://software.asgvis.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=182&Itemid=480
Beta testers should check the beta forum for updates.

With displacement it's easy to run out of memory, depending on your geometry. It's best to not make too large faces - split it up into smaller parts.
What's Sketchup.exe's when it fails?

sorry... but I dont understand this question. "What's Sketchup.exe's when it fails?"

Turn if off... it renders!

I have a scene with a grass made of displacement. I rendered a front scene of the house, it rendered perfectly and was very beautiful.

Then I set a scene from the back side of the same house. I added a few more stuff in the scene (a 2d person, a few plants, a bed inside the house).

Then I try to render. FAILS TO CREATE DUMP FILE. After some meddling, I discovered that turning off the grass displacement makes the render work again. BUT its so much more beautiful and realistic with the displacement grass!

Any idea why the displacement map on a single material may be causing this? How to circunvent it? Thanks

My VRAY version is... er... dont remember. Where do I check it? Its 1.48.94 if I am not mistaken.

its a great tool, but I never use it because file size gets so big and the scene so heavy.

sorry for the stupid question but...

1 - whats the advantage of normal map over bump and displacement maps (both of which can use the same grayscale bitmap)?

2 - VRAY doesnt use normal maps, does it?