Trophy Render

[Adam Trachtenberg]

IMO the main thing missing from your render is reflection. The appearance of any shiny object depends in large part on the environment that it reflects. Because your object is basically in a void, we’re only seeing specular highlights which are fake reflections of light sources.

The easiest way to correct it is to use an appropriate HDR image in your material’s environment channel. There are loads of free and $$$ HDRI’s available.

In the alternative (or in combination), you could build a virtual set to provide the reflections. In that case you would approach it much like a traditional photographer or videographer.

[Scott Roberts]

Thanks Adam,

I can already see it’s looking better just by playing with the environment channel. But I’m going to try and add some actual objects to the scene like you suggested and render it again tonight.

Thanks for the tip, it seems obvious to me now!

Scott

[Cory Petkovsek]

Overall, it looks cool. Here are some suggestions on how to make it better.

The glass and base look like plastic, most probably because of the reflections as Adam noted. More pointy specular would be good, but fresnel reflections are better.

When Adam referred to objects in the scene, he was saying put lights in the scene; light them like a photographer. That means using a key, fill and rim light for a traditional 3-point lighting setup.

Another thing that will help are shadows at the base. It looks like it is floating. Indeed, look at the first shot, you’ll see there is a line of light around the base! Life doesn’t do that. Notice that there is a vertical line of light on the front face of the base, on the left side. Life does do that. Our eyes pick up on those subtle cues automatically, you should learn to see those consciously. Take a drawing or painting class to improve this.

You’re probably using shadow maps which is terrible at the base of objects. Try going up to 1000×1000 resolution on the maps, but the next two things are better. Using an HDR on a sky object and turning on GI will automatically add shadows. However if you use a 3-point setup (I would), have they key light use area shadows with high enough quality to reduce shadow noise. Have the other lights use or not use shadows as needed for a realistic look. Sometimes I’ll use shadow maps for a fill or other light because it’s filling it out correctly; rely on your trained eye, not the software; and train your eye so it is reliable! A photography class (from a good teacher) will help you with lighting, and help train your eye fastest.

I’m seeing some banding in the background on my display. You can add very subtle noise, or film grain in post for your final render to reduce this.

You could also make it more interesting by adjusting the composition. Focus on keeping the object on 1/3rd of the screen, rather than always in the middle. Play with the direction it faces and the empty space created. In the first shot it faces right. If it were a static shot, you’d want to have it be on the left 1/3rd so it is in balance. In a moving shot it can be on the right 1/3rd as it will be unbalanced in that direction and with the camera moving in that direction you’ll bring it in to balance. Then it would end on the right 1/3rd, facing left. A drawing or painting class will help with this, but photography is ALL about lighting and composition. Your 10 thought out drawings will help, but your 100 thought out b&w film pictures, or your 1000 digital pictures will give you more experience with composition.

I’d also increase the resolution of the sphere as it looks very chunky. And put a tiny fillet on the edges of the other objects so they’re not impossibly sharp.

Cory

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Cory Petkovsek
Corporate Video
http://www.CorporateVideoSD.com

[Scott Roberts]

Thanks for taking the time to help me out, Cory, I appreciate it! I’m not well trained in setting up shots with lighting (in C4D or real life), so this is good insight. I haven’t really come up with a final composition just yet, still trying to get it to look nicer first, but I like the way you described I should try it.

Is there any way to get softer edges on the reflections? Or is that just how it will naturally happen? Maybe I’m just seeing a hard edge in the reflection in the trophy because of the HDRI intersecting with the floor object. Also, now that I’m playing around with the HDRI as a sky element for reflection, it seems to be sort of blaring, is there a way to make this more subtle? I tried tinkering with the luminance channel of the HDRI, and it wasn’t really doing much.

Also, this is probably a stupid question, but I still struggle with the little things! How do you mean increasing the resolution of just the sphere (because it looks chunky)? It’s just a polygon object, I don’t know how to single that out and raise the resolution. Or did you just mean to up the resolution of the whole scene…?

Thanks again!
Scott

[Cory Petkovsek]

Softer edges of reflections – there is a reflection blur option that is slow to render. You can also play with the mix strength and adding the fresnel shader to adjust the look of the reflections.

HDR as sky element for reflection is blaring – it shouldn’t. Turn off all the lights, put the hdr in the color channel on the sky object and turn on global illumination. If it’s still too bright, turn down the brightness and mix strength.

Resolution of sphere – the default sphere primitive is not a polygon, it is a procedural object and will render a perfect sphere. If you converted it to a polygon in order to extend the bottom out, then you should have increased the number of segments 2-3 times what you were at before converting it to a polygon.

Cory

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Cory Petkovsek
Corporate Video
http://www.CorporateVideoSD.com

[Scott Roberts]

Yeah I definitely didn’t have the HDR in the color channel, but it’s there now, and I was able to lower the brightness. And I replaced the polygon sphere (not sure why I made it a polygon object to be honest) with a regular sphere, since the bottom part is a different object altogether, so that looks better too when I do single frame renders. I’ll try the soft edge reflection when I render it again, and see how that looks next.

Thanks again, I really appreciate it!
Scott