Cookware Set Scenario

Thanks Richter! I am using a custom hdri. You are clever to observe the benefits of a fabric. I had actually considered such a thing for the glassware levels. Having fabric draping over those blocks would have been sweet. Next time I will listen to your voice echoing from the future. I did consider carefully the reflections also, another keen observation by you. The flowers do not look as they could because they are not lit in a flattering way. I kept only one direct lightsource, and it is above the kitchenware. I figured that if I light the flowers it would make them more important than I intended for them to be, merely a garnish. If I was going for gold marks I would have used the transparency template 3 to soften the appearance of the flower meshes. Oh yes, I am a restaurant guy. Seen way too many martini glasses in my day. Reminds me that I should have added beer glasses, Champagne flutes, and a checkbook... in case one wants to leave a tip!

m-m-m.. I start to feel hungry when I look at your scene, Rashad. This is a good sign, I mean this is a job well done for you.:) Nice mat on the dishes. What I really like about this setup are the reflections, anywhere. I even find those flowers more attactive within the reflections, less in direct-view. The only thing missing is some table-napkins/serviettes (am I spelling this right?). It will take you one step closer to reality I believe if there was fabric material to be also affected by the ibl. Now... let's cook! P.S.: Am I mistaken or did you said you have been working in a reastaurant?

Renderman, I am hardly an authority on ibl mind you. The person who knows hdri and ibl best is Horo. I would suggest you check out his website. There you will find lots of hdr images made especially for Bryce, along with methods of producing your own hdri from images you take or render on your own. Good Luck! The computer system you are using is much more powerful than the one I used to operate. You should have good render times, just make sure that you change the priority to "high" when you have large render jobs. It will use the most processing power but other applications might slow down when bryce is set to a high priority.

Thanks for taking the time to share this information with me.I did play with HDRI in Carrara with the help of professionals on the forum I was able to make it work and get some nice affects but really did not understand the theory. I am printing out your comments so I can read them again later. As far as computer I was wondering more about your computer system. I purchased a new system about a year ago. It is a Intel(R)Core(TM)2 CPU system. I had the computer dealer upgrade the video card for doing digital art. But fast is never fast enough. I did have my old computer hooked up so I could us it when my other computer was busy with something else.

. very nice, I agree with the others 5/5

Thanks gentlemen. Light domes or ibl are indeed the secrets to complex indirect or ambient lighting. IBL makes it so easy. Renderman you were mentioning your newness to ibl. I find it now to all be quite simple in theory. It was clear long ago that relying on the ambient channel to fill in the shadows lead to false and flat cartoonish renders. To find a more realistic option light domes were invented and pretty much solved the problem of realism even for Hollywood standards. Only the more advanced artists ever knew this lighting secret sadly or ever had the processing power to utilize it for light domes made of hundreds of radials are slow to render. IBL is merely a lightdome, but you do not have to build it yourself, and it is optimized for much much faster render than a dome of true radial lights. It is also designed to use the special high dynamic range image to set the color and intensities of the lights that comprise the invisible dome. The more lightsources that comprise the dome, the better and more realistic the resulting render would be becasue more subtle facets of the image are expressed. Each light casts it's own shadows which also helps express the 3d shape of the models in a way consistent with reality. So by placing a silver ball into a natural situation be it indoor or outdoor and photographing it they are able to capture a wide field of view and place it into a computer generated scene. It's brilliant. And very real. The one thing Bryce still needs is a way to accurately calculate the bouncing of light from one surface to another...another form of indirect lighting. Often low levels of reflection are used but the render times can be massive. My new system is my new computer system. I for years have been somewhat stunted because I simply could not render scenes at the level that I was envisioning them. My creativity could not flow because everything would have to be put on hold for days at a time while I waited for a single job to finish...I too live at my computer to the dismay of those around me. I was also afraid to use effects that I knew would be useful merely for fear of a long render time.

You sure vary your style. I really like this scene and the lighting affects. I was very impressed with the flowers in the pot and also the fruit. It is great. I was really trying to find something negative to say but was speechless. I think you mentioned it before but what is your new system. The thought of rendering for days seem rather depressing. I don't mind rendering while I am sleeping but . . . I live on my computer.

Very nice scene - so colourful. The fruits look very real, it's only the grapes that look like green olives to me: it's the form and the mat uniform green. Very nice plates and glasses. The flowers are beautiful, too. Lighting is excellent. Now, go ahead cooking some excellent dishes, Chef de Cuisine.