My new website online

[technoguy]

hey, its looking pretty cool, but i would change the watercolor scheme...maybe a more metallic look or high tech...but thats just me.

[HippieKiller]

You were right. The watercolors scheme was pretty lame. I like the new high tech scheme much better.

[leigh]

Yeah the colour scheme is a bit washed out - try making it a little bolder :)
I would be careful about going the high tech route - all too often it becomes tacky and cheap looking - especially when people use those naff sci-fi fints. Eeeeuucchh...
If you do go for a more tech look, keep it tasteful ;)

Your gallery stuff is looking good so far - it looks like you are still learning though, so keep it up :thumbsup:
By looking quickly through your subjects though, I get the impression that perhaps you would do better to create scenes of something that you feel more passionate about - that way you can get more into them.
I see you have created one or two little characters there - perhaps expand a little more on those themes?

[HippieKiller]

Most of my work is study related since I'm a industrial design engineering student. That's why you mostly see clear shiny presentations of products. But I'm trying to learn how to use HDRI images because those shades look amazing.'The new look is already online so check it out.

[leigh]

Yeah, but HDRI is not going to magically make all your scenes look real ;)
In fact, your saying "I'm trying to learn how to use HDRI images because those shades look amazing" is a bit strange :surprised
HDR images only light your scene, they don't do your texturing for you!
And it's texturing + lighting that will change the shiny, clear presentations into photorealistic images :)

Btw, I checked the site again, and it still looks the same - did you change the url for the new one?

[HippieKiller]

The new look is on the same links, I just replaced the pictures. Try to empty your internetcache or something. If you see a wireframe your looking at the NEW look.

I want to create shade like in that article on cgchannel about the wasteman ( http://www.cgchannel.com/story.php?story_id=1165 ) (currently offline). In the article the creater said he had used HDRI and I want to create the same shade. Radiosity isn't good enough for me anymore. And I want to try create better caustics in combination with glass and chrome objects.

[leigh]

Oh right
I think the colours are still a bit washed out - that greenish shade doesn't really go with the grey, but that's just my opinion :)
Something I do think you should get rid of are the thick black borders - they don't look great :sad:
Also, try using smaller fonts - at the moment, it looks a little childlike with those huge fonts
:surprised
Something you might also want to change is the title font - you've got a cool idea going with those wireframe images, and I think a more techish font like OCRA-BT would be cool with that image.

Just some thoughts :)

About your actual work - it's cool that you want to take your work one step further.
However, like I said before, using HDR images isn't going to magically make your work look like the wasteman. Also, neglecting texturing is a terrible shame :sad:
But I guess it does depend on how far you want to take your work - if photorealism isn't what you are after, then I guess you can just stick with HDR lighting.... but I will say as much as to mention that those kind of renders got a bit boring quite a while ago...

[HippieKiller]

HDRI isn't photorealistic? In that case: f*ck it! All I'm after is getting as much photorealism as possible! What is the best most photorealistic way for creating indirect lighting, shadows and cautics then? Radiosity? Too heavy and to many artifacts if you ask me. Any suggestions?

[leigh]

Well, what I meant was that HDRI's are not the only element in photorealism :)

Photorealism is achieved using:

excellent, detailed models
brilliant texturing
great, well placed lighting setups
radiosity
sometimes HDR images for lighting, but it's very hit-and-miss


From the what you were saying, I guess I got the impression that you just thought that lighting your models with HDRI's would make them photorealistic. Sorry, I think I misunderstood you :)

As I explained in your thread in the general discussion forum (http://www.cgtalk.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=13630), HDRI only works when it is actually does represent the environment in which your scene takes place - ie. there is no point in using one of those free downloadable HDR images of a cathedral if your character is standing outside in the rain. And I've seen so many people who have done exactly this in their work :sad:
Also, yeah radiosity does sometimes cause artifacts, but using HDRI isn't going to solve this - for them to work properly, you have to render with radiosity anyway ;)
Perhaps you need to figure out why you are getting artifacts, and fix that problem?

[De-Cypher]

I didnt check out your original theme with color, but checked out your new layout.

I believe its to plain. And the bottom table is not aligning correctly to your menu on the left. Or maybe you want your content on the right of your menu, if so, your layout gets screwed in mac ie.

Just like any design project you should make some roughs of how you want your layout to look, the site is boring... sorry

go to http://www.phong.com/index.php so you can get some nifty interface techniques if you want to create that high tech look....


good luck

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