Still Life: Spark Plug

[james_martin]

not bad, the bolt head(the hexegon) looks a bit beat up for what it is, and the firing head looks a bit odd, though im not looking at one right now, but the rest is pretty realistic

[Sevarf2]

Great man!! More realistic. What software? The metal material is very good. Can you explain me ?

[Jargon]

max 4. Final Render. Lots of Patience©

[HeavY]

It's nice work! I love Maya but 3dsmax+finalrender give great effects. And once again: Good Work ! :) :thumbsup:

[Poju]

Looks pretty real to me, but is it suppose to be new or used?

[Neural Riptide]

I've forgotten what it's called, but there is a glass/ceramic piece at the top of the plug (where the arc happens) that is usually white when the plug is new. This peice will be white-ish if the plug is in an engine that is running to lean, black-ish if the engine is running to rich, and tan if the gas mixture is optimal.
so.. If you are making a new plug, you might want to make it white (remember there is a metal point on it though, or the arc don't work. and you might want to follow the advice from james and smooth out the sides of the hex.

if you are going for the used look, the metal contact point on the ceramic piece would still be visible a little (though I'll admit it might just be lighting in the image), and there would be carbon deposits on the different contact points on the end of the plug. Oil stains on the threads would also be visible if you are looking to make it appear as if from an older engine, or one that isn't running well.

Very photographic picture otherwise. hell of a lot better than I could do. :)

[Jargon]

here is a small update. I've swayed toward a newer look, so I've turned down the gouges on the chrome, and made the firing head a chrome instead of matte. Many other tweaks that I can't remember now, enjoy!

[bioni]

the update you made were necessary to get this !

congratulations ! Its very good !

[]s

[Jargon]

here's an update, crit/comments are welcomed.

[H2600]

I like the second to last picture that you posted, however the last one is a little to post processed for my taste (that doesn't necessarily mean that it is bad). As was mentioned eariler, the bolt head has wear on it that one wouldn't normally see, if you want to add wear to it, you'd want to put linear, vertical marks on it where the tips of a wrench would have shave/pushed some metal. Aside from that it looks pretty good.

P.S. If i can find a picture of what I'm talking about I'll post one for reference.

[CHRiTTeR]

Liked the 2nd one most. 3rd is verry good, but get rid of that greenish tint...

[Rogue]

Not bad. I really like the metal you have there. The things that bother me are these:

I can't see the center electrode. With the lighting you have, it should be seen, even if in shadow.

The ceramic part of the spark plug looks too reflective and not quite white enough.

The last thread isn't blending into the object. A normal thread pattern tappers at its end and smoothly meshes with the main part of the plug.

I'm not into the wear pattern on the hex part. If it's a new plug, there shouldn't be any wear. If it's not a new plug, the bulk of the wear would be at the corners where the scoket would make contact with it.

I'm not trying to be too critical, but you have a nice base and it wouldn't be too much more work to get a really nice render.

Hope this helps.

[sarfarazsoomro]

wow......it's looking photorealistic:buttrock:

[H3X4D3CiM4L]

i think the last one looks the most photorealistic. looks like a photo taken of a sparkplug on a workbench by a mechanic with a point-and-shoot and little too much time on his hands. =)

[Wi_2]

great,
I think the last pic "dof" should have the right colors
then it would be great.:thumbsup:

so just add dof to the 2nd pic and voila :)

[nick]

nice realism. I thinks theres to much green in that last update. Good bit or photorealsim there. great work

[chillfillan]

Yea that second to last one hits the spot, it looks very realistic. You should make a render of several of them, with their little boxes they come in.
:)

[R055]

hope you dont mind but i messed with the levels a bit, i think it looks better.

[jaymackey]

My 2 cents:

1st: Good job

2nd, someone mentioned the thread tapering off at the 'top' of the sparkplug. One thing you could do without going to the trouble of getting the thread to taper off gradually into the upper rim of the sparkplug is to continue the helix of the thread around just a bit more so that the end is hidden behind the sparkplug.

I know you may have had a sparkplug to use as a reference but here's my 'material' suggestions...

3rd: Manufacturing processes will leave dozens if not hundreds of little dinks on the metal like you have on the hex part, but normally they are much smaller than the ones you have. Also, the manufacturing processes can often leave long grooves in the hex part, at least from my observations. I have some reference bolts right next to me on my desk. The nuts and fittings I have either have 1 or 2 rough grooves per face, or they have both a brushed metal surface along with 1 or 2 deeper, rougher grooves parellel with the fine brushed metal grooves. If I were going to do a hex head bolt or a nut, I would have a bump map that had lots of random scratches and dinks, as if lots of bolts were thrown together (which is what happens in the shipping and storage of nuts). The dinks would both depress and and lift the metal, like an impact crater. I might also have a dink bumpmap that is stretched on one axis to simulate the machining and forming marks that you see on some hex nuts and fittings. This kind of wear is most prevalent on the hex part, because it is the highest or most protruding feature, and therefore takes most of the knocks, and also because the hex head part was made first, possibly at a different factory, thrown into a box, and shipped to the sparkplug manufacturer. The threads may not have been machined onto the metal part until after arriving at a second factory or a different part of the main factory. Even if they're all made in the same factory, it is not all in one process, so they still get thrown in a bin, knocked around, and possibly dumped into a vibratory bowl feeder for automated thread cutting or assembly. In any case, the only dinks you would see on the threads would be on the highest points, the ridges.

4th: Your metal is a little too mirror-like in general, and the threads in particular. I have seen some 'machined metal' or 'lathed metal' shaders that you should consider using on the thread portion, although you may be using a subtle one and I can't tell it. Actually, you should be using something like that on all of the metal. A brushed metal shader would be similar to what I am thinking of. Threads are often very shiny on new parts, but they usually don't have a mirror-like reflection. This is because in the thread-cutting process, many tiny grooves are cut into the metal. So they have high specular highlights, but little mirror-like reflection, like brushed metal, but often rougher/coarser.

5th: I also think you should go back to a matte finish on the electrodes, and bring out the definition of the inner electrode somehow. I'm not sure what kind of metal they use, whether it is some kind of copper alloy or what.

6th: like I mentioned on the dinks that depress and lift the metal up, the stamping on the metal should not just depress into the metal. When the stamping is done, the metal isn't cut out, it is mashed, and therefore it wells up or lifts in ridges around the depressions of the letters. So if you have a bump map that is neutral gray, and black represents the depressions, you would add white highlights around the edges of the depression.

These are just my thoughts. I hope they are helpful.

Jay

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