Lighting Challenge #4: Bottle Collection

[CaptainObvious]

Perhaps some very slight high-frequency noise to the dust, Mike?

[revilo3D]

Thanks, and this sounded like a good idea so I set-up a dusty material (brown diffuse, no spec, no reflection...) and layered it on top using a gradient as a mask. I set the gradient to use slope and tweaked the curve. I payed attention to the rendertime on this one and it was 19mins. Nice.


Gah.. i was hoping to be the first to do this...

I am having a go at this challenge, spending some time on it last night. However pretty rusty i realised not having done advanced stills for a while (more into production animation techniques lately). becuase of this I havent worked with dielectric materials before and was having trouble building a network that lets me add this effect (was trying to map attributes with ramps containing high freq coloured fracts). Im guessing i will need to use a layered shader but didnt have a chance to install mix8 or similiar. i let a test 1920 x 1200 go last night, to see this morning it took 50mins. I will post that up when i get home as a wip and hope to finish it up tonight.

[Freak!!]

And another Fprime..
http://freestyler.site.net.au/Images/G4.jpg

[Freak!!]

Elvis75k

I really like the image.... Nice work...

I totally agree with the tweaking comment too..
I usually get a nice looking surface, and over tweak it,
until it's far from where i had it looking good...
Especially glass and metals.

[tikal26]

here is my first try. quick set up, but something went wrong with my other lights I'll see what I can do about it.
http://img65.imageshack.us/img65/716/lighchang4vp.th.jpg (http://img65.imageshack.us/my.php?image=lighchang4vp.jpg)

[dazz_2150]

[QUOTE=tikal26]here is my first try. quick set up, but something went wrong with my other lights I'll see what I can do about it.



hoolaa frends !!,
nice start tikal:) . i have just started mine too .. working on the scene setup.. :bounce: man !! i m luving this challenge , i hav never been in any such challenges online. .i m a student of animation n visual effects , this sure is a awesome way to showcase my skilss !
below is the light n scene setup
cheers mate !

[dazz_2150]

Those are great, Mike.

The fisheye one is one of your best, although for that much camera distortion I'd expect as slightly wider angle view (a little more convergence of the parallel lines.)

My other fav. of yours is this one:


Maybe for variety now you can make some of them be dirty or dusty (with a diffuse response)?

-jeremy


hi mike,
awesome work ! like the brightness level on ur scene !:thumbsup:
cheers!

[Freak!!]

Fprime Render:

My last render for a while..

Good luck guys...

http://freestyler.site.net.au/Images/G5.jpg

[dazz_2150]

Fprime Render:

My last render for a while..

Good luck guys...



Hi freak !:)
nice render, though the lighting ambient created luks dull, i like the extreme cloes up shot of the bottle..the glas is coming out gud !
cheers !

[Spacelord]

Thanks, and this sounded like a good idea so I set-up a dusty material (brown diffuse, no spec, no reflection...) and layered it on top using a gradient as a mask. I set the gradient to use slope and tweaked the curve. I payed attention to the rendertime on this one and it was 19mins. Nice.

http://www.elementvfx.com/WebDemo/botgreen02.jpg

Holy crap Mike that rocks.
You sure your not trying to sell me MODO 201 ? :)
Well damn its working, I just can't wait for those camera
animation scripts to come out. Once I see someone pull
of some animation with them, I'm buying :)

A couple of dusty drip marks down the side of the bottles and your set.

[Freak!!]

Thanks Dazz_2150, yeah i was kind of looking more for a storybook feel...I kind of get bored of the same IBL, GI based lighting schemes. the last 2 contained no GI, and not a lot of post or C&C.I have 2 rendering now, which are GI. Can't use the Glass shader or caustics either, dammit.. So i'm a bit limited.

The problem with these kinds of scenes, is i could just keep tweaking and changing them.. :)

But i need to practice some lighting/surfacing skills obviously. So it's fun none the less..


I like your initial setup, hope to see more of your renders soon. What software are you rendering...

I expect with Modo201 released today, everybody is going to "want to be like mike" :)



jiversen: Nice to see a Houdini/Mantra rendering, nice work!

[bymak]

Hi .

I did it in maxwell...


http://www.bymak.com/sise1.jpg

http://www.bymak.com/sise2_s.jpg
click for 1800X2000px (http://www.bymak.com/sise2.jpg)

[revilo3D]

well here it is. just got home and thought id upload. Im gonna try another shader as i feel a bit restricted with what i currently have...See what i can make up with this new one ive come across.

[glebe-digital]

Lots of great shots at this so far! nice challenge....:)
Here's my first humble effort, Lightwave 8.5 [smoothing those meshes] and rendered with Maxwell v1.0, hdr sky the only light source.
http://www.glebedigital.co.uk/gdbottles.jpg

[JAF]

I'm sorry about this stupid question but is there a way to have a light emitting photons through the window without having them blocked in Max with MR (3.3.3.50) because i'm trying without success? The window is blocking photons; how to avoid this and having a glass like shader assigned on it?
I always have the same error message :
RCGI 0.2 warn 362004 : no photons stored after emitting 10000 photons
RCGI 0.2 error 361053: no photons stored after emitting 1000000 photons (canceling emission job)
Help really welcome.
Regards

[siquier]

My first attempt, I have to add caustics and tweak the shaders .
Done with Max + Vray:

http://www.juansiquier.com/in_progress/bottles.jpg

[elvis75k]

I'm sorry about this stupid question but is there a way to have a light emitting photons through the window without having them blocked in Max with MR (3.3.3.50) because i'm trying without success? The window is blocking photons; how to avoid this and having a glass like shader assigned on it?
I always have the same error message :
RCGI 0.2 warn 362004 : no photons stored after emitting 10000 photons
RCGI 0.2 error 361053: no photons stored after emitting 1000000 photons (canceling emission job)
Help really welcome.
Regards

dunno if in max u can but in maya you can hide the glass window from caustics and gi..
in this way you let the photons go thru the window without problems..

[MooseDog]

lots of great! images for this one. humbly submitting a lightwave effort (w/some ps post-work). c&c appreciated:)

http://www.mdogstudios.com/private/bottle_collection_cgt001.png

[JAF]

Thanks a lot Elvis, i'm still trying...

[KRZ9000]

updated my scene from page 15. added some bump on the window...and some maps to the bottles. personally i like that saturated look, but im not sure if this is zeitgeist right now.

http://www.krz9000.net/01renders/images/00div/images-800x600/lightchallenge04-krz9000-02.jpg

its still noisy, well its done with maxwell and i have limited hardware ressources;) i keep this one updated with more rendertime.

what do you think?

[gent_k]

here's my first try in XSI, ddin't have time to tweak so didn't quite end up as I expected.
http://img479.imageshack.us/img479/3326/bottlefirst4be.jpg

[ihabbob]

hi guys,

this is my first shot, it still needs a bit of tweeking, but the thing is i tried to increase the reflection and refraction limits to 15 and 15 but still i get those black areas in the glass. I'm usng mental ray with maya standard shaders.

one other problem i faced while setting up the bottles with dielectric MR material , the shadows seem to be opaque. i ended up removing the dielectric material and using facing ratio to control the reflectivity and transparency in a phong shader, which resulted in transparent shadows alright. but the look of the glass needs a bit o f tweeking to look right.

cheers,


http://forums.cgsociety.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=96040&stc=1

[rockmed]

Here is a render done with modo 201

I tried playing with blending different absorption and reflection colors in modo 201
http://modo.www.3moon.com/bottles-colors-clsup1.jpg

here is a hi res version:
http://modo.www.3moon.com/bottles-colors-clsup-hires.jpg

[Silverwing]

So thats my 1st entry here in the Lighting Challenge.

I hope you´ll like it:

http://img63.imageshack.us/img63/913/bottles26gr.jpg

This is the Result after 4h lighting and
shadinn in Cinema 4D
I used HDRI for reflections a falloff shader
for the dusty look of the Bottles and
of course some selfmade glass-shaders
for the look of the different bottles.

Rendertime (without caustics) 1h

edit... i dont know if it´s ok but i added
a shutter outside of the window...

[jmBoekestein]

Wow, I really went through hell getting reacquainted with the various aspects of crashes in the middle of the proces...

But I eventually got one. All manual stuff, no hdr...

http://img228.imageshack.us/img228/5408/bottles1crop2rh.jpg

edit: rendertime was 5 h 29 m, old machine lol. Brazil 1.2 used photon cache from a more bare setup and raytracing and no direct lighting. Combustion for colourcorrection and dof...

[Huv]

Hi everybody,
i'm quiet a shame to post an image after what i have seen before... :rolleyes:
anyway...
http://emerick1.free.fr/testc4d/cgtalk/bouteilles3.jpg
:thumbsup:

[siquier]

Second attempt:

http://www.juansiquier.com/in_progress/bottles2.jpg

[valentine]

heres my try. 4 hours of work using xsi for scenesetup and mental ray for rendering. originally i planned to invest more time on this one to add some liquids and dirt, but due to a thick market at work i wont do so.

best regards
jannis

http://mitglied.lycos.de/nubkiddie/bottles/bottles_window_01_thmb.jpg

HIGH RES: 1920 x 1080
(http://mitglied.lycos.de/nubkiddie/bottles/bottles_window_01.jpg)

[Silverwing]

jmBoekestein: Looks as if there is to much light... but nice glass
material!

Huv: Nice materials... u think I miss the feeling of depth when I´m
looking at your pic!

siquier: Really nice pic! Great materials. I especially like the mat
ot the window-glass... Keep it up!

[vonky]

Here are my first take on the bottles rendered in Mental ray.

[jeremyhardin]

my initial one.
http://jeremy.lwidof.net/cgtalk/jeremyhardin_bottlecollecti.jpg

[jeremybirn]

That's awsome Mike. It's great to see the variety.

-jeremy

Thanks, and this sounded like a good idea so I set-up a dusty material (brown diffuse, no spec, no reflection...) and layered it on top using a gradient as a mask. I set the gradient to use slope and tweaked the curve. I payed attention to the rendertime on this one and it was 19mins. Nice.

http://www.elementvfx.com/WebDemo/botgreen02.jpg

[jeremybirn]

Maybe the refraction is missing the back-faces or "air polygons" to simulate the rays exiting the glass? I think that's why the cork looks like that, anyway.

-jeremy

Fprime Render:

My last render for a while..

Good luck guys...

http://freestyler.site.net.au/Images/G5.jpg

[jeremybirn]

Looks good, I like the frosted glass look for the windows!

-jeremy

Second attempt:

http://www.juansiquier.com/in_progress/bottles2.jpg

[Phalanx3D]

I think maybe a camera should have been decided upon...

k

[dazz_2150]

[QUOTE=Freak!!]Thanks Dazz_2150, yeah i was kind of looking more for a storybook feel...I kind of get bored of the same IBL, GI based lighting schemes. the last 2 contained no GI, and not a lot of post or C&C.I have 2 rendering now, which are GI. Can't use the Glass shader or caustics either, dammit.. So i'm a bit limited.
The problem with these kinds of scenes, is i could just keep tweaking and changing them.. :)
But i need to practice some lighting/surfacing skills obviously. So it's fun none the less..
I like your initial setup, hope to see more of your renders soon. What software are you rendering... I expect with Modo201 released today, everybody is going to "want to be like mike" :){QUOTE]

hi guys ! hi freak :twisted:
yeah .ur thought process seems unique, i m working with Max8 n mental ray, since i m new to lighting so can't expirement much but i'm trying.since i have not so fast system, i hav reduced the geometrys in the scene..i'll show my next stage render once i m through!
and as far as Modo201 goes, hey i m new to max8 so i shud forget modo for the time being ! but i m sure giving it my best here !
cheers !

[glebe-digital]

deleted image

[dazz_2150]

So thats my 1st entry here in the Lighting Challenge.

I hope you´ll like it:This is the Result after 4h lighting and
shadinn in Cinema 4D
I used HDRI for reflections a falloff shader
for the dusty look of the Bottles and
of course some selfmade glass-shaders
for the look of the different bottles.

Rendertime (without caustics) 1h

edit... i dont know if it´s ok but i added
a shutter outside of the window...


Hi silver,
hey man that's a intersting change u got on this scene.. the bottom line change it only if it luks gud !! just like in ur case !!
wow super work...:thumbsup:
where's my render ??:rolleyes: hmmmmm .. coming soon this fall !!

cheers !

[Huv]

Huv: Nice materials... u think I miss the feeling of depth when I´m
looking at your pic!
Ok, i'll try to correct that ;) thanks
By the way, it seems that the bottle in the middle (with square sides, n°4) has little "problems" (artefacts visible on each picture posted), as i'm working with cinema 4d, i thought the problem was coming from my software, but in facts it comes from the .obj downloaded (bottle n°4). I've corrected it for me, here it is if you want it (it will be availlable until tomorrow) ;)
bottle (http://emerick1.free.fr/testc4d/cgtalk/bottle4.zip)

[bala2007]

Hi everyone,

Am a begiinner, and i use maya and mental ray. Have been trying to be a part of this challenge but when ever i render the scene the bottle turn out black and my lights don't work well.

Please can anyone help me figure out the problem or help with shading network to use.Thanks

[zuliban]

hey lots of nice entries here , i hope its still not late heres my try whit vray and max .

http://img221.imageshack.us/img221/2080/bottles1jw.jpg

[jeremybirn]

Hi everyone,

Am a begiinner, and i use maya and mental ray. Have been trying to be a part of this challenge but when ever i render the scene the bottle turn out black and my lights don't work well.

Please can anyone help me figure out the problem or help with shading network to use.Thanks

Just do simple tests with 1 bottle and 1 light visible first. Use only Maya shaders first, before doing anything involving mental ray shaders. PhongE is simple.

Your trace depth (number of refraction steps) is limited in the shader and the render settings, so make sure both are high enough to see through multiple layers of glass.

-jeremy

[jeremybirn]

hey lots of nice entries here , i hope its still not late heres my try whit vray and max .

http://img221.imageshack.us/img221/2080/bottles1jw.jpg

That's great! I love the way the colors mix.

-jeremy

[glebe-digital]

Maxwell Render V1.0 sl16 : iso 600 : shutter 25/s : F-stop 4 : hdr sky.
http://www.glebedigital.co.uk/bottleB.jpg

[bene.b]

I'm still experimenting...
Until I can post something more worthy I'll post this result with heavy artefacts which I find turned out to be kind of interesting (so that other beginners aren't intimidated by the other great renders). The artefacts remind me of a charcoal-like shader.
Hope to post sth. better/more realistic soon.

Greets,
bene

[atow3212]

this is all i have so far... about 2 hours of work done. it's turning into a bit of a finalRender tutorial for me as well. my first experience doing HDR in 3ds (used it in c4d).

using 3ds8, finalRender HDR/GI

lots of problems still...
having trouble getting the darkening around the edges of the glass.
saturation on the background is a little high, seems to blast things out a bit
caustics are on, but they aren't really doing anything.
i need to go in, turn off the background plane, and really get my HDR tweaked right so that my reflections and working.

this is more of a WIP than a finished test.

when is the cutoff date for submissions for this challenge?
really amazing stuff out of everyone... especially Elvis and Jeremy. you guys are blowing my mind. cheers

adam

[gent_k]

awesom Zuliban! Best entry until now, imo.

[Silverwing]

Hi there...

vonky: nice bottles... I think they are to reflective
you also should change your background!

jeremyhardin: your bottles seem to be made of
massive glass! The lighting is great. And i also like
your window glass material!

dazz_2150: Thanks alot I appreciate it!

Huv: Thx for the new geometry...

zuliban: Really great render. I love the different
glassshaders. The reflections are great too.
Great work!
One question: Where is the window?:)

glebe digital: Nice work there! I love Maxwell
renders! But i think you should extend the
sharpness a little bit!

[StuManFu]

I hope that taking a few bottles out isn't considered cheating. I have a very slow machine and a low patience.

I wasn't entirely convinced by the bottle in the foreground so I blurred it. Can't help but think I should probably remove it entirely.

http://img113.imageshack.us/img113/8471/bottlefinallyc7iv.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

I have a little story behind the image...

"Look out! He's gonna jump!"

After a Friday night of frivolity, the booze was running out and the little green beer bottle was beginning to sober up to the awful truth he was trying to forget. His nine identical companions had already fallen off the wall. Now he was the only one left and he felt compelled to volunteer to his destiny...


Modo 201 render. Post in After Effects
Lit by 3 area lights and GI. Sublte HDR just to add some interest to the reflections.

[jeremyhardin]

jeremyhardin: your bottles seem to be made of
massive glass! The lighting is great. And i also like
your window glass material!

Thanks, and you're probably right about the refraction being a touch high (and making the glass look thick).

Here's another with only two bottles and some liquid added. Also, this one was rendered all in camera with no post rather than the passes and compositing I did for the first one.
http://jeremy.lwidof.net/cgtalk/jeremyhardin_2bottles.jpg

[PaZ]

Hi,
i got some freetime for a fast test with Lightwave + Fprime: less than one hour for model cleaning, lighting, surfacing and camera setup - bottle's subdivision is too low, i'll try with better ones.

Paolo Zambrini

[StuManFu]

Hey, Jezza.

I like the mood of that one. It's like two lovers watching the sun go down.

[Freak!!]

Jeremy Birn: Thanks for the thoughts, YES! I had been looking at the mistake
on the wine bottle for sometime... And you are correct....

The bottle has internal polys, that have the same glass surface... they should be air polys...
However in Fprime i don't use air polys, So i have it set for single sided... Doh!
I'd prefer to delete them but that could be a little harder, investigating that now... thanks!

Jezza: I really like the reflections on the first render.
Was it an XSI or LW render?

Stuman Fu - What was the rendertime? I really like the pic...

Silverwing: Very nice! I also was going to add some blinds (vertical)
but your venetians really add to the lighting feel...

Dazz_2150: Hope to see some more Max/MR renders soon...

[StuManFu]

Thanks, Freak.

The render took around 2.5 hours in the end. 2 hours for the background pass and 30 mins for the foreground bottle. (Took it into work and rendered it on a dual 3Ghz Xeon) 16 ray recursions. 8x AA samples.

In my tests against Mental Ray and Lightwave, Modo was much faster. The fact that I could put in 3 area lights and GI is testament to its speed.

[StuManFu]

Trying a different take on viewpoint and dof.........Maxwell v1, sl16.
http://www.glebedigital.co.uk/bottleB.jpg

Love it! Just a shame it is still quite noisy. But great composition and colour.

[Silverwing]

jeremyhardin: hey that´s much better. Nice mood and nice
liquids in the bottles.

StuManFu: absolutely great materials! Especially that of the
window trim! Lighting is great too...

PaZ: really nice mats! I like it. Really good work for the little
time you had!

Freak!!:Thank you very much! I liked the feeling of light breaking
through half closed blinds.


Still rendering my bottles... :) Final coming soon!

[jeremybirn]

I've been really strugeling with the l_glass shader. I believe it gets better results than the standard blinns and phongs, especially with reflections, but I'm having trouble where the bottles overlap. As you can see in the image above it gets really dark when they overlap - so for all the mayans out there using this shader, is there a setting somewhere that I've missed?

I don't know. I was going to try out l_glass myself but all the links to it point to a personal site that seems to be down now. Or is it hosted somewhere else?

-jeremy

[jmBoekestein]

Love it! Just a shame it is still quite noisy. But great composition and colour.


I really like the noise actually, makes it more alive! Just check normal photographs, full of noise and artifacts. Part of the charm imho.

[Hamburger]

I don't know. I was going to try out l_glass myself but all the links to it point to a personal site that seems to be down now. Or is it hosted somewhere else?

-jeremy


Hah, I did a search and it seems Atwooki has answered your question in the l_glass thread. Anyway, it's here for anyone else who wants it:

http://www.custom3d.co.uk/lobbers/lobbers_glass.zip

[Silverwing]

It´s 3AM in the morning and finally my computer
finished rendering!

http://img232.imageshack.us/img232/8426/bottles153ef.jpg

Full resolution
http://img154.imageshack.us/img154/7365/bottles16rf.th.jpg (http://img154.imageshack.us/my.php?image=bottles16rf.jpg)

I changed the wall, the windowledge textures
and the glass shader a little bit to get a more
realistic result. I also added dust and dirt to the
windowglasses and changed the resolution
to 1920 x 1280 (3:2 photo dimensions)

Rendered with C4D standart renderer.
Duration of rendering 1h 20min
Res 1920 x 1280
HDRI for reflections
Hand setup lighting (no Radiosity, no ambient occlusion)
No caustics (because of the high renderduration)

This is my last render for this challenge so far...

I hope you like it!

[Pixelated]

Hi, here is my entry. This is my fisrt work posted in this forum. Render in Vray 1.48.03. Enlapsed time 1 hour 28''.
Hope you like it.

http://img159.imageshack.us/img159/7430/botellasfinal7ya.jpg

[Jason-C]

This is such a great thread, and there have been so many spectacular images posted by everyone here that I have been utterly blown away. It's shiny glass render paradise! :thumbsup: In particular, I have been highly impressed by the consistant quality of the Modo renders.

Here's my first attempt, I hope you guys don't mind but I thought I'd try something a little different, and render 3 of my fave shaped bottles (with a couple of changes) in a more controlled studio lighting setup. I'd appreciate any comments and suggestions, as I'm planning to continue to try and improve it.

http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f283/letsjason/Jason-C_Bottle1.jpg

Rendered in Brazil r/s with a combination of illuminating cubes and skylight.

[glebe-digital]

Love it! Just a shame it is still quite noisy. But great composition and colour.

Thanks stumanfu, yes I need to leave it in the oven a bit longer...........

[cesarmontero]

gerardo:

That render is really beautiful!
Yours is so far my favorite from all.
Really nice combination of everything:thumbsup:

[Huv]

Great job !
Silverwing, anytime you want to share your tricks... :D :)
Here is my new "test" for this challenge
http://emerick1.free.fr/testc4d/cgtalk/bouteilles4.jpg
C4D, GI, render time in 640x480: 49 min

Edit : really too much reflection on the green bottle :rolleyes:

[elvis75k]

Jeremy i'm wish i had a quote on my work..

view single post (http://forums.cgsociety.org/showpost.php?p=3575189&postcount=240)

Here u see what i've done in compositing.

http://img301.imageshack.us/img301/6605/pub8tj.jpg


Thanks a lot and good luck everybody!

-e

[dazz_2150]

hey lots of nice entries here , i hope its still not late heres my try whit vray and max .


Hi zuliban,
tooo gud ! i luv the camera angle and colors r soo bright..lighting wonderful !

[glebe-digital]

Many thanks for the nice comments all, pretty stiff competition here!
I have one more to try after this one, hope you like it.
http://www.glebedigital.co.uk/bottle3.jpg

[jorust]

Jeremy i'm wish i had a quote on my work..

view single post (http://forums.cgsociety.org/showpost.php?p=3575189&postcount=240)

Here u see what i've done in compositing.

http://img301.imageshack.us/img301/6605/pub8tj.jpg


Thanks a lot and good luck everybody!

-e

You did an excellent job on the final image. Nice looking glass, and the overcast light is perfect.

Well done :)

[jorust]

Many thanks for the nice comments all, pretty stiff competition here!
I have one more to try after this one, hope you like it.
http://www.glebedigital.co.uk/bottle3.jpg

Beatiful mood in that image. I guess you did the DOF in render-time, but I think you could get better effect doing it in post. Lens blur in Photoshot isn't the best one, but it's better than straight from the render. You also has the freedom of playing with the focus point and amount of DOF, bloom and bokeh... :)

[glebe-digital]

Beatiful mood in that image. I guess you did the DOF in render-time, but I think you could get better effect doing it in post. Lens blur in Photoshot isn't the best one, but it's better than straight from the render. You also has the freedom of playing with the focus point and amount of DOF, bloom and bokeh... :)

Thanks Jan-Ove, yes it's all in the render, just slight de-saturation in Pshop.
Certainly I'd like a bit more bokeh in the image, my final try will -hopefully- use the glare function in MWR's .mxi format.....we'll see how it goes.

[jorust]

I guess that´s the only way of doing it in maxwell, as long as you can´t render wo/ DOF.
Looking forward to you next one...

BTW: Does a really small f-stop give more noise in maxwell?

[glebe-digital]

I guess that´s the only way of doing it in maxwell, as long as you can´t render wo/ DOF.
Looking forward to you next one...

BTW: Does a really small f-stop give more noise in maxwell?

Well you set your camera to a small apperture [f-stop 16 for example] and dof will be greatly reduced, but I wanted to let a lot of light into that scene.

Maxwell can be pretty noisy until you hit high sample levels, it's deceptive on this shot due to the semi-rough glass [brown bottles] and dof compounding the effect........needs another day in the oven to get super-clean, but I want to get my final variation done before I think about generating another .mxi and merging the two solutions......never enough hours in the day!

[Shilts]

There is some great stuff here guys!! Really inspiring.

My favourites so far are:

Silverwing
Mike RB
Glebe Digital
and siquier

Good contest.

[esokanod]

It´s 3AM in the morning and finally my computer
finished rendering!

http://img232.imageshack.us/img232/8426/bottles153ef.jpg

Full resolution
http://img154.imageshack.us/img154/7365/bottles16rf.th.jpg (http://img154.imageshack.us/my.php?image=bottles16rf.jpg)



I hope you like it!

Excellent work so beautiful :bounce:

[Silverwing]

Hi there again... great work all together!

Pixelated: I think there is to less reflection in your
bottles... they dont look like real glass!

Jason-C: Perfect... really studio like. I love the
clean render and the great shaders you used!

Huv: Your pic looks much better with the DOF
thats what I ment with "feeling of depth"!
"Silverwing, anytime you want to share your tricks..."
Sure... I will later post a Link where you can
download my scene... When I´m back from work...
But I did alot of postwork in Fusion and Photoshop
so the szene may look very different after rendering!

Elvis75k: Stunning work! Great seutp of the szene...
The result is great too! I really love your glass.

glebe digital: Also great work! I love the materials
and the DOF. Really a great render!

esokanod: "Excellent work so beautiful :bounce:"
Thanks alot! I appreciate it!

There are so many great posts... I love this Challenge!

[Pixelated]

Hi there again... great work all together!

Pixelated: I think there is to less reflection in your
bottles... they dont look like real glass!



Silverwing, yeah maybe my environment is too weak. The materials have the reflection at 100%. I'll try adding some lights behind the camera.

Great work I love your scene.

Thanks for answering.

elvis, what can I say realy excelent work.

Very great post.

[jeremyhardin]

Jeremy i'm wish i had a quote on my work..

view single post (http://forums.cgsociety.org/showpost.php?p=3575189&postcount=240)

Here u see what i've done in compositing.

http://img301.imageshack.us/img301/6605/pub8tj.jpg


Thanks a lot and good luck everybody!

-e

@Elvis75k
Nice compositing man. Good to see how others do it. Here were my passes for my first one:
http://jeremy.lwidof.net/cgtalk/bottlecollection_passes.jpg

[elvis75k]

Great -jezza. Thank you!

[jeremybirn]

Jeremy i'm wish i had a quote on my work.

Looks great!

Polymess already said it well if you want a quote: "You did an excellent job on the final image. Nice looking glass, and the overcast light is perfect. Well done."

I'm not sure if the post-processed colors help you. The yellow tinting makes that left bottle look more plastic. And maybe the same with the bright pink liquid (whatever liquid that is?), the fruity colors can make things look more plastic. For that "color picker" pass, you could use pure red, green, blue for the bottles, repeating in order so two red bottles don't overlap, and then you could render with transparency and refraction and be able to tint the whole bottle. To be safe you might use two passes if you're worried about overlap with refraction. Also, keeping highlights and reflections separate would be a good idea if you tint things in post, so you don't have to tint the highlights.

-jeremy

[Jorge Arango]

I hope that taking a few bottles out isn't considered cheating. I have a very slow machine and a low patience.

I wasn't entirely convinced by the bottle in the foreground so I blurred it. Can't help but think I should probably remove it entirely.

http://img113.imageshack.us/img113/8471/bottlefinallyc7iv.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

I have a little story behind the image...

"Look out! He's gonna jump!"

After a Friday night of frivolity, the booze was running out and the little green beer bottle was beginning to sober up to the awful truth he was trying to forget. His nine identical companions had already fallen off the wall. Now he was the only one left and he felt compelled to volunteer to his destiny...


Modo 201 render. Post in After Effects
Lit by 3 area lights and GI. Sublte HDR just to add some interest to the reflections.

I must say that this bottle on the edge puts a lot of tension to the image. And I say that even before reading the story. Great resource.

Also, I'm amazed at the quality of some of the Modo renderings, including yours.


Jorge Arango

[jeremybirn]

Many thanks for the nice comments all, pretty stiff competition here!
I have one more to try after this one, hope you like it.
http://www.glebedigital.co.uk/bottle3.jpg

Looks good. It feels natural. The hazy weather, with blue and green colors accented by dark tones, all adds up to a somewhat somber mood.

The DOF really helps make the shot believable. One of the big things about glass is that reflections and refraction come from different distances, and fall in and out of focus at different points than the glass you see them in. With that impression working, where you can see through an in-focus bottle to the refraction of some bottles that are out of focus, the scene takes on a lot more depth. I don't see the effect on the reflections, in terms of more distant reflected surfaces going farther out of focus, but maybe that's because most of whats getting reflected is all on a sphere close to the objects. I know DOF can be painfully slow in most raytracers, but there's no substitute that gives the same results when you're dealing with reflections and refraction.

-jeremy

[jeremybirn]

I can't keep up with this thread! It's truly scary to think how many processor cycles are being spent, on every continent, raytracing these bottles. We probably could have found extraterrestrial life by now if we didn't need to render all these!

Full resolution
http://img154.imageshack.us/img154/7365/bottles16rf.th.jpg (http://img154.imageshack.us/my.php?image=bottles16rf.jpg)
That's great! Congratulations!

I don't know who puts the blinds OUTSIDE the window like that :) but it's a great, film noir feeling scene, with the light from the blinds dripping through the bottles.

-jeremy

[ThePriest]

VRay and Max: 2hr 10minutes.

http://www.loungevisual.com/misc/glasstest.jpg

[Silverwing]

As promised....
Here you can download my Cinema 4D bottle file to
look at my personal lighting and shading work.
It´s a win rar file which contains all textures you´ll
need to render it.
(I did a lot of postwork, so the render may look different
to the pic i have postet here)

You need C4D 9.0 or higher to open it... and don not
worry about som plugin failure messages... You dont need
any plugs!

Have Fun :Klick here to download (http://rapidshare.de/files/21447554/Bottles.rar.html)
7 MB .RAR File

(Scrawl down and klick on the button "FREE". Then wait
about 20-30 seconds till the server opens a new port...
Type in the given letters for access then klick "DOWNLOAD..." READY)

ThePriest: Nice render... you changed the environment... i like it!
I also like the DOF! But i think the two white glass bottles at the
left site of the pic look as if they were made of really thin glass...


Edit: Thank you very much jeremy for your kind
reply! It means alot to me!

[the_bouille]

beginning of research

3dsmax - vray [render time:4min]

and a little post prod

http://kureks.free.fr/BnC/Photos/001_bouilles/retouch02.jpg

-C&C are welcome-

[glebe-digital]

Looks good. It feels natural. The hazy weather, with blue and green colors accented by dark tones, all adds up to a somewhat somber mood.

The DOF really helps make the shot believable. One of the big things about glass is that reflections and refraction come from different distances, and fall in and out of focus at different points than the glass you see them in. With that impression working, where you can see through an in-focus bottle to the refraction of some bottles that are out of focus, the scene takes on a lot more depth. I don't see the effect on the reflections, in terms of more distant reflected surfaces going farther out of focus, but maybe that's because most of whats getting reflected is all on a sphere close to the objects. I know DOF can be painfully slow in most raytracers, but there's no substitute that gives the same results when you're dealing with reflections and refraction.

-jeremy

Many thanks for that Jeremy, it's been very useful in helping me understand exacty why this needs more cooking. The higher the sample level [in MWR] the more of those 'distant reflections' will become clear, this shot could probably do with a lot more cooking........I only let it run for 7hrs where it could probably have done with 14-20.
Many thanks for your insightful comments.

[gerardo]

gerardo:

That render is really beautiful!
Yours is so far my favorite from all.
Really nice combination of everything:thumbsup:



Coming from an Excellent CG artist like you, I really appreciate that, César
I'm always looking forward your last work :beer:



Gerardo

[mbeazley]

Well I am in the process of working on them. I thought I was going to have more time away from work, so I will have to pick up again probably late tonight or Saturday night. Still no final renders yet, but soon.

Everything I've seen so far looks incredible.

-mark

[Huv]

As promised....
Here you can download my Cinema 4D bottle file to
look at my personal lighting and shading work.
Thanks a lot for sharing silverwing !! :thumbsup:
I think i'll learn a lot with that !!

[jojo1975]

Sorry for dup post had a problem while sending

[jojo1975]

Dont' know if someone has already tell but I found this site which can be a very valuable source of informations and images for thi mini-challenge

Since my PC is too slow :( and my renders will take a while I wanted to tell community before my upload

http://www.blm.gov/historic_bottles/


Hope it will be useful

Jojo

[jmBoekestein]

beginning of research

3dsmax - vray [render time:4min]

and a little post prod

http://kureks.free.fr/BnC/Photos/001_bouilles/retouch02.jpg

-C&C are welcome-

That's realy good lighting and balance in there? CAn I aks what your system specs and techniques are? I don't use Vray, but this looks more than convincing enough! :thumbsup:

[gerardo]

Silverwing, very nice materials and lighting effect

Geble Digital, don't know if is due to your dof effect but that blurred refraction "look" and colors gives a nice soft mood to your image.

StuManFu, your lighting looks very natural

JeremyHardin, nice image, man. Interesting to see your render passes

The_Bouille, that's looking good and it's an awesome render time

ThePriest, looks good, but it seems your reflection looks like if you are using a luminous card or reflector with an imagemap applied (if is in this way, maybe you want to try with a large sphere instead). I think you can improve your image if we can see more sunlight in the window shelf :)



Gerardo

[voidmonster]

http://www.voidmonster.com/albums/LJPics/Bottles_DoneEnough.jpg

Rendered with Maxwell Render. About 40 minutes of setup and two or three nights worth of rendering. Original res 1680x1050. A fun challenge that I'd do differently if I were starting over!

-Zak Jarvis
http://www.voidmonster.com

[BonzaiGopher]

Hi all,

Here's my first attempt here at anything like this... Suggestions for improvement are welcome!

Cheers,

Glen
Software used: Carrara 5 Pro

http://ca.geocities.com/gallen8969@rogers.com/testarea/bc2.jpg

[Nitisara]

I decided to participate in the Contest to test my "GlassWorks" plugin for LightWave 3D.
This plugin performs fast realistic glass rendering in LightWave 3D.
Used 13 ray bounces, raytraced shadows, reflections, refractions and caustics.
Render time (main image): 33 min.

http://www.lightwave3d.ru/uploads/post-383-1148706363.jpg

[Huv]

My new test (less reflection) :
http://emerick1.free.fr/testc4d/cgtalk/bouteilles5.jpg
:thumbsup:

[hris]

2 hours modeling and texturing, 6-7 hours work with lights setup, and 9 hours rendering.
It's not GI ligtning. It's faked. Here is one light with hardshadows, and 64 lights (shadow map 2000x2000 ) applied to every point on sphere object (GI Dome).Antialiasing Min x2, Max x4.
Original picture size: 1280x1024, resized to 800x640. Postprocessing was done in GIMP (contrast, more intensive colours, some little glows on bright places in the scene).
Software : Cinema 4D
http://img130.imageshack.us/img130/1580/firstentry9lb.jpg (http://imageshack.us/)

[glebe-digital]

beginning of research

3dsmax - vray [render time:4min]

and a little post prod

http://kureks.free.fr/BnC/Photos/001_bouilles/retouch02.jpg

-C&C are welcome-

I like this very much, very nice feel........only 4mins !?!?!?!?! wow.

My two shots now rendered for longer and cleaner, that just about wraps it up for me but it's been an interesting challenge and grerat seeing so many different takes on the subject.

http://www.glebedigital.co.uk/bottle3.jpg

http://www.glebedigital.co.uk/bottleB.jpg

[AndreiSzasz]

a better render of my bottels....hope you like it.

[ThomasZ]

http://student.vfs.com/~3d54tommy/tappedouttz.jpg

Hi,

Thought I'd take a crack at this. Besides, it would be nice to get some comments from the guy who literally wrote the book on this stuff.

Rendered in Mental Ray for Maya, 20mins 21 seconds @ 720x540 pixels, on an Athlon 64 3000.

I deliberately kept FG rays and # of photons to the barest minimum for the quality/render time I was aiming for, and there is still some noticable artifacting in the shot at this point.

[revilo3D]

well here is my final for this challenge. Fairly happy with it. Definately room for improvement though and think i may spend some more time practicing the "creative" lighting aspects. The sahders could have had some more injected into them too like dust and bump etc etc.. had some dirty glass but it srewed with some of my lighting no matter what i did.

http://www.revilodesigns.com/media/images/forum/lighting04.jpg

I do have a question thou, I did occur some artifacting near the end of tests, and couldnt troubleshot them. Im sure im not the only one to have seem this...

Renderer is mental ray, hdri lighting + a spot with raytrace shads, caustics...

[jorust]

http://www.glebedigital.co.uk/bottle3.jpg

http://www.glebedigital.co.uk/bottleB.jpg

WOW!!! Beautiful images. Well done... :thumbsup:

[Silverwing]

Wow there are some really nice pottle-posts here today:


the_bouille: Really nice lighting and sense of glass!

gerardo: Thanks alot!

Huv: Keep it up... getting better every time...

hris: Wow nice environment! Great textures... I think
the glass isn´t worktout very well yet. It looks too
plastic like!

glebe digital: Beautiful images. I like the results alot!

revilo3D: Nice lighting i like it... Maybe you need a
more detailed wood-texture. Although your glassmats
are great!

Good luck altogether!

[siquier]

And my last attempt, It was great to work on the bottles but I´ve not time enough for more fun :sad:.
Max + VRay 21 min rendertime, I hope you like:

http://www.juansiquier.com/in_progress/bottles3.jpg

[Silverwing]

@siquier: Wow best work so far! Really great windowglass
bump. I really like the feeling and the mood of your pic!

[yahyaehsan]

Its a work in progress shot.

[KDun]

This is my first post here and figured i would give the lighting a shot any suggestions would be great :)


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v305/kdun/bottles2.jpg

[glebe-digital]

Thanks Polymess, Silverwing, .... I'm very happy.

[lazzhar]

And my last attempt, It was great to work on the bottles but I´ve not time enough for more fun :sad:.
Max + VRay 21 min rendertime, I hope you like:

http://www.juansiquier.com/in_progress/bottles3.jpg
Terrific rendering you came up with !! but no wonder I've been a fan of your work for ages :)
BTW, the glass of the window i'm sitting next right now has the same pattern you used in your rendering.
A lot of amazing stuff too.

[samel]

a bit late perhaps, but here's my attempt..
not exceptionally good but it was done with renderman(prMan/RAT/maya)
and i'm happy to have any results to show at all as i am quite the beginner..
some cc done in ps..

great challenge though, lots of pretty renders..
/s

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a303/le_bonbon/bottles.jpg

[StuManFu]

http://www.revilodesigns.com/media/images/forum/lighting04.jpg



Hey, Revilo

That's some impressive work from Mental Ray. You must have a fast machine or the patience of a saint!

[vvee]

Here's my attempt, xsi, mental ray.

[mbeazley]

Well here is my attempt. I think I still have weirdness with a couple of bottles. Imported the .obj into Lightwave. It also took forever to render (albeit at 1024x768).

I will probably work on this some more just to learn more stuff. All the renders I have seen have been great and love the variety of moods. The modo renders I am really impressed with, I will have to look into that application.

-mark

[jmBoekestein]

I like this very much, very nice feel........only 4mins !?!?!?!?! wow.

My two shots now rendered for longer and cleaner, that just about wraps it up for me but it's been an interesting challenge and grerat seeing so many different takes on the subject.

http://www.glebedigital.co.uk/bottle3.jpg

http://www.glebedigital.co.uk/bottleB.jpg

I love these, looks like little problem with too much light getting thorugh the bottles at their base in the topmost pic, the strange tuby one for instance doesn't seem to occlude. Weird, I needed to kick p the sampling a lotto get that right


Great stuff! :thumbsup:

[sketchguy]

Just stumbled upon this thread and really am digging all the variations of the renderers present, especially the Modo renders.

I think it would be great if we could get a DP or table top photographer to do a real photo shoot of the bottle scene with varying light setups to compare and contrast to the CG renders.

Perhaps a future lighting challenge could be set up this way? Either show the real image first and have people do their best to match it, or, save the actual photo for last.

-Steve

[oskiki]

Thanks Polymess, Silverwing, .... I'm very happy.

http://www.glebedigital.co.uk/bottleB.jpg
I like your scenes Glebe, good work http://forums.cgsociety.org/images/icons/icon13.gif
Can you explain a little bit how you achieve it?
thank you beforehand

Oskik

[hris]

This time i used GI in Cinema 4D. Please come comments, critique or just some few nice word:))
http://img210.imageshack.us/img210/887/secondentry2iv.jpg (http://imageshack.us/)
Big greetings for al people who are hard working with bottle rendering hi hi :)

[Aurety]

Hello everyone ! Thank you for all this inspiration stuff !!

EDIT : WOW ! Thanks Silverwing for your great file entry !

Here's my first attempt done in cinema4D. I'm not happy with my reflective map and the " too dark" edges with the fresnel for some bottles. I will try something else but any crits or comments before are welcome.

for now 5h25 to render. ( Advanced Render - C4D 9.6 - Mac Quad - No GI, No caustiques, 2 area-lights, one infinite... and dof in post-prod ).

http://www.lev-communication.fr/images/stories/porfolio/3d/bottles1_cgtalk.jpg

[siquier]

Thanks Sirverwing (your render is really amazing, maybe the bast so far) and Lazzhar, I´m glad for your comments.

[glebe-digital]

I like your scenes Glebe, good work http://forums.cgsociety.org/images/icons/icon13.gif
Can you explain a little bit how you achieve it?
thank you beforehand

Oskik

Thanks Oskik, I used Maxwell Render with camera settings of: f-stop 2.0 : iso 600 : focal distance 25.0 : shutter speed 15/s. Camera focussed to the far lip of the bottle, a hdri map for illumination and just played around with attenuation colour and distance for the glass materials.

[hris]

My favourite render is made by Sesim, second place for siquier, and third place for glebe digital.
Sesim's render has amazing mood, white light behind window is very natural.
Siquier picture has real reflections, and beautyfull glass material.
Glebe Digital made very cool camera position with dof over blue bottle:)
That's my opinion, and my favourites renders in this challange. But challange is not finished, challange is still continuing.
Well, let's do few renders more my friends:)))))
Have a nice day (and time of renders)

[soccerrprp]

Maxon C4D R8.5 AR
Rendertime: 30m 44s
1-light (sun), GI & Reflection domes
Standard radiosity

http://www.parishepiscopal.org/studio282/IMAGES/glass_challenge_attempt2.jpg

[Silverwing]

Hi its me again...
Really impressive stuff alltogether!

@KDun: Try to use more then one lightsource...
The shadow cast from the bottles is much
to dark! Also the environment materials are
not worktout very well... But keep it up!

@glebe digital: "Thanks Polymess, Silverwing, ....
I'm very happy." You welcome!

@vvee: Nice kameraangle. I also like your glasmaterial
but the floor doesn´t look very realistic!

@mbeazley: Nice lightsetup! I like your glassmaterial
althougt it doesent look realistic jet! Maybe you need
to change your your environment map...

@sketchguy: Thanks very much... and a great idea
you´ve got... I like it!

@hris: Nice cameraangle and nice lighting! I really
like your environment. Some of the bottles still look
as if they were made of very thin glass... I think
thats unrealistic! But although good overall look!

@Aurety: "WOW ! Thanks Silverwing for your great file entry!"
Well you welcome! "for now 5h 25 to render" Wow very
lobg rendertime... What resolution did you use?
Maybe the arealights causes the high rendertime....
Your image looks good. I love your textues. As you said
the reflective map could be better... but although
great result... P.s. you should do a better polys mooth
(Hypernurbs subdivision) because I can see that some
edges of the bottles, that should be round, are not!

@siquier: "Thanks Sirverwing (your render is really amazing, maybe
the bast so far)" Thanks i appreciate it alot!

@soccerrprp: Nice glass... I think it´s to reflective...
and I also miss the DOF. When you have a cameraposition
like this there must be some DOF in your pic!
Maybe you should use the fresnel-shader if you didn´t
already use it. But the lightsetup is good. Keep it up!



Again if somebody missed the former entry!
Here you can download my Cinema 4D bottle file to
look at my personal lighting and shading work.
It´s a win rar file which contains all textures you´ll
need to render it.
(I did a lot of postwork, so the render may look different
to the pic i have postet here)

You need C4D 9.0 or higher to open it... and don not
worry about som plugin failure messages... You dont need
any plugs!

Have fun :Klick here to download (http://rapidshare.de/files/21447554/Bottles.rar.html)
7 MB .RAR File

(Scrawl down and klick on the button "FREE". Then wait
about 20-30 seconds till the server opens a new port...
Type in the given letters for access then klick "DOWNLOAD..." READY)

Finished work: (old render)
http://img154.imageshack.us/img154/7365/bottles16rf.th.jpg
(http://img154.imageshack.us/my.php?image=bottles16rf.jpg)

[bramley1]

Hi all,
I've been following this thread, got some great work here.
I've had a quick go inbetween jobs at work. So it's not finished as you can tell, but I don't think I'll have much time to finish it.

I'm happy with it so far apart from the following tweaks.
Texture shelf properly.
Better coloured materials on glasses.
Fix caustics. You will notice the huge photons on the largest bottle. I had huge difficulty getting the bottles to emit caustics, still not fixed it.
Subtle AO pass under bottles so they sit better to the shelf.

I used XSI/MR for the main render, then a couple of tweaks in the fxtree.
16 raydepth!!
Caustics - even though they went wrong :)
Subtle volumetrics
Two spotlights (area)
All materials are blinn - no glass shaders.
No FG/GI.



http://www.lumierestudios.co.uk/glass_v03.jpg (http://lumierestudios.co.uk/glass_v03.jpg)

Thanks all
Duncan

[ombr]

My contribution with Cinema 4D. I Have no more time to work on it, but i have learned a lot playing with this scene.
Great work all ! :)

http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/9017/glass36ec.jpg

[pidgi]

OK, I have tried my hand at the challenge.
I did work with Carrara 5 Pro, no post work.
Now, I only need to find how to show my image on the thread:sad: . Back soon...:thumbsup:

pidgi

[Aurety]

Thank you Silverwing for your comment, I follow you and redo the light setup and reflective map. I'm happy to see they're many cinema 4d users they play the game here.

This is my final picture, the week end is over and tomorrow too much work.... Snif...
So I used Cinema 4D - Classic Advanced Renderer - No GI, No Caustics, One hemisphere with the reflection map outside the view. One plan with a picture for the forest in color and luminance channel. One Area light inside the hemisphere and an infinite light for the sun. Fresnel and gradient for transparence. That's all. 2 hours 34 min for renderer.
In post effect inside C4D : Highlights and glow. Little Dof in Photoshop.

I would something between dry and wet, sandy and greeny atmosphère, something "baroque"... I'm happy and proud with this render even there's too much to do to join the great entries I've seen here on CGTalk challenge thread.

Thanks again Silverwing for your impressive file ! So now, I wait about yours, readers ! :thumbsup:

http://www.lev-communication.fr/images/stories/porfolio/3d/bottlescgtalk2.jpg

[ENSLAVER]

Great work so far, Aurety - I love the green feel, very nice :D

Here is my little go, I will call this a WIP as it was rendered low quality, small size etc, still alot of noise.. Vray+max


http://img423.imageshack.us/img423/4449/bottles17tt.jpg



When I find the time I will re-render this, up the settings a bit to get rid of the noise and post it =)

Keep the inspirational stuff coming :love:

[mbeazley]

Thank you Silverwing for your comment, I follow you and redo the light setup and reflective map. I'm happy to see they're many cinema 4d users they play the game here.

This is my final picture, the week end is over and tomorrow too much work.... Snif...

I would something between dry and wet, sandy and greeny atmosphère, something "baroque"... I'm happy and proud with this render even there's too much to do to join the great entries I've seen here on CGTalk challenge thread.

Thanks again Silverwing for your impressive file ! So now, I wait about yours readers ! :thumbsup:


Wow Aurety! Very nice render. That is definitely one of the best.

Silverwing; thanks for the nice comment. I am working on a new one which is going to be rendered during sunset. I am still messing around with it. I have also managed to keep the render time down. :D

-mark

[pidgi]

OK, found a way.

Please discard anything else than the photo, I spent at most 12 minutes setting up the site...
http://membres.lycos.fr/pidgi/photoalbum.html

Still working on it.
What a bunch of superb renders! (excluding mine!!!)

pidgi

[HoangQuan]

well..this is my test with Maxwell, bottle with flowers:D..uhm..just wanna make it feel "green" and "real" as much as I can..but da problem here is this pic has too much noise,hah?..
http://img140.imageshack.us/img140/4837/final11iq.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
I'll render another pic this morning..try to prevent noise
any comment are welcome:)

[mbeazley]

Ok, here is a new render, which I like much better than my first one. Orange feel from sunset and a slight yellowish light for the inside.

I used a dark picture of my condo for the reflection map. I may try and re-shoot this when the sun goes down tonight to get a better match to the out the window image; which is a sunset picture from a hotel somewhere (who knows where I was, I travel too much).

Render time was 2.5 hrs @ 640x480 Enhanced Medium for AA, with Lightwave 8.5. Everything ray-traced except transparency. Used the fast fresnel shader for the glass.

-mark

[Mike RB]

I decided to turn all my bottles into shiny plastic. There is no transparency and no lights, it's all IBL using an HDR and GI, the GI is affecting the SSS... very cool.

Not sure what is going on with the one bottletop, weird geometry...

http://www.elementvfx.com/WebDemo/sssbot.jpg

[jbingman]

Dang Mark! Now you're making me think about entering!

Like your render tho! The sunset is a great shot and you obviously cleaned your house! LOL

Good luck in NY and if I have more time this weekend I'll put something together.

J

Ok, here is a new render, which I like much better than my first one. Orange feel from sunset and a slight yellowish light for the inside.

I used a dark picture of my condo for the reflection map. I may try and re-shoot this when the sun goes down tonight to get a better match to the out the window image; which is a sunset picture from a hotel somewhere (who knows where I was, I travel too much).

Render time was 2.5 hrs @ 640x480 Enhanced Medium for AA, with Lightwave 8.5. Everything ray-traced except transparency. Used the fast fresnel shader for the glass.

-mark

[mbeazley]

Mike, I had to flip some polygons near the top on that bottle. There is definitely some weirdness with that particular bottle. I think I had to add some polys also around the top to form the rim.

-mark

[helluvapixel]

I opted to try a night scene in c4d. The backglow is giving me grief.

http://www.jase.ca/forumpost/misc/cgtalk_lghtchlg4_05.jpg

[helluvapixel]

I decided to turn all my bottles into shiny plastic. There is no transparency and no lights, it's all IBL using an HDR and GI, the GI is affecting the SSS... very cool.

Not sure what is going on with the one bottletop, weird geometry...

Mike, looks like you got something weird on this bottle:
http://www.jase.ca/forumpost/misc/mikerb_artifact_01.jpg

[helluvapixel]

Viewpoint edit, and tweak on the shader:

http://www.jase.ca/forumpost/misc/cgtalk_lghtchlg4_07.jpg

[cesarmontero]

I decided to take some time today while I was packing up my things.
So far I have been focusing on just the lighting.
There is still a lot to be done on the texturing.
1 light so far, not sure if I will add more later on.
Rendered in Lightwave with FPrime.
http://www.archeidos.com/images/glass_bottles/bottles1.jpg

[cesarmontero]

Another bag packed with clothes in my apartment, and another render testing out this time some glass without coloring. I also played a little this time witht the DOF I want. The render is still quite fuzzy and grainy. I will let a crystal clear render tomorrow, before the landlord kicks my butt out of the apartment and I take my plane :P

http://www.archeidos.com/images/glass_bottles/bottles2.jpg

[jeremybirn]

Cesar -

I really like that "all white" one. It has a simplicity to it, but still reads clearly.

-jeremy

[gerardo]

Very nice beginning César! I like more your last image too. Don't know how you do it with FPrime but it seems you have caustics there. I like also the subtle golden reflection on the frosted glass. Looking forward your progress.
Happy trip!



Gerardo

[Aurety]

WOW Cesarmontero, I love your last render too. Very subtile tranparencies. :thumbsup:

[bymak]

hi this time I want to try mental ray. There is so good staff here, I want to congratulate all of them.

http://www.bymak.com/Lighting_Challenge_4.jpg

[jmBoekestein]

Finally got my crappy machine to render a higher resolution more clean one...

I had to... it seems the colourscheme can be weird to some, I like it, got the same freedom in film, tnah certainly you can do it in cg. :p

http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/9370/bottlewide25vn.jpg (http://imageshack.us)


@Mike RB, hey that sss is fun, going to try one too, had enough of photons for now anyway. Some interesting tests you did! I'm not always too fond of how hdr reflections appear on models personally, they often look like a slick layer detached from the object. But that's probably a texturing issue.

@cesarmontero, great renders, I think they're the best so far. texture on the window is very good. :thumbsup:

[oskiki]

:applause:Cesarmontero

Lovely!!

[jfserejo]

hi all and, in the 1st place, i would like to thank all for this exercises that help us get better step by step, with the envolvment of all members.

this is the first time i post an image here, and i'm trill for that. this scene (OBJ imported to Max) is giving me a really challenge, because after messh smoothing, all gets to heavy (even in a dual xeon), any of you are dealing the same problem?

render with vray, in max 8 with medium quality settings (no caustics iet - geometry of the glass is blowing light everyplace)

http://static.flickr.com/73/155685632_78c2d90f61.jpg?v=0

[elvis75k]

Cesar -

I really like that "all white" one. It has a simplicity to it, but still reads clearly.

-jeremy

agree!! nice work.

[cesarmontero]

While I was sleeping I let this one render.
It has a lot more of color, not sure if people will like it.
I'm really just playing around with whatever comes to my mind.
I'm glad you guys liked the "clear white" one.
I'll make a bigger render of that.
The refractions look really cool when you see them from near.

http://www.archeidos.com/images/glass_bottles/bottles3.jpg

Cesar -
I really like that "all white" one. It has a simplicity to it, but still reads clearly.
-jeremy
Yup, I updated the pic before going to bed.
The first one on that spot was a bit shaky.
I do like simplicity too in the texture and light.
I'll re-render that one in a bigger size.
I like how refractions look in closeup when I do so.
Very nice beginning César! I like more your last image too. Don't know how you do it with FPrime but it seems you have caustics there. I like also the subtle golden reflection on the frosted glass. Looking forward your progress.
Happy trip!
Gerardo
Thanks Gerardo!
Yeah, looks like caustics.
It has to do with a high value in certain property.
I'm almost sure it has to do with the some specular value...
In any case, you can increase the effect by increasing that value.
It just takes loads of time to render those in fprime with that trick.
I'll have to make some tests to let you know for sure what cause them.
Sorry for not being specific, sometimes I work unconciously and don't put attention...
....ok ok...more than sometimes...hehe...
I'll have to double check ok?

I also love your image man.
You always impress me with your stuff!

WOW Cesarmontero, I love your last render too. Very subtile tranparencies.
Thanks!
@cesarmontero, great renders, I think they're the best so far. texture on the window is very good.
Thanks!
You are getting me nervous :D
For the window, I took the same texture of the bottles, and applied a "crumple" procedural available in Lightwave procedural textures. I then inverted it and set it to 10 mm.
:applause:Cesarmontero
Lovely!!
agree!! nice work.
Now I'm nervous!
just kidding..hehe:scream:

[helluvapixel]

To get the render times down, I figured it was time to break out fR-2:

http://www.jase.ca/forumpost/misc/cgt_lghtchlg4_09.jpg

[nutriman]

Hi Folks,

here's my attempt for an evening outdoor scene.
Rendered in Cinema4D (AR2.5), no GI but HDRI Reflections a bit of tweaking in PS.
No time for caustics, sorry.
Hope you like it as much as I enjoyed it.

Great great renders and moods in here!


http://www.realiez.de/3dpix/lightingchallenge4.jpg

[Aurety]

Gorgeous Nutriman ! I fall in love !

[Silverwing]

@Mike RB: Nice look i likt it!

@cesarmontero: Wow amazing stuff! Really great render!
I especially like your latest pic because of the different
bottlecolors. Great render!

@nutriman: Your pic rocks! The materials of the bottles are
great. Your textures are awesome. And your lighting
is superb! Bravo... Absolutely lovely image. Keep it up!

Great work altogether! Keep on rocking!

[gerardo]

http://www.archeidos.com/images/glass_bottles/bottles3.jpg



WOW! César, that's the best render so far, man! I thought you got your caustic effect with translucency and color filter, I would never have thought of the specular channel. You have there a very nice mix of diluted colors and a well balanced light-and-shade. I really like that style!



Gerardo

[MJV]

Some fabulous work in this thread. I was inspired by some of the colored bottle renders so here's my go at it.

http://www.mvpny.com/BottleCollection38m6AEsB.jpg

Rendered in Cinema 4D with some post multipass tweaking in AE.

[jmBoekestein]

Yay!!! another one! Grandma's tinted glass bottle collection. :applause:

2h 40m, but I overdid it on the gi a bit I think. Postwork in combustion and the rest Brazil R/S
http://img412.imageshack.us/img412/8548/hdrbottles24jc.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[BarberofCivil]

Hi, I'm just new here. I'm a POV-Ray/megaPOV user and came across this challenge and decided to give it a go. I've been working on an HDRI based lighting macro for a while and looking for scenes to test it with.

This is my first attempt at this scene. It uses 2 different HDRI images (one for interior and one for exterior) with a total of only 29 light sources (still a 9 hour render with focal blur on). I usually like to use considerably more lightsources, but I wanted to keep my render time down at the moment. I didn't subdivide the meshes any further so there is some shadow line artifacts visible.
http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i52/barberofcivil/BottleCollection-1.jpg

The rest of the scenes I have seen so far here look very good. Nice work everyone.

@jmboekestein: I really like your glass textures in the last one.
@nutriman: nice dusting on the bottles, I have a similar effect on mine
@cesarmontero: Nice clean scene. Like the window.

[badie]

Hello everyone ! Thank you for all this inspiration stuff !!

EDIT : WOW ! Thanks Silverwing for your great file entry !

Here's my first attempt done in cinema4D. I'm not happy with my reflective map and the " too dark" edges with the fresnel for some bottles. I will try something else but any crits or comments before are welcome.

for now 5h25 to render. ( Advanced Render - C4D 9.6 - Mac Quad - No GI, No caustiques, 2 area-lights, one infinite... and dof in post-prod ).

http://www.lev-communication.fr/images/stories/porfolio/3d/bottles1_cgtalk.jpg

U R the Best

[badie]

with C4D, GI, AO, 12 Area Light
1st Test
http://www.frenchcinema4d.com/v3/articles/446/gal2/12/2588.jpg

[JA-forreal]

I did a render with Blender to Yafray. Here it is.-

http://img310.imageshack.us/img310/697/jaforrealyafraybottletest14ha.jpg



http://solarflarestudios.com/forum/files/58_1149010532.jpg



I used full GI, no caustics, no translucent shadows for this test. Only base shaders were used for the colors. The glass material is pretty basic also and the ray depth is "6". I ran it through Gimp for a little blur blending. I have little time for challenges like this, but if I can I will max out the settings and edit the XML files for caustics, etc. I'm glad that I am able to contribute something.

How do you like it?

Have fun!

[alanmac]

Hi

This is my first attempt at any of these challenges (be gentle please).

Whilst I'd like to have postd a Cinema 4D version, I'm just not good enough with the program to happily post anything from that. I don't make excuses for this either other than I used Artlantis

This is done as a bit of fun using it and I know its regarded as a bit of a joke compared to the "big boys" but its fast and I find easy to use.

This is using the older version 4.5, not the latest Artlantis R, so it does not have all the bells and whistles of the newer version.

I normally use it for work only, exhibition stand design visuals etc, but wanted to try my hand at something different.

Modelled some items in Vectorworks to add, the beer bottle and the glass bowl/dish with spoon, although the spoon I grabbed as a freebie from a free site.

Render time is 36 minutes if that means anything. Rendered as a Tiff at 1024 x 768 but it was 2.15 meg so saved it as a jpeg, to get it smaller. Hope it looks okay as this is my first posting.

I'm not to up on the correct technical jargon on what Artlantis has and uses but it's not as comprehensive or as capable as C4D. Hope you find it interesting.

Not to the level of most of these excellent renders shown here I know but I enjoyed it. Really must try to use my copy of C4D more but never enough time !

Thanks

Alan

[JA-forreal]

You folks are really putting out some amazing renders of the bottles. Simulating lighting for glass is not so easy in 3d software without lots of tweaking. It looks like CGtalk community is doing a great job with this challenge.

Have fun!

[jojo1975]

First of All I woudl like to say that the posting here are simply AMAZING ! :scream:
4 jmBoekestein I simply love your post !! I love those "ceramic" appareancee.
Here my first try rendered with an old PC (hope I will buy one for me this Summer)
Used HDRI no other source of light
Athlon 2600+ 768 Mb Ram
I hope to find the time to make some changes (add a bit of spirit to the bottles, some other lables and some changes to the colors of the bottles)
http://www.webalice.it/giorgio.luciano/Cgglass1.jpg

[jeremybirn]

with C4D, GI, AO, 12 Area Light
1st Test
http://www.frenchcinema4d.com/v3/articles/446/gal2/12/2588.jpg

Is that plant coming out of the bottle inside, or outside the window?

-jeremy

[KDun]

I tweaked it a little bit since my last post. Suggestions would be great and thank you in advance :)



http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v305/kdun/bottles1.jpg

[jorust]

Great work everybody... :thumbsup:

[nutriman]

thanks you everyone for the feedback :scream: wow!
and thanks jeremy, this challenge is superb!

@jmBoekestein: that sss turned out really nice!
@mjv: very vivid feeling!
@gerardo: i like that balanced composition of yours.
@kdun: did you use the right refraction indices for glas?

anyone going for some cracks in the glass?? ok.. it's about lighting sorry :deal:

I figured out that really convincing renders make me kind of hear the glass just by looking at it...is it just me?:shrug:

[eavillar]

http://www.eavillar.com/botellasfinalrenderlow1.jpg

Indoor
Program: 3dsmax 6
Render: Brazil r/s
Time: 1h 21m
Lights: 3 (2 omni - 1 Brazil light)
Ambient Light: Yes (3250K)
HDRI: No
Caustic: Yes
Photons: Yes (2mil)

[kevb3d]

Wow, this challenge is super popular now. Here's my contribution for better or worse :D

http://img210.imageshack.us/img210/8273/kevb3dbottles2bg.jpg

Kev

[jbingman]

ok, here's my 2 cents for the challenge. This may end up being the final depending on what time I have this week before the next show. I avoided the whole 'white' look as I don't think I could have gotten it near as clean, but I hope you like it.

Using HDR lighting with a few balancing lights, about 30 mins render time (LW)

Jay


http://cgstuff.avision4you.net/padawan/cgchallenge4-wip1.jpg

[gerardo]

Aurety, nice lighting. That forest ambience is very original, it looks like a laboratory in the jungle. Maybe you want to add some caustics. Btw, the frog is so funny :D (and very nice SSS)
Nutriman, great image! I like the materials and textures (and that subtle dust effect on the bottles)
JMBoekestein, the color composition gives a nice mood to your image, for some reason it looks like an ancient photograph of the Grandma's bottles collection (and that frosted glass looks very realistic), but shadows are a bit too dark, I think.



Gerardo

[dany_kurian]

A lot of mentle ray renders in the post , so here is one wit MAYA s default renderer ( 14 spots , an ambient and a directional light )
I have also used filters in photoshop for the final output . I wanted to get a feel of a old photograph take some time early morning .

thank you .

http://img432.imageshack.us/img432/801/ready28zg.jpg

[MJV]

Yay!!! another one! Grandma's tinted glass bottle collection. :applause:

2h 40m, but I overdid it on the gi a bit I think. Postwork in combustion and the rest Brazil R/S
http://img412.imageshack.us/img412/8548/hdrbottles24jc.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

I like it a lot. The translucency is really impressive. The depth blur looks great too. Not discounting your skill but you gotta love those Brazil renders. The translucency isn't GI driven is it?

[Junkoman]

Many are using plugin renderers.......
So here's my take using default Max scanline rendering...
Max 7.0 with default lights. No Postprocessing. Rendered slightly under 2 mins
C&C welcome~

http://img486.imageshack.us/img486/1491/previz2tn.jpg
BTW....Great thread with Great werks!!!......
(Hope I have time to finish this up)

[pidgi]

OK, my second try.
Using Carrara 5 Pro, no post work.
I noticed no other render using C5P. Did I miss one?
I am a newbie in that very field. Please comment, for better or else.

Pierre

[Dressing]

Here's my contribution. Took me a lot more than the 10 min most people seem to have spent on their works! Feels like I'm learned a lot although more about shaders than lighting-setups.

Nutriman, I'm seriously impressed! You accomplished a lot of what I tried to do in this picture.

[ariander]

Hi! Here's my little glass shader test render.
Looks like the bottles are hovering a bit.. :shrug:

[jbingman]

hmmm, looks like I need to tweak mine a bit more! I'm seeing it from another system and it's too dark, making the bottles too bright. going to work on it tonight and post something.

J

[jmBoekestein]

I like it a lot. The translucency is really impressive. The depth blur looks great too. Not discounting your skill but you gotta love those Brazil renders. The translucency isn't GI driven is it?

@ MJV: Heheh, I love Brazil too! I wouldn't get to results as fast without it I think.
The SSS effect is driven by any lights in the scene render, in this case only a skylight with an HDR image assigned, it doesn't seem to impact calculations as much as some other effects I think. Cheers!

@gerardo: Thanks, I was going for a direct light only image, so I turned of any bounces, only added one area light for a small bounce effect. I figured that old film had less lightresponse (dunno if that would actually be even remotely true) and parts would be overexposed or underexposed. :)

@nutriman: GLad you like. :)

@Junkoman: that's good stuff, I'd like to see how far you can stretch it.

I love Brazil hahaha! I think I'm making another one.

[jeremybirn]

Hi Folks,

here's my attempt for an evening outdoor scene.
Rendered in Cinema4D (AR2.5), no GI but HDRI Reflections a bit of tweaking in PS.
No time for caustics, sorry.
Hope you like it as much as I enjoyed it.

Great great renders and moods in here!


http://www.realiez.de/3dpix/lightingchallenge4.jpg

That's great! Good bottles, very nice environment. If you do more tweaks it would be great to do more with the lighting to draw attention to the bottles (more of the highlights onto them, rims, highlights, glints in the shadows?)

-jeremy

[jeremybirn]

Yay!!! another one! Grandma's tinted glass bottle collection. :applause:

2h 40m, but I overdid it on the gi a bit I think. Postwork in combustion and the rest Brazil R/S
http://img412.imageshack.us/img412/8548/hdrbottles24jc.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Neat look, I like it! Interesting bottles, nice sense of contact between the bottles and the ledge.

-jeremy

[ahven]

Some simple test....
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f366/MasterZap/zap-bottles-2.jpg

/Z
Hi Mr. Zap really like that deep color shade on colored bottles. Reflections are perfect.
Key light should be more brighter overall.

[MooseDog]

thx to all the submissions, i've learned a ton!

another humble effort (lw and ps)

http://www.mdogstudios.com/private/bottle_collection_v5_final.png

[gerardo]

Nice render, MooseDog. Interesting diffraction effect. Have you used some plugin or is just Lightwave?



Gerardo

[eavillar]

http://www.eavillar.com/botellasdefaultscan1280.jpg

Outdoor Lighting
Program: 3dsmax 6
Render: Default Scanline Render
Time: 2h 7m
Lights: 3 lights ( 2 omni - 1 Photometric )

[jeremybirn]

Apocalipsis - Interesting render, the bottles look like silver or Mylar.

[MasterZap]

http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f366/MasterZap/zap-bottles-14.jpg

Here's another try. This time "outdoors".

/Z

[kevb3d]

Hi Folks,

here's my attempt for an evening outdoor scene.
Rendered in Cinema4D (AR2.5), no GI but HDRI Reflections a bit of tweaking in PS.
No time for caustics, sorry.
Hope you like it as much as I enjoyed it.

Great great renders and moods in here!


http://www.realiez.de/3dpix/lightingchallenge4.jpg

Nutriman,

I love the mood you have here. This is a great direction. Use Jeremy's suggestions to clean it up and make it more punchy, but I'm really liking this. It's dirty and good.

Kev

[ahven]

Here's my try. I hope you get the idea :D

I have rendered this with C4D r. 9.5 . Basic lighting, no radiosity. Some Photoshop enhancement.

[RickardAx]

Hi
This is my small contribution to this challenge. Not as good as many of the other renderings but i sure have learnt a lot.
Please C&C and i hope i have time to make a more dramatic one later.
Cheers
Rickard
http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g252/Rickardax/Glas3.jpg

Cinema 9.5 rendertime 34min on G4 1.25 mp

[ahven]

Boosted the reflection channel. I saved it in multipass file.

[ahven]

http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f366/MasterZap/zap-bottles-14.jpg

Here's another try. This time "outdoors".

/Z

Nice variety on materials and material feel of glass. Pale milk green glass looks nice.

[ahven]

http://www.kraphik.com/images/bottletest4b.jpg

[lebbeus]

Here's my try at this competition. Going for a different set-up than most of the renders I've seen so far (I've yet to go through all the pages) with the major light source from the shelf itself. It was inspired by the trendy bars that have been popping up lately. Rendered with Maxwell, simple BSDF materials, a few have sss, two emitters (shelf=2000lm, window=750lm) ISO 400, shutter speed 550, f-stop 5.6, 25mm lens with 6 blade diaphragm. It reached SL 18.54 in roughly 36 hours and it's still a bit noisy:sad:. I think I'll need my own supercomputer if I want to keep playing with Maxwell.

http://www.dimensionhack.com/images/bottles_lit.jpg

[PaZ]

nice and original setup... but 36 h ?

At which resolution... ? Hope NOT the one of the pic above...

Paolo

[lebbeus]

nice and original setup... but 36 h ?

At which resolution... ? Hope NOT the one of the pic above...

Paolo

The image I posted (640x480) is the one that I let cook for 36hrs, the thing about maxwell is that you decide how long the render will take. It would have done a larger resolution, but the sampling level might not have gotten so high, though after SL 14 (8hrs) it really didn't change much. What can I say? Maxwell is a bit slow, but fun.

Gotta say, great stuff everybody, I'm digging the variety.

[jcriz]

here's my first attempt, having trouble with transparency on the shadows...doesnt seem to want to work... decided to try to turn the windows into translucent paper like material...need to get that working right too.. rendered in maya7/MR

http://www.justincriswell.com/LCBottles1.jpg

and my second attempt, changted the angle and color of the bottles, and tried to make the paper "wall" a bit more translucent..

http://www.justincriswell.com/LCBottles2.jpg

[Triker]

My attempt at an old dirty look.

[GiarcNamwob]

here's my start... critiques are welcome....

[ahven]

here's my start... critiques are welcome....
Original idea of mixing the bottles again and applying variety of textures and items. Looks like artists desk with those brushes on the bottle.
However the composition is not tight enough. It feels a bit too broad. I mean in artistic terms. Technically a nice render.

[bymak]

Render Time : 3h 46
Original Size : 2500X3000 (clik for original size..) (http://www.bymak.com/sise_larg.jpg)

hi, there is so many good attempt here. I m pleased the join such a good organization, thank you peps. nutriman your work is very fine. I like it very much the atmosphere is great.

http://www.bymak.com/sise.jpg

[RickardAx]

Nice render Bymak
I really like the clean crispy look. And i think this is one of the best of getting some thickness to the bottles. But the water in bottle 3 looks strange.
Rickard

[Tasimasu]

I like render too. its look fine.


......... But the water in bottle 3 looks strange.
Rickard
RickardAx I think it is not water. it s 4 th bottle which is laying down behind the 3th :)

[RickardAx]

Yes thats corregt. my mistake:D

[Julius]

My little test with maya, fg only with multibounce. 50min render approx. Needs alot of work but i'm still learning all the l_glass settings.

[jeremybirn]

I've been looking at the appearance of glassware when it is put in direct sun on a windowsill. I don't have a bottle collection, but I took some reference shots with a few less inspiring bottles:

http://www.3drender.com/challenges/bottlecollection/GlassPhoto1.jpg

Some things to verify from pictures:
- Shadows of clear and colored glass are completely black. They are just as dark as shadows of opaque surfaces. All of the sunlight that makes it through into the shadow area is really in the form of caustics, light that has been focused and refracted through the glass. Some of that light brightens the shadow area, although some of the caustics fall outside the bottle's shadow as well, and not all of the shadow is brightened.
- The sense of physical contact between sunlit glassware and a windowsill doesn't always come from the usual cues (shadows, occlusion, or reflections) but once you are in the shadow of another bottle already, what you see instead is a bright ring of focused light right under the bottle, where the caustics have become brighter:

http://www.3drender.com/challenges/bottlecollection/GlassPhoto2.jpg

It looks like I have some work to do this weekend...

-jeremy

[jeremybirn]

One more neat thing:

Look at the left side of this outdoor picture, at the 2 shadows cast by the glass onto the left edge of the windowframe:

http://www.3drender.com/challenges/bottlecollection/GlassPhoto3.jpg

The darker of the two shadows is from the sun. The lighter (but still just as crisp) shadow is from the bounced light that apparently was reflecting off the window, so that's a shadow that was appearing entirely in the caustics from the window and blinds.

-jeremy

[ahven]

One more neat thing:

Look at the left side of this outdoor picture, at the 2 shadows cast by the glass onto the left edge of the windowframe:

http://www.3drender.com/challenges/bottlecollection/GlassPhoto3.jpg

The darker of the two shadows is from the sun. The lighter (but still just as crisp) shadow is from the bounced light that apparently was reflecting off the window, so that's a shadow that was appearing entirely in the caustics from the window and blinds.

-jeremy
That looks very realistic. It's like a photo. :applause:

[Tasimasu]

kraphik, I dont want to be bad man, but it is photo... :D

[ahven]

kraphik, I dont want to be bad man, but it is photo... :D

Ok, no offense taken . I thought this was CG thread :deal:

[jorust]

Ok, no offense taken . I thought this was CG thread :deal:

Yes it is, indeed.

To be a good lighting artist, it's important to studie the real world.
Just like Jeremy did, and documented his findings with some photos.

Interesting informations, and I'm looking forward to see if anyone can get similar result.

I'll guess the maxwell people are in the prosess... :D

[Mojomatrix]

Rendered in C4D

1 omni light, no gi. Total time 55 min

[pidgi]

What should be the best way to get back comments from this thread? I mean, I see that persons on this site are mostly experts in CGI, and I would have liked to learn a bit from them. I am a lurker, learning from what I see, but this time tried with a few real renders, asking for comments, to no avail. I suppose I am too much of a newbie, or maybe my software is not high end enough, so where should I look to get my simple work criticized, to learn a bit, in practice?

Pierre Jetté

"4. Critiques and responses to images are to be constructive and related to improving the quality of the artwork."

[bluesoldier11]

I did this in cinema 4D, i'm a novice so my shaders aren't too good but this is what i came up with. This is my 6th peice of art that i've done in 3D. Critics are welcome!

http://features.cgsociety.org/gallerycrits/227593/227593_1149196366_large.jpg

p.s. i'm currently working off of the cinema 4d demo package so i can't recreate any scenes i've made. i'll be getting an educational license in about 2 weeks. but all of my work is orginal.

[Mick2]

http://img48.imageshack.us/img48/7109/bottles01testrendsml2wd.jpgHeres an attempt at rendering the bottles osing DOF, I`d be interested to know if this kind of thing is acceptable, and I would also be delighted to hear your feedback.

[ahven]

Yes it is, indeed.

To be a good lighting artist, it's important to studie the real world.
Just like Jeremy did, and documented his findings with some photos.

Interesting informations, and I'm looking forward to see if anyone can get similar result.

I'll guess the maxwell people are in the prosess... :D
Yes, that's true. By studying real world examples your visuals can only get better.
Even simple reference photos can give so much information.

[jeremybirn]

kraphik and Mick2 -

Your renders are nice starts, but they are both examples of scenes where the sense of contact between the bottles and the surface underneath them needs to be better defined. I was just posting some photos before where that contact was mostly shown through caustics, but plain old shadows and occlusion can work too, or sometimes reflections if the ground surface is reflective - which route you choose isn't the important part, the goal of making the glassware look anchored in space instead of floating has to be achieved somehow.

Mick2 your DOF could be more effective in a context, but over the ground with blurry textures and soft shadows you really don't see the environment getting blurred at different distances, so it looks like its just some blurred pictures of the bottles superimposed over the background. Maybe save DOF for a finishing touch after the rest of the scene is working?

-jeremy

[MooseDog]

thx for the effort behind those research photos jeremy. very interesting!

generalized software question: is it just lightwave, or is rendering caustics a giant blackhole where rendertimes multiply geometricaly? i'd enjoy tests along these lines but probably don't have the time :(.

[MJV]

Here is probably my last update. Added some dust to the glass and some frost and embossing to the grape glass. Increased scene contrast and added a little glow in post. One of my objectives in the challenge was to use caustics for all the light penetrating the glass to simulate as realistically as possible the phenomena that Jeremy noted in his photo tests. This proved very difficult and time consuming not only with render times but achieving adequate caustic realism with Cinema 4D. Though I'm a little disappointed with my final results, I enjoyed the challenge. Thanks for any final comments you'd like to make, good or bad.

http://www.mvpny.com/BottleCollection38m6B3AE1.jpg

[jeremybirn]

thx for the effort behind those research photos jeremy. very interesting!

generalized software question: is it just lightwave, or is rendering caustics a giant blackhole where rendertimes multiply geometricaly? i'd enjoy tests along these lines but probably don't have the time :(.

Regarding rendertimes, the "giant black hole" I'm running into in MR is when I do dispersion (chromatic aberrations) to get refraction to separate the colors, or soft refraction (like for frosted glass) - those exponentially increase render times by shooting so many more rays, especially if it's needed for more than one refraction step.

Mental Ray does caustics via Photon Mapping - it's not that slow, although scenes like my reference shot seem to require millions of photons and so-far I've only been rendering with 600,000 or so. How does Lightwave do it, is it more of a direct raytracing type solution that becomes much slower?

-jeremy

[Romain Charoy]

Hi everybody !
I'm actually student and here is my try in this nice challenge.
I know that my skill is low, and i'm a little bit ashamed when i watch the other shots^^
But i have learned a lot of things by reading and watching this thread, and it's a pleasure to show you my picture. The render is a 3DS8 scanline one, there is a target spot in front of the camera (with a volume light) and an omni at the left side. The material used for bottles is a raytrace.


http://img177.imageshack.us/img177/7029/shot929ut.jpg

If some of you could help me to upgrade this shot it would be very nice.
Thank you all :)

[jeremybirn]

That's a nice scene. The grapes and the different colors add to the sense that this is a "collection" of interesting bottles, not just a set of identical glassware. I get the ring as a standard caustics test, I'm a little confused about the bee there.

The camera angle, with the camera very close to the bottles and a wide-angle field of view, probably could have been better. Bottles near the left and right edge appear to be stretched out horizontally, as a result of being so close to the wide-angle camera. You might play with faking some fisheye distortion in post to your final image to correct for this and make the wide angle look more realistic - that might mess up your composition too much as you lose material from around the edges, but it only takes a few minutes to try.

-jeremy

Here is probably my last update. Added some dust to the glass and some frost and embossing to the grape glass. Increased scene contrast and added a little glow in post. One of my objectives in the challenge was to use caustics for all the light penetrating the glass to simulate as realistically as possible the phenomena that Jeremy noted in his photo tests. This proved very difficult and time consuming not only with render times but achieving adequate caustic realism with Cinema 4D. Though I'm a little disappointed with my final results, I enjoyed the challenge. Thanks for any final comments you'd like to make, good or bad.

http://www.mvpny.com/BottleCollection38m6B3AE1.jpg

[jeremybirn]

@bluesoldier11 - Nice colors. Some of the glass shaders could be more convincing, but the purple dusty on in the lower left is looking good.

@pidgi - There's a lot to debug there, from why some of the bottles are going bright white, why some cast shadows others don't. Maybe take just 1 bottle and render it by itself until the glass, the highlights, reflections, refraction, the contact with the ground, all look good. Finding some reference, a picture or a bottle on your desk, helps alot.

@Dressing - I think the 10 minutes figure is someone with a fast computer and efficient software talking about final render time, not how long to spend working on the whole project. You need to work on occlusion or reflections or something under the bottles to create a sense of contact, and to get the bottles to look more like a center of interest in the shot, maybe by softening the shadows on the glass as well as highlighting the bottles.

@ariander - Maybe some of the reflections of the room interior are a little bright, you might barely see those. Like everyone else, it's all about studying reference.

@Mojomatrix - Keep going. Add shadows.

-jeremy

[jeremybirn]

http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f366/MasterZap/zap-bottles-14.jpg

Here's another try. This time "outdoors".

/Z

MasterZap -

You continue to treat us to a great "collection" of interesting glass looks. I love the frosted glass, especially the white one.

It looks from the way the center of the cork is magnified all the way across the wine bottle as if there's too much refraction. It usually looks more like this: http://www.pbase.com/image/22781057 - with the cork only refracted out a little wider, not all the way to the outer edge.

To work as a scene it seems as if maybe the camera just needs to be moved in for more of a close-up to make an interesting composition out of the bottles? Sunlit glass windows could use a little more glare and reflections, too, to show us where the scene is located.

-jeremy

[jeremybirn]

CGJason started a separate thread about this but I guess nobody noticed it:
http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?t=362568

I'd be happy to provide .3DS files for download for this project if someone who has the models in 3DS Max wants to provide me with a reasonably compact .3DS file (no extra subdivision or textures or lights added) of these bottles. Just PM me with the URL or send as an e-mail attachement.

Same offer goes for C4D, Modo, Lightwave, or any other app where importing the .obj isn't totally smooth.

-jeremy

[ahven]

kraphik and Mick2 -

Your renders are nice starts, but they are both examples of scenes where the sense of contact between the bottles and the surface underneath them needs to be better defined. I was just posting some photos before where that contact was mostly shown through caustics, but plain old shadows and occlusion can work too, or sometimes reflections if the ground surface is reflective - which route you choose isn't the important part, the goal of making the glassware look anchored in space instead of floating has to be achieved somehow.

-jeremy

I really appreciate your comments. Perhaps I did not gave enough attention to the surface shadow. I was concentrating more on the glass reflection. Thanks for paying attention to the shadow detail. I agree that the shadows are not dark enough underneath the bottles.
I can try to adjust the darkness of shadow channel in photohop. I can do this very easily when I render shadow channel in multipass mode in cinema 4d and save render as psd. :)

[MasterZap]

MasterZap -

Hi Jeremy.

Guess what the mailman brought the other day? A nice book. Comments to follow ;)


You continue to treat us to a great "collection" of interesting glass looks. I love the frosted glass, especially the white one.

Yeah that turned out nice

It looks from the way the center of the cork is magnified all the way across the wine bottle as if there's too much refraction.

Hmm, should look into that geometry. If they co-incide (the cork and the inside of the bottle) the wrong surface will be hit. And if so, the glass-to-air interface won't be hit, and the proper "total internal reflections" won't occur.

It's them that should give the cork it's "edge". Compare if the cork is an actual liquid, where you get a difference media interface; then you actually DO see (in most cases) it appear as if the liquid really goes all the way to the edge (or at least very nearly).


To work as a scene it seems as if maybe the camera just needs to be moved in for more of a close-up to make an interesting composition out of the bottles?

Yeah. I think the "interesting" views are much closer, like some people here has seen. This was more "test different glass" view, or the photo the person desperately wanting to show off his ENTIRE bottle colleciton would take... not "art" per se.

Sunlit glass windows could use a little more glare and reflections, too, to show us where the scene is located. Check your reference photos, they disagree a little with you. ;)

/Z

[Srek]

I'm a little confused about the bee there.
I think that's just for the fun of reusing nice things and adding hires details
http://forums.cgsociety.org/showpost.php?p=2898570&postcount=52

Cheers
Björn

[jeremybirn]

Here are a few more reference photographs. These are shot outdoors, on a sunny day.

http://www.3drender.com/challenges/bottlecollection/GlassPhoto4.jpg

The brightness of what's in the refleciton is the biggest variable. A reflection of the sky can dominate the shading and wash out most of the transparency, a reflection of the ground where its in shadow lets you see through the window more.

http://www.3drender.com/challenges/bottlecollection/GlassPhoto5.jpg

The appearance of the window glass also changes depending on your angle. Facing straight-on you see more through the window, at other angles you see more reflections.

http://www.3drender.com/challenges/bottlecollection/GlassPhoto6.jpg

Then there's the issue of the dirt textures and distortion (bump) to the glass, some other shots show that better...

-jeremy

[JA-forreal]

..................................

The appearance of the window glass also changes depending on your angle. Facing straight-on you see more through the window, at other angles you see more reflections.

Then there's the issue of the dirt textures and distortion (bump) to the glass, some other shots show that better...

-jeremy


Thanks for posting these photo references Jeremy. When I examine 3d software renders of glass I see that some artist may approach the process in a simplistic manner. Glass is a complex material in the real world. It's physical properties effect it's transparent and light properties greatly. The way a glass is blown or molded, the imperfections on the wall of the mold, air temperature can control it's appearance. Glass goes from a molten state to a cold one. The end product will have internal distortions, small bubbles, etc.

All of this determines how light passes through a glass surface to create caustic properties. In 3d it's necessary to analyze the science behind an objects visual appearance sometimes. 3d rendered simulated reality is hard work.

I will try to calculate some caustics in my test render over the weekend. Maybe I will play with some noise material settings, etc. in the objects surface. I have found that caustic depth settings must be set as high as possible for good caustics. Also area light, sunlight, etc. all shoot caustics differently. It would be nice to have a 3d programmer explain 3d rendered caustics a bit in this thread.

[MJV]

That's a nice scene. The grapes and the different colors add to the sense that this is a "collection" of interesting bottles, not just a set of identical glassware. I get the ring as a standard caustics test, I'm a little confused about the bee there.

The camera angle, with the camera very close to the bottles and a wide-angle field of view, probably could have been better. Bottles near the left and right edge appear to be stretched out horizontally, as a result of being so close to the wide-angle camera. You might play with faking some fisheye distortion in post to your final image to correct for this and make the wide angle look more realistic - that might mess up your composition too much as you lose material from around the edges, but it only takes a few minutes to try.

-jeremy

Thanks Jeremy. I probably got too ambitious with the bee. As for the lack of distortion, what the heck as you say it doesn't take long to try it.

http://www.mvpny.com/BottleCollection38m6B3AE1Distort.jpg

[MasterZap]

The appearance of the window glass also changes depending on your angle. Facing straight-on you see more through the window, at other angles you see more reflections.

http://www.3drender.com/challenges/bottlecollection/GlassPhoto6.jpg


Aka the "fresnel effect", described on page 254 in the second edition of "Digital Lighting and Rendering" by..... uhm..... :thumbsup:



http://www.3drender.com/challenges/bottlecollection/GlassPhoto4.jpg


http://www.3drender.com/challenges/bottlecollection/GlassPhoto5.jpg

The brightness of what's in the refleciton is the biggest variable. A reflection of the sky can dominate the shading and wash out most of the transparency, a reflection of the ground where its in shadow lets you see through the window more.


This, however, is an issue of tone reproduction, gamma, nonlinearity of photography (hypercompression of overbrights), human vision, and computer monitors.

A complicated issue in and of itself.... I always recommend this page (http://mysite.verizon.net/spitzak/conversion/index.html) by Bill Spitzak of Digital Domain as a "best demonstration" of the involved issues....

/Z

[Julius]

Update

Jeremy I would appreciate any advice :P I have just used fg and one point area light. No GI.

[glebe-digital]

Back having another stab at these bottles..........
Obviously the deal-breaker is the un-fixed polys on the red bottle, should have cleaned that up but it slipped my mind before I pressed the button [doh!]
Close up of the ceramic should look nice, think I'll cook that too.
http://www.glebedigital.co.uk/bot4a.jpg
Rendered with Maxwell v1.0 : 9hrs in the oven.

[lebbeus]

Nice Glebe--how many layers is the ceramic with the ink stroke? Just two or is there a third?

Anyway, I've been playing too. Got rid of the sss and played around with camera view. The first one I was going for a more abstract image and the second one I added some roughness to the blue bottle and started messing around with Maxwell's glare feature. DOF in the second was delibrately negated by using a high F-stop (11.6).

http://www.dimensionhack.com/images/bottles_abst.jpg
http://www.dimensionhack.com/images/bottles_glare.jpg

[glebe-digital]

Nice Glebe--how many layers is the ceramic with the ink stroke? Just two or is there a third?

Just a single bsdf + coating [very thick]..........bump and colour maps on the bsdf.

Like the 'burnt in ' feel of the first image lebbeus...........interesting!

[MasterZap]

As Jeremy was saying about the caustics....

http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f366/MasterZap/zap-bottle-2.jpg

;)

/Z

[Romain Charoy]

Hello everybody.
I'm student and i think this challenge is a great way to progress.
I post my try again because it seems that nobody saw it on the previous page^^
I think that's because it was my first post on cgtalk, so there was a delay before it comes online...

http://img177.imageshack.us/img177/7029/shot929ut.jpg

I used 3dsmax8, and a scanline renderer.
Some help is welcome to upgrade my scene :)
I hope that my english is not too bad.
Thank you :)

[ttiotx]

Wow I can see many beautiful works here...

[ttiotx]

Hi all.This is my first try.I used 3ds max and vray.I will work on lightning and textures later...
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f294/ttiotx/challenge1ps.jpg

[cesarmontero]

I'm back to Mexico now.
And back to this challenge too!
Same render, bigger size.
I'll leave this shot as it is.
I will try new things with these bottles.



http://www.archeidos.com/images/glass_bottles/bottles4.jpg

[MJV]

Cesar, it's a truly lovely render. Would you mind talking a little about how you achieved it, your approach, the software you used, the challenges and problems overcome? All that glass depth it must take some time to render, no?

[jeremybirn]

Update

Jeremy I would appreciate any advice :P I have just used fg and one point area light. No GI.

I don't see any window glass. Actually the bottles look as though they are outside in the sun, just with a windowframe behind them - think about the directionality of the light. Finding a specific bottle (either a photo or a real bottle) and really studying and matching its appearance would be a good way to move forewards with the glass look.

-jeremy

[jeremybirn]

Back having another stab at these bottles..........
Obviously the deal-breaker is the un-fixed polys on the red bottle, should have cleaned that up but it slipped my mind before I pressed the button [doh!]
Close up of the ceramic should look nice, think I'll cook that too.
http://www.glebedigital.co.uk/bot4a.jpg
Rendered with Maxwell v1.0 : 9hrs in the oven.

Hey, the ceramic bottles are looking really nice!

I'm not sure about the glass bottles. Why does everything look so much brighter through the bottles, like especially the blue one, than it looks when you see it directly?

The reflections make it look as if there's light from two distinct sources, like a window at both sides of the room. It would be great if the illumination and shadows showed that same kind of directionality.

-jeremy

[jeremybirn]

Anyway, I've been playing too. Got rid of the sss and played around with camera view. The first one I was going for a more abstract image and the second one I added some roughness to the blue bottle and started messing around with Maxwell's glare feature. DOF in the second was delibrately negated by using a high F-stop (11.6).

http://www.dimensionhack.com/images/bottles_abst.jpg
http://www.dimensionhack.com/images/bottles_glare.jpg

Those are great. For the first one I almost wish it eased out of focus a bit more gently, right now it's like one thing in focus and the a sea of uniform blurriness. Nice image with great colors, though!

I really like the 2nd one. Some of the reflections are really interesting for a physically correct render. Look along the bottom of the frame, and the orange bottle in the lower left reflects the white ground rather faintly (looks good though) - but then the yellow bottle reflects the white ground as if the ground were much brighter. Especially when you compare the yellow bottle's reflection of the ground to the way it doesn't reflect much of the green bottle next to it, it seems a little out of place, doesn't it?

-jeremy

[cesarmontero]

Cesar, it's a truly lovely render. Would you mind talking a little about how you achieved it, your approach, the software you used, the challenges and problems overcome? All that glass depth it must take some time to render, no?

Hey, thanks for the kind words!
Sure, I can make some little tutorial of how I made it.
I made it in Lightwave, but the logics work the same for all the programs.
It is not really that difficult, and I will gladly explain it.

Yeah, the glass with DOF takes some time to render, about 3 hours.
It can take less if I tweak FPrime parameter of Light Quality better.
I will try also later on to render this same image with Lightwave natural render.
The result would be an image with more detail/quality in the reflection/refraction.

[cesarmontero]

Jeremy:

One question Jeremy.
Did you made the bottle models?
I don't know who made the models.
I want to give that credit at the image, as I always do.
Let me know so I can update it :)
Thanks!

Cesar