Lighting Challenge #11: Brand X

[L33tace]

a different one
http://homepage.eircom.net/~casstify/brand6_2b.jpg
the text and the bubble were the only things added in post.

[CGmm]

Thanks again for the comment Jeremy,
and great droplets on your bottle.

Another version from me here.
I applied a translucent plastic type of shader to the leet cap,
and also added lights from both sides out of frame.
Any comments are welcome, thank you.

[JCBug]

Hello everybody, I'm coming from one month holidays,
and I've seen this new challenge 3 days ago.
Thanks Jeremy !
I'm working on it, and I'll post very soon.
There is a lot of good pictures !

[JCBug]

Here we are !
9H00 to render with Cinema 4D V10,
4 lights, GI and HDRI, AO, HN, caustics
and postprod, I hope you enjoy.

http://www.arctique.fr/production/Leet-JCB-0.jpg

[JCBug]

The last version with the text...
It's not violent, just like Tex Avery's cartoons.

http://www.arctique.fr/production/Leet-JCB-1.jpg

And here is the wire frame with holes in the Brand X.

http://www.arctique.fr/production/Leet-Wire.jpg

[sick73]

. http://www.robertograham.com/images6/render01.jpg


hello all, my first try....

[jeremybirn]

sick73 - Welcome! Great start! The Leet has a hard-edged shadow cutting across its label. Maybe the nasty shadows could just be on the Brand X, and the Leet label could be lit softly and smoothly. I think you'll need some refraction to give the clear plastic and liquid a little more presence and fix the edges of the bottles.

JCBug - Great! There are some extra circles that are distracting, bright circles in the fog beams that are maybe just outside of the actual holes in the Brand X? There's also extra circles in front of the Leet that look like caustics with a very low photon count?

CGmm - Nice work! I think the translucency in the cap is working well in the cap, maybe not working as well in the dispenser pump at the top, because in the top part the inside appears to be getting more light than the outside. Maybe some limited light could hit part of the Brand X, especially if it is going to cast a shadow that extends out behind it, making it look front-lit.

L33tace - On the new one, the liquid and plastic on the Leet don't have a strong presence, maybe something in the refraction or reflections or shaders could be improved there. On the color tests, I like the one with the stone being gray just because the stone is less saturated than the Leet bottle and that gives a little contrast.

-jeremy

[Chrisdc]

Hello, I have rebuilt my lighting setup to be much more efficient, attempted to remove the under exposed look, and added some soft reflections.
http://chrisdc.com/forums/leet10.jpg
Thanks,

Chris

[JCBug]

Jeremy, thanks for your comments !
your are right, the extra circles and artefacts
are caused by low photon count,
but this render takes 9 hours,
and I can't imagine how much time
it can takes with high photon count...
Anyway, I can try without caustics.

[jeremybirn]

Chrisdc - That's nice. Clean, simple, professional. If you do another version, think about if there's anything else to do that would add interest and make the point that the Leet is better.

JCBug - If you do a version without the caustics, consider a separate caustics pass you can just Add on top. I did the caustics in a separate pass, and it didn't take that long (maybe more than the occlusion pass, but less than the passes with raytraced shadows and reflections in them.) I cheated a bit and hid the outer plastics from the caustic photons, so the photons only need to go through the inner liquids and hit the floor, and at least in MR that got things working quickly.

-jeremy

[jeremybirn]

Click the links to the images if you want to see them...

http://www.3drender.com/challenges/brandx/jbirn_brandx_tiny.jpg
Full-Size (960x1200) Image:
http://www.3drender.com/challenges/brandx/jbirn_brandx.jpg

I rendered this using Maya and Mental Ray. Here's a screenshot in Maya with the lights and camera visible:
http://www.3drender.com/challenges/brandx/Screeenshot.png

The spot light aiming from the Leet to provide bounce on the Brand X, the point light in the middle of the Leet bottle for its internal glow, and the large volume light around the Leet (set to emit ambient, no diffuse or specular), were all used in a Fill Light Layer. The Fill layer used Final Gather to smooth out some of the base illumination:

http://www.3drender.com/challenges/brandx/fill_layer.jpg

The Fill Layer was the only layer that got multiplied by the occlusion. This way the occlusion wouldn't have any effect on the key light or caustics. Here's the occlusion pass, kindof basic and ignoring the need for transparency:

http://www.3drender.com/challenges/brandx/occlusion_layer.jpg

The Caustics were rendered in a separate pass, which kept things manageable and also let me finish with them early, even as I was still adjusting the lighting passes:

http://www.3drender.com/challenges/brandx/caustics_layer.jpg

Finally (and most importantly) the key layer, with the illumination and shadows from the main key light, which decayed with distance to make the Brand X in the background darker, plus two rim lights on the Leet, and a reflection of a bright white card coming from the key direction:

http://www.3drender.com/challenges/brandx/key_layer.jpg

The basic comp was starting with the Fill layer, multiplying that by the Occlusion, then Adding (in Photoshop, the mode usually called Add is called Linear Dodge) the Caustics and Key. It was a little more complicated because I painted layer masks to darken the fill and caustics a little more on the Brand X, and on the Key layer I re-rendered some parts of it to reduce the reflection of the white card, then put those tweaked versions together with the original key layer. As a result, my Photoshop Layers looked like this:

http://www.3drender.com/challenges/brandx/Photoshop_Layers.png

-jeremy

[L33tace]

Thanks Jeremy and thanks for the breakdown. I was having problems gettng a good lighting until I saw your post and did layers, here is the result.

http://homepage.eircom.net/%7Ecasstify/brand8b.jpg

The Brand X is of course jealous (could also be the evil one), Leet is the pure and perfect choice.
Thanks. :)

[mexxmillion]

I've been really busy with work..
did a little update today..
fluid solve is still rough.. cos its done in like 30 min. will try to solve more detail when i have more time. cheers..

http://lh5.google.com/mexxmillion/RuUy6hThyZI/AAAAAAAAA7o/zo6vgyNy1uc/s800/BrandXChallenge03%20copy.jpg

[JCBug]

@mexxmillion - Very good textures and lights !

@Jeremy - Thanks for your tips !. I've tried to render another
caustics pass only with the Leet liquid with 200.000 photons (before 10.000)
and I've suppressed the extra circles.

http://www.arctique.fr/production/Caustiques-02.jpg

http://www.arctique.fr/production/Caustiques-01.jpg

http://www.arctique.fr/production/Leet-JCB-2.jpg

[sick73]

thanks for your comments Jeremy. here is my second attempt.
http://www.robertograham.com/images6/render03.jpg

[L33tace]

another try on the other scene.

http://homepage.eircom.net/%7Ecasstify/brand6mix.jpg

[Phantom-vfx]

Hi there !
first render , I use Maya software and Mental ray and Comp and retouch in Fusion.

http://www.phantom-vfx.com/gallery/Phantom_Light_brandX0001.jpg

C&C welcome.

[JCBug]

@L33tace - Good, but the bottle seems too much transparency,
and the light is hard !

@phantomvfx - Good picture, the liquid need to be a little saturate and clear.
And there is a strange rectangle in the Brand X bottle.

[JCBug]

For this picture, I've rendered a caustics pass
created with invisible cylinders.
And I add this pass to create a new ambiance.

http://www.arctique.fr/production/Leet-JCB-3.jpg

[juansilva]

JCBug. That invisible cylinder trick worked out great!! Would you mind showing how it's done?
It would be very much appreciated.
Cheers.

[DesignerGr]

Hello to everyone



I am a Designer from greece and i work as a freelancer.



I work with 3d since 1996 but i am new to this site.



Yesterday as i was internet surfing i found 3d render.com



and saw the lighting competition the i visited cgsociety and saw



your posts here , they are just amazing so i decided to enter the competion.



But i had some thinkings in mind 1st what theme to choise that must have



good lighting tech shader tech and good render result and modell skills and offcource dont



forget ..... that is supposed to be an advertisement too....... Many problems.....



I wantent to make something different not just a photoreal picture (which is eazy)



but to create a little world from which the viewer can "see" a little store...]]



And then it heat me .... I fizuallised the "80s" like advertisent style (You gyes made all the



others so this is what left for me)



I used 3ds max 9 for modelling vray for render and photoshop for final adjustments.



So i proudly present my work for this challenge here:



http://img211.imageshack.us/my.php?image=leetvsxap7.jpg



http://img239.imageshack.us/my.php?image=leetvsxwireframeuv3.jpg



This is what happents to you if u dont use the leet brand you get ..... its up to you now



Jeremy just be nice to me ha....??



Keep creating see u soon



Post your comments pls...



DesignerGr

[doodlerboy]

L33TACE- I don't understand why the bottles are in a cave. Also how does this scene make the Leet Bottle look better than the Brand X? I'm just speaking out loud here, your doing a good job, but to me it doesn't seem to make sense on why it's in a cave....If I'm the only one I'lll shut up, lol.....sorry. Good job though.

[L33tace]

Anyone else having problems with the previous page taking ages to load? When you go to the last page it is ok but when you reply its happens again. Phantomvfx's image doesn't show up for me, is that the problem?

JCBug - thanks. I'm working on a different material for the Leet bottle. the caustic layer was too strong.

L33TACE- I don't understand why the bottles are in a cave. Also how does this scene make the Leet Bottle look better than the Brand X? I'm just speaking out loud here, your doing a good job, but to me it doesn't seem to make sense on why it's in a cave....If I'm the only one I'lll shut up, lol.....sorry. Good job though.

Hi. This was the first image done in Daz|Studio - http://forums.cgsociety.org/showpost.php?p=4579751&postcount=154 I don't know why I went with that texture for the background (this is a similar texture (http://www.cgtextures.com/texview.php?id=15391&s=S&PHPSESSID=6b6caadce81c5835a870e9a4ccd511a9) if not the same). I was aiming for the background to be white but when it came out dark like that I went with the 'hero' theme.
It'll probably only be of use in a rockclimbing magazine or such like. They may not necessarily be in a cave, they could be at a rock face about to climb up, Leet is going to come to your rescue! heh :)

[Phantom-vfx]

Phantomvfx's image doesn't show up for me, is that the problem?

mmm try this:
http://www.phantom-vfx.com/gallery/Phantom_Light_brandX0001.jpg

[L33tace]

Double post :bounce:

[L33tace]

mmm try this:
http://www.phantom-vfx.com/gallery/Phantom_Light_brandX0001.jpg

Could be just me. It does try to load, the address comes up as 'about:blank' and when it does load the address changes to the name of the image but I just get the words http://www.phantom-vfx.com/gallery/Phantom_Light_brandX0001.jpg and no image. I don't seem to be having any other problems anywhere else but as I said it could be just me. :)

[L33tace]

me again :blush:
different material on the Leet bottle. :)
http://homepage.eircom.net/%7Ecasstify/brand9_1b.jpg

[doodlerboy]

L33TACE- Oh ok that makes sense than. I think you should really do some research on rock climbing than and start adding rope or something in it, maybe give one of them a harnest or something simple to a harnest. Maybe choose a better means of lighting the scene than cause it looks like it's in a cave. Or maybe model a rock or alot of rocks to really define the cliff. Real simple geomotry's. I don't know just a suggestion. :)

[L33tace]

Well as it happens I actually do have an harness and rope sitting around in the house, may be I'll see if they fit him because I don't have the time to model anything. ;)
I'm in the process of moving house and I don't know when i'll have internet access next after Friday, so i'll see what i can do but at the most i'll probably be only able to do a rope.

[xs-yann]

http://ykoeth.free.fr/fc4d/leet_sdb.jpg
Made in C4d with AO, no post-prod

[sick73]

Hello all:
After randomly clicking on every button i found on 3ds max i finaly came up with this image. 3ds max, mental ray, final gather, caustics, gi. lights: famous kitchen.hdri as skylight and a photometric area light. All the materials are different settings of the new architectural and design shaders of mental ray.

http://www.robertograham.com/images6/render04.jpg

[L33tace]

especially for doodlerboy
http://homepage.eircom.net/~casstify/brand9_1climb.jpg
i took some photos of a helmet and rope and layered them onto the photo. heh, don't laugh its very basic and my photoshop skills aren't the best. :)

i've noticed with the new material on the Leet bottle the label for brand x can't be seen now...more fixing.

[JCBug]

@juansilva - Thanks ! Coming soon !

[JCBug]

JCBug. That invisible cylinder trick worked out great!! Would you mind showing how it's done?
It would be very much appreciated.
Cheers.

Hello, there are two ways of making with my method.

The first one :
- you put 2 cisterns with white tranparency glass texture, an a plan,
- you add 2 colored spotlights with caustics and without shadows
- you exclude the plan in the visibility lights options
- you make the cisterns invisible

http://www.arctique.fr/production/Citernes-03.jpg

http://www.arctique.fr/production/Citernes-04.jpg

http://www.arctique.fr/production/Citernes-01.jpg

There is bad fews caustics lights blue and red caused
by the larger of the lights.

The second way :

- you put 2 cisterns with colored tranparency glass texture, and a plan,
- you add 1 white spotlight with caustics and without shadows
- you exclude the plan in the visibility lights options
- you make the cisterns invisible

http://www.arctique.fr/production/Citernes-02.jpg

There's no artefact, but the perspective is less realistic.

JCBug

[edjkodiak]

hi, I'm back with an other test

http://edjkodiak.free.fr/CGSociety/LC_11/032-1024.jpg

[visua]

Tryin to spice things up a tad:

http://www.nicz.net/brandXalt.jpg

[Fex]

many nice renderings in here!
now here is my breakdown rendering done in XSI comp Shake
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t271/fexa/braekdown_a.jpg

[JCBug]

@visua and @Fex. Your pictures are realistics !
Good reflexions and lights, very clean and professional.

[CGmm]

Another update.
Changed some lighting based on your advice.Thanks Jeremy.
(and the breakdown too.)

>JCBug, Fex

Always good to see other people's breakdowns.
Thank you for sharing!

[Phantom-vfx]

Light Rig:
http://www.phantom-vfx.com/gallery/3dbd.JPG

Comp
http://www.phantom-vfx.com/gallery/fusionbd.JPG

[visua]

Pimped it up one step further, I'm thinking bigger or more bubbles inside the leet,
and maybe som waterdroplets on the nozzlethingee or somethin.


http://www.nicz.net/leet.jpg

[jeremybirn]

visua - That's great! I think some of the hard-edged reflections are a bit distracting, maybe some surfaces like the Brand X label don't need to be reflective, other surfaces could have softer reflections? The vertical streaks could be much smaller, if you need them.

CGmm - Looking good!

Fex - That's great! Thanks for sharing your breakdown too. If there's one area you might brighten, it would be the left side of the Leet, it just looks like there's a bar of darkness there where I'd expect some light to have been transmitted.

edjkodiak - Nice job. You've really captured the arrogance of the Leet.

JCBug - Thanks for sharing your techniques!

L33tace- I'm not sure the rope/helmet really looks integreated. Maybe you could model a rope in 3D have the Leet hanging from that, if ropes are important to your concept?

sick73 - That's looking good. The bottles look as if they are sinking into the floor, maybe move them up a little bit until that contact looks more solid? The composition favors the back wall, it would be nice to see some variation or gradient or something interesting happening on that surface.

xs-yann - Welcome! I don't see the Brand X or what makes Leet better than Brand X yet, but that's a good start. You'll need some shadowing or occlusion between the thing on the right and the walls.

phantomvfx - Nice image, it has a really "Film Noir" look to it. There's a glow inside the Brand X liquid that makes it look about as bright as the Leet liquid, I'd think it could have a darker tone.

DesignerGr - Welcome! That's an interesting image. I guess the person on the right, holding the Leet, is a woman, and the person on the left (wearing the flower-covered dress) is either a man or a woman? The bottles could probably use a little work: The Brand X doesn't shown the label enough to read it, and mixes a very bright bottle with a very dark dispenser. The Leet is mostly very bright, but looks dark in the top of the bottle, and needs more bounce light on the bottom of the dispenser. The person's skin could use some nice warm fill light as well, in the places it goes black.

mexmillion - That's great! Adding some real water is a nice idea. If you do another version, the top of the Leet is overexposed, and you might be able to get more little highlights out of the water, but really that's a nice image.

-jeremy

[L33tace]

L33tace- I'm not sure the rope/helmet really looks integreated. Maybe you could model a rope in 3D have the Leet hanging from that, if ropes are important to your concept?
The rope and helmet was just from an idea doodlerboy suggested and I only did it for him as a sample as I can’t submit any more images for up to 4 - 6 weeks until I get b/band set up at home.

These are my ‘final’ submissions. The second image does need fixing as you can’t see the brand x label anymore. I’ll see what I can do about may be modelling a rope or adding some detail to it, although I didn’t intend to.


http://homepage.eircom.net/%7Ecasstify/brand8b.jpg

http://homepage.eircom.net/%7Ecasstify/brand9_1b.jpg



Thanks. :)

[badie]

Hi Everybody :)
my last attempt, modified on my Macbook Pro during my last trip by the Train
http://www.deltazone.org/~fc4d/images/badie_LEEF31c.jpg

[badie]

Fex, I'm impressed by your images

[badie]

Jeremy, Many Thx for all U'r comments
You are a "Treasure " both of CG Arts & Kindness
Thank You

[badie]

Visua. I love the great Transparency, Lights, Textures, Cam view, Concept…
…All ;)

[sick73]

Jeremy:
Thanks again for your comments, fixed the sinking bottles promblem. will start to work on a better background.
thanks, bye.
http://www.robertograham.com/images6/render05.jpg

[visua]

Badie: Thank you for the kind words, really appreciated!

Here goes what maybe will be my last submission for this challenge:

http://www.nicz.net/leetNy.jpg

Visua. I love the great Transparency, Lights, Textures, Cam view, Concept…
…All ;)

[Fex]

thx Jeremy and Badie for ur comments, think that the dark bar on the leet comes from
the end of the cavetto which reveals the hdr background.

@Visua: like ur picture alot!
maybe u slightly motion blur those falling drops from the nose to get a feeling
of motion happening..

[SpAiK]

Hello to everybody, sine some time busy I'm here again. I got an idea yesterday and started to remake a little my scene. And finally I came with this:

http://www.freewebtown.com/nochesdealkohol/lightningchallenges/LC11_04.jpg

C&C welcome!

[Meteoro]

I finally found some time for this challenge.
The differences are only in materials.
C&C welcome.

http://img96.imageshack.us/img96/3810/026rm9.jpg

[jeremybirn]

L33tace - You got a lot done on this challenge! BTW, did I mention that I like your L33T username?

badie - Nice image! Too much of that one texture, would be nice to see different surfaces for floor, cabinets, towels, etc. Maybe you could get the camera a little closer to the products?

sick73 - Really great image, solid appearance there. I agree something with the background would be good, something that helped define the Leet as the better one or highlight it in some way.

visua - Awsome! Congratulations!

SpAiK - Cool image! I had to google what "Balsam" is, apparently the meaning here is a kind of alcoholic drink?

Meteoro - That's good, the materials look pretty solid. I think some of the reflections are too hard-edged, especially the one on the Leet label.

-jeremy

[edjkodiak]

thank you Jeremy for your C&C and your time. :thumbsup:

[derkoi]

Hey guys, this is my first attempt, i kept it quite simple.

Software: Lightwave, photoshop

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z51/derkoi/CG/BrandX0001.jpg

[suchoparek]

I'm back! :thumbsup:
Here's my try. I've try to give an "advert style" to my work rather than photo-like.
Rendering in Lightwave with Fprime, volumetric and glow (a bit...) added in Photoshop.

http://img517.imageshack.us/img517/6034/leetyh5.jpg


C&C, of course...

[SpAiK]

Hi Jeremy. I translated it from spanish using google. It means liquid aromatic and almost transparent substance that it's obtained making a cut in some trees. In pharmacy, medicine made up of aromatic substances; resin.

In this case it means a special aromatic liquid used as cream or aftershave, so good that gods use it.

[derkoi]

In this case it means a special aromatic liquid used as cream or aftershave, so good that gods use it.

Erm.. but it's liquid soap is it not? :shrug:

[suchoparek]

Erm.. but it's liquid soap is it not? :shrug:
Well, I think SpAiK intends Leet as a shampoo, not liquid soap... But I've a doubt: balsam is an english word, isn't it?? I found it in my italian-english vocabulary (and google too!). It's like balm.

[SpAiK]

I think of it as a face cream or something similar to use for skin care purposes.

suchoparek, I don't know if it is an used word or maybe balm is more used than balsam. Here you have what I got from a online dictionary and wikipedia:

Balsam - dictionary.com (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/balsam)
Balsam - wikipedia.org (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balsam)

[suchoparek]

I think of it as a face cream or something similar to use for skin care purposes.

suchoparek, I don't know if it is an used word or maybe balm is more used than balsam. Here you have what I got from a online dictionary and wikipedia:

Balsam - dictionary.com (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/balsam)
Balsam - wikipedia.org (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balsam)
Probably balsam is rarely used in english. Not in italy and in spain...:beer:

Hola!

[jeremybirn]

derkoi - Great! The DOF looks very shallow. With DOF that shallow, you'd expect the horizontal lines you can see refracted through the Leet to be much softer, and the reflections in the Leet to be softer. I'll take the colors as a stylized choice, what people expect near the green Leet liquid is that the shadow and indirect light should have some green in it. The reflection near the bottom of the leet could be softer to look more like a floor reflection.

suchoparek - Welcome back! That's a terrific image!

SpAiK - I know what you mean now, but nobody seeing the ad would. There's a phrase "The Nectar of The Gods" that usually refers to beer or honey or some valuable and tasty liquid, so I was thinking you meant something like that. Maybe you could just say "Balm for your hands, the envy of rivals?"

-jeremy

[suchoparek]

Thanks Jeremy, I'm glad you like my image.

@Visua: really great job! :thumbsup:

[SpAiK]

As a popular request, I have changed the slogan. No more confusions... jeje!

http://www.freewebtown.com/nochesdealkohol/lightningchallenges/LC11_05.jpg

[grabennouitch]

Hello,
It's my first render :
http://img510.imageshack.us/img510/2874/brandx01vk7.th.jpg (http://img510.imageshack.us/my.php?image=brandx01vk7.jpg)

I use Bryce 6
Grab.

[L33tace]

L33tace - You got a lot done on this challenge! BTW, did I mention that I like your L33T username?
Thank Jeremy. My user name comes from when I was signing up for a place and I couldn’t think of a name and I just picked lettuce, my sister would call me that sometimes when I was younger to piss me off. Then some people jokingly of course wanted to eat me! heh, so I changed it around a bit and came up with L33tace.



This is a quick cut and paste job from work - so just to say to everyone great images posted and I really enjoyed this challenge. :)

[kwame_h1914]

http://www.kwamehawkins.com/BrandXChallenge.htm
file:///C:/Users/Owner/AppData/Local/Temp/moz-screenshot.jpghttp://www.kwamehawkins.com/BrandX_kh_render06_02_.jpg

This is my frist post to the Lighting Challenge, please give me feedback Thanks

[pete7319]

hy,

first render on this challenge. the idea comes from a german phrase, which means something like "leaves all other looking pale". the background sucks, have to think of something else.
any crit welcome !

http://www.pmegele.de/imagedump/BrandXChallenge_v03_thumb.jpg

bigger resolution:

http://www.pmegele.de/imagedump/BrandXChallenge_v03.jpg

[grabennouitch]

http://img529.imageshack.us/img529/2483/savon2il8.th.jpg (http://img529.imageshack.us/my.php?image=savon2il8.jpg)

Second render with Bryce 6.
Grab.

[grabennouitch]

Hi,

This is the last render for this challenge :
http://img229.imageshack.us/img229/2005/savon3qs1.th.png (http://img229.imageshack.us/my.php?image=savon3qs1.png)

Grabennouitch - Bryce 6

[pete7319]

hy,

here is my update. changed about everything. crit welcome !

please click on image for bigger size (960x720/761kb)

http://www.pmegele.de/imagedump/BrandXChallenge_v06_thumb.jpg (http://pmegele.de/imagedump/BrandXChallenge_v06.jpg)

[LuisTelesforo]

Hi all, long time since last post. I didn`t had time to see all other entries...this one with a diferent concept (very simple...) still work in progress.
Best regards.

http://img221.imageshack.us/img221/540/leetprateleiracolorii3.jpg

[swaroopindia2]

this is my first post, to contest, please let me know your suggestions:bounce: thank you:thumbsup:http://img252.imageshack.us/my.php?image=99115293wv4.jpg

[JCBug]

@luistlf - Very good work ! Maybe you can use a different
camera view and a short focal distance to make your
picture more dramatic.

[jeremybirn]

SpAiK - Nice!

kwame_h1914 - Good start! I think you need to work on reflections and tone down those really bright highlights.

pete7319 - That's a good start. You're making a comparison image, showing that Leet is better than Brand X, so you probably need two bottles.

grabennouitch - Those are a good start, you should think about how to show that the Leet is better than Brand X. Right now the image makes Brand X look like the winner who's got the candy, and it's almost sticking out its tounge at the Leet in the background.

luistlf - Great job! I like the concept and the execution!

swaroopindia - Good start. The shadows could be higher quality on the ground. I think the Leet would look good with brighter liquid, and fill in the dark edge on the right.

-jeremy

[LuisTelesforo]

Thanks JCBug for your notes :thumbsup:, Thanks Jeremy :thumbsup: i will work arround this concept as soon as possible.

[swaroopindia2]

i thank everybody for the comments, i will work on them

[swaroopindia2]

As per the comments i changed and posting again, give your comments

regards
santiswaroop.k

[pete7319]

hy,

cheers Jeremy, i guess the reflection wasn't really noticeable to bring the idea across, so i made the reflection more obvious.

http://pmegele.de/imagedump/BrandXChallenge_v09.jpg

[Klixx]

..Well i came in late but Here's my entry..Enjoy
http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc74/omoro/Brand_X.jpg

[jeremybirn]

swaroopindia2 - Nice job!

pete7319 - Nice job. I don't think the advertising point works very well, it makes it look like Brand X and Leet are somehow the same instead of Leet being much better.

omoro - Welcome! It's never too late to enter these challenges. I like the idea of making the bottles back-lit, but I think the back-lit liquids would be brighter. See if you can debug why there's the black sawtooth-pattern stripe on the right of the Leet. In the lighting, try to make the Leet look better than the Brand X, now it just looks darker.

-jeremy

[phunkidude]

Hi all,
my first post here for a challenge. Modelled and lit in Modo 301:

http://homepage.mac.com/phunkidude/CGTalk/Challenges/Leet.jpg

Thanks for looking.

Sean

[phunkidude]

Some very nice renders here

[phunkidude]

Jeremy,
would love to hear your comments on my post.

C'mon throw me a bone – I bought your book!

Cheers mate!
Sean

[jeremybirn]

phunkidude - Nice job! The faucet is spot-on, and the concept is working. The Brand X is appropriately dark. I don't usually use a pure black on any surface, especially when it's up against a white one, so you might play a tiny bit with the fill on the top of it, but that's a minor point. The Leet needs a little work: it seems to have a hole in it, a missing square below the label? The Leet shadow on the sink also has some irregularities. If the sink material is at all reflective I'd expect to see a little reflection of the purple bottle too.

-jeremy

[colt]

It doesn't really make sense, but I thought it fun and it came out quite nicely. Pure mental ray, no postwork.

http://www.nico-rehberg.de/temp/BrandX_01.jpg

[Ledger]

Hi All!

Heres a late entry to the challenge.

http://www.operationcg.com/img/brandX.jpg

Cheers!!

[alwalid3d]

DESIGN TEST:eek:

[jpiette]

Hello everyone! I haven't posted a lighting challenge in a while and would like to get some opinions on this one. The texture in the Leet bottle was created in Apophysis, with alphas exported in Photoshop. Please click on the thumbnail to see the full size:

http://dm.lcc.gatech.edu/%7Ejpiette3/BrandX_Challenge2_thumb.jpg (http://dm.lcc.gatech.edu/%7Ejpiette3/BrandX_Challenge2.jpg)

All opinions would be greatly appreciated.

[MasterZap]

Hi All!

Heres a late entry to the challenge.

http://www.operationcg.com/img/brandX.jpg

Cheers!!

You know, this one screams for a "Leet" superman cape on the Leet bottle! ;)

/Z

[jeremybirn]

colt - That's awsome! Great job! I've been regretting being a few weeks behind in making a gallery for this challenge, but now I'm glad to have another fine image that will be included.

Ledger - Great job! I think the edges of the bottle look too thick somehow, maybe something to do with the refraction is making the gap between the colored liquid and the outer wall appear extra big? Maybe the top of the brand X shouldn't be so white that it gets clipped like that, especially if the top of the Leet doesn't seem as bright on the upper rim.

jpiette - That's terrific. I love the cool swirly stuff inside the Leet bottle! For the Leet bottle, I think it could be better not to crop off the very bottom, and also to tone down or soften the self-reflection on the bottom of the dispenser pump. For the Brand X, maybe you could turn it towards the Leet for a better composition?

-jeremy

[jpiette]

Thanks for the feedback Jeremy! I rotated the camera in order to get the entire Leet bottle like you suggested, so now it's not cropped at the bottom. I also rotated my Brand X guy, turned down the specular highlights a bit, and did a tad bit of artificial shadow softening on the Leet brand's nozzle and pump. Please let me know what you think!

http://dm.lcc.gatech.edu/%7Ejpiette3/BrandX_Challenge3_thumb.jpg (http://dm.lcc.gatech.edu/%7Ejpiette3/BrandX_Challenge3.jpg)

[Ledger]

Cheers Jeremy!

Ill work on the points you said as soon as I get some time, the weekend maybe ;)

Thanks again!

[jeremybirn]

jpiette - It's getting better and better! For the Brand X, maybe you could rotate the head so he's not leaning into the edge of the frame, and take the dark shadow away from the edge of the frame where it's getting cropped. The Brand X also has a lighter shadow on the ground, being cast the other way. That shadow could be made softer, so it fades away with distance and doesn't show such hard edges. For the Leet, the bottom of the bottle cap and the front left edge need a little fill or bounce light, just enough so they don't look black. For the dark shadow the Leet casts onto the ground, maybe some light that has filtered through the colored liquid would illuminate the shadow, so there could be some blue swirly caustics there instead of just blackness.

-jeremy

[jpiette]

Thanks for the advice! I don't know what the deal is with Maya 2008 but I'm having one hell of a time trying to get caustics to work on it. I do have caustics turned on (as well as GI and FG) and I'm blasting the scene with a HUGE amount of photos, but for some reason the caustics effects are not showing up. I'm trying to troubleshoot it right now but I'm starting to think that I can't fix it. On a related note my little trick with rendering soft shadows seems to no longer work in Maya 2008. I would typically turn on raytraced shadows and crank up the shadow rays but apparently that no longer works either. ARGH!!! *bangs head against keyboard*

I will go through though and try to make all of those changes to the best of my abilities. Thanks so much for the feedback!

[jeremybirn]

Sounds like you're just sliding the wrong slider & want light radius or something. :) For the caustics, don't expect them to go through too many layers. Just setting the outer walls as "hidden" to caustics. Or hide the whole bottle for caustics and using something simple in the middle of the bottle for the photons to refract through like a scaled, colored sphere that isn't visible to primary rays. (Remember the MR controls are at the object level, not in the shape node like Maya render stats.)

-jeremy

[yassein]

here is my test
i hope you like it and welcome to any advice
http://up.cgway.net/uploads/955074e3ca.jpg

[claudiocropelli]

Hi,
this is my first BrandX test.

Rendered with solidThinking 7.5 on my old Mac G4/Dual 1Ghz 1GB ram.
1 Simple sky light & 2 distant light
Raytrace=ON
Depth of field=ON
Render time= TOO MUCH :-)

Ciao,
Claudio.

P.S.: see you on next challenge with NURBS model :-)))


http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii316/claudiocropelli/Render/BrandX.jpg

[chickenkts]

Here is my rendering :bounce:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/nguyen_tien_kts/Leet.jpg

[jeremybirn]

Sorry I haven't replied to some of these old challenges in a while or updated the galleries. I'll get to work on that soon.

chickenkts - Nice clean render of the bottle. You've got some noise and dithering in the bottle, and the upper part needs some bounce light so it doesn't go pure black, but really you're ready to move on to the main point of the challenge: it is supposed to be a comparison, showing that Leet is better than Brand X. Think about how you're going to demonstrate the idea of Leet being good and Brand X being bad in the image, and show both of them in the scene.

claudiocropelli - Welcome! Nice scene! Challenge #3 is all NURBS, so is #7. I think #4 is mostly NURBS.

yassein - Nice job! SOmetimes a full spherical environment image surrounding the whole scene can help reduce the amount of blackness that shows up in refractive objects like those, but that's a minor point.

-jeremy

[PauloRenato]

My contribution.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3269/2313849877_0a53c54209_o.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2401/2314664956_0a877b22eb_o.jpg

[jeremybirn]

This is an old challenge now, this thread is archived. If you scroll down to the Challenge #11 section of the downloads page, you'll see that the models can still be downloaded for your tests, and also that a gallery has been made of top entries. Feel free to browse this thread to see what others have posted, even though you can no longer post here.

Great work everyone! A gallery of images is on-line:

http://www.3drender.com/challenges/brandx/index.htm

-jeremy