Composite: Mini on My Desk

[Nando]

:buttrock:

WOW thats baddass reminds me of those lil mini /rc cars
Except cooler and a lil bigger

:D

[phoenix2k]

looks great, but is it really that long? i don't know, but it looks a bit like a limousine :).... but lovely render anyway :)

[naki]

I agree... the Mini should be a bit shorter in length... maybe it's a Mini-Mod? hehe good job though!

[CapnPanic]

i think you guys might be gettin thrown off by the blinb-bling tiny wheels, as the car dimentions match the blueprints/measurements of the actual mini, but with the tiny wheels and lowered suspension makes it look a bit longer etc

[brittnell]

Nice render/composite!
Mind if I ask where you picked up your balls?
I've been looking around for some myself, and have seen quite a range in pricing...
Cheers,
b

[CapnPanic]

brittnell: found the first one i had (glass) at a local walmart, in the garden section

found the one i currently have (stainless steel) at a local garden store

the glass ones seem to be the cheapest by far, as i think my first one was US$10, but had a little stem on the bottom and was very fragile (why it is no longer with me)

the steel one is much more expensive (i think i paid about US$30 for an 8" ball) but is more durable, although the optical quality isn't as good, as there is a seam and some lumps from manufacturering, but at least it won't fall off the stand you had it gaffer-taped to at 3am in your bedroom, scaring the hell out of you :eek: :rolleyes: like some glass ones will do

[brittnell]

Originally posted by Capn_Panic
but at least it won't fall off the stand you had it gaffer-taped to at 3am in your bedroom, scaring the hell out of you :eek: :rolleyes: like some glass ones will do
Ha ha ha! I can picture it too well!
Classic...
Too bad you didn't have a motion-activated camera running at the time, prolly could've made $10k on AFV.

Anyhow, yeah, I've been thinking about the Stainless steel ones as well, cause I'll likely be packing it around with me.

It seems like the results you've gotten from the 8" are doing the trick very well... Do you see any reason to go with a larger diameter (say 12")?

Also, are you using HDRIshop to make your HDRIs? If so, I'd love to see how you're setting up your shoot/images/reflection map.

Cheers, and keep up the great work!

b

[RmachucaA]

image is real good, mini with the latin/black thing going on ugly.

[CapnPanic]

brittnell: i think the size of the ball is really just dependant on the zoom on your camera. if u have a 500mm lens, which u can be 5 or 6 feet away from a 1-inch ball and still have it fill the frame, then go with that (except that with something that small, the stand the ball sat upon would be very visible in the reflection i think) i went with the 8" one cause it was big enough for me to have it fill the frame on my digital cam while i was far enough away to be fairly small in the reflection, and it was fairly cheap compared to the larger sizes (i think the 12" one was twice the price)
while if i really had the choice and more motivation to call people and find out details, i think the best way to go is the ol' giant machine bearing route, as i think you can get em as big as 6" and they are near perfect optically... but i don't know of a handy way to get one of these or their actual cost, so i went with the cheap lawn ornament route hehe

as far as hdri creation goes, i'm just using hdri shop, which will make an hdri out of an image sequence. creation went pretty much as follows: set up camera on sturdy tripod (wobbly tripod will work too, but u have to do more work later) and set up the ball on something small that will hold it still and not be in the reflection too much
then i just shot a series of image (8 for the one used in the pic above) starting at very under exposed and ending at very overexposed, in one stop increments.
next, i get all the pics from the cam to the computer, and open then all in photoshop. next i copy and paste them all into one psd file, and then check to make sure they all line up properly (this shouldn't be needed if the tripod was good n sturdy) by making each layer transparent and lining the edges of the ball up with the layer below
once they are all lined up, then u can just crop the whole thing at once right to the edges of the ball. next i saved out each layer as its own file and named them sequencially (sp?) then u can import em into hdrishop as an hdri :beer:

RmachucaA: you just gotta have more of a sense of humor about cg cars :thumbsup: :cool:

[brittnell]

Ahoy Cap'n!

Thanks for the tips.

I'll definitely be looking into balls (though not crystal) this week.

I'm using a Nikon CP990, and do have a sturdy tripod... Should be good to go!
:bounce:

Btw: Some of my best friends drive latin/black cars.
:rolleyes:

:thumbsup:

[CGTalk Moderation]

This thread has been automatically closed as it remained inactive for 12 months. If you wish to continue the discussion, please create a new thread in the appropriate forum.