I just cannot figure this out

[Wiro]

Your lighting is still pretty flat and homogenous. You could get the orange light on the building to rimlight the money a bit more or cheat the sun in as rim as well (even if it wouldn't really be visible from the money's perspective)
Also, don't notes have a bit of metallic strips on them? (I, err..don't have any £££ on me. Lunch was expensive!)
The specular of these strips could be used to catch some of that orange or even reflect the sky a bit more.
You could maybe have some of the leaves (CG leaves?) lay on top of the money?
Another thing I think is hurting you is the box-shape you mention...very bad for picking up interesting lighting. I don't know how stiff real money bundles are but you could bend them a little as they lay over each other to pick up some light gradients and also add in some bump and gaps between the money layers.
Something doesn't feel right about the shadows too. They seem a tad too dark perhaps? Check out the black level in the pic and don't go darker than that. Add grain and maybe blur the CG a little to match the photo.

Wiro

[phix314]

I think you're off to a good start. The lighting is a little flat, but it's an overcast sky... just gotta play that by eye. It looks like you've got some good shadowing going.. is that from an occlusion pass or just the GI/FG you've got in your scene? I would try adding an occlusion pass to see if you can beef up the contact shadows...

I think some of the unrealism is in the models... are they just plain boxes with the money texture? You might try adding some money that is flying around (reactor??).

I think a lot of the tying in factor comes from the post work. I did a quick CC on your image to illustrate:

http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p104/roaphotosharing/Maya/tests/cc.jpg


You may hit the color close in Max, but adding an overall tone really helps tie in the colors. Looks good... dont get discouraged!

[kingoslo]

Cheers, these replies dont discourage me at all, they make me feel incouraged! I will continue work tomorrow and post some more renders and PM you when I've dont that so that I can have your opinions.

Cheers,
Marius

[phix314]

I realize my sentence structure was misleading...

Yours looks good... don't get discouraged from a little snag! hehe

[Youpi]

Hello !

Tweaking a scene is a long process…

I have to confess : I didn’t identify the boxes as money at first look. Try to make them less ‘boxy’ and less white. Money is not as white as printer paper. ($ are green, € are purple (big ones !), … )

If you watch the shadows of the car to the right, they are every dark. You should try to darken money shadows a little bit.

As there is no reflect, I think your lighting is good. May be a more complex shader for money, with hologram, specular numbers could help the light to better play with the objects.

Unfortunately, money is hard to scan and to reproduce. :surprised

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