CGTalk - Image Needs life

garynyc

01-02-2009, 08:12 PM

Hi all;

Im doing a basic chart for a small company and want this image to really not look so flat. I need to keep the colors in this tone. Can anyone suggest a workflow of how to kick this up a notch with better lighting, reflectivity, specularity, etc??? Thank you!

http://picasaweb.google.com/gary.krauss/Test?authkey=CZ16BuhQytk#5286790724247611058

blazelet

01-02-2009, 09:45 PM

If this were mine I'd start with a better color scheme. You can get ideas for color schemes that work together here http://kuler.adobe.com/

You can search themes like 'business'

I'd also do more to enhance depth. Like putting your 4 bars on a reflective surface so they slightly reflect instead of being just black would be neat ... you could easily do that in Photoshop of After Effects. And perhaps adding shadow to things so they give some dimension?

Just some ideas :)

garynyc

01-02-2009, 10:23 PM

Thanks for the advice. The surface is reflective but I guess I didnt have the options checked off in Mental Ray. Also, I need those exact colored bars as I said in my posting--has something to do with hair coloring agents. The title could use some help though lol.

Any other ideas people?

toenexx

01-02-2009, 10:39 PM

I know you need to use those colors, but I would think about changing the value of them a tad bit, and rearrange them amongst the text/objects. A good example would be to use that yellow or a lighter color on the 7's to make better contrast on the dark colored brown.

The beveled edges should either be fully round or fully straight, but that's just my opinion.

Use an occlusion pass, make those edges pop.

A different font might help. Can't go wrong with helvetica.

Some basic design/aesthetic qualities are lacking but it can be improved.

I dont normally recommend this place for inspiration, but for this it might help (its a search on graphs):

http://tinyurl.com/828hol (http://tinyurl.com/828hol)

Just play around and experiment with different camera angles, lighting, and materials... you'll get something nifty.