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FOT
09-10-2003, 01:16 AM
Hi all!!!

This is my first post in the forum!...:wavey:

As a good Tolkien's fanatic I couldn't resist the temptation to make a scene using The Ring as the lead... (I'm probably not the first!! I am??)

What you see in the picture is just a quick setup (The wood's bitmap has not enough quality and... Of course The Ring will not be hanging from a red cord!!! :D)... But as start point will be enough... I think!

The scene was made using 3D Max 5.

For the moment my purpose is to achieve a good gold shader... Previously I would be pleased with the result I have so far, but now my meaning (intention) is to make a step forward and make my (still small) knowledge about materials to grow!

The material used on The Ring is "Shellac".
The base material is "Raytraced" with a "Fallof" map set to "Shadow/Light" for the Reflection channel.
The shellac material is "Final Render Adv Material" with a "Fallof" map set to "Fresnel" in the Reflection chanel too. (I choused this material type cause was needing to tune up a bit the diffuse level, and this kind of material as a control to do this).
The reflection amount was set to 90% in both materials.

And that's all!!! (Ups! Also... I used a bitmap for the Enviroment)

http://www.josgames.com/anillodif.jpg

When y make a render using a black Enviroment the material don't looks as gold at all!!! and... i think that means the material is not ready!!! (I know metals are to a large extent reflections... but I think my gold shader has not enough consistence yet...

http://www.josgames.com/ring.jpg

What do you think???

If someone could help I will be ETERNALLY GRATEFUL!!!

Thanks in advance...

...And sorry about my English!!!... It's hard for a Spanish guy!!!


Greetings!!
Velk
09-10-2003, 03:34 AM
Very nice looking - I haven't played with gold reflective materials yet so I can't give any advise, I would say that the top render looks a lot better to me, I think its the way that the top of the ring reflects. It doesn't look as flat as the bottom one.
EricChadwick
09-10-2003, 06:41 PM
Check out Dean Kezan's tutorial, How to make realistic jewelry:
http://kezan.onnovanbraam.com/tutorials.htm
FOT
09-11-2003, 01:28 PM
Hi all again!!

Velk: Happy you like it!! and yes, a good enviroment is very important for reflective materials to look suitably (I like more the upper pic too!!!;) )

posm: WOW man! thank you very much for the link!!!:thumbsup:
I have learned a lot of things reading this tutorial... Now I know I wasn't far wrong there with my material and... what I need to improve it is to make a good enviroment "only" for the ring to look better and try to blend it properly with the scene enviroment... (at least that is what my insane brain thinks now!!! :D )


Again... Thank you very much for your replies guys!!! I'm going to start working on it right now!!

Greetings!!
Marcel
09-11-2003, 10:21 PM
I would turn off the specular highlight of your gold material (or use a very low value). With very reflective objects you don't need the strong specular, it only makes it look fake.

Have you read Leigh's texture tutorials here at CGTalk? They contain some great infomation on materials, definitely a recommended read!

Right now there is a lot of 'pure black' in your scene, try to light it a bit better so that even the shadows have a bit color.

And I would use another floor texture, wooden floorboards have been used way too many times! Maybe some nice rough stone with a displacement on it?
FOT
09-11-2003, 11:04 PM
Marcel:

Thanks for the point about the specular highlights!!
I was completely wrong about that! indeed the specular level on my gold material is really high!!

I know there is a lot of pure black on the scene... i'm using fr-area shadows, but they look like raytraced ones... any idea about why is this happening??

About the floor... I was thinking about to make a "wood pedestal" for the ring... but thanks for your suggestion... I will think about it!

I have found Leigh's tutorials... IMO they are GREAT!!... (now i'm trying to "absorb" the huge amount of information there)


Greetings!!
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