How do I approach realistic texturing?


#1

So Iv’e been doing 3D for 1 and a half years now and I have gained alot of knowledge within all kinds of areas. Lately I have been getting more into texturing and I have been quite proud of my results, but I always feel like there’s that extra bit of realism that I’m missing.

I have worked with arnold, renderman and redshift and they all have their ups and downs. Most recently I have used renderman for school assignments and I really liked the “physically correct” approach to it using the spec/gloss workflow. Like not going above the value of 1 for all the “gains” of the shading slots to not exceed the energy cooeficient thingy. And also aspects of setting the value of reflectance to 0.04 for any dialectric materials and so on to achieve a physically correct result.

But even though I like renderman it’s just way too slow compared to Redshift, which is why I will be sticking to redshift from now on. So on to what I need help with…

I would like to know how people in the industry set up their texturing workflow, parameters, render settings and such to get realistic results using a metal rough workflow. Like how do they achieve an actual plastic look, or set up realistic wooden properties for example.

So any info, tips n tricks or tutorials you might have on this topic would be greatly appreaciated! Links to payed tutorials are fine too!

I manily use the entire Substance package for all my texturing needs but Iv’e also dabbled around in Mari aswell. Maya is my main 3d aplication and as I mentioned earlier Redshift is what I will be using for rendering from now on.

Maybe it’s the way I set up my lights and such in the final renders that brings down the realistic look of it all… I don’t know. I’ll attach a picture of my latest render and maybe someone could give me a few pointers on what to improve and such! :slightly_smiling_face:

Reference:

Thanks in advance!


#2

Sorry if none of this TLDR rant makes any sense. It’s 1:30am on my side. I ramble incoherently at this hour.:stuck_out_tongue:

The most obvious observations here mostly have to do with modeling and lighting. Look at the reference photo.

The surface grooves are all inset a bit deeper and wider. Plus, the various edges are all beveled a bit more, creating wider curved edges. Also, many of the extrusions seem to be more pronounced. Because of all of that, the IRL model is catch more larger speculars and deeper shadows. You can see this happening on the door panels, front face, the orange piece between the cab and the drum, and the grey of the wheel/rim. (The wheel placement is higher in the reference, which places the truck lower and ultimately creates deeper wheel well shadows.)

Looking at the lighting setup, take note of the shadows coming off of the key light. In the reference, they don’t fall off so quickly. The placement of the key light is such in the reference that the shadow is much more prominent than in the CG version. Also, whether it’s a rim or a fill, every light has to serve its own unique purpose. That key light should cast the definitive set of shadows. That’s its purpose. It would seem that, in the CG version, there are multiple light sources competing for attention.

It also seems, as far as I can tell, that the key light in the reference has a slight blue tint and isn’t straight white. That might suggest a florescent light. Some yellow tinting coming from, what I guess, is a standard incandescent light bulb too.

Mind your ambient occlusion too. You could probably crank it up just a bit and enhance those cracks more.

To the issue of materials…

Look at the drum of the mixer. In the reference, it would appear that the shiniest element is that decal. The primary material of the plastic is softer and more matte. (The base of the drum is way flatter, leading to a deeper shadow in the reference too.)

Across the board, the material of the truck’s plastic seems to have an almost skin-like SSS quality to it where the thinner areas feel a little more translucent than the thicker.

The wood of the table, in the reference, has a softer grain. The CG version goes far too heavy in that displacement.

The clear plastic of the truck’s window doesn’t feel right in the CG version. It’s hard to say exactly what’s wrong, but I can offer some basic, general suggestions. The glass should have thickness to it and not just be a single poly. Light has to bounce around and through the surface for it to feel more glass-like. The CG version also looks too clean, which is why it’s so perfectly see-through. In the reference, the plastic window is dirtier and more scuffed. That further deepens the blur of the elements inside and on the other side of the glass.

Staging is also an issue in your CG scene. If you look at the reference image, it’s not just the background that’s blurred. The camera puts the truck into clearest focus. Background elements behind the truck are placed progressively further way. IOW, if we’re thinking of it like a PS image, the truck is in the topmost layer. The mouse layer sits behind that. The cup layer sits behind the mouse layer. ETC and so on. The further we get, the deeper the blur effect of the DOF becomes. In your image, there isn’t much depth to the image as the bowl of fruit and the apple both seem too close to the truck and pretty much on the same plane as each other. It’s as if the only blurry thing in your version is the sky dome.

Mind your camera settings too. If you’re going out to mimic a real scene, you should try to mimic the properties of the reference camera. Focal length. Field of view. ETC. You can see the effects of the real world camera’s properties in how the image distorts and blurs. (Example: Look at the front wheels of the truck VS the back in the reference and the general “flatness” of the CG version.)

Post-wise, you could add some noise to make the final image feel less clean.

I can keep going, but you get the point. Overall, it’s not just the material work that’s taking away from the realism. There are a lot of little things. Materials. Lighting. Modeling. Rendering. Post. Staging. Alone, they’re not enough to detract from the realism. Together, there’s a cumulative effect. Photorealism is all about the small details and the various imperfections.

ANYWAY… I rant. Hopefully, some of this made sense. :smiley:


#3

Maybe I should have menationed that I wasn’t trying to replicate anything other than the cement truck , so not the background, table, lighting and such (my bad though). And I totally agree on that it should have had some wider curves and deeper crevices and such just like the reference has. This was however something I had to cut back on and didn’t have time to refine due to a very preasured deadline.

But enough excuses :wink:

Yeah grain would probably help out alot too!

But I really appreciate the feedback! I love it when people don’t hold back. People usually tend to say what the other person only wants to hear, not what they need to hear.

Here’s a link to the actual delivery of the project which was rendered in renderman https://vimeo.com/373790465 (We were allowed to add a final grade to the video which is why it seems a bit more dark and desaturated than the reference. I simply liked it better that way :wink: )


#4

Understood. My only intention was to draw attention to the issues breaking the illusion, why it feels flat, and how it could be made to be more cohesive and believable.

Agreed. I’ve been doing this some 30 years and don’t agree with attaboy culture where everybody gets a trophy or ribbon just for showing up. We can only grow through our failures, how to accept them and how to move past them. People are way too nice these days. I agree. I always tell newbies to seek out critiques, but never from friends or family. “Nce” and “Cool” don’t help much. At least strangers have no vested interest and can be impartial. Plus, they can usually point you in the right direction even when they don’t have the answers on hand. Family and friends might sense that something is off, but not exactly what or how to help.

Not bad. I think that, inherently, the issues have less to do with materials and more to do with lighting and modeling. Part of what makes the original “pop” are the fine details that are accentuated by the shadows and highlights.

One of the reasons why toy manufacturers and game artists exaggerate certain features is because, if executed in physically accurate manner, they seem wrong or unimpressive. Sometimes the best way to get something to look right is do do it, well, wrong. You’re trying to mimic a toy cement truck, not a real one. On a real cement truck, those edges and grooves might not be so pronounced. With a scale model, they sometimes have to be. If you’ve ever seen an old school (70s/80s era) die cast metal car like a Matchbox, Tonka, or G1 Transformer, you’ll see the same exact problem. Were it not for metallic paint, scratches, or decals then the finely embossed details would get lost under high/even lighting situations.

Another thing that you might want to be mindful of when doing your grading are those white & black points. If you look at the reference image, the blacks feel deeper and the whites feel more rich/vibrant. Were this a still image, I’d direct you to look at your curves & levels to see where your values drop off. A simply adjustment could make it all feel less like a mid 90s DVD. (Not a specific issue regarding general saturation or balance, btw. I’m just talking about those extremes.)


#5

Solid advices! Everything you have said is something that my teachers has mentioned atleast once or twice, but things such as matching black and white points is something that seems pretty obvious, but are often overlooked (atleast by me).

Overexagurating shapes is something that just feels wrong doing, but just like you said… it’s sometimes crucial in order to get certain shapes to read in various lighting conditions.

Thanks again man, really appreaciate it!