Hi lazzhar, nice update on your image 
I think iâve read on a previous post, that youâre using Master Zapâs SSS shaders⌠is this correct? Iâm also using MR on Maya (Miss sss shaders) and would love to ty, if possible, those shaders you mentioned. Do you know where i could find them?
greets
Hi Matador, thanks.
Maybe I shouldnt speak while Zap is here lol but the shader is packed with Maya since 6.5 I think. It was downloadable for free at Alias.com when it was released and I think itâs still there somewhere. Maybe take a look in the misss test thread in Maya Rendering section here in cgtalk.
Nice rendering BTW ⌠Keep it up.
[left]So youâre saying that Zap made the misss shaders?
I used them on my image already⌠and since we are here i would like to say to Master Zap that he made an amazing work on this shaders!!! :bowdown:
greets
[/left]
Here is another version made with the same layers of the previous render but with changed levels and color adjustments in Photoshop:
I tried to restrain the color palete and give more focus on the fruits that are slighty more defined and colorful than the background.
Hope youl like it, any comments are welcome on both images.
greets
Hey all. Well, this entry is a little less playful. Calling it After Hours at a Social Club and trying to achieve the atmosphere that youâd perhaps expect to see in a smoke filled room. Hopefully some of the glow that can be experienced at that hour as well.
Light setup consists of only two lamps. One shadow mapped spot with volumetric halo and one shadow mapped spot. [edit - lights have changed. Please see edit 3 below for details.]
I realize thereâre still short comings but our shader engine wonât be updated for a few weeks yet and the rendering engine shortly after. Or something like that. Itâs casual. Render time for this image was up a bit since the ray tracer was turned on. 5 or 6 minutes or so.
Hope you enjoy.
Here's a capture of the rig.
[img]http://discusions.home.comcast.net/cgt_fruitplate_setup4.jpg[/img]
[edit]as soon as it was posted . . . Image had a flash cube look that had to be repaired. Also added a couple of reflection lights to compensate for new shadows. Post that when the render finishes.
[edit2]figured out a better banana material too. Update with the new settings in a minute.
[edit3]fixed some background aberations that didnât make sense. Added a couple more lights.
Light array now consists of one primary spot with volumetric, one fill spot, three area spots and two reflection lights. All the spots are using shadow maps.
Marty_D: be very very careful when using grays like that - the background fading to gray in places looks disturbing, like an artifact.
lazzhar: the last one is nice, but the violet backdrop clashes with everything else. The pear is great :).
Matador: i like the color palette - my main crit would be the hard edges everywhere. Maybe it has to do with over sharpening. I donât think a full DOF effect would fit, but slightly softening some edges wouldnât harm either. Your previous one seemed bit softer - in that aspect it looked bit better.
Marty_D: I think it would be better if you framed the shot so that you either saw none of the grey bg wall or more of it. I like the atmosphere of the render.
Hey, thanks for the crits. Man. I had a rather difficult time keeping that smoke alive and now youâre saying it doesnât play? Arrrghh. I have to think. 
mmm . . . Looking at the other entries here most are very bright indeed. I wonder if perhaps the contrast between bright and dusky doesnât make a difference in the perception of the darker corners. Just a thought. I have to say I like the dim reaches very much. Iâll have to think; see what some other camera angles show.
Great work people. Thereâs some super renders in this thread!!!
Hereâs some of my favourites:
Otacon - #57
Tora_2097 - #98
depeteD - #113
holle - #151
MasterZap - #189
3Dworks - #191
If you donât mind the crappy (plastic fantastic) textures (or lack of itâŚ), you might like the lightning. The DOF is maybe to stronf, but I like the mood.
Hi all! Hereâs my first attampt, hope to hear some crits/suggestions! Thanks!
Itâs in a room, in daylight. I only used shadow mapped spots, and a little bit of ambient occlusion to accentuate the shadows.
You could prbbably squeeze quite much of that image by playing with colors in post - nothing wrong with it being dark/dim, itâs the gray part that is the problem. Try making the grays more blue, cold⌠or maybe warm ? Gray part just seems undefined, and boring to that - not that good, while it occupies big part of the image.
Ok. Made a couple of changes as mentioned. Image looks better for the time spent so, yah, thanks. See above for the update if interested.
Iâve picked up more experience in the last couple of days with this challenge than in the last couple of years playing around. Have to appreciate the Internet.
I wish I had more time, but I swore to myself I wouldnât let the opportunity go by to put something up:
4 light setup b&w with GI and a bit of simple shadingâŚno photoshopân.
light setup:
looking forward to more of these!
Eric.
First off, thanks to Dan and Jeremy for this nice little challenge
Here is a lighting rough. Only omnis and spots, no gi or AO or area lights. I do use area shadows, though. Just tryinâ to get a feel for now. Probably use wood bowl, painted wooden fruit, and earthtone clothâmight use real fruit, though.
Some nice stuff posted. I really like some of the more painterly feels to some of them.
Crits?
ernia
hey guys !!
here my first render test. totally misssfast+simbiontxsi.
setup just for the main lighting, color profile, sss look
and grossly procedurals. bananas and some other fruits
have just a gradient for the moment.
**
here an early closeup to test some bumps and grapes sss
**
ciao
francesca
hi all :), this is my first test, iâm going to painterly warm look on this one, this one still not finished yet there is some thing i need to fix a little, iâm gonna fix it if i have a time, by the way this one done in standard scanline renderer with help of ambient occlusion and some render passes, no gi or such, total about 20 lights, hope you like it comment and critique always welcome.
Hey I donât bite. At least not terribly hard! 
Yes the free download was the initial vector of release, but it has since been bundled.
Thanks, glad you like it. It warms my little heart for every user!
I also did the Car paint (something for Jeremy I guess ) and the AO andâŚ
/Z
I begin to grasp the concept behind the challenge. Or, at least, the approach that suits best at any rate. Calling this one âSunrise at the studioâ.
Certainly the most complex setup Iâve used this one incorporated much of the experience gained in the last few days. Lights include 2 primary lamps, one set to edge the hard sun like lamp. 2 back lights set to single layer only. 3 filler lamps 2 of which are limited to single layers. And 2 reflection lamps to simulate secondary bounces. All of the lamps except for 2 point lights are shadow mapped spots. No raytracing was used in the render.
Trying to capture early morning first light and the promise of the new day.
[img]http://discusions.home.comcast.net/cgt_fruitplate05.jpg[/img]
And a screen of the setup
[img]http://discusions.home.comcast.net/cgt_fruitplate_setup5.jpg[/img]
That's it. Hope you enjoy. Thanks for letting me play.
[edit]added 3 negative lamps in font.