reproducing the 90's render style.

#1

i’m trying to make some weapons for a personal game (a Doom mod), and i need to reproduce the style of 90’s renders.
something like the weapons in this games:
http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/doom/images/7/73/Hacx.gif/revision/latest?cb=20050907175123
http://www.espacoinf.com/tela9.jpg
http://www.espacoinf.com/tela10.jpg

for now i’ve made the weapon model, and tried to recreate the 90’s style using simple blinn and an ambient light with maya:
http://imgur.com/a/QQFvO

is it right? or i’m making something wrong and what i need to reproduce the style in a more similar way to the 90’s ones?

#2

One thing that instantly screams 90s is strong, low-rez bump maps using simple noise textures.

#3

sounds interesting!
some other things? i mean what kind of illumination could i use? ambient light looks kinda flat i think, not even 90’s render were like that… or i’m wrong?

#4

Don’t use ambient occlusion. Basically what you should do is make some models, harden edges instead of beveling and smoothing them, apply phong materials with basic colors, maybe add some bump, add reflection maps instead of raytracing them for metal parts. Slap 1 point light (or use default), turn off shadows, turn off any indirect lighting. No BRDF, No gamma correction - just pure evil! =) This will give you a basic poor rendered 90s look. From there on you can experiment and adapt it to your needs.

#5

should i use mental ray instead of maya software in this case?
also, some models need a bit of smoothing, is it a problem?

#6

did some other tests with another weapon i’m making:
http://imgur.com/Mk50nh9 (actual weapon, rendered using only default light and with phong material at maximum ambient color)
http://imgur.com/I0crvlE (weapon i’m trying to remake with same render style)
http://imgur.com/1nv0sYB (another reference)

does it look more similar to the original references?

#7

http://www.espacoinf.com/tela10.jpg

This might be just me, but I feel like the gun stands out a bit too much in this shot. It just feels like it has that late 90’s look to it whilst everything else has an early 90’s appeal.

Don’t quite know how to describe what I’m talking about, but the gun model kinda remind me of that one game… MDK whilst the rest reminds me of Doom.

If that was the intention, you nailed it from my point of view!

#8

well, i’m trying to replicate the style of those renders for a doom mod.
aniway, here’s another test (made using ambient color rised up for the weapon, one point light, and rendered in maya Hardware)
http://imgur.com/a/Te93Y