[Conor O Kane]

[Lomi]

You are getting better at this (I assume you were the guy who posted similar pics a while ago). However I do think the shadows on the ground need to be stronger, and the pics with people in it just don't seem right... I would think they would be running in terror at the site of a robot that size walking through the streets brandishing some sort of smg's.

Dunno if that helps any... keep on trucking.

[ January 09, 2002: Message edited by: Lomi ]

[Motorfish]

I like the third one the best, but I have a few suggestions:

Lose the laser beams from the sights. I would think it would look much more realistic without them. Also, perhaps a little more random weathering on the white areas on the third robot might make it look more realistic as well. (just a little bit, not too much)

Other than that, good job!!!

Dan

[Motorfish]

By the way, the reflection of the leg in the puddle on the third pic, VERY nice attention to detail.

Kudos.


Dan

[LoTekK]

kewl pics... i agree about the lasers, though... especially in those kinds of weather and lighting conditions, you would barely be able to make out the beams, let alone see them as ultra saturated, bright red beams... maybe try and take the Quake3 route, and render a short beam with partial transparency, fading out as it gets further from the LAM...

oh yeah, the second pic almost made me laugh... i could almost see a caption: "i'm just gonna sneak on by while nobody's looking"


good stuff, man...

[EviLToYLeT]

Hrmmm... I think the only thing that is keeping it from fitting in properly is the texture job... and also, lighting may be accurate, but doesn't seem to fit in..

but nice work indeed.

[-HoodZ-]

i was expexting transformers...like Grimlock, or Slag

[S.W.]

Some advice that will make it look more real:

1, dont use 3Dsmax original material that much.
2, give the texture some "durt" on it.
3, remember the fog effect.

[TheRabbit]

Yeah cool pics I like them a lot! Perhaps you could use a grain filter on the bot.

[Conor O Kane]

Thanks very much man. Those are some of the best crits I've ever seen on this forum! I'm working on new textures for him right away!

Conor

[napalm]

yes texture work is a must.. don't forget the specular and bump maps!@# too often people forget to pay attention to these, they are essential for photorealism!

Its quite hard to feel what these bots are currently made of, ithey have a sort of 'generic putty' quality. Make metal shine, give it rust, wear, grease.. Plastic has nicks and scratches and specific specular values. Realism is in the subtle details.

Don't forget some basic environment maps for reflection, easily made from your own background images. Even if it is subtle, it really adds to the feeling of realism.


--- edit.. oops it sounded kinda preachy, i forgot to mention that I really like them and that its a really good start

[ January 10, 2002: Message edited by: napalm ]

[Freddio]

haha I love this stuff

I had a go in trying to make the last look more realistic.. hmm however I dont think I can improve on what you've down../ Great work!!

[B3AND1P]

I think its great that there are still some people out there that like to do compositing. Your camera matching seems good, but your lighting and texturing could use a lot of work. The problem with adding a 3d object into a real world picture is that you have something in the same frame to compare the model with. In this case it becomes very apparent that the model is very simple and lacking in texture detail.

First picture: To me the feet are really planted (no pun intended) in the ground well here. They darken towards the bottom and I can see some grass peeking out in front of them. Altho I would like to see the ground indented and maybe some footprints, overall the feet look great. The texturing however could use lots of work. The bot looks a little too dark in this scene and I really think you could use a custom textures. Fractals just don't cut it for realism.

Second picture: shadow looks ok, camera matching looks ok, but the model looks extremely simple. you need lots of dents and scratches and nurnies (nurnies are little bits of detail that really don't add any functionality, just detail). Also it might be a good idea to use photos for textures as realism is really hard to draw as far as textures are concerned.. I mean you can do it by hand but it would take FOREVER. Also your missing a lot of light spill. you need to tie in the object to the environment, maybe you could add some orange from that car or some yellow light, or blue shadow. Basicly everything in that scene has some color in it except for your model (Turn the saturation up +100 and you will see what I mean).

Third Picture: Detail Detail Detail Detail. Do high Pass filter on this picture and you will see that this environment has TONS of detail except for the model. The lighting, shading, and camera matching are great in this scene but the lack of detail makes it stand out likes a sore thumb. Also believe it or not but there is tons of color in this scene that you completely left out of most of the model. Remember, NEVER use pure white lights. I took out the luminosity info from the image and boosted up the saturation, this is what I got:




Good luck with your next pic, I'm looking forward to it! Send me a e-mail if you are interested in doing more compositing.. Personally I love the stuff.

[B3AND1P]

Yeah I would agree with napalm. Texturing isn't just about making a color map. Color is important, but it doesn't really give the object life. Here are my opinions on all the values you can edit.

color map: in Max this is called the diffuse map, altho I really think color map is a better name. This is the baby that starts it all off. Unless you are doing a matte object always start off designing the color map first and then use that as a basis for all of your other maps. I always make the color map as high res as possible. I like to have two or three pixels of color map to every pixel of screen. A lot of people will say that is too much, but I say the more the better (if your computer can handle it). I collect thousands of high res photos and then but ten or fifteen of em together to make a color map. you can find some cool textures here .

bump map: be careful with the bump, a lot of people tend to think a bump map makes things look a lot more realistic than it actually does. The last thing you want is a big melty chocolate looking thing. turn up the bump until you can really notice it, then turn it down a little. always base the bump map off of the color map so that cracks in your texture correspond to dark areas in the bump.

specular map: specular maps or usually way overlooked. In my opinion they can have much more of an impact on a texture than bump and color combined! Of course maybe thats just because a lot of people are still in the dark about them and never use em. Specular is the highlight on a shiner pool ball. A specular map just says what is shiny and what is not. ALWAYS add a specular map if you can, and base them off of the color map. look at the main texture and think about what areas of the surface would get rubbed more than others, or what part would shinier, or maybe you would have some marts of the originally aluminum showing through. Here is a example of specular, notice the shiny part in the upper left and the little veins of dull stuff going through it.


diffuse map: Almost no one ever uses this map, in fact it is still actually kind of hard for me to explain, and in Max it is almost impossible to find! here is what dictionary.com has to saw about it:
dif�fuse \
v. dif�fused, dif�fus�ing, dif�fus�es
v. tr.

1. To pour out and cause to spread freely.
2. To spread about or scatter; disseminate.
3. To make less brilliant; soften

anything that diffuse incoming light and gives a soft highlight is what I would call diffused ie: sponges, carpet, paper..... things that give off a very sharp highlight are not diffused at all ie: glass, shiny plastic, chrome, water. Because diffused objects tend to scatter the light all around and soak it up they tend to be much darker than non diffused objects. In maya all textures have a diffuse channel, but it max you have to use the open-nayer blinn surface and then add a map to the "diffuse level" channel. You may have to make your diffuse map really low in contrast so that it doesn't make your surface too dark or too bright, but it is always better to add the map there and then adjust the lights accordingly. Here is example of diffuse, the ground is all one texture, the blood has almost no diffusion where as the concrete around it is very diffused and gives a very soft widespread highlight.


Ok well thats enough for now. I used to teach compositing and advanced texture and lighting so I can really go on and on forever on this kinda stuff

let me know if you have any questions or anything.

[Conor O Kane]

Updated textures, now with dirt, dust, rust scratches and grain. Thanks for the comments everyone, particularly Freddio for the paintover and B3AND1P for all those tips!

[SpiralEye]

Thanks for the link to the textures!!!!!!!!!!!
Royal

[LuxoNick]

I like the pics...I think they need to be higher res though to match you renders. The grain is off. The max renders are so crisp and the photo's are kind of blurry...maybe you could apply some blur around the edges to make it fit more.

Good work though

[Probotech]

Wow!

Great job! I really like em. And it's nice to see you improving. Thread like these are great. Keep on it!

[B3AND1P]

ok, I couldn't help but mess around with one of these images

[LoTekK]

cokane, those pics are really cool, especially with the added rust, dirt, etc...

but B3, what you did with that pic is awesome!