Example Images

[allanjl]

Hi all,

This is a master bath I designed. Rendered using the highest vray quality rendering. I have to confess, I have been spoiled by maxwell and multiple computers to render with. To me this rendering seems a bit blurry still.

I welcome comments.

[Andrew West]

I think it looks great.  We are all our own worst critics at times.  I agree that Maxwell was fantastic but I just could never justify the time it took to create images like this.  If on inspection you find that the image is a bit blurry you can increase the shading rate under the Raytrace settings.  It only slows down my render a little but I have a fairly robust machine.

[Andrew West]

I think it looks great.  We are all our own worst critics at times.  I agree that Maxwell was fantastic but I just could never justify the time it took to create images like this.  If on inspection you find that the image is a bit blurry you can increase the shading rate under the Raytrace settings.  It only slows down my render a little but I have a fairly robust machine.

[allanjl]

Thanks Andrew!

I'll try adjusting the shading rate next time.

[Justin Montoya]

Looks great Allan.  

I'm betting since it is a relatively low light scene, the minimal blur would clear with more time or upping the shading rate as Andrew suggested. 

I'm curious what kind of lights you are using?  In a low light scene like this, any extra light you can give it will help clear it up.  For example, using mesh or plane lights instead of emitter materials.  Normally emitters work fine for highlighting and backlighting, but in a low lit scene, they often do not have the power to bounce like the other light types which will give you a cleaner image.  Unfortunately VRay emitter material lights do not work as well as they do on Maxwell... yet.  

[allanjl]

Justin,

All of the lights I'm using are plane lights. The ones on the ceiling are small ones, about 2" square, the ones behind the mirror and cabinet are larger. I was trying to emulate what will actually be built by putting the number of lights and location of the lights as it would be in the field. I remembered you once mentioned emissive materials don't work as well, thus I used planes.

I am actually thinking of creating components of light fixtures with plane lights inside the light fixture as I've done in maxwell, but Idk if it will work the same way. Especially because the fixtures have reflectors in them to create the right falloff. I also tried loading IES lighs that I have saved, but for some reason they didn't shine.

 

[Andrew West]

5 hours ago, Andrew West said:

 

 

23 minutes ago, allanjl said:

Justin,

All of the lights I'm using are plane lights. The ones on the ceiling are small ones, about 2" square, the ones behind the mirror and cabinet are larger. I was trying to emulate what will actually be built by putting the number of lights and location of the lights as it would be in the field. I remembered you once mentioned emissive materials don't work as well, thus I used planes.

I am actually thinking of creating components of light fixtures with plane lights inside the light fixture as I've done in maxwell, but Idk if it will work the same way. Especially because the fixtures have reflectors in them to create the right falloff. I also tried loading IES lighs that I have saved, but for some reason they didn't shine.

 

Allen

I use plane lights and mesh lights almost exclusively now.  For my light fixtures I use a sphere and then mesh light it.  Works so much better than cones or points and seems to have no affect on render time.  IES lights are a bust for now.  V-ray seems to ignore the intensity so I have to adjust them up to extremely high levels to do anything.  The nice thing about mesh and plane lights is that they can be used as fill lights and directional lights and quickly scaled. 

[Justin Montoya]

18 hours ago, allanjl said:

Justin,

All of the lights I'm using are plane lights. The ones on the ceiling are small ones, about 2" square, the ones behind the mirror and cabinet are larger. I was trying to emulate what will actually be built by putting the number of lights and location of the lights as it would be in the field. I remembered you once mentioned emissive materials don't work as well, thus I used planes.

I am actually thinking of creating components of light fixtures with plane lights inside the light fixture as I've done in maxwell, but Idk if it will work the same way. Especially because the fixtures have reflectors in them to create the right falloff. I also tried loading IES lighs that I have saved, but for some reason they didn't shine.

 

Allan,

Don't use FormZ components!  They are very buggy currently and will only cause you frustration.  A working option would be to use .VRSCENE files as a kind of 'component'.  I haven't done this with a mesh or plane light, but I don't see why it shouldn't work.  

[Andrew West]

5 hours ago, Andrew West said:

 

 

23 minutes ago, allanjl said:

Justin,

All of the lights I'm using are plane lights. The ones on the ceiling are small ones, about 2" square, the ones behind the mirror and cabinet are larger. I was trying to emulate what will actually be built by putting the number of lights and location of the lights as it would be in the field. I remembered you once mentioned emissive materials don't work as well, thus I used planes.

I am actually thinking of creating components of light fixtures with plane lights inside the light fixture as I've done in maxwell, but Idk if it will work the same way. Especially because the fixtures have reflectors in them to create the right falloff. I also tried loading IES lighs that I have saved, but for some reason they didn't shine.

 

Allen

I use plane lights and mesh lights almost exclusively now.  For my light fixtures I use a sphere and then mesh light it.  Works so much better than cones or points and seems to have no affect on render time.  IES lights are a bust for now.  V-ray seems to ignore the intensity so I have to adjust them up to extremely high levels to do anything.  The nice thing about mesh and plane lights is that they can be used as fill lights and directional lights and quickly scaled. 

[allanjl]

Justin,

Thanks for the warning. I know about the problems with components all too well. I don't use them per se, what I do is I place them on the scene, and explode them immediately after. I first group the objects when I make the components, so that once exploded they are still grouped. That seems to work fine.

I've tried .VRSCENE files before, but just as tests. I'll give both a whirl and see what works best. Again, thanks for the advice.

Allan

[Andrew West]

love the new fur tool for pillows, throws and carpet.  Pay careful attention to the scale of the individual hairs or fibers.  Defaults are a little clunky.

[allanjl]

Andrew,

Looks nice, thank you for the advice. 

One question: Do you purposely fill the space with light to avoid lengthy rendering times?

 

[Andrew West]

17 hours ago, allanjl said:

Andrew,

Looks nice, thank you for the advice. 

One question: Do you purposely fill the space with light to avoid lengthy rendering times?

 

love the new fur tool for pillows, throws and carpet.  Pay careful attention to the scale of the individual hairs or fibers.  Defaults are a little clunky.

[Andrew West]

Alan

I flood my interiors with light because when I work with developers and god forbid realtors they tend to ask for images that are similar to what you would find in a real estate brochure. In essence they do not like to see strong shadows and they want all the elements of the room to be equally illuminated.  I personally hate this direction and if an image has strong potential I will render it out with a different light scheme to use for my portfolio.    At the end of the day though they pay the bills (hopefully) and therefore I give them what they want. 

For those who are interested in creating interiors I usually start with a V-ray sun outside and turn down the intensity to 50% or less.  Then I put a light plane just outside the window that is the same size as the window with an intensity of about 75.  Turn off visibility and affects reflections and turn on portal light for that plane.  Then I go in and create a box inside the room that does not touch anything and I convert that to a mesh light with an intensity of about 30.   Turn off visibility and affects reflections.  Then I go to my camera and adjust the exposure.   There is a little back and forth and sometimes I find the need to add a few more mesh or plane lights.  I do find that adding cone, sphere or IES lights really doesn't really contribute much and can lead to more unpredictable results.  Emitters are useless as well unless they are the only things that contribute to the scene.  One thing to keep in mind is that sometimes these mesh lights can cast some bizarre shadows on the ceiling.   I still can not figure out why but I have worked with David on this and will continue to do so. 

These images render really quickly no matter how much geometry I throw in there. 

[allanjl]

Ah, I see... That's too bad. I wish that as part of general ed, they would require everyone to take architecture and history of architecture starting in high school. I've dealt with so many clients who have no clue in the field, and yet they have the last word.

Thanks for the explanation.

 

[Andrew West]

My background is in architecture and art so I tend to lean toward more dramatic and inspiring images.  Developers and real estate agents tend to aim for the safest images that will appeal to the largest audience.  But you know the old saying: " creating something that will appeal to everyone leads us to something that appeals to no one.  "  .  This is how we ended up with beige subdivisions of generic buildings.  Another good example is the Pontiac Aztec which is still studied in design school as "what not to do".  It was a designed by customer feedback and opinion polls.   Failed miserably and you would be hard pressed to even find one today.  

I was a member of the American Society of Architectural illustrators for many years.  Each year they have a competition for the best illustrations.  If you talk to the winners they almost always admit that their image was done for themselves and not a client.  If you compare their client image to the presented one you would be amazed at how different they are.  I would encourage everyone here to take a few of their best images and recreate them to their liking.  Then post those images to our site to better show the potential of Form.z and V-ray. 

[allanjl]

Ah, I see... That's too bad. I wish that as part of general ed, they would require everyone to take architecture and history of architecture starting in high school. I've dealt with so many clients who have no clue in the field, and yet they have the last word.

Thanks for the explanation.

 

[allanjl]

Here's my latest design for a Master Bath. 

[Andrew West]

Very nice job.  The lighting is very realistic and inviting.  If I may make a couple of suggestions I would personally change the aspect ratio to show a little less ceiling and a bit more floor.  Then add a spot light fixture for the light on the painting and perhaps water in the tub.  The cabinetry is quite a dark void and it gets a bit lost without some definition.  These are just personal comments.  Technically the image is great.  Keep up the good work.  Are you using IES lights for your spot?
Here is a bath that Justin and I did this week just for fun.  Playing around with the fur tool and displacements. 

[allanjl]

Thanks Andrew.

Yes, some of the materials are as selected by my client, not much choice. You're right, water would have added a nice touch. Rush job, haha, like most though.

The lights are actually modeled fixtures with a very small plain light inside. BTW, it would be great if lights could be set by color temperature; like Maxwell's.

You're rendering is awesome!

Allan.

[Andrew West]

I agree with you that the lights need to be set by temp.  I absolutely loved the way Maxwell handled lights but the time cost of using that program was just too high.  I miss multilight a lot too but I need to make a living.

[Andrew West]

I agree with you that the lights need to be set by temp.  I absolutely loved the way Maxwell handled lights but the time cost of using that program was just too high.  I miss multilight a lot too but I need to make a living.

[artyboy64]

I do a lot of restaurant designs, just wishing I was able to animate my scenes.

[allanjl]

Very nice!. What do  you use for ambient lighting?

 

[artyboy64]

I use the vray light plane to start off