More contrast in renderings, possible?

[srki]

Hi all,
I am exploring new, and old rendering possibilities, and somehow I cannot accheive good contrast, so I am forced to open image in Photoshop and add some more contrast over there. Is it possible, at all, to render with more contrast, using SW only?

Regards
Srdjan

 

[SBaugh]

Photoworks

Regards,

Scott Baugh, CSWP

http://www.3dvisiontech.com

http://www.scottjbaugh.com

If you are in the SW Forum Check out the FAQ section

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[BadBeta]

Hi,

I'm coming from 3D graphics originally, so I really don't know what Solidworks in itself is capable of. (Though I think it's probably very limited - even the full Photoworks can't begin to compare with the dedicated 3D render engines used within photo/ movies/ animation).

That said, if your renders typically become low contrast you might want to check out your ambient light settings. The less you have the more contrast you will get, but you will have to add lights manually to compensate. (A three light setup with one main light about 60%, a fill light of about 30% and a back light of about 10% relative strength usually works ok). Try settings the lights to different colors, do a trial render, and you can tell afterwards which lights to increase, decrease or move to get your contrast (and possibly shadows) how and where you want them.

 

[SBaugh]

Check out some of these Rendering from Photoworks

http://www.bxhdesigns.com/toaster.htm

http://www.bxhdesigns.com/Barista7_01.htm

http://www.bxhdesigns.com/jigsaw.htm

http://www.bxhdesigns.com/lego2.htm

http://www.bxhdesigns.com/binding.htm

I don't think it's that limited?

Regards,

Scott Baugh, CSWP

http://www.3dvisiontech.com

http://www.scottjbaugh.com

We are one big happy nerd herd!

faq731-376

 

[Theophilus]

Make sure your scene isn't too bright. Also, in the options tab, set your gamma to 1.0 instead of the foolish default of 1.5.

Other than that, I use PhotoShop all the time to get the desired contrast and other final touches to all my renderings. If you want good renderings, this should be expected.

Jeff Mowry
Industrial Designhaus, LLC

http://www.industrialdesignhaus.com

 

[BadBeta]

Hi Scott,

Thanks for your earlier help by the way!

Here are some links to show 3D rendering standards of today. Photoworks is limited in comparison.

http://www.splutterfish.com/sf/gallery_view.php?photo_id=225&screen=1&cat_id=2&action=images

http://www.mentalimages.com/4_0_gallery/index.html

http://www.finalrender.com/products/products.php?UD=10-7888-35-788&PID=36

http://www.3dtotal.com/home2/gallery/gallery.asp?cat=scenes&pos=589&lpos=15

http://www.davidgould.com/

http://www.splutterfish.com/sf/gallery_index.php?screen=7&action=images&cat_id=2

But CAD software is catching up!

 

[srki]

Thanx guys, I'l try those things
Regards

 

[NickE]

BadBeta- you forgot Povray!

http://www.povray.org

 

[Theophilus]

I'm not sure you'd want to go through all the time necessary to set up scenes and wait to render (~2.5 hours!) like these rendering programs require just for simple contrast adjustment. However, the renderings are superior. But this is probably suggestive to the line of work--marketing or some other such--as opposed to CAD representations.

Certainly PhotoWorks could use some improvement, but my experience has been near photorealism, depending on the amount of time I can afford to spend on setting up scenes. The Ferrari rendering in one of BadBeta's links above was not cranked out within a couple of hours of work--whereas I do this all the time. Is the qualitative difference worth it? Not yet for my applications.

Some day I'll post some real-world renderings used in product design we've been working on. Meanwhile, I'm too busy designing (and hanging around in forums).

Jeff Mowry
Industrial Designhaus, LLC

http://www.industrialdesignhaus.com

 

[BadBeta]

Hi Jeff,

I fully agree with you - I've personally spent days and even weeks on single illustrations or animations, and that line of work is very different from CAD illustrations. That said, you can produce great results pretty quickly most of the time. With regards to CAD the problem is often the conversion of the 3D files.

What I simply said was that Photoworks is limited compared to specialized illustrations packages. For what it is intended for however, 3D CAD illustrations, it is actually quite nice.

(I wish they would include more features in Photoworks - I actually believe the engine itself is a licensed highend engine (Mental Ray or similar?), but that the simple Photoworks interface limits its power).

That Ferrari isn't even that complicated - for some really stunning stuff try roaming around at the gallery at highend3d.com

 

[rockguy]

Badbeta,

I think you bring an experienced perspective to PhotoWorks rendering since you have so much experience in other packages. You should really think about compiling a list of features or enhancements you would like to see in PhotoWorks and submit it to SolidWorks. I've done this in the past and had good responses from them. SolidWorks is always looking to improve product and welcomes suggestions.

Submitting enhancement request gives them a chance of being implemented, not submitting means they may never happen.

 

[Theophilus]

BadBeta,

Good points, and nice link--I've not yet seen that one. Also, I think you're right about the engine being a strong potential for new developments--it seems to render very efficiently, but the interface is so weak compared with its potential. I've got more hacks and work-arounds for this interface than for anything else within SolidWorks. (By the way, are you a designer, engineer, shiny, etc?)

The other hand reveals an impressive capacity to render things within the same environment in which they're modeled.

I agree with rockguy, too, that perhaps you would have some keen insight for SW to consider in improving the rendering experience. Whatever Brian Hill did for release 2 was certainly an improvement--I'm not sure if he was a beta guy or behind the scenes even further--but release 2 took things to a different level.

One thing I'd love to see is the positioning of lights to points within an assembly/part/sketch. This would be great for quick positioning of lights in places such as--light bulbs! (What a concept). As it is, we have trial by error--quite a waste of time.

Anyone think of any other things that would help?

Jeff Mowry
Industrial Designhaus, LLC

http://www.industrialdesignhaus.com

 

[BadBeta]

My background and education is very varied - from an illustration viewpoint I've worked as an independent consultant/ illustrator for different companies and institutions. Right now I'm running a company within technological development, which is why I got Solidworks.

When it comes to Photoworks I believe the key is to find a good balance between features and ease of use for daily work, complemented by a possibility for smooth transfer to spezialied illustration packages for more demanding work.

When it comes to illustrations packages one has to realize that there is actually 3-5 year long educations with different specializations within modelleing, texturing, lights, animations and so forth. So including all the options and features in illustrating packages in Photoworks would probably just be confusing and frustrating for ordinary work. (A choice of interface could be a possibility though).

I think Photoworks, with some additions to shaders, lights and texture capabilities, would be a mighty fine day to day package.