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Hey guys. I typically fall into the product design camp, and have been nicely settled there for a while. Until the other day anyway, when a client asked me to put together a few images for a project he is overseeing. I didn't really want to say no, so I figured I'd give it a go.

The following pictures are just quick tests. I've slapped on a few materials (the slate really really REALLY needs work) and added a few trees. The finals will be composited onto some pictures I'm hopefully taking of the site in the next few days, making the trees and grass plane (i just wanted something vaguely green at the bottom ) pretty much obsolete.

I'm posting them because I'm a little out of my league when it comes to this stuff. I look around the forums and see amazing architectural work that I hope, with sufficient practice, I will be able to someday imitate

I'm going on to do some tests with HDRI's, but in the meantime I was wondering what people think, if you have any ideas on how I should proceed with it, that kind of thing. It'd all be really appreciated.

And please, please please please ignore the grass

Cheers,
Dr Merman

It looking good, but drMerman, the grass really needs some work, dont U think. (I couldnt resist)

A good start.

// Tobias

that's a brilliant start! excellent modeling so far, nice details and lovely composition, particularly the last one. keep an eye in the second shot, I am pretty sure your customer won't like so much if you cut out the roof.
you need some more work on materials and surroundings: I'd work on wood, which is looking more like plastic now, and metal in order to give it a more metalic/glossy paint aspect. Also vertical tiles need some attention.
Take care of the ground: I guess the building it is not supposed to stand directly on the grass in a forest.

oh, and the grass...

Cheers guys I'm meeting with the designers next week to discuss the chalets immediate surroundings (paths and all that kinda thing,) so I'll have some updates then.

I'm having a bit of trouble with the saturation of the colour maps. I know a few people have noted that from v1 onward you have to use low-sat maps in order to maintain the look of the beta engine. Has anybody had any experience with this issue?

jdp: Thanks mate. I'm adding extra grain detail into the wood maps I'm using , which should hopefully enhance the wood look. I'm also playing with the MXM settings as it's just too glossy at present. The slate needs alot of work. Originally, the architects wanted an old natural style slate, which I worked on for a while and eventually got looking pretty good. Then, as always, it changed As I said I'm meeting with them in the week to discuss the grounds.

Tobias: After ALL MY WORK! Noooooooooooooooooooooo!

whats up with that grass Dr

hah, also looks like Dr. Merman's foray into lawnmowing . Looks great though!

I've only got one of those push-me pull-you type lawnmowers, and all they do is flatten the grass and create strange patterns.

Thats my explanation and I'm sticking by it

Hey guys.

Well I spoke to the architects today to get some feedback/updates. They've decided that they want the wood to look weathered, so I've been tackling that. Updated all of the wood maps, and added in alot more detail. Now, it is SUPPOSED to be weathered cedar cladding, and from their feedback it is pretty close, but it still looks a little off to me. I'm using the wood (unfinished) preset in the MXM editor. I'm using a layer mask on my colour map, so that it fades from the un-weathered red wood at the very top, to the weathered wood below, though I think it needs to be more visible. Burn 0.9 Gamma 2.3 (although maybe my monitor needs calibrating because thats pretty bright.... on a summer's evening.

Comments/crits very much needed and appreciated. It's all about the learning...

Cheers,
Dr Merman





And just incase my monitor is screwed, try this one, gamma 1.7, burn .7

Quick Update. I've just been narrowing down the colours with the architects, and now I'm gonna start trying to make the mats look better. I'm kinda happy with the weathered cedar planks, but the rest needs work.

If anybody has any suggestions, I'm all ears

Cheers.
Dr Merman


The following is a quick grass test. 2001 polys. Looks ok, renders fairly slow. Needs a bit of tweaking...

Cedar goes really grey with exposure to the elements, and the grain lifts a lot. I would say your second one is a touch too light, a touch too pink, and could use more bump. Obviously your clients may disagree.

The mix of those two woods is looking great.

I like the last update alot. That wood texture is beautiful. The grass looks alright, but has a bit of a pattern to it. It would look good if you had some slightly darker blades throughout.

Cheers guys I'm getting there slowly!

I also thought that the wood looks too pink, but after several back-and-forths with the architects, it's what they have settled on. I'm slowly pushing the weathered section towards a much more silvery-grey as well, and I'll post some updates soon.

The grass is actually created using clip-planes, hence a fairly obvious pattern. I'm trying different ways to get a more organic feel to it, and I'll post them if I get any half-decent results.

Cheers,
Dr Merman

I think the weathering is just about subtle enough to be convincing. Grass is looking much better--would it be possible to do it with paint effects or would that be too "heavy" ?

Hey lebbeus.

Thanks for your comments. The clip map is actually made using the textures produced by paintFX, and then re-coloured. I've tried converting the paintFX to polys and importing, but you just end up with far too little detail and far too many polys. Some of the other tests on this forum using poly grass have shown the same thing.

Clip-maps seem to be the only alternative to a flat texture, but the image above had a benchmark of just 15. And my computer isn't exactly THAT slow. So unless a way is found to optimise the clip-maps or we get us some micropoly displacement, then I think the textures mapped planes are the only real solution.

Cheers,
Dr Merman