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Working on a residence which is to appear run down, yet still occupied. The grass looks to new, needs to look abandoned and the stone needs displacement. However, not sure how to produce displacement in Maxwell.

Hm, strange you got no comments yet :/

This looks promising, you could turn this into a old haunted mansion by adding a dramatic background with a moon shrouded inbetween the clouds and work some more on the materials, objects and the scene itself. Once you're finished it could look very cool.

Maybe you plan on taking this scene in a different direction, then just ignore what i babbled about above.

Keep up the good work!

/ Max

the materials look a little bit out of scale, overall pretty effective

Thanks for the suggestions, check out the update

I think you crossed the line of 'run down' and are now in the territory of 'derelict.'

But on the other hand, ... you've already have your 'Halloween' render out of the way ......

the key elements that make this house look like a new house with a lot of vines on are are:

1. Windows are two perfect. Older windows when run down are cracked and stained. Dirty at least. The frames become weather stained in uneven.

2. Walls have no weathering. Water running on the walls over years will leave water stains and nails and such produce staining. Darken the areas below the windows with 'drip' like staining.

3. The existing weather is to uniform. Houses weather in some areas more then others. Look at some photographs of some actual houses. I have a couple
[url]ttp://picasaweb.google.com/ionclad/GrungeWorld/photo#5085494230851668594[/url]

4. Vegetation. Left for even two summers that place would be a jungle. Put a few small trees in the front, lots of tall grass near the house, even some in the eves. Stuff grows where humans don't STOP it from growing. If the house was left without maintenance there would be stuff growing everywhere. OH, and if you don't have a tree that looks like a tree... don't use one in the foreground. There are lots of free trees online, or if you have programs like bryce, or Vue you could even export trees from there. IMO you better off not using trees that have 22 polygons, better to have none.

5. Not that you have any control over this, but the house is of relatively modern design. it would be easier to sell if it were a house design from before the 80s.

6. Lighting. From what I can tell... there isn't any. Pretend we are all morons and you need to describe the exact 3D shape of the house with lights. If moving a light makes the shape of the house MORE distinct, it's a good move. If adding/subtracting/moving a light makes the house look more 2 dimensional then it's a BAD move. Good general rule of thumb for lighting. If you need to add lighting just to illuminate one part of the house because it seems to flat or indistinct, then as Schwartzenegger says "JUST DOOO EEETTT"


making something look realistically aged is the largest challenge possible for CG work. I hope you have a lot of patience, this ain't easy.

Thanks for the crit Ian, I totally agree with the suggestions. Some elements look to "clean" yet. By no means am I finished with this piece yet. Stay tuned.