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This will be a quickie wip, a bunch of lowpoly photostudio props. If all goes well i'll share these and setup a "real studio" with them in Maxwell Studio so you can drop your model in there, adjust the emitter intensity and hit render. I wanna see how these work instead of using the normal method of simple plane emitters. Hope my idea will work with Maxwell or if it chokes on the semitransparent clothes in many of these models. Hopefully it will work..

Umbrella



/ Max

Cool. I always wanted to try that too, but you know... laziness...

Looks like a fun project. Can't wait to try it.

Thanks a bunch guys

Bubba, yep i wanted to try this for years but lazyness is a bitch i finally bit the head off the lazyworm and now i'm gonna try and see if it's possible.

Anyone who been in a studio or used this type of equipment, or if you have any yourself. Feel free to give feedback on the models or post referensphotos. I found a few referencepics on Google but not enough for everything yet.

One last umbrella before i hit the sack tonight (yawn).. this one has a opening in the back where you put the lamp in, the back part is black with i guess a reflective surface on the inside and white transparent cloth in the front.



/ Max

Very nice idea, Max!

Good idea Max - looking forward to seeing how it works, but there may be some issues making it work like "reality".

I have never used the second type you are making, but the first one is looking good as a basic studio umbrella setup. The light is adjusted by sliding the umbrella closer or farther from the light, which makes the reflected hotspot bigger or smaller, and thus makes the light source bigger/smaller and the shadows softer/harder.

They also come with white, or silver or gold reflective surfaces. That makes the light harder/softer too, and warmer/cooler too.

All that is assuming you are using a black backed umbrella and bouncing the light back towards the direction of the strobe head. If you go the other way you take off the black backing and you have a shoot-through umbrella, which is basically just a softbox type light, but with some flexibility in how hard the light is.

So, once you have your shapes built it really becomes a big question of the materials you use, and then how Maxwell handles all those reflected caustics

My feeling is that you will probably want to use a normal emitter and just have the umbrella prop there to create more realistic detail in your reflections, but not as an actual light source.

b

Thanks Tom & Brett (sounds almost like Tom & Jerry hehe)

Brett: I see, that's interesting to know how these things work. I'm doing lots of guesswork now as it's maybe 20 years since i been in a studio last time heh.. hm, the different reflective surfaces are going to be a problem for Maxwell, even the transparent cloth is a big worry. The reflective caustics have to be excluded somehow, if they were included in the calculations Maxwell would need something like 40 years to render it clean.
Yes i agree, normal emitters is probably the only way to go. Sad but true. If Maxwell can't render this then i guess the other competition engine can..

Btw, here's another umbrella, the inverted reflective type. I think it's used for productshots and portraits. I have also rebuilt the tripod to make it look more like the real thing.



/ Max

The softbox lamp is done, pretty simple model as it's lowpoly like the others.




This is what it looks like on the inside, behind the front cloth



And a variation of the above softbox, this one has a net infront of the cloth.



/ Max

I like this new project will be good to see the end results! Great modelling as usual!

Thanks Teabag i haven't cancelled my benchplane project, it's still running but on lower priority right now. I'll get back to it soon..
I'm also excited about the endresult from something like this, it's what got me started with this idea in the first place. To see what it would actually look like when rendered. If it's any better, or if it simply sucks..

Btw, it's all C4D modeling. No Modo this time!

One more object, this is something called a tri-reflector (correct me if i'm wrong plz), it a standard tripod with tree differently sized reflectors which can be rotated and positioned freely. I thought it would be useful in a studio so i built it.

Front



Back



/ Max

Max that's super cool, That could be a very good initiative between you & NL and however else wants to participate to make this happen.

yanada: Thanks! hm yes.. why not, maybe adding these in Maxwell Studio so people can setup their own 'real' studios by simply dragging and dropping the various studio props in the scene, throw on some emitters and then render!

Another quickie, this one is a Elinchrom lamp with a cone shape on it so you can focus light on a subject. I read about this on a photography site minutes ago so i assume it's a common prop in studios.



/ Max

All good stuff here

Great work Max.

Max-

Great idea...agree, could be quite helpful in setting up a studio scene...from within studio to be able to access a library of lighting "props" in addition to objects and scenes.

Looking forward to seeing more.

jvm

Maximus3D wrote:yanada: Thanks! hm yes.. why not, maybe adding these in Maxwell Studio so people can setup their own 'real' studios by simply dragging and dropping the various studio props in the scene, throw on some emitters and then render!

Another quickie, this one is a Elinchrom lamp with a cone shape on it so you can focus light on a subject. I read about this on a photography site minutes ago so i assume it's a common prop in studios.



/ Max

That's often called a snoot (no idea why). It's still the only really effective way to make a spotlight in Maxwell/Fry (or with most area lights), as far as I know.

b