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Hello guys. I came across this beautiful photo of the new building for Miami's U and immediately took the personal challenge of trying to replicate it with Maxwell.



I know this is a pro photo and that a special lens was use and probably a filter too, but is it possible to get it just right with Maxwell's camera?

This is what i have so far, still a lot of modeling and ambiance to do, but i want to get the difficult part out of the way first. Any tips? i have been trying and this is a close as i can get right now.

Do you mean Maxwell studio?
If using cinema 4d or most other applications you can offset the film like a tilt-shift lens which was most likely used for this,
Also the photographer may have used distortion correction which you could also try to match,
It is usually best to try and use the image as a background (in other c4d etc..) and tweak the camera to get a good match.
It is also good to look for exif data to get the focal length

Thank you. I think the reference photo was manipulated because no data could be found in the file.

I modeled this in Sketchup and set it up in Studio.

Use the shift lens to straighten up those verticals. Just remember to make sure that the camera and target are at the same elevation.

Bubbaloo wrote:Use the shift lens to straighten up those verticals. Just remember to make sure that the camera and target are at the same elevation.

a parallel angle between lens and focal point eliminates the need for vertical tilt shift..... or is that how the maxwell shift lens works?! do you have to set the camera paralel to focal point and then use the shift parameters to change/shift camera position? seems backwards to the way it really works.... i gave up trying to use shift lens in maxwell long ago since there was no direct visual feedback in viewport, hence the questions. thanks in advance for any clarification...

Yes, that's how I understand it. (I know nothing of how a real shift lens works ).

That being said, I use it on every arch project. Just a quick main object isolation and Fire preview is all you need.

Also I think there is a bit of lens distortion that they have left in, Look at the orange part of the building next to the blue

Actually to remove distortion you need to keep your *film plane* and the subject (camera target point) parallel. Tilting the focal plane is how you achieve that tilt-shift lens short depth of field effect, or increase depth of field in the old days of view cameras.

Lens shifting is just a way to get things framed up without having to angle the camera - which prevents having the film plane tilting and creating distortion like the keystoning in Nicolas shot.

I would say the reference photo has been partially corrected since there is still some keystoning happening. There is likey some lens distortion too. Anyway, you may need to use something like Max's camera correction modifier to match that effect - lens shifting may not give you what you need. Alternatively, you can fix it in post using Photoshop or a pano correction tool. Might even be how this shot was done.

/b

Bubbaloo wrote:Yes, that's how I understand it. (I know nothing of how a real shift lens works ).

That being said, I use it on every arch project. Just a quick main object isolation and Fire preview is all you need.

hey, no need for the , that's on me.... i had an epiphany of a moment when i read your original comment which brett eloquently clarified. thank you both!

Nicolas, it's looking good. please carry on...

Hello Nicholas,

In order to match the same view, you will also need to ensure that your camera has the same sensor size than the original photo, and that you are using the same focal length.

You may find those values in the metadata of the file (if they are still there).

These two elements are very important to match any perspective, as they affect the camera frustum.

Aside from this, the Shift Lens will allow you to straighten the verticals.

Greetings

Dario

Thank you to all for the input. The tilt shift lens is really the key factor here. I admit i did not play with it as i should and know i understand why it is crucial in architectural photography. Will not render with out it from now on!

Here is a little test using another model.