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Here is the MXS of the scene:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/vgq8ft9i2gazmda/Scene1MXS.7z

The second one without dispersion, the earrings by Wendy Lopez.

Hello
i use this method and i think it help you to control the background easily

1-render full shadow of the ring ( i try to hide the ground from global illumination to get good shadow )
2-in maxwell render check Devignetting ( because it enabled by default )
3-play with light to whiten the render and to get the result you want
4-save the render as hdr image (you can modify it with photoshop)
5-in maxwell studio use this hdr as background and check screen mapping
6-hide the ground from camera ( and hide from GI give good result )
7-render your scene and play with the intensity of the background
" hdr image and the new render have the same resolution of course "
i hope this help you

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i increase the "Nd" of "Em Aquamrine" to "2.5" to get better color and result

seghier, thanks for the info. I am trying a few things with different ground planes and separate shadow layer.

Here's how the ring turned out. Took less than 5 minutes to cut the lights on, position and shoot. As shot:



Another 5 minutes in photoshop to remove dust and scratches:

beautiful render.
why you add scratch than remove it with photoshop ?
are you change you opinion about maxwell now ?

Ha, no. That's the actual ring. Under magnification, you are going to have some scratches and dust to clean up...and one of our setters always leaves a little tool mark or two to let me know that he was the one who set it.

I still have not got a good render from Maxwell, but I am still working on it. Spent 3 hours yesterday and plan on giving it another shot tonight.

ah sorry i think it is a render
i try render your scene and i like the result
you create the ring with rhinl or scan it ?

But the background is not white in your photo

What would the ring look like if you expose the photo so the background is all white?

Also, do you have some photos of your lighting setup so we can replicate it?

i prefer it rendered

seghier, made it in Rhino. It's a pinkie ring for a large hand (13.25 US). I don't have a scanner. They don't work very well for macro, highly reflective objects.

Mihai, I could not use my normal white cloth background like the other photo I posted. A jeweler picked it up and it is now covered in dark green smudges. That is some sort of reflective acrylic that has a little grey in it. I can't get it white if it's reflective, especially if it's not white to begin with. It had to be delivered and I went with what I had.

rusteberg, thank you for trying to help, but that's not quite what I am looking for.

thank you
what is the problem in the scene and render :grey background or diamond ? or lighting?
if you can post real photo explain what you need exactly
i see a tutorial made with 3dsmax and vray and finally photoshop to create white background

this is all geometry and materials from your .mxs scene.

it's the same diamond geometry from your scene cloned several times and each instance of that clone is rotated independently from one another (meaning not one of these cloned/instanced diamonds shares the same coordinates).

although each diamond is an instance of one another, not one has the same appearance due to the reflection and refraction of light based on each objects different location/position.

the constant in this case is the environment and the material.

you can reverse this constant by focusing on a given set of coordinates and altering the environment.... either or and not limited to either one....

the material applied to the backdrop in the scene is a pure white (255 value) lambertian material (yes, a pure F***ing white lambert rendered with a dispersive custom diamond .ior file)

the first rendering is exposed as such (255).

the second rendering is exposed to middle grey (128)

this is your geometry.

this is your material.

this is your problem to solve.....

sounds like an excellent challenge!

rusteberg, this is my problem to solve. I've spent 6 months trying to solve it. I'm still trying to solve it. It hasn't been solved. No one else has solved it. This forum does not provide any information to solve it, other than go read a book on photography.

Not sure what I should take from your post, other than keep trying and tweaking things, which I am already doing. If you would take the scene, leave the ring and camera in place and tweak any of the lights or materials and show me how to get a good product render, I'd appreciate it. Otherwise, posting abstract renders showing other things Maxwell can do or turning the ring away from the camera and underexposing it, while nice, is not helping me.

emarvets,
I think you are either unappreciative or simply not yet able to extract the quality in advice given.
Several people have sat down in various threads you opened, they analyzed your work or set up own samples.
These are all strangers, quite friendly strangers.
Reading books about photography is great advice.When looking at the photographs you posted one also here
can observe, that all basic factors which make a good product shot weren't acknowledged.
I'm not out to give you a hard time. What you experience is perfectly fine and normal - creating awesome
photos as well as creating cool product renderings both require a lot of training and rendering clearly is a
lot harder. One can not learn all relevant stuff within just a few months - those who say that either sell that
software or are braggers. It's also a complete illusion to think that one could come along without solid skills in
image editing. A bit of retouching may sell mediocre rendering and one also needs to be able to create own textures.

The last posts of rustebergs, could have led you to the conclusion to look at simplified scenes first.
Open a lab, look at things in isolation! What are conditions to make stones sparkle the way you want them?

It is silly anyway to say that one can not properly render jewelery with Maxwell.

sorry because i am not good in english and i can't understand all the posts
if i understand; your want see black faces in small diamonds ?
if this right the solution is very simple
use hdr
the original as background
blur it and use the blured hdr for reflection
for refraction : make the hdr black and white and that give black refraction to diamonds
and play with multilight to get the best result
you must hide the object with material (world)

Polyxo wrote:I think you are either unappreciative or simply not yet able to extract the quality in advice given.

I'm sorry, I'm very frustrated.

Polyxo wrote:Reading books about photography is great advice.

Come on, you don't see how condescending this is? No one even mentions the name of a book, just go read a book. I posted a specific scene, lit with one the of the dozen lighting setups I modeled from reading about photography. In response, I get the abstract. Great advice would be something concrete. "I looked at your scene and your lighting/materials/settings are stupid. Here is how they are supposed to be." I could look at what works, compare it to whatever I'm doing wrong and grow.

seghier, has been working with my scene and offering advice that's helped. From him I've got a couple of new avenues to try with compositions.

Polyxo wrote:When looking at the photographs you posted one also here can observe, that all basic factors which make a good product shot weren't acknowledged.

I'm a jewelry designer, not a photographer. It's definitely a different skillset. If there is some specific criticism about my photographs you would like to offer, I would love to hear it so I can do better in the future. My point of posting them, was to say I would like my render to look half as good as my photos.

Polyxo wrote:It is silly anyway to say that one can not properly render jewelery with Maxwell.

I'm sure Maxwell can render jewelry. I just don't know anyone who can. On an internet where I can find a tutorial for changing an alternator in a 2001 GMC Envoy, there is a complete absence of information on using Maxwell for a 3 stone ring.

When I asked a few jewelry designers about renderers, the answer I got was Maxwell is the best, but it's difficult. Looking back through the jewelry designers forums, I see a lot of guys really excited when they first get Maxwell, and then nothing. I'm not the first person in this position.