[Leonardo]

By the way, before I continue... you started this thread as a "comparison", but it really isn't - the conditions are far too different to be considered apples-to-apples.

The vue image is lit with an even light/overcast look, while the Maxwell image has a sunset look with direct shadows. The vue image has clear sky/clouds as its backdrop, which doesn't match the lighting, and isn't helping that image, either, but that's a topic for another day.

Anyway, I just quickly did a Maxwell render - still using your materials (non-Lambertian this time) - using an overcast HDR, just so can see even-ish lighting on the model.

Also, I should point out that when doing material work, it's best not to have an overly colored light source, otherwise you can't tell what you're seeing accurately. For my material work, I'll be using more neutral lighting.

_Mike

Well, to aswer some of your questions, the vue rendering doesn't have direct shadows because I coudn't figure out how

That's a good tip about not start with over-colored lighting... I'm guilty of that in pretty much all my renderings Infact I made this one a sunset, because the building is facing north and I wated some shadows.

BTW, I didn't intent to make this thread as a side by side comparation of how with very close setting both renderings will come out... Or which is better... ( Just trying to make that clear )

Leo, what kind of map did you use for your grass? It looks great from this distance, how does it look up close? I've been looking for a good way to do grass in Maxwell, can you give some pointers.

I can't remember where I got it... It was a free site somewhere... If you download my scene, you could take a look at it and do further testing. However, I doub it would look too realist upclose

leonardo, thanks for your great answer, you do have time to answer long other post though.

cheers
stefan

http://www.maxwellrender.com/forum/view ... t=clipmaps

I export my trees from Vue using .OBJ then I add the color, alpha,and bump maps one by one on M~Studio

Try it out, and let me know if you find any problems

[mverta]

Okay... some more issues:

1) Most of the objects are not mapped properly for the best placement of textures. Things like the road and the wood beams, for example, have very realistic maps that I've applied to them, but they're appearing just as solid colors because of the mapping. The grass, too, is overly tiled because of this. Without proper placement, your materials can't "sit" on the surfaces properly, and you will be forever frustrated trying to get to a photoreal look. This is also causing bump issues.

2) The main building, outer walls, sidewalk, curb, and doors are all grouped together as an object, so they're getting the same texture. No one material is going to satisfy all these needs. And again, they need to be mapped properly.

3) I'm not a fan of clip maps - I've never used them in production, ever - and I think here, they're falling apart. I can maybe see them working at extreme distances, but here the vegetation would really benefit from geometry.




I'd need to have the original scene file (Max or Maya) to remap the UV's and take this to the next level(s).

_Mike

[Leonardo]

Mike, I made it SketchUp... Tomorrow morning I'll post the files in

(OBJ, 3ds, ???)

and I'll try to work in the texturing and rendering myself


leo

[chrisvconley]

Just wanted to say thank you to Leonardo and Mike for this valuable lesson.

Great to have Mike's talent and objectivity to drive our learning. And, of course, Leonardo's openess to share and be the fortunate receipient!

[Leonardo]

Vue File

http://rapidshare.de/files/22656246/004.zip.html

(I'll be posting soon different formats, from my own website...)

leo

[sensor]

Without a real manual (theorical/practical) + tutorials for all sections, this kind of exercices are very useful.
Well... right now, any info/help is precious...

Thx to both for your time.

[mverta]

3ds would be fine...

_Mike

[Mihai]

Does the building have to be this lime green color? Can't help thinking it would look much more appealing with white and a wooden roof. Does everybody in Florida want to live in Disneyland?

[Leonardo]

Actually it's something like pink/red, and maybe yellow/cream on top... but you're more than welcome to try different skemes...

The reason why the 3ds and and OBJ are taking so long is because I'm adding more detail to the model and exporting the model from sktech is a long process

leo

[mverta]

The building is a yellowish hue... I suppose it looks a bit green with the sky cast, but in the shot above you can see its tone more clearly.

_Mike

[Leonardo]

OKay, right now I'm Uploading 4 zip files to my website (It'll take a while)

1- textures (for the mxs)
2- Maxwell file MXS (a more recent version)
3- 3DS
4- OBJ
I'll be posting a pic of my lastest soon
regards,
leonardo
http://www.tereschubert.com/Phoenetia/



P.s. I forgot to upload the skecthup file... is anyone interested in the sketchup file??

[Leonardo]

what do you guys think.... any better??

[andretto]

Another thanks to Mike and Leonardo -- Mike for the lesson and Leonardo for taking crit.

agreed 100%

and mike, if you're listening: is there anything in such a render that would be worst if made with beta (except for alpha mapped vegetation)

thanks again guys


Andrea

[Silverblade-T-E]

*sigh...dreams of Vue plugin for Maxwelll*