[Jakakadave]

Hi All,

As you can see, I'm new here - so be Brutal!

These are my first few dabblings in Maxwell and I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing, but i'm moderately pleased with what its producing, but i'm feeling pretty hamstrung by lack of understanding. Such as notice how all of these are focussed the same way. trust me, I did not mean to do that! How do I get the whole thing in focus?

Anyway, Please give me your crits! On the modelling side, they were all done in solidworks and I know there are modelling issues which would make them look for realisic like making the setting around the small round stone look more realistic. Also, beveling some sharp edges - but these were production pieces and i just rendered the models that were for rp rather than adjusting them.

I think material wise, I could do with producing a bump map to get almost imperceptible scratches and irregularities to the metal surface, but again, i dont know how to do it.






Comments and crits please! Cheers!

[NicoR44]

They are great!!

I love nr2 and nr4 best!

Welcome to the forum btw

[ivox3]

How you gonna make my eyes hurt by making a first post with these awful renders ??? hehehe ...., ...... you wanted brutal.

Seriously though, ..... a very pretty grouping of images. The accidental camera dof/focus is working, ...but to gain a greater range of focus, ...you can do 1 of 2 things.

1. Simply raise your f-stop value and adjust your exposure/lighting accordingly. Higher f-stop values 'clamp' down on the light . (A most simple explanation, but others will elaborate more technically, I'm sure... iandavis maybe ...

2. Scale your object up in size (maybe to something like 2 or 3" in rough size) Maybe smaller, .... not sure.

Just remember that the smaller the object is, ...the more blur your gonna get and the more difficult it will be to get it all in focus --- same with a real camera.


btw: Welcome welcome.

A recent thread about the topic: http://www.maxwellrender.com/forum/view ... hp?t=22650

[ivox3]

I was re-reading that other thread, ...and in particular this:

Very good..... thanks Ian.

focal length has nothing to do with depth of field. The thing that does is distance from the camera. Most people associate the two because they notice that zoom lenses have lots and wide angles have less... in fact it's just the things we shoot with those lenses. I always say, a 50mm lense is just as good as a 200mm lense if you can get 20 feet closer.

Aside from making the hole (aperture) as small as possible there is no way around the DOF issue. I would suggest f32. This is not unrealistic. Many macro lenses have f32.

I strongly recommend that the f-stop stay within the realm of reality. Otherwise you will give false indications about the true size of the object.

Macro lenses simply have a wider focus range so that one can continue to focus objects closer then a standard lense. Any normal lense can be made into a macro lense by moving it away from the film plane. The difference is, great pains have been taken in the design of the lense to avoid common problems like barrel distortion, chromatic aberation, etc. Also, the tend to built to let a LOT of light in, which is critical to get good DOF.

The short answer is. If you simulate the real world, you are stuck with the limitations of the real world. If you exceed these limitations then expect your renders to look 'off' since no physical lense could reproduce your work.

As for shooting several small objects. well...
It's THE worst case scenario.
The key is distance. Move the camera AWAY from the objects and increase the focal length. Max out the aperture, say f32 and bump up the light. Move the objects as close together as possible, and if possible make them on the same plane as the focus point, or slightly staggered. Keep in mind the difference between the front and back objects can only be a few inches... 12 if you really push it. Moving the camera away and using a 300mm lense will compress the perspective (smaller field of view) so you may need to make some hard choices. In my shoots I have been unable to exceed 8 or so inches without extreme measures. I currently shoot with a 50mm macro and usually with enough light and at f32 I can do whatever I need to.

msg me if you are having issues with anything I said or need a more detailed explanation of DOF, or whatever. good luck
cheers.

[glebe digital]

Welcome aboard, and a word to the wise: "listen to the ivox"
Great advice always.

Being brutal, for a first post these rock.

[Jakakadave]

Cheers Guys, Esp re the f-stop. I'd actually just started tinkering with that. Just working on something new so I'll post another soon.

[4 HeRo]

Nr 2 and 4 rule

[jeso]

howdy and welcome
the first looks to flat for me.
2 and 4 rocks

[chaad]

nice, jolie, bello, bueno, nett !

[Maximus3D]

Welcome to the forum and what a great introduction you did with your renderings. Number 2 and 3 look awesome! real nice work.

/ Max

[DrMerman]

Love it. Welcome