Final Street Scene
This is the final street scene with an appropriate level of DOF, masked AO and the odd touch up.
I am really happy with the results now.
🙂
Final touches to street scene
I have closed the ground floor curtains to reflect the fact that there is reduced privacy at this level. I’ve added graffiti which adds to the feel of the scene. Volume light has been used to add atmosphere at the windows. This really works and has significantly reduced the flat feeling that I was getting from the main brick wall. I’ve modified the galvanized materials. The balconies now have slight rusting and the main rails are significantly aged, possibly too much. I’ve reduced the bump level of the brick material. I’ve added moss to the main window texture and it looks far more aged now. I have also used an ambient occlusion pass to dirty up the scene and the results are pretty cool. I am really happy. The only thing I need to do is sort out the Depth of Field settings with the vRay Physical Camera. I’ve read up on it a few minutes ago and I have been mixing up Focal Length and Film Gate; resulting in slight DOF effect and long render times of a couple of hours, disappointing but I know what I need to do next to fix it.
Current street scene. This is the composite of the render and the ambient occlusion pass with a bit of Photoshop masking to reveal some details that the AO pass was hiding.
Hotel Balcony Composite
This render is a final render of this balcony. I have adjusted the camera height so that the focalisation of the scene is from an occupants point of view. This creates the feeling of presence in the viewer and a sense of implicit involvement in the scene. The items in the scene have been re-arranged so that they are used to better effect.
Preparing scenes
The position of the camera in a scene can create opportunities to involve the viewer in the work or to seperate them from the work to reduce personal involvment in the scene and create a more objective viewpoint.
In all cases the positioning of the camera needs to be done with purpose and intent.
In Narrative & Media there is a list of signifiers that give meaning to the position of a camera in a scene. All of them make good sense when you consider examples from movies, TV and photographs you have taken or have looked at.
Four of my favourites are:
- Medium Shot: Involvement, Internal Focalisation.
- Long Shot: Distance, Context, External Focalisation.
- Close Up: Intimacy, Internal Focalisation.
- Big Close Up: Emotion, Internal Focalisation.
The Focalisation indicates whether you as the viewer are likely to feel that you are involved in the scene (internal) or not involved in the scene (external).
The book goes into further detail about Focalisation, but I am still reading up on that. This small amount of information is making a big difference on my choice of camera angles. I think I need more practice, but its interesting all the same.
Current renders:
The Room scene shows how the individual is protected from the outside world by the corners that surround them. The window becomes a vantage point from which to safely observe the surrounding world from the safety of your nest.
Currently…
I am rendering a balcony scene that shows signals of occupation. I’m going to run an Ambient Occlusion pass and overlay it in Photoshop. On top of this I’m going to add a photo background in the very small areas left that show the rest of the world. This will be one of the final renders will be shown at the presentation.
9/9/9 Tutorial
Points discussed during the tutorial include:
- Camera placement for scene composition should aim to include Tertiary, Secondary and the Primary object of focus.
- I should grid my scene by the square inch (roughly) and ensure that there is valuable content of interest in each square. I need to aim for 5% sky too !
- I should refrain from overworking the structure and use a simpler and quicker method of creating the shell of the buildings that I want in the scene (see Gallery images).
- I should use the repetition model of the hotel with some kind of separation device (eg a pathway and fence) in front of it to create the perception of the perimeter of the hotel grounds.
- In the scene the left will focus predominately on the structure the right can focus predominately on occupation.
- To fin the mr Rendering error (see previous post) I can either remake the electric lines and use the Generate Mapping Coordinates tick box or use the Normals modifier to unify the normals in the loft.
- Ideas for occupation: Trellis, plants, motorcycle etc. Each flat has a different person in it! Make it look that way!
- Remember to make an ambient occlusion composite of the scene just before adding the people in PS.
- When making windows, delete the polys to create the gap and then use the Border poly editing tool to select the edges of the window and then use Bridge to create the window cill rather than extruding the inside through the gap and then usiing Vertex Snap to align the verts in to place.
- Realism is for documentary images where accuracy is important.
- Believeability is for pushing the boundary of what people will consider to be Dramatic and impressive.
- “That must have taken YOU ages” vs “Thats fantastic! Look at how the ….” The image has presence and demands to be noticed in its own right. (eg without reference to the artist.)
- I should bring my Balchelard work together with my Modelling. (Its currently miles apart!!!) (damn!)
- Remember to use “Interpolation steps ” when creating bezier wall lines for extruding. This prevents blocky ambient occlusion too.
I was set an exercise to create “crazy spaces” these are the results. I have found it more fun to create exterior spaces rather than interior as you can see.
During the tutorial we briefly discussed the issue that I am modelling exterior sspace yet reading Balchelard who wrote about interior space. I need to write, justify and illustrate what I understand about Interior vs Exterior (good title) prior to the presentation for this section.
These are the spaces I created during the exercise. Each one shows the shape first and then a couple of views from the inside. All with AO as the overiding material so that I can see the corners more dramatically / effectively.
Number 13 is the best composition in terms of the camera angle and interest available in the scene. Ambient Occusion creates a fantastic effect!
gd.ma.blog 