EDIT : I changed the title and recycle this post to share my works with you all, to have comments and critics, and maybe technical support. cheers!

hi
here is a new scene i tryed with indigo. scene is not complicated, it is just a reprocuction of a japanese living room, for the tea ceremony. hope i forgot nothing. the light though is in the early morning...

C&C are welcome.
for the moment, i think i have to develop the model in the visible part of the exit on the left, because the transition to the exterior photoshoped picture is too hard.
also gonna change the floor tatami texture because it is too low res to show the bumps

others suggestions welcome too.
i think i ll render it by night with lights it could be great too.

Awesome work!
Really like the mood there!

That is really really good Although, I think that door material (the "paper" like part of it) should be more transparent. Not completely of course but seeing as it's so thin, it should let at least a bit of light through.

I think it is good too.

I'd check a couple of things, though:
1. the black points are too black IMO: I can't see the objects over the table, and the wood (?) stripes on the floor and walls actually "eat" too much light. Maybe it's only my screen's gamma that's low, but if it's not the case you could make the mats less dark, or change the shader type, I don't know..make it a low IOR phong or something..
2. the overall saturation is a little exaggerated. Try to desaturate a little your textures!

hi
thanks for comments, i will post a new version soon

yeah i have a problem with saturation in general, my TFT screen is always too bright and in general i plug a CRT for graphical works then i have the colors exactly like on paper, but at the moment i only have my bright TFT

yeah i also think the stipes (it is some textile sewed around the tatami) and the stuff on the table are too dark. there was a beveling on each tatami piece edges but since it is too dark we cant see it. for the next version

actually, the paper like material is a diffuse transmitter, but i am not sure i understood how to make it brighter/ let more light pass? gonna play with it a little. I would like, not specially for this scene, to learn to make materials like very transparent curtains. i read somewhere that if i wanted to do a transparent color with no refraction or stuff i have to blend it with a "null"?? does it mean i can blend a material with "nothing"?

Exactly

hah!! worked!thanks! i m rendering it for one or two hours so that it is a minimum clear an i share it with you.

i won t change the transparency of the paper, but make it let more light go through. in real world, it is a paper made of rice (yes, quite weird but amazing) and iyou are right it should be more bright. but the transparency is quite this level.

this is the new version. i renderd it with indigo 2.0.12 this time and... Oh My God it is soooo faster!!!!
2hours 45 and already this result i am so excited (and i just can't hid it.... i m about to lose control and i think i like it....**music**music)

i changed the wall material, and extended the entry, i ll toshop a background when it willhave renderrd more hours.
Comments still welcome

I like the new version much more than the previous one! Bravo!!
The terrace on the right is a great intuition, materials seem to be better, and less saturated overall feeling. I think you're on the right way! Keep going!

thanks

yes i prefer this on's colors too. but i still find the texture of the wall tiled on the right, although it is the same as on the floor but in another color. ah never satisfied

i ve juste been able to understand the light layers!, not difficult in fact, if we copare light layers to photoshop layers... this is soooo amazing! damn who s the man who created this software i must give him a hug!

gonna be able to render the night and the day render at the same moments now!!
if anyone has suggestions though? because i m starting to be satisfied, but i m sure there s still a little subtility mising...

yes: when is the room landing ?

haha!! never. we take tea with gods here!

Here is a new scene, i am working on now.
I cannot change a lot of the 3D because it is not my project, my mission is only to 3D and render the project.
i have a question, maybe technical. Still about tracing methods. this scene is directly exopsed to some sun light, but has a lot of shadows, and i started to render with BidirPT and then Bidir MLT to compare, and it seems that afer 13hours of calculations for each (one at a time, not both together :p ) the BiPT one is faster to converge... i am quite surprised. is it because of the PT improvement? or the scene fits better to this method?

i know i should have used exit portals in normal case but since we need to see the exterior scene and that my toshop (to put a background image) is bugged these days, i prefer to render longer...

any comments or technical advice is welcome.

The feeling you're achieving with the PT shot is really great: warm and comfortable. Maybe you tonemapped the two images differently. Anyway, the sene is great and is really worth to be enhanced with lots of details, your client will be happy with that, I ensure you.

About your question, I am sure that PT methods are generally faster to converge than MLT. This speed has a con, though: as far as I know caustics are calculatedmuch slower than with MLT methods.
MLT are usually efficient with lots of indirect illumination, and that in architectural terms would mean "interiors", but in this specific case you have a lot of windows and openings, so I think the bounced part of the light is less than the direct one, so I can understand why PT works faster and better.

This is my opinion in your particular case: stick to PT because of the loads of light entering your scene. Switch to MLT when dealing more with indirect illumination.

Keep going!

yes that's what i was thinking too, although it's an interior i still have a lot of direct light with the sun.
I like the PT tonemapping one too, but i don t remember which settings i used! i m desperately triggering with the different settings.
I thinki i am unable to find it because I only disvovered yesterday the option "save igi" in the GUI i was used to have it automatically saved.

For sure i ll do another version with lots of details because i prefer, but this scene is one i am doing for another architect, and he really wants the minimum of personalisation, although i think adding stuff in this huge white space will help to apreciate the volume.

here is a view of the upper level, just upstairs.