simple pool table scene

[AK1407]

Hi everyone, its been a really long time since I made anything at all, been so busy with studies, but here's something I churned out yesterday, a very very simple scene that took no time at all to construct, but lots of time to get the render to look right, its a simple pool ball scene, just did a de-speckle and add noise in photoshop after a 6 hour render. Let me know what you think, hoping to work on a 'proper' scene of something cool soon.

[neo0.]

It's a good start, but the cue balls should be shinier, especially the one in the front. The yellow one almost looks diffuse (possibly because there is less stuff around it to reflect...) In addition, many of the balls look flat, probably for the aforementioned reason. I suspect this has something to do with the lighting.. The edges should be darker, this would help to make them look like they have depth.

[Borgleader]

My suggestion to you would be to use an env map to light your scene. You can keep the overhead lights you have I would simply add the env map so that the cue balls have something to reflect

[Stur]

The textile is great, but the colors of the balls are way too saturated. That's why, IMHO, they look CG.

[AK1407]

Yes i think i need an env map. I cant seem to find a decent one on the net for free though. I would need to find one of an interior, or else, I could perhaps put this into an interior scene? Also, I wanted to apply a DOF effect, but I have no idea how to do that, can anyone tell me how to go about doing that using blendigo script? Thanks

[Doug Armand]

Also, I wanted to apply a DOF effect, but I have no idea how to do that, can anyone tell me how to go about doing that using blendigo script? Thanks

OK I'll give the DoF a try - first select the number 8 ball in your scene.
In Blendigo camera tab first make sure the 'autofoc' button is deselected. Then click the 'Selected' button just below that. This will set the focus on the number 8 ball. OK now to set the DoF - very simply the larger the F-Stop the more DoF you get. For a test try a selecting a large F-Stop of 1.2 or 0.5 from the drop-down list.Its best if your using the Reinhard tone mapping for setting your DoF as it will set the exposure automatically. Thats pretty much it.

[AK1407]

Thanks Doug, I will give that a try

[neo0.]

Heh, I wish skindigo had a "focus on selected" option.

[cpfresh]

You can focus on selection in SkIndigo ...

[Borgleader]

You can focus on selection in SkIndigo ...

And if Sketchup has "empties" you could manually set the focus range to whatever you want to

[Whaat]

Great Textile Material! Please upload to material database!

Heh, I wish skindigo had a "focus on selected" option.

Please post your requests in the SkIndigo forum, not here. BTW, you can set your focus on any point in your scene with two clicks which allows much more control than 'focus on selected'

[neo0.]

Whaat, I have used the "pick focal" point, but it is a little ambiguous, given the nature of 3D space. The pick focal point is an interesting tool no doubt about it, but it essentially presents your scene as it would be in 2D. When you click on a point, you don't specify depth, so which point are you choosing? Something closer to the foreground? Something more in the background?

Usually, you want to focal point is a specific object, not so much an arbitrary part of the scene, so you can give you scene some sort of "subject."

[AK1407]

Hey whaat, im not sure how to upload the material to the database, can you instruct me please? As for the scene, I tried implementing DOF, but it seems I was limited to a smallest selection value of 1.4 for FStop, which left me with not much of a difference from the original image, and when I use a higher value, there's no DOF effect at all. Also, I downloaded an env map, but it didnt produce the desired effect either, not really worth posting the image again coz its almost exactly the same, but here it is anyways, anyone know where I can find some decent free env maps?

[WytRaven]

Just remember that you are using a "real" camera here so if your scene scale isn't physically correct then you won't be able to use physically correct camera settings either. Your modeling app and indigo must agree about what 1 metre is equal to.

Your exporter should have some kind of scene scale multiplier somewhere that you can use to define what a "unit" in your modeling app is equal to when converting to indigo as indigo units = 1 metre. So if you are modeling a pool ball and it's size is 5 units in your modeling app then you think you are saying the ball is 5cm in diameter but when exported to indigo without scale conversion your ball is actually 5m in diameter! That's a very big difference and will definitely effect your camera's settings and rendered results.

[Whaat]

Hey whaat, im not sure how to upload the material to the database, can you instruct me please?

Maybe someone familiar with Blendigo can assist. Is there an option to save IGM/PIGM or export IGM/PIGM? If not, just post the texture and the material XML (from the IGS file) and I will gladly upload the material for you.