Mountain House Exterior

[OPEN_RANGE]

This is the exterior rendering from the Mountain House Interiors that I posted a couple of weeks ago. The client(s) originally only wanted the 3 interiors. After those were completed they decided to have this exterior view done.

I thought to add it to that previous topic ( https://forums.chaos.com/forum/chaos...ouse-interiors ) but...decided to make a new topic for this exterior rendering

Posted here for comments and critique. Thanks!

[OPEN_RANGE]

Made some adjustments. Primarily to the black metal materials. also added a LUT in photoshop. Here is the updated version.

[glorybound]

I challenge you to look at your images a day or two later, but only as thumbnails. This one gives me a 1990s vibe (something we were doing 20 years ago). I am sure the next iteration will improve, and I look forward to seeing it.

[OPEN_RANGE]

Hmm. Not sure what it is that you feel should be improved? I have it lit with one sun low on the horizon hdri. the same hdri is also the background sky. Basic exterior materials and site work to match the specs. 16:9 aspect.

The client(s) love it (and the previous interiors) and they have not asked for any revision so I am not planning any further work on this...but you never know.

I based a lot of what I did on this photo of the project that their drone photo guy took.

[glorybound]

Hey, if the clients loves it, that is what matters.

[OPEN_RANGE]

Hi Bobby, The client satisfaction is important for sure. But it is not the end all. I am always striving to improve and I put a high value on your opinion and critique's. If you are inclined to elaborate on how this rendering would be improved I am keen to know your feedback. Thanks!

[glorybound]

Compositionally, I would lower the camera. Right now, you look to be standing 10' off the ground. A glass reflection would be good. Also, I would cool down the exterior and warm up the interior. The warmth should draw you into the house. These are just my first thoughts.

[OPEN_RANGE]

Here is an update. I thought I had the camera @ 5' above the lower floor level. I double checked and indeed it was at 7' above lower floor. This has the camera at 5' above.

I cooled the outside using white balance in the vfb and warmed the inside with lightmix adjustment.

I put a plane with a vray light material and photo for the reflection in the glass. I only have winter time photo (by others) for that. Not sure it's the best thing, esp the big aspen in the kitchen glass. Maybe some painting oout of that tree but to correct that requires a re-render.

Previous version took @ 15 minutes 1.5 credits to render at 3800 px wide using chaos cloud. This version took @ 30 minutes 2 credits

[AEBI_VINCENT]

Hello open_range

I did a little post on the rendering so underline my thoughts, forgive me if it deviates from your vision, I do not wish do offend you at all. This is a very subjective matter and if your client is happy, you obviously did a good job!

I think the reflection that you added makes a huge difference, that's good. I added some more of that, because you really want to feel the glass.
You said you had a low sun and a sunset hdri, which is fine if you want to do that. I don't have much experience with "evening-scenes". But I think that would mean almost black trees in the background against a bright sky, but not bright enough to illuminate your scene. If you have to have clouds, they should indicate where the sun is. They would probably be orange/red, illuminated by the sunset. Look at house photography in the evening. It probably also would mean that the setting sun rays should touch the house and throw long shadows. Self-Shadowing. There would also be very long shadows on the house from distant environment, buildings, trees or stuff like that. I think it's a good thing to indicate the presence of off-camera environment on your subject.
Low sun also gives you very dark shadows, right next to elements of your house bathed in bright, warm sunlight. Very dramatic. I might have overdone the drama in my example, but that's kind of what I mean.



But you also showed a picture of a building in broad daylight, surrounded by snow. You said you based your rendering on that? Because that would mean more diffuse light, coming from everywhere, cold colors.
What always helps me most is to adjust the curves in photoshop, to white balance the rendering. Find white, find black, find grey. I always feel like that will give me true colors, instead of those false bleeding colors that originate from your HDRI.
For example: why is the entrance road so blue? (I know it's from the HDRI, but does it have to be so blue?)




I also like to separate foreground from background to get depth. You can achieve that with z-depth. But that sometimes gives a "foggy" look, which might not be what you want.

Have a look at the "curves" in Photoshop. First go absolutely crazy with them, see what happens, then take a little step back. Find white, find black, contrast is important.

Still, gj!

Oh, something else that you said:

I put a plane with a vray light material and photo for the reflection in the glass. I only have winter time photo (by others) for that. Not sure it's the best thing, esp the big aspen in the kitchen glass. Maybe some painting oout of that tree but to correct that requires a re-render.

I have never ever had someone look at reflections that closely. If there is a tree, show it. Nobody will check what kind of tree. If there are a couple of trees, show LOTS of trees in the reflection. Don't bother so much with reality if the customer doesn't specifically ask for it. If there is a special object that NEEDS to be seen in the reflection, get a photo. If you can't get a photo of it, use something of close resemblance.
And: don't be afraid doing that in post. Take the VrayRefractionFilter pass and use that as your mask for big reflective glass surfaces.


*edit* I wanted to upload some larger versions of my edits, but it says I'm not authorized to create this post,so...I guess I'm not.

[AEBI_VINCENT]

Sorry for double-posting. I wanted to upload some larger versions of my edits in the same post, but it says I'm not authorized to edit.

[fixeighted]

For me, I'm afraid that the original doesn't work for all sorts of reasons, so of course I couldn't resist a 'reimagining' myself.

Anyway, I threw it at a passing AI (which you can see the errors of, top left ) and adjusted some stuff to balance the colours and overall mood.

[OPEN_RANGE]

Thank you Aebi_Vincent!

There really are no trees in the hdri background the scene is being lit by a vray dome light with HDRI 018 (Vray Cosmos Library) .

I used a separate dome light for the sky and thought I had the same hdri in it but...just noticed it is HDRI 002 and I did not change it to match the 018 when I was trying different hdri for this. It was a happy accident or whatever because the 002 has some nice clouds and looks better for the sky.

The scene is supposed to be summer time sunset per client request. The reference photo shows existing conditions and is used for general understand of surrounding sit and materials that are already on the house. Not intended to match the camera angle or time of year or etc.

I do have a curves linear contrast adjustment layer on this added in photoshop

Thanks also to you Mr. B. Fixeighted! I think the second version I posted above is not so far away from the version you posted? I think I should cool the outside more. I'm doing that with white balance in vfb adjustment layer which then cools the entire scene. Then I need to warm up the interior lights to compensate. I started with the interior lights at 2700k. The cooler I adjust the white balance then the interior lights are getting adjusted down to @ 1500k which looks good but seems like an unrealistic temp in real world terms. Maybe that workflow is not the best way?

I will try one more refinement on this. We are leaving on tuesday and gone for @ 3weeks so one more attempt is likely all I will have time for.

Thanks again for your feedback(s). Very helpful to me as always!

[OPEN_RANGE]

Hi and thank you all again for your expertise and valuable feedback. Very helpful and motivational. Here is an updated version (hopefully) incorporating a lot of your comments.

[Luma3d]

Still needs help...Is it a dusk shot, or a day shot? If it's day, then the interior wouldn't be that bright. Look at the photograph you posted. The camera angle is too straight on which makes the image look flat. Not sure how you placed your plant and trees, but there needs to be a bit more variation in scale and color. Maybe add a person or two. Show some activity. Does give me a 90's vibe.

[OPEN_RANGE]

Hi an thx for your feedback! It is a disk shot. Trees are all aspens so same root system and color. There is variation in scale though. This is for a real estate ad. You never see people included in pro real estate photography unless it’s a public space like library or airport terminal or etc.