A render using LWF

[beestee]

This is the image directly from the framebuffer, clamped to the sRGB gamut. My RGB values coming from each of these materials have less than a 1% deviance at this point. The image can be tweaked in post from here to look less flat, but then I will lose the color accuracy. I feel that we have hit a good balance with these settings to give a somewhat realistic look that does not compromise color integrity through the process. These are settings we have used for 6+ months now with the same results.

We have a "studio" max file set up that has 2 physical cameras(one for quasi-ortho renders, the other for perspective, both with the same absurd exposure settings) and 2 vray suns(at opposing angles to the front view, and likewise with some absurd settings) and a vray sky. The quasi-ortho camera and the suns are rigged to a 4 frame animation in which they rotate 90 degrees at each frame. We also have a render preset saved that we load when we are ready to render. Our material library draws it's colors from psd files saved as swatches. This is so that any past project that is re-opened will have the latest matched colors applied automatically.

I feel that this process would not be possible without the changes that were initiated by setting up for LWF because of the default curve issue which the LWF settings address. In the previous scenario, we could get one range of RGB values consistent, but other ranges would be way off. Draw your own conclusion, but I feel that there is enough logic behind LWF that it really cannot be denied.



EDIT: Feel free to use this thread to post more examples of LWF and non LWF renders for comparison.

[Jonferimonic]

Seems like a lot of hassle for an average result to me. I get the initial setup bit which once done might speed your workflow up a bit and keep all your materials coming out the same but to me LWF is a lot of nerdology and technobabble. Sorry, dont mean to be offensive just chucking in my 2 cents worth.
Reflections are great but overall its a bit flat.

[instinct]

sigh...and double sigh...

[jujubee]

Honestly - this exterior does seem to be a bit flat. There needs to be more contrast - the brights need to be a lot brighter as well as the reflections. The top of the glass needs to reflect something as well.

[jujubee]

These scenes were done by andronikos using LWF. Granted the modeling is more detailed but still the lighting seems so much more realistic...:

From this thread:
http://www.chaosgroup.com/forums/vbu...ghlight=london

[dlparisi]

If you are going to these great lengths to get accurate colors why don't you just ditch the vray suns, sky and cameras and just use a direct light set to white and an environemnt set to a pale grey and just use a regular camera. Other than the angle of the surface to the light and some bounced light color your materials should be spot on. Why push and pull the sun, sky and camera settings which are based on real world measurements to acheive something you could easily get by just using the standard lights,etc. You're probably still good going for LWF but I'd just ditch the other stuff unless you really need it.

[Jonferimonic]

That second one by andronikos is awesome. But there are a lot of factors contributing to its realism, not just the lighting. Casting shadows onto the building is a great trick for adding detail.
A couple of guys in our office could get similar results without so much fluffing about.

[instinct]

If you are going to these great lengths to get accurate colors why don't you just ditch the vray suns, sky and cameras and just use a direct light set to white and an environemnt set to a pale grey and just use a regular camera. Other than the angle of the surface to the light and some bounced light color your materials should be spot on. Why push and pull the sun, sky and camera settings which are based on real world measurements to acheive something you could easily get by just using the standard lights,etc. You're probably still good going for LWF but I'd just ditch the other stuff unless you really need it.

Quoted for agreement

[instinct]

@ Jonferimonic : They still couldnt scale an image without changing its colors then tho :P

[rivoli]

A couple of guys in our office could get similar results without so much fluffing about.

that's good, I guess. and I vibe andronikos can render great images regardless, working linearly or not. and I don't recall any fluffing from him when he posted those images.

[Jonferimonic]

@ Jonferimonic : They still couldnt scale an image without changing its colors then tho :P

Thats what photoshop is for.

[Jonferimonic]

that's good, I guess. and I vibe andronikos can render great images regardless, working linearly or not. and I don't recall any fluffing from him when he posted those images.

I agree, it was probably a straightforward task for him to post his images.

[jujubee]

Well I agree the gobos/shadows from the trees add a lot. But if you strip that away, the colors seem more spot on than the original image posted at the beginning of this thread.

I'm just pointing out that the washed out image is not (no offense) a good benchmark for LWF on exteriors.

[jujubee]

Oh - and yeah - he mentioned this was for animation so I think there was very little post-processing (if any) on his renderings here.

[beestee]

We have used neutral lights in the past, but there is a quality to the tonal balance and depth that the vray sun/sky provides that you do not get with neutral lighting. We even approached a method of using a blueish environment light and neutralizing the value in direct sunlight through the RGB's and intensities of the lights. Nearly impossible to push this method to an acceptable accuracy.

Pushing and pulling the physical settings puts it as close to realistic as we might get with swatch to print color accuracy. As flat as it may look when compared to the more stylized images seen here, it would be much flatter with neutral lighting.

We might not have the best looking images here on the forum, but they are straightforward, and we are not afraid to have a client hold a manufacturer swatch to our print. It has been quite some time since we have had to come up with any excuses as to why our colors did not look almost exactly like the samples that the client had picked and provided, and at least I have the peace of mind to know how to manipulate the vray sun/sky to suit the rare occasion that I can provide a more "realistic" set of images.