Looking for some thoughts.

[pskdude]

Hey guys, lately im trying out lwf, which is a bit confusing for me still since some of my images come out so washed out. I have gone back and adjusted my materials and it seems no matter what they come out a bit washed out. Im just so exhausted arleady lol....im sure some of you know how it feels.

1. I followed one of the threads down in the forum the LWF for Dummies one. lol...
and i used all the basic settings there but i still get some washed out imaged. See below just some port im starting to model but heres a quick image.




I know some of you guys get annoyed my the this same question, but any help is appreciated it happens to the best of us.

[PIXELBOX_SRO]

if u want, send me the scene and ill have a look at it...just PM me the link with the scene archived together with textures

[pskdude]

sweet.

thanks so much.

If anyone else wants to give me some feedback heres the link to the file, u can look at my settings. Like i said this is an import from archicad so dont mind modeling and i had like 20 min to prep. file. lol...so give me a break. =)...and i must admit im not a noob i just cant get the hang of it i have spent countless hours freking reading things and messing with it...lol


http://rapidshare.com/files/18610262...al_18.zip.html

file size is also a bit big like 40 megs so bare with me.

[rmejia]

Tried it out using my regular settings (Color mapping: Linear Multiply with dark and bright multiplier at 1.0)and get this result:


Came out pretty dark so applying in photoshop an image adjustments shadows/highlights:


The colors are darker than your output, I think the difference is because of the Color Mapping settings.

[pskdude]

hmm..

i see i will play with those settings.

Thanks for the feedback.

[MHenry]

Have you tried rendering the image out in V-Ray Frame buffer as an .exr file? Rendering this way allows you to make color and exposure corrections on the fly as you render.

[mike_kennedy]

When using LWF Washed out colors happen al lthe time, easy to fix, one way is to use a script called:
Vray Physmat Converter 1.1 C

The other is too do either Exposure or Levels adjustments.

I could not find the script online so I pasted it to the bottom of this post.
Cheers
Mike K


--Copyright 2007 Emanuele Lecchi
--you're free to modify this script as you wish, as long as the above lines remain in place,
--and proper credit is given to the original author (me!) in case of public distribution and/or modification
--The script is released under DonationWare: feel free to drop a donation (yeah right!) through paypal @ emanuele_lecchi@hotmail.com


fn fixthemats dodiffuse doreflection diffCoeff reflCoeff isDiffAbs isReflAbs doTheBump isBumpAbs bumpCoeff =
(
undo on (
theMats = getclassinstances vraymtl
for i in theMats do
(
if dodiffuse do (
if i.texmap_diffuse != undefined do (
print "Found Diffuse Map"
if (hasproperty i.texmap_diffuse "*Output*") or (hasproperty i.texmap_diffuse "*RGB_Multiplier*") do
(
print "Found map with Output or RGB_Level Parameters"
if isDiffAbs then (
try (i.texmap_diffuse.RGB_Multiplier =diffCoeff ) catch ()
try (i.texmap_diffuse.output.RGB_Level =diffCoeff ) catch ()
try (i.texmap_diffuse.Texture_Output.RGB_Level =diffCoeff ) catch ()
print ("Multiplied the diffuse Texture RGB Output of the material " + i.name + " to " + diffCoeff as string)
) else (
try (i.texmap_diffuse.RGB_Multiplier *=diffCoeff ) catch ()
try (i.texmap_diffuse.output.RGB_Level *=diffCoeff ) catch ()
try (i.texmap_diffuse.Texture_Output.RGB_Level *=diffCoeff ) catch ()
print ("Multiplied the diffuse Texture RGB Output of the material " + i.name + " times " + diffCoeff as string)
)
)
if (not hasproperty i.texmap_diffuse "*Output*")and (not hasproperty i.texmap_diffuse "*RGB_Multiplier*") do
(
print "About to inset map in output map!"
oldmap=i.texmap_diffuse
i.texmap_diffuse = output map1ldmap name"output_"+oldmap.name)
if isDiffAbs then (
try (i.texmap_diffuse.output.RGB_Level =diffCoeff ) catch ()
try (i.texmap_diffuse.Texture_Output.RGB_Level =diffCoeff ) catch ()
print ("Embedded the diffuse Texture of the material " + i.name + " in an Output Map, and multiplied its RGB Output to " + diffCoeff as string)
) else (
try (i.texmap_diffuse.output.RGB_Level *=diffCoeff ) catch ()
try (i.texmap_diffuse.Texture_Output.RGB_Level *=diffCoeff ) catch ()
print ("Embedded the diffuse Texture of the material " + i.name + " in an Output Map, and multiplied its RGB Output times " + diffCoeff as string)
)
)
)

if (i.texmap_diffuse == undefined) do
(
i.texmap_diffuse = VRayColor name:"VRColor_Diff_"
i.texmap_diffuse.name = uniquename i.texmap_diffuse.name
i.texmap_diffuse.color = i.Diffuse
if isDiffAbs then (
i.texmap_diffuse.rgb_multiplier =diffCoeff
)else (
i.texmap_diffuse.rgb_multiplier *=diffCoeff
)
print ("Changed the Diffuse Colour of the material " + i.name + " with a VRayColor Map, and multiplied to " + diffCoeff as string)
)
)



if doreflection do (
if i.texmap_reflection != undefined do (
print "Found reflection Map"
if (hasproperty i.texmap_reflection "*Output*") or (hasproperty i.texmap_reflection "*RGB_Multiplier*") do
(
print "Found map with Output or RGB_Level Parameters"
if isreflAbs then (
try (i.texmap_reflection.RGB_Multiplier =reflCoeff ) catch ()
try (i.texmap_reflection.output.RGB_Level =reflCoeff ) catch ()
try (i.texmap_reflection.Texture_Output.RGB_Level =reflCoeff ) catch ()
print ("Multiplied the reflection Texture RGB Output of the material " + i.name + " to " + reflCoeff as string)
) else (
try (i.texmap_reflection.RGB_Multiplier *=reflCoeff ) catch ()
try (i.texmap_reflection.output.RGB_Level *=reflCoeff ) catch ()
try (i.texmap_reflection.Texture_Output.RGB_Level *=reflCoeff ) catch ()
print ("Multiplied the reflection Texture RGB Output of the material " + i.name + " times " + reflCoeff as string)
)
)
if (not hasproperty i.texmap_reflection "*Output*")and (not hasproperty i.texmap_reflection "*RGB_Multiplier*") do
(
print "About to inset map in output map!"
oldmap=i.texmap_reflection
i.texmap_reflection = output map1ldmap name"output_"+oldmap.name)
if isreflAbs then (
try (i.texmap_reflection.output.RGB_Level =reflCoeff ) catch ()
try (i.texmap_reflection.Texture_Output.RGB_Level =reflCoeff ) catch ()
print ("Embedded the reflection Texture of the material " + i.name + " in an Output Map, and multiplied its RGB Output to " + reflCoeff as string)
) else (
try (i.texmap_reflection.output.RGB_Level *=reflCoeff ) catch ()
try (i.texmap_reflection.Texture_Output.RGB_Level *=reflCoeff ) catch ()
print ("Embedded the reflection Texture of the material " + i.name + " in an Output Map, and multiplied its RGB Output times " + reflCoeff as string)
)
)
)

if (i.texmap_reflection == undefined ) do
(
if i.reflection != color 0 0 0 do (
i.texmap_reflection = VRayColor name:"VRColor_Refl_"
i.texmap_reflection.name = uniquename i.texmap_reflection.name
i.texmap_reflection.color = i.reflection
if isReflAbs then (
i.texmap_reflection.rgb_multiplier =reflCoeff
)else (
i.texmap_reflection.rgb_multiplier *=reflCoeff
)
print ("Changed the Reflection Colour of the material " + i.name + " with a VRayColor Map, and multiplied it times " + reflCoeff as string)
)
)
)
if doTheBump do (
if isBumpAbs then (
i.texmap_bump_multiplier=bumpCoeff
)
else (
i.texmap_bump_multiplier*=bumpCoeff
)
)
)
TheMats=#()
)
)



rollout PhMatConvRoll "VRay PhysMat Converter 1.1c" width:304 height:112
(

checkbox chk1 "Affect Diffuse" pos:[8,8] width:100 height:16 checked:true
checkbox chk2 "Affect Reflection" pos:[8,32] width:100 height:16 checked:true
checkbox chk5 "Affect Bump" pos:[8,56] width:92 height:16 enabled:true
spinner spn1 "Diff. Mult.:" pos:[124,8] width:88 height:16 range:[0,5,0.255] scale:0.001 fieldwidth:40
spinner spn2 "Refl. Mult.:" pos:[124,32] width:88 height:16 range:[0,5,0.255] scale:0.001 fieldwidth:40
spinner spn3 "Bump Mult.:" pos:[124,56] width:88 height:16 range:[0,999,1] scale:0.001 fieldwidth:40


checkbox chk3 "Relative" pos:[222,8] width:74 height:16
checkbox chk4 "Relative" pos:[222,32] width:74 height:16
checkbox chk6 "Relative" pos:[222,56] width:74 height:16


button btn1 "Fix The materials!" pos:[8,80] width:288 height:24
on btn1 pressed do
(
fixthemats chk1.state chk2.state spn1.value spn2.value chk3.state chk4.state chk5.state chk6.state spn3.value
)
on chk3 changed state do
(
chk3.caption = if state then "Absolute" else "Relative"
)
on chk4 changed state do
(
chk4.caption = if state then "Absolute" else "Relative"
)
on chk6 changed state do
(
chk6.caption = if state then "Absolute" else "Relative"
if not state then spn3.value=1 else spn3.value=30
)
)


createdialog PhMatConvRoll

[pskdude]

crit

Thanks mike appreciate it. Ill give this a try see what happens, just in case others want to try it i found it at :

http://www.scriptspot.com/lele/VRay_...erter_v1.1c.ms

[simmsimaging]

It does look a bit like a double-gamma thing, but I personally find all my LWF gamma 2.2 renders a bit flat looking. They need a bump in post, particularly in the 3/4 tones and blacks. Still, it's better to render it this way and pump it up a bit than try and pull detail out of too-dark shadows later.

LWF is still easier to get even light distribution, noise control, and it's worth it to me to have the flexibility of 32bit images for editing, but you may need to get used to images that are a bit flat looking and that *need* a bit love in Photoshop.

b

[PIXELBOX_SRO]

just going through the scene..some tips
- when using vray camera, use reinhard mapping
- dont use standard mats, unless u equip them with vray map material
- instead of using directional max light, use vray sun
- always name your mats properly
- make them darker and look into some proper refraction and reflection settings
for example, when setting glass mat, use black in the diffuse slot etc...

rendering now..had a qick look through materials, did not know what your intentions were....so there might be some discrepancies....will post the result soon

regards

[PIXELBOX_SRO]

here is my result...



will upload the scene back to you without maps

regards

[rmejia]

It does look a bit like a double-gamma thing, but I personally find all my LWF gamma 2.2 renders a bit flat looking. They need a bump in post, particularly in the 3/4 tones and blacks. Still, it's better to render it this way and pump it up a bit than try and pull detail out of too-dark shadows later.

I agree. Most of the time images come out looking sort of grayish. That is where Photoshop comes in. Just copying the layer and applying soft light, or curves to increase the contrast really makes the image look a lot better. This is the original image after just duplicating the layer and setting it to soft light in Photoshop to increase the contrast:



It still could use more Photoshop, but the colors are already starting to show up more.

[PIXELBOX_SRO]

i would not only rely on one light to light up this interior...putting some vray lights into the windows would make the scene deeper....not to mention these open spaces r great for splotches and GI artefacts as the light has to travel a lot between the bounces.

[pskdude]

Wow.

Thanks so much Martin you and all the others have been a big help, i was always afraid to post i thought i would get flamed lol. but you guys have been nothing but helpful. The script worked great and it made my scene look so much better.

why would anyone else join another community? =P

Thanks so much Martin !

[PIXELBOX_SRO]

no problem, glad to help

regards