exterior_how to achieve more realism

[max montana]

hi there,
second image of my last project. i would like to reach more realism?
would be nice if someone has some suggestions.

[stevesideas]

Maybe some imperfections in some of the paving, etc. Add a slight noise map (quite large scale) in the bump slot of the windows as no window is perfectly flat...little less uniformity in the grass...add some slightly different hues..

Maybe try an ambient occulsion pass and see how that looks when you comp the 2 together...

Overall its a nice clean image but maybe a little too perfect...maybe, its only my opinion

[TRGraphics]

I would say your sunlight is not quite bright enough, to cool, for your clear sky. Is the buildings main color supposed to be white? Also, a little curve adjustment in PS could really help with the lack of contrast as well. The grass needs a little color variation, as already mentioned.

[Morne]

I think the grass is fine as it is. The trees can be different heights. I see they are rotated, but some height varioution could be nice. Maybe add some slight dirt or something in the pavements. Maybe stick a car or two in somewhere also...

Also you could try leave everything as it is, but change the sky, slightly more blue I think. The sky and clouds seems washed out compared to the rest of the image....

[max montana]

thanks for your replies.
the hint to make the building brighter and to use curve adjustment brought a big advancement. still i miss some more details in the foreground and on the balcony. actually i render this and will post it tomorrow.
@stevesideas. i know how to make an ao pass, but not how i can use it in ps. is there a rendere element i can use?
thx

[voltron7]

Good improvement. I like the grass a lot, too. Not sure what your WF is, but I've been getting some good exterior results with an HDR-mapped vraydome light...maybe bump up those windows' reflections?

[rmejia]

Nice work, I think it's looking a lot better with the cars and the brighter building.

[stevesideas]

Yeah looks better for sure. The AO pass is usually bought into a layer above the main render and then changed to a multiply layer...thats the way I do it anyway. Then I adjust the opacity to blend it nicely...Also you can erase certain areas that dont look correct..

[bob-cat]

What I do if I hit render and it she doesn't look to good is to copy the vray sun around 6 - 8 times at all different locations, say directly behind you, left and right shoulder, slightly facing you left and right and some higher in the sky and then do turn them on and off and do a whole heap of tests and pick the best one.
Maybe if you have you sun at a greater angle to the buildings you will get some more depth in the image.

[dlparisi]

Some quick photoshop edits cleaned it up pretty nice for me. With apologies...

P.S. The compression has a few artifacts in it though.

[max montana]

thanks for your replies.
@voltron7: i use vray cam+sun+skay+ reinhard color mapping.
@rmejia: thanks, i am glad someone likes it.
@stevesidea: thanks for the ao-pass tips.
@good idea. will try it for the next renderings.
@dlparisi: i really like your photoshop edits. would it be possible to send me the ps-file?

[dlparisi]

I didn't actually save the PSD file so I'll have to recreate it. Give me a sec. though.

[werticus]

the whole image is greeny/ yellow. you need some correction imo.

[deflix]

Images of large objects/spaces are more difficult to get right then images of small objects/spaces. This is to do with the way the eye/brain process visual data, and the increased complexity and temporal cues when viewing larger things. It also explains why certain types of image crop up alot in 3d i.e. classic interiors with direct light coming in from the side, cars, or product design type images -- they are all realitively easy to make.

To help on exteriors like this you should think about the ambient geometry, and how it contributes to Gi and reflection. No environment is perfectly flat, with a straight horizon, and there is a greater level of contrast outside due to the massive difference between light and shade. Additionally materials required much more noise (detail and patina to give the correct sense of scale - mapping needs careful attention here, as do bump and fall-off. Talking of scale you may also want to check that as light propogation is affected by it too. Finally try to ensure that your ambient component of the Gi isnt too high - about 0.4 works for me, because if the sun is out it dominates in the real world


hope that helps.

[max montana]

thanks for the extensive answer deflix, i really estimate the efford many of you invest to give a substantial feedback.
i surrounded the house seen in the image with other houses of the same type(although in reality there are none of them), to get a good background and to achieve fitting reflections. what more can i do to simulate the ambient geometry?
i also see the problem that some materials don`t have the look i want them to have. i have assigned the same materials(with same uvw...)to pavement, curbstone and to the road as in the image below, but it doesn`t have the same look when i look on the materials in a flat angle.
what do you mean with the ambient component, the vray sky?,