Polished chrome reflections. Need some help!

[TRGraphics]

I'm working on a brochure that will have a large amount of renders of various polished chrome products for office buildings. Planters, receptacles, etc. Some will be round and some will be sqaure.

I need some help with a studio setup that will give me nice vertical striped reflection in the chrome. The client does not want shadows in the render they want to paint them in later.

I've tried several different things but none look correct. Can someone give me a hand with this, I'm frustrated with my attempts.

Here is a sample of my attempts.Not so good!



Thanks in advance!

Tony

[TRGraphics]

Wow, I guess I've done something to upset my fellow members.???

I don't think I've ever seen a post for help go this long without a single responce.

Tony

[Dynedain]

Try doing a search for 'studio setup' first. There were some really good ones posted about 6 months ago by I think Percy, Zuliban, and a couple others.

[Trapezium]

Hey Tony, I missed your post somehow.

Studio setups don't always have to be completely white. Maybe a nice combination of colors will help. Without the shadow your client's missing out on some variation in the reflections also.

Here's a nice natural light color palette you could simulate in the reflections.



Check out this site for some ideas
http://www.hdri-studio.com/

--Jon

[TRGraphics]

I ran a search before I posted the request and found several including the ones you mentioned. But, they are very generic and when I tried them they really didn't look good with large, solid chrome objects.

They looked great for the items they rendered.

The client is really being unrealistic in that they don't want room reflections. I've tried hdri for reflections and they say looks to busy.

They want vertical reflections that are not to dark and not to light but look realistic.

I would tell them to kiss my ass, but its a lot of work.

Thanks for the post.

Tony

[TRGraphics]

Thanks Jon, great site with a lot of good info. I'll definetly try a few of these ideas,

I've sent probably 20 variations of the chrome cylinder posted above and they have shot everyone of them down. I've sent them photographs of polished chrome accessories similiar to this and they don't like any of them either. Talk about being frustrated!!!!

I've done literally hundreds of renders for this client over the past two years with very few problems. But for some reason, I can't seem to convince them that polished chrome has got to reflect something besides the color white!!!!!!!!

Sorry for the rant and thanks for the help.

Tony

[percydaman]

well your on the right track. If you cant use HDRI and you cant use roomlike reflections, then your kinda stuck with lightcards and variations. Sometimes what I do is post a vray light looking AWAY from the subject hitting a bounce card. The light will have some falloff on the card and will kinda show up as soft looking reflections. Fairly typical approach.

[TRGraphics]

Thanks Percy. What color background will give the best results. Black, with a few of bounced light reflecting cards of different intensity??

Tony

[percydaman]

whatever looks good man. Id start off with an almost black background but not quite. Then testrender away and start fiddlin. Since its the client your trying to please, not yourself, its all subjective so who knows?

[Syclone1]

Hey Tony I just stumbled across this and tought of your problem, have a look 1/2 way down at the reflection map on the glass

http://www.maxhelp.com/content/tutor...s/icecubes.htm

-dave

[Trapezium]

Dave's reference reminds me of something similar. I had this DVD of Metropolis and there were a bunch of production stills on it. When I saw there lighting setups they appeared to be made of many Kino-Flo style lights and looked something like this


I'm sure that they were focusing each light on a specific area or face but for the most part they were all on a plane directly behind the camera.

In your case, considering that the cylindrical geometry of your objects will stretch the reflections anyway, maybe you don't want all vertical lights. A setup similar to this may give you variation in the verticals.

I agree that you're going in the right direction but what you have now could easily be created in Illustrator or Photoshop. Where has your client seen what they're tring to get you to do?

Just a thought.

--Jon

[Dynedain]

Sounds like the typical picky client. Clients are almost never satisfied. At this point, if they are going to keep rejecting every option you show them (you'll lose money on the project pretty quickly if they keep this up) have them find an example to show you of what they want. Then you can work towards that and there's no argument as to whether or not its what they asked for.

[TRGraphics]

Thanks everyone for the help. I submitted a new render with your suggestions and they finally signed off on it. Thank the lord!

I would be worried Dynedain, but they are paying by the hour on this one. They are a very good client and don't mind paying for exactly what they want. Very fortunate, in this case.

The diffused lighting suggested by Percy and the light cards did the trick. I used a vray light with a light blue color pointed at 2 light grey cylinders that reflect into the planter. I also used the card as an HDRI in the reflection slot.

My site is down or I would post the final results.

Thanks again, you guys saved my butt!

Tony

[percydaman]

glad to have helped.

[paulison]

hey could ya post some results when you have time? I had trouble understanding the technicalities this thread so some images to illustrate would be awesome. Thanks,

Paul