Flat Looking Rendering

[BillyRaygun]

Here is a shot of a rendering I've been working on. I have a few issues I am trying to work out. Here is an explanation.

1) Overall, my renderings seem to output somewhat flat looking. I always have to add 50% contrast in Photoshop.

2) Aluminum - ALWAYS AN ISSUE - My designs have a lot of flat aluminum surfaces. In all my renderings, every view, the look of aluminum changes. My goal is to have an "aluminum" looking material from every view. Some views have the light colored metal, other times, the metal turns dark and less shinny. Every view seems to cause an issue. It also happens with when the same material is at different heights.

I understand lighting is critical, but I can't afford long render times in my industry by adding tons of lights.

3) Thanks to the guys at Vray my illuminated fabric rocks!

4) Any additional comments suggestions welcome.

[schultzeworks]

One tip

A reflective material like metal is always hard to render because they are essentially a mirror. One trick I use is to put a light nearby and have it wash over the metal at a sharp / low angle. Otherwise, they look great from one angle and boring from everywhere else.

[BillyRaygun]

Re: Flat Looking Rendering

Thanks for the response. As you can see, I am experiencing the same results you describe. I'll work on my lighting more as see what happens.

[-Keith]

Re: Flat Looking Rendering

Kudos on the illuminated fabric, It looks great!

I try to cut render times with things I can fix in post processing whenever possible. It's a kind of trade off that takes some thought before hand with lighting. The thing that all rendering engines do the most of is calculating light and the way it interacts with surfaces. When you have a metal surface it is very sensitive to the way the light behaves just like Schultze put it like a mirror. There is no easy way to post process that certain sheen that metal picks up just right so I normally opt for the lighting and ::sigh:: the render time.

Thank goodness for DR