I need all you guys to help me with improving my street scene :)

[mattcoops]

hello guys, im new to vray for sketchup and trying to render my street. i am confident in sketchup, but really looking to improve my vray skills. I have posted my render, and would like your help to and information on how i can better/improve this scene. A link to realistic grass? tarmac? i have managed other materials.. most importantly, how or where could i download 3d trees and shrubs for my street scene? is the lighting ok? Look forward to hearing what I can improve!

[mattcoops]

Re: I need all you guys to help me with improving my street scene

anyone help me!?? ??? :-[

[BillyRaygun]

Re: I need all you guys to help me with improving my street scene

Don't feel bad man. I've been waiting for support to my questions as well. Customer support on this program is a joke. With such a steep learning curve on this program, you would think support would be much better.

Your not alone. Sorry for the rant. I'm a little frustrated. :

[BillyRaygun]

Re: I need all you guys to help me with improving my street scene

What specifically stands out in your rendering that you would like to improve on? I am not a SU user but from my experience, working on your texture maps would make a big difference. Here recently, I found well thought out texture maps could make a big difference.

As for the technical stuff like lighting, rendering speed etc. Read over the tutorials online. They help some but do not answer all the questions. Especially if you it a wall. I am still waiting for some kind of feedback on my own issues.


Cheers!

[fpedrogo]

Re: I need all you guys to help me with improving my street scene

Hi
It is very difficult for everybody here just answer very generic question like how improve the image, don't feel bad, but I believe that you have to make more specific questions. We have a lot information in this forum that you can use as resource, just take a look to other post and other tutorial and I guarantee you that you are going to improve your skill using V-Ray.
For me this image look good, but the scale on the road and sidewalk are to small, also maybe if you add some vegetation the image will looks better. The black tube in the house is catching much attention, maybe you can change the color of them. Then you can add some post processing in photoshop like a better background and some color correction.
We have a good webinar about post processing here.
http://software.asgvis.com/index.php...184&Itemid=486

Best

[mattcoops]

Re: I need all you guys to help me with improving my street scene

where could i download 3d trees and shrubs for my street scene though, that was my question really.. I know that i can improve my materials, and I can learn that, but i cannot seem to find any models for shrubs and trees that i could import and actually render in vray for sketchup.

[Jackson_cg]

Re: I need all you guys to help me with improving my street scene

Billyraygun,

Complaining that ASGvis don't answer general questions about CG visualisation is like complaining that Autodesk don't answer general questions about architecture. Topics like this would be better posted on forums which specialise in architectural visualisation regardless of the render program being used, like CGarchitect or Evermotion.

Mattcoops,

There's very little in V-Ray which doesn't apply to most or all render programs. Good textures and mapping are the key to good visualization and there's no shortcuts to good textures, just lots of texture collecting and photographing, Photoshopping and UV mapping. You're obviously pretty handy with SU, but good visualisation requires taking texturing to the next level so for ground surfaces you'll need to produce very high resolution diffuse maps and bump maps which tile well. Study architectural photographs and observe how dirt builds up on ground surfaces and around the base of buildings and create unique textures for these surfaces. It's a slow and sometimes frustrating process, but once you've made a really good texture you can obviously use it again and again.

http://www.cgtextures.com/ is an excellent resource for free texture photographs- everyone uses it.

One thing about this image really strikes me though and it applies for basic SU images as much as it does raytraced visualisations- if you want to present this front facade why would you have in complete shade? Changing the sun position alone would improve this image 500% IMO.

Most of the trees and shrubs on 3D Warehouse render pretty well in VRay after you've produced clipmaps from their diffuse maps which takes 10 seconds in Photoshop and even the most expensive 3ds tree and plants packages often require optimisation for different render programs.

[thomthom]

Re: I need all you guys to help me with improving my street scene

Is that one of your images Jackson? Love that grass. Added in post?

[mattcoops]

Re: I need all you guys to help me with improving my street scene

Hello Jackson,

thankyou very much for the help, I am now going to spin the model round to face the sun, or do i change the sun position by the time in the shadow settings?
Thanks again for letting me know how you guys use the tree models. I actually have a couple of clipmaps already, would it be ok for you to tell me how to apply? I import a tree from 3d warehouse, and when i render with the 3d tree, all it shows are the branches and not the leaves. Im just not too sure on how i apply the clipmasks in sketchup to the leaves.
Thanks again, been a good help!

[Jackson_cg]

Re: I need all you guys to help me with improving my street scene

Thanks Thom. The grass isn't added in post, it's mapped using Micha's spherical environment grass method.

Jackson

[thomthom]

Re: I need all you guys to help me with improving my street scene

That's a mighty good environment grass map you got there.
Homebrew or did you purchase it somewhere?

[Jackson_cg]

Re: I need all you guys to help me with improving my street scene

Homebrew, made with a camera, tripod, autostitch and a lot of Photoshopping.

[remon_v]

Re: I need all you guys to help me with improving my street scene

are u willing to share the grass? I really like it aswell

[Jackson_cg]

Re: I need all you guys to help me with improving my street scene

Sorry I can't share it, it's under copyright.

[BillyRaygun]

Re: I need all you guys to help me with improving my street scene

Billyraygun,

Complaining that ASGvis don't answer general questions about CG visualisation is like complaining that Autodesk don't answer general questions about architecture. Topics like this would be better posted on forums which specialise in architectural visualisation regardless of the render program being used, like CGarchitect or Evermotion.

You make a good point and I agree. I was also told from another source to give CG Architect a try.

However the point I was trying to make is that ASGVIS should support their own product. They may not be able to answer visualization specific questions for certain industries, but Vfr is in fact a visualization software is it not? ASGVIS should know how to get the absolute best results out of their product, regardless of industry. If I specifically say, I have trouble with aluminum looking like aluminum in Vray, to me, that is not a question about a specific industry, but how to achieve a desired result with the Vray for Rhino product.

If I am wrong, and Vray is in fact not a visualization program, then my bad. Please tell me what it is. I just want to render the best I can using this software. The online tutorials provide excellent help, but don't address what to do when things go wrong.

Trust me, I am not a complainer but do get frustrated when I have an $800 program in hand and can't get an answer to why something doesn't work from the manufacturer who made the program. Is that not fair?

Cheers!