More Realism?

[ValeroStudio]

I have been using VR4SU for about a year now. I love the program and now I want to start taking things to the 'next level'. I find that my renders tend to look a little plasticy and fake. I understand that this is probably because most of my materials are just default SU out of the box VR mats (except glass, metal, or anything that’s significantly 'bumpy').

My question is: How to I make my renders more realistic? Should I apply refection layers to everything? Are the default settings in the Options panel decent for rendering a final image or should I be using something else?

I know this question is rather broad and there is no one clear answer, but it would be great to get some opinions on simple things you can do to get your output a little more realistic.

Thanks!

[arqestevez1]

Re: More Realism?

my friend... i hope you can find this useful ;D
http://forum.asgvis.com/index.php?topic=9382.0

[ValeroStudio]

Re: More Realism?

Ive been meaning to watch those. I even have a link on desktop to it. Im going to jump into them now!

[arqestevez1]

Re: More Realism?

you know, final render is not so complicated, it was a really quick one, but the principle is the same if you want to make more complicated scenes.
see you around

[ValeroStudio]

Re: More Realism?

Ok, just watched the series - AWESOME. Thank you so much to Omar for doing this. We really need more videos like this one (hint hint )

I guess my next question is, how do you take it even further? Is it really just a matter of getting a book on Vray or taking online classes to learn even more in-depth topics on scene setup and material physics?

Also, one more question - When you guys render interiors, do you really not use any glass in the windows? What if you want relfections in the glazing? The few interior tutorials I have seen have no glass in the windows, so I am wondering if this is typical.

[arqestevez1]

Re: More Realism?

well, for the first question... i try to pay atention to every single detail... for example, if i'm still not ok with the illumination, then i do not move to the next stage untill i find the right one. i believe that that is a good way to achieve realism; of course, i'm still learning.

It is not a matter of reading everything, of course, reading helps, but for example, the guy that introduced me to vray just explained me how to control de camera parameters, then i started testing and i started learning basicly by myself. i have to say that i developed the "forum culture" a little bit later, because i had been making renders for a while before i posted for the first time, but people here really help, and most of the times, if you have a question, you can just ask it and someone will help you. In my case, i've been learning just a little almost every week. for example, i just learned that trick about the hdri and the shadows, and now i use that for everything, but the same thing hapened when i discovered photomatch, and when i learned how to use the ies lights... it's just a matter of time, and if you don't have a propper training, you will learn anyway because the software is really easy to use...

about the reflections... i do use glass. i've rendered with the affect alpha and affect shadows enabled in the glass settings, but that does not keep all of the reflections when you save as a png. one thing that i've done is use an hdri's to have an background image, and at the same time keeping the reflections in the interior. you just have to save as a jpeg instead of a png