Hey,
here it is. Actually full reflection, no fresnel. Texture gamma is override 2.2.
My feeling is you should always use fresnel, and use the IOR to control the reflections instead. In reality all reflections are fresnel reflections, and that makes the reflections behave more like the real world and takes away some of the plastic look. Try somewhere between 3 and 6
Cool! Thanks guys…will try that too. I avoided fresnel so I wouldn’t loose reflection in some angles, but guess that was wrong.
i know i already said it, but id play with the reflection map rather than the bump map in the case of wooden floorboards. crank up the reflection amount and put a (much) more contrasty map in the reflection level slot. get some strong, varied reflections in there. at the moment it looks totally flat and nonreflective to me. issue is not bump imho. a decent reflection map will kill reflections in the cracks in the wood, and provide different apparent shading per board. which works better than bump, and looks more natural.
If you’re looking for better quality textures, I’ve found the ones from here to be good value - foundationcgi's profile on 3DOcean. Also http://www.extremetextures.com/ have some nice ones.
So a test with low bump but bumped contrast to reflection maps. I like it, but not sure if the client will since what he sent me last as sample were parquet floors that were pretty shiny but with semi matte varnish I think. One image is with fresnel and when that looked not reflective enough (compared to what he sent me) I removed it and even added some overall reflection in reflection colour and reduced reflection texture amount. Yes that one is now too reflective on the right side but I think it’s good on the left. I may have to do a PS mix of both.
you need a nicer diffuse in the 1st place.
I am sure your client is looking for something like this:
http://consumer.kahrs.com/en-GB/Consumer/
nice diffuse in hires is the key, without it its not really possible.
I ve recently seen some nice floor textures on 3Dsky.org
http://3dsky.org/3dmodels/category/napolnie\_pokritya
Nice and free, too![quote=“PIXELBOX_SRO, username:PIXELBOX_SRO”]
you need a nicer diffuse in the 1st place.
I am sure your client is looking for something like this:
http://consumer.kahrs.com/en-GB/Consumer/
nice diffuse in hires is the key, without it its not really possible.
I ve recently seen some nice floor textures on 3Dsky.org
http://3dsky.org/3dmodels/category/napolnie\_pokritya
[/quote]
Will keep testing. I think it’s not the textures problem but mine. I have many professional ones, like complete set from Arroway and also recently I bought several of multitexture ones that look really good!
arroway where great 5 years ago, but they have aged. I guess the multi textures one are better but there is definitely better out there.
If you could share your floor model with the walls and cam, I’m sure some of us (me included) could have a look and offer you a few options.
Cheers
Stan
I’m following this thread for everybody’s great tips, and it seems like it almost needs a small community competition! 
Shader competition! I am in ! 
now we are talking!
Stan
I’m down for a competition 
I’d bet on it being the diffuse. Maybe a nice cerused wood texture.. or something similar. That original reference image, the wood grain has a bit of contrast in it that makes it pop.
Also the problem is the clients wishes, my likes, and my contact to the client wishes lol
Everyone has their own preferences. This is what he sent me last that they like apparently.
Initially I was given those first renders as a reference and I kept trying to recreate that awesome rough surface, and now it seems he felt floors were plastic because he wanted them matte reflective. So now I’m making those renders. Already I don’t like them but if that’s what they want…
This is with one of multitexture textures but it’s way too smooth because I wanted to simulate what he sent me last. It looks really bad now. When I use multitexture I use it’s parameters to create reflect and bump from that diffuse. I don’t want to create one from each board in PS manually.
Will try something else next.
i think that doesnt look bad at all. has more character and realism than the other tests imho. maybe the highlights along the board edges are too much… expensive floorboards *are* smooth.
Yeah, I noticed highlights along the board edges too. You could try and remove that bevel on the boards - or at least reduce it.