VRay: Lighthouse Tutorial

Hi all to CGP members, just want to share this tutorial i did during my free time. Its just a simple scene so it will not be too complex to explain. Hope this will help especially to ones who are new to 3d rendering, and for those who have better options/solutions in the workflow stated, please dont hesitate to leave a comment/suggestion so that we can both learn from each other.. Thanks!

VRay: Lighthouse Tutorial



first thing i usually do before doing 3D, is to look for concepts/subjects i want to recreate.. like here, i choose a "lighthouse" as my subject, then from there i look for loTS of lots of references in the internet. Flickr alone have lots of pics you can choose from. and if u cant find anything that interest you, there's always Google Images. Like this IMAGE i used as my reference, its a bit small though.



Next is to look for an interesting background. I found the background i've used in Flickr, keyword "landscape" sorted it out using "Most Interesting". and try to look for High Resolution images for better output.
original size: 1741 x 1306



Now, lets try setting up the scene in 3DMax, currently im using 3DMaxDesign 2009 + Vray1.5 Demo SP2

Modelling:

Body: Line + Lathe

Railings: AEC Extended - Railing

Glass: Cylinder(uncheck smooth, 14 sides) - convet to Poly - deleted top & bottom polygon - Shell 1cm

Glass Frame: Cylinder(uncheck smooth, 14 sides) + Lattice(sturts only, 2cm radius, 6 sides)

Ceiling & Roof Eaves: Cylinder(uncheck smooth, 14 sides, radius a bit bigger than glassframe)

Roof: Cylinder + Taper

Finials: compose of Line + Lathe, Sphere, Cylinder + Taper

Trees: download, you can find lots of free and nice stuffs in the internet, i think i found mine in evermotion under "free stuff".

Texturing:











Camera:

Now for the Camera. nothing really special, i just use standard camera, just make sure to check the horizonline. Next, is to know the pixel size of your background u are using. then apply the size in your Max render Output Size in terms of Width/Height. in this way, during post processing, there will be no problem or distortion between 3d and real pics, also, this is what i usuall do in doing some Photomontage.



Lighting:

OmniLight = use for the light inside the lighthouse.
VrayLight01 = use as the sunsetlight
VrayLight02 = use as backlighting, adds soft shadows on the object

for me lighting is the most importanting is this scene, we need to adopt to the background or see to it that our 3d object is convincing enough that it belongs to the overall scene.first i start with the environment light, or the light that will give the overall mood. see the image belong on how to have the nearest possible color for your environment light.

The power of "COLOR PICKER TOOL".





now lets put some light in front or where the sun's possible location be, we will be using this light as our mainlight source to simulate the sunsetlight effect. i use vraylight coz its more easy to control. same with the environment light, we still need to use the color picker tool, then pick on the bright2x part of the real picture/background.







Render Settings:

here's the rendering settings i used, basically just the standard set-up for most renders. i seldom use high settings coz i cant afford to wait long rendering ours, anyway noise can be easily removed by some free antinoise plugins for PS.
make sure to save it as TIFF so that u can save the alpha and adjust the levels/hues in PS.



here's the raw image: rendered in 1741x1306 at 9mins3secs on a Core2Quad 9450 2.66Ghz ; 4GB RAM



After PS works:



Hope i did not mislead u or miss out in some parts, C & C are still most welcome.. All the best for CGP!

WOW! thanks so much abel for this tutorial! Astig bro!

i love seeing these kind of tutorials. well thought out and very informative sir. i think you should submit this as well on 3dtotal.com

whoaa dre abel, thanks for sharing. very informative as what sir rockgem said. panalo!! wuhoo

great tuts.. i like the color picker part... magaling sir...

Thanks for sharing Abel.

wow! and thats what you call a tutorial,galing bro.thanks for sharing your efforts are well appreciated!!! cheers!

salamt sa pagshare mo beo..nice tutorial!

sir neil, pigface tol, sir sherwin, sir vamp_lestat, sir jorgei2style, sir Butz_Arki.. thanks for the reply, i really appreciate it.. Thanks ulit..

wow galing .. thanks for the share .. share more para maraming kaalaman

wow yan ang tutorial!!!!!
salamat sir!!!!
kumpleto pa talaga!!!!

Cheers and thanks!!

thanks for shring sir,malaking tulong po eto.

salamat sa pag share mo sir abl, makakatulong ito lalo na sa amin na nangangapa sa vray!!

Cool very creative...

nice job sir..salamat s pagshare..malaking bagay sa amin to

oh my. . .sumakit ulo ko dun hehehe . . . di ko parin ma getz

wow sir astig salamat sa ganitong tutorial!!!!sana marami pang tulad nu magshare ng ganitong ideas.

the best dude...dali aralin...very informative!!!thanks........

thanks sir. very informative lalo na sa color picker,hirap minsan mag timpla ng environment color na blend sa background.. thanks ulit sir..

Thanks for sharing.. Very helpful and easy to follow..