Ok folks. I am seriously immature in the rendering arena. I see all of these FANTASTIC images that have been posted and then look at mine in dismay. Can anyone give me some help on rendering please? Here is my gallery (if you can call it that), if you wouldn't mind taking a look and telling me where I am lacking. I usually just hit final an then render to the desired....and only visible layers. Am I just seeing things differently because they are mine? Please help, Thanks, Akenaton

What exactly is wrong with them....they look good, do you want a finer tuned picture then you should try ultra....Sharen

I've not seen your pics, but if you are not glad with them try ultra, remove ambient light. See tutorial lights from ngalai in the links. ;=) Yves

Render in a highter resolution, atleast in Broadcast, better Ultra. But this increasement of render time is worth only on final images, when every thing is at the right place. If I may... Don't put just one object in your images, try to add things, vegetations... An image should tell a story or make the beholder feel wish to be there. Some lucky people can create an image in one hour or one day, I need a week or more to finish one (never 100% happy with what I get, anyhow). Don't be impatient if you are a beginner. Follow all tuts you can find. Try the most crazy things and you will get great results in a short time:-). We can help and above in the FAQ you find lots of interesting things to advance in Vue. Guitta

Thanks Sharen, they just don't look as high quality as what I see in some of the galleries here. I was hoping to get the figures that I pull over from Poser to look more life-like. I DID get a great tip from gela though....I have been pulling my figures in as .obj's instead of .pz3's. I'll have to try that tonight when I get home.....time permitting. Thank you for the info!!

Thanks Gebe! I am the same way about my images...I just never feel totally satisfied. I am going to try the PZ3 idea as soon as possible. I really need alot more practice with these programs.

As a consideration for the bandwidth-impaired, you could start by keeping file sizes below 300K.

Some other tips: Subscribe to this forum. Read Jeremy Birn's book [digital] Lighting & Rendering. Follow the Vue gallery to see what other people are doing with Vue.

Charles

Guitta, I am one of those 1 hour wonders...and it shows. If I knew, or felt confident enough to use all the bells whistles and editors it might take me a week too, lol.

remembering home does not look like the work of a novice. I wonder how the radial design was made.

Radial design?? I don't follow. Where are you seeing that? By the way Guitta....I found your site on the net....You ROCK. Time permitting....I'll be surfing your tuts like mad. Glad you are here.

Thanks aken. I don't know either what "radial design" is:-) Guitta

Some nice, clean Pictures - some of a true artists vision... What do you want more, we all started like this, my first renders looked much worse... (And maybe they still do today,hehe) - Never give up, its just the practice ;-) -Stefan

Youre too modest ... your gallery looks good :)

I understand how you feel, Aken Aton; I belonged to Renderosity for about 2 years before I posted my first pic! I learned on Bryce 3/4/5, have been using Vue for about 16 months, Poser for aobut 8 months. So still a beginner compared to many of the folks here at Renderosity. What I have done, and am still doing, is to constantly check out the galleries (not just Vue/Poser, either, but most all of them) to see how folks are setting up scenes, lighting them, etc. See what I like, what I don't like. I have tried to copy a scene I really like, with the artists' permission (also, I would NEVER post it...more a learning experience for me). I also have some art books from my father, and I take some out of the library, so I can look at different paintings, photos, how they're composed, what catches my eye, what doesn't. Colors in them, placement of elements, etc. I also follow a lot of tutorials. I usually will save them to my hard drive (since I"m on dialup ISDN) to do in my own time. I have a large binder where I keep tutorials I print out, that I want to reference more than once. One thing I try...is to learn one program at a time. I used Vue for a while, doing scenery, etc, to get used to interface, lighting, and other things, before importing Poser models in it. And I used Poser separately for some months before starting to combine it with Vue. I think I need to understand how to do stuff to different elements in a scene with it's native program before I start to combine. Other than scene composition (which is critical!), I think lighting makes or breaks the scene. Some of my earlier renders have horrid lighting...I didn't understand in either Poser of Vue how to manipulate it, and effects on scene. But I am learning more and more. I no longer "churn out the pics". Since I work long hours, I usually only have weekend to do graphics, or other days off, and it can take me a few days to get something I want. My pic "Valkyries" in the gallery took me days, and it still didn't come out as I wanted from the picture in my head. I find taking more time, walking away from the computer, and coming back to the scene can help to take a fresh look. Didn't mean to go on at such length...just read your question, and the comments that resulted, and started thinking about this a lot.

Thank you Djeser. I understand the walk away theory. It has worked for me in writing music on the guitar and in playing video games for years. I have been extremely hesitant to sit down and REALLY work on lighting and things due to PC restrictions (IE Speed and cruching power). I'll be finished with my newer (and over clocked machine soon) SO I will sit down and really be able to learn and/or burn without the insessant crashes and lockups. the old beast just doesn't have the guts anymore to process this newer software properly. I have been intrigued by the lighting and terrain features for some time, but again every time I put together something....CRASHOLA. I am "pretty" patient but not in that arena. Thank you again for the tutilage!!! Hopefully you'll see me grow in my future posts. Thanks all!! Akenaton

It just donned on me what Donhakman was referring to (no pun intended). The ground!! Don, I mixed a dark and cracked nonrefclective material with chrome and then started sifting through the "bump maps?" until I had the effect that I wanted. I cannot stand it when I want a reflecting ground and end up with a gazillion stars being reflected on the ground. Something that I still have to work on in the learining department. Glad you liked it. If you want it email me, and I'll zip the material and send it to you so you can see what I did. Thanks, Akenaton