Quote - it looks REALLY good there, what color did you use for the material behind the glass?

I didn't really use any color behind it.  I'm guessing that maybe its the material of the headlight casing?  Which in that case it would be your old chrome material.  I guess I could try rendering with the headlights completely transparent to see what's behind.  I'll do that when my current render is finished.  I do know the lights took a long time to render, but the results were definitely worth the wait.

Quote - Now theres a close up you dont see every day!

See the link for DMI Car Models, the best free car website on the internet, bar none!

import directly into poser, most of the cars should be set to a smoothing rate of anywhere between 35 to 60 depending on the shape of the vehicle

Is that the same shader as before?  Also, where would you plug in color to change the color of the lens?  I've tried several ways, but the color always comes out really faded.

Quote - The headlight shader is great!

Awesome looking render.

Check your Site Mail.

Right, grabbed a load of models from the site.  What's the best free util to convert them?  AFAIK, Wings doesn't handle Lightwave stuff. 

Quote - Right, grabbed a load of models from the site.  What's the best free util to convert them?  AFAIK, Wings doesn't handle Lightwave stuff. 

PoseRay

mysite.verizon.net/sfg0000/

Quote - > Quote - Right, grabbed a load of models from the site.  What's the best free util to convert them?  AFAIK, Wings doesn't handle Lightwave stuff. 

PoseRay

mysite.verizon.net/sfg0000/

Many thanks, cherokee69.

You can load Lightwave models directly into Poser, and then export as object files to use in Wings.

Anyone know where stewman might be getting his background images? I've been looking around but I can't find anything like those.

Thanks

Self taken, perhaps. 

Quote - Self taken, perhaps. 

Yeah, they might be but I was hoping they weren't. I've been looking for something like those for a long time and can't find anything.

If it's a good day tomorrow, I'll stroll around with my camera and rattle off a few shots for you. 

Quote - If it's a good day tomorrow, I'll stroll around with my camera and rattle off a few shots for you. 

Thanks Sam. I'd do that too but there aren't anything like those around here. Alot of the shots look like parking lots except this on which I really like.. www.renderosity.com/mod/forumpro/media/folder_10/file_456114.jpg

That looks like a parking lot at a race course.  

Come to think of it, there ain't much around here like those.   

Quote - That looks like a parking lot at a race course.  

Come to think of it, there ain't much around here like those.   

Hey Sam,

While doing a search of parking lot images, I just happened to find the one he used.. http://www.flickr.com/photos/joeshlabotnik/1528080843/

Quote - Anyone know where stewman might be getting his background images? I've been looking around but I can't find anything like those.

Thanks

I've found them all by just doing Google image searches - stuff like "empty parking lot", etc.  Looking just for large size images.  That's what I did for the image you're talking about.

Quote - > Quote - Anyone know where stewman might be getting his background images? I've been looking around but I can't find anything like those.

Thanks

I've found them all by just doing Google image searches - stuff like "empty parking lot", etc.  Looking just for large size images.  That's what I did for the image you're talking about.

Hey stew,

Thats how I found that one that you used that I liked. Did you load it as is on BB's EnvSphere or on something else?

It's actually a bit of a cheat.  I rendered the car by itself first and then pasted it onto the background image in paint shop pro.  The downside is that I'm not getting an accurate reflection map, but it does make it easier to put things in place.

Quote - It's actually a bit of a cheat.  I rendered the car by itself first and then pasted it onto the background image in paint shop pro.  The downside is that I'm not getting an accurate reflection map, but it does make it easier to put things in place.

Oh my, well, you did a good job of it because the car and image loks like they were rendered together.

Thanks, the main thing is to make sure the angle of the ground in the picture is right for how you set your render.  And if there are any objects in the picture that are casting shadows then to make sure the rendered shadows are the same direction.

I don't know, I guess I'm pretty lazy.  I love BB's environment sphere and I used it all the time, but it requires too small a camera focal length for some renders.

I use an inverted normal propscp partnersdimension3dsphere at a scale of 75000 for my env. You can use pretty much any cam you like

TGX - are you implying that the size of the sphere has anything whatsoever to do with camera angle?

All environment spheres look identical at all sizes. A 360 degree image requires extremely high resolution to pull off any sort of large use of it as a background, not just something for lighting and reflections.

The Poser camera at 98 mm produces a field of view around 10 degrees.

If your FOV is 10 degrees, and you want to render with a resolution of 1000 pixels across, then your image must be 36000 (thirty six thousand) by 18000 pixels. This has nothing whatsoever to do with the dimensions of the sphere. Viewing 1/36th of a sphere is the same regardless of how big it is.

Im implying that if you have an Env. sphere at a scale around the 5000-7000 mark, camera positioning is restricted due to the small size of the env. sphere. this is handy for accurate reflections with some spheremaps. I thought this was what stewman meant

Quote - You can't really see the headlights too well on this one, but I used the same shader on the indicator lights and they came out looking pretty good.

Your glass material seems to be very dark, one of the issues I have with Poser is how dark the ray-traced shadows are for transperant materials.  With these cars, for a serious render I seperate the glass from the car with the grouping tool, and turn shadows off for the glass. if your using IDL it darkens the interior anyway, but much more realisticly

Quote - It's actually a bit of a cheat.  I rendered the car by itself first and then pasted it onto the background image in paint shop pro.  The downside is that I'm not getting an accurate reflection map, but it does make it easier to put things in place.

How do you do to get the shadow then? I haven't found a way yet to get a shadow catcher with IDL.
And how do you do to get the EnvSphere reflection on the car while rendering only the car?

Quote - Im implying that if you have an Env. sphere at a scale around the 5000-7000 mark, camera positioning is restricted due to the small size of the env. sphere. this is handy for accurate reflections with some spheremaps. I thought this was what stewman meant

I still don't understand what you're saying. 5000-7000? Do you mean percent of original scale? That depends on the object size you're starting with.

My Environment Sphere at 100% is 1500 feet in diameter. Stewman said  "I love BB's environment sphere and I used it all the time, but it requires too small a camera focal length for some renders." He didn't say what problem he's solving with the smaller focal length. Most people are referring to pixellation when they complain of focal-length related problems with an environment sphere. They're usually not referring to perspective or ability to move around.

What is needed for high-res high-focal length images rendered inside a sphere is a high-res equirectangular image - something like 20K by 10K.

Quote - > Quote - It's actually a bit of a cheat.  I rendered the car by itself first and then pasted it onto the background image in paint shop pro.  The downside is that I'm not getting an accurate reflection map, but it does make it easier to put things in place.

How do you do to get the shadow then? I haven't found a way yet to get a shadow catcher with IDL.
And how do you do to get the EnvSphere reflection on the car while rendering only the car?

Are you using a light with ray-traced shadows enabled? If so, it shouldn't be a problem casting shadows using the ground plane as a shadow catcher, with or without IDL. 

As for the reflections - I just plug in an image map to those materials that are reflective.  Like I said, it's not really accurate but is usually passable.

Quote - Stewman said  "I love BB's environment sphere and I used it all the time, but it requires too small a camera focal length for some renders." He didn't say what problem he's solving with the smaller focal length. Most people are referring to pixellation when they complain of focal-length related problems with an environment sphere. They're usually not referring to perspective or ability to move around.

What is needed for high-res high-focal length images rendered inside a sphere is a high-res equirectangular image - something like 20K by 10K.

In this case, I am talking about perspective.  I don't particulary care for how the cars look with a lower focal-length of say between 15-25mm.  I can't think of what the term for it is, but you know - the "size" difference between closer and further away objects.

If you're talking about perspective, then I have to ask if you've read the recent thread started by SamTherapy, "Let's talk about skies".

The ratio of close to far size is about the relative distances of the objects and the chosen field of view. If you prefer a narrow field of view, then by definition you are choosing a decreased difference in apparent size of near vs. far, but ONLY if you move the camera farther away. The effect is called "telescoping", and is not the result of one environment sphere versus another, but rather due to how close the camera is to the sphere and to the subject.

Suppose you start 10 feet from a car, and 750 feet from the EnvSPhere. Then the ratio is 10/750 or 1/75. If you choose a longer focal length and and move the camera back to 75 feet from the car, then the ratio is 75/750, or 1/10. That is an enormous change in relative size and has nothing to do with the EnvSphere per se.

There is the further complication that the perspective of objects appearing in the EnvSphere image itself (before viewing it in Poser) may not be consistent with how you plan to use it. For example, I have an equirectangular image where there is a house about 15 feet from the camera. It is impossible to insert a 3D car in front of that house. There is no focal length or camera position that will make the two look consistent. It's an impossible assemblage.

Perspective is entirely driven by the relative positions of things, particularly the relative distances. People confuse perspective with the fact that when changing focal length, they MOVE to re-compose the subject. It is the movement that changes the perspective, not the focal length change.

Choosing a long focal length with the intent to move the camera and re-compose the subject will not do what you think it does until you fully integrate all of these factors in your mind. It begins with using an equirectangular image that is consistent with the perspective you wish to simulate in the scene. You can't use a parking space that is 6 feet from the camera that took the equirectangular image and put a car in it with a composition that is based on being 20 feet from the car. The two will never integrate, no matter what you do.

Thanks for the explanation.  I believe I understand what you are saying.  I'm not suggesting that the environment sphere itself is the problem, but finding equilateral images that are composed the way I want them to be in the first place. 

Stewman,

Check your sitemail. :-)

Helgard

Now I just need to make variations and do thumbnails for them

Yeah, I agree, no detail what-so-ever. The modeller must have been lazy and taken short-cuts. :-)

this is one material with different settings, what do you think?

My problem with rubber is that often there are actually texture maps for the tires, with the white text, bump for the treads, etc. So what is really needed is a material that you can apply that is white, into which you can then plug the texture map, and the bump map. The rubber material you have at present uses the bump channel, so that makes it hard. If you can use the displacement channel for the fine bump texture you have, and leave the bump channel to plug in the map for the tread bump, that will be better, but that is just for me.

For example, here is the texture map that comes with my model.

Hope this makes sense and you understand what I mean.

As for the bump map, you could either replace the noise node here completely, or otherwise have it control the noise node's MAX value.

the compound type is adjusted by changing the colors of specular, alternate diffuse and alternate specular.

about the tyre materials.

i have been readin somehwere that for rubber it is smart to use the clay node since you can change the rougness-

bb what do you think? clay or is the normal diffuse good enough?

Quote - OK, Im pretty sure I have all the material types I need now, I just went through a heap of the cars in my library, and applied materials to them, creating any where needed (which was not often :p)

Now I just need to make variations and do thumbnails for them

I can't wait.  Your materials are looking really, really good.

Looking good.  Hope these will be available soon.

BTW, where did you get the posable car?   

Quote - heres the thumbs of the new materials (well some of them)

Looks great.  It looks like you might have a typo near the bottom left where it says "Off White Plastic" - think it's supposed to be "Off White Carpet."

thanks for the heads-up stewman, I fixed that typo!

Could I get a couple of people to PM me so I can send you through the material collection and get you to try it out, make sure everything looks good for you too!?

I spent the last few hours re-building my chameleon paint, and the end result is fantastic!

this looks leaps and bounds better than the old shader

Attached Link: Car Materials 2010 for Poser Promo Gallery Image

Attached is a link to my latest gallery image, which is a large promo render