Hi all...

I'm kinda new to getting into vending.  I'm going to be hopefully selling my first item shortly. 

Just one question, say its a vehicular prop, would it be permittable in this case to have it an urban setting that would best suit the vehicles needs to show off night lighting and other types of gear with it?

For example, I was thinking of placing it in Stonemason's Backstreets later, but I just don't want to draw the attention away from the vehicle as well.  That's why I was considering having all versions of it rendered alone and then in scenes.

Thoughts/opinions?

Thanks!

You could always blur out the background either through render or postwork to bring focus to the vehicle.

Tom (DreamlandModels) and I had a similar problem. Tom has a lot of "city" stuff and the cars look great in those situations. But whole city scenes are kind of heavy on resources when you want a 5-minute render time and you have to crank out 10 promo images. And - they do get a bit busy and distract you from the car.

So we came up with the "Car Patio". And - we started selling the Car Patio yesterday.

Combined with my free environment sphere, it makes for very fast and attractive car renders. Just interesting enough to put them in context, but not so interesting that the context is distracting.

You get all the photo gear with it - lights, camera, cables, etc.

True, thanks for the input.

Sadly, my budget won't allow for the extra, and I have all the time in the world, so I'm really not concerned about 5 minute renders. 

I'll have to do groups by themselves, and then do some in the scene to show what can be done with them.

Much appreciated for the suggestions guys. 

Wow.

Looks like BB's provided your ideal solution.  I'd go for that in a hurry.

Cool lighting equipment too Bill.....pondering now what to get.  I like the set idea though, I can do tons of stuff with that even after the promos. Hmmmmmmmm :b_uncertain:

You're a good egg - I'm going to gift it to you. Hang on a sec. I can't figure out how to do it. There has to be a way, right?

I hear yah Sam.   That is a good idea, but I'm sooooooo enthrawled with the Back Streets too......

You can still use the lighting set with the backstreet.

I could not find a way to gift it without having to actually buy my own product.

So I sent you a PM with how to get it.

@ BB;  you'v got a golden heart.
And I mean that from the bottom of mine.

@ Bill --- Thank you so much man!    Got your message and it's downlaoded successfully.  Thanks again.

If you could PM me back when you get my reply, want to make sure you get it okay.  

Gonna be trying the set out now

Show and tell, please!! Can't wait to see you use it. Even if it isn't working right, show anyway. I'll give advice if you want any.

Thanks Bill!  I most certainly will.  Even if it isn't with my own vehicles (like to keep things top secret), I'll definitely post some renders.

I have plenty of cars in my library

I like the idea of the indoor set as well!  The surfaces really look sharp with the reflective floor base, that will be excellent for the renders alone with my vehicles.

It's a top notch set, can't wait to really fool around with it. :)

Quote -

Tom (DreamlandModels) and I had a similar problem. Tom has a lot of "city" stuff and the cars look great in those situations. But whole city scenes are kind of heavy on resources when you want a 5-minute render time and you have to crank out 10 promo images. And - they do get a bit busy and distract you from the car.

So we came up with the "Car Patio". And - we started selling the Car Patio yesterday.

Combined with my free environment sphere, it makes for very fast and attractive car renders. Just interesting enough to put them in context, but not so interesting that the context is distracting.

Mr. B -

I come with great humbleness, O Supreme and Inestimable One, to ask thee a question - 5 minute renders? How is this possible, Your Shaderness? The best I seem able to come up with and still have somewhat meaningful results with a puddle material for the patio is 14 minutes at 1000x625 resolution, using the Envsphere with an 8k x 4k jpeg cheat for IBL (overcast, produced in Photoshop with light blue-gray fading into dark blue-gray gradient). SSS is off, displacement maps is off, RayTrace is 3, IC is 0*, IDLQ is 16, shading is 1.00, post filter is 1, GC enabled (and set to 1.0 in the shaders). And yes, I leave smoothing on. I am on a 6-year-old first-gen MacPro with two dual-core CPUs, or four cores for 4 threads. No other lights but IBL.

The reason I ask, Your Most Illustriousness, is because the 1000x625 render you did had me looking to see if you described it as a Luxrender or a 3dsMax render - I cannot believe you rendered that in Poser! That was - beautiful! Reflections in reflections? Four vehicles with glossy reflections? Puddles? 5-minute renders?? Oh my! I hope you weren't kidding. (And why the h#@! doesn't Poser have a render timer yet - that is my pet peeve!)

I model in modo and I think if that is what Poser can do now with a Reyes engine, I may move some models over and try them (retro '50s cafe table with chairs, buildings, swimming pools, etc., high poly)... if I can get the 5-minute renders. Unless, of course, you have a 16-core machine, in which case this would all be moot for me.

Would you be willing to share your render settings and the lighting you used, O Great and Infinite Numberness? If I can move my models into Poser for rendering (although modo is super fast), rather than trying one more time to move Poser models to modo (always a disaster for me, materials lost, etc. etc.), I will build a human model in modo and call him Mr. Reyes ;-)

I have PP2012 SR2.1, and units are in inches.

P.S. - I love that car patio! I think I'll do something similar for the top of my buildings, only square. I also love that car, whoever modeled that baby is very very good. Can't wait till I can afford it!

*I have read the thread on IC, and it must be the reverse on a Mac, because 0 is fast and 99 or 100 is i-n-f-i-n-i-t-e-l-y SLOW! Unless SM fixed this behavior because you once remarked that it didn't operate as one expected (don't quote me on that quote). Of course, that may have been an old thread. Like this one... which may go unread!

Regards,

Rube

Quote - Hi all...

I'm kinda new to getting into vending.  I'm going to be hopefully selling my first item shortly. 

Just one question, say its a vehicular prop, would it be permittable in this case to have it an urban setting that would best suit the vehicles needs to show off night lighting and other types of gear with it?

For example, I was thinking of placing it in Stonemason's Backstreets later, but I just don't want to draw the attention away from the vehicle as well.  That's why I was considering having all versions of it rendered alone and then in scenes.

Thoughts/opinions?

Thanks!

 

I like the depth of field idea mentioned above,simply blurring out the background would allow for it to be in a 'realistic' setting without the noise of the background getting in the way..this also offers reflections of the environment on the vehicle which helps tie it all together

when I was rendering vehicles a while back I found certain vehicles looked better in certain environments..an agressively styled car for example looks great in an old grungy alleyway.or a futuristic concept car looks cool in a sleek/clean scifi style environment.

attached a couple pics of my doodles :)

Cheers

Stefan

*I have read the thread on IC, and it must be the reverse on a Mac, because 0 is fast and 99 or 100 is i-n-f-i-n-i-t-e-l-y SLOW! Unless SM fixed this behavior because you once remarked that it didn't operate as one expected (don't quote me on that quote). Of course, that may have been an old thread. Like this one... which may go unread!

I quote myself to correct myself, Mr. Bagginsbill - you indeed said it correctly: 0 is fast and higher is slower (and better) - too funny! I was writing it and still missed the obvious!

-Rube

Nice cars Stefan.

Your work is superb!

Tom

Thanks DM!

and sorry guys,didnt realise this thread was so old :

Here is a look at another of the cars coming your way in the very near future.

Hope you like it and glad you like my patio models.

The car is sitting on the patio with the walls and columns hidden, with a white applied to the stone floor.

Also has ted's free skydome with a snowy day image applied.

I really like the end result.

Click the image to enlarge.

Tom

Quote -  I am on a 6-year-old first-gen MacPro with two dual-core CPUs, or four cores for 4 threads. No other lights but IBL.

I have a MacBook Pro only two years old, but similar. It blows. It is a slow POS. It was also a lot of money - way more than my desktop or any other laptop I have. It blows. And now, after less than two years, the battery is useless. I am now an official hater of Apple.

On top of that, this expensive piece of s*** doesn't have a page up or page down key - just two empty spots on the keyboard where every other laptop has those keys. Sigh.

I just bought another one for my daughter, but I objected strongly.

Quote - The reason I ask, Your Most Illustriousness, is because the 1000x625 render you did had me looking to see if you described it as a Luxrender or a 3dsMax render - I cannot believe you rendered that in Poser!

I will need some time to dig up those files to tell you the settings. But I can pretty much promise it was Poser and it's not hard - with a PC.

I usually render on my I7 860 8 GB RAM (4 cores + hyperthreading) purchased three years ago - before I got the MacBook.

I'm heading to bed and will be out sailing tomorrow, so I hope you're not in a hurry. 

Quote - Thanks DM!

 

and sorry guys,didnt realise this thread was so old :

Still pretty new actually. Nice renders!

Quote - RayTrace is 3

Killer problem there.

Use the D3D Render Firefly dialog. Set your second bounces (the IDL bounces) to 1 for fast outdoor lighting with EnvSphere.

For the car reflections, the reflect bounces (first bounces value) I go for 2, but from some angles can get away with 1.

(Note - this was an earlier version of the car patio. A rare collector's item. Only two copies exist. )

Going to bed now. See ya.

I like my Tardis!... Ummm, I mean Mac, but then again what the hell do I know. Just my OT, irrelevant Half-a-cent.

Ps... What's a Virus?

Attached Link: http://mashable.com/2012/04/05/mac-flashback-trojan/

You mean this? ;)

Morridor that is computer profiling. 

Quote - Morridor that is computer profiling. 

Hah. I know. I try to be as non-judgmental and open minded as I can, but this is one area in which I know I unequivocably fail.

Though I can say, I always thought Steve Jobs looked smashing in a turtleneck.

LOL

Quote - Here are the settings.

Going to bed now. See ya.

You are a prince among men! There was absolutely no hurry at all, so I thank you very much, sir. I'm sorry you've had trouble with your Mac, I guess I've been lucky in that regard. I use my much older PCs for tools not available on the Mac, with Poser 8. Again, thank you. The stuff you and Dreamland are doing is great! Enjoy your time off, and be safe!

Stonemason! Mr. M., I have purchased many of your sets over the years; man, you are just incredible! With the instruction on lighting and shaders bagginsbill has been trying to teach us over the years, I think I may enjoy rendering with them again. I can't wait to try out ragtopjohnny's new car when it comes out. By the way, that third render is very nice, indeed!

Night all, see ya around the render farm!

Thanks for the heads up moriador... I checked out my system and I don't have this particular nasty. All other Malware etc. for OSX requires that an admin enter his password during a download, anyone that is stupid enough to do that gets his or her just rewards.

Still love my Tardis, so Nyaaah!

Also, the Flashback trojan only effects Intel Macs, I'm on a PPC.

I repeat, Whats a virus?

Just had to be a smartass on that one.

Primorge the thread killer strikes again!

Quote - I did even better. This was 2 minutes 10 seconds rendered just now. I am not making that up.

(Note - this was an earlier version of the car patio. A rare collector's item. Only two copies exist. )

Very nice - that patio in the center is very much the 21-foot diameter plan my wife and I used 10 years ago in the backyard, except that we used a basket-weave pattern and not herringbone. I hate weeding that thing! Ha!

I'm keeping that render - it could be a collector's item on some future episode of the Virtual Antiques Roadshow. Plus, I like it! Very clever.

Seriously, though, now that you've told me how to properly use bounces in D3D's render tool, I think I may get a better handle on what's actually happening. I appreciate your direction.

On another note, I apologize (slight grin) for the Mork schtick I used earlier, Your Nodeness, but you are, after all, an immensity in the world of node. You are nothing short of impressive. But enough of this MIT bashing.

I hope you're not reading this until after the holidays and a good sail, about which time I should have the results of my time trials. I forgot to add that I include a reflective human-size sphere in the patio setting I've set up for light tests. I think it was your orb from a thread using the doge image. Anyway, it actually isn't that much of a hit on render time.

Smooth sailing,

Rube

Quote - Hi John,

Here is a look at another of the cars coming your way in the very near future.

Hope you like it and glad you like my patio models.

The car is sitting on the patio with the walls and columns hidden, with a white applied to the stone floor.

Also has ted's free skydome with a snowy day image applied.

I really like the end result.

Click the image to enlarge.

Tom

DM, that is a beautiful Camaro. After I get the '51 panel truck next week, I'm going to await that baby - and raptopjohnny's! I've tried modeling cars - complete disaster! Too complicated for me. I've been working on a P51 Mustang for the past three years (in modo), but keep finding mistakes (and parts I've left out) and keep tweaking what I've done. I started it to learn more about modo - and because I wanted a good P51 for Poser that wouldn't cost me a wing and a leg! Once I'm done with it (in a year or two! Ha!), I'll more than likely put it up on Rendo in the free stuff area. Of course, best laid plans and all that.

Can't wait for you to release the Camaro - your dimensions look spot on, and I know that is difficult! My favorite car ever was the 1968 Plymouth Roadrunner with a 426 hemi - my sister's boyfriend bought one and let me drive it! It was a great shade of subdued blue. Wow! The CHP pulled me over and told me they had better not see me speeding around the neighborhood again. The closest I came to that much power again was when I got my first V-6 truck... and my first speeding ticket! As a result, I've had only one speeding ticket in all the years I've been driving. Talk about luck - I probably deserved several!Ha!

Well, gotta go put on the coffee. Talk about OT!

Regards, Rube

Quote - I did even better. This was 2 minutes 10 seconds rendered just now. I am not making that up.

(Note - this was an earlier version of the car patio. A rare collector's item. Only two copies exist. )

Nice BB

Tom / BB, I wondered if that was going to be the next car... spotted it in BB's gallery...

...and Stefan, wow! Are all of those Reality + LuxRender then?

Here's my first attempt to re-texture an old Daz WW2 Jeep model, using shaders from the various BB / Dreamland sets... still got a way to go.

I'm back to that issue of trying to make rust procedurally we'd discussed a while back, BB. I've lifted some of the scratched / gouged textures from the Bedroom Furniture sets wood shaders.

I think I will probably paint a control map for the rust patterns over the whole bodywork... just used the spots node, so far...

...this might be okay if the damage patterns, which precluded the rust forming, were from some sort of shrapnel I guess? But if the chipped paintwork was from more standard use, the rust wouldn't likely be so regular on all bodywork panels...

...reckon I'd still go with the spots node... but make that subserviant to a manually painted map, that masks off areas I don't want much, or any, rust...

...as SamTherapy suggests, I also think I need to tone down the gloss

(click image to view fullsize in gallery)

Quote - Also, the Flashback trojan only effects Intel Macs, I'm on a PPC.

I repeat, Whats a virus?

Just had to be a smartass on that one.

Primorge the thread killer strikes again!

Heh. Well, if you're asking me on the basis of experience, I can't answer. Never had one. Never had any hardware failure (harddrive, motherboard, etc) either except the fan on a very cheap and second-hand e-Machine (shudder!). Monitors die with alarming regularity. But PC's? Nope. I guess I'm supremely lucky. Knock on wood.

Bagginsbill -

When I saw the checkbox Use Irradiance Cache and the slider for Precalculation Scale, I figured they must have been added in SR3, which I had been avoiding, since I usually wait till the dot 1 release of any update. But, what the heck, I thought. So imagine my surprise when everything works well - including the render timer! I'm so happy! I would much rather it was included in the user interface, but hey. Render Timer had always given me a result of 26 minutes and change, no matter how long the render, whether under a minute or several hours. Being a python script, I figured it was just another instance of something not playing nice with the Mac (I've gotten used to that over the years). I ran a separate digital timer and D3D's render timer is spot on. I love that tool!

And you are absolutely correct - the render times using the parameters you set out do cut down the time. Tremendously! I am positively floored. I'm going to run some more tests, and up the parameters to see what is best for this old machine.

You are the master. No doubt about it. I thank you here publicly, and silently every time I use your ideas. I am grateful.

Signing off now for another decade. ;-)

Yay.