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Posted on 13/03/12 4:38:22 PM |
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GKB
Magical Montagist Posts: 4022 Reply  |
A grungy old VW Beetle
I have recently been playing with HDRI imaging as a means of creating realistic lighting within Cinema 4D. This VW Beetle is a ready made 3D car but I had to add the seats myself. All the texturing was done in Photoshop. The lighting was provided from a photograph which used a 360 degree coverage image of this factory scene. Various versions of the car were created in Cinema 4D and then composited in Photoshop to give the rusty paint finish. A couple of broken windows were added for better effect. Although I could have used a shadow generated within Cinema I chose to hand paint this one in Photoshop. It's amazing that the headlights still worked even in this state 
Larger file: http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s93/GKBphoto/BlueBeetlewarehouse.jpg _________________ My neighbour knocked on my door at 2:30am this morning, can you believe that 2:30am?! Luckily for him I was still up playing my Bagpipes. |
Posted on 14/03/12 10:00:33 AM |
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joeysala
Perfect Palmist Posts: 604 Reply  |
Re: A grungy old VW Beetle
Great, Gordon. The rust textures are very believeable. I think I saw about ten dread-locked hippies in this at last years "Reggae on the River" concert! May I offer a suggestion? I'm thinking the cars cast shadow may read better if it had a harder edge.....??? And the interior (above the front window) seems to have a light source that isn't consistant with the area behind the rear seat. OR - am I just nit-picking because I'm a bit envious? Yes, I am, a wee bit.........Joey  _________________ "Art is a blade of grass ... and in a moment I will eat it." |
Posted on 14/03/12 5:35:45 PM |
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GKB
Magical Montagist Posts: 4022 Reply |
Re: A grungy old VW Beetle
I see what you mean Joey ... it's unnaturally bright in a place where I would have imagined it to be in shadow. Can't explain that one. I debated with myself about the shadow and put it in as a rather soft one as the shadows around the rest of the building are rather soft but I can see that a rather harder edge might well be better. Glad you liked it, though. As a matter of interest where is Sala? Gordon _________________ You're never too old to learn something stupid. |
Posted on 14/03/12 10:57:46 PM |
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Nick Curtain
Model Master Posts: 1768 Reply  |
Re: A grungy old VW Beetle
Gordon I can't put my finger on it, but the perspective of the car needs some adjustment. The fact that the front offside wheel is considerably larger than the rear, suggests it's much closer to the viewer. I made a rough selection of the car, enlarged it while maintaining the roof level and it seems to work better. You've chosen a tricky setting, as the roof lights will create multi directional lighting, so I think the softer shadows are appropriate, but the bonnet and roof would be lighter and the interior should be very much darker. The side facing us would be more in shadow because there is no obvious corresponding light source on the floor area. Excellent job on those seats though. Darker shadows under the tyres would stop the impression that the car is floating to some degree. My opinion, for what it's worth, is that the setting is not right for what you're looking to achieve. I see a muddy old Beetle with a flat tyre (not a rusty one, cos they're built like tanks) sitting in an old dark barn, just left there to rot. |
Posted on 15/03/12 01:24:34 AM |
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joeysala
Perfect Palmist Posts: 604 Reply |
Re: A grungy old VW Beetle
Sala is my last name.......where I am is northern California, USA _________________ "Art is a blade of grass ... and in a moment I will eat it." |
Posted on 15/03/12 08:46:19 AM |
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Steve Caplin
Administrator Posts: 7042 Reply  |
Re: A grungy old VW Beetle
I agree with Nick: the perspective is the problem here. Look at the joins between the floor slabs. There's a tremendous amount of fisheye distortion there. Either you need to straighten this out, or bend your car to match it! |
Posted on 16/03/12 1:13:51 PM |
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GKB
Magical Montagist Posts: 4022 Reply |
Re: A grungy old VW Beetle
Thanks guys all taken on board. Sorry Joey I didn't realise that was your surname; your avatar says Location - Sala oops!  I've spent a lot of time in northern Ca, mainly around the Monterrey Bay area; very pleasant.
Gordon _________________ You're never too old to learn something stupid. |
Posted on 17/03/12 01:16:46 AM |
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joeysala
Perfect Palmist Posts: 604 Reply |
Re: A grungy old VW Beetle
Ooops is right! Fixed it. I'm waaaay far north than that....150 miles north of San Francisco. Joey _________________ "Art is a blade of grass ... and in a moment I will eat it." |
Posted on 22/03/12 01:29:58 AM |
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David Asch
Tech Support Posts: 1913 Reply  |
Re: A grungy old VW Beetle
I could leave this alone no longer! 
Steve is right about the differences in perspective, of course; there are two ways to sort this out. First is to distort the Beetle to match the fisheye; not an easy task! The second, and much easier (more so when you don't have to clumsily clone out the car!) way is to straighten out the backdrop. This comprises removing the distortion and compressing the scene vertically so the floor better matches the perspective of the car. I also adjusted the angle of the car slightly. Here is my hastily done version. 
_________________ Leap and the net will appear |
Posted on 22/03/12 8:31:29 PM |
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GKB
Magical Montagist Posts: 4022 Reply |
Re: A grungy old VW Beetle
Hi David, Sorry I haven't properly gotten back to everyone's comments until now. The original idea was just to experiment with HDRI lighting and texture design within Cinema and I wasn't concerned with the perspective. Unfortunately, I didn't have an undistorted image (it's called a 'backplate') to composite the car against so I just stayed with the 360 degree panorama used for the lighting set-up. I should have known that this would never pass muster in HTCIP 
_________________ You're never too old to learn something stupid. |
Posted on 23/03/12 8:46:45 PM |
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David Asch
Tech Support Posts: 1913 Reply |
Re: A grungy old VW Beetle
Hi Gordon, The texturing is superb. Working with 3D is something I could never get my head around (even on the Z axis). I just saw the perspective thing as a bit of a late night challenge to myself, it wasn't meant to detract from the original idea. _________________ A happy-go-lucky chap, always dressed in black |
Posted on 24/03/12 11:58:42 AM |
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GKB
Magical Montagist Posts: 4022 Reply |
Re: A grungy old VW Beetle
No problem David. I was having fun with seeing just how the lighting and texturing would work out and completely disregarded everything else. I spent a bit more time on this one and hope that this might be to everyone's liking. A 360 degree panoramic image provided the lighting and reflections with shadows being done separately in another render of the image then it was all composited in Photoshop. The backdrop is Wakehurst Place about 12 miles from home. It's Kew's 'country extension' and is where they have the 'Millennium Seed Bank' of thousands of the world's plants. 
http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s93/GKBphoto/GardensOldCar.jpg _________________ You do not need a parachute to skydive. You only need a parachute to skydive twice. |