[ddrifmeyer84]

Hello,

Long time fan, first time poster.

I've got the hang of modeler, but rendering/lighting/surfacing is kinda complicated for me. As you can see from my picture, I kinda suck at it.

First question:

Why does the wood look all wavy on the desk? I'm using some image map that i found on the internet. I would use procedurals, but they always come out as lines going across the surface.

Second question:

Why are the shadows always really crisp? I want softer shadows but can't seem to get them.

Hmmm...scratch that first question. I opened the pic outside of lightwave and the wood doesn't have any waves. But even with the image map, it seems to always turn it into straight lines across the surface. Sorry, I'm a noob. This question has probably been answered a million times.

Thank you for any input and help.

Derek

[ddrifmeyer84]

All right, what's going on? The image looked fine in the image editor, now those waves are back. What's happening?

[bullet_evader]

Did you add a planar texture map to the surface?
If yes, make sure that it is alligned at the Y axis. If you allign it at the x or z axis, the texture will stretch.

You can set this option at the same window you added the texture.

Well, not sure if that was what you mean.

[priimate]

G'day Derek, welcome aboard!

I'll answer your second question first, as it has a definate answer! To create soft shadows on your renders, there are a couple of things you can do:

1 Change the light type to "Area" in the light properties panel. Use the Size tool to enlarge the light (the bigger you make the light, the softer the shadows get!) You may need to increase the light Quality in light properties and tick Shadow Noise Reduction in the Global Illumination panel as well to retain quality. Be aware that Area lights can give you very realistic lighting, but render times will suffer.

2 Change the light type to "Spotlight" in the light properties panel. Select the shadow tab and set "shadow type" to "shadow map". You can then adjust the fuziness setting to soften the edges of your shadows. To increase the quality of your shadows, enter values that are multiples of 512. Shadow maps don't require Ray-Tracing so render quickly (don't forget to turn off Ray-Traced Shadows in Render Options!

Just noticed that Bullet_Evader snuck in with a reply! Yeah! That's one possibility! If you hit the Automatic Sizing button in the texture editor, it will resize the image to that surface's geometry and check the texture axis like Bullet' said. It's a tricky one without seenig exactly what you're doing and the images you are using! Good luck!

Cheers! priimate.

[priimate]

Just tried a quick example for you!

[hoopti]

With area lights, not only does size matter, but how close you put it to your object matters too. If you want soft shadows, make it big and keep it close.

Hoop

[ddrifmeyer84]

I got the shadows that i wanted using a big and close area light. Now how do I light/texture the entire area so that everything looks like its clay? I see it all the time when people are showing WIP. Could someone explain this to me or point me in the direction of a good tutorial?

[R4s1n]

This is my clay render rig that i use on every model that i make.
unzip the contents, then open the scene file and when it asks to load the .lwo file, search for it in the folder that you unzipped it to.

After you have opened the scene, go to File>Load>Load Object and load the object you want to render.
Once inside set your Maximum Render lvl to Wireframe so you can see the object that you have loaded. Align the object so its on the z axis and then hit F9 to finish it off.

[R4s1n]

To find the Maximum Render lvl follow the picture that i attached. If you don't do this step then you won't be able to see your object in any of the views.

[ddrifmeyer84]

Your clay rig worked pretty good.

Two more questions.

How would I engrave a surface? Modeler? Image map?

And how would I make a realistic metal surface with scratches and stuff?

I know the metal question has probably been answerer about 100 times. Sorry.

Derek

[R4s1n]

I've been modeling for about 2 years but i've never exactly touched texturing :headbang:
But to point you in a good direction here is some advice.
Realistic Metal - HDRI
scratches - bump map/ displacement (one or other although bump mapping is easier)
Texturing - You need to lay out UV's and then go into a paint program i.e Photoshop, PaintShop Pro, Painter etc. and paint on the texture. Complicated even for me but then again i've never tried....

Cheers and i hope you get somewhere :beer:

What i did was practically download every single tutorial i could get my hands on. I probably have over 10gigs of tutes

Not much help, sorry....

[Fallenswordsman]

That's really sound advice there, R4s1n. Some nice clay renders as well. Might use that sort of thing myself too. :beer: