[DigiMatt]

Hey everyone,

This project is mostly for fun, but who knows where it goes.
Comments on how to make it better are very welcome, some more props are to be added ( like that triangular thing to rack the balls up which I have no idea what the word for in english is, cue ball and maybe a cuestick )

thanks

[DigiMatt]

c'mon guys.. its not that good, surely you must have some crits!

lol !!

I was just getting to it!

but looks good mate, the table felt needs a little work (if you look close at the felt it looks kinda hairy LOL)

but the balls look great... some area have a little to much reflectivity on them and the 15 ball has an error on the number 5 (been cut off it seems)

but... It looks great mate, bit of work on that felt an job done..

one more slight thing... if you have the chance to get to a snooker hall look down from the angle that you have your shot in.. ..the light does need adjusting but I cant think how best to discribe it.

Hope this helps mate... hope this place fills fast to so others can input

[DigiMatt]

Hi Kevin,

Thanks for the input.
Im aware of the table felt but I havent quite figured out how to acomplish the hairy look, maybe I'll turn to SasLite for the answer.
I think that what has happened to the 15 ball is that the specular highlight hit right at the lower part of the '5', I'll just rotate the ball a little and that should be fixed.

Im using and incident angel gradient for the reflection, I will try and lower the max amount a little like you suggested.

Im gonna pop by the local pool hall this weekend to check out their lightning facilities, I believe last time I was there they had like 2 or 3 lights over each table.

Thanks again for the comments.

I'll post updates

that would be great... I will look out for you updates!

also while you are down the snooker hall have a couple of beers for me

[buco]

Hi Digi, cool image
That's what I will tweak for the balls' surface:
If the rectangular part, that I see reflected on the ball, is the light source on your enviroment pict I'd set spec highlights to zero. Ambient set or luminosity seem too high to me; ambient light should be from 5 to 8, luminosity to 0 (but could be my Mac gamma that false your image..) and diffuse 'round 65. Then maybe I'd lower a bit color highlights in advanced shader's settings and yes, as Kevin said, I'd lower the reflection facing to the camera in your gradient. For the carpet a small turbulence for bump and color could help. Hope this helps

[DigiMatt]

Hi Buco,

Thanks for comments, the reflection is mostly a HDRI image, but I think I will change that and actually model some environment instead, pool halls are usually quite dark except for the lights right above the tables so it shouldnt be very difficult to model it, Ive also noticed that there seldom is windows in pool halls.

I will try your tips as soon as I get home tonight.
Thanks again!

cheers!

//DigiMatt

[buco]

Yes, you're right for the enviroment; so we have to wait for a new pic .

[DeppOfField]

Good work. I think it would look even better if you add some unregularities(dirt, notches) to the surfaces.

[SuperCat]

I actually like the way the balls are lit as it is, and it's a nice colourful shot. Technically though, I guess they need to be darker on the underside and lit from above as others have suggested. Maybe more detail on the felt since it's a fairly close up shot. Nice stuff already though.

[DigiMatt]

DeppOfField: Ive been thinking about that too but Im not quite sure how I would do it to make it look good so Im just pretending its a brand new set of balls right now, might come later on though. Thanks for mentioning it

SuperCat: Thanks, Im working on a new enhanced lightning right now.. also fiddling around with SasLite for the felt so I'll post an update as soon as I get one Im satisfied with

[DigiMatt]

Havent had alot of time to work with it yet but heres a small update. Tweaked the felt texutre a bit, I tried to do it with SasLite first but I couldnt get anywhere near the result I wanted so Ive just added a little different and stronger bumpmap to it.

Lightning is also changed, HDRI is still there but very low, three spots from above which is what they had in the pool hall, the reflection of the 3 lights bugs me a little though but Im not sure..

Will try to get more done tomorrow..

As always c&c very welcome.

yes - that is a better render! go a little higher with the HDRI as the black looks a little to matt

The felt is getting closer to, good job dude

[buco]

Agreed! Maybe you could try to increase a bit the diffusion value on the black ball and use a very dark grey color. Black is always difficult to render..

[DigiMatt]

Thanks for comments guys, I dont know why but the image cam out darker when I posted it.. the black ball looks alot better when I watch the image in photoshop.. I will try your hints though