Whola Lotta Loft! - Challenge 2015

[evnvis]

Hi, here's my final entry again as it has less visibility on the second page:



the complete list of credits:
- Evermotion Archinteriors Vol.30 - teacup and teapot, tin box, boxes, books, roses, 2 chairs and a few dirt maps
- Cornelius Dämmrich: https://zomax.net/ - brush and dustpan, a few kitchen models (cups and plates on the table) and a smudge texture
- http://www.textures.com/ - most of the textures but many painted and edited by me
- outside photo - a view of Tallin, Estonia from Foltolia.com

Software used:
- Autodesk 3ds Max 2014 (and plugins: Turbosmooth Pro, QuadChamfer, X-ray Unwrap, Relink Bitmaps)
- CORONA Renderer 1.3
- Pixologic ZBrush 4.6
- Marvelous Designer 3
- Adobe Photoshop CS6
- Magic Bullet Photo Looks
- Knoll Light Factory

Thank you very much Evermotion for the opportunity to participate at this challenge and to everybody on the forum for being such a wonderful community :)

Best wishes,
Elena


Message originally posted by evnvis on 2015-12-02 at 11:41 AM:

Hi, I would like to participate to the challenge.
I think it's a very exciting and imaginative subject. Looking for inspiration I found an article on an interior deco blog (HOW TO LIVE IN THE SKY by DECOsash) which completely captured my imagination, so I started creating an image starting from this.



Thank you!
Elena

[evnvis]

Hi, I'm posting an update of what I did up to his point, mostly modelling and composition also played with different HDRIs but still working on the lighting. I started modelling last week but I had to stop so that's why I only started the thread yesterday.
I use 3ds max, Zbrush, Marvellous Designer and Corona as render engine although I don't have experience in using Corona, I only rendered one scene in Corona before I still want to carry on using it, I think it's worth it... everything is a learning process to me after all.



I used Zbrush to model and texture the logs and Marvellous designer for the dress and table cloth.





I'm still trying to find the best camera angle and in the meanwhile I'm populating the scene to have more flexibility in choosing a camera angle. I love modelling so I make my own models, maybe I will only use library models for the books and maybe some dressing things that are not in the close view of the camera. I also love details so I aim to have a space that tells the story of the person living there which in my case I imagine is a ballerina also passionate about fashion design. I would like to achieve a feminine, aerial and delicate space in the end, a space that makes you dream.

Thank you,

Elena

[evnvis]

Hi, here's an update with some more modelling I did and also with the overall scene. Changed the camera angle but still not sure if this is going to be the final one and also the position of the objects in the room, is quite tempting to try different compositions with the furniture and the other elements and to add or delete objects. I would very much want to give the space a natural look, not very arranged and also not make it look as it would be made for an editorial in some house decoration magazine which probably the reference picture is.
Also I'm experimenting with the textures and especially colour wise I want to make all in a harmony of colours like in a painting (which is actually my main degree but I haven't been painting since ages ago)...
anyway, here's the printscreens with some models and also some test renders:



Thank you,
Elena

[evnvis]

This is a test render I'm posting at this stage with a bit of post in photoshop (some colour correction and zdepth) just for checking the overall atmosphere and how the details are working together or if they are working or not. Technical wise I already mentioned I use Corona as my render engine, also the image you can see outside is a stock image from Fotolia website with Tallin (Estonia) and I chosen it just because I liked the wintry fairy tale atmosphere that emanates from it and I thought is working very well with what I want to achieve with this image.



a few details in the scene:


Thank you,
Elena

[evnvis]

This is the a wire render for the overall scene as I'm almost done with the modelling. I modelled the majority of the objects in the scene, the exception being the books and magazines, the roses, 2 chairs, a lamp, a cup, the teapot and the tin box - these are Evermotion models from Achinteriors vol. 30 that I bought a while ago for my library.

[evnvis]

I decided to introduce more small details like a set of keys, a perfume, a necklace that I'm still working on.

[evnvis]

Also I would like to post some printscreens with a few materials and things are not very visible to the camera but they are in the scene, like the back of the screens that are reflected in the mirror.

[cpwell]

its a nice job

[evnvis]

Thanks. Here are a few details about the lighting I used in the scene. Main light source is Corona sun with a composed HDRI image. I've set up the sun very high up to obtain directional shadows in the room, also used a Corona rectangular light to create a ray of light on the wall in the area of the sink and an IES light behind the screen.

[evnvis]

I've been working at the glass and windows but I still think it's not there yet. I've created a variation of frost masks for the windows:



another test render:



also the wire render

[evnvis]

...so: more work on the glass and windows, tried a few different HDRIs but i want to keep the initial picture so i used the picture for the background and a different HDRI to light the scene. I've done lots of test renders and retextured the glass and windows until I got the result i was looking for.



this is close to what i wanted to achieve in terms of frosty, wintry windows



also, I'm considering introducing another element in the scene, a bed that I saw in the same editorial where i've got the reference images so i want to try to create a similar bed and widen the view on the room



but i'm not sure yet...

[evnvis]

tidy-up a some models, tried a different lighting and did another test render. The ribbons were not looking realistic with splines so I remade them with Marvellous Designer. Also the meshes from MD are triangulated so I made them quads in max because the close-up dress was looking really odd, gave me some odd shadows, so it makes a big difference now it's quadrified, looks smoother.



also, tried different HDRIs and played with lighting more, set-up the sun lower and basically simplified the entire light set-up, now I have one HDRI that casts a sunrise pink tinted light and the warmer sun for the exterior and in the interior an IES light and a Corona sphere light inside the lamp to neutralise the shadows:



This is the wire render again:



and a small raw test render

[evnvis]

I'm still working on a few details and need to fix a few things but I played with doing a bit of post using Magic Bullet (photo looks) even though I think it can be destructive sometimes, you are tempted to over do it so it's always good to do early tests
the small render:



and some details 100% from the 5000px render

[evnvis]

I would like to share my pinterest board I've done for this project as I always like to do when I work on a new project and I have enough time, I love to have an inspirational board for the general mood and also for the details of the scene.



I've done another test render at 5000px but I would like to render the final scene at 8000px because I think the details add value to the entire image. Only the details look almost as separate compositions - this is still another test with less post-production

[evnvis]

render details - 8000 px/5000 px:

[evnvis]

some more printscreens:

[evnvis]

Rendering at a high resolution is also a good way to see the mistakes in the scene so trying to fix them. I modelled a different pair of pumps but then I changed my mind and I swapped the new ones with the ones hanged above the sink as I thought they were not looking realistic:

...so returned to the initial ones for the close-up view but with a few tweaks:


starting to work on the post-production for the 5000x8000 px render, here's a few details 100%

[evnvis]

Just a quick breakdown of the post-production - I save the render .exr to have more flexibility with the colour correction, also saved the refraction pass for the windows then played with Magic Bullet to get the right feel. In the end I would like to have an almost washed-out image like painting with whites and very subtle greys and pastels and the light to almost hurt the eyes...



also rendered a different view with the glass table and I would like to render some more different camera angles

[evnvis]

Next I'm trying another view adding the bed I talked about in an earlier post. I'll rearrange the elements in a new composition so this is the start of the bed modelling and camera set-up for the new view:

[evnvis]

Happy New Year everyone! Thank you for viewing my work.


a few more materials in the scene

I worked a bit more on the bed as I wasn't happy with my first attempt (this is just the model, no materials applied yet)