Old Room and Donuts

Artwork Finished Projects
1

So me and a friend had a little competition to see who could render a more realistic scene in blender. Note that this is a first attempt at a realistic render (for me at least) and we didn’t spend a whole lot of time on them. Both were rendered in Cycles. I’d like some feedback on this.

So, which one is more realistic?

Image 1:

final.jpg1920×1080 1.56 MB

Image 2:

render_1.jpg1920×1080 1.56 MB

2

shameless bump

3

If I were forced to choose, I’d say #1 - but shamelessly copying a tutorial is cheating, and in truth both of them are far from realistic.

Some quick crits for each:

#1:

  • Most obvious to me is the lack of fresnel on the mug and icing, but I’m sure it’s missing in general (see http://cgcookie.com/blender/2014/09/25/texturing-tips-techies/ - scroll to “#4: Keep it real…”)
  • Need more subdivisions on the icing and the plate
  • Need texture on the dough
  • Don’t use mesh lights if they’re going to be so obviously reflected - use an hdr or model a simple scene behind the camera. The mug shouldn’t be that reflective anyway.

#2:

  • I’ve never seen a room that is literally the inside of a cube, with no skirting or bevels.
  • Looks like there is no light bouncing around in there. If this is rendered in BI, add an area lamp on the floor where the light hits (pointing up) to fake light bouncing.
  • Add some more dirt to the top edge of the left wall, maybe by baking AO and using that as a dirt mask.
  • The pipes in the back are super clean, unless that was intentional, make the specular highlight larger and softer, and use a spec map.

Don’t be discouraged, keep at it :slight_smile:

4

Thanks, and I agree. We did them over a short period of time, but I’m not going to say which one I did yet. :slight_smile: