Water Gauge

Interested in what could be better. Tell me what you think-


With more realistic glass-

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your pipe thread is a little strange looking. too much angle/not enough twist to look like real thread. also:
this connection is a bit strange looking. some sort of coupler? looks like the same size pipe on both sides of that very short coupler, which makes me think: why does the pipe have different thread than the gauge, and what brilliant engineer thought it was a good idea to mate male to male threads in a pressure vessel application (Steam boiler i assume).

Sorry bro that is a little outside of my field of knowledge, but this was based on a a reference which shows it pretty similarly… :eyebrowlift2:

I think the bump texture is to strong, I am assuming that it is a normal map so it should not be hard to turn that down.
Furthermore, I would do some work in the compositer, maybe a vignette, and some glare coming off the bright spots on the glass

Post Pro-


It’s very good … a little bit stylized, yes, but good in that way. There are lots of interesting visual details on it to catch your eye and which invite you to take a closer look, without doing anything that would despoil the effect when and if you do. Very nice, I think.

The “post pro” work makes it look like it’s in a steamy, hot, industrial setting. A nice addition.

The glass still needs a bit of work - somewhere in between seems best. In the later render you can hardly tell it’s there.

Something’s bugging me about the highlights, too. Specifically on the lower-left portion of the gauge. Either it’s too bright or too homogeneous. Try toning it down where it’s rough and only letting it shine like that where it’s smooth.

Finally I would add a little distress to the lettering on the readout. With everything else so beat up I would expect the ink to have faded in some spots.

Great work, though. The materials are amazing.

One thing I noticed is you have included a red marker, but there’s no control for setting it (usually a knob on the front). The idea is that you spin that marker to where the needle is now so you can come back later and easily see if it’s changed. I usually see them as coaxial knobs, but the side would work as well. I think it would make a nice touch.

It’s great hearing the comments about getting the mechanical accuracy down. The first thing that popped out to me was the perfection in the glass. The reflection sharpness is fine, but I think it could use some tiny scratches. It needs to be roughed up a bit, especially if it’s attached to those rusty pipes. A little bit of fogginess goes a long way.

The texture map on the pipes works, but it’s reflection is very smooth as well. I’m working on a similar combination of metal and glass and texture plays such an important role. It’s a great image so far. The low camera angle gives it some power.

While on the subject of the glass, and this is a small point but I sense that you want your render to be as realistic as you can make it. Gauges almost never have beveled glass. The glass is flat to avoid distortion on the needles/dials thus reducing the chance for a misreading. Again this is a small point but perhaps a flat glass with a couple of dirt maps on it would make it pop.