Real watch on rendered submarine

This has been my project for the weekend. It’s a photo of a watch from a shoot I did this past winter. I’ve always had this composition in mind for it, but only now have I become competent enough in Blender to begin to fulfill my vision for it.

I’m interested in feedback on how to blend the two a little more realistically. I’m not 100% happy with the yellow submarine material. It needs a bit more of the sharp, clean gloss that the watch has, but that’s not something i’ve been able to whip up realistically using mix shaders. Any pointers in that area would be appreciated.


Next steps are to add texture to the little sand dunes, just some noise to make them more sandy (though I’m pretty pleased with their seafloor ripply quality). Add a stream of bubbles and possibly a propeller from the rear of the submarine to give it some life.

And probably some low-poly or origami style fish and other sea creatures to fill in some of the negative space.

I’ll also play with some volumetric lighting, i think, to get some beams of light coming through from the surface.

Much happier with the material now, i keep forgetting to use a final mix-shader with glossy with roughness set to 0 to get those crisp speculars on top of the base material. This is a low-sample render with some noise in it just as a test for the gloss and the bubbles and the sand texture.

I think it’s a definite step in the right direction!


I know this is a pretty rapid-fire update for just one night :slight_smile:

Here’s where the weekend’s work has gotten me, and i’m pretty happy about where it stands. There are a couple of portions that could use some more smoothing, the top of the back fin, the bend in the periscope.

But the watch is really blending pretty realistically now, imo!

next up, the Origami fish!


Lil school of fish added for extra interest. Too distracting?


did you try the toon shader on the sub? or are you going realistic? I think its difficult having two materials so close in color.

Going for realistic in the “it’s a toy diver’s watch on a toy submarine, set up in a stylized diarama” . . . I didn’t try the toon shader, but i did want the plastic of the watch and the rendered plastic of the submarine to match in their basic properties.

Alright, a break now. I promise :slight_smile:

Repositioned the fish, added the jellfish.
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neat thing you have going on. right now the jellyfish appendages look more like hair, might want to modify that a bit.

Good Job. You could consider a bold wide stripe on the side of the sub in a contrasting color perhaps really dark blue. That might make the watch pop.

Good improvements! However I don’t really agree with you on the fishes. I think you have done a good job on the lightning in the water and the fishes takes it away a bit. The focus on the seaweed in the foreground is a little too sharp compared to the submarine as well.

Good luck bud! :slight_smile:

I hear ya estellegaillard. They were distracting from the lighting, i think, because they were brighter than they had any business being, and were approaching the brightest tones in the scene. I like them as an element, however, so I darkened them and think it’s another step in the right direction.

The Jellyfish are jellyfishier now, and I added a constrasting design to the hull of the sub, which i think helps the watch pop out more.

thanks for all the input everyone!

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looks good. I think look at using the camera focus to blur everything that is not your subject. I’m not very good at that part but many renders I’ve seen really set the focus on one element and the rest bets blurred.

I usually take that part pretty literally, and camera focus is dialed in on the round porthole windows, with radius/f-stop set to the maximum that still keeps the near edge of the back fin (facing camera) still in focus.

i could make 2 renders, one with a shallower focus, and one with enough to keep the fin sharp, and then merge . . . but i don’t see much to gain from going through all that :slight_smile: imo

Maybe try setting the creatures farther back in the scene? Also make an exaggerated depth to the school of fish. That might help you get that sense of depth you are looking for. The foreground needs some help, too. The seaweed is too sharp and in focus . . .