Add 3d atmospheric dust. The dust added in Gimp looks pretty good, but I’d like to add some in Blender so I can get a nice bokeh on it. I’ve been thinking of putting this in it’s own separate file and rendering out the image and a z-buffer so I can use it any time I want.
Add various details to the truck: hood ornament, door handle, steering wheel, etc.
Add some paint and decals to the truck. My original mental image for this project was for the truck to be painted and the paint chipping off in parts. So I first created the underlying wood shaders, planning on then masking a paint shader over the wood. But I do kind of like the natural wood look, so I will probably put out two final renders at the end: one with the truck painted and one without.
Possibly add some more things in the background, I am not sure if I like the completely empty space behind the truck or not. I don’t want to take any focus away from the truck itself.
Darken the shadow under the truck. Currently it kind of looks like the truck is floating/glowing, the shadow just doesn’t look as dark as it should be. I would love some tips on doing this without affecting the lighting on the truck itself; weather in the compositor, shading tricks, or whatever else you can think of.
Please let me know what you think needs improvement, should stay the same, etc. I would really appreciate some feedback!
Hi Peter, that’s already a nice image and a lovely project.
But I think you would do the viewer a favor if you’d bring back some sharpness and clear view. Everything is very blurry at the moment. And the first render looks as if there was some motion blur involved, perhaps due to a too strong chromatic aberration especially for the ground.
I like the idea of a painted truck. But the wooden one would also work nicely.
As always I would love some critiques and comments. In particular do you like the added dust? Keep in mind I am going for an old/worn out/forgotten feel.
Lovely atmosphere and rendering Peter!
Makes you feel nostalgic in a really nice way… like you went to your parents house for the first time in a long while, found an old forgotten toy and were flooded with sweet childhood memories.
Keep it up! I also thought you could have a few things in the background but not too many. I was also thinking that the light source (presumable a window) could be visible (the bloom of the light could add to the dreamy atmosphere).
On a technical side, any chance you could share the shader for the truck?
Thanks for the feedback! That’s the exact type of atmosphere I was going for, glad you like it!
I’d be happy to share my shaders. I’ll do a little de-cluttering and add some annotation as it is quite complex (my specialty :D), then I’ll upload it.
Thanks for the suggestion! I actually am using my own variation on that method for dust already. But now that you mention it it does look more apparent if you look at the original non-painted version. I’ll try cranking the effect up on the painted parts. Thanks for pointing that out!
You can download the .blend file here: truckShader.blend (3.39 MB)
This shader (and the grunge texture I made) are licensed CC-BY by me. Use/modify it for whatever you like, just give credit to me if it’s not too inconvenient.
Thanks for all the encouragements and suggestions guys, they are all greatly appreciated!
This project is just about done, I am just putting the finishing touches on it. I’ve added a steering wheel, tweaked the post a little, and rendered it in two different colors. Which do you prefer?
I like both versions too. The green one has a little contrast going for it, which, perhaps, makes it stand out a little more, but the red one also works for a more limited color palette.
