Jim Holsenback <jho### [at] povrayorg> wrote:
> On 02/28/2011 08:14 AM, Christian Froeschlin wrote:
> > Jim Holsenback wrote:
> >
> >> uses no light source ... just an hdr light probe.
> >
> > Neat! So it's just reflections and radiosity?
>
> no radiosity ... it just made things look too washed out, so I tried to
> use less emission on the light dome image but couldn't find "sweet" spot
> that gave me the look I wanted
>
> >
> > The needle looks a bit flat to me, probably due to lack of shadow.
>
> yep ... also the edge of the compass case looses some depth as well. I'd
> appreciate any tips from some of you pros might have on things to over
> come those issues ... not a bad attempt for only my first few hdr tries,
> hopefully I'll get better :-)

The overall pic looks nice with the reflections.  I imagine the problem with the
face looking flat is that you are using ambient finishes in your texture.  I am
not a fan of ambient like this, as I always find it makes look fake for some
reason in my brain, even if it is just used a little.  I only use ambient for
objects that produce light (which is what emission has been added for now).  I
think the inclusion of a light source would help a lot.  Perhaps even a small
area light manually postioned to simulate the sun location in the environment
map.  If you do this, a little radiosity may then help a little more, but keep
it low so as not to wash out the scene unrealistically.

The problem you are having with trying to use radiosity only from your
environment map is, as I mentioned before, the sun in it unfortunately does not
have as high a value as it should in real life (which is a common problem for
any light probe with bright lights).  Because of that, it does not get as much
concentrated light as it should at the sun location, which is why you get it
washed out when you bump it up.

One minor comment on your model.  The backplate looks like it may be too big the
way the numbers are hidden at the bottom.  I know part of this is perspective,
but it does still looklike if you looked straight on, they would be partially
hidden.  I would suggest making it a little smaller (may ~10%)

Hope this helps and doesn't sound too critical.  Generally it is looking good
texture-wise, just needs some lighting adjustments.  BTW I do really like the
ground texture you are using.

-tgq

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