mrscott

On 2/13/2017 at 4:22 AM, jcaffee said:

100% CAX9 Beta.  This cooked for 30 passes but could have used a couple hundred more to degrainify the shot.

Jon,

Send me the plan and I will run it on my Workstation at a one of you high Resolution (Print Quality) sizes and return the file in whatever format you like. My compliments to you for all you do for us. PM me is you prefer.

On 2/3/2017 at 8:47 AM, MPDesign said:

 

Does anyone have a suggested site for stock photos to import for backdrops?

 

 

Michael,

Thanks for the Grass link, and Shadow board tips. Both are working great. I was wondering what level of success you are finding with Water textures? My limited experience with RT has shown a lot of works is needed to make  water look realistic. Your thoughts?

On 2/16/2017 at 9:48 PM, Chiefer said:

 

Here are mine. 100% X9

Jintu,

Without question your work is stunning, and I for one appreciate you sharing "What can be in Chief". Thank you for you contribution to our community. The purpose of this thread is to help others learn from Guru's like you so, if you would be so kind...would you please share with us how you achieved such stunning results? I have a number of questions on #3.

1. How do you select and adjust a background so it fits the scene? In this case, what did you start with and what did you have to do to it make it work for this scene?
2. Are the tall pines just behind the house part of the background or added trees in CA?

I adjusted the pendants, Unchecked Environmental Lighting, It ran much faster. 10 passes in 6:30 min. (see attached).

I added an edge to the custom counter top but notice the edge near the closest stool. The first 18" or so on the radius is not taking the molding. Weird! 

Running again with new settings and 25 passes.

After lowering the Pendant light data

Corrected the Edge Molding issue (See Kitchen RT4 below)

Graham,

Thanks for the prompt reply. Here is a 25 pass RT (30 min).

Resolution: 1781 x 799 

Graham,

I adjusted the ceiling in all rooms in the scene to BRITE, as directed, but still getting this line. I'm 5 passes into 25 and it isn't going away.

Hum! Thoughts?

3 hours ago, TheKitchenAbode said:

Scott - Had a chance to look at the interior. The main issue I found was that there is not enough lights to properly light the scene and their intensities needed to be adjusted.

 

Lighting

- Added some additional recessed lights and set them all to 30% intensity,cut-off angle 110.

- Reduced the intensity of the pendants to 25%.

- Only lights in the scene are turned on.

 

Materials

- Made counter top reflective 30%.

- Changed stool frame material to Aluminum Brushed.

- Changed ceiling color to Brite.

 

Ray Trace Settings

- Ambient Occlusion - min=1, max=5.

 

Image Properties

- Contrast=36, Intensity=36, Softness=0,Color Correction=50%

- Brightness=49, Contrast=83, Saturation=40

 

Before Changes (as per downloaded plan)

After Changes

 

I'm certain there are a lot more things that could be done to improve this, but it gives you a good idea as to how big of a difference a few lighting changes can have.

 

Graham

Graham,

You got me so excited I immediately started trying to reproduce your image. Questions:

1) What resolution are you using? Screen? General Tab

2) Did you adjust the Under cabinet lighting? I really like using the custom and % vs. wattage.

3) Ray Trace Options.

Lighting:

- Use Camera View Settings

- Use Ambient Occlusion 0.1 Min 5 Max

Use Environment Light? Yes /No? Does it matter?

Advanced:

- Use Photon ?

- Compute Caustics?

Thanks,

2 hours ago, TheKitchenAbode said:

Scott - Had a chance to look at the interior. The main issue I found was that there is not enough lights to properly light the scene and their intensities needed to be adjusted.

 

Lighting

- Added some additional recessed lights and set them all to 30% intensity,cut-off angle 110.

- Reduced the intensity of the pendants to 25%.

- Only lights in the scene are turned on.

 

Materials

- Made counter top reflective 30%.

- Changed stool frame material to Aluminum Brushed.

- Changed ceiling color to Brite.

 

Ray Trace Settings

- Ambient Occlusion - min=1, max=5.

 

Image Properties

- Contrast=36, Intensity=36, Softness=0,Color Correction=50%

- Brightness=49, Contrast=83, Saturation=40

 

Before Changes (as per downloaded plan)

After Changes

 

I'm certain there are a lot more things that could be done to improve this, but it gives you a good idea as to how big of a difference a few lighting changes can have.

 

Graham

Graham,

Once again you have gone above and beyond. Another bonus point from me, my friend. Absolutely beautiful! I can take your lead, like the exterior, use your suggestions, and start adding additional tweaks. I've done a few and now beginning to understand the process. 

You are the master! Thank you, Thank you!

Ditto guys! IMHO, these are the kinds of sessions that unite us as a community user group. I, too, learn something new and incredibly valuable each time we meet. Accolades to all who contribute.

6 hours ago, TheKitchenAbode said:

Hi Scott - The big culprit on the exterior is the intensity of those post cap lights. I dropped them down to 4%.

 

- Changed the background colour to black 15% luminance

- Ambient Occlusion, min=0, max = 1

- Sun intensity=0

- Unchecked Environmental light

 

Image Properties

Contrast = 88

Intensity =31

Colour Correction =0

 

Brightness = 46

Contrast = 81

Saturation = 45

 

This is after 10 passes

 

 

Will now take a look at the interior.

 

Graham

Graham,

That was quick! You're the man! Now this is practical help I can use. Can't wait to see your comments on the interior.

i'll be on this first thing in the AM to try my hand at some of my own. 

Thank you so much!

LOL! Government? No. I built my system from scratch with 2620 v3's  then found the 2683's on eBay that were no ES chips and figured I would give them a try. Once installed I was blown away by their performance I sold my 2620's on eBay. The net cost to upgrade was $200. A no brainer. Sure, the chips are used and probably from a server somewhere but given the price of new ones these were a deal.

As for their use with Chief, they sing on Ray Tracing....mind blowing fast...at least my mind anyway. A good GPU is core for all other operations but to pump out RT's fast the more cores the better. Comparing typical operations my Laptop holds its own against my dual Xeon but when it comes to RT it can't touch the Dual Xeon. 8 cores vs. 56. Even at a lower clock speed the cores sing.

This is why I want so much to learn how to maximize the capabilities of Chief's Ray Tracing.

That would be great! Thank you.

Here is what I am trying to do. (Camera Placements in plan ) Note Lights are visible using A4 ELEC 1ST FLOOR Annoset. (Camera Render)

1) Night exterior Front

2) Night interior 1

I also noticed after install the new X9 with new S/N provided by CA, I am missing a number of Textures. Do I need to reinstall all? I was not given this option during the install.Perhaps I have to uninstall X9 beta and do a fresh install. Again, unclear directions from CA.

Thanks,

Night Time Ray Tracing.zip

I could not agree more. The fact is most of us don"t know where to start. We design our space (lights included) and when we attempt to RT it looks like crap. Why? Because we don't know enough about the elements that impact the RT to say not turn so many lights on. However, the reality is we design based on what we know or want and then when we attempt a RT it looks nothing like what we would expect. I don't understand why this all cannot be more intuitive. I sometime curse the people that program software for this vary fact.

I'm running a nighttime scene now and will post it later today with my settings.....Frustrating to say the least!

Graham,

Please include all settings that affect the Ray Trace results. Your work is brilliant but without  settings we can't learn and improve our skills. That is the whole point of this thread.

Thanks

Michael,

Two questions:

1) Where do you put the Texture Zip file on your PC and how do you use it?

2) What is your process for setting up the realistic Shadow board you used?

I could spend a few hours digging through files and videos to find this but I was hoping you would share you experience.

Thanks,

Do share great textures...please!

thanks all,

Those of us who know him know he's kidder. 

2 hours ago, MPDesign said:

Here is my updated "all chief raytrace"

Its getting better, found a better grass texture. Also added a small roof shadow board to give the edge a better look.

Chief doesn't extend the roofing past the face of the fascia if there is no shadow board it looks funny. see the previous image. post #25

Mike,

the shadowboards make make a huge difference in realism. Also a much better backdrop. This is another area to fine tune  in making RT as realistic as possible. 

Have you done done anything with Lumion? The one drawback I have found is "model importing". Lumion, as far as my exposure has shown, does not reflect the model as realistic as a RT. Perhaps this will change in the future.

The 

11 hours ago, Designsyko said:

Dshall,

 

   Naw, just a working man like the rest of the bunch here.     Had to learn some of this stuff the hard way, but I've also been given my fair share of chances.  If my two cents worth of advice can help somebody else, then that's great.

 

 Designsyko is a jumble of what I do and who I am, kinda like a Bridge Troll or a Drawzilla.    Drawzilla's.... didn't they have those in Jurassic Park?

 

Well, back to basking in front of the two 40" 4K's to crank out the next epic plan.  Draw on my friends!

The one thing I insist on is a "written contract"! Sure, I have a portfolio of few projects and designs, but I'm not pressing hard. I don't want to be so busy I have no other life. Learning all Chief has to offer is time consuming enough so, balance the work with productive learning is my motto. I think your approach should reflect your objective. Are you trying to build a huge business quickly or are you content with fewer projects where you spend more time with the client on details? Of course, what you charge and what the market is willing to pay, as well as the level of competition, all play into the equation. 

The best advise has been given...under promise and over deliver. Face to Face visits with builders, realtors, engineers and other contractors. Web advertising (an area I need help with now) but not a huge issue as word of mouth is key in my area and what I do. Just make sure you CYOA with a clearly defined scope of work in your contract otherwise "Scope Creep" will haunt you.

Design psycho! I like it!

Interested to know the outcome. I'be had similar issues with Layers. Makes you crazy doesn't it?

Always start your plan at X0,Y0,Z0 using the the keyboard method. Starting from scratch I place a point marker using the above then four walls outlining the largest area I will be working inside of, then all four Elevation  views. This will place everything in your drawing in the center of your work area. Delete the temp or resize the walls to start your house. When the house is done create your terrain plan and adjust in respect to the setbacks. 

Hope this helps,

1 hour ago, DMDesigns said:

 

 

I have (2) websites, one called www.DavidMichaelDesigns.com which has a lifetime membership - direct Link: http://www.davidmichaeldesigns.com/chiefsale/

 

And another site called www.ChiefTutor.com which also has a lifetime membership. Direct Link: http://www.chieftutor.net/store/c1/Featured_Products.html

 

Dave

 

 

 

 

Dave,

As you know I just signed up for http://www.chieftutor.com/ . It appears your DMD site is more client focuses with some downloads for $29.95. Is this a truncated version of http://www.chieftutor.com/ ? 

All good points and now clarity in the resolution. 

Looks like you have a good mix of items to test in that scene. Would you post the zipped plan? How about an outdoor scene? I struggle with camera position and landscaping elements to get the view to appear exclusive and not dangling in space.

thanks again

Hey Graham,

I agree completely. I just set it up before going to bed and that is what it did overnight. Guess I slept too long HEHEHE!  Thank you for the point about 50 passes. I have asked Chief what that number is and never received a definitive response. I do trust you have done enough of these you have made that assessment and are comfortable with 50...works for me.

Cheers!