Cineversity

I’m creating this product image that has to be seen from two symmetrical angles.

http://allenhanford.com/other/c4d-uploads/bagviews.jpg

I’ve set up everything I can think (lights, camera, reflection maps) of to make the appearance identical but the images still don’t match. Here’s a screen grab of my setup:

http://allenhanford.com/other/c4d-uploads/setup.png

Any idea what I’m doing wrong?

Hi TJPaul,

Thanks for the images, but to answer your question, I need the project file. I have sent you an upload link.

Without I would leave a list of questions here, and I think that would be a waste of your time.

However, something obvious can be mentioned:
I would check off the reflections first, to gain some more insight.
There is one camera with no frustum, an image can’t tell me why.

Without the project file, I would suggest copying the light set up and use the Light> Project Tab of each light to separate those two packages.
Then a Compositing Tag so they don’t see each other, etc.

I can keep the project file private, just let me know.

Cheers

Just sent you the file. There’s no copyrighted material included.

What’s a frostum?

Thanks for the file, TJPaul.

A frustum is the pyramid shape in front of the camera. I was not certain what you do with the camera.

There are a few things in the scene that I have changed: (… this is of course your call, ignore the points that do not indicate to you)
A bump map value of 1800% in a product shot (or anywhere) is something I wouldn’t do. It is a fake and a very limited one. I have set up the same effect with Displacement using your texture.

I avoid Soft Shadows where ever I can, also here, those are just fakes, and not really shadows, it is an exploration of a scene while recording in certain distances if there is an object or not. The “shadow” is an interpolation among those recording dots. If you use it, set the Shadow-map to a higher value than 250x250. Again, it is never a good idea to save some render time and use soft-shadows, if the quality is critical.

The Environ-map setting can be seen as the main problem here, based on the bump map as a co-conspirator. Those maps use the Object origin to work, and they are fast, but if you use them on two objects that close, the reflections will look wrong.

I have set this up with a Sky object. Also here, since the objects are apart, the resulting reflection will be different of course. As long as you don’t bake [sic] the reflection into the texture, you will always get a different result for the next object.

A minor note, the central camera was not exactly in the middle. I got a file with just one bag in it, so the set up might vary with yours.

I have excluded reflection between the two. It could lead to infinity reflections in some small areas. I do not miss any reflections here.

Even if I sound like a broken record, I suggest working linear, (or at least with 16bit/channel material and render).

Here is a quick render
https://www.amazon.com/clouddrive/share/5dTebwbArp10npvm1OWfwugtZlMPOu5ciu72EuMIcm0

I have set you your file back. Without the textures, and since it was over 400MB, I can’t really share it here.

Switch the reflection off, and it is 100% symmetrical.

I hope that helps.

Cheers

There is only one bag and I’m using three cameras for three different views of the same thing. I’ll look at the reflections and try to sort out what to do with them.

Thanks for your help

You’re very welcome, TJPaul.

The Right-Camera was not set to perspective, it was set to orthogonal right view. But I get now, that you combine the shots later on.

I have sent you an updated file, with just one bag, and all three cameras adjusted for that.

Here is a file for anyone following along, with just two primitives. While switching among the three cameras, the reflections will change dramatically. In the scene above an image was used for the reflection, with dark and bright tones. With colors, one can see the change in a better way.

Project file
https://www.amazon.com/clouddrive/share/P9f3R34ZezUU82ubGy4G2eRHNf96S5iC1RrTjqJbgjF

All the best

Thanks again for your help. I realize that some of what I’ve done here is kinda cheesy but the end use of these renderings is very much geared to volume. I’ve probably made a hundred renderings similar to this in Lightwave. In addition to moving over to C4D I’m responsible for coming up with a rote procedure for other artists who have never used 3D software. Trying to go with the bare minimum, at least for now.

You’re very welcome, TJPaul, thanks for the additional information.

To come from one application, perhaps with a strong familiarity, and enter another, is always a challenge. Typically, so my experience here, one searches for similar tools and practices. This is a natural approach. Independent from the which app an artist transfers to a new one, this limits, however, the options.

I’m happy to look into any setup, and I will try to make suggestions. What I need for that is a question from the original target. Often I get questions leaving the starting point out and asking halfway in the set up when a problem occurs. This leads more to a patch than a solution, as a different way might have been possible, knowing the whole idea about the setup.

To create a serial rendering of the same package, for example, a texture could be set up a sequence. So each frame has a new label. This texture holds colors, which could be read out for changing the light color, for example.

In other cases, the Take System might be the better way. There is so much more, but it needs all the information possible to create a better solution.

If you have questions, as usual, I’m happy to look into it.

My best wishes

P.S.: if you have a moment, please render these four frames, to see the difference in light/Shadow
https://www.amazon.com/clouddrive/share/sW0OMpSNdHqqlAd5A4Z6UXclE7qWPtWn7r4YGdJ93vK