Alias? Rhino?
I was checking out their website and the stuff on the concept page is all CG. The images look great and I’m curious what they use.
Thanks.
I don’t see a concept page. Link?
“I was checking out their website and the stuff on the concept page is all CG.”
Ok. Now that I see that “concepts” is under “creativity unleashed” (and buried in the middle of their portfolio; why does this seem screwy to me?), where does it say everything is CG? I don’t think it is.
well, by CG i mean modelled in some cad program and then rendered. Most of the images look that way to me (except the cake plate.)
let me if anyone knows what they use.
thanks
I believe most of what’s there are photographs. Look at the top of the page in a thin bar that pops up - those are obvious renders.
I recall what I believe was Lunar’s initial push into providing rendering services some years ago. They sent out a postcard which we received. Pretty sure they were using Alias then, and if so, they might be using Maya-MR now for continuity.
Most of the hot images I’ve seen are using either Mental Ray, Brazil, VRay, or some other new plugin. Alias (Studio) built-in renderer is okay, but not as good imo. And Rhino is a modeller - not a renderer (perhaps you’re referring to Flamingo).
In any event, why not just email them and ask?
Thanks csven. Yes, i too can spot an obvious render thanks for pointing them out. If you scroll down that concept page you’ll see about 7 rendered images (they appear in the top title bar too). I’m also familar with flamingo but sorry i didn’t clarify.
Your response was somewhat helpful but mostly insulting. I’m not interested in “hot images” but I do like the way Lunar did those concepts…they have a feel that is not over-done, just enough reflection, good lighting, soft shadows. I’d say they were either Alias or Rhino/Flamingo. The glass stuff looks more like Flamingo. I do a fair amount of Alias renderings and am always looking for the most efficient way to get those kind of results.
Judging by the hits this discussion has gotten I reckon more than a few people have the same question.
Any help is greatly appreciated.
You’re responding to the technique, not the tool.
They’ve done a good job of collaging multiple techniques (Adobe Illustrator on top of a rendering etc.) to keep the images loose and sketchy. I believe this style was innovated from architectural rendering–you see it a lot in mags like Metropolis. The glossy white backdrop is definitely hot right now.
My bust. After trying to find the Concepts and then getting your link, I went straight to “Next” thinking I was on an introductory page. And on the next page I thought you were saying those were CG concepts/composites (which then got manufactured)
Apologies.
I obviously don’t know, but I think the one’s you’re looking at on that page are a mix of 2D and 3D. Some people do Illustrators better than most 3D renders. One guy posted some about a year ago: Pablo`s 2D rendering
Thanks for the replies.
I figured photoshop and illustrator were in there. I’m always realizing something I fight to achieve in the Alias rendering world can be more easily and predictably done in photoshop/illustrator.
I also figure while their stuff looks sketchy they probably took quite a bit of time.
They make it look easy.
To answer your original question, I would guess those were done in StudioTools. Lunar has historically been very StudioTools savvy and I don’t see anything in those renderings that couldn’t be created in that package, so that would be my guess.
Their technique is certainly very good. The graphic design of their presentations has always been strong. Definitely nice work.
Thanks!!
The glass stuff is great. I have problems getting glass or clear plastic to look right in studiotools so that’s what got me interested in finding out what they use.
One big thing to take into account when rendering glass and clear materials is the rendering settings. I haven’t rendered in Studiotools so I can’t comment, but in most apps, Maya included, you need to make sure the raytrace settings are very high on transparent materials.
With low settings the rays can come into a surface, but after that it will typically stop calculating them. You need to crank up those values so that the rays can bounce around and finally exit.
I personally use Mental Ray for my renderings at this point, but Vray and Maxwell render seem to be very powerful for certain types of work. My overall impression is that Mental ray can be the MOST powerful, but requires a huge amount of learning and tweaking.
Most of the renderings on that page aren’t all that impressive so I don’t think they were done with anything on the level of Vray or Maxwell.
I’ve seen Vray renderings done with HDRI lighting that were so good you could barely tell that is wasn’t a photo until you went into photoshop and looked at the pixel distribution.
I’d guess that they were done with StudioTools as suggested earlier or a standard built in renderer. Practice with lighting is the real key, most people couldn’t set up a scene if their life depended on it.
Who is lifetyledesign
If you’re going to spam the boards, Tapp, at least post a working link. Otherwise people might get the impression you’re incompetent. That can’t be a good thing.
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Hm.