Hello,
I’ve been using Sketchup + Vray for some time however it seems that I’m still way behind in terms of making premium quality and realistic interior rending.
To keep this short, take a look at the following render which I modeled and rendered my self (Also enhanced with Photoshop + Lightroom):
Now take a look at the following image which is A.I. generated and enhanced based on my render (uploaded to 3rd party img hosting because this forums allow only one img to be shared): Image by an A.I.
Huge difference between my own render and the once that was enhanced by A.I.
So my questions are, what is the problem with my own render? Why does my render look flat? what skill(s) should I improve to get to the quality of the image above (the A.I. once)?
Also, if you know a course/tutorial (paid or free) that I can use to improve my skills that’d be awesome.
What version of SketchUp are you really using? Your profile says “Free Plan” 2022. Is that a cr acked version? What version of Vray are you using? That will impact what specific instructions apply to your case.
In general it looks like your lighting is too flat compared to the second image.
Agree, but I think it is more a design than a “realism” issue. The first render is quite “realistic” so that with that kind of materials and lighting that is what you get. There is perhaps too much “ambient” light and the bright sunlight is not allowed to create contrasts in the room. Are the sofas and the walls the same material?
I’m using SketchUp 2022 Pro plan (Licensed) + V-Ray v6.00.03 (Licensed).
And you’re right my render feels too flat. So lighting is the problem? Do you have specific advice?
The sofas and the walls uses very distinctly different materials. But agree they look very similar.
“perhaps too much “ambient” light and the bright sunlight is not allowed to create contrasts in the room”. Thanks that is actually a good advice.
Do you think the issues are mostly material related?
Since you haven’t shown us exactly all the lights you have added it’s difficult to tell you what to change. You could reduce the intensity of the lighting on the bookcase. Maybe all you need to do it increase the contrast in an image editor.
I don’t think comparing a render to an AI generated image makes much sense because the AI image can include all sorts of stuff you would do in post processing.
I recommend my course on SketchUp Campus. To me, the biggest issue is the overall uniform lighting. Do you have invisible rectangle lights in the ceiling? It seems to be overriding and therefore ‘washing out’ the light from your actual sources…can, hanging and window. The color palette may not be helping either as it’s very uniform with little contrast.
Personally I wouldn’t compare a V-Ray rendering to an AI ‘render’…but to an actually photograph. Try to mimic real life and the more you observe and understand what is happening with light in the space (both natural and artificial) and how light enters and is captured by a real camera and its settings, the more you’ll know how to recreate it in V-Ray.
Red → Rectangular Lights (The one big rectangular in the middle of the celling is used as a General Light)
Yellow → Emissive Lights
Green → Chaos Spot Lights
Blue → Sun Light.
The render is actually edited and enhanced in Photoshop + Lightroom. But the flatness of the render left very little room for improvement. I think I have decent experience with adjustment tools in PS and LR. I’ve played a lot with the curves adjustment, levels, and hue and saturation to add some contrast but that didn’t do much since the render is too flat.
Thanks for the link to your course !. I will definitely enroll soon. I’m eager to learn more stuff man!
Yes I do. Refer to my previous comment. The one big red rectangular in the middle of the celling is actually a hidden general light). I started to believe the invisible rectangle light contribute to the problem. Do you personally prefer not to use it in your work?
The answer is it depends. It may make sense to add an extra light to ‘fill’ in the space but I’d say it’s best to try to avoid it as in real life, there is no large rectangle light washing uniform illumination over everything. If you start with just the spots, the emissive fixtures (I’d likely add an invisible sphere light inside the hanging lights to cast more of a general glow), and the light coming in from outside…that should be enough.
Playing with exposure settings could bump up a darker render without adding more lights to the space. Also keep in mind if you’re using the LightMix render channel, you can edit the lights individually after the render completes to see the effect each has on the space and you can adjust as needed from there to compensate for any darker areas.
