Preserved Topic: Realism

Hey, guys. Been working on a cell phone for the past hour. It's not coming out very well. Was wondering if you could give me some pointers/constructive criticism. I still need to add some of the buttons and what not, and try making it look a bit less square. It's my -very- first attempt at making a real object so be easy on me. Thanks!

crappy cell phone.

~Kine

While I won't give you any specifc pointers I can tell you this - with almost all cases like yours (those going for realism) the one major problem is lighting. Realistic lighting really does make the difference and my advice for you is to look at your phone not for details and texture, but just for where the shadows cast and the light relfects. If you can mimic the lighting you see I guarntee your image will look at least *60% more realistic

*I really don't have a clue how much more realistic it would look. 60% just sounded right


[This message has been edited by synax (edited 06-03-2002).]

Thanks.. Been trying to work on lighting a lot lately.. lighting is tough.

I agree, it's the hardest part to get right. You develop an eye for it after a while, so just practice, practice, practice!

Yea.. lighting.. looking at the buttons and the drop shadow fer instance.. The drop shadow gives the impression of a light that's somewhere in the direction of the upper left part of the image. But the buttons with their specular highlights give you the impression that the light is right above the buttons. Overall though, it's looking good. I'd add a bit more space below the zero.

Nice project going there Kine.
Keep at 'er.

Besides the all-important lighting suggestions, don't forget to add the realism of surface texture too. If you have a cell phone yourself, step into the daylight and hold it flat like your sample image. I bet dollars-to-donuts you'll see all kinds of minute surface abrassions and scratches on it. Maybe even a couple larger ones.
Look closely.

Something else just came to mind - try putting your cellphone on some kind of textured/lighted background so it helps your eye work with the image. Whatever you do, don't work on one solid color (or white) like you're doing now. Have at least a gradient.

I tend to look at the little things first, the buttons for instance. These buttons, they seem to simply be stuck onto the surface, not even that, they have no shadow! Think of what buttons do, they press *in*, into little holes on the surface, which means that there will be some kind of opening to receive them. Before I worked on buttons, I'd first model a plastic case, with holes where the buttons and screen go. Then I'd work on those elements, and the shadows they create will blend into the shadows and highlights created from the holes they fit into. Realism is in the details.

(I'd also not work on a white background, too distracting to the eye! A nice gradient would help you focus on the piece you're doing.)

Your pal, -doc-

Gotcha. Makes sense. Thanks, Doc!

~Kine

Also note that the lighting doens't just come from one direction

_____,,,_<0\/0>_,,,____counterfeitbacon____

About the most important thing (oy, what a statement!) when trying to render realistically is a consistent lighting source. If you can't get the same lighting source every time (for example, at your desk at night, with no outside light, and the lighting source being a lamp that never moves, and the phone is in the same place every time... whew!), then take a photo of it. Otherwise, the lighting will be off.

Watch the texture; can you really see that much texture in that much detail? Also, the gray highlights... are they really that dark of a gray, or more white-ish? I normally do all of my highlights in white, then fade them by lowering the opacity, if necessary. Drastic variations between dark and light tend to look more real. Just be sure to use tons of layers, and put everything on a different layer. I also avoid bevel and emboss on renderings, and do my own 3D effects; bevel and emboss are too limited for realism.

For any metallic elements, gradients are your friends.

Finally, I'd go easy on the stroke. Most objects in real life don't have a little black outline around them. If the elements on your phone really do have that outline, then leave it in, but otherwise I'd ditch it.


"They mostly come out at night. Mostly." - Newt, Aliens

Hey, I was just thinking, you could always try it the DarkGarden way! It's potentially much simpler, just use one layer and then airbrush a mobile phone onto it. Heh, sorry, I just worke up, but I got to thinking of the "eye" thread from back a ways, DG offered us all his PSD file, but it only consisted of 2 layers, the eyeball and another layer above of "everything else".

For mortals like the rest of us, I'd agree with gemannihilate, multiple layers will be your good friend here, you can drop your opacity on some elements easier, or get a nice highlight by overalaying a copy of one layer over the other, that kind of thing.

Your pal, -doc-

and ariels ar sooo 90's . . .

~We're not here for long, we're here for fun~

Apart from the lighting and what's already been said, picking a good font for the text display would help also. There are some free ones on the net if you search.

1rst post and 1rst cellphone (did it last night)
and it's tru that it all comes up when u ad some lightning effect on it .
http://mapage.noos.fr/lila.mae/images/telephone.jpg

any constructuves criticism would be great


xl

ooohhh...pretty!

Is that a USB or a FireWire port in the front? It looks like a firewire!


________________
counterfeitbacon

hummm, it's supposed to be a kind of scrole wheel thingy lol (sorry for the english)

oh...

I like that a lot. Good job.

Mucho coolness, just a couple of things though,

Lightsource, lightsource, lightsource...

The body of the phone is lit from the top right but the shadows for the LCD screen and the buttons suggest that it's lit fomr the top left.

There should be a shadow at the top of the LCD screen, not the bottom.

I think you went to white to quickly for the highlights as well.

yep. but I would say that the lcd screen seems to be lit form the bottom right and not from the top left I shouldn't have the shadow at the bottom but at the top (which would make it top and right shadow for the lcd sceen)

as for the buttons, the idea was to make it seem as if the 2 big buttons were pushed out, and all the smaller one pushed in a bit, that's why the higlights are inversed.

please tell me if i'm right here lol

xl

Which is what I said. Shadows under the LCD text indicate a top left light while the shadow along the bottom right of the screen suggests the opposite.

oops I missed the "before last" line
xl

did a few changes on the lighting



BIG picture


xl

a big improvement.

The next step I would suggest is working on the jagged edged that are all over the buttons and some of the other other rounded corners.

(and definately listen to Dracusis - he gives very good advice!).

i'm not quite sure how to get rid of the jagged edged...any tips?

xl

nice work!

like has been said before though ya buttons havent got a smooth shape, also the phonebook and call button dont look like buttons but a pice of raised metal on the casing, but nice work

hehehe this is something i did months ago

Kine, what I usually do when I'm trying to learn technique (rather than create something original) is to work with a source image. Take (or find) a picture of a cell phone, put it on the lowest layer, and try to duplicate it. You can also put a copy on the topmost layer with opacity 0%. From time to time, drag the opacity slider up to 100% and down again to see how far off your lighting, etc. gets.

You end up with a nearly exact duplicate of a real phone, rather than something original, but it does wonders for learning realistic lighting techniques. The hardest part of learning lighting is that your instincts tend to be wrong until you've practiced for a while; a source image shows you what's right.

das is right thats what i did with this attempt after listening to all the advice people here gave me, its the hardest part of tring to make a 3d image in a 2d medium and its the make and break point of it. I still suck at it

Never thought about doing that. Makes a lot of sense. I'll give it a try. Thanks!