Project:
This is the latest render and I’m pleased with the way it looks – the last post render (version #9) was interesting but it was still a way off the earlier renders and I was trying to achieve the quality those renders had in terms of lighting – if anything the later renders seemed “over-lit”.
Most of the battle is figuring out just what each surface node was doing and because the model is split into a number of surfaces, if anything was looking “right”, these values had to be copied across the surfaces to match – I spent a lot of time working on the main dish section since this is what you tend to look at first – I’ve discovered that a “right” look is hugely subjective thing – I’m sure some people looking at this will say that it’s not a physically correct lighting & shading scheme, but I have deliberately tried to retain some of the “impressionist” quality of the early renders whilst trying to be physically correct, as much as possible.
I think looking back, that the early renders have the quality I was aiming for – the “retro Enterprise” as seen from a distance – but then there is the issue of surface detailing if it’s seen up close and all the attendant issues I’ve mentioned in previous posts – I think this render strikes a good balance between those factors.
I’m leaving out “practical lighting” – i.e. those lights you see on the dish and lower section on the OS Enterprise, but they might appear on moving tests.
I’ll be posting some detail render views.