Hi All,
There is one thing about TG2 that tends to bug me. I really love TG2, so I am only bringing this up so we can find ways to improve upon it manually, and/or even have the developers improve upon the software itself.
I'm not sure if anyone else notices this, but I'd say on most TG2 images I've seen (including my own), most of the surfaces just have this bland "flat" look to them. For instance, I can tell what is what, but the surfaces just don't have the near photo-real look they should have. And I haven't been able to pinpoint exactly what the cause(s) are.
Ways I've tried to improve upon this:
1. Making sure all surfaces have some type of reflectivity, even if its miniscule. This includes amount and spread.
2. Using image map shaders when appropriate due to inherent color variations that would otherwise take ages to create via functions.
3. Using soft shadows.
4. Using GI with as high as samples as possible (though I rarely go above 3/3 due to render times)
Things I suspect may be contributing:
1. Bland surface colors due to lack of color variation (as stated image maps really help here, or huge power fractal stacks)
2. Global Illumination inaccuracies (though maybe not since it seems to work quite well in TG2)
3. The rendering engine itself (due to inaccuracies in lighting and shadowing).
I hope the new rendering engine improves upon this. I know TG2 is a work in progress and will only get better.
As of now, its fully useable and as stated, I feel it creates exceptional images. I definitely don't want to come across as knocking the software.