The Mandalorian - Tatooine

WAS · January 05, 2021, 04:11:54 PM

Thanks to @sboerner for helping me with Mando's pose. I went through and created some metallic maps, and subdivided the model to get rid of some reflection artifacting, and this is what I got with the Razor Crest I had been working on. The metallic on the razor crest seems to falloff a little strong in the dark areas. It actually looks better in the standard renderer because the metalics catch more ambient light from the backscattering of the atmosphere, but less "metallic" looking. I'll upload a large standard render in a bit.

Mano also had zero shadow on the ground for some reason, he has opacity, so not sure what's up there. So I added one in post otherwise with the relatively flat lack-luster ground, it looked like he was floating. Lol Also really wish there was more light within the Razor Crest. Both doors are open, and it's pretty metallic in there so you'd think there would be a little more bounce.

Curious question: the PT version came from a EXR and it has colour burning in the atmosphere. I used Photoshop. Has anyone seen this? Is the plugin just not handling the extra color depth right?

sboerner · January 05, 2021, 04:51:42 PM

Very nice. Off to a great start.

WAS · January 05, 2021, 05:48:09 PM

Quote from: sboerner on January 05, 2021, 04:51:42 PMVery nice. Off to a great start.

Thanks. I added the SR version for comparison. I like the lighting in SR for ambient light but like the reflections in PT. I don't think masking of constant shader works in SR or something, as there is no dust present on the windows at all.

RichTwo · January 05, 2021, 05:56:33 PM

Well you nailed it! Looks great!

WAS · January 05, 2021, 05:58:33 PM

Thank you.

Man, I would really love to see Terragen environments used in the Mandalorian. I'm sure the way they use HDRI's Terragen could be of use.

WAS · January 05, 2021, 06:07:27 PM

Forgot about this bonus shot too. Just a simple PF for the terrain at 0.7 detail with the VDS shader applied at a large scale

Dune · January 06, 2021, 02:54:48 AM

Looks good. There's indeed a big difference in the reflections between SR and PTR, but I like the ambient light in SR. Somehow I often don't like the very dark shadowy areas in a PT render, although it does add mystery, there's a lot hidden in blacks.
I did some more testing yesterday with the alpha and color black method, but in SR it doesn't work, and in PTR it makes no difference if you add the constant shader or leave it out, as far as I could see. Perhaps the PTR already eleiminates any shadows from the glass part.

Regarding EXR; I've had a few instances where the lights indeed seemed a bit burnt in local areas.

WAS · January 06, 2021, 03:02:07 AM

Quote from: Dune on January 06, 2021, 02:54:48 AMand in PTR it makes no difference if you add the constant shader or leave it out, as far as I could see. Perhaps the PTR already eleiminates any shadows from the glass part.

That could very well be, I actually adopted the idea from the default shader from older SR tricks. If that is indeed the case it is handy, would just need it to actually turn the opacity of the shadow black, or apply the refraction of glass, as it seems to be missing it, at least in my tests it was just a black shadow from the sphere or razor crest windows.

As for EXRs, may be best to just stick to TIFF unless you really need that extra depth, like for displacement, film grading, etc.

N-drju · January 06, 2021, 04:32:29 AM

Wow, that's a really good attempt. Everyone's in a mood for Star Wars it seems.

Hannes · January 06, 2021, 05:20:17 AM

Fantastic!! Very cinematic!

luvsmuzik · January 06, 2021, 12:08:27 PM

I really like this! It is unclear to me....are you using the latest reflection (metallic) effects in the default shader for your object or a transform input and reflective shader? I saw Matt's examples in the update news, but I am unable to replicate the glossiness......

WAS · January 06, 2021, 03:38:52 PM

I am using GGX for specular in these shots, yes. There doesn't seem to be any noticeable effect but i think with the lighting angle all we're really going to see is edge highlights

DocCharly65 · January 07, 2021, 02:40:40 AM

Very cool renders and all of them great. But in fact I like the ambient look of the SR version more but the metallic reflections of the other one.

WAS · January 07, 2021, 03:02:32 AM

Quote from: DocCharly65 on January 07, 2021, 02:40:40 AMVery cool renders and all of them great. But in fact I like the ambient look of the SR version more but the metallic reflections of the other one.

Wish we could bring out enviro light in PT. Maybe sticking a ball behind the camera with a blue colour on a soft luminosity I'd be able to raise enviro light and capture some of it's bounce. Or maybe a tan-ish blue colour mix as if there is a cantina captured in the light he's heading towards.

Tangled-Universe · January 13, 2021, 07:02:06 PM

You can use a blu'ish fill light at strength 0.1-0.2 and at opposite of your main light to get a bit of enviro light idea in PT. For a Tatooine scene like this I'm not sure if that would be a desired colour though.

Anyway, I think this is a pretty terrific render man.
Great asset and especially the atmosphere and sun ripples are really well done!
A bit of extra love for the foreground and you have a winner. There are some good clips and ideas around here for convincing sandy soil and ripples, but no doubt you have enough skills to pull it off yourself if you need to.