Cottage - C&C very much appreciated

[leedeetee]

Hiya,

This is my first *proper* render so I would really appreciate any experts who could give any advice as to make this better. It was rendered on Easy04 but am going to leave a Easy08 baking overnight.

It's a cottage that have I noticed when I have been out running so thought I'd model/render it from Streetview.

Thanks very much in advance. Shoot from the hip, I'm here to improve.

Lee

[Stu]

Looks very good!!
I like the detailing.
Maybe the brickwork is little over-bumped? And the zig zag line running over the face of the bricks on the main wall?
Possibly a better texture for the lawns?
But all in all...well done!

[Fletch]

Lee, this is looking great!

To take it up a notch, here are some things to consider:

1. The camera should be kept at normal person eye level. The higher eye level in this case makes the house appear to be built to incorrect scale or wrong proportions.
2. When you post-pro in some real lawn grass it will look instantly much better. If you post-pro in better background bushes/vegetation to replace the blurry bushes, it will be even better. While you are at it, add better/more realistic flower and plant beds around the current rendered flowers.
3. Build curtains or blinds (don't need to be very high-poly) and place them behind the glass of the windows - it will render the glass instantly better.

[leedeetee]

Thanks so much guys, I will try your suggestions.

Can I just ask though, would Easy04 suffice for this, or, should I always be looking at Easy08 for the best results?

Thanks again.

[leedeetee]

Fletch, just noticed my vertical brick sills above the windows are screwing up again (think I posted about this previously?). Any addtional ideas without having to make them all unique?

Also, I seem to be getting a white 'halo' around the my render image, after I use an alpha mask. I have done the alpha mask at 3x the size of the render, then re-size as I have read somewhere about the AM being a pixel out, but this still leaves the 'halo'. Any ideas? I thought the AM was perfect?

[leedeetee]

Is this any better?

Still having trouble with the vertical brick heads and the "halo-ing". It's a definite improvement though I think but would like to make it even better if possible?

[Fletch]

Right-click the white brick arch above the window that is causing you issues and choose "make unique texture".

[leedeetee]

Thanks fletch, any ideas about the white "haloigng" around the building - i've tried making the alpha mask 3x bigger and shrinking.

Lee

[Fletch]

Shadow of building missing on grass on the right.

It looks like the whole building was sketched, is everything built to correct dimensions or just guessed?
Door handle?

[leedeetee]

D'oh, stupid shadows.

This was guessed from a (dodgy) streetview image.

TBH, think I will start again on another render as this one is doing my head in.

Things can only get better, so they say.