Clay/Chalk Rendering in V2

[susangh208]

Hello, I'm fairly new to Twlight (V2) and am having an issue in trying to create an attractive "chalk or clay rendered" image. I did turn my image(s) to off-white, however it doesn't seem like that alone is doing the trick. Any suggestions??? One perception, is that it might help to have a texture applied to it... however I don't know which one in the existing library (as I think a "fabric" might be a good choice) or how to create my own. Thank you for your time!

[Chris]

Have you tried the clay render preset? Express -> Advanced -> Clay

[susangh208]

Thank you Chris. This is horribly ignorant question... but can't find "Express". Where do I find it? Also, I noticed in the Tutorials that an option/icon called "Exploration Render" is featured (in tool bar); however in my V2 version, I don't have this. Realize it may be irrelevant... but wanted to ask, is it relevant?. Thank you.

[Chris]

When you open the Render window, you will see an option for choosing the render preset. Click on it and a drop down window will open. In that window you will see a "tree" of choices. At or near the top is "Express". Expand that and you will see Easy, Advanced, etc.

The Exploration Renderer is only available for the Pro version.

[susangh208]

Thank you Chris!

[susangh208]

Still have more questions ~

When selecting Clay Rendering, it appears I only have two options to begin the rendering process and those two option relate to "edit background". My goal is just a white background and unified color image (gray is perfect!).

The two options that allow me to move forward are: (a) Background Color and (b) Sky Color. If I select anything else, the error message that comes up is: Invalid background image file.

Which one is a better option to move forward with?

1. When I tried to render with Background Color, my "image" is solid black (what I don't want). I'm not connecting/understanding in regards to how to adjust the settings to let the product/image come through.

2a.When I tried rendering tests with Sky Color, here is what happened:
** The lower the Render Preset was set at, the better the color (gray/clay) came out (even though I had "hot spots" (dashes of white) in the gray color).
** When I tried to render at High, my rendering process stalled (and there were "hot spots" in my image)
Don't want hotspots, just a unified gray color.

3. What am I doing wrong?

4. I don't understand options such as:
** Bloom (size)
** Edit Environment: Gammet, Exposure, Brightness, Tone Map (to the extent of adjusting these increments to achieve the quality). I did play around with them, but couldn't tell a huge/any difference. Bottom line, at a loss at what type of setting adjustments (increments) these should be set at... my guess is that I'm not pushing them high enough. Any suggestions for a base level increment for any one of these?


My goal with Clay.... is just achieve a universal "unified" gray (in my exploration, the grays were coming in a different hues pending various objects in the scene).

Working with V2 64bit Professional and SU 2015 64bit.

Thank you.

[Fletch]

When selecting Clay Rendering, it appears I only have two options to begin the rendering process and those two option relate to "edit background". My goal is just a white background and unified color image (gray is perfect!).

Do you have an example showing an image you have done so far so that we can see what you are talking about? Do you have an example image showing what your desired effect is?
For Sky, turn off sun, set sky to Sky Color and set sky color to any grey or white color you wish.

The two options that allow me to move forward are: (a) Background Color and (b) Sky Color. If I select anything else, the error message that comes up is: Invalid background image file.

this error message only shows up until you browse to and load a background image... then the error message will go away.

Which one is a better option to move forward with?

Avoid any sky type that says "Background" because they are really for just art effect, if you don't know what you're doing, don't use them.
Any sky type that says "Sky Color" will contribute the color of the sky as if it were shining a dome of light that same color evenly onto your scene below the sky "dome". All reflections will reflect that same color of light as if it were actually the color of the sky.
Background image or background color does not contribute light or reflections to your scene, it's simply "inserted" into the background and no sky light is contributed to the scene, which means it's basically useless unless it's precisely what you want - in that rare case it's very handy.

3. What am I doing wrong?

Be patient you are a learning a new program, and a technical one. It takes time and starting anything new can be frustrating, take it easy on yourself. And WATCH THE TUTORIAL VIDEOS, FOLLOW THE ONLINE ANIMATED MANUAL - all of which are linked conveniently for you in my signature. Then read the Tips and Tricks for V1 and V2, most of the tips and tricks for V1 still apply to V2.
Subject: Best Of Tips and Tricks - The Master List - V1.x
Subject: Best Of Tips and Tricks - The Master List - V2.x

4. I don't understand options such as:
** Bloom (size)
** Edit Environment: Gammet, Exposure, Brightness, Tone Map (to the extent of adjusting these increments to achieve the quality). I did play around with them, but couldn't tell a huge/any difference. Bottom line, at a loss at what type of setting adjustments (increments) these should be set at... my guess is that I'm not pushing them high enough. Any suggestions for a base level increment for any one of these?

Avoid these for the moment until you learn the basics first. Only increase and decrease the exposure. Default exposure is 1.0, increase it to 1.5 or maybe 2.0 if you need to brighten your image. That's all you need while you begin.

My goal with Clay.... is just achieve a universal "unified" gray (in my exploration, the grays were coming in a different hues pending various objects in the scene).

A picture is worth a 1000 words. please provide an example image, and we can help you work to your goal.

Working with V2 64bit Professional and SU 2015 64bit.
If your 64bit machine is crashing on High setting, please tell us how much RAM you are using, and monitor the ram up to the point it crashes or fails to render and tell us how much of the RAM was used at the time. Avoid having multiple tabs in any type of Internet Web Browser while rendering, TABs take up a shocking amount of RAM.

[susangh208]

Thank you Fletch.

- Need/want to take some time to explore all the comments you shared through new rendering exercises; however wished to say thank you for your response.

- Good point on V1 as I have not spent any time looking them (only V2, and will review again).

- Attached is a test and as you can see on the "screen" there are two white spots. I suspect by the comments you shared, once I approach the technique from your perspective it probably will alleviate the issue (it's only the furniture product I want to color gray (or any color), the rest of the scene is to remain white).

Thank you again!

[susangh208]

Hi Fletch,

Played around with this some more and here are few challenges/FYI on details:

- Computer has 4GB of RAM (I think you nailed it in regards to "other tabs" as I did have connections open to YouTube, etc).

- Given my goal is a white background and I don't want any light source contributing to the scene, I opted for Background Color (and did select white).
Background image or background color does not contribute light or reflections to your scene, it's simply "inserted" into the background and no sky light is contributed to the scene

- Attached is the outcome. The image is all black. I did "explode" groups (furniture) incase that could have been the culprit, but as you see it was not.

Bottom line, I'm still not doing something correctly.
Thank you for your insight!

[Chris]

Your scene is black because now you have absolutely no light in your scene.

If you are looking for a soft, diffuse light all around your scene (typical of alot of "ambient occlusion" renders), set the background type to Sky Color, then set the color to a grey. After your render, if you want your background to be a full-on white, render a Mask render and use the mask to photoshop the previous render (with the gray background) onto a white background.