Austrian emperor crown

[loramel]

I did a test setup as radiance suggested with to lights from top with a lampspectrum and 3 big lights mapped with a hdr from stpeters.
I also did a render over night without hdr maps but only lights with lampspectrum texture.

Unfortunately the studio lighting setup has two copies of the saphire which darkens it too much. Pressed Shift-D without noticing it

See here for a comparison

pure studio lighting

lights + hdr lighting

For the hdr lights to work I took the liberty to crudely patch the imagemap source.

I am not quite sure which one is better.

[dougal2]

Firstly, this is truly inspiring and amazing work you've done

I prefer the pure studio render, the highlights are less harsh - even with the 'double' sapphire it looks better. the 'single' sapphire looks (although undersampled) really odd.

I also have a bit of a problem with the gold - it looks too clean and pure (I have the same issue with most metals/NK renderings in various renderers).
In RL gold tends to looks much warmer, more yellow. I understand if you're unwilling to change it though as I'm sure your materials are massively complex enough

[loramel]

Firstly, this is truly inspiring and amazing work you've done

I prefer the pure studio render, the highlights are less harsh - even with the 'double' sapphire it looks better. the 'single' sapphire looks (although undersampled) really odd.

I also have a bit of a problem with the gold - it looks too clean and pure (I have the same issue with most metals/NK renderings in various renderers).
In RL gold tends to looks much warmer, more yellow. I understand if you're unwilling to change it though as I'm sure your materials are massively complex enough

Thanks dougal2 for you kind words.

I have decided to use the studio render, also because I am not comfortable using a patched lux for a project like this.

The metal bothers me too. I think I will have to do a separate simpler project, just to see if I can find something working.

But for this project this is no longer an option You only see the clean look at considerable high Samples/px and this takes too long with the crown to achieve. And yes, the materials are complex. So complex in fact, that I begin to wonder if I am 'overcomplexifying', if such a word even exists

[Radiance]

Hey,

I still think the object is very detailed/realistic compared to the environment, and you should try to place it in something more real/complex/suitable.
I think it needs to look like it's worth a lot of money, and is on display, instead of placed on a piece of cloth for a photo...

Radiance

[loramel]

Hey,

I still think the object is very detailed/realistic compared to the environment, and you should try to place it in something more real/complex/suitable.
I think it needs to look like it's worth a lot of money, and is on display, instead of placed on a piece of cloth for a photo...

Radiance

I hear you.

Nonetheless, I have to call it finished, as my motivation to do anything further is fading very quickly. When I started I had exactly this scene in mind (a clean studio shot) and thats what I have now. Time to move on.

I also want to write down a breakdown of the materials used in this project, which could evolve into some practical guide on how to use the lux materials.

And, I have already another project in mind and would like to do it with lux, but this will have to wait till SSS is available ...