Make an image have that "realistic look"

[enzolima]

Making something look realistic is very often point of discussion, since its VERY hard to make. I have found out a way to do it more or less, i had some pretty good reactions anyway. Here we go:

1. Finish all effects to your image, this must be the last thing you do to an image before posting it on internet.

2. Load your image in the GIMP

3. Add RGB noise, value between 0.08 and 0.12 (play with it)

4. Apply a gaussian blur, set to 3, maybe 4 px.

5. Apply an unsharp mask, play with the settings until the preview box shows something you like.

6. Done! This should give you an acceptable result.

[axeman3d]

I tend to add noise only if I'm trying to match a certain image, often something off the TV. I almost always use a 0.5 gaussian blur to take the harsh CGI edges off however, it's very handy as a finishing tool.

[enzolima]

Yea i agree, however, i must note that if your image is dark, noise is ALWAYS making your image better. in light images this does not apply. But i find a .5 gaussian blur do almost nothing...... i always use a little more in combination with unsharp mask. UM makes your colors more deeply too.

[DeadlyDarkness]

I do exactly what axeman does. I only use noise if I feel I need to. I often duplicate the image, alter the levels to bring out the bright areas, then just add noise to that. There's also the chromatic aberration technique, the idea being shifting the red colour channel in one direction to give the image an 'edge'. that usually works quite well (downside is you need an actions set to do it in any reasonable length of time).

[axeman3d]

If I feel it needs further smoothing or it needs some atmosphere I also like to duplicate the image in a second layer, blur that new layer with a 3.0 or 4.0 gaussian blur and then switch the layer to 'screen'. You have to play with the opacity sometimes to get the desired effect, but it can be very atmospheric and hide a few sins.

[enzolima]

Hey i never tried that! Thanks for telling

[axeman3d]

Since we're on the subject I just made the following images...

Klingon ships with no tampering

Basically the first image is how it came out of Lightwave, with 3 lights, 3 models and a background image of the Earth. All it's had done is the standard practice of rendering slightly larger than I needed it (1280 wide) and then resized to the correct size (1024) to give some basic anti-alias. It's a common trick worth remembering.

and this one...
Klingon ships with some tampering

This one has had the image copied into a second layer on top of the first and then that new layer was blurred in a 4.0 gaussian blur. I then set the layer to 'screen' or 'overlay' and put the opacity to 50% to stop the glow wiping out the image. You adjust to suit yourself, but as this is quite a light image the glow was overpowering. I then played with the hue/saturation settings to boost the reds on the Klingon cruisers and change the blue of the planet to a slightly more alien colouring. Final touch was some film-grain and the sized down to 1024.

It's not brilliant, but it shows that there's a fair bit of post-processing you can do to an image if you want to experiment. I like to do as much as I can in Lightwave, and just tweak in Photoshop or Gimp. This is about as much as I'd ever do to a normal image. I'm not saying it's nice, it's just for illustration purposes.

The D7 comes from the LWG3D site, by the way, I just downloaded it and thought I'd try it out.

[enzolima]

i like the one with no tampering better

[DeadlyDarkness]

Made a a sample myself:

Untampered:

http://img340.imageshack.us/img340/7748/voyrealismbaselp7.jpg

Touch up:

http://img511.imageshack.us/img511/8844/voyrealismev3.jpg

All I've done here is add glow and a tiny amount of blur to the edges. A small amount of grain was also added where the areas are darkest (very subtle I might add). Often images don't need to look realistic to be good. I prefer fantastical yet cool to perfect realism.

[enzolima]

cool!!

[axeman3d]

i like the one with no tampering better

Yeah, so do I. That's why I dont tamper much.

[DeadlyDarkness]

I think glow is all thats needed, if a model is lit correctly. If you look at my two samples, grain or other effects really wouldn't add to it.

[troy2000]

I like axeman3d's tampered image . The planet looks a little too high contrast, but maybe if ship was first rendered against a blue background and then chroma keyed so it was replaced by the planet, it would look perfect

[enzolima]

people PLEASE dont use so much glow! glow looks nice, but it takes away very much reality!! next time, you make an image, when youre finished modellign the scene, lower half the glow. or more.

for example, i selected one of the best images in the gallery. face it, we all strive to have perfection of both reality and art in our images. this is one of the best:

http://www.trekmeshes.ch/publicgallery/images/BackFireLowRes2.jpg

(i could have selected one of biko's, but that would be too common since biko is a great pro)

as you can see in the image, theres not much glow. still it looks amazing. please, lower the glow!!!