Tapped out…
Here is the final image as mentioned in the previous post and a bit about how it came together.
The scene itself is relatively straightforward, the ground is a flat plane with a tiling autumn leaves texture applied, I planned on using heavy depth of field here so the background didn’t have to be terribly detailed. The wooden post is also little more than a box primitive with some supporting edge loops for subdivision, hurriedly sculpted in Mudbox using high resolution rough wood textures. I then extracted an object space vector displacement map to recreate the detail at render time in Mental Ray. Here is a screen grab of the scene in 3DSMax
The tap started out as an 8 sided cylinder cobbled from reference of many images of outdoor taps, with the hex nut near the handle modelled seperately and attached afterwards. The low poly geometry was easy to unwrap and smoothed quite well. This is the low geometry and the tap UV layout in Max
I used Surface Mapper in 3DSMax to render off a dust and cavity map for use in texturing, the body of which was done using photo sourced projection maps in Mudbox. I extracted the white areas of oxidisation on the metal to a new texture and applied it as a reflection mask and displacement map back in Max to break up the silhouette on the tap model. I also did some full scene passes – ambient occlusion, zdepth, Fresnel falloff on the tap and a gradient to be composited in Photoshop. The raw pass was rendered to EXR format so that there would be room to play with exposure afterwards, I was hoping to achieve several Instagram style effects at the end. Lighting is a simple daylight system (MR sun and physical sky) with some foliage added off camera for light breaks and shadows.
All that remained when these were composited was to add some light leak effects, a little colour grading and a grunge border. The full resolution versions are below, if you have any questions about the making of please drop me a line in the comments area below!
Pete Mc Nally's Blog 
I think the B/W final image is far more successful than the colour image. The purple in the wood doesn’t work for me and the tiled leaves look a lot like tiled leaves or possibly a cheap polyester carpet in a lowdown motel!! But hey, I couldn’t even get the hex nut right, so as always, you is the master I only wish I could emulate.
Thanks Rory! The colour version is the mood/lighting I had in mind and fairly close to what I had hoped to achieve. Compare the final version to the first image in the “breakdown” and you’ll see a version with less of a purple crush. You’re right about the leaves – they’re a flat plane! I thought about using models/particles/displacement for them, but it was overkill for this particular project. I may go back and rough up the intersection between the background post and the ground – i think that would help.
I’d say the light on the ground should fall off more, especially towards the back, but also it is just too bright, largely due, I think, to the abundance of yellow leaves. You could maybe adjust the colours in your tile. Yeah, roughing up the intersection with the post would work, and of course, a detailed displacement map, but , for sure, you have to make project based decisions, I’m just looking at it as an image. And as I hope I already implied, I know I am being unforgivably cheeky considering what a dunce I am at all of this modelling, texturing, lighting stuff!! Eye of the viewer is all I offer here 😉
I like the images at the top of the page, by the way. And they show you just like dat purple thing!!
I’m always glad to hear your thoughts Rory and have the benefit of your keen eye on my work. I’ll let you know if I get another crack at this, I have a few more variations I’d like to post up too.
Hey Pete. That’s kind of you to say. I often check in and usually am struck dumb by how excellent the images are. Some of the landscape stuff is amazing, and I say that as one living in Kerry, staring at landscapes left, right and centre!!
We must catch up again soon. All the best. Rory
Would love to catch up. I visited Glengarriff in Cork there a few weeks back and was awestruck by the landscape there, beautiful part of the country.
Wow. Just…wow!! I’m only starting out on the bumpy road that’s 3D visualisation and thought I was making decent progress until I saw your portfolio of work! I’m now feeling extremely deflated!! 😉
Hi Anita, thanks for your comments. Don’t feel deflated, I’ve been doing this for about 12 years and still wrestle with a healthy amount of self-doubt, it’s unpleasant but useful as it helps to keep you on your toes! if you have any questions feel free to contact me and maybe i can help 🙂
Thanks for your offer of help Pete; you might end up regretting that! 😉