Watch WIP

[ActionArt]

Here's a quick render test with white as the background. I think I like it the best.

[ace63]

I liked the blue background more because of the reflections and the feeling of depth it gave.
Nice work on that watch, and a great improvement over the first pic you posted

[shadow_ex_]

great work there, really complex model to do,well done^^

[ActionArt]

Thanks! I see the maker has just released some new versions with color/material schemes I like better so I'm going to update that.

Just a note on area lights and the Binary Alchemy light shader. I tried it just for fun replacing the area "softlight" with the BA one since they said it was faster.

Render time went from 2.5 hours to under 4 minutes AND looks better (no grain)!!!! Holy render batman!

I'm going to do further tests to confirm this tonight but WOW (I'll post results). If you haven't tried it, I'd suggest it!

[ActionArt]

Here's the latest with some some brushed up textures. I'm liking the look of the brushed gold and did it with two different backgrounds. I think this is about it for this project unless someone points out something that could be done better

Thanks for all the help!!

[shadow_ex_]

i like the material a lot!
but now its a bit boring
that it is all gold
hopefully its for testing reasons only ;)

[ActionArt]

It's just one of the color schemes Xoskeleton offers and I liked it but that's just me

I'll do one more with the other colors as well.

[Rez007]

Hi Action Art,

I kind of read most of the posts in this thread, but not all, so sorry if something is repeated. Here are my suggestions.

To start, everything is looking good so far, but I would try this to help in the photorealism side of things - I used to sell highend Swiss watches when I was going through college, so my recommendation is to go into a fine jewelry store by the Swiss watch area, and look at the TAG Heuer, Baume and Mercier, Rado, Omega, etc. and ask the person that works there for a product catalog. Almost all Swiss watch vendors have them for customers to take home. In there, you will see their lighting techniques which will help in your lighting composition. Personally, I think your model is fine, and I would not "dirty" it up at all. Those watches are cut from precision machines, so they are not going to look worn-and-torn, especially since they are new. Also, the type of crystal that is on the front, if being a Swiss watch will have the properties of a Sapphire, if it is Japanese movement, then the front crystal will most likely be a mineral crystal. That should have a slight physical difference in reflections. I would ask your vendor, that you are doing this for, what type of crystal it is. It is not really a drastic difference, but it could help. Another note, in watch production shots, a lot of Watch makers/vendors like to use a specific time displayed on the watch - it plays to the overall astetic of the the watch itself. All in all, you have a nice image, I would just focus on the lighting, composition (camera angle), and Depth-of-field (intensity of), which you can get from the product books.

[Hirazi Blue]

Apart from all that, I think your last two images show what an extreme difference the background can make. Personally I would prefer the blueish background, but I won't bore you with some feeble attempt to justify that...
(but no, it has nothing to do with my nickname here)

[ActionArt]

Thanks for the expert advice Rez. This project is a sample specifially for XO watches: http://xowatch.com/

I'll have to check on the type of crystal used.

I never would have guessed you'd pick the blue one Hirazi

[Hirazi Blue]

Maybe I should simply have said, I don't like the white background! ;)

[Zafar Iqbal]

Maybe I should simply have said, I don't like the white background! ;)

I'm with Hirazi, I prefer the blue one too ;) Very nice progress btw

[shadow_ex_]

Maybe I should simply have said, I don't like the white background! ;)

I'm with Hirazi, I prefer the blue one too ;) Very nice progress btw

same here^^

[ActionArt]

Here's a couple more variations: The Bronze with blue background seems the most popular so far.

Rez, I'm waiting to hear back on the type of crystal used and the preferred position of the hands. It seems the most used position in general is 10 after 10 or a variation that uses that separation angle. In this case, it blocks the logo so I like the 5 after 5 but I'll see what the customer wants. Also 5 after 5 is quiting time for a lot of people here so I thought psychologically, it would be good

I used a magazine ad for Omega as a starting point and it's very similar to the silver sample below. I found it quite mono-chromatic though. Just personal taste I guess. A lot of major budget ads are this way though, must be for a reason.

I've never been a big fan of high DOF intensity but I'll get one of those catalogs and see what they're doing.

The purpose of this work is a sample and the real work will be on a completely different line of watches with all the specifics laid out.

[shadow_ex_]

great!!! ;)

[Hirazi Blue]

I like both versions in your last post...
The gradient background works nicely too.
Maybe you could you try placing the bronze version of the watch against the black/white gradient background also?
Not really sure, if that could be an improvement, but maybe its worth a shot...
;)