I have tried for weeks to create an environment that I can use to render jewelry pieces. In the environments I have created some pieces will show ok an some will be either too dark or too much light.
I would like to create a model environment that I can reuse for all my pieces. I would be glad to pay for the help.
Gloria
hey Gloria,
can you post some pics from the work you did till now or your ideas?
Eike
The cross is sterling silver and I would like to get a render that I can use to show a customer and use the environment for all my pieces.
cross sor Flamingop Environment.3dm (679.2 KB)
Any suggestions? I really need to get a good render I can use.
Do you have any example renders showing what you want to change or don’t like? Here’s a quick example with your model as well. I turned on the ground plane and rotated the model slightly to appear as though it was resting on the ground. I then adjusted the brightness in the Render window>Adjust image section. I left the Beach Probe HDR file in the skylight that you had previously chosen.
Brian,
Your rendering certainly looks much better than mine. The piece does not look like polished silver. How can I make it more shinny like polished silver?
The illusion of shine and polish is reflection. Try a more interesting HDR file or place an object in the the scene (perhaps a PictureFrame or add an environment image), that gives the polished material something to reflect.
If you walk up to a big chromed Buick bumper, what do you see?
You see your knees and the environment around you.
That’s what makes it look polished.
That same bumper in a gray environment will be gray.
Here’s your model again with a ground plane and a different, more interesting, rnl_probe.hdr sky light. It shows the cells of the image so clearly it needs more tweaking, but it looks shiny because it has something to reflect.
John,
Thanks for the information. I struggle with the concept of lights and reflection. I have experimented with several HDR but my renders either look so bright that I cannot see the details or very dull with lots of details
I do not know how to tweak the images so that they will reflect more or less as needed. Is there any way that I can a “standard” environment that I can use for all my pieces so I do not have to start new every time?
Thanks for your help.
Gloria Van Arsdale
As John mentioned, the HDR used is key to creating the reflections. You can download a bunch of environment textures I’ve shot here for free to try in the skylight…
http://www.food4rhino.com/category/materials/environment?ufh
Upload sample images of what you have rendered or want for more specific suggestions… this is pretty subjective stuff 
That’s due to the low resolution of that HDR. You can reduce the Sharpness in the material to blur the reflection to compensate or use a higher res HDR something at least 1024 x 2048 should solve the problem. nXt’s default HDR files are all really low res unfortunately.
You’ll be able to build one you like once you get your head around what you like.
The next time you look at a piece and like how it appears, pay attention to what you are really seeing. What is being reflected? Is the light moving around? How is it lit?
Visit a retail jewelry store. Find a case that really makes the pieces look good. Then figure out why they look good. How is the room lit? What color is the ceiling? Is it black with lots of small pin light sources? Is that what you’re seeing that you like?
Once you understand what you like what what is involved in getting the look, then model a little scene that produces similar lighting and interesting reflections.
Build a space that makes your renderings look good.
Thanks all for your suggestions. I will try several of your ideas and I am glad to know that the low resolution of the HDRI causes the reflections since I get that a lot. My questions about Brian’s comments of reducing the sharpness of the material, if I do that will it also reduce the shine? Since my jewelry is sterling silver I want the piece to look shinny.
Any HDRI that you recommend I use for this piece?
wow @BrianJ Is that with the rhino render or a plugin? I have never been able to get my metal to look so good. 
That was done in Flamingo nXt. The key to realistic metal with any renderer is often the use of an HDR environment. Try the Rhino 6 for Windows evaluation for an easy set up
https://www.rhino3d.com/download/rhino-for-windows/6/evaluation
If you open or import your model from another version of Rhino, make sure to first click ‘Reset To Defaults’ at the bottom of the Rendering panel. Then use the Materials panel to select and apply metal templates we’ve included. The Environments panel will also give you access to around 30 HDR environments which you can use instead of the default Studio if needed. The Raytraced display mode will calculate the render. Save it with ViewCaptureToFile.
Here’s a sample workflow real quick using Rhino 6 and Raytraced mode for Jewelry. I’ll be making more soon too with narration but feel free to make any new posts in the forum if you have questions.
Thanks @BrianJ, I got Flaming and have been playing around with it- I also found some video tutorials which were helpful. One thing I can’t figure out how to do is to reset to defaults? and even when I make the ground plane white it still appears grey. Thanks
Did you try the Rhino 6 for Windows evaluation
https://www.rhino3d.com/download/rhino-for-windows/6/evaluation
My instructions were specific to that version of Rhino and did not require Flamingo so that may be the confusion.
If you are using Flamingo as your renderer, the ground plane may look grey depending on the lighting even if it was assigned a white material. You will need to use the brightness adjustment in the render window to override the ‘tone mapping’ that Flamingo automatically does that is causing this. The tone mapping prevents images from being too light or dark but can also have a tendency to lean toward grey as a result when using white materials.
Again, I would suggest using Rhino 6 for Windows with the default Raytraced viewport and material system for the easiest set up.
Thanks! Do you have any suggestions for tutorials that I can use?
