'Scandinavian Design' workflow

Nitheesh K shares his workflow for making the striking Scandinavian Design

Reference

Scandinavian design is one of my favorite styles of design in architecture. That's why I've chosen this style for improving my lighting skill. Its white, cool feel is nice to create in 3D. Here are some of the reference images I gathered for this project.

<h5>Initial reference images</h5>

Initial reference images

Model

To make my image I used 3ds Max and I found models from CGAxis, Archive 3D and 3dsky to fill my scene with realistic-looking models. I test how they look in the whole scene, and try different angles and focuses.

<h5>Testing the models in the scene</h5>

Testing the models in the scene

Textures

As we all know, texturing is the important part of a scene which gives it a realistic look. In this scene I pay the most attention to the wood and fabric materials. For wood I have used diffuse, reflection, reflection glossiness and bump materials to get a realistic effect.

<h5>Creating the wood texture material</h5>

Creating the wood texture material

<h5>Creating the fabric texture material</h5>

Creating the fabric texture material

Lighting

Lighting is my favorite part of architectural visualization. I wanted to do more with my lights to make the scene more realistic, so I spent more time on this stage. In this scene I used HDRI dome light linked with sunlight for the main light source, and V-Ray plane lights for the window areas.

<h5>Setting up the lights for the scene</h5>

Setting up the lights for the scene

<h5>A zoomed-out view of all the scene's lights</h5>

A zoomed-out view of all the scene's lights

<h5>V-Ray lighting settings</h5>

V-Ray lighting settings

Rendering

Now the image is ready to render with V-Ray. You can see my V-Ray render settings pictured here, and the resulting render without post-production.

Render settings

Render settings

<h5>The raw render</h5>

The raw render

Post-production

I finished the image with post-production using Photoshop CS6. I tweaked the exposure, levels and colors, and used ZDepth and Photoshop's Lens Blur filter for a "depth of field" effect.

<h5>Tweaking the render in Photoshop</h5>

Tweaking the render in Photoshop

<h5>Using a ZDepth pass for more depth</h5>

Using a ZDepth pass for more depth

Final Image

Here is the final image. It was a lot of fun to make and I hope you have found my workflow informative.

<h5>The final version</h5>

The final version

Related links

Head over to Nitheesh's website for more of his interior work
Check out Patric Verstraete for great tutorial on making a cosy but modern loft
Looking for something different? Why not have a go a look at the Cartoon Critters eBook

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