Lighting a Bathroom!

I am currently compiling a series of scenes I am going to light to build a CG lighting portfolio! To start off, I received a file, made by Jeff Patton, to texture and light; I DID NOT MAKE ANY OF THE MODELS, I will be doing everything else however!

Jeff Patton's bathroom.

I am to work on texturing, lighting, and rendering this piece. I am also going to produce this in Vray so I am very excited to start working on this render engine as I have heard much about it! I will upload the picture with textures next time I am able to get to the labs to render it out (unfortunately, my student version of Maya doesn't have Vray so my textures and materials can't link on my personal computer). I'm thinking of a regular daylight scene since I really don't have that time of day in my other work.

Stay tuned for more updates in the very near future!

09/04/2012 update;

Started to get familiar with Vray textures. I've been having serious issues getting the mirror to actually reflect, but it's very picky about what angle it wants to work. I think I'm getting close with the chrome and bathtub textures to where I want them to be but experimentation is still required. 

Also started working more in depth on certain textures. Since chrome is strongly present in this scene I thought I'd start off with working on that along with a rubber duck. You know... because it's a rubber duck!

09/06/2012 Update;
Found a spot for my composition!

Using this image, I took it into photoshop to lay out how I want to make the lights in Maya.

I want to go for a very warm yellowish environment. Light rays will peer through the window, bringing in a natural mid-day light into the room to break up the more vibrant yellow lights that will be emitted via the light globes in the room. I also began the process of learning linear workflow in Vray as it is much different compared to mental ray, but here is what I got thus far;

Still trying to find a balance between transparency and illumination on the light bulb but I figured that it would be a good place to start as "realistic" light sources for the scene! Stay tuned for more updates!

09/11/2012 update;

Really started working on lights. I have a physical sun and sky light coming in through the window and the bathroom's bulb lights are a mixture of its' own iridescence and a rectangle Vray light hung below it. They bathtub I gave some additional lights at the edge to give more of a rim as if it were to come from the window.

Got some weird reflections coming from the walls but hopefully I will resolve it soon!

09/12/2012 update;

Here's what I got thus far with an ambient occlusion pass.

As of right now; I'm thinking it's still to dark around the edges, the chrome material and other select textures need work, and I need to adjust the harsh light from the window and light bulbs since they don't seem to match up with how bright it is on the inside... More updates soon...

09/25/2012 update;

I believe it's complete for the time being!

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I modified each light as an EXR file within Photoshop to get more desired results. Here is what it looked like before editing it in post down below;

I'm very pleased how it turned out overall and I can't wait to try out lighting another scene! Check out my other post to see how projects are going and feel free to post some feedback; good or bad!