What is a good source for very high quality 3D people?
March 10, 2009 4:14 PM Subscribe
What is a good source for high-quality 3D people for use in digital architectural models? Polygon count and cost are of no concern, while natural-looking faces, textures, and poses are a must.
I'm finding that clients (and I) are immediately turned off by weird-looking people in our renderings. Our current models are from AXYZ and Lowpolygon3D and are totally unacceptable. I'd prefer to use plain silhouettes in these situations, but unfortunately that's not an option.
I'm finding that clients (and I) are immediately turned off by weird-looking people in our renderings. Our current models are from AXYZ and Lowpolygon3D and are totally unacceptable. I'd prefer to use plain silhouettes in these situations, but unfortunately that's not an option.
Response by poster: Poser-generated models are no good, the poses still look unnatural. The Lowpolygon3D models seem to be generated directly from live subjects and therefore have the best poses but the textures and faces are very low-res. I suspect there's a major Uncanny Valley factor happening here.
posted by sharkitect at 4:31 PM on March 10, 2009
posted by sharkitect at 4:31 PM on March 10, 2009
I find most bypass the issue by not using people, but simply silhouettes of people. I've also used stock photography of people, inserted by hand after rendering with photoshop (and all the shadow manipulation etc. req'd to make it look passable. Silhouettes are definitly the easiest though. I have not seen any 3d models on the realistic side of the uncanny valley.
posted by defcom1 at 4:39 PM on March 10, 2009
posted by defcom1 at 4:39 PM on March 10, 2009
I agree with the comment that if Poser isn't good enough, you won't find what you are looking for yet. I've been most impressed by billboard style photographs cut out and put into the rendering. If you are doing still image models this works great. If you are doing movement they look unreal, but not so unnatural as a 3D model.
posted by meinvt at 5:05 PM on March 10, 2009
posted by meinvt at 5:05 PM on March 10, 2009
I haven't looked for some time, but I remember there being some good models on Turbo Squid, and they're often fully rigged.
A cursory search just now turned up a few reasonably realistic people, like this, and a number of lower quality collections like this
But it seems like, because of the time and effort that has to go into making a 3d model even approach realistic, there probably isn't going to be enough choice to be able to populate your models with varied people.
posted by lucidium at 5:33 PM on March 10, 2009
A cursory search just now turned up a few reasonably realistic people, like this, and a number of lower quality collections like this
But it seems like, because of the time and effort that has to go into making a 3d model even approach realistic, there probably isn't going to be enough choice to be able to populate your models with varied people.
posted by lucidium at 5:33 PM on March 10, 2009
Response by poster: Archvision is the best option I've seen yet in terms of overall quality, but I don't think the shadows and reflections would render correctly, given that it's not really a true 3D model. Plus we've got a Mac platform.
posted by sharkitect at 5:40 PM on March 10, 2009
posted by sharkitect at 5:40 PM on March 10, 2009
Getting out of the uncanny valley is difficult for 3D models not only because of modeling/posing issues but because of texturing ones, i.e. the human skin is very hard to get right and it requires a very advanced lighting model. This can work on a single character, but populating a entire scene is more challenging. And it's not just a poly issue, but a render time issue too.
Your best option is indeed to use 2D models and choose/place them so they match the lighting. If done well, shadows and reflections should be more or less correct in fact, but yes, they're not really 3D and won't really interact with the rest of the scene.
I fear that current CG technology is not there yet, so it's either 2D props or massaging Poser/DAZ models into something acceptable.
One solution (though probably not practical) would be to render the Poser/DAZ models separately in a mock-up of the final scene, with an application that would give you enough control on the way they look and then compositing the result (including shadows and reflections) in the final image.
posted by elgilito at 5:27 AM on March 11, 2009
Your best option is indeed to use 2D models and choose/place them so they match the lighting. If done well, shadows and reflections should be more or less correct in fact, but yes, they're not really 3D and won't really interact with the rest of the scene.
I fear that current CG technology is not there yet, so it's either 2D props or massaging Poser/DAZ models into something acceptable.
One solution (though probably not practical) would be to render the Poser/DAZ models separately in a mock-up of the final scene, with an application that would give you enough control on the way they look and then compositing the result (including shadows and reflections) in the final image.
posted by elgilito at 5:27 AM on March 11, 2009
It's been a few years since I've done arch renderings, but Archvision is certainly what everybody is using for entourage- perhaps getting a little carried away. I see a lot of renderings that draw too much attention to the cool sports car or cute co-ed walking down the sidewalk. And to answer your question about shadows- apparently yes.
posted by tfmm at 2:39 PM on March 11, 2009
posted by tfmm at 2:39 PM on March 11, 2009
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posted by Artw at 4:26 PM on March 10, 2009