Photorealism in Blender: Unlocked

[@cfx_graphics2981]

i dont think every render need to have chaos to make it look real according to me the most important criteria make any render look photo realistic is have perfect lighting , real world scaling and some imperfection like scratches and dirt.

[@scenefiller]

agreed! those things are definitely the groundwork for a realistic image, but i still like adding a bit of randomness afterwards to help prevent everything being "too perfect" 😀

[@Duuude9448]

agree .. i think this chaos bullshit !

[@B9poy]

@@Duuude9448don't be like that, it's useful, you don't have to include everything he did, one element could be enough for your scene and add realism

[@cfx_graphics2981]

@@B9poy yeah you are right

[@cfx_graphics2981]

@@Duuude9448 chill man

[@ImiiVy]

The photorealistim motto: perfection is in the imperfect

[@scenefiller]

i love that! for sure 😄

[@InfoIsHere]

@@scenefiller FR

[@karthanok6859]

I think your points are solid on making the render realistic but going too far can break the vibe of the scene like that before and after give a completely different vibe

[@scenefiller]

for sure! i think the takeaway for people is to pick and choose which things they think would work best for their particular scene 😀

[@patryk9806]

Just my thoughts, the after look more realistic, but the before is much more interesting and pleasant to watch imo

[@scenefiller]

@@patryk9806 yeah that's fair, as with everything it's possible to overdo it and completely change the look/feel of the scene 😅

[@JB-fh1bb]

I came here to say something like this: if you go to far towards chaos it’s also unrealistic. Like “the person who took the photo” would have straightened the chair, and probably swept up first.

[@porthmeor1]

@@JB-fh1bb Good point...in photography and art direction...controlling the details are key...any chaos shuold be very minimal especially in product shots.

[@Sputnik1]

I remember someone saying (but I don't remember who) that with photorealism, half of it is PHOTO. In order to make something look photorealistic we need to make it look like a photo as well. No matter how realistic a scene looks it will always look CG if it's crisp, camera imperfections like noise, dirt, lens flare and chromatic aberration will help with that as long as it's subtle

[@scenefiller]

definitely! i plan on making a postprocessing video in the future which will (hopefully) cover all of those😁

[@Sputnik1]

@@scenefiller can't wait to see it

[@xavtek]

I was about to post that the height and rotation angle of the camera could be optimised, nobody takes a perfectly level shot and is exactly 6" tall. ;) Great content ! thanks for sharing your tips !

[@avatarxs9377]

I simply can't thank you enough. that's exactly what i was looking for and what i was missing in my renders.

[@scenefiller]

im glad it helped! cheers 😀

[@Shnurbinator]

Very useful, lot of good information, not stretched out to 10 minutes. Excellent video

[@scenefiller]

i appreciate the kind words! 😃

[@GreenGrassJenny]

Very useful! Simple methods but really make a difference. Thank you!

[@scenefiller]

thanks for the kind words! 😁 im glad you found it useful

[@Sriram-ty8sk]

Nice work! To add a few more things; You can also add Halation, Burn, and other Chromatic Aberrations to make the renders more photorealistic. Because, CG at the end of the day is trying to achieve realism as captured by a real camera. So the 'chaos' of a physical camera might play a key role in adding more sense a manmade art.

[@scenefiller]

cheers! and yes absolutely, i'll probably make a video about postprocessing at some point 😁

[@davexmit]

This is the issue really. An immaculate render is like taking a photo with a magic camera that has no optical system of sensor. In movies they add film grain to make the image look more organic due to how good the optics are these days, and to dirty up CGI comping. BUT... easy with the chromatic aberration. If you can see it at normal viewing distance, it's too much.

[@scenefiller]

@@davexmit it's easy to overdo it for sure, same issue with bloom, a trick I use is to dial in what i think is a good amount, then reduce it further by 30% 😄

[@sabecarles]

A masterful analysis and explanation of a phenomenon that is difficult to detect. On point!

[@scenefiller]

thank you so much! 😄

[@fourstaredits9062]

Great video, these tips were super helpful!

[@scenefiller]

thank you! 😁

[@maximinecraftero]

I thought this video was going to be a "secret plugin" or something like that, but this amazing advice that can be applied by anyone and in any software. good job.

[@scenefiller]

i appreciate that! although if you know of any "secret" plugins i'd still love to hear about them 😅

[@Andrew-yd6rg]

@@scenefiller sRGB colour space is the issue

[@pondeify]

before and after just says it all - thanks for sharing

[@scenefiller]

im glad you like it, cheers! 😄

[@orcanimal]

Very helpful, and right to the point. So many videos meander and linger, and you just went point by point without filler. Thanks a lot!

[@scenefiller]

appreciate it! i try to keep things bite-sized and digestible 😋

[@SyniCrypt0]

By far the BEST realism video that I have watched, this one really made it click, thank you!

[@RadiantMantra]

That dirt overlay tip you gave us is insane, I think that would work especially well with time-saving addons like Image to decal

[@ViewDarshan]

Quite beautifully explained. Please keep up the good work.

[@scenefiller]

i appreciate that! i'll do my best 😅

[@Byronx3000]

Great insight to your workflow and way of thinking. Amazing video

[@scenefiller]

thank you! 😄

[@Starrider.]

Wow, this is a great breakdown! After learning the software etc etc one suddenly realises, there is something more to realism than just the engine

[@javiercarton9100]

I need more tutorials like this one! There's not much blender hyperrealists out there on KZbin to explain such important aspects of rendering. Waiting for more, keep it going ♥️

[@scenefiller]

i really appreciate the kind words 😀 more on the way!

[@SweetTooth8989]

Very good points. I'll agree with others that the chaos technique will vary wildly in intensity depending on the scene, to very little or almost none for those arch viz/interior design types of scenes. But aside from that specific scenario where you're trying to make something like you would see in a interior design magazine, it's absolutely very important. Even a "clean" interior scene needs little bits of chaos to make it seem lived in and used. Or else it looks like something that was just built, painted and set up and nobody has ever step foot in it yet. I had no clue about gobos, thanks for that. Really makes a massive difference in terms of realistic lighting and shadows to a scene.

[@scenefiller]

appreciate the feedback! im glad you found some use from the gobo technique 😅

[@williamlacrosse9389]

This is very great! Thx for sharing.

[@stial]

That's the most useful tutorial I've seen this month!

[@KeksFeelingCreation]

as mentioned in your video, one of the biggest factors that makes realism is inperfectionism. Take a picture with your phone and zoom in until you can see the pixels. You will notice that there are no pixels, but a crystal-like noise. If you do this with a render, you will see that every pixel is perfectly sharp. However, many people now think that you can add blurring. I'll say it right away, the blurring won't help much. That's why I have a solution. If you have Photoshop, click on Filters and then select the Crystallize filter from the list. Make the crystals as small as possible. Then you will have a realistic picture. Oh yes, and you have to add bloom and overexposure to renders, otherwise it will never be realistic. In realife it is also impossible not to get clipping because the dynamic between black and white in realife is simply too high. You can also do this in blender by rendering with AGX and overexposure. edit: add lens distortion and chromatic abberation when compositing to achieve maximum realism. AND IMPORTANT! Whenever you try to achieve photorealism, texture resolution does not play a major role, but when you build a scene, try to make everything that is not visible in the image realistic. That way the scene will look realistic from all directions.

[@scenefiller]

i'll have to look into this crystallize filter, sounds like a pretty powerful trick! thanks for sharing 😁

[@TrueKyanite]

I found adding a very subtle distortion and light glare helps a lot. But the biggest improvement I found, is in adding denoising, specifically lightroom denoising, and a tiny bit of grain, which makes it looks like it was taken on a phone camera.

[@MuzzaNZ]

Awesome work, one of the best step by steps I’ve seen recently!

[@scenefiller]

thank you for the kind words 😁

[@xanzuls]

Great video. Digital imperfection is the perfection. Also, the love the subtle story telling in your video.

[@scenefiller]

thank you! 😁

[@InfoIsHere]

The beauty of photorealism! Once you start understanding how imperfect things make up a apparently perfect scene, you've got nothing to say but just be amazed by it 😋

[@onyxJS]

i don't know why this is so controversial, this looks great and is a valuable strategy. I doubt most of the people complaining make renders half as realistic as that.

[@scenefiller]

i appreciate the kind words 😀cheers!

[@shivanshsingh748]

keep going brother, you are doing an amazing job!

[@scenefiller]

thanks so much! 😁

[@vyutanchor9880]

Almost perfect. Beautiful job.

[@MuSkA_]

Some good points but it all depends on the final objective. You went from a clean, organized look that could be feature on a real state ad to an old messy room.

[@scenefiller]

for sure! i think the trick is to dial in the right amount for each particular scene, not everything needs to be as messy as I made it here 😋

[@blender_face]

Also a great technique is adding bits of dust in hair to objects in your scene. There is a great video by EJ 3D called "How to add realistic dust and hair in blender" it really elevates the realism but adds some complexity to the scene so use its parently. Fire video btw🔥🔥🔥

[@maurisnosarom6195]

Your final image looks like a film scene, wonderful, you got a subscriber

[@ped-away-g1396]

that clean look DOES exist in real life. geometric imperfections sometimes aren't even visible. it's not a rule to enforce on every workpiece but a factor that contributes to the realism.

[@MariusViken]

As a still-life photographer who works a ton with light and is transitioning more and more to 3D. I can tell you that all of this is nice, but the problem is light module in 3D in general. It’s always too clean. It never bounces of materials correctly (or should I say randomly), giving you that "somethings off" type of feeling. That combined with the camera in Blender. The depth of field is never realistic enough. It’s to "plasticy" and images like these would also have some imperfections regarding how the camera and lenses works. So you can add as much imperfections to the scene as you want. But the lack of light randomly reflecting of materials (especially metal surfaces, color cast of the books to the wall due to the material and hot sun etc.), too perfectly controlled shadows (everythings i too even) and lack of lens distortion or chromatic abberation is what gives CGI a way the most.

[@scenefiller]

100% agree! i would love to see some improvements in Blender's depth of field specifically, I know there's some addons that add dirty bokeh, but having it built-in would be such a nice feature. btw can you recommend any great resources for studying light in still-life photography? i'd love to hear, cheers! 😅

[@Tallumen]

No fucking joke this video was amazing. I'Ve never used blender just heard about it and was thinking of starting and u my dear have definitely inspired me to do so. I don't normally comment on things but the way u matter of factory went through the small details was super cool an informative! Keep up the great work homie

[@scenefiller]

i really appreciate the kind words! definitely get stuck into Blender, it's a great tool once you get familiar! 😅

[@apersunthathasaridiculousl1890]

I wouldve thought you were just a bad photographer if i didn’t know this was a render 😳 (compliment)

[@scenefiller]

😂the best kind of compliment, cheers!

[@FilmSpook]

👍🏾👍🏾Very Excellent Work!! Many Thanks

[@scenefiller]

cheers! 😁

[@veangor]

honestly a very nice video. i think u made a lot of good points and managed to get it all into a quite short video which i enjoyed a lot :)

[@scenefiller]

i appreciate the kind words! 😋

[@Gametime05577]

Thank You So Much Brother ❤

[@wheatlysparble7900]

Excellent tutorial!

[@jajargg]

Keep making stuff like this and you'll be big in no time!

[@scenefiller]

thank you for the kind words! 😃

[@juridittrich6396]

my god do i find this content valuable

[@scenefiller]

i appreciate it! 😅

[@FictionCautious]

Excellent video on the subject of realism in cg

[@scenefiller]

thank you! im glad you dig it 😄

[@bayazid314]

10/10 content! when you go for realism, you must be chaotic!

[@maleklaila7414]

Amazing ! actually this can be applied to all software, each one is unique with the restrictions but still can be applied, the most important aspect of this video is the articulation, you are articulating the thoughts in order, so someone can take practically applicable notes.

[@scenefiller]

i appreciate the kind words! glad it was helpful 😀

[@kufjapierdziele]

Boy. It still looks like first toy story. What you need is good textures, good shaders and good lighting.

[@scenefiller]

i appreciate the feedback, cheers! 😀

[@gub672]

A actually insightful blender tutorial, great job man.

[@scenefiller]

i appreciate that, thank you!😀

[@Mr.N0B0DY.3D]

While randomness can add to realism. Its not whats required. Good lighting, good texturing and real world scale models (in order of importance) makes the most impact.

[@keremikzz6509]

yes this is really useful but real life can have simple and perfect shots as well. The trick for me is to add even just a tiny bit of fog and dust to every scene and adding noise to your renders so that it doesnt look like 3d but looks like a camera capture

[@scenefiller]

definitely! i'll be doing a postprocessing video at some point which will include things like dust / grain 😄

[@jamesriley5057]

My renders of manufacturing processes are SO boring. I will try some of these tips on my current project for sure. thanks Scenefiller

[@scenefiller]

cheers! let me know if it helps 😁

[@ascozy_atelier]

Bro i think the chaos factor is so true, its the real world imperfections, that give us a realistic and familiar impression of the image 💯

[@scenefiller]

hmmm "chaos factor"... i like that 😉

[@TheSoundChronicles]

That is truly amazing 👏

[@scenefiller]

thank you! im glad you like it 😃

[@ItalianSkate]

Very cool way of narrating,thanks

[@scenefiller]

cheers! 😅

[@mysticrust]

i dont really use blender but this was a fun video to watch, keep up the good videos

[@scenefiller]

I appreciate it! 😅

[@plixplop]

Nice! The only thing I would suggest is an electric socket on the wall, and maybe a lamp on the desk that is plugged into it (adding an opportunity for another interesting light source).

[@scenefiller]

ooh nice! could definitely level up the lighting with a tungsten lamp 😎

[@ektorthebigbro]

well i guess you got my sub keep up the good vids!

[@heveycreations4197]

Very good video, you're talented

[@scenefiller]

thank you for the kind words! 😄

[@Whalester]

If you are struggling to implement this workflow I suggest taking away these particular suggestions as bullet point changes to be made to a scene, and also try to come up with your own. I find having a list of what to do so I can definitely cross things off when they are done saves me from finicking around and wasting hours on small details that won't matter too much. The list also helps me get more small details done in a given set of time.

[@scenefiller]

yes they're extremely useful, i have almost too many checklists to count now 😂 cheers!

[@inanis_exe]

Amazing, getting in deeper in to this kind of renders lot of fun, I have one amazing picture as reference will be doing shortly

[@scenefiller]

thank you for the kind words! 😁

[@CTZN1]

nice insight! Photo texture wins

[@scenefiller]

using them feels like cheating sometimes! 😁

[@sebastianluehring7488]

Terrific video thank you so much!

[@scenefiller]

im glad you liked it, cheers! 😋

[@Lazy_Hanby]

I wish I knew this early. thank you so much! you got new sub!

[@scenefiller]

i appreciate that! im glad you find it useful 😁

[@ektorthebigbro]

i tend to go the other route of making complex procedural materials and geo node setups to achieve the imperfections and sculpt manually all the closeup details

[@krypt2k25]

Its a good afvice for certain conditions like movies and videos whete u want to show your realistic design but when yiur doing archiviz or making advert then making these things look as clean and shiny as much as possible is better thung to do so every thung has a place thet it needs to be used in .

[@scenefiller]

agreed! definitely more appropriate for artistic style renders instead of archviz, cheers! 😅

[@Henrique02021]

If you do have to keep things clean and organized, some cameras tricks can help a lot too. Like sun beams, lens flare and lens dirt, dust particles, film grain, chromatic aberrations, etc. And all that can be added in post, no re-renders needed :)

[@scenefiller]

definitely! i'll probably do a postprocessing video in the future 🙂

[@Fallentree-hx7su]

another 2 things thar can help; lens distortion Off camera objects, objects that arent fully in frame (makes it feel less framed and more like a real photo)

[@Dapper_the_slapper]

Very cool video! I overlook a lot of these methods and wonder why my stuff looks fake sometimes.

[@scenefiller]

i appreciate it! i'm very much the same and forget certain things in pretty much every render, it's good to keep a checklist 😄

[@mukondeleliratshilavhi5634]

The concept of chaos is very interesting, especially the way you’ve broken it down. I think it’s a great framework. Now, I wonder how we can apply the same principles to our pipeline to make it more effective. For instance, how can we introduce chaos to our assets so that when we drag and drop them in the asset browser, it’s ahead of the time? There are many other areas we can explore for this application. In response to the question of ‘who lives there’, I would suggest that it becomes easier once you select the avatar. Consider what magazine they might be reading. In that magazine, you can find a list of products they aspire to own. This gives a quick general understanding of the person and adds realism without requiring extensive research."

[@scenefiller]

great insights! having idiosynchrocies baked into the assets would certainly speed up the process, I noticed Ian Hubert loosely moves vertices around when modelling buildings to keep everything from being too perfect, you could emulate this with whichever asset library you download, but having an automated process would be much better... perhaps there's an addon out there for it 😁

[@mukondeleliratshilavhi5634]

Ian Hubert's speed is incredible. Imagine if there was a "Chaos" or, even better, a "Realism" button, @scenefiller. What if there was an AI that could identify why your image doesn't look real, giving scores on different areas you covered? It might take time to develop, but this "Get Real" addon could totally transform Archviz rendering, elevating the quality and allowing us to focus more on storytelling instead of technicalities. Wild idea, but it could be a game-changer I would call this addon : GET REAL Arcvhiz

[@TheHornoxx]

...sehr gut! (und auch gut präsentiert hier!)

[@scenefiller]

Vielen Dank für die netten Worte! (ich spreche kein Deutsch, aber haha) 😁

[@sanse4409]

Very Helpful!! Thank you for sharing

[@scenefiller]

im glad you found it useful! cheers 😁

[@secondreleases]

you can add dirt to the window glare so it looks like the sun casting through a regular dirty window.

[@scenefiller]

ooh nice! i'll have to try that 😋

[@magmabuddy]

amazing video ❤❤❤

[@scenefiller]

i appreciate the kind words! 🥰

[@mendezcreative]

nice job. something else i would do is add a bit more bounce light and desaturate the brightest part of the wall that's receiving the most light.

[@scenefiller]

thank you! i appreciate the feedback 😃

[@bernard93]

Someone said, fiction must make sense but reality doesn't. great explaination here.

[@scenefiller]

ooh i like that! and thank you! 😁

[@Emzo123]

Another thing is that you can add noise in a photo editing software to make the image more realistic, as no camera out there can take an image without some of noise or grain

[@scenefiller]

for sure! i'll be doing a postprocessing video soon which will include grain 😄

[@FauzanAntony]

Thankyou for made this one, its helpfull for me. Thankyou so much❤

[@scenefiller]

im glad you find it helpful! 😁

[@yeroslav11]

Love it!

[@scenefiller]

cheers! 😁

[@FerziIsayev]

Cool Dude... Keep Going to Work Up

[@deojaz5063]

amzing video thank you so much

[@scenefiller]

thanks for checking it out 😉

[@Nstone53]

"Chaos" except when it's not. I hate when I ask people for realism help and they snap back with "PUT IN MORE JUNK!" That's not making it realistic thats adding in destractions. What If I wanted to make a a game controller that was in a show room on a pedistal. You would add in flys and garbage would you? No. So what would you do for scenes like that?

[@scenefiller]

great question! I think for scenes like the one you described, surface imperfections and a dialed in bump map/normal are going to be the best way to sutbly add some imperfections without going too crazy.

[@sravansrb909]

It's awesome

[@scenefiller]

cheers! 😋

[@cougar_tg2891]

Beautiful vid

[@scenefiller]

much appreciated! 😅

0:13 that table leg curve looks low poly

[@scenefiller]

yeh you're right! it's from the Polyhaven library but I think a subdiv on that would smooth it out quite a bit 😄

@@scenefiller yes that could solve it. i think you said in the video that this render has a cg look and this was the first thing i noticed that stood out for me. is this "chaos" addition automatizable in any means? maybe some procedural generation?

[@scenefiller]

@ yeh in theory I could make a Blender addon that does these steps, making it scene-agnostic would be tricky though I think 😉

[@lewisguapo]

I like how in blender you push imperfections while photography you push perfections... lol

[@scenefiller]

very true 😅

[@athyrius]

Littlefinger was right Chaos isn't a pit chaos is a ladder to photorealism

[@wedoplayer]

What about professional architecture or real estate photography? There, the already perfect and modern places are flawlessly prepared and in post-production, they are even edited to be without any blemishes, yet you can still notice a difference between a real photograph and a rendering.

[@scenefiller]

great example! i think in those cases it probably comes down to materials, lighting, composition and postprocessing (grain, abberation etc), moreso than "chaos" which is more appropriate when going for an "artistic" type of scene 😄

[@S9universe]

yes sir

[@MistereXMachina]

awesome, instant sub.

[@scenefiller]

i appreciate it! 😄

[@AlvaroALorite]

Sometimes 3D artist go a bit over the top with imperfections to achieve realism. But lighting is key.

[@scenefiller]

for sure! lighting, materials and scene composition should always be the first things you dial in 😁 cheers

[@ThePizza28]

It's a great video really! But I have to disagree. You can make very simple and perfect scenes look photoreal, and that's because photorealism is entirely dependant on lighting and camera recreation in comp. This is a great example of adding too much imperfection and turning things into an abandonned urbex. I honestly think the first image looks more real. These are great insights to add interest to your scene though so props to you for that! Keep up the good work

[@scenefiller]

fair enough! i suppose these can be extra things to think about when mixing it up 😁

[@8p8c50]

When I want photorealism, I take a picture 😎

[@scenefiller]

that's certainly easier 😉

[@m1cah__]

Great video

[@scenefiller]

thanks! 😅

[@Smi3tankoweCjastko]

good tips. concise

[@goldstick3D]

"more interesting lighting" did like 98% of the heavy lifting in it. ❤

[@soumayadipkandar6319]

That's not chaos that's details 🌝

[@scenefiller]

tomato, tomato 😉

[@invisiblecrumb2027]

ngl the first image would have fooled me into thinking it was a photograph, but good tips!

[@scenefiller]

thanks! i appreciate the kind words😁

[@whereisakira]

i fucking love this video

[@scenefiller]

thank you so much! 😄

[@megamuffin92]

Can you walk through what is necessary for a scene like this? Do you build a square room, just the barebones of the walls, do you make a complex room? I find a lot of my room renders are cubey, how do I put in a cutout or a corner that is more in the real world?

[@scenefiller]

sure! in this particular shot, the room was very simple: flat planes for the floor and walls, i also blocked in every wall and the roof even though they aren't in the frame (they still affect the lighting), one of the "walls" on the right had a hole cut in it to act as a window for the light to come in, without this the render would be completely black the assets are a combination of Polyhaven 3d models and things I modelled myself for the scene, the skirting was just an extruded cube that followed the shape of the walls, pretty simple overall! for a shot like this you can get away with lazy modelling i hope this helps 😋

[@JamesHonest-vh1bp]

Here is my tip: Dust, you know in that afternoon light all that dust floating around, yeah that.