To start this week I decided to do more work on the trees and so began by creating a leaf. To do this I used the line tool to draw the spline and then extruded it slightly to create the third dimension.
When I was happy with the shape of the leaf I cloned it several times and arranged the shapes in different positions and at a range of angles. I then used the gradient tool in Photoshop to create different colour combinations and saved each as bitmaps ready to be used as material maps. I tried to create several different colour combinations so the leaves were in a variety of colours.
I then applied these bitmaps to the leaf shapes randomly as I felt this would make the trees more interesting when I placed the leaves on the branches. I had to edit the coordinates slightly to make the bitmaps fit the shapes well and to do this I used planar for Object XYZ setting and set the map size to 1 for the width and height. When I was happy with the colour arrangement I grouped the objects.
The next step was to place the leaves on the trees. I cloned the shapes I had grouped and arranged them on the branches. I decided to fill the tree completely as I was trying to depict autumn and so wanted to place the image half way through the transition. To get the leaves in the exact positions I wanted I used the move and rotate tools to change the angle and position. It took quite a while to get the arrangement I wanted on all the trees, but eventually I was happy with the appearance of the background.
At this point I felt the best thing to do next was add the materials to the rest of the image. Firstly I created the colour on the wall. As this is not an important part of the image I did not want the colour to make it stand out and so chose to use a very pale yellow. I used the anisotropic shader so I could apply a slight gloss to the wall and so set the specular level to 40 and gloss level to 10. I was quite pleased with the image at this point but did wonder if it was too bright and would steal the focus from the rest of the image. At this point I decided to go onto another material and come back to this later if I still felt it needed changing.
Next I went onto the window frame. I though about using a wood effect or plain white frame, but felt the wood would be more suitable as the white might be too bright and take the focus away from the subject matter in the background. I used the wood preset and made the 2 colours of the wood a darker shade of brown so the frame would not be too much of a focus. I was quite happy with the window frames appearance and so decided to continue with the image.
Afterwards I created the colour for the window ledge. For this I used another plain colour, but this time in white. I chose this colour as it is a common colour for a window ledge and even though it would be bright I feel the small area it covered would not overpower the image. I wanted to try to create a reflective painted surface and so set the specular level to 200. Then I rendered it and was very happy with the way the bevelled shape was apparent due to the shadow.
The last step for the window was to create the material for the window handles. I wanted to create a reflective metal appearance for this and so used the anisotropic material. I chose a dark grey for the colour and then set the specular level to 100 while leaving the gloss level at 10. I was pleased with this and so went onto another part of the image.
I then went on to create the materials for the Diwali lamps. I decided to create two different materials for these as there are two different designs of lamps. I started by creating the material for the middle lamp which I wanted to have a transparent quality. To do this I used the transparency shader and applied a red ambient colour to try to continue on the colour theme of reds and oranges. I set the opacity to 90 to create the slight transparency I wanted. I then created the material for the other lamps. I tried to create a material which looked like a painted metal as I imagine Diwali lamps could be decorated like this. For this I used the anisotropic shader and applied a dull purple for the colour as I felt it would create the painted surface I was looking for. I then set the specular level to 300 and gloss to 50. I was quite pleased with the appearance of these and so will work on another material.
At this stage I went on to add lighting to the scene. To begin I added an omni light to the foreground to create a ceiling light in the room. I chose the colour of the light as white and reduced the intensity to 0.5 as I plan to make the background the focal point in the scene and therefore the light source brighter. Next I applied an omni light to each of the Diwali lamps. I chose to use an omni light once again as it would recreate a candle light source well. I changed the colour of all these lights to a shade of warm orange for two reasons; firstly this is the colour a flame gives off and it links to my theme of oranges and reds. I then lowered the intensity of each of these to 0.3 so they did not overwhelm the image. Lastly I applied the light source in the background. I left the colour setting as I wanted to try to recreate natural light and kept the intensity at 1 as this light highlights the background which I want to make the focal point of the image. Once I applied shadow to each of the light sources I was pleased with the outcome of this image.
At this point I was not completely happy with the appearance of the background and so edited it. I did not want the colour to be too powerful as it could take the attention away from part of the image. I found an image on the internet for this which I felt would work quite well.
When I set the image as the background I was really pleased with the scenes appearance as it worked subtly.
Next I applied the material to the ground. For this I used a bitmap I created. I chose to create my own bitmap for this as I felt it could be the best way to get the random arrangement of fallen leaves which I wanted.
I applied this as a diffuse map and changed the size of the map to 0.22 to try to get the leaves in proportion to the leaves on the branches. Once I made these changes to the settings I was pleased with the appearance and so went on.
Afterwards I created the material for the curtain pole. I chose to use the anisotropic shader for this as I wanted to suggest it was made from metal. I set the material colour to a medium grey and increased the specular level to 450 while leaving the gloss level at 10. When I applied it to this part of the image I was really pleased with its appearance as it was just like I wanted it to be.
At this point I decided to go back and edit the material on one of the Diwali lamps as I was not happy with its appearance. I decided to remove the transparency setting as it was not creating the effect I had hoped it would and so replaced it with the anisotropic shader. I wanted to make the outside look similar to the other lights and so used similar settings. When I rendered the image I was happier with the lamp and once I increased the intensity of the orange lights I was quite please with the image at this point.
When I looked at the image carefully I felt the background was lit too much as it was too bright in comparison to the sky. Due to this I reduced the intensity of the omni light and feel this works better as the lights in the window highlight the focal point of the scene.
I then worked on the texture for the carpet as I felt it was currently too smooth. To do this I used the blinn shader and chose a deep shade of red to continue the colour theme of red and orange. I then used the preset bitmap of noise and set it as the bump map and set the output value to 10 to suggest different strands of fibre.
I then added bark to the trees. I use one of the preset maps for this as a diffuse map and reduced the map to a size which I felt was proportional to the trunk. I was quite pleased with this and so went on to another part of the image.
Afterwards I added a paving effect to the plane by the house to suggest a patio area. I drew out this bitmap and used it as a diffuse and bump map. I made sure the sizes of the maps were exactly the same so they aligned properly. I set the bump value to 150 to get the depth I wanted between the paving slabs.
Lastly this week I made some minor alterations to the trees in background as I felt the current layout was to cramped in some areas. After a little while I was much happier with the arrangement of the trees.
I am reasonably please with the progress I have made so far but feel I still need to make some improvements to this image. Firstly I feel the background needs to be lightened slightly as I have made it a bit too dark. Also, I may make some changes to the trees if I have time as I feel the brown is too bold and quite unrealistic.
When I was happy with the shape of the leaf I cloned it several times and arranged the shapes in different positions and at a range of angles. I then used the gradient tool in Photoshop to create different colour combinations and saved each as bitmaps ready to be used as material maps. I tried to create several different colour combinations so the leaves were in a variety of colours.
The next step was to place the leaves on the trees. I cloned the shapes I had grouped and arranged them on the branches. I decided to fill the tree completely as I was trying to depict autumn and so wanted to place the image half way through the transition. To get the leaves in the exact positions I wanted I used the move and rotate tools to change the angle and position. It took quite a while to get the arrangement I wanted on all the trees, but eventually I was happy with the appearance of the background.
At this point I felt the best thing to do next was add the materials to the rest of the image. Firstly I created the colour on the wall. As this is not an important part of the image I did not want the colour to make it stand out and so chose to use a very pale yellow. I used the anisotropic shader so I could apply a slight gloss to the wall and so set the specular level to 40 and gloss level to 10. I was quite pleased with the image at this point but did wonder if it was too bright and would steal the focus from the rest of the image. At this point I decided to go onto another material and come back to this later if I still felt it needed changing.
Next I went onto the window frame. I though about using a wood effect or plain white frame, but felt the wood would be more suitable as the white might be too bright and take the focus away from the subject matter in the background. I used the wood preset and made the 2 colours of the wood a darker shade of brown so the frame would not be too much of a focus. I was quite happy with the window frames appearance and so decided to continue with the image. 
Afterwards I created the colour for the window ledge. For this I used another plain colour, but this time in white. I chose this colour as it is a common colour for a window ledge and even though it would be bright I feel the small area it covered would not overpower the image. I wanted to try to create a reflective painted surface and so set the specular level to 200. Then I rendered it and was very happy with the way the bevelled shape was apparent due to the shadow.
The last step for the window was to create the material for the window handles. I wanted to create a reflective metal appearance for this and so used the anisotropic material. I chose a dark grey for the colour and then set the specular level to 100 while leaving the gloss level at 10. I was pleased with this and so went onto another part of the image.
I then went on to create the materials for the Diwali lamps. I decided to create two different materials for these as there are two different designs of lamps. I started by creating the material for the middle lamp which I wanted to have a transparent quality. To do this I used the transparency shader and applied a red ambient colour to try to continue on the colour theme of reds and oranges. I set the opacity to 90 to create the slight transparency I wanted. I then created the material for the other lamps. I tried to create a material which looked like a painted metal as I imagine Diwali lamps could be decorated like this. For this I used the anisotropic shader and applied a dull purple for the colour as I felt it would create the painted surface I was looking for. I then set the specular level to 300 and gloss to 50. I was quite pleased with the appearance of these and so will work on another material.
At this stage I went on to add lighting to the scene. To begin I added an omni light to the foreground to create a ceiling light in the room. I chose the colour of the light as white and reduced the intensity to 0.5 as I plan to make the background the focal point in the scene and therefore the light source brighter. Next I applied an omni light to each of the Diwali lamps. I chose to use an omni light once again as it would recreate a candle light source well. I changed the colour of all these lights to a shade of warm orange for two reasons; firstly this is the colour a flame gives off and it links to my theme of oranges and reds. I then lowered the intensity of each of these to 0.3 so they did not overwhelm the image. Lastly I applied the light source in the background. I left the colour setting as I wanted to try to recreate natural light and kept the intensity at 1 as this light highlights the background which I want to make the focal point of the image. Once I applied shadow to each of the light sources I was pleased with the outcome of this image.
At this point I was not completely happy with the appearance of the background and so edited it. I did not want the colour to be too powerful as it could take the attention away from part of the image. I found an image on the internet for this which I felt would work quite well.
When I set the image as the background I was really pleased with the scenes appearance as it worked subtly.
Next I applied the material to the ground. For this I used a bitmap I created. I chose to create my own bitmap for this as I felt it could be the best way to get the random arrangement of fallen leaves which I wanted.
I applied this as a diffuse map and changed the size of the map to 0.22 to try to get the leaves in proportion to the leaves on the branches. Once I made these changes to the settings I was pleased with the appearance and so went on.
Afterwards I created the material for the curtain pole. I chose to use the anisotropic shader for this as I wanted to suggest it was made from metal. I set the material colour to a medium grey and increased the specular level to 450 while leaving the gloss level at 10. When I applied it to this part of the image I was really pleased with its appearance as it was just like I wanted it to be.
At this point I decided to go back and edit the material on one of the Diwali lamps as I was not happy with its appearance. I decided to remove the transparency setting as it was not creating the effect I had hoped it would and so replaced it with the anisotropic shader. I wanted to make the outside look similar to the other lights and so used similar settings. When I rendered the image I was happier with the lamp and once I increased the intensity of the orange lights I was quite please with the image at this point.
When I looked at the image carefully I felt the background was lit too much as it was too bright in comparison to the sky. Due to this I reduced the intensity of the omni light and feel this works better as the lights in the window highlight the focal point of the scene.
I then worked on the texture for the carpet as I felt it was currently too smooth. To do this I used the blinn shader and chose a deep shade of red to continue the colour theme of red and orange. I then used the preset bitmap of noise and set it as the bump map and set the output value to 10 to suggest different strands of fibre.
I then added bark to the trees. I use one of the preset maps for this as a diffuse map and reduced the map to a size which I felt was proportional to the trunk. I was quite pleased with this and so went on to another part of the image.
Afterwards I added a paving effect to the plane by the house to suggest a patio area. I drew out this bitmap and used it as a diffuse and bump map. I made sure the sizes of the maps were exactly the same so they aligned properly. I set the bump value to 150 to get the depth I wanted between the paving slabs.
Lastly this week I made some minor alterations to the trees in background as I felt the current layout was to cramped in some areas. After a little while I was much happier with the arrangement of the trees.
I am reasonably please with the progress I have made so far but feel I still need to make some improvements to this image. Firstly I feel the background needs to be lightened slightly as I have made it a bit too dark. Also, I may make some changes to the trees if I have time as I feel the brown is too bold and quite unrealistic. 
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