First attempt... help

Ok... here goes... I really appreciate all your help. The room & sun settings were created in Revit Architecture 2011, furniture etc imported in 3ds Max Design 2011. Only Photoshopping was to drop in the background & to lighten the picture frame slightly. I have a mr sky portal over the windows & I'm not sure what a photon target is :) So you know where I'm coming from... I'm a building design student fairly well versed in Revit, an intermediate PS user, but only started playing with Max last weekend so I'm not very fluent in max speak yet. I've been amazed by the images created on this site for a long time, & I'm really keen to have a crack at visualisation.

Looking better and better Lisa. Like anejo said, posted settings go a long way as far as getting some good feedback. Are you using a photon target? Mr sky portals over the windows?

It's a nice start. However, still a bit grainy and not as sharpe and detailed as it could be. Would it be possible to post your MR settings? I think you'll get a lot of feed back if you posted your FG, GI,... settings. Any post work? Using Photoshop.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]39415[/ATTACH] Thanks James for your help... is this more balanced? I used a fairly high fg setting that took forever on my somewhat dated system to render. I'm just starting to play with scene-wide AO to improve things. From my online reading, there seems to be a few ways to use AO & I'm a bit unsure of the best way to go. I think I need to invest in some good tutorials & a new graphics card. Abed, I'm hoping I can eventually get the results I'm after without having to buy more software. I'm also keen to see where the dust settles on all the new gpu based rendering options.

Lisa: your last render looks great. the only comment I could make is to say that the environment outside the window should be much brighter (over exposed). Are you using Ambient Occlusion? Abed: sorry, I don't notice much that I haven't seen from a dozen other artists using a dozen other programs... it doesn't matter which program you use, one or the other won't make you a better artist.

To see the deference visit my Gallery (abed mash.) .....good Luke

i think u should use V-ray... try

just out of interest... what difference does the render engine make?

i think u should use V-ray... try

[ATTACH=CONFIG]39399[/ATTACH] Thank you both... I deleted the floor (created in Revit) & created a new one & all was fine. I think I'm now hooked :) Ta, shy

Looks like a really good start. Maybe a few knick knacks on top of the unit might help. are you using mental ray materials? pro materials? architectural? arch and design? check your normals and geometry like Robert says and then maybe if there is still a problem, post some more info on the scene...

if it don't work 1st go. Delete the floor and remake Either that or the normals are pointing the wrong way.