You had to export your scene to *.obj, Open it inside Ivy Generator and generate the ivy, save it as *.obj and then import it into your choice of program. But this time I wanted to test an alternative (and faster) way. A 3ds max plug-in based on the Ivy Generator, called: GW::Ivy ->
http://www.guruware.at
After the few clicks and some tests; I managed to grow this ivy. It was not exactly what I was looking for, but considering it was the first time I used the plug-in, I ended quite satisfied with the result.
Texturing
If modeling was quite easy then texturing was not much harder. I used the VRay materials for an every object in the scene with bumps and specular and in most cases, I used the free plug-in Color Correct (
http://www.cuneytozdas.com/software/3dsmax), to alter some properties of a texture (brightness, contrast, saturation, gamma, RGB levels… etc), WITHOUT externally modifying the bitmap itself. I looked for several types of concrete to be used in the lowest part of the image (you can freely download them from
Arroway.de with an acceptable resolution). Some of them like the wall with roughness and another ones like the floor with a polished finish but with some imperfections. In other objects like the columns, I used the standard 3ds max displacement, to give that aspect of rough edges.
I had to Unwrap just a couple of objects in the scene, the horizontal concrete plaques on top of the columns, and the exterior wall in order to paint the humidity stains. Quite easy objects to unwrap, aren’t they? The rest of the objects have the standard mapping coordinates (box or cylindrical).
Lighting - Render
It was in the lighting where I had to put all my efforts to get a similar result to the original photograph and even more using VRay renderer, instead of an unbiased one like Maxwell or Fry. I wanted to achieve that result by hand and not just giving some coordinates, date and hour to the renderer. I must say I didn’t get a 100% exact copy of the photograph but I was close enough and consider this finished.
I used VRaySun, VRaySky and a VRayPhysical Camera. I hadn’t used this method on an interior scene so; I had to do a lot of tests to achieve the right intensity of light and the right atmosphere.
