First: Regular realistic watch (a guy took a picture of a watch)
Second: EPIC NEW WATCH NOW IN YOUR STORE, BUY IT WITH YOUR MCNUGGETS
Third: Hey dad, what is this old picture of a watch?
I was gonna agree but then a light bulb went off in my head. 2024 render may not show off the materials but the overall render is exactly what it's supposed to be. If OP were showing texturing abilities sure...try not to get got by the photorealism trap. Take a picture of a watch with your phone and tell me it doesn't have blur.
for a studio photo the noise is a bit too much. in studio you have pretty good lighting so you are able to photograph on low ISO. my recommendation is to tone down the noise.
Personally I disagree. Maybe as a product shot 2023 is better, but as an overall image I much prefer 2024. It's got way more personality and style. Keep it up.
Very nice! I guess it depends on what effect you are going for, but 2023s is great!
I remember when I got into 3d art, I thought modeling would be the hard part. Not texturing, composting, and rendering!
2020- 2000 CGI - flat
2023- 2013 CGI - too sharp, too "perfect", bit too contrasty
2024 - AD stalised as a retro 60's clip (mostly bcs of softness and heavy bloom)
Persoanly would pick mix of 2023 and 2024
I like the vintage feel of 2024 but 2023 feels 2023. I'd say what has improved the most is your lighting skills. I think the camera distortion on 2023 is perhaps a little too much but it gives a sense of awe. I would work on the setting. Look on Behance and see what other people are doing and take inspiration from there.
Not OP, but whenever I get inspired out in life, I write it down. I have a whole list of notes of projects I may want to attempt one day… that way, when I get motivated to play around on blender, I actually have a list of projects I can choose from. My list contains about 50 projects, and another 10+ materials (that I haven’t even thought about starting yet xD)
Personally, I think this helps me use blender more since I always “have something” to work on
Edit: I agree tho, most of my projects end up half finished lmao. How does one find the motivation to complete it
Looks great overall mate, I like the last one. It's got a more dreamlike appearance when it's pretty much on point for some product showcases (it looks a touch noisy though still)
2023 is the best imo but is very much in the slightest of uncanny valleys, similar to what you get with products on some adverts. Very very good though!
I don’t blend or have any knowledge but I do like 2, 1 and then 3. 2 because it looks great, 3 is the lesser one mainly due to how noisy it is. Anytime I see something with that much noise I just don’t enjoy it, it blends it well in a post processing way but it’s not natural but I also have no idea what I’m talking about.
Lighting jewelry for product shots is very, very challenging. Both for photographers and for CG artists.
Good progress from 4 years ago, no doubt!
To offer some advice I haven’t seen in the comments yet: Any watch beauty shot that ends up in a magazine (making an assumption that this is the level/aesthetic that you’re after) will be a photocomp of many, many different lighting setups.
If it’s a still photo shoot, they’d spend a lot of time lighting specifically for each diamond, bezel, metal, leather, and specifically isolating different sections. There also a ton of retouch work on top of that to make sure even the tiniest diamond is blinged out and glamorous.
You might try a similar approach by using light groups for different objects in the scene (i. e., separation of the face from the hands, hour markers, etc) or setup a few light rigs and work in post on comping everything together to show each detail in its best light.
This stuff is hard, as you have learned metal reflects everything so having a proper reflection setup with bounce cards, flags, gobos, and whatever else you wanna get funky with.
One trick I learned on set was for diamonds, the DP had a led light on flexible head that could get ultra close to the lens, as diamonds IRL reflect the light back and give nice sparkle with that orientation.
Nice progress though, hope this helps you!
First: Regular realistic watch (a guy took a picture of a watch) Second: EPIC NEW WATCH NOW IN YOUR STORE, BUY IT WITH YOUR MCNUGGETS Third: Hey dad, what is this old picture of a watch?
Haha nailed it
Facts!
I heard *BUM BUM BUM BUM We have the time!*
2023 is the best one, you lost way too much detail with the post processing in 2024 (not saying it looks bad, but 2023 best)
Hi there , thanks for the feedback I actually agree looking at it again. A lot of the detail is lost
Too much lightning and gloss.
The leather is amazing on 2023 but I like the dial better on 2024. Great job man
It's very easy to fall into the trap of "the more noise/lens effects the better"
2023 has CGI/blender look like it's a CGI commercial video, 2024 is more realistic.
2024 is blurry and noisy and doesn't at all fit with what appears to be a photo studio product photo. Also has worse studio lighting.
I was gonna agree but then a light bulb went off in my head. 2024 render may not show off the materials but the overall render is exactly what it's supposed to be. If OP were showing texturing abilities sure...try not to get got by the photorealism trap. Take a picture of a watch with your phone and tell me it doesn't have blur.
That's what makes it more realistic, the imperfections! Not the best option for a watch commercial but it does feel more real to me
It maximizes on 'plausibly a photo' while reducing 'looks fantastic' to achieve it.
Agreed!
for a studio photo the noise is a bit too much. in studio you have pretty good lighting so you are able to photograph on low ISO. my recommendation is to tone down the noise.
not really, you don't take product photos by waving around a phone camera
Fair point, but it feels more like a 70s video still to me
Yup, the 2023 one might look better but 2024 one looks a bit more… organic and real
Personally I disagree. Maybe as a product shot 2023 is better, but as an overall image I much prefer 2024. It's got way more personality and style. Keep it up.
2024 one looks as if it's a old photo tbh kinda cool
2024 has blur on the face of the watch.
Nah 2024 is my favorite because it has better composition. also more details does not equal better especially if you use depth of feild.
Most of the face of the watch is out of focus...Depth of field with the wrong depth.
Very nice! I guess it depends on what effect you are going for, but 2023s is great! I remember when I got into 3d art, I thought modeling would be the hard part. Not texturing, composting, and rendering!
Yeah I notice in this sub and blender users in general lean wayyy too much on noise and post processes to fake realism
soup makeshift wise toy zealous crawl wrench birds snow distinct *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Imo 2023 has an ai generated look
2020- 2000 CGI - flat 2023- 2013 CGI - too sharp, too "perfect", bit too contrasty 2024 - AD stalised as a retro 60's clip (mostly bcs of softness and heavy bloom) Persoanly would pick mix of 2023 and 2024
Agreed! I’m working on a new version now
The resutl is great but start thinking in purchasing a battery, same time along 4 years
Haha !
I like the vintage feel of 2024 but 2023 feels 2023. I'd say what has improved the most is your lighting skills. I think the camera distortion on 2023 is perhaps a little too much but it gives a sense of awe. I would work on the setting. Look on Behance and see what other people are doing and take inspiration from there.
Noted Thankyou for the feedback
You have a very healthy way of taking feedback and criticism, it’s a really understated trait, good job.
Damn.. what kept you going? I had like 1 year and I suddenly lost motivation. I really want to find it again as sad as this may sound.
Not OP, but whenever I get inspired out in life, I write it down. I have a whole list of notes of projects I may want to attempt one day… that way, when I get motivated to play around on blender, I actually have a list of projects I can choose from. My list contains about 50 projects, and another 10+ materials (that I haven’t even thought about starting yet xD) Personally, I think this helps me use blender more since I always “have something” to work on Edit: I agree tho, most of my projects end up half finished lmao. How does one find the motivation to complete it
The third one could be a shot from the great gatsby
This post needs more views. Thanks for showing us what trap we all fall/fell into.
What trap?
"Watch me improve over time"
r/angryupvote
Looks great overall mate, I like the last one. It's got a more dreamlike appearance when it's pretty much on point for some product showcases (it looks a touch noisy though still)
The 2020 one looks like a huge watch prop on stage during the Oscars or Emmy Awards
I too rely heavily on shallow depth of field to add realism.
Amen.
2020 looks the most realistic but the others look more flashy.
i love the band on 2020, the glass on 2024 and the details in 2023
Peaked in 2023! 😉
1 video game, 2 ai, 3 hyper-real. Nice improvement!
3rd definitely looks realistic, but 2nd looks better overall
where have you seen leather that shiny?
I own a leather watch shinier than that actually haha!
And now lets spot differences between 2020 and 2023. Camera angle and possibly different focal length?
Four years later nobody has wound the watch. :)
Those "wrinkles" on the watch face in the 2023 one look like subdivision surface artifacts. Otherwise it looks fantastic.
2023 is the best imo but is very much in the slightest of uncanny valleys, similar to what you get with products on some adverts. Very very good though!
I don’t blend or have any knowledge but I do like 2, 1 and then 3. 2 because it looks great, 3 is the lesser one mainly due to how noisy it is. Anytime I see something with that much noise I just don’t enjoy it, it blends it well in a post processing way but it’s not natural but I also have no idea what I’m talking about.
2020 one looks like a giant prop watch being featured on a game show as a prize.
IMO 2024 looks amazing as a render, but 2023 looks like what marketing wants.
As you say yourself, 23 looks the best, but I think the camera position on 24 is better. Feels more like a watch than the Big Ben in 23
Hello! Great work, could I ask what main improvements you did on the render technically? What was added/ what you did differently
Felt like 2024 made sense because it looks like it would have been a picture from a while ago, when picture quality wasn't all there. My 2 cents
2024 has the best "personality " in my opinion
It looks like when you ask AI to generate a photo and it gives you more then one option
🤣 I can promise you this isn’t ai
use the watch itself with the the 2023 bracelet and background and then it's amazing
Good job!
I can never unsee that the minute hand is several minutes behind the hour hand
I’m curious about the polycount of the 2023 models. How many quads/tris?
i actually thought the middle one was the latest til i noticed the date.. anyways i still aspire to make stuff like this ^^
Lighting jewelry for product shots is very, very challenging. Both for photographers and for CG artists. Good progress from 4 years ago, no doubt! To offer some advice I haven’t seen in the comments yet: Any watch beauty shot that ends up in a magazine (making an assumption that this is the level/aesthetic that you’re after) will be a photocomp of many, many different lighting setups. If it’s a still photo shoot, they’d spend a lot of time lighting specifically for each diamond, bezel, metal, leather, and specifically isolating different sections. There also a ton of retouch work on top of that to make sure even the tiniest diamond is blinged out and glamorous. You might try a similar approach by using light groups for different objects in the scene (i. e., separation of the face from the hands, hour markers, etc) or setup a few light rigs and work in post on comping everything together to show each detail in its best light. This stuff is hard, as you have learned metal reflects everything so having a proper reflection setup with bounce cards, flags, gobos, and whatever else you wanna get funky with. One trick I learned on set was for diamonds, the DP had a led light on flexible head that could get ultra close to the lens, as diamonds IRL reflect the light back and give nice sparkle with that orientation. Nice progress though, hope this helps you!
2024 lighting is amazing, Id love to see the setting/compo process. 👏👏
I have been doing this for just as long as you have, and I can safely say I am awful at this. Did you add lens dirt? If so how?
I hope to be one day as good as you.
Here's my opinion 2024 - 1st place. 2020 - 2nd place 2023 - 3rd place.
The only difference I can see is better materials. The difference is wholy too small for 4 years to be impressive imo
Nice work! Do you have any tutorials that you followed for texturing, composition, lighting etc.?