I need some samples to test and demonstrate our new renderer

As Peter said in his recent blogpost, we're working on a new rendering system for the Shapeways gallery. Part of the feedback that we received is that we shouldn't use artificial smoothing for our renders.

For some tests and a new blogpost, I'm looking for photographs of White Strong & Flexible objects that clearly show faceting. If you could also provide me with a link to the gallery page of this model then I'll try matching those photographs with a new 'faceted' renderer.

Thanks!

Bart

I don't have any faceted samples for you, but could smoothing be a selectable option specified by the uploader ?

I'm worried that a lot of objects might look too faceted in a faceted render.
Some of my more organic models look quite ugly in the faceted preview modes I've seen. But they do print very clean and smoothly, as the facets are tiny and the angles small.

Could you also show some examples of this faceted render with more difficult smooth models ? For example I'm curious how this one would look : https://www.shapeways.com/model/70229/
Which is one of the few that doesn't look too bad in the current renderer, surface wise.

And thanks for working on all these improvements !

If your model is subdivided enough to print smoothly, it will render smoothly as well. Here's a render of your model in 'faceted' mode. I compared it to a 'smooth' render and I couldn't tell them apart.

Pretty cool eh?

Cheers,

Bart

I think I fixed all the problems of low polygons in my models.
All except one

Actually, it's because the problem can be hardly seen but it's there: if you look carefully at the main picture of the double marble pendant you will see some horizontal strips.

I have a version with this problem fixed but I haven't uploaded it yet.

Is it enough clear for your purpose?

That is amazing !

A couple other models that show faceting:

https://www.shapeways.com/model/49297/test_piece.html
https://www.shapeways.com/model/5721/test_print_piece.html

The latter has been printed and photographs posted.

Edit : Never mind

afrodri has some other good demos of the material, maybe you can check with him. One of the best examples, and where the polygonal look matters as the target is a geodesic dome:
https://www.shapeways.com/model/88916/modules_4__engines__sen sors__hab_pod.html

BTW, why does the forum form keep asking about including signature if there is no place to write one? ^_^

I wasn't quite sure what you meant by "faceting". Do you mean faceting that shouldn't be there? If so see:

https://www.shapeways.com/model/85857/nuclear_fusion_puzzle.h tml

I mean faceting that *should* be there. Like if you model a sphere with a low number of polygons, you'll see those polygons when you print it. Our renders should reflect that, and not artificially smooth out the polygons.

So what I'm looking for now are photographs of models like that so I can compare my renders to these results.

Thanks!

Bart

What I see in many of my models are lines where there shouldn't be any lines. These usually occur near holes. Mini-magics doesn't show any lines radiating from the holes ...

https://www.shapeways.com/model/94675/

Got it -- sorry, my examples were cases where facets are visible for coplanar polygons, which is a rendering error. Sounds like you've fixed that already, and are just doing examples to prove that models are not being artificially smoothed, which is also important.

Really looking forward to the new renderings. The examples you've shown look great.

gibell's puzzles are good examples too, they should have sharp faces, and the current renders look like random blobs. Reading the description and then looking somewhere else I can see the real shape, like http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rhombicdodecahedron.g if for the RD Test Piece, but if no description or photos, it's just 3d rorschach.

Hi gibbel,

I did a testrender of your model. Is this how you'd expect it to look?

Cheers,

Bart

Yup! That is great! Exactly how it should look.