I Want to Model One of my Guitars; How to Photograph the Texture?
Subtropic Pixel
Posts: 2,388
Hello!
I want to model one of my guitars, first in Hexagon, then I want to do the same exercise in Blender and eventually Carrara too.
It is a 4-string bass guitar. It has a beautiful oak-like wood finish, but it has a very VERY shiny surface; like a hard-gloss coating.
I plan to use a couple of photos of the instrument to get the shape of the instrument correct, and I would also like to use pictures of the actual instrument to implement the texture; especially with those small features such as the frets.
How best to photograph the instrument so that it is adequately lit but with as little specularity as possible? I need good, workable photos of each major view of the bass (probably 6 views), as well as a photo of the fretboard, and photos getting a good view of the wood grain.
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Assuming a mid- to high-end SLR camera, I'd suggest a high ISO - check your camera's manual to see how high they recommend going, then use two stops lower than that - and the minimum amount of light you need to avoid using the flash. Use a tripod; this will be a long-duration photo (the aperture might possibly be open for a full second). That should cut the gloss enough that details will be visible.
I'll suggest taking the photos of the guitar outside on an overcast day, which will give you a strong consistent diffused light.
maybe use unassembled raw wood pieces they make to build your own guitar? then you could model each shape separately and there won't be the gloss finish.
Excellent idea, except that I live in the South where we get about, oh... five days per year of overcast. And I think we've already had four of them since New Year's Day! We like to say "oh, we're having weather today!" :lol: But your idea has merit. Maybe I can shoot in the early morning light, before the sun is overhead.
A+ for creative thinking! But in my case this won't work because I want to model this particular Ibanez bass guitar. :-) And taking it apart when it doesn't need repairs; well that would give me a heart attack! >:-( Nope, I think this project has to be completed without dis-assembly; good practice for the future!
Here are a couple of (very) low quality pics of the instrument in question. To me it has some beautiful curves and a unique character from the knotty wood. I must say that modelling this instrument will be difficult because this instrument is far more beautiful in real life than in any pictures I could take.
I would, at the very least, remove the strings...
Now, here's a novel approach...at least for Blender. Get a large sheet of paper and trace the body...then scan and convert to an SVG file...you can import that into Blender and convert to a 3d obj, then convert the 'curve' to 'mesh' object...and half the battle is done.
As to the wood...your best bet, other than access to a studio lighting set up, is the cloudy day.
Grab yourself a polarizing filter for best results since cutting light glare is what they are for. Check out Amazon. They've ones for D7000 starting at $14.95. No, not a high-grade filter that can run from $50.00 up to $200.00 or so by any means, but if you just need something for the one time, right? Cheepie, but combined with other advice may do the trick.
Cheers.
Oooooohhhhhhh... I can see why you want the textures for this particular bass.
Wouldn't bother, use a procedural shader in blender to simulate oak grain. You UV map then bake the shader to texture map.
Or take a halfway decent photograph, then paint over the glare spots in Photoshop or Gimp using the clone brush. Taking the strings off is a good idea. It's a beauty!
I would UV map all the different colored areas into different material zones. Body, fretboard, knobs, pickups, etc should all be separate, if you can handle all the extra work. I think at a minimum you need 4-6 zones. Trying to do the whole surface from one image is probably not good. Too many issues with lining things up.
Greetings,
If you look at the two pictures posted, even by themselves, it's going to be a hard slog. Look at the knot on the left mid-bottom, you can see that it's picking up light differently between the two pictures. Similarly at the left of the base of the...long arm thingie that extends out (sorry, not my field) you can see that in one the wood looks dark with light around it, and in the other it looks like with dark around it. While getting the wood texture right is going to be a labor of love, I don't have any idea how you'd get that...angle-dependent shimmer-y gloss to come through in a render.
For the texture itself, the photographic suggestions have been great, although you should be able to get the same 'cloudy day' experience by using bounced light. Reflect a clean light off a diffuser and it might get you a lot of the way there, or passing the light through vellum or some other diffusing material. There are also 'light tents', which have become popular, which soften the light coming in (you can look on eBay for them). Some references for googling this stuff is photographing silverware, glossy foods, and jewelry.
I am not an expert, so take this with a salt lick; this is what I could find in a brief period of time looking around online.
-- Morgan
I think you're going to be making a lot of work for yourself with this instrument if you start using photos from it IMHO.
I'd start looking at identifying the wood, identifying it and finding a texture on line
The Warmoth Guitar site might be a good resource to figure out what that is on the body.
http://www.warmoth.com/Guitar/Bodies/BodyBuilder.aspx?style=1
the neck appears to be ebony with pearl or plastic fret inlays and the frets themselves are generally steel.
If nothing else from that site you can see how some of those actually connect if your goal is absolute realism.
For the finish I don't know if you could do it in 3Delight but Reality into LuxRender (I don't own Luxus so I can't speak for it) has the ability to add a clear layer above the material so you could do something like a finish.
good advice
Hello everybody!
Some great input here, thank you all for taking the time!
This project is temporarily on hold while I teach myself some Blender basics.
But some responses to your comments (mostly for my own note-taking, and for future reference):
- The instrument really does have that "silky, part glossy, shimmering in the light" look. I agree that photos may be hard to do here. I probably will try anyway, just because I am stubborn and bullheaded!
- The fretboard is most likely made of ebony and probably has traditional bass guitar fret wires (frets are actually wires with a cross-section that looks like a mushroom. The fretboards are slotted by machine (because it's a precision process that is critical to the instrument's intonation) and the fret wire's "mushroom stem" is inserted/wedged/glued into the slot, leaving only the round part of the wire protruding above the fretboard. Could be steel, but is probably coated in nickel or some other material that won't corrode when subjected to "Oil of Human"
- The so-called "fingers" of the body that extend upward (in the pics) might have a name. But on a violin or cello, the part of the body that is next to the fingerboard is typically called the "bout". I pronounce it "boot", but that may not be correct.
- Background: I bought this instrument second hand. From a pawnshop, actually! Such fabulous condition, it could pass off as new. If I recall, it was a little more than half of what it would cost brand-new. I actually have three basses now and desperately need some practice time with them. Even though I can read music (bass clef and treble clef), I probably need to get about a half-dozen starter lessons on bass so that I learn correct technique and not teach myself bad habits.
You might want to PM music2u4u and touch bases with him. He's actually modeled several guitars and released them as freebies. I've used some of his items before (Thank you!) He may have some advice for you. I haven't seen him on this thread.
http://www.sharecg.com/pf/full_uploads.php?pf_user_name=music2u4u
http://www.sharecg.com/v/49142/gallery/11/Poser/1962-Fender-Jazz-Bass
If you by chance have a paid membership to CG Cookie, they actually have a tutorial on modeling an electric guitar in blender.
https://cgcookie.com/blender/cgc-courses/modeling-an-electric-guitar-in-blender/
I've been wanting to do the Lifetime membership option, but can't seem to ever scrape up that kind of money...
I've been wanting to do the Lifetime membership option, but can't seem to ever scrape up that kind of money...
I went for the year (you save $40/year over paying monthly). I figure between Blender Cookie and Concept Cookie I'll have enough to sustain me. I'll see how much content they add in the next year to see if a lifetime is worth it.
If you can at least do the year, I'd say do it. It's well worth it, even if you are interested only in the Blender side of things.