SPOOKY CABIN

CABIN IN THE WOODS | HALLOWEEN EDITION

With Halloween around the corner, what better than a spooky rendering tutorial! For this image, we’ll be focusing on the overall mood. The image wants to give a sense of ‘storytelling’, more than it wants to showcase architectural details.

We’ll start with a very basic 3D model, add the landscape, textures and entourage using Photoshop.

1 | BASE IMAGE

The 3D base for this image is simple - just a few walls, entry stairs, glass for the windows and some furniture. For the interior lighting, I added an emissive vray material to the ceiling and rendered a version with and without lighting - then, I combined the two in Photoshop.

2 | WORKFLOW:

LIGHTING BASE

RGB OVERLAY

TEXTURE ADJUSTMENTS

LOUVERS

A | CABIN TEXTURES & LIGHTING

In Photoshop, place the RGB base, aligned, on top of the Lighting base image. Using the eraser tool, erase parts of the RGB base to reveal the Lighting base - this way you can control how much light to show inside the Cabin without spending too much time in Vray.

With simple vertical lines created with the brush tool in Photoshop, I also added a screen to the facade. (Don’t forget to hold shift as you use the brush tool if you want nice straight lines).

TIP: Adding a red tone to the rug will drive your eye straight to the cabin first, then to the rest of the image... where you’ll find the witch!

FINAL CABIN

NO BACKGROUND

LANDSCAPE LAYER I

LANDSCAPE II

LANDSCAPE III

LANDSCAPE IV

FINAL LANDSCAPE

B | BACKGROUND

For the background, I combined many photographs to create this scene. Always pay attention to the scale of the images you use. The landscape in the background is much further from the camera, so the trees and plants look smaller than the ones in the front.

Also, balance the lighting and tones. This is an evening rendering with subtle blue tones casting in the landscape and the cabin.

FINAL BACKGROUND

GROUND COVER

FOREGROUND TREES I

FOREGROUND TREES II

PATH

FINAL DETAILS

C | FOREGROUND

Let’s use the same trick in the foreground. The landscape in the foreground is much closer to the camera, so the trees and plants look bigger than the ones in the back.

Don’t forget that small details are important: adding the same blue tones to the plants in the foreground, will help distribute the colors and frame the cabin.

D | ENTOURAGE

Who will be the characters of your story? Every rendering is telling a story and choosing the right entourage is extremely important.

FINAL IMAGE

SEPIA

COLOR ADJUSTMENTS

DODGE & BURN

LEVEL ADJUSTMENT

REPEAT

E | POST-PRODUCTION

Never skip this step! This is where your colors, levels and contrast will bring all the elements in your collage together. Dodge&Burn, Color Adjustments, Camera Raw, Levels… do it all and repeat until you’re happy with the image.