Photorealism in Blender
Cycles, like most modern render engines, is capable of stunning realism.
When I first started in 3D, a long time ago, global illumination was considered too costly and exotic for production. Raster render engines were the norm, which meant that everything was a fudge: soft shadows, specular reflections, and bounced light were all faked with ad hoc cheats and tricks.
Nowadays of course we are used to having full raytracers, and Cycles is among them. This means that as artists we can expect great results out of the box, and there is no need to resort to tricks and hacks in the pursuit of realism.
Awesome news. (There is a catch though.)
With tools this powerful the onus is on us, the artists, to create realism, if that is our goal.
And that's not necessarily all that easy. A great render engine helps, but we still need to do the work, to create the subtle details and pay attention to all the moving parts: the modelling, shading, texturing, and lighting.
The good news is that with a little care, it's easier than ever to produce realistic results in a render engine like Cycles. Achieving good results is easy, but getting that final 10% is what really pushes the envelope.
And that's what my new course, Photorealism in Blender, is all about: helping you add that extra something that turns a good render into a great one.
If that sounds interesting, keep an eye on your inbox on Thursday.