What do you think about posting renders of your models?

[Fazeli24]

I’ve been loving MakerWorld so far, it offers a lot of high quality models.
That’s why I decided to also start publishing my own models there. One of my biggest problems is that the “competition” is very professional, and can produce very high quality pictures. I’m a student, so buying a professional camera isn’t an option. That’s why I wanted to know if posting renders of models is allowed, I would obviously also post pictures of the real print, but not as the main picture.
And even if it’s allowed, do you think that it is “morally” correct to advertise a model with essentially fake pictures?

This is an example picture:

[MZip]

There’s been a number of threads about this here because of the photo requirement but to my knowledge, nothing says the photo has to be the main photo. You are just supposed to have a photo posted to show it’s printable.

Also, most phones now have amazingly good cameras. I have a nice digital camera that would let me take photos doing the various exposure and lens things those can do, but have yet to use it for model photos.

But something about renders and just my opinion, I tend to not look too close at models that feature renders. To me they are a crutch and no guarantee that the model will print. Plus for a long time, that’s all the spammers were posting and you could avoid them by ignoring models without photos as the main.

[Henlor]

Of course there is no problem to post a 3d render as thumbnail as long you have photo of the actual print inside the model gallery and on the print profile if you post one.

[ElektroQuark]

Any advice to create easily good looking renders from STEP or STL files?

[Henlor]

@MZip

But something about renders and just my opinion, I tend to not look too close at models that feature renders. To me they are a crutch and no guarantee that the model will print. Plus for a long time, that’s all the spammers were posting and you could avoid them by ignoring models without photos as the main.

Understandable, but honestly if I see a beautiful thumbnail like this, I’ll click on it whatever it’s a render or picture.

[Fazeli24]

I create my renders in Blender, it’s free and open source. I usually model a big backdrop, put in my model(s) and orient them how I like them. Then I create/apply materials to them. And finally, I change the Render Engine to Cycles, and hit render. This usually results in great pictures. Obviously there are many settings you can tweak to achieve the look you like, but that’s the basic procedure I use

[Fazeli24]

Thanks. Even very big (and successful) creators use renders. E.g. https://makerworld.com/en/models/453302?from=search#profileId-360624

I think the first picture is a render, and it looks great!

[Henlor]

Yup, I’m myself using a mix of the two. It depends on the projects, sometimes it just easier to take a picture (for printers mods for example)

[MalcTheOracle]

THat is an excellent example of a designer that uses Renders, but, you will not the actual print is always there and the renders look like the actual product.

Too many people who use renders, actually abuse their use.

They provide excellent full-colour renders that look nothing like the 3D print the designer created.

People come here to download and print something they can trust is what they believe it is and most importantly, when printed, it looks like the photo evidence supplied.

Someone may be great at 3D rendering, yet, have no skills in understanding how 3D printed models work, function, act and react to temperature, different printers from BL and often most overlooked - have no idea how print with colours work and will not work.

I KNOW you are not talking about excluding the photo evidence, but, a real-world shot of something works wonders. You only need your phone’s camera and a simple background and you have a workable shot.

You can download printable models here to act as your background if you lack anything suitable.

I am immediately distrustful of those who rely on renders as I want to see what I will end up with, not the idea in the designer’s head, they rarely match.

99% of my photos from the past couple of months have been made using a lightbox and a tripod with a ring light. The latter is due to my disability, no one wants tremor-forced blurry images. Neither was expensive, the cost of a few rolls of filaments and only then because I splurged.

@Henlor

but honestly if I see a beautiful thumbnail like this, I’ll click on it whatever it’s a render or picture.

I do something similar to @Henlor, I will click on it, but, it is because I expect there to be no required photo evidence and I will report the model profile.

I am rarely surprised, but, I always welcome the ones who are skilled in both disciplines.

Relying on what you can design to print and using that to promote the work is far better than faking results (as too many do) by producing a bait-and-switch “look what it could have looked like” render.

I currently have almost 600 models and the artwork takes far longer than taking photos.

Today I uploaded a single model with 16 different print profiles (far more than normal), but, I knew this version of my model would have those interested in the model seeking multiple ways of printing it.

[Fazeli24]

I actually tried using real photos as thumbnails.
E.g. here:

This one turned out alright, but with bigger objects, it’s hard to light them out evenly. Also, I usually add some Text next to the picture, which only really works if there is a clear, bright white background. And even when using all my current lights, a render still looks better in this regard

[Henlor]

I’m doing exactly the same kind of setup with a light background. And the biggest downside, is indeed the background lighting uniformity and the repeatably of background brightness/exposure from shot to shot.
The only way to came close to this is with a lightbox or a studio (and I have neither of those ^^).
Render is way way simpler in that regard

[Fazeli24]

I guess I’m just going to test both renders and actual photos as thumbnails. Interested to see what works better

[michelem]

I always use a render as cover image, I assemble it with Canva to add a title, a tagline and something more. Of course I always add real images too. Check my profile page.

[oddsandsods]

I’m definitely not as experienced as you lot with making designs and renders but as an end user if renders are used as the cover photo I like them to include a thumbnail of the printed model, I also prefer if they look like a render as in not to realistic so you know what you’re looking at even just a shot of the cad model.

I took this ethos for one of my recent models that was small and hard to photograph with what I got so I used a simple render from fusion to show its details and included a couple of thumbnails of the printed item in use.

Here’s a screenshot from my phone.

[Henlor]

@michelem

I always use a render as cover image

I know and they are beautiful

[michelem]

Sorry my mistake reply was for OP @Fazeli24 but thanks anyway!

[Fazeli24]

Wow, huge fan of you models! You renders inspired me to try the same. Followed

[_Hugo]

I have a tip for making a Blender render resemble a 3D print. I’ve only used it once, but it’s great for close-up renders. In PrusaSlicer, you can slice your model and export the G-code as a STEP file. When you open it in Blender, you’ll be able to see the individual layer lines. It looks better, though it does take more time. Here’s an example from one of my models (if you zoom in you can see the layer lines) :

[Henlor]

@_Hugo

G-code as a STEP file

Don’t you want to say export the toolpath as obj instead ?
Someone made post a tuto about that no long ago :

Realistic rendering of FDM 3D prints in Fusion 360

Spoiler alert: This cannot be done from Bambu Studio, you need a slicer that can export “Toolpaths” as OBJ-file, for instance Prusa slicer. I have stumbled over a method for making photo realistic rendering of 3D prints, so that the layer lines are shown in a realistic way. This can be used to for instance simulate text inlays in a contrasting color (which has become easy with multi color printers), in a way that gives a far better visualization than the slicer preview; like this: [image] The…

[KanneKaffe]

I want to respond to exactly this approach. Because I’m also trying different things. Also, with the light background. I have an example here and ask the question if you recognise whether it is real or a rendering:

Don’t let the contrast mislead you, I’ve toned it down a bit because the parts are black.

I did some searching the other day and came across a programme, the rendered images with it look amazingly real because real photos are used as the background. Incidence of light, shadows etc., it just looks fantastic if you know how to use it. A photo couldn’t be better. Makerworld employees are likely to find it increasingly difficult to distinguish real photos from fake renderings.

I know of one user who only uses renderings but shows a real print by photo, and the print is often poor and sometimes a disaster.