Improved Vinyl Record Player

I returned to this shot as I decided that I could make the vinyl shot look a little better by improving the texture on the vinyl record and also I needed to change the camera aspect ration settings to 1080p. I shall give a break down of how I prepared the improved vinyl scene.

An occlusion render pass.
This wall texture render shall serve as the backdrop which will be the layer behind the vinyl record player. This is also from the calendar scene. I figured that this render will be sufficient for the backdrop of this shot too. If I can "kill two birds with one stone" this will help save time.

Above is the original vinyl texture which I thought I could improve upon. Seeing as i was swithich to HD I could see that this texture would be too poor for the render quality. I felt that this texture felt too generic and smooth which looked fake.

Above is an improved version of the vinyl texture. There is a dust effect on this texture which I felt would add a little detail and introduce a little realism and irregularity. I think attention to detail is important when trying to tell a story visually. I prefer this texture mainly because the grooves have more definition which will therefore make the vinyl more realistic and less fake in terms of lighting and reflections. Mike was concerned that the rings were not defined and I believe that this new texture in conjunction with a bump map will solve this problem without adding extra geometry to the vinyl model. The rim of the record is a photograph but the record centre was created by myself using various layers in Photoshop.

Above is the Vinyl Record Bump Map in order to give definition to the grooves. Any lighter region will appear raised and highlighted, whereas the darker areas will appear as depressions.

Before

The surface seems too flat.

After

The new texture introduces a little more realism and is less reflective and seems to add more volume and depth to the vinyl model. Plus this aspect ratio is in my opinion far more appealing.

This is the original Storyboard. I am very happy that I have managed to recreate this illustration in 3D. I surprised myself of how close I have been able to replicate this image.