What’s the definition of “Ap·peal·ing”

1. Attractive or interesting.

synonyms: attractive, engaging, alluring, enchanting, captivating, bewitching, fascinating, tempting, enticing, seductive, irresistible, winning, winsome, charming, desirable;
“an appealing look” – in other words “sexy” 🙂

Alright, so let’s try and get this appealing and highly attractive look for our 3D renders by looking into this simple by highly beneficial render checklist I’ve prepared for achieving this goal?

A Render Checklist for an Appealing 3D Image

1. One Main Light Source: Always make sure that your scene has a dominant light source which can be easily noticed by the viewer. This is a basic law of composition and creating a hierarchy of lights sets the mood for the scene.
2. Clear Light Direction: The direction of your main light source should be clearly visible. The light should cast defined shadows all over the scene and no two light sources should be of the same intensity but opposite direction.
3. Defined Contrast: The interplay between light and dark is the key to a great 3D render. So make sure there are areas that receive direct light and other regions that are masked out by shadow. This creates a nice natural contrast which very appealing.
4. Object Balance & Harmony: Remember to follow basic composition laws such as rule-of-thirds, leading lines and other guidelines. There should be some negative space in the scene to draw attention to our main elements. Balance the image by adding or removing elements. It’s good idea to learn in-depth about the composition techniques that professional photographers use everyday.
5. Overexposure / Underexposure: When rendering out you scene, you can either use high burn tone-mapping like Reinhard or a gentle exponential curve for retaining all the detail. While one gives you higher contrast, the other keeps the details in the highlights and shadows intact.

Download: APPEALING 3D RENDER CHECK-LIST

These are the main characteristics of an Appealing 3D Render, if you have more to add, go ahead and post them in the comment section below.

Thanks a bunch for watching this.

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Talk soon,
Alex