Interior visualization · 2023

Hanzo’s Den

A Japanese-inspired vintage retreat, made over a weekend with a friend, to set the mood of a cinematic scene.

A crystal whisky decanter and glasses on a wooden table beside a leather lounge chair
Year

2023

With

Neena Fatima

Output

Still renders and a short animation

Tools
  • Blender
  • DaVinci Resolve

The main focus was mood. The biggest challenge was the lighting.

Process

  1. Idea

    Favorite anime and dream homes, one weekend.

  2. Assets

    The room and its objects, built with a friend.

  3. Lighting

    Light that sets a cinematic mood.

  4. Render

    Cycles in Blender 3.5.

  5. Grade

    Compiled and graded in DaVinci Resolve Studio.

The room from above in plain grey clay: two lounge chairs either side of a low table, plants at each end and curtains along the window
The same view from above, finished: leather chairs, a wooden table set with glasses, a decanter, cinnamon rolls and blueberries, and sunlight falling through the curtains across the floor

Final. The room from above, with afternoon sun through the curtains.

Clay. The same view in plain grey, before materials.

Still renders

The whole room: a bed, a Great Wave print, a vintage television, a hanging scroll, and two leather lounge chairs by sheer curtains under a wooden ceiling
A low wide-angle view across the rug toward the television, the scroll and the lounge chairs, with bamboo outside the window
A small bronze Buddha on top of the vintage television, catching a slant of sun
A lounge chair beside the low table, set with cinnamon rolls, blueberries, a decanter and cut-crystal glasses, the television and scroll behind
The television on a mid-century stand with the scroll, a potted plant and bamboo, seen from the bed
Cinnamon rolls on a plate in a strip of sunlight, with the decanter and a bowl of blueberries behind
Cinnamon rolls and a bowl of blueberries on the table, the decanter out of focus in front
A round vase of dried dandelion heads and a candle on a dark tray by the bed

Render passes

One frame, taken apart.

Color pass: the Buddha on the television in flat surface colors with no lighting; the bronze figure is black
Lighting pass: the same frame with every surface white, showing only light and shadow
A nearly black pass in which only the edges of the wall planks and floorboards glow
Normal pass: surfaces colored by the way they face, the wall red, the television top blue and its front yellow
Position pass: soft magenta, white and yellow gradients across the room, with the figure as a flat silhouette
A black-and-white version of the frame, with warm light kept on the figure and the wall
Final render: a bronze Buddha on top of a vintage television, lit by a slant of afternoon sun

Final. Sun from the window lands on the figure and the wall behind it.

Color. Each surface’s own color, before any light. Metal has no diffuse color, so the bronze reads black.

Light. Light and shadow alone, with every surface white.

Highlights. Only the light caught by edges: the lips of the wall planks and the floorboards.

Normals. The way each surface faces, written as color.

Position. Where each point sits in the room, written as color.

Mono. A black-and-white take on the same frame, keeping warmth in the light.

Animation

Details

Render
Cycles, Blender 3.5
Grade
DaVinci Resolve Studio
Hardware
Ryzen 9 7900X, RTX 4080
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