I designed a brand/label/bottle/homepage for a spec project, and while I'm overall happy with how this scene came out, it still feels like a 3D render and I'm not quite sure what else I could do to bring it closer to realism. Mostly because I've exhausted all the techniques and advice I've used before and can find elsewhere, which I'll list below.

Normally I wouldn't worry too much about hyperrealism, but for this brand it just looks like it doesn't quite belong when I put it into the web designs alongside real photography. Is another renderer besides Redshift just better suited to hyperrealism? Since I've gotten pretty far with Redshift I've just never thought about leaping into another one, but maybe it's time.

Any advice for realism or just overall design, lighting, and composition would be greatly appreciated! 🙏

Details:

• C4D and Redshift
• Most models and materials from GSG (Cargo), some from asset browser
• Bottle topper and label I made from scratch
• Added subtle imperfections to label and bottle
• HDRI, Gobo, and subtle rim light behind the bottles left edge
• No denoising
• 100mm Camera Lens, Bokeh aperture 8, subtle vignetting
• RS Render Tags here and there for displacement and rendertime subdiv
• Caustics enabled on lights and glass elements

Not a coder here, and I know the hate for vibe coding at this point and while I get it, I've been able to make some neat scripts to help streamline some stuff. I recently made a python script that helps with a problem in both adobe and maxon apps that's been a pain for years- it scans your apps and will help migrate preferences and settings to new versions without having to do it manually. I know that in cinema you can identify extra plugin folders and such, but not with layouts and shortcut stuff. It jus seems that's stupid for the app to not migrate that stuff as part of the install or at least give an option. You can also pair additional folders that you want to migrate from and to as well for anything else you have setup.

So, ChatGPT enterprise helped me with it. Can I post a zip here or do I need to dive into git to post stuff like this correctly?

has anybody who signed in the beta-tester form on Maxon’s website earlier this year been able to test it, or is it just vaporware at this stage ?

Nvidia drivers legit drove me insaaaane today!!

For past 3-4 hours I was figuring out why adding a displacement material on one object is making the other objects disappear, half of my scene was invisible due to this.

I legit tried 6 different octane version, completely deleted all my c4d octane cache etc, and all possible combinations with nodes and what not.

Problem was Nvidia drivers, had to uninstall the latest one, crazy how a freaking driver can cause such a distant glitch.