Carrara Challenge #27: “Carrara 9, Give us a Sign” WIP Thread: Voting has started.

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  • HeadwaxHeadwax Posts: 9,986

    better send the Russians home, that will make it easier ;)

  • DiomedeDiomede Posts: 15,165
    edited August 2016

    Irony is that one of the Russian track athletes allowed to compete was cleared because she trains in Florida and therefore presumably was subject to more thorough drug testing.  Ironic because "ground zero" of our baseball performance enhancing drug scandals is Florida.

    http://www.espn.com/espn/otl/story/_/id/8884955/mlb-investigating-south-florida-ground-zero-ped-war

     

     

    head wax said:

    better send the Russians home, that will make it easier ;)

     

    Post edited by Diomede on
  • HeadwaxHeadwax Posts: 9,986
    edited August 2016

    yes, well... we dont take drugs in Australia because our beer is so good :)

    hmm I can see it now "Carrara 9 beer. Home brewed. tastes good. Comes with a Vicky."

    Post edited by Headwax on
  • wgdjohnwgdjohn Posts: 2,634
    edited August 2016

    Finally got a bit of time to work on my original idea. Since I'm so picky thought I'd play with Shaders first. The cube has a mixer for the colors and uses Turbulence for the 2 different colors. I added a bit of Fractal Noise for bump. Other than that still want to decide what other mods for shader channels I want... currently all the rest are at their defaults. Prolly go back and make changes to the ones already changed.

    Note: I learned not to hit CTRL+Z while in the Render room... it un-does changes made in the Shader room. :(

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  • HeadwaxHeadwax Posts: 9,986

    you could hit it with 1000 percent reflection, zap up the caustics in the render room and turn off reflections - see what happens :) you get the reflected light but not the reflection

  • wgdjohnwgdjohn Posts: 2,634

    Reading my mind are you. :)  I have beveled all edges and gave the bevels their own shader domain for gold and side faces as above. Gonna try out caustics tomorrow. The shop is close for tonight... gotta get some sleep.

  • HeadwaxHeadwax Posts: 9,986

    what joy is fiddlings :) don't you love the epiphanies they bring? have you tried the anything goos plugin by digital carvers? - bangs up your edges a little or a lot

  • wgdjohnwgdjohn Posts: 2,634
    edited August 2016

    Have it but only recently... can't wait. Banging edges better than head. :)

    Working on a Carrara logo with TypeTool from Fontograper today. Will get a post of it up as soon I add some shaders. After converting to vertex room it now has over 27 shading domains for side faces and 2 for front and back faces.

    Post edited by wgdjohn on
  • StezzaStezza Posts: 8,050

    Hiding in the Phantom Zone

    as the latest G3 super hero suit isn't suitable for Carrara I used LoRez masked hero with new textures and face trans maps, a varity of plants, starry sky, Daz Horse 2 and the old Daz Wolf with adjusted textures.. a remapped pirate flag and skulz.

    Used Cararra's text tool for 9 converted it to a vertex model and used Carrara's shaders for it. Used 3 basic lights for lighting and the fog tool.

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,533

    Yikes!

    This is some REALLY cool work!

    I love this!

    Great work, Johnny Gibson!!! 

  • HeadwaxHeadwax Posts: 9,986
    edited August 2016

    nice work @Stezza, really like the side lighting on Ghost who walks. Didnt know they had low res super heroes. Did you find the normal maps helped in the muscle defintion? The fog tool really makes a huge difference/

     

    @wgdjohn  spoilt for choice :)

    looks like we dont have a user @GhostWhoWalks - I get a Whoops error. So cute..... ;)

    Post edited by Headwax on
  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,533
    Stezza said:

    Hiding in the Phantom Zone

    as the latest G3 super hero suit isn't suitable for Carrara I used LoRez masked hero with new textures and face trans maps, a varity of plants, starry sky, Daz Horse 2 and the old Daz Wolf with adjusted textures.. a remapped pirate flag and skulz.

    Used Cararra's text tool for 9 converted it to a vertex model and used Carrara's shaders for it. Used 3 basic lights for lighting and the fog tool.

    Very, Very Cool!!!

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,533
    edited August 2016
    head wax said:

    what joy is fiddlings :) don't you love the epiphanies they bring? have you tried the anything goos plugin by digital carvers? - bangs up your edges a little or a lot

    My goodness! I finally just started running my renders on Batch Queue so I could more easily let Carrara throttle down the engine as I did other things, like watch cool movies'  VFX breakdowns and stuff.... LOL

    Messing around with this, then that, then another thing... 

    Take the latest one, which looks pretty decent, run it into Howler and mess with it some more - but just a little.

    It's been like this for a week now.

    My singer has some big shin-dig coming, and he wanted me to do some more stonework features in his massive yard - I'm making these really cool little mock rapids, but with no water - just stone - lots and lots (tons and tons) of stone. Well, I get his stone for free by picking it myself by hand. I'm just beat!

    So I've only been able to mess with this just before passing out. Not sure if I'll continue to work with this one or just start a second project?

    Hmmm...

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  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,533
    edited August 2016

    I really like how the particles (Fire) are blasting out the front of TheAntFarm's cool Shanty building (Shanty Village - by TheAntFarm)! Which was done separately and added in post.

    Was going for a kind of a cross between Frank Frazetta/Larry Elmore inspired kinda thing.

    EDIT: Oh... and as I mentioned a long time ago... 

    I really like this new Daz Dragon 3!

    It's really easy to work with - both pose and animation as well as shaders, Working with its materials are really a dream! Great textures for a fantastic mesh. I'm amazed! I'm going to play with this thing some more. And then so more!

    Post edited by Dartanbeck on
  • HeadwaxHeadwax Posts: 9,986

    wow so many great elements! really dynamic. love the inverted vee composition , it's almost like an adventure cover

    maybe the dragon's flame is getting lost in the sky? maybe the sky darkness or smoke  could be expanded to sit behind the flames ?

    did you do an object render pass and a colour pass (I think that;s what it is)?

     

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,533
    edited August 2016
    head wax said:

    wow so many great elements! really dynamic. love the inverted vee composition , it's almost like an adventure cover

    maybe the dragon's flame is getting lost in the sky? maybe the sky darkness or smoke  could be expanded to sit behind the flames ?

    did you do an object render pass and a colour pass (I think that;s what it is)?

    Nope. Just a single pass. I was still in test render mode. I should really render it again using multipass.

    The strange appearance of things comes from immense use of Light Linking! I went way to far with that, got addicted, and did it some more. There are more than six distant lights set to brightnesses exceeding 300. Others at 35, some at 17. Those darned particles aren't lit at all. Just the same time-controlled glow taught by PhilW in his Advanced Carrara Tech. Really fun, but also time-consuming to get them to a point where I was happy with them. That really dark sky is particles at the end of their phase. (EDIT - It only gets really dark at the very end, and there are only a few in the scene that make it that far in their life... but out of several thousand, a few becomes quite a few, I guess - LOL)

    To aid in render times (working on my crap-top) I rendered that whole huge scenery scape as a spherical map. Problem with that is the loss of sky control. 

    Bahhh... maybe I'll just keep working on this one for a while longer! LOL

    Post edited by Dartanbeck on
  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,533

    Oh.. and diomede, after working with this image I'm becoming much more of a Genesis 2/DUF fan! So you've succeeded in getting me to delve into that end of the spectrum again! Ysabeau is a real beauty! I have her all super angry and yelling here, but change her attitude and she's a real charmer! LOL

    Now I'm super tempted to buy that new Big Cat 2 and a pile of new DUF/Genesis 1,2,3 stuff! (Genesis 3 for stills only, at this point - so not so much yet)

    Hopefully this genius contest theme will raise some attention in the home office! ;)

  • HeadwaxHeadwax Posts: 9,986

    it's a terrific images as it is!

    I have started depending on oloneo hdr for tweaking - gives amazing control for a lot of things - I dont use it for tweaking hdrs oddly , just to make single images pop.

    a bandaid trick I learnt recently was the paremeter 'darker colour' in layers in ps

    when parts of the image are washed out to white and you want to ameliorate the problem it comes in handy

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,533
    edited August 2016

    head wax said:

    it's a terrific images as it is!

    I have started depending on oloneo hdr for tweaking - gives amazing control for a lot of things - I dont use it for tweaking hdrs oddly , just to make single images pop.

    a bandaid trick I learnt recently was the paremeter 'darker colour' in layers in ps

    when parts of the image are washed out to white and you want to ameliorate the problem it comes in handy

    Here is the raw render, any suggestions on what I might have done wrongly in post... anyone?

     

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  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,533

    I definitely like the Howlerized one better... but that's my eyes on my computer ;)

     

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,533

    In Howler, I make mask selections and store them onto the desktop, so I can revisit them as I work. These masks allow me to work on specific parts of the image without affecting anything else - and these masks can have blur applied to them to soften the difference along the edges. Looking at it now, I may have gone overboard on the ground, but I was enjoying bringing out the bump of the texture. I desaturated the fire against the sky on purpose, but I think I may have lost some detail in the process. Being that Howler is an excellent compositor, I opened the original image back into the swap buffer and replaced the "Carrara" text with the original render from its edited state. I just really like how it rendered out without any post. I just very slightly adjusted the hue to meet up better with the edited image. I then did the same process with the 9, except that some of the effects I put around the number itself remained even after the swap, since it was outside the actual object - which I personally like. 

    Personally, I like the Howlerized version (right) the best. What do you think?

  • HeadwaxHeadwax Posts: 9,986

    Hard to say! Both look great! Really like the glint on  the sword in the right hand  one. I think the left hand one has a greater tonal range and that makes it pop a little more.

     

    Of course it  depends on the monitor - as you said! 

  • DiomedeDiomede Posts: 15,165

    Hmm.  Need to rethink this one.  Had intended to have cute blimps in the shape of 9s flying down to an island.  The island would have hills in the shape of Carrara 9.  Blimps would be replicated as if landing on the hills.  Too much wrong.

     

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  • DiomedeDiomede Posts: 15,165

    Dart, I like elements of each of your posts.  I like the sky, clouds and flames of the one on the right.  I like the ground and the dragon of the one on the left.  Just my preferences.  Really comes down to whetheryou want more of a dystopian look (the right) or more of a green look.  Both images are great.

  • wgdjohnwgdjohn Posts: 2,634
    edited August 2016

    They both have their merits... ohh and they are very good also. Like/dislike them both for different reasons.

    • 1st image is darker, not good for ground and especially foreground trees.
    • "Carrara" no longer stands out, not good... appears too blended into the sky.
    • Lost contrast in clouds and sky color.
    • Rosie, sword hilt and dragon look to have better color range... Rosie has very good color.

    2nd image, brighter one, is simply a bit washed out in places... Rosie's tone and knee high pants... dragon a bit and sword hilt more so.

    • Sword blade brightness is good... is shiny... effect for the glint is good giving it added reflection of sunlight.
    • Foreground trees and background look a lot better.
    • Dragon's fire is better, IMO, give it an all consuming look to burning shack/building.
    • I do like the colors for the Dragon but they are a bit washed out and do look better in 1st image.
    • "Carrara" looks much better, "9" looks a bit better. Not in love with the sky color which is a bit brite on clouds. The sky peeking through appears to have too much purple... should be bluer, IMO.

    Hope my critique helps.

    Forgot to mention the ground... dunno. I would try adding some smoke/fog encompassing the hill to tone it down a bit, 2nd image, perhaps up midway up from ground to Rosie's mid lower leg showing the leggings at top and more encompassed lower.

    Post edited by wgdjohn on
  • StezzaStezza Posts: 8,050

    I definitely like the Howlerized one better... but that's my eyes on my computer ;)

     

    for me IMHO the one on the right is to washed out.. I personally wouldn't of had blue skies, I would of went for a more fiery sky to match the chaos that is happening.. I would prefer a more of a lightish orangey to reddish overlay rather than the blueish one with a darker background and lights to make the subjects pop a bit more..

    They are both great images pre and post but I think it could be better... sorry if I sound a bit to critisising .. but you did ask yes cool

  • StezzaStezza Posts: 8,050
    edited August 2016

    just for fun devil

    using Carrara shaders and surface replicator along with some clouds.

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  • Why thank you Dartanbeck I am glad you like my Zebra render because I was really scraping the bottom of the barrel for inspiration. My original idea whilst scrambling to fix a fail was a Vicky 4 custom scaled to 65'000 chewing on a terrain disguised as a lump of chocolate. I thought the idea had rescue merit written all over it, in practice it turned out a little ordinary. I put it here along with the terrain anyway for your enjoyment  :-)

    As for your project both are great. I really like the Dogwaffle version it bounces offf the screen here. 

    @Stezza Hiding in the Phantom Zone looks great

    @diomede The blimps are great! Rethink around the blimps 

     

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  • MistaraMistara Posts: 38,675
    head wax said:

    yes, well... we dont take drugs in Australia because our beer is so good :)

    hmm I can see it now "Carrara 9 beer. Home brewed. tastes good. Comes with a Vicky."

     

    tee hee, could go for a pint

  • wgdjohnwgdjohn Posts: 2,634
    edited August 2016

    Plodding along. Here is the new cube design, a vertex object, and my test scene setup. I've also added modified "C" text letter. I've got the rest of letters and number "9" done but not set up yet.  1st pic is with caustics and reflections on. 2nd pic is with caustics on and reflections off. Big difference and both appeal to me. I'll likely go with the look of the 2nd pic.

    Carrara or myself has gone nuts. The 2nd pic .car file renders anywhere from 3 to 6 times... I've checked and all objects, cameras and lights are set with animated off... same for Render room output settings "no animation" and "no multipass". Even stranger is the fact that I can render with reflections on or off and get the same result. Note that I'm only using the tiled plane for testing.

    Final render will look quite different... probably with a terrain and work some different magic with the number "9" which will not be on a text block.

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