Carrara Challenge #28: “Marriage” WIP Thread

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  • wgdjohnwgdjohn Posts: 2,634
    edited October 2016

    Dart,  Oops... forgot to add the Woodlands light question pic...

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  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,326
    edited October 2016
    wgdjohn said:
    wgdjohn said:

    Dart,  I ran into something I've not yet figured out yet... in Woodlands Environ Kit... I've had one light which was very distracting... I checked all lights in the group but all were set to not show in 3D view... only when I selected the main group, see pic, was I able to hide it. Just an annoyance as it does not render... just was a bit distracting. Still need to check out all the options for Woodland... looks very cool.

    [Oops fogot to add the pic... it's posted later]

    The one laying horizontally near the ground, right?

    It's called "Ambience Direction Control" and is located within the Environmental Controls > Artificial Global Illumination system.

    When selected, the interface has a note on it: "This Light is only used as a Directional Indicator - Set visibility on lights below for Ambience"

    It has constraints so that it only rotates along the Z axis to make it easier to avoid accidentally messing up what's going on. Select that light and delete it and you'll get rid of the artificial ambient light booster system. Open the hierarchy to view notes on how the whole system works.

    In a nutshell, there's a main ambient light (often referred to as a 'bounce' light) which faces up at an angle. The direction control determines which direction this main light faces, although the actual light is angled upwards.

    There are two more lights in this system - each angled slightly away from this main ambient light - one to the right, the other to the left - only slightly. one is set half as bright as the first, and the final one is half of that one.

    Together they work together as a form of cinematic trick to avoid having to run "Indirect Light: calculations. Ity works very fast.

    The system has some helpful notes written within the hierarchy to help understand how it works - and the video goes further in depth.

    For each of those three lights, there are three to choose from - only one is set to "Visible" at any one time, by default. One is Neutral, one is cool (slightly blue) and the final one is warm (slightly orange).

    So the whole system contains nine lights in total - only three are "on" by default  and by default they're all set to provide a natural experience. But they can easily be changed to be more surreal, fantistical or abstract. Hmmm... I'm feeling an idea for a video coming on....

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  • wgdjohnwgdjohn Posts: 2,634
    edited October 2016

    Dart,  Thanks... had the video bookmarked long before buying Woodlands... will have to watch it now that I have Woodlands. This is my first go at it... only glanced trough some of your helpful instructions.

    Post edited by wgdjohn on
  • HeadwaxHeadwax Posts: 9,964

    Thanks DesertDude and Dart.

    All those paintings on the wall are Carrara renders ;)

    wgdjohn - love the whole sword image, diomede, wonderful job on the wrapper et varsel - excellent concept

     

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,326
    head wax said:

    Thanks DesertDude and Dart.

    All those paintings on the wall are Carrara renders ;)

    Wow! That's cool! Didn't you paint something just like that on canvas too?

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,326
    head wax said:

    wgdjohn - love the whole sword image, diomede, wonderful job on the wrapper et varsel - excellent concept

    Agreed!

  • wgdjohnwgdjohn Posts: 2,634
    edited October 2016

    Thank you both head wax and Dartsmiley

    Dart,  Thank you again for the suggestions... they all have been added and make quite a difference.  Been tweaking the Star and Glint FX also... toned the Glint way down as it was washing out the sword too much... change Glint's and Star's colors and intensity a tiny bit.  I've been rendering all night and into the morning... 8 Cores Ablazing... taking too long then I thought to hide all of the ground cover only awhile ago... being concerned with only the part that shows the FX... why I didn't think of that earlier - don't know... geez what a dummy I've been waiting for everything to render.  Now doing hopefully a new and improved Sword In Stone 2.0. :)

    Below I show the new 3 point light setup wherer before there was only 1 light.

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  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,326

    I love that 3d signature!!! Well... I like the whole scene, but that sig is So Cool!!!

  • wgdjohnwgdjohn Posts: 2,634
    edited October 2016

    Spent quite awhile adjusting the FX just where I wanted them only see 1st pic... only to discover that there are a few plants out of place see 2nd pic. For some reason those plants don't even show up in the Assembly room. Guess I'll go fix and render once more [fingers crossed].  Lights - Camera - Action [Scene 1 Take 30]

    Please let me know how my new scene looks. Anyones critique is always welcome.

    Notes on my 3 point lighting setup:  The big, Key light, provides my strange light cone and shines on both the Sword and Stone... the smaller, Fill light, provides some fill at a much lower setting and shines only on the Stone... it doesn't come from an opposing angle since there is plenty of light on the left side... it instead comes from basically the same general direction as the Key light but enhances, IMO, a glow that I wanted to the top of the stone. Each light has it's own target helper, Key and Fill helpers, to tell them exactly where to shine. Both in conjunction bring out the bump shader for the stone. The Back light was simply rotated then placed behind the Sword and Stone... it affects both of them... it does not use a target helper.

    I love that 3d signature!!! Well... I like the whole scene, but that sig is So Cool!!!

    Thanks,  I added the 3d sig in order to forgo postwork to add one. All I need do is position it for each project and change it's shaders to be there and often it sorta blends into the scene. Another cool feature is that it has it's own shader domains. The time I spend adjusting it as an object is equal if not faster than the time I'd spend in postwork... besides now the entire scene is created in Carrara. Postwork is fine to enhance/extend/improve images but the main thing is to point out to folks what Carrara alone is capable of.

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  • StezzaStezza Posts: 7,989
    edited October 2016
    Stezza said:

    This is the time old marriage between mouse and cheese and that trap.. and how to get around it..

    Spent this arvo making a mouse trap, wall with mouse hole and the floor before the NRL Grand Final starts..  as well as decking out the mouse in his gear... that will be it for the next 24 hours,, hic... 

     

     

    Final render no postwork apart from my sig 

    Post edited by Chohole on
  • PhilWPhilW Posts: 5,144

    Very cool work all round - love the eyes in the hole!

  • wgdjohnwgdjohn Posts: 2,634
    edited October 2016

    Hey Folks,  Regarding my last, plant, problem... I discovered a Beech Sapling that had gotten stuck in the terrain... this is now fixed.  I've rendered it again and will compare it to the one I have entered to see which one is looks better. If I made a big enough difference I'll enter it instead and move the other one here.  I'd thought about entering both but another entery should really be an entirely different scene.

    Stezza,  Just looked at your sneaky mouse and cheese trap.  Didn't see the eyes the first time... cool touch!

    Post edited by wgdjohn on
  • Hello folks - It has been awhile (Nov. 2013) since I posted at Daz. In fact, this is the first time I opened Carrara since then. I see Carara still hasn't been updated but I decided it was time to do a render. I have spent the last few days reinstalling my content. Unfortunately, it looks like I have forgottent a few things so it has been a little slow setting up and posing everything. I will be modeling (and trying to rember how to do dynamic cloth) a tie for the puppy groom and a veil for the puppy bride.

    WIP - A Puppy matrimony.

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  • PhilWPhilW Posts: 5,144

    Some nice posing going on there!

  • wgdjohnwgdjohn Posts: 2,634

    Kewl, can't wait to see more.

  • VarselVarsel Posts: 574
    edited October 2016

    ​Here is my two latest attempt. 

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  • wgdjohnwgdjohn Posts: 2,634
    edited October 2016

    I've replaced my original entry with my improved and fixed version... below is the image I replaced.  I've added 2 more WIP links to show this original entry version and my final wireframe set-up.

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  • VarselVarsel Posts: 574
    edited October 2016

    Here is my final design.

    The trees started as a birch. (one of HowieFarkes. I use them a lot as a base, cause they are ready shaded.) I tried to shape it into a bent shape in the plant editor, with no luck.

    I then tried to apply a Bend and Twist modifier to it, with the result that the tree lost all its leaves.

    Then I tried to convert it into a Vertex object, with the result that it crashed Carrara. crying

    So I converted it to a primitive model, and then the Bend and Twist modifier did its job.

    The frame is a vertex model, that I created one corner, and then in a copy off the main picture , positioning it and then with modelling in the Assembly Room, copy/paste the three other corner. It was then rendered as a .png, with transparant background.

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  • wgdjohnwgdjohn Posts: 2,634

    I'd  like to thank those who helped me in creating the scene that I wanted.

    • MDO for pointing me to the Flare/Glint effect.
    • Dart for his expert advice on how to make the scene better.

    I always appreciate anyone's advice and critique.

    Before "Carrara Challenge 23: Fire and Water" I'd never taken the time to put my models into a scene worthy of saving. Each Carrara Challenge I learn more features Carrara has and get IMO a bit better... thanks to all whose artistic talent inspires me and their help in words and scenes.

  • PhilWPhilW Posts: 5,144

    Varsel - great work on the framing of the image!

  • wgdjohnwgdjohn Posts: 2,634

    Varsel, Kewl... I'll try to remember to make trees Primitive for bending. Did you try a woodgrain or flat black frame base?... just curious. :)

  • DiomedeDiomede Posts: 15,125
    edited October 2016

    I went back to the entry thread, deleted the screwed up files, and reloaded my entry.

    Post edited by Diomede on
  • VarselVarsel Posts: 574
    edited October 2016
    wgdjohn said:

    Varsel, Kewl... I'll try to remember to make trees Primitive for bending. Did you try a woodgrain or flat black frame base?... just curious. :)

    Well I hadn't, before you asked. I was going for pink, as a romantic colour wink , or at least I think that it is supposed to be romantic.

    As a male I might have misunderstood this completely. I've done that before.... 

    So I tried 4 different styles ...

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  • ChoholeChohole Posts: 33,604

    nothing romantic about pink.   It used to be the old fashioned thing,  pink for a girl, blue for a boy.    I personally hate pink, clashed dreadfully with my Dk red hair and celtic pale skin, and blue is one of my favourite colours.

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,326
    Chohole said:

    nothing romantic about pink.   It used to be the old fashioned thing,  pink for a girl, blue for a boy.    I personally hate pink, clashed dreadfully with my Dk red hair and celtic pale skin, and blue is one of my favourite colours.

    ...and it's my favorite color... so there's that! ;)

     

    Varsel said:
    wgdjohn said:

    Varsel, Kewl... I'll try to remember to make trees Primitive for bending. Did you try a woodgrain or flat black frame base?... just curious. :)

    Well I hadn't, before you asked. I was going for pink, as a romantic colour wink , or at least I think that it is supposed to be romantic.

    As a male I might have misunderstood this completely. I've done that before.... 

    So I tried 4 different styles ...

    I like all of them! Very nice shaders!!!

  • PhilWPhilW Posts: 5,144

    My vote would be for the lower left (darker wood) frame - looks classy! (at least to me, but what do I know...)

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,326
    PhilW said:

    , but what do I know...)

    Everything!

    Having that you've said that, I like that one too! 

  • PhilWPhilW Posts: 5,144
    PhilW said:

    , but what do I know...)

    Everything!

    Having that you've said that, I like that one too! 

    Ha, I would never claim to know everything.  It seems like the more you know, the more you realise you don't know.

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,326

    ...and by "you", you mean me, right? LOL

    Yeah... I recently used your car project to highlight the Realism Rendering course. Having done that, I just had to go back and watch it... AGAIN, and... well... yes, I think you know everything! I love those projects by the way. So fun to follow along with, or just watch and absorb. When I'm in 'watch and absorb' mode, it's amazing how many projects spring to mind!

    The house one is REALLY amazing too! I also love the postwork tutorials you add to that one at the end! 

    Everything! ;)

  • PhilWPhilW Posts: 5,144

    Well, as I've said before, you are my main cheerleader and I appreciate all your enthusiasm and support.  I've almost finished recording the videos for my next one "Animation in Carrara" - I still need to do a lot of editing though (I'm putting this one out in my own name rather than going through Infinite Skills this time), but it's getting there.  Also busy with my son's wedding - guess who got to do the designs for table numbers and place names!

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