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I just saw this thread yesterday, and decided to give it a go.
Nothing fancy, I just wanted to make a candid shot of my character...
...and then I discovered making poses is hard even for such a simple gesture... xD
I am still making the scene, but... really, I'd appreciate any tips on that...
Hello,
You're up to a good start here. The hands are looking pretty good. One if the more difficult things is to make hair not get in the way, like you see where it goes into the hand. Most hairs are pretty difficult to pose, so you need to find a way to work with the hair, not against it. Welcome and I'm look forward to see where this will take you.
Thanks :)
Yes, working with hair is tricky... but I was so happy when I her hand wasn't entering into her head or into her should that I just had to make a render... xD
This is my current render.
I am quite happy with the pose... might do minor tweaks here and there, but that's it.
Might change the expression and the lights of the scene, though... I haven't really changed her face and I just used some light presets I already had, lol.
Thanx Scott and Jaderail, I tried something a little different. I got rid of the distant light, turned up the intensity on the fill light and added a back light. I think her hair stands out more now, but do you think the skin on her right arm and hand looks too shiny.
Key light
Intensity: 90
illumination:On
Shadow Type: Raytraced
Softness: 20
Spread Angle:60
Fill Light
Intensity:30
illumination:Diffuse Only
No Shadows
Spread Angle:60
Back Light
Intensity:90
illumination:On
No Shadows
Spread Angle:60
Cindy, I really like what you have so far. Great character and pose (I might prefer the framing of the first image to the second, but I think either could work). I would like to see her eyes come alive a little...her expression looks a little vacant with her staring straight ahead like that; changing their pose would help tremendously I think. The lighting I think is fine...I'm sure it can be improved upon, but if I were you I'd figure out the rest of the scene first.
I agree with what Totte said about the hair. It's definitely tricky. You could try a different hairstyle if that one won't cooperate with your chosen pose. If all else fails, you could try to fix it in an image editor (Photoshop, GIMP, etc.) but personally I think it's preferable to try fixing it in DAZ Studio (or your 3D program of choice) first...whether you succeed or fail, you're likely to learn something in the attempt.
spmwc: I think the lighting on the character is very effective. The shadow does strike me as a little odd, for some reason. I do think the skin is a little on the shiny side...may not be a problem; just makes her look a bit sweaty. If you want to turn down the shininess, the first thing I'd look at is specularity (on the surfaces tab). You'll have to select all the skin surfaces, but don't select other surfaces like teeth, nails, and anything eye related.
I thought I'd give this a try too. Early WIP...the grip isn't at all perfect, among other things. But I'm moderately happy with how it's shaping up.
(I will not be entering the contest...this is just for fun and practice)
Hehehe, arm-wrestling is a really good idea for that contest, and I loved the contrast between the girl and the man
Really fun picture :D
So, my scene is currently of her watching TV...
You can hardly see the details of her hand on her hair, so I don't think I will do anything there...
The expression... I need to look for references here, because people's eyes DO look sort of vacant when you are just watching some TV... but I'm not sure if it's exactly like that...
Oooh, I will go to a screening at the woods tonight, I might stare at folks to see their faces for some inspiration xD
TIP: Don't Save over this File save as Another Scene File just in case you don't like how it works.
Hiya Cindy! First off before anything, the lighting (which is always a PITA) looks great! Is her left elbow sitting on her hand? In that position it has to rest there or the thigh. Sit in a chair and just experiment with the position, and find what's comfortable. You got lighting, and those legs look comfortable and natural. Just experiment more with the arms. :D
Thanks, I will try that for the next render. I will see if it creates a more natural look for her... :)
Thanks! I did spend some time testing the light until I was satisfied, I am very glad other people like it too :) Her left elbow is supposed to be resting on her tights... I remember I mimicked her pose many times, but I admit I could have forgotten, after so many adjustments... will have to turn the model to look for imperfections...
I have to agree with Jaderail and Xandory...that lighting looks excellent. The vacant eyes are probably okay if she's watching TV, but I do think they could be improved as Jaderail described.
So here's my image with suggestions applied (finally!). I changed the hand position to get her fingers off the actual strings. The right fingers are just about to hit the strings, while the left hand is just finished plucking. I bent her arms and got her to lean in closer, like a real musician who loves her instrument. :) I added some ambient light, although it does nothing for bringing anything out of the background. That's because the background is plain old black brick. The main change I noticed with the ambient was toning down the colors of the "stage" lights a bit, brightening everything overall. Thanks again for the comments!
I am editing this as I did some research and turned up quite a bit I didn't know about stances, very interesting. The stance used in the pose is a valid stance (even stance,) but it does tend to cause the archer to lean away from the target, as shown and is not generally recommended it seems. I learned what is evidently called 'oblique.' However, when I learned it, the feet were farther apart.
I did like the way you did the arms, shoulders, wrist and fingers :)
(Sorry for all of the edits, but the post was wandering all over the place in the end.)
I am editing this as I did some research and turned up quite a bit I didn't know about stances, very interesting. The stance used in the pose is a valid stance (even stance,) but it does tend to cause the archer to lean away from the target, as shown and is not generally recommended it seems. I learned what is evidently called 'oblique.' However, when I learned it, the feet were farther apart.
I did like the way you did the arms, shoulders, wrist and fingers :)
(Sorry for all of the edits, but the post was wandering all over the place in the end.)LOL! I could have just said it was a Oriental style image and neither one of us would have learned anything. Thanks for the heads up.
WAY better. The fingers look more natural and at attendance, and her body is leaning into the harp, showing more emotion. You got the key elements down wonderfully. Gorgeous pose. What setting are you using on the hair surface? I ask because the highlights are literally lit up a bit too much. Yet, I like the crossing of the highlights with the strings. Just thinking something to tone it down very gently.
First, thanks to everyone for the advice on my first attempt but try as I might I just couldn't get the balance right with the pose. The more I tried to fix it the more I messed it up. I will have another go at it one day.
I started working on this one and still have to get the lights right and do a bit of work on the surfaces. I am wondering what you all think of the pose.
So I played a bit with the lights and used Dimension Theory's new iris shader. Postworked a bit of guassian blur on the edges. I'm still not happy with the composition but it's the only angle I could get the face and hand together properly.
Personally, I like the pose. I think it's spot on .
I also like the lighting in general as I think it sets the mood nicely. If there were anything I would focus on it would be the textures, particularly the wall, and his outfit is a bit 'clean'... but that depends on what you are looking to achieve. They are fine just as they are if you are happy with them.
Overall, it's a very nice image. The pose, the feel of the lighting, the expression/eyes.. it all goes together and most importantly, hits at a story.. which is imo a mark of a great image :)
This last thing brings up a good point. It's come up before, what people would like to see in DS5... one thing I think would be nice is if textures were treated as a template rather then an absolute reference. That is, if someone doesn't modify it, it simply references the original texture, but if someone wants to modify it, it would be nice if there were an export function built right into the interface to export a texture, modify it and save it with that scene, without effecting the original texture. It would actually be nice if it were extended to the mesh itself with the gohex/goz features...
Who else would like something like that?
Btw, yes I realize it is easy enough for someone who is comfortable with working with textures to make a copy, modify it, save it back somewhere and relink it to a particular scene, but there are two points on this I would submit. First, for someone who isn't comfortable with that set of procedures, it would open a whole new world of creativity for them, and second.. even for those who do this already, wouldn't an automated way be nice, if it did it cleanly and well? (Big caveat at the end ofc ;p )
Thanks Gedd.
I am happy with this one but think the hair isn't sitting right seems like there is to much room at the back of the neck.
I didn't notice that before, but see what you mean. Sending it to hex should be a quick fix...
Another thing to consider is, if you have photoshop or Gimp (gimp is free) there are hair "brushes" for photoshop out there that can hide the neck issue.
Good thinking Xandory.
For some reason I always forget postwork, (most of the time my mind is a bit scrambled) which is funny as I have Photoshop open while setting up scenes and close everything once the render is done.:roll:
Babies First Bug- My entry is April 1st my time, so it's not fair to include it in the contest. I just wanted to show you what I had done with the help of Scott Livingston (hair tutorial, geometric shell) Totte, Szark, Tramp Graphix, Chohole-all of you for help with the difference in lights (I figured out how to make the bands of light on the dragonfly by myself, but they helped with the glossiness), depth of field (did get it for the waterfall finally!) and so much more. Thanks a BUNCH!
Again, that is NOT a contest entry as even with the different time zones, it wouldn't be right. And mine isn't the best one anyway or even in the top three by a LONG shot! (It's my very FIRST render) Just very happy with it. (This version has no postwork, am doing a bit of work in Corel later.) Thanks again!
Cathie
Don't forget to transfer your entries to the Actual entry thread before it gets closed for judging
Is showing a WIP or two still mandatory?
nope, never has been mandatory, but is reccomended