Daz 3D is part of 
Connect
DAZ Productions, Inc.
7533 S Center View Ct #4664
West Jordan, UT 84084
Licensing Agreement | Terms of Service | Privacy Policy | EULA
© 2024 Daz Productions Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Comments
Skip to 11:00 to see some of the comic stuff.
Edit: I tried to link the video to start at 11:00 minutes.
Sharing some development of VennBiblia: A Bible Story.
Development is now starting to pick up for my stories. All stories are going to be Virtual Reality. I thought i share a piece of my devlog showing the Comic Side of development.
I wanted to offer a tip that I have been using for quite a while.
As comic creators who use 3D software to create our stories, we use tools that mimic movie and still cameras. As such, one of the things I do on a frequent basis is read blogs and articles about movie making. Even though I do not create motion graphics, many of the things they suggest are still applicable to our craft.
For example, here's a recent blog on creating depth in your composition: https://www.videomaker.com/how-to/shooting/how-to-convey-depth-in-a-2d-image
Tips on composition: https://www.videomaker.com/article/c02/18610-the-basic-rules-of-composition
Long but very useful discussion of camera angles: https://www.videomaker.com/how-to/shooting/your-complete-guide-to-camera-angles/
And if you want something more abstract than practical, you can read this: https://www.videomaker.com/article/c02/18234-why-mise-en-scene-is-essential-to-achieving-your-filmmaking-goals
There are some good articles there. The theory of film making is very important to getting great images.
I did a quick render for fun of the Morpheus character and got some nice shading. (I applied a threshold pass and then applied a gaussian blur to that to soften it out and reduced the opacity to about 25% to get some interesting shadow effects.
I rendered out an image from Daz - Vampire vs Werewolf (8k res) - then I took the image into Photoshop and tried out a few different tricks. I've resized them for upload purposes. They're not bad. The lighting and shadows had to be setup properly in Daz to get the right effect from the final Photoshop edit.
I'm including a couple of other Photoshop edits of the same image.
Very nice work! I think the red image has the most impact because the colors enhance the sense of animosity apparent in the image. Her hair is fantascit; just the right amount of detail and highlights to give it an illustrated/not 3D look. I'm not thrilled with what's happening in his ear, though. I suspect a simpler texture there would have helped your process. Although the fur looks great on his body (lots of fine lines that looks really nice), nothing is sticking out from the body. Those strong, hard outlines on his body lose the fur effect at that point. Nothing serious, but it does seem to be a detail that I would expect to see in an illustration with this much detail. One other thing I think that is missing is an outline on her arms – although I kinda like that her hands are just floating there, it's also distracting at the same time as my mind has to fill in the anatomy that I cannot see.
In regards to lighting -- SOCRE! You definitely knocked that out of the part, bud! The faces are clear and there are enough shadows cloaking their bodies to really enhance the mood here. I could easily imagine this as an illustration appearing in an old CREEPY or EERIE magazine! Fantastic stuff.
Howdy. just wanted to say that I skimmed your video and liked what I saw. Sorry for taking so long to comment on it. I've just been really swamped lately.
Thanks. It's interesting that you pointed out the similarity to CREEPY and EERIE magazines, that's what I thought when creating the effects. I quite like some of the vampire and werewolf stories that used to feature in Creepy magazine, so that style would certainly suit my type of content. Sometimes I experiment with gradient overlays set to colour blend mode. This is how this reddish tint was created. I certainly agree with the arms on the female character. I should have removed the gloves as they blend into the black background.
Overall it's a nice looking style, but perhaps a bit too photoshopped. With more experimentation on different images I'll try and find a good final effect that I'm happy with.
Finally starting Issue #1 of my comic.
Read past issues of Unit-M here.
Nice cover image!
AWESOME! I love seeing more comics come to life here! First, the GREAT (too good to be just called "good"): The over is very strong and could e iconic. Definitely makes me wonder what this book is about, and that's a great thing. Is this supers? Is this space? The strong graphic aspect of a white figure trailing yellow blasts that bisect the page against that stark background is REALLY strong. I also LOVE LOVE LOVE your logo. It is readable, modern (that little slant to the crossbar on the T) and by capturing the hypen between the two letters, you manage to make a hyphenated logo appear as a single block. I'm very impressed.
I also like the next page. It sets the scene in a matter of seconds. I now have a solid idea of what's going on and who I am about to read about. EXCELLENT!
Now the "Not so great," Are you sure about that blue box at the bottom of the cover? I think it detracts from just how strong the rest of the design is in all other aspects. On the one hand I like that shade of blue (I really, really like it – there is something modern and clean about it), but do you need it there? It does tie in nicely to the next page, though, so I am kinda split on it.
As for the small thumbnail of "Meteor," this is the one big miss for me. The line art style of his costume just doesn't gel with the rest of the artwork. The outfit is cartoon but his face is as realistic as the rest of the figures (with the exception of Dreadlocke's costume, which is also cartoon styled). This is also at odds with how he looks on the cover. Is this a conscious decision? Is there some sort of in-story explanation as to why he looks so different? If so, then that is something I'm looking forward to reading in the future. Otherwise it's just a bit of a disconnect for me (but one that is easily rectified).
I'm not a fan of the pic you selected with those guys with the guns. It's just not dramatic in its angle or composition. With this sort of story set-up, I would expect something really dramatic and that kinda tells a story. Maybe when you get deeper into the story you could come back and replace it?
Wow. Hope that didn't come off as being overly critical. I'm really excited to see you moving forward and am anxiously awaiting your next pages!
Well, you're doing something right, as I definitely see the Creepy/Eerie influence! I'm a big fan of them and have been grabbing up "readers copies" whenever I find them in comic shops. If you're not looking for VF/NM copies, you can easily pick them up for $1-$5 an issue, depending on age and condition. I have really been fleshing out my collection over the past two years and really enjoying those classic stories. Keep it up. I want more, More, MORE!
I'm a little less taken with this cover. I wanted him to look more like a meteorite crashing through the sky. If I were to do this again I'd make the energy beams wider, so it gives the look of a larger tail.
At least it gets the point across, though it's not exactly what I pictured when writing the script.
Thanks. I'm fairly happy with it. Making the "-M" a different colour seems to make it pop a little more. I think I'm going to adapt that as the standard going forward.
Yeah. It might have been better just to use white text without the box (similar to the logo and issue information at the top).
Meteor looks the same to me as on the cover. I guess the lighting is making him look more cartoony? I think they all kinda look cartoony. I'm certainly going for colourful.
I'm actually the happiest with how Meteor's profile pic turned out. I don't think the other ones look very good (except maybe Blackout's).
It's serviceable. It's not exactly what I had in mind, (I wanted the goons to be towering over the woman in the foreground) but I think it gets the point across.
I shouldn't have made the cowering Monster's skin white. It doesn't stand out enough in the lighting. She just looks kinda pale.
The background building was also a mistake. It's too low res and looks crummy.
I almost never go back and re-render panels. This process is slow enough already. If I started going back and fixing things I didn't like I'd never get anywhere.
Not at all. I appreciate the critiques.
The two-color logo is a good idea. I think it will be quite effective going forward. As for the cover... well, I still like it (kinda reminds me of something graphic that might have featured Nexus or Zot!), but I definitely see what you're talking about. I think the "meteor" metaphor would be enhanced if you put air lines / flash of color behind him (near his butt) as though he were re-entering the atmosphere.
As for rerendering panels. I get it. It takes a lot of time to set things up and it can really slow things down if you keep going back and redoing things. I've done that with two panels in my current story... but to be fair, one of them I redid because I found a much better way to do the character's hair and, since I had only shown him once on page 2, I figured it was well worth it to go back and get the hair right. For me, that was definitely the right decision, as the hair is one of the things I think I'm doing right.
Regarding the thumbnails: Meteor seems to lack the shadows and highlights that are apparent on the other figures. This is why I see him as being more flat than the others. I also think Blackout is pretty darned good, too.
Looking forward to see the next pages!
--------------
By the way, when I was making home drawn comics back when I was a kid, one of my characters was named "The Meteor." He was strictly a rip-off of the Golden-Age Flash, Jay Garrick. I was discovering all of the great DC Golden-Age heroes at that time, so most of my characters were versions of the JSA. Right now the only other one I can remember is The Electron, who was a knock off of the original Atom (aka Al Pratt).
A quick render from Daz of just the vampire woman. I quite like the pose, the hands create a nice symmetry, perhaps a surreal quality. I am going for the CREEPY comic style. It also has a bit of a Addams Family look to it (more the 60s TV series than the original comic strips created by Charles Addams - One of my absolute favourite comic strips of all time!!!) What is effective about this is how quick it can be achieved. The setup in Daz takes about 10 minutes. A quick 5 minute render and about another 5 minutes post processing in Photoshop. Let me know what you think. I might be trying this style with my comic idea.
I am currently struggling to get started with my comic as I now want a more explosive start, so I'm coming up with new ideas. I think it's important to have a completed script before creating the images. I just hope I can actually create an actual comic out of this.
@GriffinAvid You have lots of creativity and it shows in how you layout your work. The cover image is really effective and looks like the comic covers you see in comic stores. You have quite a few comics completed, so that's an incredible achievement. That's what I like about the forum here, it is full of really creative people who encourage each other to create more cool stuff.
Thank you, sir!
Um, how did you do the background buildings and that damn creepy tree?
Well done.
Thanks.
The files I used in Daz: Grimwood manor (Great building and the creepy tree), Archaic ruins (Well detailed ruined abbey)
I laid out the scene in Daz like this, with some atmospheric lighting - Chose to switch off all other scene lights - just using point lights to get the comic book effect
This was the original render out of Daz:
In Photoshop, I converted the image (8K resolution) to a smart object - this allows you to add multiple effects to the image and go back and refine them over time
Then I applied a smart sharpen to bring out the details
Then I went into effects and the filter gallery and layered two effects over each other:
Effect 1: Poster edges:
Effect 2: CutOut:
Then I created a new layer and placed a blue wash gradient over the image, changed blend mode to Vivid Light, opacity at 20% - This brings out the comic book look for the image
Then I added an image adjustment layer: gradient overlay, using the black and white colours, changed the blend mode to colour and this created the final image:
I'm glad you liked it. I'm thinking of using this as a style for my comic. Still need to do a bunch of tests with it.
Thank you so much for the detailed runthrough. Very useful info ona great effect. In my own process, I've discovered that using limited lighting gets better results. I typically use 2 lights, but sometimes go as low as 1 or as high as 3.
I will tell you that, from my own experience, you will learn a LOT once you start making pages. When you have to replicate a scene in the same style form panel to panel, you will quickly learn if your process is viable. That definitely happend when I started making my pages. For example, I discovered that I had to be more mindful of my final image render size because I needed the thickness of my line art to remain consistent from panel-to-panel.
Thanks again, and looking forward to what you do next.
I really like it!
@vrba79 & @mmitchell_houston Thanks a lot, glad you liked it.
I quite like the highlight on the right side of the character, that was achieved through the use of a point light put slightly behind the character and to the right. In some ways Iray is too good. It is a really impressive raytracing render engine that can produce photorealistic results. To try and get more of a comic image I do find I have to simplify it, by just using simple point lights.
I have tried individual point lights previously to very good effect. This is great to achieve comic style shadows. If the intensity is increased it can also sharpen the shadows.
I was thinking of producing a few test renders of different styles of lighting for different types of images. Useful both for my progress and hopefully for others to reflect on as well.
I feel I am getting closer to start working on my comic. I might try and produce a mock up of page 1, this will help, as you said earlier, to see if this style works cohesively as part of a multi panel piece and stays consistent between images.
It does look like you're getting closer, but if I may ask... why wait to do a mock up of your comic? Yes, you don't want to do work that doesn't contribute to the larger project. I get that. But on the other hand, why are you putting it off and delaying it? You have a character and a scene already set up (the vampire in the graveyard). Why not just make a simple comic page with her? You know:
I know, it's not much of a story (in fact, it's not a story at all), but it is a tried-and-true scene that would let you try out your skills in: Composition, Panel Arrangement, Lighting, and checking to see if your postwork/processing is consistent from panel-to-panel. And if you can nail down some of those skills here, things will be better when you really do start work on your comic. After all, the comic is one of your dream projects, so why not hone your skills before you get to it? Please think about it.
I agree with Mike. I also hesitated a lot before I dis the first page, and fretted about not being good enough to share. I still have hundreds of miles to go before I'm anywhere near acceptable, but the experience you gain from actually completing a page, and get feedback on it, ot even of several pages, is not something to underestimate.
There's so many ways you can play around with it, that you will only see when you put the page together. Like, I'm currently struggling with a page that has gone through several different constellations, and each had a different impact.
It's of course up to you. It's no good it it makes you feel totally uncomfortable.
I agree with most of what's been said here about starting with comics.
I think you do what the smarter of us do and that is.....
'master the bits before you bite'
A short story before you start your novel....
A short story before you start the series...etc...
---------------------
I think there is a huge gap between making 'comic looking images' and making a comic. I think most artists spend forever working on the look and then dive in with the rendering and don't worry too much about the other parts....
like everything else that goes into sequential art......story-telling.
Like I said in my comic webinar.....getting a grip on lettering and word balloon placement completely changes the way you frame your renders and also changes WHAT you choose to render.
"How many images does it take to capture this moment?"
"How many pages should I devote to this event?"
And then circles back to writing....."What scenes should I show them?"
Directing our attention...even "What events are necessary to show in order to clearly tell this story?"
-------------
And then there's the STYLE of your comic...and I don't mean the graphic look, I mean, like how many images per page? How much speech? Is there a narrator?
Is the main character the MAIN character or is it group of characters......what's the tone? Funny, sarcastic, dark, bright....etc.....
------------
A lot of times, you have to make something and read it back and see what worked and what didn't.
How much planning do you need? Full script? Loose notes? Sketches....random bursts of inspiration....
How long does it take to render chapters? A whole comic?
------------
Make some throwaway comics first and learn from the experience.
my 30 cents
Here's something to illustrate what Drew said about "The other part". The script here had the brother (Dwayne) of a character (Simon) get a couple of messages that would call him to Simon's appartment. Dwayne is late. Everything is told during an investigation by a third character (Duon).
Here's the original layout - an establishing shot, then Dwayne getting the message (music-ringtone playing), with Duon as narrator. At this point, most readers won't remember how Dwayne looks like, so this is sort of a re-introduction of the character.
Original Layout (Version 1 below):
This didn't really flow well, so I moved in an image meant for the next page.
(Version 2 below)
Totally different impact, but from a test reader I got the feedback that this page didn't properly narrate the scene and had too many elements.
So, this was the next attempt. I threw in two extra images and removed the narrator, as well as the jingle. Now you have Simon actually typing the message, then Dwayne receiving the message, but it's not known what that message is until the next page, as this 'follows' the story as it happens. Also, you see that it has switched from 'tell' to a bit more 'show'.
(Version 3 below)
In the final version, I just changed Simon's clothing to that of fatigues, to indicate that he is about to embark on a mission.
(Final Version below)
The images themselves are laid out to accomodate text - which is something that I also still getting the grasp of. And the final result of published page is by no means perfect. I am on a weekly schedule, and that means I need to get images done an rendered within a certain time frame. I'm not pre-producing an entire chapter before posting it - a mistake born out of inexperience when I started out about a year ago. But the good thing is that I'm learning disciplin and economizing. I have a workflow now that ensures I do have a page at the end of the week. Still, this is all an experience I'd never gained without making the step to "go page".
Thanks all for the advice. I think it's a great idea to do a few smaller stories. To be honest I had tunnel vision about my main comic I hadn't considered it. I spend quite a bit of time creating courses, but I'm sure I can invest a bit of time into creating something.
I think I'm going to try and create a very short story for Halloween, just a bit of fun. As you have all suggested above it helps in the learning process, the visual story telling perspective and the feeling of accomplishing something.
Image removed
The lighting on this one is great. I like the layout and the narrative. I understand how pages evolve over time to make them easier to read, however, it is really difficult to get rid of a page that looks really good, unfortunately it has to happen sometimes.
Schedules, milestones and targets are extremely important when creating something. This is how you make the transition from hobbyist to professional. At the moment I'm quite happy to just be a hobbyist and have a bit of fun experimenting with stuff. Sometimes I don't know when to stop working, I spend hours investing time into my online courses, it's nice to relax with creating the comic art. As soon as it becomes a business model that all changes and it's not as relaxing anymore. But having said that, at some point I will start investing more time and professionalism into it.
Sorry, I had to remove too of the versions as they contained a profanity. if you edit the text to soemthing milder you are welcome to reupload.
Sorry, I forgot, with all the use of the F-word. I have blanked it out, I hope that's enough.
I'm glad you liked the lights. I was really happy with how the third panel turned out.
And yes, the creative birthing process is rather painful sometimes. I have quite a few images that had to be discarded, as the planned outline didn't work out as it should have. And sometimes, an image simply doesn't work out.
I'm looking forward to your Halloween special, then! :-)
Which is the final version? I got kinda mixed up.
I am very happy with the removal of the narrator, btw. He looked odd up there.
You know, even as someone who thumbnails out his entire book beforehand, I throw away a lot of renders, too. They are all usually very similar, just differences in lighting or slight tweaks to angles, but I might render 10 versions of the same panel and paste the top three or four into Clip Studio Paint to see how they look. This second step doesn't happen often (I usually get it right the first or second time), but it has happened more than once.
Of course, even though I render at high resolution (800 dpi, whch means that a panel the width of a page is about 4500 px wide), I work in b&w and that means even my longest renders seldom take more than 5 minutes (usually about 3). Honestly, I think the longest I've ever waited for a two-page spread to render (11,000 pixels wide) I didn't even wait more than 12 minutes. I'm pretty sure it was just under 10 min. That makes it a lot easier to discard work.
[NOTE: Don't spend time trying to work out the math on the render sizes above – it won't work. You see, my pages are 5.5 x 8.5 inches and I frequently render up to 200 pixels larger than I need so I have a little wiggle room when placing my art into the frame borders).
BTW: I'm sure that the black box over the "F-Bombs" is sufficient.
The last image is the final version.
I try to use the narrator sparsley, mostly to remind the reader that what hey see is part of his retelling. "What he remembers". Of course, there are parts that he can't know about because he hasn't witnessed them... some parts may be distorted, falsified or forgotten, as it is with memories. For example, neither of the three panels on the page would be things that the narrator character would have known first hand. He knows what Simon messaged his younger brother, and what the younger brother replied, but he did not actually see Simon posting or Dwayne receiving the message. Strictly speaking, his memory would start a bit later when his team enters the scene, but just like with the falisified angles, some things were put in for the sake of the reader's experience.
I think we had a discussion about that aspect of story telling in one of the Visual Narrives months webinars over at Digital Arts Live - when you have a narrator, what angle you use, and what can you actually show? I'd be interested to know, what do you (and others here in the thread) think about the "narrator perspective"? Do you have an rules set for yourself, any dos/don'ts or preferences? Also, What is your prefernce as a reader?
RE-rendering... yes, don't we all fight that... I really try to keep them at minimum, but as I am using Jack Tomalin's render farm for getting the images rendered out, I only see the result in full scale when I let the render finish there. Of course, I try to get as much caught and adjusted as possible in preview/pre-render.
I render at longest side 3600 px, my page is DINA4 size.