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Brilliant! I love it :-) I'm really pleased you didn't skip it this month
That last render would have been an excellent entry into the freebie contest @Wanderer !!
@Saphirewild - But I did enter it! Did I disqualify it by also posting here??? I hope not.
I posted it over there at 2:05 pm. Then I posted it over here at 2:20. I hope that makes the difference.
@Mollytabby - Thanks. I hope I didn't disqualify it by posting it also here. Anyway, I don't know if you saw my Doom Comes with a Cuteness, but that was inspired by your entry.
This is the issue I'm having with the Ollie figure. I'm trying to fix it. If you look closely at the head, near the edges of the light and shadow, there are ridges.
great cinematic
could do with some gentle viginetting and a bit film grain
but please, do use some LUT, right ?
I still can't understand that DAZ hasn't got some colorgrading (asuming you rendered in DAZ Studio, that is)
@seegsons - Thank you. I did that in Daz. It was an early version. I'm still learning the postwork side. And, actually, I've never heard of LUT before. I see from Google that it's a look up table, but I'm totally self-taught. I'd like to learn more, but with so many options, it's kind of hard to know which direction to go. It's why I've joined the new user challenges. I may do a few really cool things, but I'm getting there with a combination of instinct and learning, with feedback. I agree that it would be nice if Daz did more of that right in studio. I suspect that since a lot of the users in the past were already working with Photoshop or Gimp or even Paint Shop Pro, they didn't feel it was that useful to that many users. I think their user base is rapidly changing with the advent of Iray however. A lot of people who lacked the patience to learn before are managing to do it now (this includes me). So, is there a good starting place I can learn about LUT? Any suggestions would be great.
GIMP, I use it for FX only nothing more, seriously (see for yourself)
I tried anamorphic lens but dosn't look right
so, this maybe better ?
colorgrading resources for free
bottom of the page
I recommend Fusion output single frame
my tips to get where you wanna be
1. every render or film shot NEVER EVER looks right NEVER
2. do your lighting to the best liking - try too be as correct as possible - DO NOT expect a perfect mood because it won't work
3. get this it's a free giveaway no serial number needed (insider tip for good colorgrading and absolutely legit no warez - use mirror link) also have alook at the giveaway sites for PhotoDirector
4. think of your focus point of your shot where you want to direct the eye movement (in your render it's the red eye, let the rest be "ignored" by the viewer)
5. think what render it is - architecture, cinematic, Sci-Fi and set the mood with popping colors
6. do not overdo effects too much because it can backfire (that is: how close to the render is the viewer - if it's motion picture in 8K the viewing angle is different from a web rendered image in a browser; so, be careful)
7. always stick to rule of thirds and you won half the game but you already are good at it and I would be only preaching to the choir
Software
- the link I gave you above
- Blackmagic Design Fusion
- on Mac Pixelmator on Windows I honestly don't know a good alternative to Pixelmator but the creditcard drip feed for Creative Cloud
@Wanderer - Nope it did not sorry just did not remember seeing it in Freebie challenge!!
Thank you for the link. The program looks very interesting!
@seegsons - Thank you so very much. I appreciate you taking the time to inform. I'm so glad you joined the new user challenge. You've given me a lot to look over and consider. I think that's a pretty cool variant of that image with the Terminator. I do think the eye makes it much bettter. I wonder if my latest version of that is any good now with the way I went. That postwork makes it really pop. The links and advice are very valuable to me, so again, thank you. Your list is very insightful. I will need some time to process it. I really wish there was a suitable and less expensive alternative to CC. After I finish looking through each of these I may have questions.
@seegsons - On the color grading page of LUT resources, I did not see one called Fusion. Am I just missing it or did they change the resources? (these are amazing--what a difference they make)
sorry, my bad - I meant single frame output from inside Blackmagic Design FUSION 9: if it's a still render, if animation of course the entire timeline
@seegsons - the On1 is super, super slow, but I get it... they are selling the faster access... but 4 hours to download? Ouch... The PhotoDirector looks interesting. Is the Essential version going to do what I need, or should i keep searching for a more complete but older version? Any thoughts? That Blackmagic program looks amazing. I can't wait to try it.
4 hours, well that's bad
are you on Mac or Windows?
I can upload the Mac version to my DropBox for you to download it faster if you want
PhotoDirector 7 or 8 Ultra is coming up rather frequently
good giveaway websites are netload, download, Shareware On Sale (not always up to date but good), and GiveawayClub, for Windows giveawayoftheday
PhotoDirector is a bit like Lightroom (sort of), the hardcore Adobe users will get annoyed if you compare PhotoDirector with Lightroom
another good one is LightZone (it used to be commercial and is now OpenSource but to get it you have to register a free account - yeah, kinda dull but well...)
for lightzone I found this on GitHub without registration
a good website for BMD Fusion for beginners is Bryan Ray
downloading the Windows version for ON1 another 45 minutes then I upload it to DropBox for you
gotta go out now will be back afternoon
@seegsons - I'm on Windows. So, thanks anyway, but it's okay. Just 2 hours left now. Gosh, so far behind, I'm just now reading your replies. Sorry.
5. think what render it is - architecture, cinematic, Sci-Fi and set the mood with popping colors
@seegson - I lack the understanding to really know how to make use of this knowledge. How does each of the possibilities in this list inform your choices with color and lighting? I have some general ideas, but they lack firm foundation.
Okay, just playing with the IWLTBAP LUTs app to test application of LUTs to jpgs, I made an adaptation to my Lighting challenge winning entry. I'll post the two side-by-side for comparison.
Original:
With one simple filter applied (F_9590_STD)
The change is subtle but impressive. And that's just one of the filters applied at low quality in preview. Really good stuff here. Thank you @seegsons. Very valuable resource.
So after looking over some of the tools @seegsons recommended and attempting to emulate his example (the above image was post-worked by him), this is what I came up with:
Not exactly, but not terrible either. I used 4 different tools to achieve this effect in post work (Gimp, Paint Shop Pro, Photoshop, and the LUT preview online app here).
You're getting some pretty good lighting in these. I really like the church interior.
@themidget - Thank you very much, sir!
it's not really difficult
basically you start thinking practically by going into a church and see how the light illuminates all corners without putting reflectors and studio lights in the church - just look around, you'll pick it up easily
it's called practical lighting
watch some movies from stanley kubrick about practical lighting
my opinion is this: studio lighting was yesterday we don't live in the 50's anymore where you had in every film reflectors and stuff. these days are gone and belong in the history books. it's good to know about three point lighting but don't use it as it looks terrible and trashy even advertisment photography looks soo wrong (you get the drama by honest practical lighting)
architecture is like a still image - a symphony of light - think of a calm lake at dawn reflecting the colors of the environment
cinematics is fireworks pure - crash, boom, bang - unbound mayham and extreme drama of laserlights explosions - action, action, action, tears, and laughter - you just show it what's going on with light and colors
cinematic subgenres individually dictate the story of light - you exaggerate the genre to the maximum possible with light and color
red is for warning or danger - so you wouldn't use blue or green unless you tell a story which uses opposition and you reflect that with oposing colors (think of the BORG in Star Trek; they have green mostly instead of red)
a romantic story in essence is pinkish colors but also red for (well... hot love) right? so, use this color in your scene
black and white, I guess you get the point that this is for good and bad with also oposing shade variations of all colors, depending how you set the mood of the dark forces in a black environment (think of Darth Vader having a blue lightsaber instead of red, you tell a big story with this subtle change when Luke Skywalker has a red lightsaber and cuts off the hand from his father - suddenly you begin to wonder who's really on the dark side - even more if his suit would be white instead of black)
I love your Doom Comes with Cuteness :-) ... and I really like your one-liner .... "Be afraid. Be very, very afraid, for thou art tasty when toasted crunchy and dipped in ketchup."
I've wanted Precious Dragon for a long time, but I can't really justify it at the moment when I've so many other things I haven't used yet. You've done a great job of showing Doom dropping suddenly out of the sky! ... and yes he/she is still cute.
@seegsons - Well, thank you again. I will consider these things carefully. I appreciate your input. I have been fascinated with the colors of Star Wars ever since I saw an interview with Lucas--earthtones for good guys, black and white for bad guys... etc.
@Mollytabby - Oh, thank you. That means so much. I'm glad you enjoyed it.