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I did a couple of renders using Genesis 8. I posted them in my Art Thread rather than mess up this thread.
https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/comment/3882296/#Comment_3882296
Hey, joining in the fun a bit late. Open challenges are always hard for me; I never quite know where to start.
Anyhow, for this month, I decided to play around a bit with trying to recreate the pulp fiction/film noir style in daz. It's been more challenging than I thought it would be. When I think of the genre, the first thing that comes to mind is strong lighting, but it turns out color and texture are just as important. I've also never done anything that could remotely be called a pin-up before, so getting the right kind of femme fatale look's been tougher than I expected. (For anyone who wants to look at some examples, the work of Rudy Nappi has been my biggest inspiration - in no small part because he also did the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys covers for decades, which are stylistically similar to his pulp fiction covers but a bit more wholesome).
I've currently got two pieces that I'm pleased with so far, but I'd really appreciate advice on both.
This first one uses the poker game set, which comes with a great little atmospheric prop and perfectly positioned light. It looks great as backlighting, but when I tried to add in some front lighting I got a foggy, soupy mess. I've got a version that doesn't use the atmo prop - not sure what I think about the lighting in that one.
I also can't seem to put walls in the scene - somehow, it's doing very weird things to the lighting.
Please ignore the fireflies - I just did a quick render w/o worrying about quality.
I'd especially love it if anyone had tips about how to combine the two images and put the whole scene in a room, but ANY feedback is always awesome. I'm really far out of my comfort zone with this one.
I also have a second render trying for the same style, but something is off and I can't figure out what. (And yes, I'm aware her right hand is embedded in the bar counter, but there's a lot more wrong than that. I can't figure out if it's lighting, or colors, or framing ... yeah, I'm lost on this one).
After tweaking and trying I finally managed to create some god rays, but now I got some strange shadows on her face.
First I thought I simply must adjust the torch, but that makes no different.
I'm curious what's the reason for this. Maybe the atmospheric field I use to create the dust?
I have stopped the render in a early phase, so please excuse all the bad quality, but it's good enough to show what I mean.
I used Genesis 8, not sure how much of a difference it makes
Looks pretty nice, though I personally think that Genesis 8 looks far better when the temperture is increased
I'm afraid I have that game set so I'm not familiar with the atmosphere prop. On your second image, I think I'd try rotating your figure a little so we get a hint of her profile but can still see the gun behind her back. It's a little disconcerting that I can't see her legs. It's like they have completely disappeared at this angle. One thing you might consider doing is scaling the length of the bar stool legs to keep the pose and be able to have her hand out of the countertop. That way you can keep your basic pose if you like it. The purse also looks sunk into the counter a little so double check that. I'd seriously consider ditching the purse and set up a drink on the bar.
Do you plan to have something outside the bar? I'd consider using an HDR for background. Maybe having your victim at the door? You could just have them outside the doorway so their shadow is the only thing seen if you don't want to have another character in the image. A shadow or dark shape outside the door would give a nice contrast to the lady waiting with the gun.
@daybird That's coming along nicely. I love your DOF on the skeleton and I can see your protagonist more clearly. I'd work on her expression a little more maybe.
"the Ogre"...a start, but I am not really sure where I am going with this one. Perhaps a #MeToo moment in a fantasy setting. Perhaps not.
Hi All,
Thinking of joing this challenge with a mashup character. Wanted to get some feedback of the character before I continue. I plan on giving him some hair, perhaps breaking one of the tusks and making him more gray. All feedback welcome.
Thanks
Because I can never remember how to do this even though I believe I have done it before...is there no way for DAZ to automate this function? It is really no big deal, it's just easier to view a bigger picture. Thank you.
I think this is the first time I really used the original Genesis in a render, pretty happy with it.
Messed with the lighting and matirials, trying to find something that isn't so shiny for the clothes though.
I like the red dress better, it's also fine that you change the light a little, because now the shadow on her face is not so strong.
@Gallows I have no idea if something like that can be automated. I've done it so many times now it's old hat, but it is a little confusing when first starting out or if you don't add images to your threads often. I think it took me about six months before I figured it out.
no nose - I'm not familiar with the outfit. Are those the textures that come with the outfit? If you want to turn down the shininess of a surface, go into the Surface Tab for the object and turn down the glossiness and sometimes the reflectivity of the item. You'll have to play with it while using the nVidia preview so you can see the constant update until you get a look you like.
Another option is to use a fabric shader. There are some really good ones over on ShareCG.
I figured as much. I was thinking that they could make the attachment picture bigger so it's easier to see the art work and do away with the copy, paste, gear icon thingy. Although it's really no big deal. Thanks for the reply.
You aren't resizing the original image it is still there when you click on the image in the post all you are doing is creating a box 800 pixels wide to view the image. If you don't resize it first the forum software does it but only makes the width 800 pixels and that can distort the original as it doesn't lock the ratio. By doing it yourself the ratio is maintained, the image looks like a small original and when clicked on it opens the full size original. The forum software should have "lock ratio" ticked, if it is available, on the auto image resize portion of the script and them all images would look correct in the posts and wouldn't get distorted.
Well I ended up switching the top due to it's lack of smoothness
Nice to see you back daybird. :)
It's looking better. I like the material used in this version. It has a nice sheen but not too shiny.
Updated versions of my two "noir" projects - I think the poker table one is in pretty good shape (pending postwork combining the two images - can anyone recommend any tutorials?), but the bar and gun image still has problems. For one thing, I have NO idea what's making the lighting so bright? Is anyone familar with the set (Bar 2018)? I'm using a nighttime hdri outside; otherwise the only lighting is that which comes with the set!
@LaPetiteVerita
Two things to try.
1) Lower the light intensity for the HDRI in Environment. Either the Map or Lighting Intensity or both. I have had to take some down to 0.1 in some cases.
2) Change the Tone Mapping so that ther is less light getting to the camera which will darken the scene.
Looking at your image though it looks like #1 should work.
If you find that this causes the woman's image to be too dark you can add an Emissive Plane behind her as a fill light.
I did that with the barman in this image.
NAE
Click on image for full size.
Should have posted this sooner, but here's version G.
Tweeked the newbie's rotation a little and shifted B.A. to the left(his right) a bit to try and have it where he wasn't in the line of fire from the newbie's burst fire. Gave the two mentioned runners shades. Turned the newbie's head to look over her right shoulder as if shouting to Hannibal to look out, and tried to add some glow to her eyes as if she had cybereyes (not sure if it shows that much at this angle.)
Here's my humble contribution. A couple of free characters, made to look like sisters. They actually look a bit like my childhood friend and a high-school classmate, respectively. I know there's probably many things wrong here, but I actually really like this picture. Tell me how I can make it better!
@Fishtales - thanks! I took environmental intensity down to 0.5, so I'm going to try going all the way down to 0.1 for my next try. How do you change the tone mapping? I'm scared of touching those settings!
@TigerAnne - I think you've got a really good start there! I love the colors of their clothing/skin/hair - it's all very natural. Have you thought about posing them in some way? It would be nice to see the characters interact with each other - jumping or hugging or any of the goofy things teens do when they're having fun. Also, I think there's something a bit off about the proportions of the face of the girl on the righthand side of the image; it might just be the lighting, though. The nose and mouth are great, but I think the top half of her head should be larger - if you look up charts of facial proportions, that might help you figure out if there are any issues.
Tone Mapping
http://docs.daz3d.com/doku.php/public/software/dazstudio/4/referenceguide/interface/panes/render_settings/engine/nvidia_iray/tone_mapping/start
I have to confess that I didn't make that character. She's a freebie from ShareCG, made to be "not a supermodel." Her head just is like that, but I suppose I'm allowed to use morph dials... The sizes of their heads bother me too. I had to scale her whole head down, while scaling her sister's up.
@TigerAnne This is a nice start. I'd agree with @LaPetiteVerita's comment about posing. Try a couple of poses where your two girls are interacting with each other rather than 'posing' for the camera. A straight on pose is fine, but I'd have them leaning in on each other like good BFFs would when taking pictures. Make it interesting to add a little more sparkle to the image. Everything else looks good. You might try some depth of field on the camera to blur out the background just a little.
Have fun and play with poses until you get something you think is really interesting.
Turns out dformers need a lot of polys, and the ground I picked didn't have that many. Oops. Time to see if there's a way to subdivide existing geometry.
In the meantime, here's the next version!
Anything else I sould try to improve it? Suggestions on the lighting?
Thank you for the comments, everyone. :) Let's try this again!
(No morph I currently have could fix Linda's flat head. I guess it's just part of her uniqueness...)
@rcbcgreenpanzer Maybe try placing an extra light on her left? And if you know how to add colour to lights (I don't yet), add in a little orange-yellow, to make it look warmer. Then again, I have no idea what I'm talking about.
After about hundreds of tries to avoid this shadows in her face (which I don't manage), I decided to erase the G8 and use the G3.
There I have also this strange shadow in the face, but he not so strong.
I'm still not pleased with the light and the DoF, but I hope to go in the right direction.
THX highelf and yeah, it's nice to render again, even when my tries far away from good results
I like the enviroment you're using on this daybird.