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Carrara Challenge 3: PARADISE LOST AND FOUND. Work In Progress (WIP) thread.

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  • evilproducerevilproducer Posts: 9,050
    edited December 1969

    Here's my ape picture without postwork to show how dark it was. I must have screwed something up with my light rig somewhere.

    Eating-apple-w-hair-no-post.jpg
    2000 x 1500 - 700K
  • AntaraAntara Posts: 444
    edited December 1969

    To all:

    Just want to let everyone know that DAZ seems to be fixing the 8.5 SN issue. I got a new serial number in my account and it works. Hopefully you all got one too. I also hope that not enough time is lost and you still have enough time to finish/tweak your entries :).

    evilproducer, Thank you for posting your entries! :) That thread felt a little sad and deserted, but not anymore :). Hopefully more entries will follow.

    I am trying to carve out some time for my own second entry. Here is the loose idea for the background. There are some elements from Stonemason's The Enchanted Forest, like the tree bridge and the foreground/middle-ground trees. But the trees have been morphed to remove the top branches (too much transparency, bad for render times and lighting rigs) and instead I changed their shading domains to create one domain for middle branches only and then replicated Pin Oak branches onto them (from HowieFarkes' Country Lane 2). Then replicated the one of these new monstrosities for some of the background tress as well. And added some more trees in the background (normal Pin Oaks from Country Lane 2). The stream, terrain, log and rocks/pebbles are from HowieFarkes' Stone Creek, but there are new distribution maps. I created all distribution maps here myself. There are also special replicators for some ferns (ferns are also from Stoney Creek, but with my own shaders for them) and shrubs from Stoney Creek too (changed shaders as well).

    The lighting rig is my own. It uses some similar methods to my usual copying of DimensionTheory's great idea, but all the lights and replicator configuration are my own. I am also using a Glare pass in the scenes settings, which I've never done before, but I like the effect it produces.

    I will have to render this one in layers, which is an unusual workflow for me. This WIP has no post at all. There definitely will be post on the final image... If I get to finish it on time.

    forestWIP_1.jpg
    320 x 240 - 115K
  • evilproducerevilproducer Posts: 9,050
    edited December 1969

    It looks good so far! I can't wait to see the full sized render.

  • AntaraAntara Posts: 444
    edited December 1969

    Gareth, I love your final entry. I've been looking forward to seeing it all come together in the render and it managed to exceed my already high expectations. It's such a happy image, it radiates joy. It instantly brought a smile to my face. Thank you! :)

    evilproducer thank you :). It is changing as I work on it, but I think the composition is set. Just the forest is getting modified a bit. I am stripping it to the barest of minimums to save on render times. I already got rid of a bunch of lights and light through transparency rendering, but it still rendered for about 7hrs at 2400x1800 resolution. I am wondering what else I can get rid of :)...

  • evilproducerevilproducer Posts: 9,050
    edited December 1969

    Gareth, that has exceeded any expectation of your image that I had, and I expected a lot. Well done! The nice thing about these challenges so far, and I mean this sincerely, is that if I don't win or place, it doesn't bother me in the least, as the entries are always so wonderful and imaginative.

  • evilproducerevilproducer Posts: 9,050
    edited December 1969

    Stezza, I really love how your second entry came out. The emotion you evoke just with the body language is super. Would it be to bad a pun if I said you're on fire! ;-)

    I can't wait to see the WIPs from the other artists in this thread posted in the entry thread!

    Stezza, don't forget to link to your WIP images in this thread. It's a PITA, I know, especially if you're like me and can't remember what page it was on.

  • AntaraAntara Posts: 444
    edited December 1969

    Stezza,

    Please edit your entry posts to include all the required info: you are missing your name and the links to WIP's (which is really a pity, because your WIP's are gorgeous and deserve special attention in themselves!) :) - that's in both entries, and you are also missing production notes and list of modified items for Entry #5.

    Both of your entries are so emotional, and so differently emotional, I find myself getting lost in thought every time I look at them. It's like they both tap into some very raw emotional space, which sends a spiral chain reaction of memories and feelings and thoughts. That's what powerful imagery is all about and you've done it beautifully. And both images are just stunningly beautiful.

  • StezzaStezza Posts: 7,989
    edited December 1969

    oops...

    onto it.... looking for my WIP posts :coolsmirk:

    thanks..

  • StezzaStezza Posts: 7,989
    edited December 1969

    evilproducer said:
    Stezza, I really love how your second entry came out. The emotion you evoke just with the body language is super. Would it be to bad a pun if I said you're on fire! ;-)

    lol.. thanks

    Being with fire fighters after they have fought against raging bushfires has implanted permanent images in my mind.. the look, emotion and tiredness that I saw was very emotional at the time.

    They do a great job which is fraught with danger and to think that a lot of the time these fires are started by people.. we've just had a burn back last weekend, looks like we may have another dry dangerous fire season ahead.. :long:

  • WendyLuvsCatzWendyLuvsCatz Posts: 38,037
    edited September 2013

    I have changed my mind like my knickers
    at the moment thinking Carrara breakfast cereal (serial) lost and found

    c.png
    1920 x 1080 - 706K
    Post edited by WendyLuvsCatz on
  • GarethGareth Posts: 0
    edited December 1969

    Antara said:
    Gareth, I love your final entry. I've been looking forward to seeing it all come together in the render and it managed to exceed my already high expectations. It's such a happy image, it radiates joy. It instantly brought a smile to my face. Thank you! :)

    evilproducer thank you :). It is changing as I work on it, but I think the composition is set. Just the forest is getting modified a bit. I am stripping it to the barest of minimums to save on render times. I already got rid of a bunch of lights and light through transparency rendering, but it still rendered for about 7hrs at 2400x1800 resolution. I am wondering what else I can get rid of :)...

    Thank you Antara :) i really enjoyed creating it and i have learned so much more about modeling from it.
    Really looking forward to seeing your entries there, which look stunning so far. :)

  • GarethGareth Posts: 0
    edited December 1969

    evilproducer said:
    Gareth, that has exceeded any expectation of your image that I had, and I expected a lot. Well done! The nice thing about these challenges so far, and I mean this sincerely, is that if I don't win or place, it doesn't bother me in the least, as the entries are always so wonderful and imaginative.

    Thank you evilproducer, this challenge has been fantastic so far, so many great entries, voting is going to be extremely difficult. :)

  • waxfin_c9ea3eab69waxfin_c9ea3eab69 Posts: 57
    edited December 1969

    antara wrote

    head wax, Yes, Sparrowhawke’s plug-ins are working in Carrara 8, at least some of them. He has the special downloads version of them on his site. And I have been using my generic velvet shader which uses his Edge Falloff plug-in in Carrara 8. It’s a very cool plug-in.

    AnythingGoos is also great. And I actually quite like the control I have with the settings. For a little bit of wear on the edges I sometimes just do a mixer on the diffuse channel with the same map, only I reduce the brightness of the one used for the edge to about 75% and add fractal noise to the noise channel of the AnythingGoos in the mixer.

    thanks, :) I had a play with anything goos this morn, lot of fun.
    I'll have to look at those sparrowhawke plugins thanks for the heads up
    sorry I have been away for three days - we had a Monet show in Melbourne and I got dragged along.....

    @Evil producer san, thanks for explaining the @ sign :)
    amazing work in the Finished Thread, brings a warm feeling to the heart seeing the wonderful work everybody is doing.

    I hope hewhosenamecannotbesaidhereonthisforum decided to put his work in !

    I know you're listening Man :)

  • waxfin_c9ea3eab69waxfin_c9ea3eab69 Posts: 57
    edited December 1969

    wendy♥catz said:
    I have changed my mind like my knickers
    at the moment thinking Carrara breakfast cereal (serial) lost and found

    hah ha, are they loopy loops or soemthing els\e, like ring shaped coco pops,
    hold o n, so you are changing your mind once a week? ;)

  • waxfin_c9ea3eab69waxfin_c9ea3eab69 Posts: 57
    edited December 1969

    Antara wrote :

    I am trying to carve out some time for my own second entry. Here is the loose idea for the background. There are some elements from Stonemason’s The Enchanted Forest, like the tree bridge and the foreground/middle-ground trees. But the trees have been morphed to remove the top branches (too much transparency, bad for render times and lighting rigs) and instead I changed their shading domains to create one domain for middle branches only and then replicated Pin Oak branches onto them (from HowieFarkes’ Country Lane 2). Then replicated the one of these new monstrosities for some of the background tress as well. And added some more trees in the background (normal Pin Oaks from Country Lane 2). The stream, terrain, log and rocks/pebbles are from HowieFarkes’ Stone Creek, but there are new distribution maps. I created all distribution maps here myself. There are also special replicators for some ferns (ferns are also from Stoney Creek, but with my own shaders for them) and shrubs from Stoney Creek too (changed shaders as well).

    The lighting rig is my own. It uses some similar methods to my usual copying of DimensionTheory’s great idea, but all the lights and replicator configuration are my own. I am also using a Glare pass in the scenes settings, which I’ve never done before, but I like the effect it produces.

    I will have to render this one in layers, which is an unusual workflow for me. This WIP has no post at all. There definitely will be post on the final image… If I get to finish it on time.

    ahh, I hope you finish it, the more the merrier :) looking forward to seeing how you handle the postwork actually

  • WendyLuvsCatzWendyLuvsCatz Posts: 38,037
    edited December 1969

    I am no good with rules
    did this
    http://youtu.be/Uw44EkrHTcw
    might get a render in before deadline

  • FractalDimensiaFractalDimensia Posts: 0
    edited September 2013

    Well, I have been super impressed with the submissions to date. It will be another round of challenges for picking which ones to vote for.

    Okay, my WIP is close enough to call it "complete," though I still have a dozen tweaks and changes I would like to make to it someday. They may have to wait until next decade. ;)

    I rendered the image originally @ 2880x1620, and then reduced it to 1920x1080 for my submission. I was going to post a "supersized" version of my submission here, but it exceeds the image size limit. :(

    A little about the render - I struggled with deciding whether the image represented something lost or found, and then decided (personally) on a more esoteric meaning: that it is both. That is, what the Spanish and other European explorers FOUND in the Mayan ruins and cities may not have been what was LOST through the destruction they left behind. Of course, I'd be interested in others' interpretations.

    Always interested in constructive criticism and ideas, so let me know if you have any suggestions!

    Good luck everyone!
    FD

    Post edited by FractalDimensia on
  • AntaraAntara Posts: 444
    edited September 2013

    headwax, thank you! I am working on it as fast as I can. I might need to shift the deadline though - not so I could finish my entry (that needs to be done by tomorrow, as I will not have access to my rendering station after that), but because I might not have access to the internet at all over the weekend. I will be back on Sunday, though, and can do challenge-closing and voting-starting then. But it will be on the evening of the 8th, EST.

    wendy♥catz said:
    I am no good with rules
    did this
    http://youtu.be/Uw44EkrHTcw
    might get a render in before deadline

    Wendy, unfortunately, the animation cannot be an entry. If you create a render, please edit your current animation entry in the Entry thread by adding all the entry info and your render and call it Entry #9, so we don't break the numeric continuity. You can leave the animation link there as well, just as long as there is a render to be an actual entry.

    Your animation is great and funny, but, unfortunately, cannot be entered into the challenge. Sorry, but the rules are there for everyone.

    I think one of the frames from the animation could easily be an entry, though: one of the happy plate-filling ones or happily munching ones definitely can look like paradise found :).

    Well, I have been super impressed with the submissions to date. It will be another round of challenges for picking which ones to vote for.

    Okay, my WIP is close enough to call it "complete," though I still have a dozen tweaks and changes I would like to make to it someday. They may have to wait until next decade. ;)

    I rendered the image originally @ 2880x1620, and then reduced it to 1920x1080 for my submission. I was going to post a "supersized" version of my submission here, but it exceeds the image size limit. :(

    A little about the render - I struggled with deciding whether the image represented something lost or found, and then decided (personally) on a more esoteric meaning: that it is both. That is, what the Spanish and other European explorers FOUND in the Mayan ruins and cities may not have been what was LOST through the destruction they left behind. Of course, I'd be interested in others' interpretations.

    Always interested in constructive criticism and ideas, so let me know if you have any suggestions!

    Good luck everyone!
    FD

    Your entry is stunning. And I love your interpretation of the theme.
    I love all the details, the lighting, the composition, the seagulls, the clouds - the clouds!!! Wow! I do wonder how long did it take to render out. And whether you had a render farm to do it? :) or just a server-like super computer maybe? Mine would probably give me an estimate of 950 hours for something like this :).

    By the way, did you get to discuss the water-terrain-shader somewhere? I am still very eager to learn how to do it :).

    I think the render is perfect the way it is. If you decided to introduce some post-work to it, then maybe some splashes around the cut waves and dolphins and some distance blur would make the image even more realistic.
    Although with the distance blur I am nor really sure, because it might affect the narrative: Right now both sides of the narrative - the Spanish and the Mayan are in clear focus. Adding distance blur (focusing of either the ship or the island) might shift the perspective of the viewer to one of the sides.

    Brilliant work!

    Post edited by Antara on
  • FractalDimensiaFractalDimensia Posts: 0
    edited December 1969

    Antara said:
    I do wonder how long did it take to render out. And whether you had a render farm to do it? :) or just a server-like super computer maybe?

    By the way, did you get to discuss the water-terrain-shader somewhere? I am still very eager to learn how to do it :).


    Thanks, Antara, for your comments and kind words.

    For the render, I used 2 i7 computers (16 threads), so it made pretty quick work of the scene. I believe it took about 12 hours. I pulled the clouds from Payne's "Sunbeams" (as I mentioned in my post). He did a wonderful job creating realistic clouds, and so I spent some hours studying his style. (I do wish BTW that Carrara came with better "out of the box" clouds.) In any case, I would suggest looking at what he did as a way to build similar realistic effects.

    I was away for a week, but started drafting a description of the water object and shader, and will post that thread by this weekend. I will also upload the terrain/shader for anyone interested to download. More on that soon! I promise....

    FD

  • HeadwaxHeadwax Posts: 9,964
    edited September 2013

    wow that's a good render FD! The glow makes it all religious like - brilliant.!

    here's what I have so far, have been time poor at the moment

    :( need to fix up the watch fingers sign
    thanks antara the anything goos made a big difference

    The Teddy Bear Collector

    AndrewFinnieTheTeddyBearCol.jpg
    2000 x 1350 - 2M
    Post edited by Headwax on
  • kakmankakman Posts: 225
    edited December 1969

    head wax said:
    wow that's a good render FD! The glow makes it all religious like - brilliant.!

    here's what I have so far, have been time poor at the moment

    :(

    The Teddy Bear Collector

    Scary to think of what you would produce if you were not time poor.

    Great render!

  • HeadwaxHeadwax Posts: 9,964
    edited December 1969

    kakman said:
    head wax said:
    wow that's a good render FD! The glow makes it all religious like - brilliant.!

    here's what I have so far, have been time poor at the moment

    :(

    The Teddy Bear Collector

    Scary to think of what you would produce if you were not time poor.

    Great render!

    thanks Kakman :)

    here is the pre post work image

    wipforfroum.jpg
    2000 x 1350 - 2M
  • JonstarkJonstark Posts: 2,738
    edited December 1969

    My god head wax, that is fan-freaking-tastic! What an incredible render, you are a true talent!

    So many good renders in this contest, was just reviewing the final entry thread, man we have some seriously talented artists in this here forum :)

  • AntaraAntara Posts: 444
    edited December 1969

    head wax, Great improvements to the image. And excellent entry! Will there be a second entry from you? You definitely had many very promising WIP's. I'd love to see another one of them converted into an entry too. :)

  • AntaraAntara Posts: 444
    edited September 2013

    OK, time for mow WIP's. These are the layers for the final image. (Unedited) And The final composite, which is not all that final yet, since I am still tweaking the postwork. Any suggestions to that end are very welcome. I will not have time to re-render as I am leaving tomorrow (not the background anyway), but I still have some time to do post differently.

    Comments and critique are very welcome, as always.

    Suggestions for title would also be very welcome. I'll think some more about it tomorrow. But tonight I'm too tired to come up with any.

    This entry was my attempt to push Carrara into Vue territory. Let me know what you think: am I at all succeeding here?

    ForestWonder_1ed_2_SMALL_opt.jpg
    1600 x 1200 - 617K
    FrontLayer1_cr_1SM.png
    1200 x 900 - 1M
    BackgroundLayer_SM.jpg
    1200 x 900 - 699K
    Post edited by Antara on
  • JonstarkJonstark Posts: 2,738
    edited September 2013

    Antara said:

    This entry was my attempt to push Carrara into Vue territory. Let me know what you think: am I at all succeeding here?

    I think it's fantastic, comes together beautifully. It took me a second to realize there was water from a stream though, and while the volumetric sunrays lend a fantastic effect, it also tends to blur things a bit (editing to add; I like the way the background is blurred, almost misty, some of the stuff in the foreground I like the details that are shown on the original render would love to see if there's some way to bring that detail out). Is that Silver's Fawne?

    I think you're pushing close to Vue territory for sure. I very much like it :)

    Post edited by Jonstark on
  • FractalDimensiaFractalDimensia Posts: 0
    edited December 1969

    head wax said:
    wow that's a good render FD! The glow makes it all religious like - brilliant.!

    here's what I have so far, have been time poor at the moment

    :( need to fix up the watch fingers sign
    thanks antara the anything goos made a big difference

    The Teddy Bear Collector


    Amazing detail, Andrew! It's the kinda scene one could "peruse" for a while just trying to catch all the nuances. Especially like the added spiderwebs! FD
  • FractalDimensiaFractalDimensia Posts: 0
    edited December 1969

    Antara said:
    Comments and critique are very welcome, as always.

    Suggestions for title would also be very welcome. I'll think some more about it tomorrow. But tonight I'm too tired to come up with any.

    This entry was my attempt to push Carrara into Vue territory. Let me know what you think: am I at all succeeding here?

    I am not that familiar with Vue, so can't comment on that, but I really like what you have so far! It reminds me of something from "Midsummer Night's Dream." I think you're on to something here!

    FD

  • Philemo_CarraraPhilemo_Carrara Posts: 1,175
    edited December 1969

    Hi to all,

    I'm afraid I've spent too much time playing with my brand new Carrara 8.5 :-) and left this challenge behind.
    Anyway, this is where I stand. Being away this week-end, I have till tomorow to finish my submission. I'm not sure It'll meet the quality I would wish, but it'll have to do.

    I've replaced threshold in post with a level filter and I feel it's closer to where I want to go.

    Angel12C6F2.png
    2000 x 1500 - 6M
  • Philemo_CarraraPhilemo_Carrara Posts: 1,175
    edited December 1969

    Here are the source files straight out of Carrara :

    Angel12O.png
    2000 x 1500 - 2M
    Angel12C6.png
    2000 x 1500 - 5M
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