Black & White

Salem2007Salem2007 Posts: 513
edited December 1969 in Carrara Discussion

Is there a way to render in B&W with Carrara? I guess I can edit in post, but I have an video sequence that I want to be B&W--it would be easier to not have to use post work---I don't have an editor that will convert to B&W.

If Carrara can't do it---what would you suggest?

Comments

  • circular05circular05 Posts: 0
    edited December 1969

    If Carrara can't do it, what about iMovie or EditStudio? I think they both have B&W filter features.

  • Salem2007Salem2007 Posts: 513
    edited December 1969

    I'll check those out--thanks!

  • SockrateaseSockratease Posts: 813
    edited December 1969

    VirtualDub is free and can desaturate an image sequence or video easily.

    I think there's a plug in somewhere that can saturate/desaturate shaders - but then you'd have to adjust every shader - I recommend VD as an easier alternative.

  • Salem2007Salem2007 Posts: 513
    edited December 1969

    Seems like post-work is the way to go. I'll check out these tools tomorrow....

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,537
    edited December 1969

    What are you rendering?
    For figures (like DAZ People), try putting the bump maps in the color channel. If that just isn't right, I better option would be to use a black to white gradient using the texture (color) map as the shader for the gradient. The shader of a gradient is what maps the various levels along the gradient onto the surface.

    For everything else that this trick won't work for, try substituting any sort of color with the adequate place along the grey scale. Simply open the color chip and drag the chooser from the pigment directly to the desaturation side of the triangle.

    You might then want to also try either the Toon effect for line art?

    Again, Not sure what you're trying to render.

  • evilproducerevilproducer Posts: 9,050
    edited December 1969

    Postwork is the easiest solution. If you don't have a video editor that can convert to B&W, try rendering to an image sequence. Many photo editors come with batch convert features. I used to have a free one years ago- don't remember the name now though. I use Image Ready now. Not free ;-)

    Many directors these days will shoot in color and go B&W in post. Especially if shooting with digital. Think Sin City as a prime (albeit older) example.

  • Salem2007Salem2007 Posts: 513
    edited December 1969

    What are you rendering?
    For figures (like DAZ People), try putting the bump maps in the color channel. If that just isn't right, I better option would be to use a black to white gradient using the texture (color) map as the shader for the gradient. The shader of a gradient is what maps the various levels along the gradient onto the surface.

    For everything else that this trick won't work for, try substituting any sort of color with the adequate place along the grey scale. Simply open the color chip and drag the chooser from the pigment directly to the desaturation side of the triangle.

    You might then want to also try either the Toon effect for line art?

    Again, Not sure what you're trying to render.

    I may have too many elements to go with adjusting the shaders, but that is an alternative I hadn't considered.

  • Salem2007Salem2007 Posts: 513
    edited December 1969

    Postwork is the easiest solution. If you don't have a video editor that can convert to B&W, try rendering to an image sequence. Many photo editors come with batch convert features. I used to have a free one years ago- don't remember the name now though. I use Image Ready now. Not free ;-)

    Many directors these days will shoot in color and go B&W in post. Especially if shooting with digital. Think Sin City as a prime (albeit older) example.

    I probably need to invest in a decent video editor--I've held off for a long time and tried to use freebies. I think I know the features I really need, now. An image sequence is another solution I hadn't thought of--that may work in the short-term.

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,537
    edited December 1969

    Salem2007 said:
    Postwork is the easiest solution. If you don't have a video editor that can convert to B&W, try rendering to an image sequence. Many photo editors come with batch convert features. I used to have a free one years ago- don't remember the name now though. I use Image Ready now. Not free ;-)

    Many directors these days will shoot in color and go B&W in post. Especially if shooting with digital. Think Sin City as a prime (albeit older) example.

    I probably need to invest in a decent video editor--I've held off for a long time and tried to use freebies. I think I know the features I really need, now. An image sequence is another solution I hadn't thought of--that may work in the short-term.Project Dogwaffle Pro: Howler
    Affordable
    Very Cool "Paint" style editor
    Opens, edits and saves AVI and Image Sequence Animations
    Can convert one to the other
    Affordable
    :)

  • ChoholeChohole Posts: 33,604
    edited September 2013

    Ok, this is probably going to be a very silly questions (expect a lot of those from me as I try to master Carrara) because I haven't really played with sky settings in Carrara yet, but in Bryce I can acheive a black and white effect mostly driven by the sky settings.

    AS both programs did (a long time back) originate from the same stable, how similar is the sky lab in Carrara. In Bryce there is a thing called "Colour perspective" and if that is enabled and red/green/blue are of equal amounts I get a grey atmosphere as in this WIP. I then only needed to tweak the mats (or shaders if you prefer) a little to desaturate them

    http://www.daz3d.com/forums/index.php?&ACT=50&fid=38&aid=92871_XWEX9TwOiynkK2vw0mE9&board_id=1

    As I said it is probably a silly question, :red: just wondered if it was possible in Carrara and would help the OP

    Post edited by Chohole on
  • Salem2007Salem2007 Posts: 513
    edited December 1969

    Salem2007 said:

    I probably need to invest in a decent video editor--I've held off for a long time and tried to use freebies. I think I know the features I really need, now. An image sequence is another solution I hadn't thought of--that may work in the short-term.

    Project Dogwaffle Pro: Howler
    Affordable
    Very Cool "Paint" style editor
    Opens, edits and saves AVI and Image Sequence Animations
    Can convert one to the other
    Affordable
    :)

    I thought that was just a paint program---I'll check it out. Thx!

  • Salem2007Salem2007 Posts: 513
    edited December 1969

    chohole said:
    Ok, this is probably going to be a very silly questions (expect a lot of those from me as I try to master Carrara) because I haven't really played with sky settings in Carrara yet, but in Bryce I can acheive a black and white effect mostly driven by the sky settings.

    AS both programs did (a long time back) originate from the same stable, how similar is the sky lab in Carrara. In Bryce there is a thing called "Colour perspective" and if that is enabled and red/green/blue are of equal amounts I get a grey atmosphere as in this WIP. I then only needed to tweak the mats (or shaders if you prefer) a little to desaturate them

    http://www.daz3d.com/forums/index.php?&ACT=50&fid=38&aid=92871_XWEX9TwOiynkK2vw0mE9&board_id=1

    As I said it is probably a silly question, :red: just wondered if it was possible in Carrara and would help the OP

    I don't see a way to do that in Carrara, but it may be possible. I have a lengthy render running now--when it's done I'll poke around to see if such a thing is possible.

    How are you liking Carrara so far?

  • ChoholeChohole Posts: 33,604
    edited December 1969

    Salem2007 said:
    chohole said:
    Ok, this is probably going to be a very silly questions (expect a lot of those from me as I try to master Carrara) because I haven't really played with sky settings in Carrara yet, but in Bryce I can acheive a black and white effect mostly driven by the sky settings.

    AS both programs did (a long time back) originate from the same stable, how similar is the sky lab in Carrara. In Bryce there is a thing called "Colour perspective" and if that is enabled and red/green/blue are of equal amounts I get a grey atmosphere as in this WIP. I then only needed to tweak the mats (or shaders if you prefer) a little to desaturate them

    http://www.daz3d.com/forums/index.php?&ACT=50&fid=38&aid=92871_XWEX9TwOiynkK2vw0mE9&board_id=1

    As I said it is probably a silly question, :red: just wondered if it was possible in Carrara and would help the OP

    I don't see a way to do that in Carrara, but it may be possible. I have a lengthy render running now--when it's done I'll poke around to see if such a thing is possible.

    How are you liking Carrara so far?

    I am struggling a bit. I do keep trying to do things the way that I am used to, which I guess is not so surprising since I have been using Bryce since 1997 or thereabouts, and a lot of things appear similar on the surface, but are different underneath.

    I shall persevere though, after all it took me more than a few days to master Bryce.

  • evilproducerevilproducer Posts: 9,050
    edited December 1969

    chohole said:
    Ok, this is probably going to be a very silly questions (expect a lot of those from me as I try to master Carrara) because I haven't really played with sky settings in Carrara yet, but in Bryce I can acheive a black and white effect mostly driven by the sky settings.

    AS both programs did (a long time back) originate from the same stable, how similar is the sky lab in Carrara. In Bryce there is a thing called "Colour perspective" and if that is enabled and red/green/blue are of equal amounts I get a grey atmosphere as in this WIP. I then only needed to tweak the mats (or shaders if you prefer) a little to desaturate them

    http://www.daz3d.com/forums/index.php?&ACT=50&fid=38&aid=92871_XWEX9TwOiynkK2vw0mE9&board_id=1

    As I said it is probably a silly question, :red: just wondered if it was possible in Carrara and would help the OP

    Yes, you can de-saturate the sky. Select the Scene in the Instances palette, and use the pull-down menu under Atmosphere to select Realistic Sky. This will give you access to the editor. With the circular Atmosphere icon selected, you should see a color chip and below that sliders for red, blue and green. You can either click the color chip to visually select a shade of gray for the sky color or you can use the sliders, or manually enter a value in the number field. You can also adjust the haze color the same way.

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  • cdordonicdordoni Posts: 583
    edited December 1969

    DCG has the Noir plugin that will render in B&W, or other monochromatic palette (ie sepia)

  • Salem2007Salem2007 Posts: 513
    edited December 1969

    cdordoni said:
    DCG has the Noir plugin that will render in B&W, or other monochromatic palette (ie sepia)

    I always forget about looking over there---lots of good stuff, thx.

  • 1MoreThreadDeleted1MoreThreadDeleted Posts: 56
    edited September 2013

    I made some free filters that do B&W. They are available here.

    http://carraracafe.com/downloads/?did=24


    Noir is far better but I was playing around with the SDK.

    Post edited by 1MoreThreadDeleted on
  • evilproducerevilproducer Posts: 9,050
    edited December 1969

    Are they Mac compatible?

  • 1MoreThreadDeleted1MoreThreadDeleted Posts: 56
    edited December 1969

    I don't have a mac to compile them on.

    Sorry.

  • evilproducerevilproducer Posts: 9,050
    edited December 1969

    Muphasa said:
    I don't have a mac to compile them on.

    Sorry.

    Bummer! They look great though!

  • Salem2007Salem2007 Posts: 513
    edited December 1969

    Muphasa said:

    I made some free filters that do B&W. They are available here.

    http://carraracafe.com/downloads/?did=24


    Noir is far better but I was playing around with the SDK.

    I just downloaded--thx. I'll give it a try after this render finishes---I had no idea it was going to take this long!

  • Salem2007Salem2007 Posts: 513
    edited December 1969

    Muphasa's B&W plugin works great. Thanks for making it available!

  • ringo monfortringo monfort Posts: 945
    edited December 1969

    Noir is a Post Render Filter plug-in that can adjust the colour balance of your rendered image and apply a number of other post render effects. Its trademark effect, Noir, makes images more dramatic by darkening the dark areas and lightening the light areas. When applied to the separate colour channels it also emphasizes the colours.

    http://www.digitalcarversguild.com/plugin.php?ProductId=8&BannerId=3

    From Digital Carvers Guild. Some of the best Carrara plugins that I think DAZ3D should care here at store.

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,537
    edited September 2013

    Noir is a Post Render Filter plug-in that can adjust the colour balance of your rendered image and apply a number of other post render effects. Its trademark effect, Noir, makes images more dramatic by darkening the dark areas and lightening the light areas. When applied to the separate colour channels it also emphasizes the colours.

    http://www.digitalcarversguild.com/plugin.php?ProductId=8&BannerId=3

    From Digital Carvers Guild. Some of the best Carrara plugins that I think DAZ3D should care here at store.

    I just hunted down this thread to report the same advice! Since you've beaten me to it, I'll simply add that there is even A Fine Tutorial regarding it's use in a scene. Totally agreed with Ringo about the high quality of these plugins and their presentation.

    A good friend just purchased three DCG plugins for me: Enhance C, Shader Ops, and Shader Ops 2!
    Still trying to catch my breathe from that! So now my Carrara abilities have just grown at an enormous rate - now all I need is time!
    So I was just reading through the amazing possibilities that these amazing plugin sets offer. It's so cool that such things are possible for Carrara. A person can really get themselves lost in amazement looking through all of the DCG Plugins for Carrara.

    Post edited by Dartanbeck on
  • Salem2007Salem2007 Posts: 513
    edited December 1969

    I drooled over some of the DCG stuff for a while--there's some cool stuff there. I'm saving for Dogwaffle now, though. It looks like it'll do what I need. I finally finished my animation incorporating the B&W frames--not as effective as I'd hoped, but I think it came out ok. I posted a link in the Animation forum:

    Cyborg2

    I used the free B&W filter from Muphasa--they work very well--I came up a little short on implementation, I think. It's all 1's and 0's, so I can always redo parts--which is what I'm doing now (rendering away)!

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,537
    edited September 2013

    Oh yeah! I really like those!
    Well, I mean.. the effect was very cool - seeing the past. She was beautiful - but what IS she now?
    I really like your animations. You really have a good taste for the actions. I dig your stuff!
    I ended up watching a few more... but I have to crash now. Do you mind if I post a test render of one of the sample shaders that came with DGC's Enhance C? Cool! Here it is!
    There's actually a cool tutorial on his site on how to make this shader from the ground up. I tossed in Starry sky for a tid-bit of contrast.

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    Post edited by Dartanbeck on
  • Salem2007Salem2007 Posts: 513
    edited December 1969

    Do you mind if I post a test render of one of the sample shaders that came with DGC's Enhance C? Cool! Here it is!
    There's actually a cool tutorial on his site on how to make this shader from the ground up. I tossed in Starry sky for a tid-bit of contrast.

    That's really cool...and no, I don't mind at all! I'm drooling all over again...:-)

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,537
    edited December 1969

    Yeah... pretty cool for a single procedural shader! Really something else how this stuff works.
    I have a lot of toys to play with in these sets! Not sure if he wants anyone to know, so I won't mention his name... but...
    Thank You Very Much for these!!!! Ouch!

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