IRAY Photorealism?

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Comments

  • I reworked the first image I posted, using the suggestions in this thread and in the Art Studio section. Changing the expression, relighting, using a different hair, and minimizing the postwork all helped IMO. Please offer any additional suggestions--it's been very helpful getting this input. I added a wet look geoshell to obscure some of the texture of the skin--it looked a little wierd to me. Most of the postwork was adding hair. Even though the hair was pretty realistic it didn't seem fine enough, so I went in and broke up the clumps with finer lines. Do you think this works or does it give the hair an artificial look? Suggestions on how to improve the skin texture would also be appreciated.https://www.daz3d.com/forums/uploads/FileUpload/46/184e60af726bf5fefee36bf5c775d0.jpg

     

    Ok, so, while the expression is less extreme, I would seriously consider the subject and posing again.  Everyone has their own taste, which is fine, but it just seems such an odd juxtaposition of concepts (old lady, nude?, laying down pose, and wet skin)... I just don't know what to think of it.  Even if it was a real photo I'd be a little confused.  I say all this because it just throws off any subjective opinion on if its realistic or not.  That said, tactically speaking, yes I would remove the wet geoshell, its distracting, and it looks like you're using an HDRI background instead of actual geometry... I'd recommend against that.  The hair is pretty good actually... though please tell you are not drawing it in my hand??  Lastly, I'd work on the eyes -- again, its such an extreme makeup and squint (for an old lady) that is just throws off the viewer.   Hope that helps.  

  • takezo_3001takezo_3001 Posts: 1,989

    I'm always shooting for photorealism -- dunno if these examples look realistic to you.  

     

    This is the most realistic render that I have ever seen, both via DAZ and over at CGS/ZBC! I'm wondering if you have the pixel filter radius at 2.9 or so? I usually pump up the radius to get rid of the crisp-ness which usually identify the scene as 3D!

    Thanks, and no I usually keep the pixel filter at 1.0 or 1.5, sometimes higher.  For this one it was 1.2.  2.9 would be pretty blurry...would be better off just applying a blur in Photoshop afterwards probably -- that way you have a crisp image and blurry image depending on which you want.  

    I usually use it when using an HDRI for the background pic as most independent un-rendered pics are slightly blurred and I do this to take the crisp edge off of it, as I don't usually rely on too much post work... I'll post some examples!

  • I reworked the first image I posted, using the suggestions in this thread and in the Art Studio section. Changing the expression, relighting, using a different hair, and minimizing the postwork all helped IMO. Please offer any additional suggestions--it's been very helpful getting this input. I added a wet look geoshell to obscure some of the texture of the skin--it looked a little wierd to me. Most of the postwork was adding hair. Even though the hair was pretty realistic it didn't seem fine enough, so I went in and broke up the clumps with finer lines. Do you think this works or does it give the hair an artificial look? Suggestions on how to improve the skin texture would also be appreciated.https://www.daz3d.com/forums/uploads/FileUpload/46/184e60af726bf5fefee36bf5c775d0.jpg

     

    Ok, so, while the expression is less extreme, I would seriously consider the subject and posing again.  Everyone has their own taste, which is fine, but it just seems such an odd juxtaposition of concepts (old lady, nude?, laying down pose, and wet skin)... I just don't know what to think of it.  Even if it was a real photo I'd be a little confused.  I say all this because it just throws off any subjective opinion on if its realistic or not. 

    Got it.

    That said, tactically speaking, yes I would remove the wet geoshell, its distracting, and it looks like you're using an HDRI background instead of actual geometry... I'd recommend against that. 

    Yeah, I guess the Geoshell is pretty distracting. I'm curious as to whether others have found the skin textures in DS to be distracting when doing closeups? Looking at the Ron Perlman image, there's tremendous variety in the skin. I assume those were done in Zbrush or some other program that allows individual texturing. Except for some of the older characters, there doesn't seem to be much variety in DS skin textures.

    The hair is pretty good actually... though please tell you are not drawing it in my hand??

    Thanks. The hair is Linday Short Wet Hair which has fairly fine textures but I add hair to areas that look flat or clumpy. I don't think there are any DS products that I've run across that are fine enough to represent hair in tight closeups. I have a Cintiq, so drawing, for me, is pretty quick and I enjoy it. I spent maybe an hour adding hair in Photoshop.

    Lastly, I'd work on the eyes -- again, its such an extreme makeup and squint (for an old lady) that is just throws off the viewer.   Hope that helps.  

    Thanks for your input, jeffam. I think it's too easy for me sometimes to get caught up in a storyline--I'll try some more neutral studio-like poses next time.

  • MasterstrokeMasterstroke Posts: 2,000
    edited March 2019

    On my way seeking photorealism. Not there yet and a WOW is not enough.cheeky


    Post edited by Chohole on
  • nemesis10nemesis10 Posts: 3,455

    jeffam112368_9a28fbd572 ~ Good job  didn't bet money then! The Misumi eyebrows are impressive and way better than any other I've seen - though I'm not so keen on the character as she's too long and stringy for an Oriental. The Bonnie Hair is also impressive, so I've added that to my Wish List.

    Re my previous last line: "I don't know what the facts are here [I now do!], but I'd bet money we're being conned [so glad I didn't!], though that said, if I'm wrong then the images are the by far the most 'photoreal' I've ever seen!" That last clause stands! Very well done!

    In the lab I am in, we have a lot of very tall willowy Northern Chinese women so remember in a country of over a billion, you may get a few diffferent body types.

  • I reworked the first image I posted, using the suggestions in this thread and in the Art Studio section. Changing the expression, relighting, using a different hair, and minimizing the postwork all helped IMO. Please offer any additional suggestions--it's been very helpful getting this input. I added a wet look geoshell to obscure some of the texture of the skin--it looked a little wierd to me. Most of the postwork was adding hair. Even though the hair was pretty realistic it didn't seem fine enough, so I went in and broke up the clumps with finer lines. Do you think this works or does it give the hair an artificial look? Suggestions on how to improve the skin texture would also be appreciated.https://www.daz3d.com/forums/uploads/FileUpload/46/184e60af726bf5fefee36bf5c775d0.jpg

     

    Ok, so, while the expression is less extreme, I would seriously consider the subject and posing again.  Everyone has their own taste, which is fine, but it just seems such an odd juxtaposition of concepts (old lady, nude?, laying down pose, and wet skin)... I just don't know what to think of it.  Even if it was a real photo I'd be a little confused.  I say all this because it just throws off any subjective opinion on if its realistic or not. 

    Got it.

    That said, tactically speaking, yes I would remove the wet geoshell, its distracting, and it looks like you're using an HDRI background instead of actual geometry... I'd recommend against that. 

    Yeah, I guess the Geoshell is pretty distracting. I'm curious as to whether others have found the skin textures in DS to be distracting when doing closeups? Looking at the Ron Perlman image, there's tremendous variety in the skin. I assume those were done in Zbrush or some other program that allows individual texturing. Except for some of the older characters, there doesn't seem to be much variety in DS skin textures.

    The hair is pretty good actually... though please tell you are not drawing it in my hand??

    Thanks. The hair is Linday Short Wet Hair which has fairly fine textures but I add hair to areas that look flat or clumpy. I don't think there are any DS products that I've run across that are fine enough to represent hair in tight closeups. I have a Cintiq, so drawing, for me, is pretty quick and I enjoy it. I spent maybe an hour adding hair in Photoshop.

    Lastly, I'd work on the eyes -- again, its such an extreme makeup and squint (for an old lady) that is just throws off the viewer.   Hope that helps.  

    Thanks for your input, jeffam. I think it's too easy for me sometimes to get caught up in a storyline--I'll try some more neutral studio-like poses next time.

    Cool, no problem, and in the end, all that matters is that you have fun!

  • DKriegerDKrieger Posts: 66

    Here is the closest I think I've gotten to anything resembling "photo realism".  It was really just a test render that I ended up being pretty happy with.  The only light is from the HDRI (https://www.daz3d.com/daz-studio-iray-hdr-interiors).  The skin was actually from https://www.daz3d.com/eider-and-olaya-for-genesis-8-female.

    Not as good as some already shown here, but I had to share.  :)

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  • PadonePadone Posts: 3,730

    I'm always shooting for photorealism -- dunno if these examples look realistic to you. 

    Personally I'd swore that's a real photo, specially the girl. With some cgi placed in, some props don't look real to me because they cast no shadows nor reflections. To me it seems more a photoshop collage of a real photo and some items rendered separately.

    That said, having you posted proof of your work .. I'm amazed .. never seen something better.

     

  • Padone said:

    I'm always shooting for photorealism -- dunno if these examples look realistic to you. 

    Personally I'd swore that's a real photo, specially the girl. With some cgi placed in, some props don't look real to me because they cast no shadows nor reflections. To me it seems more a photoshop collage of a real photo and some items rendered separately.

    That said, having you posted proof of your work .. I'm amazed .. never seen something better.

     

    Thanks Padone

  • acecombs_b317c01b8dacecombs_b317c01b8d Posts: 100
    edited March 2019

     

    Thanks tosome of the input I've gotten here, I decided to take the figure I used in the earlier renders of the woman in bed and place her in a studio setting with more light control and a neutral background. I think it helps. Please let me know what you think. There's minimal postwork in this. I added an ambient occlusion layer and a depth layer which gave the image more "pop".

     

     

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    Post edited by Chohole on
  • marblemarble Posts: 7,500
    wolf359 said:

    Thanks for showing  your workflow

    you have a very high level of expertise

    I stand correctedyes

    I too had some doubts but was amazed to see the DAZ Studio scene screenshots. I've been trying for that natural snapshot look for years and have never acheived anything close to these images. Excellent work, @jeffam. The hair and brows are especially convincing as is the skintone/lighting. Just one question-mark regarding what looks like a dark silhouette immediately behind her head and shoulders and slightly to the right in the close-up head shot.

     

     

  • PadonePadone Posts: 3,730
    edited March 2019

    Thanks tosome of the input I've gotten here, I decided to take the figure I used in the earlier renders of the woman in bed and place her in a studio setting with more light control and a neutral background. I think it helps. Please let me know what you think. There's minimal postwork in this. I added an ambient occlusion layer and a depth layer which gave the image more "pop".

    Since you asked for it here's some notes. I will not hold back for the purpose to be constructive.

    1) The very first thingy that comes to my attention is the fake smile. Facial muscles simply don't follow. That's a common issue specially in G8 poses I'm afraid. Specifically the cheecks need to be rised up, and the mouth corners need to be smoothed out of those spikes and widened up and better integrated with the mouth contour muscles. Basically the mouth as is seems just sticked-in into the face.

    2) The eyes position seems a bit odd. It's like she looks at something but also she fix the void since the eyes seem parallel and don't converge a bit as usually it is when looking at something. Or may be what she's looking at is very far but in a closed room this is unlikely.

    3) Being both her arms laid down I'd expect the shoulders to be a little raised up. Specially the one on the knee.

    4) I don't like those hair at all they just make a "spaghetti" effect .. they seem way too thick to me.

    5) Lighting. Since this seems to be a closed room with dark walls (that for the sake of completeness it's terrible for taking shots in a real situation) I don't get where that backlight comes from. I whould expect a window behind her or any strong light source. May be better a strong xenon halogen lamp in this case since the backlight seems to have a blue tint so it can't come from the sun. For the same reason in this dark environment I don't get where all those reflections into the eyes and earrings come from.

     

     

    Post edited by Padone on
  • MasterstrokeMasterstroke Posts: 2,000
    Padone said:

    Thanks tosome of the input I've gotten here, I decided to take the figure I used in the earlier renders of the woman in bed and place her in a studio setting with more light control and a neutral background. I think it helps. Please let me know what you think. There's minimal postwork in this. I added an ambient occlusion layer and a depth layer which gave the image more "pop".

    Since you asked for it here's some notes. I will not hold back for the purpose to be constructive.

    1) The very first thingy that comes to my attention is the fake smile. Facial muscles simply don't follow. That's a common issue specially in G8 poses I'm afraid. Specifically the cheecks need to be rised up, and the mouth corners need to be smoothed out of those spikes and widened up and better integrated with the mouth contour muscles. Basically the mouth as is seems just sticked-in into the face.

    [...]

     

     


    agree
    ... and lips do stretch when smiling. Most expression sets only move the mouth corners up and that's it. That is why all the preset smiles from Victoria 4 to Genesis  8 look weird.

  • Seven193Seven193 Posts: 1,083
    edited April 2019
    What kind of polycounts are they using to get photoreal characters on artstation?
    Post edited by Seven193 on
  • Padone said:

    Thanks tosome of the input I've gotten here, I decided to take the figure I used in the earlier renders of the woman in bed and place her in a studio setting with more light control and a neutral background. I think it helps. Please let me know what you think. There's minimal postwork in this. I added an ambient occlusion layer and a depth layer which gave the image more "pop".

    Since you asked for it here's some notes. I will not hold back for the purpose to be constructive.

    1) The very first thingy that comes to my attention is the fake smile. Facial muscles simply don't follow. That's a common issue specially in G8 poses I'm afraid. Specifically the cheecks need to be rised up, and the mouth corners need to be smoothed out of those spikes and widened up and better integrated with the mouth contour muscles. Basically the mouth as is seems just sticked-in into the face.

    That's a good point. I've just been letting the program make the expressions and not paying enough attention to what the muscles and tissues actually do.

    Padone said:

    2) The eyes position seems a bit odd. It's like she looks at something but also she fix the void since the eyes seem parallel and don't converge a bit as usually it is when looking at something. Or may be what she's looking at is very far but in a closed room this is unlikely.

    That actually was intentional. I was trying to add some imperfection and some personality by making her a little cross-eyed, But that might be too distracting.

    Padone said:

    3) Being both her arms laid down I'd expect the shoulders to be a little raised up. Specially the one on the knee.

     Good point.

    Padone said:

    4) I don't like those hair at all they just make a "spaghetti" effect .. they seem way too thick to me.

    I'm not sure which hair is giving the spaghetti effect you're seeing. Is it the ones on the top that are backlit?

    Padone said:

    5) Lighting. Since this seems to be a closed room with dark walls (that for the sake of completeness it's terrible for taking shots in a real situation) I don't get where that backlight comes from. I whould expect a window behind her or any strong light source. May be better a strong xenon halogen lamp in this case since the backlight seems to have a blue tint so it can't come from the sun. For the same reason in this dark environment I don't get where all those reflections into the eyes and earrings come from.

     

    I  can't say I agree with this--In a studio environment, photographers boost the lights to keep them out of the picture. Studio shots where the figure is well-lit by unknown sources are pretty common. Since studio shooting is artificial by design, I don't think the source needs to be defined. Thanks for your comments--I will take your advice into account for my next efforts.

     

  • acecombs_b317c01b8dacecombs_b317c01b8d Posts: 100
    edited March 2019

    This is the same character in an outdoor environment using image-based lighting. I changed the eye focus and gave her a simpler smile. Postwork was mostly adding finer backlit hair and some vellus hair. Please let me know what your impressions are--the feedback has been very helpful.

     

    My Daz Gallery

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    Post edited by Chohole on
  • PadonePadone Posts: 3,730

    1) Lights are off again. The character is lit from back-left while the scene is lit from front-right. This can't be real. As for the studio explanation of your previous picture I didn't mean you can't use studio lights. Of course you can. I meant that in your picture the backlight seems to affect only some parts of the character and doesn't affect other parts and/or the scene itself. So it's fake. Even studio lights that are not visible to the camera need a real location to cast from. And affect all the elements on the scene.

    2) Unless she is meant to have some sort of strong deformation on her skull, the occipital left-plate is way too off to pass as real. The mouth stills fake. It seems something is pulling out her lips from inside and the mouth contour is unnatural. May be this is just a bad character to use for realism.

  •  

    Ok, so it's all 100% Daz with no post-work in Photoshop or anywhere else.  Some info and example (proof) images attached.  Some random info on the model and scene:

    Model:  This is Genesis 8, with custom morphs done in ZBrush and also used Daz parameters to dial in more realistic proportions than the 'ideal' defaults.  This is half the battle.  Texture: Highly customized texture set using various commercial skins I bought then edited extensively in Photoshop to add markings, etc, to increase realism at far and medium distances.  You will need different texture sets for near and far realism as subtle markings/imperfections needed for near/close-up images get resolve into nothing at far distance.  Hair: the only hair I've found to be realistic enough is Bonnie Hair from the vendor Kool.  To your keen eye and point, it's the only hair that has realistic 'scalp' transition...all the others are too abrupt and clean.  Outfit: this is Snuggle Tee which my brother bought recently and I love it -- its basic but real and supports dForce.  Env/Scene:  the room is European Style Apartment, Bedroom Scene by Roguey - which I posted about before...it's is BY FAR the most realistic indoor environment set out there -- I dunno how he does it...it's almost as if iphotogrammetry was used for the textures. Unfortunately, its the only product he sells :(.   Other Stuff: I used various body hairs I've bought -- they make a big difference (arms, face, etc).  Also, this is using Misumi Eyebrows from the awesome Misumi character.  Posing: this is as critical as any part of it -- I did custom poses for the most part where I've tried to capture a 'casual / realistic' pose since virtually no pose collection on Daz Store has these.  Lighting:  this is the most important part to get right.  Rendering: I use Spectral Rendering Natural, Pixel Filter to 1.2 for far away and 2.0 for close up, and a range of Tone Mapping to fit the lighting.  That's basically it.  

    See attached below for:  Raw Render from Daz Iray, Viewport Texture Shaded, and Viewport Shaded Wireframes...

    Thanks.

    This is truly stunning. Are you able to get the same kind of results in different environments and lighting situations?

  • LenioTGLenioTG Posts: 2,118

    Most of the renders shown here are great, especially the one with the actor from Sons of Anarchy!! :D

    I don't know if this could help you, but some time ago I found this 2 hours long tutorial on Render Settings, and this guy seemed to know basically everything about them:

  •  

    Ok, so it's all 100% Daz with no post-work in Photoshop or anywhere else.  Some info and example (proof) images attached.  Some random info on the model and scene:

    Model:  This is Genesis 8, with custom morphs done in ZBrush and also used Daz parameters to dial in more realistic proportions than the 'ideal' defaults.  This is half the battle.  Texture: Highly customized texture set using various commercial skins I bought then edited extensively in Photoshop to add markings, etc, to increase realism at far and medium distances.  You will need different texture sets for near and far realism as subtle markings/imperfections needed for near/close-up images get resolve into nothing at far distance.  Hair: the only hair I've found to be realistic enough is Bonnie Hair from the vendor Kool.  To your keen eye and point, it's the only hair that has realistic 'scalp' transition...all the others are too abrupt and clean.  Outfit: this is Snuggle Tee which my brother bought recently and I love it -- its basic but real and supports dForce.  Env/Scene:  the room is European Style Apartment, Bedroom Scene by Roguey - which I posted about before...it's is BY FAR the most realistic indoor environment set out there -- I dunno how he does it...it's almost as if iphotogrammetry was used for the textures. Unfortunately, its the only product he sells :(.   Other Stuff: I used various body hairs I've bought -- they make a big difference (arms, face, etc).  Also, this is using Misumi Eyebrows from the awesome Misumi character.  Posing: this is as critical as any part of it -- I did custom poses for the most part where I've tried to capture a 'casual / realistic' pose since virtually no pose collection on Daz Store has these.  Lighting:  this is the most important part to get right.  Rendering: I use Spectral Rendering Natural, Pixel Filter to 1.2 for far away and 2.0 for close up, and a range of Tone Mapping to fit the lighting.  That's basically it.  

    See attached below for:  Raw Render from Daz Iray, Viewport Texture Shaded, and Viewport Shaded Wireframes...

    Thanks.

    This is truly stunning. Are you able to get the same kind of results in different environments and lighting situations?

    Thanks!  Different environments yes, different lighting only somewhat.  I can achieve the same general look/feel/realism in any environment set, however, I've found the only way I can achieve the level of realism I want is by using a pretty basic point light and NO other lights.  Adding other lights to the scene or having the environment lighting value at non-zero works, but it lessens the reality.  Which, is too bad, because it makes all of my works look similar :(

  • notiuswebnotiusweb Posts: 110

    Use the Daz store too to benchmark the look you would like, some sellers have more or less degrees of life-like rendering, see if your look matches theirs.  

    Start with one thing in a scene and work from there, you don't have to master the scene all at once.  Then you can even plop some photo behind the character and working it to get it looking pretty decent.

    In audio it's like first matching just drums to a real radio song's drums, and then layering your instruments on top of that sound, as opposed to trying to mix your instruments all at once and then trying to match the overall track's EQ to what the pro-mixed radio song sounded like.

     

     

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  • JamesJABJamesJAB Posts: 1,760

    Lighting, camera and pose!

    Honestly though, from what I've observed most of the time clothing and hair models/materials are what ruin "photorealism" in renders. 

    @acecombs_b317c01b8d : In my opinion, the whole charcter being in sharp focus detracts from photorealism.  When working in 3d redering, you need to think like a photographer.  Compose the shot, set up your lights, and fine tune your camera settings (depth of field is your friend).

  • A new one for kicks.  I like the new Coco Hair!  

     

     

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  • Sven DullahSven Dullah Posts: 7,621

    A new one for kicks.  I like the new Coco Hair!  

     

     

    Nice:) She should have red eyes?

    laugh

  • MasterstrokeMasterstroke Posts: 2,000

    A new one for kicks.  I like the new Coco Hair!  

     

     

    Oh yeah, very cool.

  • PadonePadone Posts: 3,730
    edited April 2019

    A new one for kicks.  I like the new Coco Hair!  

    There's somethig very odd in the shadows. Again, it looks like a photoshop collage of real photos and cgi elements. The girl is absolutely realistic. It's a bit odd that her face is always in the same position and expression and camera angle in all your renderings .. it really looks like sticked in from a real picture.

     

    Post edited by Padone on
  • Padone said:

    A new one for kicks.  I like the new Coco Hair!  

    There's somethig very odd in the shadows. Again, it looks like a photoshop collage of real photos and cgi elements. The girl is absolutely realistic. It's a bit odd that her face is always in the same position and expression and camera angle in all your renderings .. it really looks like sticked in from a real picture.

     

    While it's 100% Daz render, I do know what you're saying.  They can have an odd look to them.  The shadow is authentic - cast from a single point shadow light.  Here's one with her face is different position and different expression and pose...  but yeh, any drastic tends to break the illusion of reality.

     

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  • Seven193Seven193 Posts: 1,083
    edited April 2019
    Padone said:

    A new one for kicks.  I like the new Coco Hair!  

    There's somethig very odd in the shadows. Again, it looks like a photoshop collage of real photos and cgi elements. The girl is absolutely realistic. It's a bit odd that her face is always in the same position and expression and camera angle in all your renderings .. it really looks like sticked in from a real picture.

     

    He did post a wireframe from the viewport on the first page. The rendering does have a realistic grainy look to it, maybe it's just the low lighting.

    Post edited by Seven193 on
  • MasterstrokeMasterstroke Posts: 2,000

    Are you using secondCircle's light rigs? They have these direct camera flash lights look, similiar to those in your renders.

  • Are you using secondCircle's light rigs? They have these direct camera flash lights look, similiar to those in your renders.

    I am not.  I literally just use a single Spotlight set to Point geometry.  

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