Carrara Challenge #50 - A Special Carrara Anniversary Celebration - WIP thread

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  • DiomedeDiomede Posts: 15,165

    Carrara Banana

    I'm selling this one for only $90,000 .... bargain I thought. devil

    all setup and rendered in Carrara with no postwork. Used @Diomede 's bow with and additional bit of modeling from his freebie pressie, used Carrara's text tool, modeled the pin and tape.

    I love this!!!!!

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,533

    Burn Burn Burn a Category One

    used G2 with G2 firemans set and AM's koala with Carrara hair for this, took a bit as it would crash Carrara a fair bit till I worked out a sequence of loading that prevented it from happening!

    modeled the Christmas Gum Tree, bauble and Gum Leaf and used Ron's tree, smoke, splashes & fire brushes for the background and bucket water splashes.. 

    This is an amazing bit of work with a fantastic outcome! Bravo!!! 

    Looks like a lot more to check out, but I must go.

  • Carrara Banana

    I'm selling this one for only $90,000 .... bargain I thought. devil

    all setup and rendered in Carrara with no postwork. Used @Diomede 's bow with and additional bit of modeling from his freebie pressie, used Carrara's text tool, modeled the pin and tape.

    Ha!  This probably makes no sense to anyone who hasn't seen recent news.

    Wonderful render. :)

     

  • DiomedeDiomede Posts: 15,165

    Carrara Banana

    I'm selling this one for only $90,000 .... bargain I thought. devil

    all setup and rendered in Carrara with no postwork. Used @Diomede 's bow with and additional bit of modeling from his freebie pressie, used Carrara's text tool, modeled the pin and tape.

    Ha!  This probably makes no sense to anyone who hasn't seen recent news.

    title = comedy = very old joke in Vaudeville

  • MistaraMistara Posts: 38,675
    edited December 2019

    Carrara Banana

    I'm selling this one for only $90,000 .... bargain I thought. devil

    all setup and rendered in Carrara with no postwork. Used @Diomede 's bow with and additional bit of modeling from his freebie pressie, used Carrara's text tool, modeled the pin and tape.

    Ha!  This probably makes no sense to anyone who hasn't seen recent news.

    Wonderful render. :)

     

    banana bondage?
    ... Those art collectors should be watching the wacky thread

    actually my eye beamed to the elf hat

    majins for mascara or the must-stash bandito

    Post edited by Mistara on
  • MistaraMistara Posts: 38,675

    woes, havent started on my entry yet,
    think the problem is, george really isnt all that inspiring to render
    mebbe some aiko lov heart xinxinkiss or the Brute 
     

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,533
    Diomede said:

    More questions

    What counts as a plant?  Is my tree man a plant?  Modeled and uvmapped in vertex modeler, shader mixer mask for torso painted with Carrara 3D Paint tools, modeled leaves then replicated on head for hair/beard.

    Vicky on a cylinder with a tree man.  (Don't call me an ent!)

     

    Yeah man, he counts as a plant, I think! :)

    So Cool!

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,533

    not an entry but I tried a Nepenthe entirely in Carrara

    its even a Carrara render

    I want to take it into Zbrush and Zremesh it so badly but maybe later for my own renders elsewhere laugh

    Very nice, Wendy!

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,533

    @StezzaKarara Carrara Banana! Rock On!!! LOL

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,533

    @UnifiedBrain I didn't see an answer to your question about applying flowers to plants. If there is one, I apologize.

    In the plant editor, Carrara 8.5 was updated to having several layers for adding leaves. They did this so that we could put fruit, nuts, etc., onto the branches in the same ways that leaves are, but it is also very useful for making plants look like their health is diminished by having bad leaves mixed with the good, etc., or making multi-colored fall colors, etc.,

    Too, DCG's Anything Grows allows us to put any object at the tip of hairs generated by the plugin

    Carrara is so darned versatile and cool. 

    We could even use the plant mesh, no matter what sort of shape, as the emitter of particles and spawn flowers that way as well - or just plunk them onto the plant by hand. 

  • new bigger and brighter

    garden1 big bright.png
    1600 x 1200 - 2M
  • UnifiedBrainUnifiedBrain Posts: 3,588
    edited December 2019

    new bigger and brighter

    Much easier to see, thanks!  Nice perspective on the camera angle.

    I'd like to make a suggestion, and it is all about personal taste.  Some people like images that look a bit flat.  I like images that look less flat and more colorful and contrasty.

    Have you used the GMIC plugin for Carrara?  To me, it is like having photoshop inside of Carrara.

    I took your image, loaded it on a plane in Carrara, and applied some basic color and sharpness adjustments:

    Original image:

     

    After GMIC:

     

    I did this extremely quickly, so the image is cropped a bit.

    If you don't care for the GMIC enhancements, them please ignore this post.  Tastes between artists vary wildly. :)

    Shlomi example in GMIC smaller.png
    1600 x 1200 - 2M
    Post edited by UnifiedBrain on
  • @UnifiedBrain I didn't see an answer to your question about applying flowers to plants. If there is one, I apologize.

    In the plant editor, Carrara 8.5 was updated to having several layers for adding leaves. They did this so that we could put fruit, nuts, etc., onto the branches in the same ways that leaves are, but it is also very useful for making plants look like their health is diminished by having bad leaves mixed with the good, etc., or making multi-colored fall colors, etc.,

    Too, DCG's Anything Grows allows us to put any object at the tip of hairs generated by the plugin

    Carrara is so darned versatile and cool. 

    We could even use the plant mesh, no matter what sort of shape, as the emitter of particles and spawn flowers that way as well - or just plunk them onto the plant by hand. 

    For most issues, I go back and look at Phil's basic tutorials.  I originally got through about 60% of them, but then I put them aside and just started making stuff.  I couldn't help myself!

    I went back yesterday and found the one about adding apples to a tree.  Slowly starting to understand what to do.

    It appears that if I want to achieve a flowering plant, that I will have to at least model the petals.  That is a bit daunting. :)  It may be relatively easy to make for an experienced modeler, but it likely takes a wider set of modeling skills that take time to get comfortable with.  Not sure I will have the time this go around.

     

  • WendyLuvsCatzWendyLuvsCatz Posts: 38,198
    edited December 2019

    @UnifiedBrain I didn't see an answer to your question about applying flowers to plants. If there is one, I apologize.

    In the plant editor, Carrara 8.5 was updated to having several layers for adding leaves. They did this so that we could put fruit, nuts, etc., onto the branches in the same ways that leaves are, but it is also very useful for making plants look like their health is diminished by having bad leaves mixed with the good, etc., or making multi-colored fall colors, etc.,

    Too, DCG's Anything Grows allows us to put any object at the tip of hairs generated by the plugin

    Carrara is so darned versatile and cool. 

    We could even use the plant mesh, no matter what sort of shape, as the emitter of particles and spawn flowers that way as well - or just plunk them onto the plant by hand. 

    For most issues, I go back and look at Phil's basic tutorials.  I originally got through about 60% of them, but then I put them aside and just started making stuff.  I couldn't help myself!

    I went back yesterday and found the one about adding apples to a tree.  Slowly starting to understand what to do.

    It appears that if I want to achieve a flowering plant, that I will have to at least model the petals.  That is a bit daunting. :)  It may be relatively easy to make for an experienced modeler, but it likely takes a wider set of modeling skills that take time to get comfortable with.  Not sure I will have the time this go around.

     

    you can use planes as the leaves and use transmaps, not the fastest to render though

    or

    Philemo's cutouts

    Post edited by WendyLuvsCatz on
  • DiomedeDiomede Posts: 15,165
    edited December 2019

    Unless the plant is going to be in a close up, I suggest that folks follow PhilW's and TangoAlpha's advice.  Model a custom leaf and apply a reference pic as the shader.  

    - Don't be daunted by the notion of modeling a custom leaf from a reference pic.  It really is just a few steps.

    1)  Use google to find some ideas about your plant.  I will use a pear tree.  Here are some google results for pear trees, pear leaves, and pear trunks.

    2)  Crop out some images that can be useful and save them.  Here is an example of a leaf.

    3)  Start a new SMALL scene and insert a vertex object.

    4)  In the global tab of the properties tray, check the box for top/bottom and load your reference pic for the leaf.

    5)  Use the top camera and the reference pic will appear in the modeler.  Dont worry about being exact. 

    6)  Use the menu to CONSTRUCT, 3D, GRID and choose the Z axis.

    7)  Edit and shape the grid so that the outer edges are inside the outer edges of the reference pick.

    8)  If not already there, add a stem.

    9)  Go to the texture room.  Load the reference pic in the color channel.

    10)  Return to the model room.  Go to UVMapping tab and click the display tab option to see the texture on the uvmap grid (middle chocie).

    11)  Select all.  Use the operations tab option for planar mapping, z axis.  Rotate and scale the UVMap so that it is inside the reference pic.

    12)  If necessary, select the stem in the uvmapper, use Detach polygons and slide the stem polygons over something that looks right.  Or, assign a separate shading domain.

    13)  Return to assemble room.  Your model should now be shaped like a leaf, and have a leaf texture applied.  If necessary, rotate the leaf so that the bottom (stem) is at the right edge and the tip is on the left (X axis), instead of up and down.  

    14)  Use CAPS LOCK to move the hot point to the stem.  

    15)  Only problem is it is flat.  Name it Leaf00 and save to your browser.

    16)  Now make additional leaves by renaming and editing new loads of Leaf00.  For shape, use soft select in the vertex modeler for random curling and fluctuation.  For shaders, edit the current pic-shader to be a multi- channel mixer, or create a mixer in the color channel.  Then mix in a gradient set to "global" or "elevation" or some other factor that changes in space.  Create as many or as few additional leaves as desired to break up the monotony.

    17)  The fruit is done the same way as the leaves, except it starts as a sphere.  Make sure it runs along x axis with stem (if any) at the right.    

    18)  If you edit the trunk and branch textures, I believe the UVMap is a ratio of 3 vertical to 1 horizontal, if you tile a reference pic.  

    00 side by side.jpg
    1200 x 900 - 102K
    zz01 google search for reference images.jpg
    1894 x 936 - 461K
    Pear Leaf Cropped 01.jpg
    586 x 736 - 77K
    zz05 construuct 3d grid.jpg
    1240 x 861 - 117K
    zz14 detach polygons and move translate over stem on reference image.jpg
    1739 x 940 - 292K
    zz26 save leaf 01.jpg
    1895 x 998 - 292K
    Post edited by Diomede on
  • DiomedeDiomede Posts: 15,165
    edited December 2019

    Of course, you can adjust the ratio of leaves to fruit.  Use the "weight" option in the leaf tab.  You can give each loaded leaf a different weight.

    You would then edit the tree shape using the trunk and branch tabs, or the expert tab.

     

    As an aside, I spent some time taking pics in a botanical gardens.  Need to do something with all that material.  Here is an example.

    zz examples more of reference pics ive taken.jpg
    1666 x 849 - 447K
    Post edited by Diomede on
  • DiomedeDiomede Posts: 15,165
    edited December 2019

    partridge in a pear tree

    partridge in pear tree.jpg
    1200 x 900 - 58K
    Post edited by Diomede on
  • DiomedeDiomede Posts: 15,165
    edited December 2019

    A Custom Orchard Terrain

    Like my rough pear tree above, here are my steps for a rough orchard terrain.  I want a few aisles of mounded soil for the trees, separated by lanes of short grass.  I will be sketching out some basic lanes in my image editor, then using the terrain modelers erosion filter to get the basic shape.  The maps made in the image editor also serve as opacity masks for shaders and for replicators.

    Here are some basic maps.

     

    I remove the default terrain generator, and load the maps at very low elevation.  I load the gradient first to make sure the rain erosion filter flows off.  Just set elevation to 2 or 3 feet.  I then load the terrain heightmaps that I created starting with the most blurred and proceeding to the least blurred.  I decrease elevation of each that I load.  I then apply my first erosion filter, rain.  After it calculates and looks awful, I reduce the strength very much.  But to my eye it now looks too smooith.  To rouh the terain up a little, I then apply a second erosion filter, this time wind.  Again, I reduce the strength substantially.  The result is a slightly uneven terrain with a few rows of raised mounds.

     

    Terrain shader - I change the default shader to a multi channel mixer if I have just two regions.  Use a layers list for more complicated terrains.  For this, I used a simple grass texture for the bas shader and mixed some brown with a mesa shader for the mounds.  I used the saved opacity mask in the blender channel of the multichannel mixer.

     

    And here is a WIP of the simple terrain for the orchard.  These steps can be easily adapted to any garden.

     

    ww00 heightmaps.JPG
    867 x 309 - 46K
    ww01 heightmaps loaded in terrain modeler 100 by 100 very low height.JPG
    1541 x 826 - 148K
    ww02 add erosion rain set strength way low.JPG
    1589 x 835 - 150K
    ww03 appl wind erosion again set way low strength.JPG
    1581 x 833 - 148K
    ww05 use opacity map in blende channel.JPG
    1579 x 682 - 101K
    ww06 test render.jpg
    800 x 600 - 72K
    Post edited by Diomede on
  • Diomede said:

    - Don't be daunted by the notion of modeling a custom leaf from a reference pic.  It really is just a few steps.

    Ha!  Eighteen steps is more than a few in my book. :)  Still, thanks for showing your process.  Your new version of the orchard will undoubtedly be amazing.

    Thanks Wendy for your suggestions as well.

  • MistaraMistara Posts: 38,675

    but, we're allowed to use the plants presets that come with carrara?  thought i read that somewhere.

  • DiomedeDiomede Posts: 15,165
    edited December 2019
    Diomede said:

    - Don't be daunted by the notion of modeling a custom leaf from a reference pic.  It really is just a few steps.

    Ha!  Eighteen steps is more than a few in my book. :)  Still, thanks for showing your process.  Your new version of the orchard will undoubtedly be amazing.

    Thanks Wendy for your suggestions as well.

     

    You will get to eighteen steps quickly if you load a preset object and try to adust its texture and shape.  

    The steps are

    - trace a reference image in the vertex modeler.

    - use that image as the shader.

    - with shader displayed in the uv room, adjust the uvmap to be inside the reference image

    Only 3 steps!!!

    You can do it. yes

    And it is soooooo liberating

     

    Post edited by Diomede on
  • DiomedeDiomede Posts: 15,165
    edited December 2019

    Here are Ugly terrains and shaders

    Another wrinkle in the orchard WIP.

    I decided to combine the orchard terrain steps with the way I create rivers and streams.  I create a base terrain with a heightmap that is just a stream. I apply a water erosion filter. I then make a copy of the terrain, add the inverse of the stream as heightmap to the copy which raises evwerything but the water.  I make another copy to be the sream bed.  With an appropriate gradient, the stream flows downhill.

    I inserted my orchard heightmaps within a larger cusom heightmap.  I then created a stream with multple terrain copies and the water erosian filter as I have done elsewhere.

    This is just a WIP.  My heightmaps are too steep and th shaders suck.  However, I ike the concept of the garden being carved out of the larger terrain next to a stream. Hopefully, this crappy WIP is still good enogh to see the ochard to the right of the stream, with separate shaders for the aisles and the mounds. 

     

    b03 orchard heightmap blur valley least.jpg
    512 x 512 - 48K
    b07 stream white equals NOT stream bed.jpg
    512 x 512 - 36K
    b10 orchard detail white equals mounds blur most.jpg
    512 x 512 - 27K
    b01 orchard heightmap blur valley most.jpg
    512 x 512 - 29K
    brash in a garden for scale.jpg
    1600 x 1067 - 160K
    Post edited by Diomede on
  • MistaraMistara Posts: 38,675

    Ugly terrains like ugly christmas sweaters??  

  • MistaraMistara Posts: 38,675

    using the Real Leaves 1 for Carrara not allowed? 

  • DiomedeDiomede Posts: 15,165
    edited December 2019

    deleted and reposted in other thread.

    Post edited by Diomede on
  • Mystarra said:

    but, we're allowed to use the plants presets that come with carrara?  thought i read that somewhere.

    Like, maybe in the rules in the first post? :)

    3.  Images must be "mostly" set up in Carrara.  Plants and terrains in category 1 must be created by the artist using a Carrara function, or at least be created using native Carrara items from "basic plants," basic leaves," or other such specific content that came with the program.  Shaders from any source are OK.

     

     

    Mystarra said:

    using the Real Leaves 1 for Carrara not allowed? 

    If it has polys, and it didn't come with the program, it is not allowed as a plant.  The idea is to s-t-r-e-t-c-h you skills, at least in category 1.

    Of course, this is basically an honor system.  There is pretty much no way to check every leaf. :)

     

  • UnifiedBrainUnifiedBrain Posts: 3,588
    edited December 2019
    Diomede said:
    Diomede said:

    - Don't be daunted by the notion of modeling a custom leaf from a reference pic.  It really is just a few steps.

    Ha!  Eighteen steps is more than a few in my book. :)  Still, thanks for showing your process.  Your new version of the orchard will undoubtedly be amazing.

    Thanks Wendy for your suggestions as well.

     

    You will get to eighteen steps quickly if you load a preset object and try to adust its texture and shape.  

    The steps are

    - trace a reference image in the vertex modeler.

    - use that image as the shader.

    - with shader displayed in the uv room, adjust the uvmap to be inside the reference image

    Only 3 steps!!!

    You can do it. yes

    And it is soooooo liberating

     

    I appreciate learning something that is liberating.  In the meantime, I decided to go NPR on at least one of the category 1 renders, and made a toon flower (original) in the modeling room.  This is not the scene I will enter, it is just a concept render to see how this plant (or a similar one) will look.

     

    Nothing brilliant here.  Just some basic vertex shapes modified with the scale and rotate tools, and tweaked with soft select.  There was something new - I figured out how to assign shading domains. Yay!  Then surface replicated onto a plane, slightly below a terrain.

    Flower wi terrain NPR 1 leaves.png
    2700 x 1800 - 5M
    Post edited by UnifiedBrain on
  • Diomede said:

    Here are Ugly terrains and shaders

    Another wrinkle in the orchard WIP.

    I decided to combine the orchard terrain steps with the way I create rivers and streams.  I create a base terrain with a heightmap that is just a stream. I apply a water erosion filter. I then make a copy of the terrain, add the inverse of the stream as heightmap to the copy which raises evwerything but the water.  I make another copy to be the sream bed.  With an appropriate gradient, the stream flows downhill.

    I inserted my orchard heightmaps within a larger cusom heightmap.  I then created a stream with multple terrain copies and the water erosian filter as I have done elsewhere.

    This is just a WIP.  My heightmaps are too steep and th shaders suck.  However, I ike the concept of the garden being carved out of the larger terrain next to a stream. Hopefully, this crappy WIP is still good enogh to see the ochard to the right of the stream, with separate shaders for the aisles and the mounds. 

     

    Valuable tips as always.yes

    You said it was a crappy WIP.  Not so, just early stages.  Crappy renders are not allowed when you have a 3900X. devil  It says so right on the box.

  • MistaraMistara Posts: 38,675

    WIP Snow Garden

    hung my snowflake on tree as leaves.
    it wouldn't let me tweak the 2 shading domains on it.


     

    00-2 snow garden.PNG
    909 x 578 - 122K
    00-1 snow garden.PNG
    1324 x 677 - 251K
    snow garden1.png
    1920 x 1080 - 2M
  • MistaraMistara Posts: 38,675

    oh no i killed the thread

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