...and I was just a Runner Up?!!!
Dartanbeck
Posts: 21,543
Wow! Entering into the Carrara Render Challenges is fun, to say the very least. I have recently entered into Carrara Chellenge VIII, hosted by diomede64, and sponsored by mmoir and DAZ 3D, and ended up winning an honorable mention, which is not just an honor, but it also granted a prize from both sponsors.
DAZ 3D gave the honorable mention winners $10 to spend on any DAZ Original items in the store. We got to consider the sale price when picking so, being a PC Member, I was able to walk away sporting five new excellent additions to my growing collection of goods! Took me a long time to decide what to get, but ended up being a cool new outfit for my Genesis 2 Female version of Rosie, two new petipet vehicles, a beautiful double-kick drum kit, and the latest addition to Aslan Court. What a score!
Mike Moir let us pick anything from his store as our prize. I am collecting his whole store, but still have a way to go before I have it all. Being a mmoir product fan is really cool. For one, whenever I get a new mmoir, I get a whole adventure worth of things to explore and use in my animations. For another, it's incredibly risk-free in that from what I now know about mmoir products, I already know that satisfaction isn't even a good enough word for what will come of it.
Anyways, that makes it really tough to figure out which one to get next! So I'll get something that I could use in my up-coming animations that I am working on. That didn't help. I could use any of it.
I finally decided upon one of his latest scenes, Carrara Island Butte Cafe.
I haven't had much time to play with it yet. None, actually. I just got home and have very little time, so I hurriedly run to my office and fire up Carrara to have a look.
Wow! Like the Mystic Gorge kit, this thing is immense! The way he details everything, I can film many adventure scenes in many different locales in just this one scene! I truly had no idea that this one was as as huge as it is. The default camera included has us sitting in the dining patio, outside on a beautiful day. Lavish details abound as I look around at this fantastic place, which is actually going to be used as a secret base for my heroes, not a cafe! ;)
As usual for me, I wanted to have a look at the whole cliff that this thing sits on. So I add a new camera, select the complete island group and type "0" to zoom out to it. Still not far enough away to see the whole thing, the massiveness of this scene begins to become apparent. I go to the render room and check things out, because I wanted to use my usual 1280 x 720 aspect ratio, since I know I'll be filming this beauty in my animations. By default he's got it set up at lower accuracy for nice test renders, and it's using Global Illumination Sky Light, and Ambient Occlusion Only Indirect light. I turn on Gamma Correction and set it to 2.2 to start from there, as that's where I'll end up for my own rendering, and I want any tweaks that I might make show up properly according to my preferences.
Getting back to the assemble room, I'm looking at more of the cool stuff in this scene, as I continue to crank back on the distance of the camera to try and capture this gigantic Island Butte. I notice that he has some distant terrain items, so I spin the camera around the island until I get them into my camera view, and then continue bringing the camera back - there's still a long way to go!
I also notice that he's included waves around the island, where the water meets up with it, some boulders and other wonderful details. These kits are wonderful. Finally getting the camera back far enough to take a shot of the whole thing, I change the main distant light into a sun light, and since I'm using Gamma Correction, I remove the nice blue ambient scene effect - though I'll want to also shoot some renders set up as he had it by default as well.
So here it is. I still haven't had a chance to look at my new cars, outfit, drums, or Aslan environment, but at least I get to sleep tonight knowing that I have just acquired a perfect new hide-out for Dartan and his Rose! Even better, I'm also including a magical means of going underground, under the ocean and ending up at the Mystic Gorge - I think... we'll see! :)
Thanks Mike and Thanks DAZ 3D! I feel like I took first place, having such an amazing trophy to show for it!
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Comments
Man! The way that landing platform is supported all through the cliff like that... Massive! Cool! Incredible!
What the above picture doesn't show, is that the building setup on the top is actually quite sizable as well! This image shows it a bit more, but is a smaller angle view of the first picture. So there's a lot more building when you rotate the camera around from here. Attention to detail is exquisite! It also does a beautiful job of showing off how well Carrara renders reflections. For this shot, I decided to make a 1280 pixel square, so we could get higher without having to go wider.
Check out how he's mulched the flower beds. Just awesome! Yup... a fine clubhouse for my heroes! :)
WOW! That is so cool! None of these views in the promos.... I had no idea!
That's gorgeous!
I picked that same item too. It's awesome!
I just posted notice to the next challenge too!!
Oh... right!
My point being...
Enter the Carrara Challenges! That's the moral of the story!
I was absolutely thrilled to be able to participate. The WIP discussion is a sharing between all contestants that forms an amazing camaraderie among the contestants as the entries are built. It's a lot of fun and can be a great learning experience. Either way, an excellent experience all around.
Thanks kashyyyk, can't wait to check it out! ;)
Holly,
Yeah... same goes for his other scenery sets. They are immense... truly!
I don't post here often (I don't use Carrara), but I like looking at the things made with it. I have to say that 2nd image is gorgeous. I had to do a double take to notice it wasn't a photo. Grats on the honors. :)
Dartanbeck,
I am glad you like it and look forward to what you do with it.
Mike
hot damn Dart! all Christmas's come at once, I've been eyeing off mmoir's stuff for ages,
mind you I had the pleasure of your generosity for the first challenge!
all of our sponsors have been so generous, it humbles me (i am a scrooge ;) )
Gosh, that truly gives Tracy Island a run for its money! I fully expect to see the swimming pool slide away and DartabBird 1 come roaring out, or the cliff face drop down to reveal DartanBird 2 ready for action...
Mmoir, if your reading, you need some new promos - I just had no idea of the scale of it!
Me neither and I have looked at that product several times as I have several of Mike's items. Wow, have to put it on my list!
:) xx Silene
Hmmm... great ideas for my ship! Just leave the landing platform for guests, eh? Have you seen the super cool landing platform?
Put it this way, it was *your* first picture at the top of this thread that sold it to me :)
The first thing that caught my eye in the promos was the great styling of the building, stuck amidst a landscape, which drew my eye to the nice landscaping job he's done around the place. I was then taken by the fact that the whole thing is in the middle of an ocean, on a cliff.