New Users Contest *August 2014* ►►► WIP Thread ◄◄◄
Chohole
Posts: 33,604
New User's Contest - August 2014
Sponsored by DAZ 3D and ARTCollaborations
Are you new to the 3D World? Are you at the beginning stages of learning 3D rendering? Have you been around for a little bit but feel you could benefit from some feedback or instruction? Have you
been around awhile and would like to help other members start their creative journey? Well then come and join the fun as we host our newest contest...
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
"Water and other reflective surfaces"
This contest is designed to help you produce realistic looking water, and also glass and mirrors, as they are related subjects.
I will be checking in on the WIP THREAD as will the rest of the Community Volunteers to try and help with anything you all may need
For a list of the current contest rules, please see this thread :Contest Rules
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
For those veterans of the forums that would like to help, because this contest is designed for the beginner to learn from, we will be randomly selecting posts offering helpful tips and/or critiques to receive a special voucher as well so whether you are a seasoned artist or an aspiring one, there is fun for everyone!
We would like to thank ARTCollaborations who has graciously decided to sponsor this month’s contest They will be awarding a special prize to the winners of this month’s contest. To view some of ARTCollaborations items please see their store front here ARTCollaborations Store
Closing Date: August 31st
Daz 3D is part of 
Connect
DAZ Productions, Inc.
7533 S Center View Ct #4664
West Jordan, UT 84084
Licensing Agreement | Terms of Service | Privacy Policy | EULA
© 2024 Daz Productions Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Comments
I have been away from the DAZ forums for quite a while and used to enter this contest every month learning so much.
For those thinking about doing water I found this tutorial to get you started.
Creating Water in Daz Studio
There a number of pretty good water tutorials on deviant art (just put "water tutorial daz" in the search field there - I don't know how to post a proper URL here, or I would).
Played around with some settings, just to test various water thingies.
And a very early wip...
Oh I might actually take part in this one! After I get my current project I´m working on done, I will try to put something together for this contest! : )
I twiddled and fiddled... :)
(I'll probably be offline for a few days, so I might no react to any comments)
Reading is Fundamental
This is a Daz Studio render I did back in early July 2014 to play with reflective surfaces (a mirror). It is a bit risqué, but I do like the angle and subject placement with this picture. Picking a good camera angle helps to tell the story of this one.
Edited to add the less risqué contest sized version.
Dragon over Water
This is actually a Bryce render using the Daz Dragon 3 figure and Bryce generated water. It is one of my favorite water renders so far. Also done back in July 2014.
Horse on Water
Another Bryce render using a Daz Horse 2 figure and Bryce water and sky generation completed August 4, 2014. This render took 45 seconds with Bryce and I think it looks pretty good as well.
Horse on Water 2 (daylight mix)
Rendered with Bryce using Daz Horse 2 model and Bryce sky and water. Bryce does a lovely job of working through variances. This took about 2 minutes of light and camera adjustment and 1 minute 38 seconds to render with Bryce. Fast render speeds mean more opportunity to test variations until you are happy with the final setup.
Jade Dream
My second contest entry created with Bryce and the Daz Giselle 6 figure. Materials complements of Bryce including jade, sky, water, and cosmic effect.
Love your Bryce renders zmortis. Especially Horse on Water.
I agree that these are nice Bryce images, but do please remember the rules, especially rule #10
Thanks
Thanks
Sorry, I tend to place several different examples of the contest theme in the WIP thread, but each of the two allowed contest specific entries were rendered at 800 by 800 just for the contest. The first entry was based off an earlier render with some minor adjustments (mainly to clothing to meet the guidelines), and the second entry "Jade Dream" was selected, modified, and posed specifically for the contest. The other work is being used as demonstrations of what can be achieved in very short order with Bryce as the rendering tool to inspire others to experiment with it's capabilities.
Reflection of Fear
A Daz Studio 4.6 render. No postwork
Can we not post in something like .png format yet? Using .jpg only seems a little out-dated, especially with the pixel errors it's prone to cause.
This is a new Users contest, so the emphasis is on helping the users to get to grips with.their tools rather than worrying too much about possible degradaion of the image using JPG.
Plus this WIP thread tends to get very image heavy and using JPG does mean that pages load easier for those who don't have super dooper, high speed internet connections.
It is always possible to save your image in 2 formats, if you wish to post it elsewhere after the contest is finished. ie save as png and then convert to jpg for this thread.
I agree with chohole, I do a lot of renders in Octane and save them as PNG at 16bpc so I have a good quality image if I ever want to print it, If I upload it to a site I compress it and convert it to JPG. I feel this is beneficial in two ways.
1. Faster upload time.
2. If people download your image they wont be able to make good quality prints from it.
Good answers, thank you both.
At 800x800 resolutions you're certainly not making good quality poster sized prints even with lossless .tiff format. I usually figure 600 .dpi as a print minimum. A 1.3 inch pic is not much to worry about.
We have been reviewing the image size restraints. You can go higher if you like but not gigantic.
Very rough WIP. I still need to work on the lighting ( I think it is too bright ) and the shadows. May still work on posing. Especially the character appearing in the reflection.
Any thoughts or comments are greatly appreciated.
Rendered in DAZ Studio 4.6
In terms of character/object sizes in reflections you have to think that any reflective surface generally displays the reflected object as being twice the distance from the surface as it actually is. The net effect is the object seems smaller. Of course making the surface concave or convex can alter that impression. So when working with a variable surface such as a helmet and suit of armor you are bound to have some level of figure distortion if the render engine is accurately simulating light bouncing.
Personally I would "cheat" the lighting on this one a bit. Lower any ambient and/or direct lighting to a fairly dim setting (20-30 intensity range perhaps) then place a spot light somewhat brighter (40 or so) between the two figures, but pointed at the "reflected figure". This should hopefully make the "reflected figure" seem to "pop" more in the composition. The other thing to do is to potentially move the "reflected figure" closer to the armored figure while still remaining out of camera. Don't forget to still apply some low level back lighting and fill lighting as necessary to help pick out details in the lower overall ambient light.
Overall the image has a lot of good potential, and you really are at the tweaks stage of the process. Sometimes it can be the frustrating part of rendering, but tweaking is generally the difference between a good render and a really nice render.
In terms of character/object sizes in reflections you have to think that any reflective surface generally displays the reflected object as being twice the distance from the surface as it actually is. The net effect is the object seems smaller. Of course making the surface concave or convex can alter that impression. So when working with a variable surface such as a helmet and suit of armor you are bound to have some level of figure distortion if the render engine is accurately simulating light bouncing.
Personally I would "cheat" the lighting on this one a bit. Lower any ambient and/or direct lighting to a fairly dim setting (20-30 intensity range perhaps) then place a spot light somewhat brighter (40 or so) between the two figures, but pointed at the "reflected figure". This should hopefully make the "reflected figure" seem to "pop" more in the composition. The other thing to do is to potentially move the "reflected figure" closer to the armored figure while still remaining out of camera. Don't forget to still apply some low level back lighting and fill lighting as necessary to help pick out details in the lower overall ambient light.
Overall the image has a lot of good potential, and you really are at the tweaks stage of the process. Sometimes it can be the frustrating part of rendering, but tweaking is generally the difference between a good render and a really nice render.
Thanks zmortis. I will give that a try.
Another possible entry. Rendered in DAZ Studio 4.6
If I were to alter this particular image, then it would be the addition of an observer visible only through reflection in the mirror globe. I'm fond of reflections where the camera is positioned from the reflection's eye view. This particular setting I would use a Giselle 6 figure (or variant) scaled to fairy size for the reflection, and outfitted in the appropriate costume and fairy wings. Just the direction I would go with it. I do like the lighting and composition of the piece though.
If I were to alter this particular image, then it would be the addition of an observer visible only through reflection in the mirror globe. I'm fond of reflections where the camera is positioned from the reflection's eye view. This particular setting I would use a Giselle 6 figure (or variant) scaled to fairy size for the reflection, and outfitted in the appropriate costume and fairy wings. Just the direction I would go with it. I do like the lighting and composition of the piece though.
Funny you should say that. That is the idea I had originally. Was still debating about adding a fairy.
Funny you should say that. That is the idea I had originally. Was still debating about adding a fairy.
One trick I've figured out is to do a "double render" with two different light set-ups. The first is the normal ambient / direct light set up you already have here with your fairy in place. The second is a render with appropriately colored point lights and no other lights. Put the two renders into an appropriate image manipulation program (photoshop or gimpshop for example) as separate layers, and blend the opacity until you achieve a "glowing fairy" effect. See an example of this below. The main advantage this confers is the ability to adjust "light" setting fairly quickly with an opacity slider in a post work setup instead of tweaking lights, rendering, tweaking lights, rendering, over and over until you finally get an effect you like.
p.s. I learned this trick from "dreamlight". He has some tools and demos which help explain the process in more detail, but that is the high level concept.
Updated version following zmortis' suggestions on lighting.
I like the lighting. What's a bit lacking, imo, is some drama - some pose, or backdrop, or something more to hint at what's happening. Right now, this is mostly "just" a closeup - some sort of action or added context would be cool. Just an idea :)
The reflection details are coming in clearer this time. More of the background behind the reflected figure can be made out as well. I think it is an improvement as the shadows are also less "dithered" on the visor with the lower lighting effect. It's coming along nicely.