Voting Thread Closed!! Sept. Carrara Challenge : Just Say NO to Flat 3D - Spinning a Popular Theme

DustRider · September 2014

The VOTING Thread is now closed!

Extra special thanks to DAZ 3D and Infinite Skills Inc. for sponsoring this challenge!

A special note for voters: Please take the time to click on the images and view them at full resolution!!! The smaller down-sampled images visible in the thread seldom look any where close to the quality of the full image!!

To see how these amazing peices of art were created using Carrara, please visit the WIP thread! It is not required, but it would be nice if you could include any comments about the entries when casting your vote!

Voting begins now!

The rules for voting are fairly simple.

Each person may vote for up to three entries.

Votes are per entry. If an artist has two images you wish to vote for, you may use a vote for each one, leaving you with one remaining vote to cast.

An artist may place in the top three, plus HM (Honorable Mention) only once. If an artist has enough votes to place more than once, the entry with the most votes will be the one that is placed, and the entry with the next highest votes will be moved up.

If there is a tie for any spot in the top three (plus HM,) I have asked three respected and objective forum members to act as tie breakers. I have asked that they refrain from voting during the regular voting period. If the same artist places in the top three with their entries tied, the above mentioned forum members will break the tie.

If there is no tie, I will give the tie breakers a chance to place their votes. If their votes cause a tie, I’m screwed. ;-)

Anonymous votes will be accepted with good cause. Please PM me if you think you need to vote anonymously. An example would be if a forum moderator or admin wishes to vote without giving an appearance of favoritism. There may be other issues as well.

I've asked the very talented PhilW to name the Honorable Mention. Feel free to give your suggestions for honorable mention, as it may help him with a very difficult task.

If there are any questions, please ask!

You can find the complete challenge rules HERE.

Dates To Remember: (Sorry for the slightly odd schedule, but my Sept. is insanely busy, and there are a few days where I may not have Internet access)
WIP Thread open, August 26, 2014 and closes when voting begins.
Submission Thread Open on Sept. 9, 2014.
Submissions close and thread is changed to voting thread on Sept. 21, 2014, at around 8:00 PM U.S. Mountain Time.
Voting ends Sept. 29, 2014, at around 11:59 PM U.S. Mountain Time.
Thanks again to our fine sponsors for providing the wonderful incentives this challenge!

Thanks EvilProducer for letting me blatantly plagiarize the August Challenge rules, etc. (and for the great September challenge).

DustRider · September 2014

Entry # 1

Artist:
DustRider

Title:
Vicky in the Courtyard with a Really Big Battle Axe (and a big lance too)!
or
Vicky in the Stockade with Shackles (trying to figure out how to get those keys)!

WIPs:
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/45561/P84
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/45561/P89
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/45561/P98
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/45561/P130
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/45561/P176

Postwork:
Re sized Image from 2500x2250 to 2000x1800 and converted it from png to jpg. No additional post-work was done.

Comments:
Rendered using the Octane Render Plugin for Carrara, I modified over 90% of the Materials/Shaders. Please click on the image to see the full sized version, the reduced image shown here has lost a lot of the original image quality (IMHO).

Diomede · September 2014

Entry #2

Artist: Diomede

Title: Mrs. White in the Ballroom with a Candlestick

WIPs:
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/45561/P15
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/45561/P30
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/45561/P45
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/45561/P90
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/45561/P150

Content Used: freebie candle that came with the Poser 4 content cd.

Postwork: none

Comments: The image map of the Clue board came from a gaming site listed in the WIPs.

Diomede · September 2014

Entry #3

Artist: Diomede

Title: A Hill Under a Jill with a Pail of Water

WIPs links
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/45561/P120
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/45561/P150

Explanation of using Poser to drape cloth on Genesis 2 posed female
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/45361/

Postwork: None

Comments: Almost all of the shaders related to the terrain and the plants were changed by introducing multchannel mixers at the top level, and by converting simple colors to gradients at the channel level. Ditto for Jill and Jack.

evilproducer · September 2014

Entry #: 4

Artist: evilproducer

Title: Vicky on a Zeppelin, Making Out with a Puppet.

Content: RingoMontfort's RM Realistic Sky Presets, PhilW's Sidelong Hair and Petipet's Zeppelin Star, DAZ 3D, Sarsa and Mada's Doctor Professional Outfit and DAZ 3D's Basic Wear for V4 Unimesh. Plus DAZ 3D's V4.2 and morphs++.

Additionally, I created a procedural skin shader and hair for V4 that I'm giving away.

Postwork Converted Photoshop format to .jpg for the forum.

Comments: To emphasize, Vickie's texture uses no image maps. It is all procedural using mixers, noise, colors, etc. etc. I used two black and white maps as distribution maps to soften the lines between the nipple shading domain and torso, and the lip domain and face. They added no color or bump. In other words, they only feathered the edges of the lips and nips. ;-)

I used no GI in this render. The last few WIP links show some of the lighting I did as well as some of the issues I had. Hermit the Amphibian uses a completely procedural shader, except for the eyes. I painted those using Carrara's 3D paint tools. The blouse uses the included texture maps for the clothing, but I did a bit of work. I increased the bump amplitude, adjusted the Highlight and Shininess, added translucency and a touch of alpha. The bra is really the V4 Basic Wear bikini top with a procedural shader. I used fractal noise in the bump and alpha channels to give it a lace-like look.

DustRider · September 2014

Entry # 5

Artist:
DustRider

Title:
Vicky in the Photo Studio with a chai ......... DONUT????

WIPs:
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/45561/P191/
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/45561/P192/
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/45561/P193/

Content Used:
Victoria 5 - http://www.daz3d.com/victoria-5 (Shape and Bree texture set)
Victoria 5 Elite Ponytail Hair - http://www.daz3d.com/victoria-5-elite-ponytail
Nata for Genesis - http://www.daz3d.com/nata-for-genesis (Bikini)
Queen Anne Parlor Furniture Part 2 - http://www.daz3d.com/queen-anne-parlor-furniture-part-2
Coffee Shop - http://www.daz3d.com/new-releases/coffee-shop
RopeSandals For V5 - http://www.daz3d.com/ropesandals-for-v5
InaneGlory's Photo Studio - http://www.daz3d.com/inaneglory-s-photo-studio (Parer Roll backdrop)

Postwork:
Re sized Image to make it small enough to post on the forum, and converted it from png to jpg. No additional post-work was done.

Comments:
Rendered using the Octane Render Plugin for Carrara, I modified over 90% of the Materials/Shaders. Please click on the image to see the full sized version, the reduced image shown here has lost a lot of the original image quality (IMHO).

Stezza · September 2014

My entry hopefully has at least the following items:

Entry # 6

Artist: Stezza

Title: Appleseed in the country thinking of a kiwi fruit

WIPs:
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/viewreply/667671/
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/viewreply/667679/
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/viewreply/668323/

Content Used:
DAZ' Genesis and skin texture that came with Carrara 8.5 Pro
Dimension Theory - Urban Recreation http://www.daz3d.com/urban-recreation
Pirate for Genesis - http://www.daz3d.com/pirate-for-genesis-and-genesis-2-males
Noggins Hare - http://www.daz3d.com/noggins-rabbit-and-hare
Pure Hair - http://www.daz3d.com/pure-hair-classic
Dartandbeck - stick from his set http://www.daz3d.com/carrara-environkit-badlands
Apples from a cider set I can't find the link to

Content created:
The pot and kiwi fruit and apple bag

Postwork: no postwork apart from sig

Comments: The pirate clothes were retextured with new textures, bump maps and transmaps created in PSE11 as was the kiwi fruit texture.

d-j-o · September 2014

Entry # 7

Artist: kashyyyk

Title: Genesis on a boat with a Monster

WIPs:
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/viewreply/668899/
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/viewreply/669329/
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/viewreply/669858/
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/viewreply/670633/
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/viewreply/671096/
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/viewreply/672371/

Postwork: No Postwork

Comments:I created her skin using the merchant resource, I created the monsters skin using a reptile photoshop tutorial- http://www.photoshop-dragon.com/Tutorials/Textures/Dragon_and_Reptile_Skin_and_Scales.htm

Roygee · September 2014

Entry #8
Title: Geraldene Relaxing by a River with Sword

By Roygee

Content used:

G2m

Clothing, sandals, foreground terrain and sword modelled by self in Hexagon.

G2M clothed and posed in Daz Studio, exported as .obj using MCJ's Teleblender script.

Helmet by Mehilov http://www.sharecg.com/v/64461/browse/5/3D-Model/helmet (3b unmapped, untextured.)

Trees by http://xfrog.com/category/samples.html

Grasses, rocks and cattails by http://www.runtimedna.com/

Hair; Mitzu hair for A3, modified to fit and texture modified for colour.

Most textures modified to counteract colour loss caused by using Gamma correction of 2.2. The river texture is totally original - based on a photograph and modified for bump, transparency, reflection and refraction.

WIPs:
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/45561/P120
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/45561/P150

Rendered entirely in Carrara 8.1, no postwork.

Roygee · September 2014

Entry #9

By RoyGee

Title : Mike Coming off His Bike in a Forest

Content used:

G2M

All clothing, apparel and terrain modelled by self in Hexagon.

G2M clothed and posed in Daz Studio, exported as .obj using MCJ's Teleblender script.

Bicycle by 3degenerator http://tf3dm.com/3d-model/mountain-bike-02-44005.html (unmapped, untextured one-piece) This had to be considerably modified in Hexagon to allow the front wheel to be rotated and shading domains provided for texturing.

Trees by Xfrog http://xfrog.com/category/samples.html

Grasses and rocks from http://www.runtimedna.com/

Shaders for clothing from Nexy Saloon - unable to find link. Shaders modified to include dirt transparencies made by self in Gimp.

Shaders for bicycle and helmet from http://shaders3d.weebly.com/ modified to generate dirt.

Terrain painted in Carrara

Most shaders modified to compensate for Gamma 2.2 correction

WIP's links
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/45561/P165
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/45561/P210
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/45561/P2253

Rendered entirely in Carrara 8.1 Pro, no postwork.

Comment : A special thank you to Evilproducer for letting me use his gel and settings to solve a lighting challenge for the sunbeams :)

Philemo_Carrara · September 2014

Entry # 10

Artist: Philemo

Title: Rookie night

Vicky is not yet a full fledge heroin, slayer of the dragons, saver of unworthy princes. She is going through the whole process of training before (no one become a fantasy queen just like that, it requires work to achieve that).
Here she is a rookie soldier in an Amazon army. As in every army, past, present or future, rookies get all the duties seasoned soldiers dislike. One of those is universally night guard duty.
So, here she is, out of her first night guard (a useless one, self respecting armies don't give vital duties to rookies), tired and bored.

WIPs:

Initial idea
Character and clothing
Ruins and terrains
Lighting
Animals and poswork

Content Used:

Products from Daz
Alruna
Defiant for Genesis
Iron texture from Nobiax medieval pack.
Palenque Ruins from Daz
Carrara Skies Lightdomes 1
LoREZ Crow

Freebies
Corvus hare from sharecg)

Textures
HD_leather by Heartdown
http://www.daz3d.com/viking-for-genesis-2-males
road
Cliff

Postwork:
Level adjusment for white balancing.

Comments:
Please click on the image to see the full sized version, the reduced image shown here has lost a lot of the original image quality (IMHO).

No external plugin, Carrara render only (even if it needed a white balance from my point of view). More and more, I'm leaving aside Octane. The main reason is that I use mostly my laptop (not compatible) and less my desktop (muscled up to host Octane). The other reason is that I need it less and less as I progress in the use of Carrara.

d-j-o · September 2014

Entry # 11

Artist: kashyyyk

Title: Sushi on a plate with a Cellphone

WIPs:
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/viewreply/677814/
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/viewreply/678006/
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/viewreply/678501/

Content Used:
Smartphone and Tablet http://www.daz3d.com/smartphone-and-tablet
A Cozy Studio- Table and Chairs, it's hard to see in the reflection, but the cabinets are in the scene too http://www.daz3d.com/a-cozy-studio
Sushi Time One http://www.daz3d.com/sushi-time-one
Luxus http://www.daz3d.com/luxus
Luxus for Carrara http://www.daz3d.com/luxus-for-carrara
Luxus for Carrara Resource Pack- wood shader on table, chairs and floor, matte for walls and glass for the glass. I also edited a glass shader and changed the absorption for the red color for the drink. http://www.daz3d.com/luxus-for-carrara-resource-pack
The napkin is a vertex plane with a napkin texture I scanned in and then folded in the editor
All the original shaders have been converted to Lux shaders.

Postwork: No Postwork

Comments: I don't like soy sauce so none in the image.

evilproducer · September 2014

Entry#: 12

Artist: evilproducer

Title: Cheesecake in a Studio with a Nearly Nekkid Vicky.

WIPS:
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/45561/P210/#677637
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/45561/P210/#677679
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/45561/P210/#677859
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/45561/P225/#677868
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/45561/P225/#677870
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/45561/P225/#678110

Created Content: Procedural skin shader for V4-No image maps! Hair for V4's eyebrows and eyelashes. Cheesecake, syrup, cheesecake crumbs and mint leaf billboard were created in the vertex modeler. Cheesecake, syrup, cheesecake crumbs and mint leaf shaders were all created in Carrara. The mint leaves use an image map, the rest are procedural. Created a vertex dome and replicated a distant light on it to simulate global illumination (See WIPs).

Content Used:
Panty from Hongyu's Leather Corset. Licorice by Evilinnocence, hair is an included sample from Carrara's Object browser. Plate and plate shader are stripped out of the Fruitcake model in the Holiday directory (I think) in Carrara's Object browser. V4.2 from DAZ 3D and V4 morphs++ from DAZ 3D.

Postwork: Converted image to .jpg in Photoshop for forum.

Comments I really wanted to show of the procedural skin shader. Remember, there are no image maps used to generate the colors or bumps. I did use two black and white distribution maps to transition between the shading domains for the lips and face and the nipples and torso. The nipples, lips, eye surfaces and skin color are all 100% procedural.

If the TOS allowed for mild nudity, I would have liked to post a nude image to showcase the texture. Since it doesn't I figured a "cheesecake" render fit the theme of the challenge.

Varsel · September 2014

Entry : 13

Artist : Varsel

Title : A Regal Victoria On A Throne With Some Friends

WIP's :
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/viewreply/671345/
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/viewreply/675676/
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/viewreply/675940/
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/viewreply/675676/
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/viewreply/679226/
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/viewreply/679979/
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/viewreply/680847/

The recepie :

10 of Michael 4
4 of Victoria 4

The Room :
The throne is made in Hexagon.
The throne room is all made in Carrara Vertex modeller.
The paintings are taken from the Wikimedia Commons, and are all Public Domain.
http://www.daz3d.com/l-xv-furniture-pack

Every shader in this has been tweaked and ajusted.
The people in the background are dressed and posed in Studio, and then exported out as .obj. Then imported into Carrara. This for trying to save on memory.
I did also create this in stages. The rom and each figure are created as seperat Carrara scenes, and then imported into the main scene for rendering.

The lighting are 12 lightbuls for overall lights, and 5 distant lights for the two main haracthers.
And that is a big thanks to PhilW for the Gamma Correction, and evilproducer for the IR-map.

TangoAlpha · September 2014

Entry: 14

Artist: Tim_A

Title: Stephanie in a Tower With A Piano
(aka "Get your scrawny arse down here and give me a hand!")

WIPs:
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/45561/P195/#676797
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/45561/P195/#677026
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/45561/P210/#677828
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/45561/P225/#678010
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/45561/P285/#680498

Postwork: Signature

Comments: The textures for the tower were created using Filter Forge and tweaked in photoshop
Piano textures tweaked for reflection and general "poserness"
Ringo's hair shader recoloured for a "better blonde"
Lighting was by a glowing plane at each window, tinted slightly blue. Glowing spheres, stretched like rugby balls were used in the wall lights. These were tinted slightly green to give the effect of fluorescents. A shape light was used in the doorway to give better ground spill, and fill spots on S6 only.
Render time at 1400x1050: approx 1 hour (i5 iMac)

TangoAlpha · September 2014

Entry: 15

Artist: Tim_A

Title: Stephanie in a Tower With an Idiot
(aka "No, *you* come down!")

WIPs:
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/45561/P195/#676797
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/45561/P300/#680870
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/45561/P330/#681396

Postwork: Signature

Comments: This is the reverse angle to entry #14 (I like to get value for money!), so pretty much what I said for that applies to this. The biggest challenge though was applying DOF to the dynamic hair. In the end, I got a reasonable result by increasing the DOF value to 150% The best result would have been achieved with a full ray trace render, but that would have taken over 25 hours on my setup!
The textures for the tower were created using Filter Forge and tweaked in photoshop
Ringo's hair shader recoloured for a "better blonde"
Lighting was by a glowing plane at each window, tinted slightly blue. Glowing spheres, stretched like rugby balls were used in the wall lights. These were tinted slightly green to give the effect of fluorescents. A shape light was used in the doorway to give better ground spill, and fill spots on S6 only.
Render time at 1400x1050: approx 1 hour (i5 iMac)

Dievans · September 2014

Wow, just I was just going through trying to find all my WIP links and am totally impressed (and somewhat overwhelmed) with the amount of work and detail that went into all these renders.

Entry: 16

Artist: dievans

Title: Vicky In Sci-fi Goggles With A Sultry Stare

WIPs:
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/viewreply/674903/
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/viewreply/674914/
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/viewreply/674921/
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/viewreply/674924/
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/viewreply/675018/
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/viewreply/677469/

Content Used:
Genesis 2 Female
FW Cassie texture http://www.daz3d.com/fw-cassie
FW Caoimhe shape http://www.daz3d.com/fw-caoimhe
Xeon Mask from the Xeon Suit http://www.daz3d.com/xeon-suit
Desert Outpost http://www.daz3d.com/desert-outpost
Skies of Economy http://www.daz3d.com/skies-of-economy

Postwork: none

Postwork: none

Comments: This was set up in Carrara 8.5 and rendered using the Octane for Carrara plugin. The lighting setup was fairly simple - I used the Sun + Texture option using Skies of Economy sky #5 along with a large panel converted to a light, slightly up and off to the left of the image to provide some deeper shadows. In Octane, I used the Direct Lighting Kernel (which is typically for draft renders, but I liked the output) rendered to 4000 s/px.

Jonstark · September 2014

Entry # 17

Artist: Jonstark

Title: All things considered, the drop went well (Michael 4 in a starship hanger with a crew, running from the law)

Landed on Telus V to do the exchange. Raven, the local crimelord who contracted us for the job, must have figured it would be easier not to pay us and just collect the goods. Had to reverse the ambush her people laid for us, then convince her to make payment for services rendered. Apparently she also has some of the station security on her payroll, because there was a group of Alliance security who had the hanger locked down and thought to detain us, but we were in a bit of a hurry and Asjya had the ship powered up on standby and ready to fly. A slight disagreement ensued. Fortunately Jenx had managed to disable the station's weaponry, so we weren't blasted out of the sky as we took our leave. Same old, same old.

Viv asked, when we got back, "How did it go?"

WIPs: (I'm not 100% sure I'm doing these links right, cause I haven't really ever done this before, so apologies in advance) http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/45561/P300/#680773
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/45561/P330/#681705
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/45561/P345/#681712

Content Used: Starcarrier and Vanguard by Kibarreto (a genius at making sci fi ships IMO), Hardcore by Uzilite, Steam Cowboy, L75 War Boro , Shadowcaster for V4, Warhammer, M4 Bodysuit, Kybele hair, Leandro hair, Akaste hair, Quain hair, Alexios hair, Daz firearms kit, more I'm not thinking of at the moment

Postwork: No postwork

Comments: All done in Carrara.

Bunyip02 · September 2014

Entry # 18

Artist: Bunyip02

Title: Vicky6 in Provence with a Yamaki GTX Concept Car

Content Used: Provence by Faveral - http://www.daz3d.com/provence
Victoria 6 by DAZ 3D (figure was used) - http://www.daz3d.com/victoria-6
Gia 6 by DAZ 3D (texture was used) - http://www.daz3d.com/gia-6
Short Ponytail by DAZ 3D & Valea - http://www.daz3d.com/short-ponytail
Casual Jeans and T-Shirt for Genesis and Genesis 2 Female(s) by DAZ 3D & Ravenhair
- http://www.daz3d.com/casual-jeans-and-t-shirt-for-genesis-2-female-s
Glamour Jeans and T-Shirts by DAZ3D - http://www.daz3d.com/glamour-jeans-and-tshirts
NightStorm (Car originally chosen by me mainly for its curves/reflection possabilities)
Yamaki GTX-R by DAZ 3D & Ravnheart - http://www.daz3d.com/yamaki-gtx-r
Yamaki GTX-R Textures 2 by DAZ 3D & Ravnheart - http://www.daz3d.com/yamaki-gtxr-textures-2
Carrara Skies Lightdomes 1 by Tim Payne - http://www.daz3d.com/carrara-skies-lightdomes-1/
Carrara Skies Volume 1 by Tim Payne - http://www.daz3d.com/carrara-skies-volume-1
Shaders for Carrara - numerous Vendors - RingoMonfort, MatCreator
Advance Pack (Veloute II) by Inagoni - http://www.daz3d.com/inagoni/advance-pack
Reference Photos from - http://www.morguefile.com/archive
Not actually used for content but referred to greatly :- Carrara 8.5 Tutorial Video - Instant Digital Download by Infinite Skills Inc.
Not actually used for content but a big inspiration :- Harpsburg for Carrara by HowieFarkes
My apologies if I missed anyone.

Postwork: None

Comments:
First very serious Render by a Noobie in Carrara, have had it installed for a while but have gone EEEEEK the previous times I have tried to use it.
My personal aims was to learn how to import DAZ3D/Poser scenery-vehicles-people, learn how to use shaders, and learn how to use the lighting. Additional aim if time was permitting was to do some basic modelling.
I feel that I have achieved 2.5 of my 3 aims, still having issues with clothing on people, but many thanks to the many words of advice I feel that it's just a matter of having the time to explore those words of advice before I get the results I am after.
Was originally going to do incremental saves in case I completely botched something, after the file became corrupt, I will be doing incremental saves in all of my work in future.
A HUGE THANK-YOU FOR ALL OF THE ADVICE, FEEDBACK, AND WELCOME GIVEN BY EVERYONE !!!!!!!!!!!
I could have easily spent another week on my entry, but I am very happy with the result.

sukyL · September 2014

Content Used:

SharCG Freebies:
Endless Eye Kit for V4 for Carrara 6 by Indigone
1909 Tarot Deck by Jim Farris (Xaa)

Inspiration:
Carrara - Realism Rendering Training Video - http://www.daz3d.com/carrara-realism-rendering-training-video

Postwork:
No postwork except to convert from photoshop format to jpeg.

Comments:
My image is modeled after cabinet card photographs popular in the late 1800s. I wanted my image to look like it was photographed in a 19th Century photo studio lit entirely by natural light from large windows. If postwork had been allowed, I would have sepia toned the image to make it look like an antique cabinet card.

The entire scene was rendered in Carrara 8.5 Pro (total time 4 hr 20 min). Character and clothing items were converted and/or autofit in DAZ Studio prior to being brought into Carrara. The whole scene is lit with only 3 glowing planes, inspired by the Infinite Skills Carrara Realism Rendering lessons. Select items with anisotropic shaders such as the dress, turban, fez, crystal ball and stand are also lit with a single bulb at 75% brightness set to not casts shadows.

Pretty much all materials were altered for this challenge, except for the curtains and chair, which came with Carrara shaders. Major shader enhancements were performed on the Francesca and monkey skin texture and eyes, dynamic hair was added to the monkey and altered in the hair shader. Minor adjustments were made to the carpet and accent table. Native Carrara content brushed brass and aquamarine shaders were also altered to make the crystal ball and stand materials. The cord on the monkey’s fez was adjusted in the Carrara modeling room to make it look like it is affected by gravity.

In addition to the official challenge, my personal challenge was to learn to work with procedural shaders. I wanted the fez, turban, and dress to look like silk fabric, so learned how to set up anisotropic light model shaders. I set up an anisotropic shader from scratch for the monkey’s fez. The stock Penny Dreadful dress texture and 1930s Fortune Teller/Madame Zelda textures were also converted to an anisotropic lighting model shader and given highlight and shininess adjustments to give the appearance of silk brocade fabric.

I'm very grateful to everyone who offered advice and encouragement and those who put their process out there for all to see.

DADA_universe · September 2014

Entry # 20

Artist: DADA_universe

Title: Naeima....meet Probe, Probe....meet Naeima (Naeima meets Probe on an empty (infinite) plain)

WIPs:
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/45561/P135/#673086
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/45561/P360/#682253

Content Used:

1. Got the Naeima character set from here thanks to PhilW who shared the link:
http://www.sharecg.com/v/31000/gallery/11/Poser/Naeima-V4
2. Probe is a character I modeled in Form Z a couple of years ago and brought into Carrara for retexturing.
3. The shrub screening Naeima was done in Carrara, no special settings, in the plant modeler, all I ever do is just to toggle all the settings till something gives.
4. There is a milky way hdri image used though it doesn't show much for the sky and daylight. For the life of me I can't remember where I got it, but if I track it, I will come back here to update this.

Postwork: No postwork

Comments: It was interesting to find that a FLAT (infinite) plane could give a sense of 3D...at least that's what I think! Also happy to have something minimalist for once being someone who likes to overcomplicate everything!

DustRider · September 2014

Voting begins now!

evilproducer · September 2014

Wow! I went back and forth on this several times! This was very hard. There are so many worthy entries and the skill level of the regular participants noticeably improves with every challenge, It's great fun, and very inspirational to see the evolution of these fine artists.

I'm very pleased to see the new faces (or at least their avatars) in this challenge! Carrara may be relatively new to some of you, but the skill level is very apparent! You all had great entries!

I wish I could vote for all the entries because they all have something that sets them apart and makes them unique! From Jon's backstory for his characters, Stezza's co-opting of an American folk hero and adding an Ozzy twist with the Kiwi fruit, Bunyip02's infectious enthusiasm in learning how to use Carrara's texture room and great texture work, kashyyyks' cool water effect on his monster, Roygee's acton packed mountain bike picture, and Philemo's sleepy guard with all the animals. All of them have something unique about them. However voting goes, you all should be proud of the work you did!

Time to quit stalling!

By entry order:

#13 By Varsel. I think you did a great job creating so many unique characters. The setting is nice as well!

#14 By Tim A. I loved the camera angle on this one. Both are good, but the vertigo inducing perspective in this one is much more visually arresting and dramatic. The lighting is spot on!

#19 By SukyL. This is a really nice scene, and recalls perfectly those old photos and postcards you see in antique stores from time to time. The shader work was impressive.

My suggestion for Honorable mention goes to #3 by Diomede. Lots of fun little details in this one. I really like the expression and lipstick smudges on Jack's face.

pimpy · September 2014

Hi,
I saw incredible and usefull tips in the challenge wip and I'm really afraid that to haven’t been round in this challenge ... it will be for the next time..:) .b.t.w. Here my preferences:

# 19 Artist: sukyL - Very nice composition. Texture, ligths and all the elements in the scene works very well.
# 14 Artist: Tim_A - Good idea and great use of the perspective
# 12 Artist: evilproducer - Great realism

Honorable mention Entry #2 Artist: Diomede

@ Dustrider: In this challenge you made a Great work! Well done!

Roygee · September 2014

Very difficult to decide - so many good entries :)

#12 evilproducer Cheesecake in a studio...

#19 sukyl Fortune teller madame Getou...

# 5 Dustrider Vicky in the photo studio...

Suggestion for honourable mention #2 dimede64 Mrs White in the Ballroom... Great play on words and the theme.

Good luck all :)

Dartanbeck · September 2014

I, too, went back and forth many, many times... these are just too cool!
Great to see the newcomers to the contest - especially since their renders are truly outstanding!
As for my vote(s), I really shouldn't even be posting, except to make it known that I have not ignored this contest, but...
I cannot pick a favorite over others. I just cannot. So I have to vote for everyone evenly across the board.

I must say, several of you are making fantastic use of subtlety with shadows, which is nice to see. They're doing their job to illustrate contact, while remaining quite subtle and realistic, in my opinion. Great job to all, and I'm sorry for the lack of help in deciding who gets the rewards.

Headwax · September 2014

wow, what an amazing lot! and 20 entries! I think that's a record. Well done dustrider.
be back tomorrow, the standard is so high, will take a while to get my head around it.

!

cheers

SileneUK · September 2014

Nice to see new artists' entries!!!

Entry # 19
Artist: sukyL
Title: Fortune Teller Madame Getou in a 19th Century Photo Studio with her Monkey
Excellent detail and love the expressions on both the monkey and fortune teller's face... the shading and light are just perfect in what could be in reality a drab setting.

Entry : #13
Artist : Varsel
Title : A Regal Victoria On A Throne With Some Friends
Great detail, very complex, again, I'm a sucker for minutiae in a scene..it's .almost photographic with natural shadows in a bright throne room.

Entry # 18
Artist: Bunyip02
Title: Vicky6 in Provence with a Yamaki GTX Concept Car
The shading you picked up in the car's paint is complex and interesting involving the cobbles!

Everyone else get honourable mention, but I really liked:

Entry #9
By RoyGee
Title : Mike Coming off His Bike in a Forest
Ouch... I can feel the pain! The bike looks great with light and shadow reflections.

:-) Silene

ringo monfort · September 2014

Here are my picks

1) Entry # 6, Artist: Stezza, Title: Appleseed in the country thinking of a kiwi fruit

2) Entry: 16, Artist: dievans, Title: Vicky In Sci-fi Goggles With A Sultry Stare

3) Entry # 17, Artist: Jonstark, Title: All things considered, the drop went well.

I looked at the lighting, shading and texturing. Great work everyone.

Regards

evilproducer · September 2014

Dartanbeck said:
I, too, went back and forth many, many times... these are just too cool!
Great to see the newcomers to the contest - especially since their renders are truly outstanding!
As for my vote(s), I really shouldn't even be posting, except to make it known that I have not ignored this contest, but...
I cannot pick a favorite over others. I just cannot. So I have to vote for everyone evenly across the board.
I must say, several of you are making fantastic use of subtlety with shadows, which is nice to see. They're doing their job to illustrate contact, while remaining quite subtle and realistic, in my opinion. Great job to all, and I'm sorry for the lack of help in deciding who gets the rewards.

Awww, c'mon man! No copping out! I don't think that you'll hurt anybody's feelings!

Diomede · September 2014

Great set of entries. I would encourage any visitors who drop by to make sure they view each entry at full size. In several cases, the difference in observable detail is remarkable. In other cases (mine :sick: ), not so much.

These are my final picks.

Votes in entry order
Kashyyyk #11
Tim_A #14
SukyL #19

Honorable Mention
Jonstark #17

Great job by everyone, including those who participated in the WIP thread but did not submit a final render.

Notifications

Voting Thread Closed!! Sept. Carrara Challenge : Just Say NO to Flat 3D - Spinning a Popular Theme

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