October Carrara Challenge WIP Thread: Create a pulp magazine cover with Chills, Thrills, & Carrara S

sukyL

Antara said:

And I am back with my choices.

So here are my 3 postworked versions. Camera 4 is the newest render, where I changed the pillows in hopes to have more realistic ones. I like the pillow on it's own, but the details in it make the area around the girl's head too busy for my liking, so for my earlier rendered images I am sticking with the less realistic simple pillows. I did test out Andrew's method for partial frame-blocking using a vertex plane, and it worked like a charm - thank you! I got to test out the new pillows in the old views and even though I ended up liking the old version better, it's was extremely helpful to be able to check things out without waiting for the full-frame render to finish. The new pillow looks best from Camera 4 POV, because it's far away enough not to cause too much distraction, so I decided to leave it there for now.

I changed the titles (story names, not overall fonts or layout) on all 3 images.

As always, I'd be very grateful if you can share with me your preferences and comments.

At this point I've been looking at this scene for so long and from so many different angles, that I just can't think straight about it anymore.
(if you need to know which image is which, hover your mouse of one of the images, it will tell you the original file title, and this way you can know which image is from which Camera, since I named them by camera number.)

Hi Antara, I don't think there is a wrong choice in the lot. All are wonderful! At this point the differences are quite subtle and subjective. Others have excellent arguments for the other two, but I'm sticking by my love of the upper left image (camera 3). It has the most emotional impact in my opinion. This might be because the angle is a bit more jarring and offkilter than the others, which is entirely appropriate for a scene of loss and grief. Compositionally, I think it makes the most use of the space and has the most elegant interaction between the title piece with the angle of the room. Visually, my eyes smoothly run down the DAZling title, go to Juliet's face, then slide down Juliet's body to land on the grieving robot's face.

I love your story titles as well. Well done!

sukyL

booksbydavid said:

OK, seeing as Mr. Pennybags is only going to pay me for the work commissioned I changed the title.

If the 'Tales' series ever gets going, I hope old Pennybags keeps me in mind. :)

Mr. Pennybags is pleased! Well done! ;-)

sukyL

MDO2010 said:

diomede64 said:

The robot and the people look excellent to me. The only suggestion that I might offer would be to sharpen the contrast between the lettering in the lower right and the background so the viewer can more easily read the titles. I think you've done a great job of capturing the pulp spirit.
[/quote

Thank you. I added a little bit of a drop shadow to the story titles to make them pop a little bit - better?

I also re-rendered my image with Sparrowhawke3D's Edge Falloff shader in the glow channel on the glass to make the head/dome pop out of the background a little better.

Mark I like the feeling of menace with the arm near her head. I didn't notice anything amiss until you mentioned it. The edge fall off on the dome sets it off very nicely. Also, I like the addition of the drop shadow on the text. Great job!

sukyL

Everyone, you are not only capturing the pulp spirit, but making it quake with fear, and contemplate giving up planetary secrets to you!

Reminder! The submissions thread opens today (10/18) as soon as I can get it posted!

evilproducer

So, here's my attempt at the cover. I like the main title, but I think I really need to rework the story title text.

sukyL

evilproducer said:

So, here's my attempt at the cover. I like the main title, but I think I really need to rework the story title text.

evilproducer I love the warped, wrapped around text!

sukyL

I am pleased to announce the SUBMISSIONS THREAD is open here: http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/47729/!!!

MarkIsSleepy

sukyL said:

I am pleased to announce the SUBMISSIONS THREAD is open here: http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/47729/!!!

I submitted mine - hopefully I did that right. :)

Now... I have one more idea but I'm not sure if I can get it done before the deadline. To the Bat-Renderer!

sukyL

MDO2010 said:

sukyL said:

I am pleased to announce the SUBMISSIONS THREAD is open here: http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/47729/!!!

I submitted mine - hopefully I did that right. :)

Now... I have one more idea but I'm not sure if I can get it done before the deadline. To the Bat-Renderer!

Perfect! Looks great!

TangoAlpha

EP: Like the unobtainium gag! :)

Diomede

Wow, the entry thread is open and we already have some great renders posted. Plus, a check-in by Antfarm.

I took a break from working on textures and morphs and focused on a new layout. Sorry, empowered Femme Fatale. I think this is a more traditional detective stories cover.

sukyL

diomede64 said:

Wow, the entry thread is open and we already have some great renders posted. Plus, a check-in by Antfarm.

I took a break from working on textures and morphs and focused on a new layout. Sorry, empowered Femme Fatale. I think this is a more traditional detective stories cover.

I'm liking the layout and prominent placement of the figures. It's got great energy. Too bad about the femme fatale though.

Stezza

Well, this challenge has had me changing my mind on how to attack it so many times!!

Talk about frustrating... but good at the same time..

I have scrapped the Martian and replaced him with... err.. ummm another Martian.. maybe it's a frustrated martian :-)

I made a simple breathing apparatus for my Genesis Martian which is wearing the Super Suit for Genesis..

I also used tied up 2! for G2 as an air hose.. and a couple of AntFarm items are in there as well ;-)

Postwork was done in PSE13

I think I have done all the challenge requirements..
challenge requirements met:

rusty shader - tick
mechanical element - tick (if it has to be created then the raygun if not then the Martian attack ship )
Carrara creations - tick
underused feature(s) - tick

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!

Diomede

Stezza said:

Well, this challenge has had me changing my mind on how to attack it so many times!!

Talk about frustrating... but good at the same time..

I have scrapped the Martian and replaced him with... err.. ummm another Martian.. maybe it's a frustrated martian :-)

I made a simple breathing apparatus for my Genesis Martian which is wearing the Super Suit for Genesis..

I also used tied up 2! for G2 as an air hose.. and a couple of AntFarm items are in there as well ;-)

Postwork was done in PSE13

I think I have done all the challenge requirements..
challenge requirements met:

rusty shader - tick
mechanical element - tick (if it has to be created then the raygun if not then the Martian attack ship )
Carrara creations - tick
underused feature(s) - tick

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!

Very cool. I really like both the old and the new Martian. Can't you sneak the little guy in a tiny "coming soon" box? Just kidding, wouldn't change a thing.

booksbydavid

evilproducer said:

So, here's my attempt at the cover. I like the main title, but I think I really need to rework the story title text.

Very nice. :)

DustRider

There is so much going on here I can't really comment on everything I'd like to. Heck, it took me about 15 minutes just to track down my own WIP post for the entry thread!

I'm already dreading the voting, because so far I feel that everyone deserves to win. So many deserving entries, and so many outstanding and informative WIP's. This has been a great challenge so far, and continues to get even better. Congratulations to everyone who has/will participate in the challenge, it really shows what this community can accomplish with a little friendly competition (actually it doesn't even feel like a competition).

Congratulations SukyL for surviving the challenge so far, for having such a creative idea for the challenge, and for being so involved, despite not feeling well for a few days!!

Diomede

My 1st entry has been submitted. I retrieved my first femme fatale (miniskirt and crop top) and used it for one of the secondary stories. I also dusted off a coffee mug and a phone, with minor changes, that I had modeled for another project. I also include a screenshot of the alpha mask I created to combine the toon render and the photo-real render. The white region uses the photoreal hair, but most of the image is a medium color for 50/50 mix.

I'll see if I can get my alien biker project done for a second entry.

Good luck everyone.

sukyL

Stezza said:

Well, this challenge has had me changing my mind on how to attack it so many times!!

Talk about frustrating... but good at the same time..

I have scrapped the Martian and replaced him with... err.. ummm another Martian.. maybe it's a frustrated martian :-)

I made a simple breathing apparatus for my Genesis Martian which is wearing the Super Suit for Genesis..

I also used tied up 2! for G2 as an air hose.. and a couple of AntFarm items are in there as well ;-)

Postwork was done in PSE13

I think I have done all the challenge requirements..
challenge requirements met:

rusty shader - tick
mechanical element - tick (if it has to be created then the raygun if not then the Martian attack ship )
Carrara creations - tick
underused feature(s) - tick

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!

I like how you combine the two.

sukyL

dustrider said:

There is so much going on here I can't really comment on everything I'd like to. Heck, it took me about 15 minutes just to track down my own WIP post for the entry thread!

I'm already dreading the voting, because so far I feel that everyone deserves to win. So many deserving entries, and so many outstanding and informative WIP's. This has been a great challenge so far, and continues to get even better. Congratulations to everyone who has/will participate in the challenge, it really shows what this community can accomplish with a little friendly competition (actually it doesn't even feel like a competition).

Congratulations SukyL for surviving the challenge so far, for having such a creative idea for the challenge, and for being so involved, despite not feeling well for a few days!!

Thanks dustrider! I'm having so much fun! I'm in awe of everyone's creativity and technical skill. I'm so glad the theme has been so popular. Got to get moving on mine though.

OMG! Did you see? The AntFarm stopped by the submissions thread! I had a bit of a fan girl moment there! :cheese:

sukyL

diomede64 said:

My 1st entry has been submitted. I retrieved my first femme fatale (miniskirt and crop top) and used it for one of the secondary stories. I also dusted off a coffee mug and a phone, with minor changes, that I had modeled for another project. I also include a screenshot of the alpha mask I created to combine the toon render and the photo-real render. The white region uses the photoreal hair, but most of the image is a medium color for 50/50 mix.

I'll see if I can get my alien biker project done for a second entry.

Good luck everyone.

Diomede I just love how you combine the two in the shader tree. That gives me an inspiration for how I'm going to do my rust shader. Looks great!

MarkIsSleepy

Started working on my second entry. The planet and sun are both just primitive spheres. The sun texture is purely procedural. There is an invisible bulb light in front of the sun creating the lens flare effect. The planet has an image map created in FilterForge for the color, bump and shininess and SparrowHawke3D's Edge Falloff Shader in the glow channel to create the atmospheric glow. The star field is a real one I found on NASA's website applied to the glow channel of a huge sphere which is surrounding the entire scene.

There is going to be a big space station over the planet on the left side and and a space ship coming into camera from the lower right camera as soon as I model them. Right now the only exist as sketches on the back of my cable bill. :)

At this point there is just one light, a distant light coming more or less from the direction of the sun, which is only affecting the planet. I'm going to add a couple more distant lights from slightly different directions to create more of a cheap soft light effect and may use a tiny amount of ambient light once the space station and ship are in there, depending on how dark they are. I want there to be relatively hard shadows on the station and ship, but don't want the details to completely disappear.

Quick question: for my second entry, do I have to create an entirely new rust shader, or can I re-use the one I created for my first entry?

Thanks,
Mark

MarkIsSleepy

I've got my space station modeled and roughly textured. Changed the camera angle a little bit too.

I have some errands to run and then I'll start on my spaceship.

MarkIsSleepy

Spaceship complete.

I used my rust shader from my first entry as a base and modified it a little bit to work better on the ship - I hope that counts. The rust shader is applied to the wing in this image.

The third image is my full sized render before postwork and without titles (which I haven't created yet).

evilproducer

MDO2010 said:

I've got my space station modeled and roughly textured. Changed the camera angle a little bit too.

I have some errands to run and then I'll start on my spaceship.

Very cool scene you have there!

Diomede

MDO2010 said:

Spaceship complete.

I used my rust shader from my first entry as a base and modified it a little bit to work better on the ship - I hope that counts. The rust shader is applied to the wing in this image.

The third image is my full sized render before postwork and without titles (which I haven't created yet).

Quick work - and wonderful start. This is going to be a top notch cover.

MarkIsSleepy

evilproducer said:

Very cool scene you have there!

Thank you!

Quick work - and wonderful start. This is going to be a top notch cover.

Thanks! No pressure. ;)

I spent a big chunk of a beautiful Sunday on this but I'm not sure how much time I'll have during the week to fine-tune before the deadline. Here's where I'm at now.

evilproducer

I think this will be my final version of this one. I will probably enter it tomorrow after I work up a WIP on the lights. For those that are interested, My under utilized Carrara feature is the shape light. Carrara 7.2 Pro has the old generic light bulb icon/avatar for all the shape lights so it is hard to visualize where the light actually is in the scene. The WIP will have a bit more detail on that I think.

I changed the font on the story description, title and author as I felt the other font was cool but not as legible with the warped text, color gradient and outer glow.

MarkIsSleepy

evilproducer said:

I think this will be my final version of this one. I will probably enter it tomorrow after I work up a WIP on the lights. For those that interested, My under utilized Carrara feature is the shape light. Carrara 7.2 Pro has the old generic light bulb icon/avatar for all the shape lights so it is hard to visualize where the light actually is in the scene. The WIP will have a bit more detail on that I think.

I changed the font on the story description, title and author as I felt the other font was cool but not as legible with the warped text, color gradient and outer glow.

Great googly-moogly! That is awesome.

I love the warped and colored text. The whole thing is amazing though; if I had seen this online and someone had said it was made in Carrara (or any other 3D program) I would not have believed them.

Antara

Thank you, EP, booksbydavid, Cris Palomino, Tim_A, Mark (MDO2010), sukyL, for your suggestions! After also torturing some people offline with this, Camera 4 seems to be a narrow margin winner, so that's what I'll post into the submissions thread later. Thank you all so much for helping me through this and for sharing your thoughts and comments. Even in just those comments, it was an invaluable learning experience for me, because hearing how different compositions were interpreted will help me make better compositional decisions in the future. In these challenges we often concentrate on the more technical software aspects when helping each other and discussing images, and it's not often that the compositional and emotional feedback to images is given and shared, so it's a resource that's very hard to come by and thus all the more precious. Thank you for taking the time to look carefully at the images, formulate your thoughts and reactions to it and sharing them with me!

Sorry for my absence in the last 2 days. A lot has happened, but I'll try to tackle it all :).

Mark, you've already submitted your first entry, but I would like to echo the others in that the robotic arm is actually well placed. It's very clearly behind the girl's head.
I love your second entry idea and how different and clean sci-fi it is. Great interesting shaders on the ships and beautiful light effects! It's got that classic look to it, which I always associate with hard core sci-fi.

booksbydavid Excellent cover! Visually, the title somehow seems to rhyme with the carnivorous plant, which is brilliant, I think.

sukyL, have you tried batch rendering? Since I had to render the scene twice for each camera (second time with no lights), and my only lights were the Indirect Lighting from GI section in the Render room, and the camera selection also happens in the render room, I could set it to render through the batch render overnight. Same file (but if I had to have different in-scene lights or different scenes, I'd have to save more file variations to load them each into the batch renderer), but different render settings (camera view + IDL On or Off) and different filenames to save the resulting images as. Very convenient. I was also able to pause the rendering for the day and resume it in the evening for the next night. 2 Nights worth of rendering while I slept and I was ready to do post on all my renders.

EP, the latest versions is wonderful! I love the glowing text, which seems to grow from the glowing plants. Adds to the spookiness.

Stezza, I don't know which of your covers is the scariest, but they are both freakishly scary, which, I guess, make them just right for the genre (?). It's the stuff of nightmares. Which I believe you fully intended, so great job at the goals achieved! :) I also love the green rust on the Martian's gear.

diomede64 Your models and hybrid shaders are beyond impressive. I'm really sad for femme fatale, though. :) An interesting cover nevertheless (or maybe everthemore?)....

And I am off to post my entry and get it out of my head, finally :).

evilproducer

Thanks so much for the nice compliments everybody.

So far, all the work that has been displayed is absolutely amazing. Perhaps it is cliche, but the truth is the truth. ;-)