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EP - Superb render !!!!!!!!
Thanks Bunyip02 and Mr. head!
Here's the raw render. I ended up using the Intel iMac and had the branch issue again, but to hell with it. I'll make it work!
As far as postwork, I rendered with a whole mess of passes. I chose to have them embedded in the file with the correct blend mode.
The issue with the particles was the obvious triangle shapes. I could have had the particles smaller, but then I would have had so many that particle calculation would have been prohibitive. Since I rendered a glow pass, I blurred the particles using the Gaussian Blur filter, and then used the polygonal lasso tool to draw around the particle beam in a copy of the background layer and blurred that as well. The reason I blurred both the copy of the background and the glow layer is that the glow layer is blended so it is not opaque. It helped but not for the darker triangles.
The other reason is that there were particles visible through the windows in the truck, and since there was geometry (the window panes) in the way, the aura effect I had applied to the glowing particles wasn't applied. I had to manually blur and increase the brightness of those particles to simulate the aura anyway, so why not take care of the whole beam as well?
One other postwork issue I'm having is that the depth pass isn't displaying depth. It's just a solid black and white image with no grayscale tonal variations. I don't know why it is doing this. There was some discussion a year or more ago about this. One thing that will FUBAR the depth pass is having a visible (to the camera) infinite plane in the scene. It was thought that this was because the depth pass is 8 bit. I personally have no clue, but it sounds good. I don't know what it is in this scene that would cause a similar problem.
So, right now as far as postwork goes, I have blurred the glow pass, blurred the heat ray portion of the copy of the backgound layer and left the other render passes alone and visible. I also painted in a silhouette of a figure driving the truck.
I am going to re-use the DAZLING STORIES text from my other entry, and create custom text for the story titles. I had been hoping to use the depth pass again to create a hybrid photo-real look, although this time I was going to try a more painterly look for the non-photo real portion. Since the depth pass is crap, I will have to consider other options.
The last image is where I currently stand with my postwork.
Evilproducer Holy smokes! That's one angry Martian! Great render! I like the camera angle. It adds a lot to the excitement. Forgot to mention in my previous post...I always learn so much from the detailed explanations of your set ups. Thanks so much for those.
I'm trying to render out a glow pass, but all I get is black. What should be showing up in there? I have a little bit of everything in my scene --spots, anything glows objects, shape lights, and shaders with glow channels-- but nothing shows. I've tried it with GI on and off still nothing in that pass. Its driving me batty. I have 8.5 pro on a Mac if that makes any difference. [edit I'm really envious of evilproducer's glow pass].
Thanks SukyL!
To get my hybrid look, I merged my visible layers (leaving the original background layer untouched, then I Saved As with a different name, leaving my layer passes untouched in the original file in case I completely screwed my postwork up, and needed to revert to my original-as-rendered file.
Once I had my backup plan in place, I copied the layer with the merged passes and pasted it a couple times. I then used one of those layers to create a layer mask. For the mask, I used a simple circular gradient.
The layer beneath that I used the Watercolor filter and adjusted the parameters to my liking. Does it look okay?
Let me go back to my original file and take a peak...
The glow pass will only show glowing shaders. Anything glows is a light emitter and doesn't add an actual glow, so that won't show up.
I wonder, are the objects that are glowing behind another object with transparency or an alpha channel? The limitation of the pass is that it sees everything as a solid shape, no matter if there is any kind of transparency or alpha, so if your view is seeing though a windshield and there are glowing dials or buttons visible, the glow pass won't work.
I;m uploading the two glow passes from my entries. You will notice that the geometries without glow act like masks. The truck window is a good example. Meaning, you can't see it in the glow pass, even though there are glowing particles behind it.
If the glowing objects aren't showing, and there is no geometry in the way, there may be a bug for that pass in Carrara, or perhaps it's the way the pass is displayed in Photoshop? It wouldn't be the first time the render passes had a bug. The version of Carrara that I use, C7.2 Pro, has a bug with the shadow pass that makes it unusable for me. Instead of shadows, you get multi-colored squares that correspond with the render buckets.
So, can anyone with C8.5 Pro render a glow pass? Maybe a simple scene with a glowing object such as one of the primitive shapes?
Here's a quick one. Three primitive objects. Cube has default grey, cylinder has a procedural alpha and the sphere has a glow. Image 1 is the glow pass layer and image 2 is the image layer. I rendered to a Photoshop (ver 7) file using Carrara 8.5.
EDIT: I tried the same scene with a 50% transparency on the cube and it completely blocked the glow on the glow render as if it were not transparent at all. So the glow pass recognizes an alpha mask, but not transparency.
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Here's a quick one. Three primitive objects. Cube has default grey, cylinder has a procedural alpha and the sphere has a glow. Image 1 is the glow pass layer and image 2 is the image layer. I rendered to a Photoshop (ver 7) file using Carrara 8.5.
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Thanks for testing that MD2010! It's good to know it works.
Here's the raw render and what I'm going to enter.
I used some noise, a blur filter and the Sepia photo filter cranked up to 50% in Photoshop for the aged look.
Thanks for testing that MD2010! It's good to know it works.
No problem. That's kind of cool actually - I knew that Carrara could do different passes like that but never played with it at all before. I'm going to have to add that to my workflow. I tend to revel in playing around during post and it could be really helpful.
Also, that quick brick pattern alpha mask I made has given me an idea for something unrelated. Happy accident. :)
Now I have to finish catching up on several days of posts in this thread - it really does move fast!
Here is the next WIP I think I have the good angle and everything else worked out.
Now to work on getting Chickenman into the cover.
You can never have too much particle nonsense. Particles are near the top of my list of things to figure out in Carrara but there sure are a heck of a lot of options in there! Scary.
This is completely awesome. I love the old War of the Worlds movie so much - I think I have it around here somewhere; might need to pull it out and watch it this weekend now.
Do you think maybe the titles are a little low though? The word "WORLDS" seems to be crowding the ship a little bit... maybe if you shifted "DAZLING STORIES" and the whole "Be a Pal..." subtitle both up just a little bit it? Just my unsolicited, uninformed thought. :)
Fantastic work, EP and Chickenman. What a fun month! A lot of the credit goes to SukyL, of course.
Here is another twist and turn for my silly render. Nothing like lacking a clear vision for a project! This combines two genres - romance pulps and planet stories pulps. I might even bring back the cybercycle, who knows?
Anyway, after checking out EP's bi-gradient background I decided to explore the background options a little bit. This is what you get if you use the formula option and play with the parameters a little bit.
This is completely awesome. I love the old War of the Worlds movie so much - I think I have it around here somewhere; might need to pull it out and watch it this weekend now.
Do you think maybe the titles are a little low though? The word "WORLDS" seems to be crowding the ship a little bit... maybe if you shifted "DAZLING STORIES" and the whole "Be a Pal..." subtitle both up just a little bit it? Just my unsolicited, uninformed thought. :)
Excellent eye. You're right. I wonder if I moved it over to the other side and rotated it to match the angle of the heat ray?
I already entered it in the submission thread... SukyL, is there any reason I can't replace my entry with an updated version before the challenge closes?
Magic 8-ball says, "No Reason". Please, feel free to make any adjustments until the submissions deadline is announced.
I have a glow pass!!! Thanks so much evilproducer and MDO2010 for taking the time to help me out!!! Those were the pieces of information I needed to figure it out. My rings had a glow channel set up, but the % was very low and was further dimmed by the distance fog. The glow inside the glass doesn't show as you explained because it is obscured by a transparent object. Yay! Sanity restored!
chickenman Looking good! I wasn't familiar with this Chickenman diomede spoke of, so I checked out your gallery. I love Chickenman! All I can do now is see a chicken head on top of your mech warrior.
diomede Thanks so much. I agree, it has been a lot of fun. I like the gradient, but that formula stuff looks scary. Great genre mashup too!
so this is my last wip - been a crazy adventure.
Pretty funny diomede! Poor tentacle monster! Maybe he'd have more luck in a manga? ;-)
One question, are the woman's eyes missing, or are my eyes going?
Glad you got it sorted out!
I can't wait to see this Chickenman everyone mentions!
Pretty funny diomede! Poor tentacle monster! Maybe he'd have more luck in a manga? ;-)
One question, are the woman's eyes missing, or are my eyes going?
scifi eyes, scifi, LOL
scifi eyes, scifi, LOL
Well, kind of a big deal - thank you, EP. Maybe SukyL will take another look in the magic 8-ball. Here is a version in which the heroine runaway bride has eyes. If our illustrious challenge coordinator will allow, I will update my entry.
C'mon, magic 8-ball,don't let me down.
I think this goes for everybody, not just me. Unless I'm special. I know that's what my teachers told my parents.... ;-P
Looks much better by the way.
Great looking, I just noticed the tenticle monsters tuxedo!
I think this goes for everybody, not just me. Unless I'm special. I know that's what my teachers told my parents.... ;-P
Looks much better by the way.
Oh, you are special, no doubt about it. I made the change in the entry thread. Thanks for pointing it out.
Kashyyyk, I appreciate the kind words. If you are a billionaire concert pianist mayor, you can't get married in jeans.
This thread has been going full tilt! Congratulations on picking a winner topic SukL!
Going through the thread looking for my WIPS, I noticed that there were some people that have been doing some very cool things that I failed to comment on. I wish to apologize for that. There was no slight intended. My excuse is just that the thread was moving fast and I had my rehearsals weeknights, so it was difficult keeping up.
With that in mind, here are some rather belated comments on some works by some very talented people that I missed commenting on:
Networthy, your ship design and gun model are exceptional and really capture the feel of those old Flash Gordon comics. I do hope that you are able to get an entry into this challenge!
Silene, your Tyra of the Tundra cover must be entered! I love the expression on Tyra!
Varsel, I love the cool work you did on the pod things. Using the modifiers on the hoses and wires is something I will have to remember. It is very effective. The layout and colors you chose for the cover design is truly just like those old pulp examples posted for inspiration.
dustrider, very nice job revealing just enough of the creature to spark the viewers' imagination and yet reveal the viciousness. My only critique is that there is not enough poke through in the woman's clothes! ;-)
If I forgot anybody, please forgive me! There's a lot of great stuff to go through, and tons of useful information and ideas.
If you've started a scene and posted some WIPS, I would encourage you to finish them up and get them entered! It would be a shame to craft such excellent components and images and not show them off!
As we rapidly approach the final submission deadline, can I just say how much fun this has been?
I bought Carrara quite a while back, played with it for a month or so and then more or less dropped it when the first Genesis came out for DAZ Studio. I've spent a lot of time since then learning the ins and outs of DAZ Studio and never went back to Carrara due to all the things I heard about Genesis not working well in it.
Now sukL has pulled me back in with this brilliantly chosen theme that I could not pass up and I am discovering that Carrara is just addictively fun to play around in. The vertex modeler may not have everything I have been learning to use in Hexagon lately but it is genuinely easy and fun to quickly create simple items for a specific scene. And I cannot rave enough about the procedural shaders in Carrara. That's the one thing that really stuck in my head from playing around in it years ago - how quickly and easily you can create stunningly complex shaders.
This whole idea of a WIP thread before submissions is brilliant too - so kudos to whoever originally thought of it. I have been entering more contests and challenges over the past year as I get more confident with my amateur art and it is rare to get any feedback at all, much less helpful constructive feedback; getting to see the steps and thought process of the other people participating is just an amazing learning experience.
I'm not going to abandon DAZ Studio as my primary tool after all the time I've spent learning to use it (moderately) well, but I am definitely going to go back and re-watch all those Infinite Skills videos by Phil Wilkes that I bought and spend more time playing with this great program.
So thanks to everyone who is participating or commenting, and thank you to sukyL for reaching into my brain and picking the perfect theme to inspire me to pick up Carrara again. :)
Mark