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

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  • evilproducerevilproducer Posts: 9,050
    edited December 1969

    sukyL said:
    I added some updates to the rules section to clarify a bit. Also, I realize some may not be all that familiar with pulp magazines. I posted a little more description and a couple links for inspiration.

    I want to post the challenge link in the Commons soon. Let me now if there is anything that is contradictory or confusing.

    Makes sense to me. Would you mind linking to the thread when it is created as I have to go to bed, and by the time I can check it out, it may buried in there. ;-)

  • sukyLsukyL Posts: 251
    edited October 2014

    diomede64 and evilproducer The Carrara iron shader is pretty thoroughly rusty. How would you go about making one that's more complex with smooth paint areas, shiny exposed metal, then rough rusty parts in scratches. Would you need to set up a mutichannel mixer or something with a blender to control the depth of the effect?

    evilproducer I should have put in a special IN CASE YOU'VE PRETTY MUCH MASTERED EVERY CARRARA TOOL! challenge for the likes of you :coolgrin:

    bunyip Great references! I often find useful textures at [correction] CGtextures

    I've really been wanting to work on an underwater scene. So I think I'm going to try to use caustic maps and ocean primitive. Those are definitely something I never use. If I just end up using caustic maps in the light's gel effect. That would count as a feature wouldn't it?

    I'm glad you are liking the challenge so far. I can't wait to see more.

    Post edited by sukyL on
  • sukyLsukyL Posts: 251
    edited October 2014

    sukyL said:
    I added some updates to the rules section to clarify a bit. Also, I realize some may not be all that familiar with pulp magazines. I posted a little more description and a couple links for inspiration.

    I want to post the challenge link in the Commons soon. Let me now if there is anything that is contradictory or confusing.

    Makes sense to me. Would you mind linking to the thread when it is created as I have to go to bed, and by the time I can check it out, it may buried in there. ;-)

    Thanks for giving it a look over. I'll post the link to the Commons in this one.

    Post edited by sukyL on
  • DADA_universeDADA_universe Posts: 336
    edited December 1969

    sukyL said:
    October Carrara Challenge: Create a pulp magazine cover with Chills, Thrills, & Carrara Skills!

    Greetings! My name is sukyL. I’m Editor-in-chief of DAZling Stories magazine [not really, this is just for fun]. DAZling Stories is a fictional magazine in the tradition of classic 1920s-50s pulps like Startling, Amazing Stories, and Weird Tales. We’re in a jam! Our cover artist has met with an ironic end at the hands of a troop of jumping gorillas. We have a deadline fast approaching and need a cover by the end of the month! Choose your genre--jungle, horror, spicy detectives, strange science, unsettling mysteries, weird menace, dinosaurs, romance, inner Earth, saucy airships, planetary conquest, western adventures or any combination. We publish it all! What!? Don’t know what this month’s stories are? No worries! The original pulp publishers rarely worried about the cover matching the contents. Make something up!


    Ooooh......*rubbing hands together* ....now this one I like!

  • sukyLsukyL Posts: 251
    edited December 1969

    DADA_universe I like the sound of that!

  • sukyLsukyL Posts: 251
    edited October 2014

    I've announced the October Carrara Challenge in The Commons forum here:
    http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/47181/

    Feel free to stop by there and post what's going on here in the WIP thread. Let's keep this challenge promoted and keep that thread from sinking to the bottom of the page!

    I was thinking, if anyone is interested in providing it, some tasty, enticing little renders for the kind people checking out that thread might not be the worst idea in the world. Even literally tasty snack renders :)

    I'm going to try to post the challenge announcement at Renderosity and CarraraCafe if I can recall my account info.

    Later, I'm off to Cleveland for the day, so pardon my absence.

    Have a great day!

    Post edited by sukyL on
  • DiomedeDiomede Posts: 15,125
    edited December 1969

    Bunyip02 said:
    diomede64 said:
    and here are some reference photos of rusty metal gathered from around the web. there seems to be quite a variety of rust out there.

    Anyone looking for rusty solutions please check this out:-

    http://www.morguefile.com/archive#/?q=rust&sort=pop&photo_lib=morgueFile

    (There are some good ideas to use as a base/guide/inspiration for your render as well) ;-)

    Thanks for the link, Bunyip. Very helpful. I like this challenge idea a lot, but I am not sure what I will choose. I am still trying to get a good grasp of the parameters. Until I settle on an idea for the render, I will keep looking for reference material and exploring Carrara's related tools.

  • DiomedeDiomede Posts: 15,125
    edited December 1969

    @SukyL - just clarification / confirmation. The rust shader can be applied to any scene element, correct? It does not necessarily need to be applied to the mechanical element, correct?

    Another clarification, could the rust shader be used instead for something other than surface appearance, such as driving a replicator or... .?

  • DiomedeDiomede Posts: 15,125
    edited December 1969

    sukyL said:
    I've announced the October Carrara Challenge in The Commons forum here:
    http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/47181/

    Feel free to stop by there and post what's going on here in the WIP thread. Let's keep this challenge promoted and keep that thread from sinking to the bottom of the page!

    I was thinking, if anyone is interested in providing it, some tasty, enticing little renders for the kind people checking out that thread might not be the worst idea in the world. Even literally tasty snack renders :)

    I'm going to try to post the challenge announcement at Renderosity and CarraraCafe if I can recall my account info.

    Later, I'm off to Cleveland for the day, so pardon my absence.

    Have a great day!

    Enjoy your day.

  • sukyLsukyL Posts: 251
    edited October 2014

    diomede64 said:
    @SukyL - just clarification / confirmation. The rust shader can be applied to any scene element, correct? It does not necessarily need to be applied to the mechanical element, correct?

    Another clarification, could the rust shader be used instead for something other than surface appearance, such as driving a replicator or... .?

    Yes, that's absolutely correct! and Yes, it can drive the replicator.

    Thanks!

    Post edited by sukyL on
  • sukyLsukyL Posts: 251
    edited October 2014

    Antara said:
    sukyL, thank you for clarifying the rules! I think it's given me an idea :). Let's see if I manage to carve out some time this weekend to start setting things up.

    No problem. Great news you're getting ideas!

    Post edited by sukyL on
  • Bunyip02Bunyip02 Posts: 8,349
    edited December 1969

    sukyL said:
    I've announced the October Carrara Challenge in The Commons forum here:
    http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/47181/

    Feel free to stop by there and post what's going on here in the WIP thread. Let's keep this challenge promoted and keep that thread from sinking to the bottom of the page!

    I was thinking, if anyone is interested in providing it, some tasty, enticing little renders for the kind people checking out that thread might not be the worst idea in the world. Even literally tasty snack renders :)

    I'm going to try to post the challenge announcement at Renderosity and CarraraCafe if I can recall my account info.

    Later, I'm off to Cleveland for the day, so pardon my absence.

    Have a great day!

    Quick fun render just posted in the commons, let's see a few more from the rest of the crew !!!!!!

  • evilproducerevilproducer Posts: 9,050
    edited December 1969

    Antara said:
    sukyL, thank you for clarifying the rules! I think it's given me an idea :). Let's see if I manage to carve out some time this weekend to start setting things up.

    EP, those are very cool controls. But I remember that when I tried them out some time ago, I found that for my likening they were not precise enough, so I stuck with the manual number changes. Did you have the same experience or is there some sort of controlled way of using the controls, which I haven't stumbled upon? Like stepped modification (i.e. tilt by fixed # of degrees or zoom fixed #mm each step)?


    The camera controls? To be honest, I just learned about the wireframe camera view guide thingy, so I haven't had a chance to really experiment with it in a real scene yet. I can see where there could be some advantages and disadvantages. I'm a visual guy, so I don't usually worry about numerical placement unless I'm doing something like modeling or where I need a precise placement in an animation. For cameras I usually just eyeball it as I would with a real camera.
  • evilproducerevilproducer Posts: 9,050
    edited December 1969

    Bunyip02 said:
    sukyL said:
    I've announced the October Carrara Challenge in The Commons forum here:
    http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/47181/

    Feel free to stop by there and post what's going on here in the WIP thread. Let's keep this challenge promoted and keep that thread from sinking to the bottom of the page!

    I was thinking, if anyone is interested in providing it, some tasty, enticing little renders for the kind people checking out that thread might not be the worst idea in the world. Even literally tasty snack renders :)

    I'm going to try to post the challenge announcement at Renderosity and CarraraCafe if I can recall my account info.

    Later, I'm off to Cleveland for the day, so pardon my absence.

    Have a great day!

    Quick fun render just posted in the commons, let's see a few more from the rest of the crew !!!!!!

    Good job!

  • DiomedeDiomede Posts: 15,125
    edited December 1969

    Well done Bunyip. Hopefully, that will inspire folks who have Carrara but don't usually use it to wander from the commons thread over to the challenge. It inspires me.

    Still just thinking out loud. I don't have a specific idea right now, but I am toying around with shaders. The following is not a particularly good rust shader, but I think I am developing a process that will eventually get me to my custom rust shader. Open to suggestions. In prior posts I had taken apart the rust shader that comes with Carrara. It is essentially made up of a colorful texture map intended to look like rust already that goes in the color channel, a scratchy greyscale that goes in the bump channel and the highlight channel, a more blurred greyscale that goes in the reflection channel, and a setting of 100% in the shiny channel. I will use that concept as a general guide. One big difference is I plan to use a gradient rather than a color map, but use a scratchy greyscale map to drive the gradient. I intend t use the same scratchy greyscale map to drive the channels for bump, highlight, and displacement. I will use a more smooth greyscale map for he reflection channel.

    1) Create the scratchy greyscale map for color gradient, and bump/highlight/displacement
    - insert primitive plane
    - in render room, change output to a square (640 x 640 for example)
    - in assembly room, use "show production frame" and move camera so that the plane fills the production frame.
    - select plane and click 3D paint tool.
    - make sure painting in color channel is active and create new file, with a recognizable save name.
    - in the tool tab, I have a bunch of brushes that I have bought and otherwise acquired
    (note - in a prior challenge thead, Antarra showed how to create and add your own custom brush. Will try to find later).
    - I started with a black canvas and randomly painted scratchy grey to white streaks, blobs, and lines.
    - When I had an image I was willing to experiment with, I went to the render room and rendered/saved my scratchy map

    2 Create a more smooth greyscale map for reflection channel
    - start new file and repeat process above

    3) Construct a prototype rust shader
    - start new file
    - insert sphere (or other object, doesn't really matter)
    - enter texture room to edit the shader
    - in color channel, choose gradient. I chose to make part of the gradient grey and then a mixture yellow/orange for the rust.
    - for the shader that drives the color gradient, use texture map and load the scratchy map made I step 1. I tiled the map at a setting of 4 vertical and horizontal but that is purely optional. Adjust brightness to taste. It will affect which colors of the gradient appear.
    - use control/drag to copy the color channel to the highlight and bump channels. Or, just load the scratchy map in those channels but make sure t match the same tiling number, which was 4 in this case.
    - in displacement tab, load the same scratchy map with the same tiling setting.
    - in reflection channel, load the more smooth map and adjust settings to taste.
    - adjust bump intensity and displacement to taste
    - test render and adjust to taste.

    4) If you create a shader that you like, drag it from your scene to your browser tray under the shader tab for later use. Pick a memorable name.

    This was just to illustrate a process that I plan to use. The specific shader that I just created is not very satisfying. However, I do think this process will work. We walked on the moon with Apollo 11, not Apollo 1, after all.

    -

    10_render_of_rusty_sphere.jpg
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  • DiomedeDiomede Posts: 15,125
    edited October 2014

    And here is the same shader but with the color inverted in the displacement and bump channels. Again, try to ignore the obvious doodling lines and focus on how the colors of the gradient can be aligned with the apparent deformation of the sphere. I think this will work to make rust appear either along a scratch on the side of a car, for example, or as an apparent slight bulge on the joint of a water pipe.

    Can't wait to see what everyone comes up with.

    12_invert_color.jpg
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    Post edited by Diomede on
  • DiomedeDiomede Posts: 15,125
    edited October 2014

    and here is a thread on adding custom brushes to the 3D paint tool.

    http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/27068/

    Post edited by Diomede on
  • SileneUKSileneUK Posts: 1,970
    edited October 2014

    Thanks, Dio, for even more help. This is very useful!
    And thanks, Antara, for the brush tool tut at the link in Dio's post!

    xx :) Silene

    Post edited by SileneUK on
  • sukyLsukyL Posts: 251
    edited December 1969

    Found a little wifi in Cleveland. Brrrrr! It's cold!

    Bunyip Great teaser! Thanks!

    Diomede Yes! Halloween tie in is perfect. I love horror pulps and the old EC comics!

    Can't wait to get back!

  • DiomedeDiomede Posts: 15,125
    edited October 2014

    Photorealism will definitely be prized as usual I am sure, as always and appropriate. But this month's challenge is also welcoming to other styles. Therefore, at least one of my entries will involve my insanity.

    I have a couple of low res humanoids that I treat like my own version of genesis. I have each saved in a group with a skeleton, but unattached. So, it is no problem to load one in Carrara, make some changes for a character, then attach the skeleton and tweak the weightpaintng.

    Not sure yet, but I might make a wolf-man pulp cover. So, I have attached a screengab of the low res comic-proportioned figures with their reference heads. That is the wireframe pic. Also attached a screengrab of the low res mesh of one. And I've attached a pic demonstrating
    - shading domains for pants and boots, a hair domain sort of wolfman like, and the figure posed ready for action.

    Whatever I do, it won't be on a blimp.

    Edit - the column on the left is of heads. I made the low-poly figures with comic proportions using a variety of human drawing references found around the web, and some of the standard guides used heads as the unit of measurement, so I copy and pasted a head to make a column.

    wolfman.jpg
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    Post edited by Diomede on
  • d-j-od-j-o Posts: 345
    edited December 1969

    Wow, looks like fun! I love these kind of renders. Now I just have to think of something!

  • HeadwaxHeadwax Posts: 9,964
    edited December 1969

    wow, what an impressive array of work so far!

    well done on the challenge sukiL, Antfarm's work is wonderful!

  • d-j-od-j-o Posts: 345
    edited December 1969

    I have my DAZling Stories cover idea, but no story title yet.

    Here is cover layout I'm trying to leave blank areas so I have room for the title and text. I'm going to put the horse in the editor and delete the legs and then add wheels to have it look like the old Micronauts horse. I'm thinking I might give the Alien rider a cowboy hat, he is wearing rusty armor. I created my rusty metal by using the blend feature.

    I think the feature I'm going to try that I've never really messed with is the toon and/or non photorealistic render. It should give me a nice pulp magazine look!

    metal-3.jpg
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  • DiomedeDiomede Posts: 15,125
    edited October 2014

    kashyyyk said:
    I have my DAZling Stories cover idea, but no story title yet.

    Here is cover layout I'm trying to leave blank areas so I have room for the title and text. I'm going to put the horse in the editor and delete the legs and then add wheels to have it look like the old Micronauts horse. I'm thinking I might give the Alien rider a cowboy hat, he is wearing rusty armor. I created my rusty metal by using the blend feature.

    I think the feature I'm going to try that I've never really messed with is the toon and/or non photorealistic render. It should give me a nice pulp magazine look!

    Great concept Kashyyyk, and nice rust. The challenge that Antarra coordinated has some great tips and tricks for both the non-photorealistic renderer and for YAToon. It has paradise in the title and you can find a link to it in the sticky for the challenges. Ironic that Antarra's wisdom has been invoked here and for custom brushes yet Antara says this month's parameters are out of her comfort zone. Well done, SukyL!

    I am going to abandon the wolf man in favor of a different antagonist because hair does not do well in the toon or nonphoto renders, in my experience. I will still make the antagonist a humanoid, but I will use the magnet tool to deform the head, because that is the tool that I said I will use. I will post some screen grabs of the magnet toolbox and some of my related observations.

    Edit: Here is the thread with tips for YAToon and for the non-photorealistic renderer. http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/26828/

    Post edited by Diomede on
  • DiomedeDiomede Posts: 15,125
    edited October 2014

    OK, so here I am trying a tool that I don't normally use, the magnet tool in the vertex modeler. It looks like an upside down magnet along the top menu. Here are a couple of observations. The default radius of attraction of 0.333 was way too large for my purposes, and I would think in general would be too big. Also, you need to choose whether you want the attraction to only affect the selected vertexes or not. Finally, there are 4 settings for the type of attraction - cubic, linear, spiky, and bumpy.

    My project. Instead of a wolfman, which would require hair that does not render well in the toon render or the non-photo render in my experience, I have decided to do an alien render or maybe a monster or zombie or something. I will continue to play with the magnet tool for a little while before I make a final decision.

    1) Loaded my base male figure and its skeleton
    2) Entered the vertex modeler. Selected a vertex and turned on symmetry.
    3) I selected a group of vertexes on the side of the head. I checked "attract only selected vertexes", "bumpy", and set the radius of attraction to 0.013 initially. I had to adjust the radius a lot as I went along.
    4) I found that using the views with the directional cameras gave me better results (or more control) than using the directors camera. That may be due to my inexperience.

    Here is a screenshot of an alien with the double bulbous head. Not necessarily sticking to that.

    Edit: Or, maybe it will be the attack of the Mouse-Men ;-)

    mm_3_magnet_head_alien.JPG
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    Post edited by Diomede on
  • DiomedeDiomede Posts: 15,125
    edited October 2014

    Been playing around a little more. I now have my base alien Cyclops dude in a spacesuit. This is the toon version. Now that I see it, I don't think I will do toon or non-photo. We'll see. If I don't do toon or NPR, I think he needs a clear helmet bubble over his head.

    Anyway, his belt, zipper, and collar are textured with a shader made up of a mixer of a metal and some rust. I don't suppose that you can really tell in the toon style render.

    Beware the alien cyclops toon. One pic is toon, and one is not.

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    Post edited by Diomede on
  • sukyLsukyL Posts: 251
    edited October 2014

    Hi everyone! I'm back from my trip and my nearly 48 hour sleep deficit is repaired. It's so exciting to see everyone running with the theme! Great work all!

    diomede I'm really studying your rusty shader work. It's looking really good so far. I liked the wolfman a lot (super impressed by your modeling), but that deformed head shape is amazing! Love where that's going. Now, I just hope that rusty robo-doohicky you mentioned doesn't violate the TOS.;-) [edit] Alien is too cool!!!

    Silene Yay! :-)

    kashyyyk Awesome! Your layout is exactly what I was talking about with the exciting POV and mixing of the genres. Rust is looking good too. I had to look up micronauts. Can't wait for horse wheels. Pleeeaaaaassseeee put a cowboy hat on your alien rider! I'm so glad you're thinking about trying out the non-photorealistic or toon rendering. That's something I've shyed away from and would love to see it in action. About the title text, I've even seen some pulps where the scene overlaps and interacts with the main title.

    headwax I stopped by Renderosity before coming here. Glad to see you back here, thanks so much for helping out over there. Definitely work on booksbydavid!

    Now, I really want to see if someone takes me up on the saucy airships (I made that genre up)! :)

    I'm going to update the Commons with links to your show off the action here then get started on planning my own scene. Keep up the great work!!!

    Post edited by sukyL on
  • d-j-od-j-o Posts: 345
    edited December 1969

    diomede64 said:

    Great concept Kashyyyk, and nice rust. The challenge that Antarra coordinated has some great tips and tricks for both the non-photorealistic renderer and for YAToon. It has paradise in the title and you can find a link to it in the sticky for the challenges. Ironic that Antarra's wisdom has been invoked here and for custom brushes yet Antara says this month's parameters are out of her comfort zone. Well done, SukyL!

    I am going to abandon the wolf man in favor of a different antagonist because hair does not do well in the toon or nonphoto renders, in my experience. I will still make the antagonist a humanoid, but I will use the magnet tool to deform the head, because that is the tool that I said I will use. I will post some screen grabs of the magnet toolbox and some of my related observations.

    Edit: Here is the thread with tips for YAToon and for the non-photorealistic renderer. http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/26828/


    Thanks for the link, I'm going to check it out now.
  • sukyLsukyL Posts: 251
    edited December 1969

    head wax said:
    wow, what an impressive array of work so far!

    well done on the challenge sukiL, Antfarm's work is wonderful!

    Thanks! I added the rusty shader and the mechanical element in honor of our new challenge sponsor. The AntFarm!!!, awesomeness, right?!

  • evilproducerevilproducer Posts: 9,050
    edited December 1969

    There's some really cool stuff you all are doing.

    I decided that for this image, the area that I have not done much with is using the 3D Paint tool to paint an actual texture. Sure, I've used it quite frequently to create black and white distribution maps and such, but no to really paint a texture.

    So, to start with this image, I have the old DAZ Skeleton freebie. The general geometry isn't that bad, but the teeth suck bad. I have been painting teeth textures with the paint tool. The screen cap is the work I was doing to make a bump map. I did have to dial it down a bit when I added it to the shader.

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