October, 2021 - Daz 3D New User Challenge - Atmosphere, Ghosts and Special Effects
Kismet2012
Posts: 4,252
New User's Challenge – October, 2021
Are you new to the 3D World? Are you at the beginning stages of learning 3D rendering? Have you been around for a little bit but feel you could benefit from some feedback or instruction? Have you been around awhile and would like to help other members start their creative journey? Well then come and join the fun as we host our newest challenge.
New this year, we are breaking down each month into 2 different challenges. A Beginner Challenge and then also an Intermediate Challenge.
So which "Challenge" should you choose?
Follow the Beginner Challenge if you are:
- New to the New User Challenges
- New to Daz Studio
- Newer to 3D Rendering in General
Follow the Intermediate Challenge if you have:
- Participated in the New User Challenge for awhile
- Know the basics of Daz Studio and would like to learn more in depth topics
- Been using 3D Rendering Applications for awhile and feel comfortable with learning Intermediate Topics
*Please be sure to list in your post which Challenge level you are participating in*
Closing date for both is October 31, 2021
For a list of the current challenge rules, please see this thread: Challenge Rules
They apply for both versions of the challenge.
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Comments
Ghosts, godrays and goblins...oh my.
Beginner - "Atmosphere"
Creating atmosphere in art is more than simply using some godrays, fog or dust in an image. It is creating a feeling; a sense of place or time. It needs to enhance and bring attention to the subject matter.
Tutorials
for DAZ Studio Iray:
http://sickleyield.deviantart.com/journal/Tutorial-Creating-Dust-And-Atmosphere-in-Iray-522291773
http://rawart3d.deviantart.com/art/Raw-FogCam-535959358 free product
https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/334586/tutorial-adding-atmosphere-with-a-depth-canvas - this tutorial explains how to use a Depth Canvas
https://www.moonscapegraphics.com/post/2016/02/11/adding-an-atmosphere-in-iray - includes a sample scene you can download via Dropbox
DAZ Studio 3Delight:
http://www.omnifreaker.com/index.php?title=UberVolume
Linwelly's Simple Atmosphere Tutorial for 3Delight ( may also work in Iray ): https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/comment/1654176/#Comment_1654176
for Carrara:
Atmosphere Test Scenes for Carrara http://www.sharecg.com/v/33708/related/5/3D-Model/Atmosphere-Test-Scenes-for-Carrara
https://carraracafe.com/atmosphere-tutorial/
for Bryce:
Artist’s guide Sky Lab page 759
Bryce: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahiyabdeUBI DOF in Bryce by David Brinnen
Bryce 7.1 Pro Easy - Spooky trees in Dan's fog https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-lDcqH78Is
Bryce Basics - Free content cloud over Big Sur https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bs9490Co-XE
Atmospheric Basics:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VyLOZWevi8g A Blender tutorial but the first 46 seconds really give you an idea of what atmosphere can be like.
What are some other elements for creating atmosphere:
https://prezi.com/dmvb-nlsj_wr/creating-mood-in-art/
http://www.zevendesign.com/mood-lines-giving-designs-attitude/
An article in DS Creative Magazine (Page 40-41)
Don't forget to look at previous themed contests where information and hints are available.
October 2015's contest
October 2016's contest
October 2017's contest
October 2018’s contest
October 2019’s challenge
October, 2020's challenge
There are many products in the DAZ store which can be of help. You are not required to purchase any of these products to create your images. They are simply being listed for your convenience and/or inspiration. The promo images are also excellent examples of atmosphere using props and/or lights. Below is just a small sample.
DAZ Studio - Iray
Iray Distance Mist
Iray Distance Fog
Atmocam2
Iray Storm
Plane Easy Atmospheres
Fast Fog Iray 2: Electric Fogaloo -
IG Iray Dawn to Dusk 2 Atmospheric Lighting
FSL Rigged and Morphing Atmosphere Props and Shaders
Fog Camera
Time Inside Light Gels Bundle
Cinematic Light FX plus Atmosphere
Epic Props: Godrays & Volumetric Light for Iray
DAZ Studio - 3Delight
Above the Fog for Iray and 3Delight
Simple Godrays
Expanded Godrays - Celestial Bodies
Heavy Rain for 3Delight and Iray
Poser
Widow’s Woods: Forest
RDNA Atmospherics – Fog Vol 1
Spooky Light Gels for Poser
Bryce
Bryce ATMO
Some other items that may be of help in this Challenge:
The Golden rules of rendering can be found:
Bryce http://www.daz3d.com/golden-rules-composition-helpers-for-bryce
DAZ Studio http://www.sharecg.com/v/67783/browse/21/DAZ-Studio/Golden-Rules-Camera-Prop-v1.5
Also, DS has a built in thirds golden rule.
Here are various links to other things that may help you in this month's challenge. Credit is given to Szark for this wonderful thread.
Tutorials by Szark https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/2765/time-for-sharing-what-i-have-no-idea/p1
Here are some examples of images using "Atmosphere" provided by CV L'Adair.
Heart Of Winter
In The Misty Moonlight
The Night Watch
Dubious Shelter
Nocturnal
Here are some examples of atmosphere using lighting.
Strange Discovery
Yuzuru Full
Yuzuru
This was my home once
Intermediate Challenge - Ghosts and Special Effects
Working with Magical Elements and Forces
In this challenge you can use lighting, effects, atmospherics and special effects to bring your artwork to the next level whether it is adding magic to your favourite witchy scene or turning your favourite beloved characters into a ghost set to haunt people’s dreams
Muelsfell Storm of Magic Iray FX
Jepe's Effects - various products
Special FX for Daz Studio
Soldiers of Magic: Serpio
Ultraviolet Shaders, Lights, and Props
Iray Ghost Shaders
Vengeful Spirit for Genesis and Genesis 2 Female(s)
Special thanks to L'Adair for creating an example image containing ghosts.
Here's hoping I'll get a chance to take part in this one. The fan on my laptop is having to be replaced, and I have no idea on how long that's going to take because a new one had to be ordered. Only after the fan is replaced can we find out if any other damage was caused by the overheating that was happening.
Seems I'll be the first one this month, so here's my freshly made entry for the Intermediate challange.
The mountain was actually done by me. I also used a sky with volumetric clouds. Then, I bound everything in a cube acting as a fog volume.
Finally, I added a "few" touches in Photoshop and, as a last touch, I added an extra layer with the "oil paint" effect tuned down to a minimum, just to add a little something.
Also, it's a 4K image so, enjoy!
Eamon Mountain
EDIT: Rendered in Blender.
Crossing my fingers that only the fan needed replacing and erything else is okay.
Is this a Bryce render?
That mountain is amazing. The lighter, saturated colour of the volumetric clouds really give the mountain definition. The flying birds add interest and give the eye somewhere to land temporarily as it travels aournd the image before being drawn back to the star.
Great image. Thank you for getting us started.
Title: Divine Intervention
Intermediate
First shot at this month's entry. The first is just a straight render with no post work, the second I made some slight adjustments to the lighting and added a soft glow in GIMP; not sure which I like better. Would appreciate any feedback!
@Kismet2012 Thank you for the vote of confidence and the nice words. :)
The mountain was made and textured with Quadspinner's Gaea, then imported and rendered in Blender. Also, I worked on the project using 16-bit per channel, that might have given it a lot more dynamic range.
Ooh, really nice work with the mountain! Incredibly detailed.
@aprilshowers2065 I'm glad you liked it.
Now, please allow me to make some observations about your entry. These are, of course, just my personal opinion.
1) there seems to be too much going on in the image and no clear focus. As it is now, my eyes are drawn all over the place. It's usually better to have one focus point, the rest should just giude you there.
2) Remember that brightness and faces automatically draw the attention of the viewer. The Wings are very bright (and grabbing way too much attention). I think they should be much darker instead. Things behind a light source are dark, after all. Personally, I would think in term of a brightness gradient that goes from Light (top) to Dark (bottom).
3) The light from the magic is passing through the angel's hand. I think that using Bloom would have made the effect a lot better. Usually, I reserve bloom for when there is a direct and bright light in the image, just like in your case.
4) The demon's wings are dark, but his face is weirdly super illuminated. Overall, given the amount of light shining on it, I think it should have a better illumination (less on the face more on the wings). Also, its weapon and face are not very visible, taking away a lot of its "danger" value. Think about using a proper expression for the demon, it may improve the image by showing the danger it represents.
5) I'm not too sure about the guy on the ground and what he is doing. Is he protecting his eyes? If you maybe it doesn't seem too obvious. Personally I would make his pose a lot more dramatic.
Sorry for overwhelming you with all this, but I see a lot of unused potential in your image. Take care!
Great job, @Daedalus-7. I really like your mountain! Also, thanks for the detailed feedback you gave @aprilshowers2065.
My turn at an entry. I've been working on it for a few days, but plan to continue to work on it to improve the atmosphere and overalll image / story telling and would love any feedback and advice you can give to help me improve my skills.
Title: A trip to Planet Glise and hanging out with a friendly Bolladon!
Beginner Challenge - "Atmosphere"
I added a "before" render and "after" render that adds a pink Atmosphere / Haze to the scene. The before render has the lights increased so that they show up better with the atmosphere. No postwork yet, but as I get a better base scene I'll start on that.
@Shimrian Well, since you asked for feedback :)
Overall, I really like the direction of the image, and I think that this is a great example of atmosphere. If I had to change anything, I would just revisit the rules of composition a bit, making sure that the elements that are supposed to grab the attention are in the right place.
As I said to aprilshowers2065, you have to be careful with bright things, they really grab a lot of attention. Yes, I'm talking about the red mushrooms. I am just surprised that they don't behave like the other lights in your scene. Maybe that would help.
Just got the laptop back, and things seem to be working ok.
First render since getting the laptop back, and to start the month.
Happy Halloween! Sort of. No spooks or goblins. Different kind of creepy. Render is based on an exhibit by Tan Zi Xi-- called “Plastic Ocean”
Poor man’s Fx. Used 6 planes to make a cube for ocean environment. The ‘surface’ is transparent for iRay dome & colored so it acts as cooling filer & adds noise. Garbage instances are on three (hidden) planes: rear, middle, and foreground. No post work.
Comments welcome
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Title: Plastic Diving
App: DS 4.12
Contest: Intermediate
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Nice work by everyione so far. Like the mountain, angel -vs- demon, and the Sci-Fi render. Much more imaginative than I am. Hopefully laptop repair wasn’t much. : 0
Shinji Ikari 9th - I like the how the magic from the hands draw you towards the eyes.
Tynkere - Uh oh, is that supposed to be diving in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch? It actually looks far too clean for that. Is that water bottles in the ocean? :-)
I've been working on my positining of the different figures in my image, but unsure that the big blue and purple globual plant does enough to point you back to the explorer.
@Daedalus-7 No worries, thanks for all the detailed advice! Still playing with some of the details, but here's what I have so far.
I lowered the emissive on the angel's wings and turned on the bloom filter. Also pumped up the brightness on the demon's wings and lowered it in the veins on his arms; removed the emissive from his face entirely, so you can see it better. Tweaked the man's pose, as well as the angle of the axe so you can better see that it's well, an axe
@aprilshowers2065 Thanks for following my suggestions. I think turning the brightness down on the angelic wings made a huge difference, and the demon looks better too.
@Shimrian I'm not too sure about the zoom in, I like the long distance shot better. Perhaps reduce the emissiveness of the red mushrooms. That might help.
I can't think of a title but this is for the intermediate challenge. I did a bunch of messing about with layers and duplication, it's just a whole mess. Quite like how it turned out though
Although we generally prefer straight renders for this Challenge very minimal post work is acceptable.
I prefer your image iwith the lighting adjustments. The sky looks more saturated and the figures stand out against the background. A very subtle adjustment. I have to compare the images side by side to really see the difference.
Well done.
@Shimrian
You have a wonderful scene. I am really glad you gave us a before and after. It helps to see what you started with before adding the pink atmosphere.
Something I learned in an abstract art class is the eye is drawn to the point where the darkest darks and the lightest lights interset. I actaully didn't notice the red mushrooms until @Daedalus mentioned them. But they are an example of an intersection with something light and dark.
If you are using Daz Studio there is a built in Rule of Thirds that may be helpful.
It would not take much of a camera adjustment to make the humanoid figure the focus of your image.
Glad to see you back in action.
This is a great start.
What are your plans?
This image took lots of imagination. It takes some real creativity to use primitive planes and cubes to create a realistic environment.
Did you apply Depth of Field to this image?
Something about the perspective seems a little off. I think it might be what appears to be a large bottle behind the diver's head. I am guessing it is your rmiddle plane?
Great concept.
I find my eyes drawn to the explorer. The air ship and the flying drone help to draw my eyes back to that side of the image and then back to the explorer.
The pink atmosphere helps to tone down the brightness of the purple globual plant. If you want to remove it though you have a large tree like plant behind it that will help to balance the image.
I alos like the changes you made. The story is much clearer.
Amazing what you can come up iwth sometimes by just "messing around".
I could see this as a movie poster, book cover, or a promo image for a game.
You put her right in the middle and have the light focused on her face. This is a great example of an exeption to the Rule of Thirds. This image might not be as strong if the RUT was applied.
It isn't easy to get different poses for all those figures behind her. Great job there and the subtle glowing eyes draw your eye upwards to see the figures hiding in the shadows.
This is a great image. Thank you for sharing it with us.
@OriginalSamhain Now I'm jealous, that's an awesome image. It reminds of some fantasy artwork and it works well because you are going from Darkness (Top) to Brightness (Bottom) and the expressions on all the monsters is amazing.
If there is one thing that can be improved (but this is just nitpicking at this point) is enhancing the girl's eyes in postwork so that they pop out a bit more.