August 2022 - Daz 3D New User Challenge - Open Render Challenge
DAZ_ann0314
Posts: 2,849
New User's Challenge - August 2022
Sponsored by DAZ 3D
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 render 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
"Open Render Challenge"
The Open Render Challenge is also referred to as a "free" month, where you can concentrate on using and combining the skills you learned in the past few challenges.
Please be sure to mention in which Open Render Challenge (Beginner or Intermediate) you wish to enter into when you add your image to the thread.
If you would like to review the previous topics and information you can find the topics/threads here:
Beginner/Intermediate: Composition/Instancing, & Duplication
Beginner/Intermediate: Lighting/Light Effects
Beginner/Intermediate: Posing/Posing II
Beginner/Intermediate: Using Props/Push Modifiers/Deformers
Beginner/Intermediate: Scenes and Landscapes/Working Modularly
Beginner/Intermediate: Portrait Rendering/LIE
I will be checking in as will the rest of the Community Volunteers to try and help with anything you all may need.
For a list of the current challenge rules, please see this thread: Challenge Rules
Closing Date: August 31st, 2022
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Comments
As usual I'll open up the month :)
Admittedly, this one drove me crazy to achieve the proper contrast & color balance in Photoshop but, eventually I (hopefully) got the inspiration on how to do it.
Intermediate challange, rendered in Daz Studio/Iray.
Summer in the city
Intermediate Challenge. This was created for an illustrated story I am creating and the biggest challenge was trying to light it. I wanted a noir-ish vibe and an image that intrigued the reader while also suggesting a story. Rendered in DAZ.
I would like to make some observations about your render, so please take them as constructive criticism:
1) The smiling girl: Something strange seems to be going on with her dress, both on her stomach, and her breast.
2) The girl in the dress: It seems strange to have such a pose in a moving vehicle. I think that it would look more natural if her hand, instead of being on her hip, would be on the metal bar in front of her.
3) The guy with the hat: The hat seems that it could a bit of adjustment. Maybe consider removing it? It's up to you.
4) The guy in front of the smiling girl: That grip looks incredibly uncomfortable. Just try doing it yourself. It almost feel like dislocating your shoulder. Consider the grip...with the thumbs up.
great start here, I like the setting and the details, but I feel the light looks to artificial (now this could be summer in London or some other rainy / cloudy place but I think for the summer feeling a sunlight type of light would be good. if this is iray you want to adjust you light temperature a bit to the warmer tones. you could do it as well in tone mapping but personally I woudl advice using tonemapping as last option
Thanks a lot for the tips! I indeed had a bit of a hard time with the color balance and lights on this one. I'll try to make it a bit more...summery :)
Intermediate challange (1st entry), rendered in Daz Studio/Iray. I added a slight yellow/white tint as well as some brigthtness/contrast balancing.
Hopefully, these changes make it better. At least, the cat looks 10% fluffier!
Summer in the city
How are you lighting the scene? I'd think sharper shadows would do a better job of saying "hot sun".
I am just using an HDRI, admittely, at this point, the easier thing would be to change the title. :)
But, that's a really good point. I hadn't consider it. I'll try to change the "Environmental Light Resolution" for sharper shadows, then.
Hey, Daedalus-7-- thanks for the feedback! You make a lot of good points.
Morning All!
Love the renders so far!! I did notice a couple of things if you don't mind some suggestions:
@Daedalus-7
I actually like the bright lighting on the scene, but it is rendering in cooler tones.
There is a lot of reflection on her legs that is causing some strange markings on her right leg
The top of the dress is folding between and under the breasts, have you tried simulating it with dForce using a timeline animation?
The details on the cat are getting lost with him posed fully sideways, I would suggest rotating him a little but towards the front edge of the step to make the details pop a little more.
@redbankmick
Nice moody feel to the render!
The girl in the front is having issues with the dress, it may work better for you using a timeline simulation with dForce.
I do agree with the arm pose on the gentleman in front of the first girl, it looks a little awkward.
The lady in the back, I would suggest having her grab one of the metal poles with her right arm to have her interacting in the scene a little more.
Also the rear lady's dress has some slight crumpling at the crotch and might need to have smoothing applied or increased to correct it.
Dawn Brings Safety
Intermediate Challenge
Thanks for looking. Comments are welcome.
First of all, thanks a lot for all the tips!
I was using a geoshell to give extra shine on the legs, I have disabled now certain parts that don't need to shine.
I also fixed the strange underbreast behaviour of the cloth by re-running dForce.
I also moved the cat closer to the camera and rotated it, hopefully it's a bit more visible.
Finally, I also used an HDRI with sharp shadows. Hopefully, now it looks better.
Intermediate challange, rendered in Daz Studio/Iray.
Summer in the city
Hi @Daedalus-7, I really like your image (even the original post), but for some reason the shadows are confusing me. Where is the source of light? I feel like the light source is coming from the top left, but the shadows on the right stair hand railing seem to show a light source coming from the top right side. Other than that (and it could just be me), I like the stronger shadows. They make it look like it's a very sunny, summer day!
@redbankmick - I agree with comments from @Daedalus-7 and @Elliandra. I don't have anything extra to add, but I'm looking forward to your next image. :-)
@tommyskypilot - I really like your scene. The colours and lighting give it a nice mood. Small things that I noticed, 1) the leg looks like it is too far into the stomach area, 2) the mist edges look a little too round, like little dome tops. Can you make the edges softer or fade out more?
Great job everyone!
@Shimrian Thanks for the appreciation :)
The light is coming from the sun (I am using just a skydome HDRI), and it's up and slightly right. The shadow on the left rail comes from the pot and the plant standing on top of it.
And...yes, I agree that the sharper shadows make a big difference.
Morning!
Great renders!!
@Daedalus-7
The updated render looks great I am loving the new drape on the dress and the crisp shadows!!
*Squees at the cute kitty*
@TommySkyPilot
Love the mood and atmosphere you have going on here! A couple of things jumped out at me:
The fog as mentioned by Shimrian
The spear sticking out of the ground has a "new" look to it, while the rest of the items in the scene look more aged. Maybe drop the specular on it or darken the color on it.
On the Female there is something going on with the back of the hair like the details have sunken into the head or something like that.
I also agree with the legs, but if you make the breasts a little bit smaller it should help with this without having to redo the pose.
Intermediate challenge
"Checkmate"
Bases are from Chess for Genesis 8
I really like the colors. Almost a water color effect.
Dawn Brings Safety (2)
Intermediate Challenge
Thank you @Elliandra and @Shimrian for the observations. Sometimes it's difficult to remain objective after a few hours of working on an image. That's what I like about this communiity. So I made some adjustments.
I liked the way the ground mist looked on the right side of the image and I wanted to keep that intact so, I made two renders, one with and one witihout the ground mist, layered them in PS and used simple masking to adjust the mist domes over by the equipment.
This is a great place to learn and get feedback.
Thanks for looking.
Title: It's a Kind of Magic
Intermediate challenge,
-Portrait, lighting effects, duplication and instancing, posing II
Pure Iray render. No postprocessing.
Here's my entry for the intermediate challenge
I have altered the textures of the Girls' outfits
Constructive feedback welcome
Try a different camera angle instead of bird eyes view and use depth of field, use HDRI lighting in combination with scene lights, try using dynamic poses instead of static ones. Dforce simulation would also improve the clothing
To see what I mean, check my entry: It's a kind of magic
Morning!!
Gorgeous renders guys keep 'em coming!!!
@TommySkyPilot
The new render looks great! The adjustment to the fog in the background makes it feel cohesive across the scene!
The adjustment to the hair looks great as well!
@Darksoul
Lovely render I really dig the magic effects and movement you have going on!
Her eyes look like are looking at something other than what she is creating in her hand, maybe have them point down more so she appears to be looking at the summon?
Her hair looks a tad stiff as well, I think it's because there is not enough separation at the ends of it like you would get with naturally moving hair. You can add dForce to non dForce hairs as well and use the dForce Cloth Engine, most require a custom weight map though. The results however are really, really nice once you have them nailed in! If you would like to know how to do this, let me know and I'll whip up a tutorial!
@Sueya
Lovely scene hun!
I agree with the dForce on clothing, either that or double check to see if there are movement morphs for the skirts to pose them a little more
For the posing, I would rotate them to be facing each other a little more, use the fingers grasp at a low setting on the front female's left hand and the back female's right hand to give them a more natural relaxed look. The front female also needs her feet bent down a little more, so they are flat on the floor with her boots.
I like the crisp shadows on the figures, but they are not carrying down to the ground. Is that a background plane or a physical set in the scene?
The first thing before rendering a scene should always be the question: what I wanna say, what is the story, what is the meaning.
Than you can put the focus on the important things of the scene.
You can do this with the perspektive, d.o.f.,lighting, expressions and gestures.
I'm starting my criticism a little bit general, because many pictures here in the forum have basic difficulties and thinking about some basic rules can always help.
Now a little bit more specific.
If the story is, that two friends meet each other, than the question is, are they happy about it.
If there are emotions, it's not possible to see them, because of the camera angle.
Two faces but none of them is crearly visible. I could go on like this forever, but just you know what you wanna say with your picture.
The point is, if there is a failor in the beginning the whole rest is meaningless.
An example for a picture would be:
One person is greating another one. the greeted person is happy about it. The happy person with the smile in her face would be my center of the picture. the other person I can show from behind or from the side.
If the scene is outside, I would give the smiling Person sunlight in the face but a little bit from the side to get some interesting shadows. If the street has no importance for the scene, than use a shallow depth of field to put the attention of the viewer on the smiling face. It's always nice to have some reflective things in the background specially when the BG is not in focus. For example a window or some metall etc. If you work with human skin than a little reflective surface can make the difference between a flat and boring picture and something interesting to look at. A little Reflection in the eyes is one of the most important things in a picture with a human face.
Gestures should look natural and if necessary dynamic. Shadows should never been seen as a simple result of existing light, but as something important to support the story. You can create contrast which is also used to lead the viewer to the important parts of the picture, for example the face.
The point is, that if you respect some basic rules (and there are many more than the few I was talking about) than all your pictures become more interesting and not just one.
Hello Everyone :- ) Here is my entry
Title: The Competition
Beginner Challenge - I worked with Posing, Portrait Rendering, Lighting and Composition
Comments and critique are most definitely appreciated. I am also wondering if anyone knows of any specific tutorials that deal with how to light scenes that have multiple characters/multiple areas of focus. Thanks so much!
Like I wrote for the other picture, first you have to know what is the story behind this picture.
It could be a dance studio with a teacher who is happy with his tango master student, another couple who is jealous and a poor little girl who has no partner.
If this would be the story, you should change a lot of things.
First of all, no one would ever dance tango without shoes and a naked upper body. It is unthinkable.
Give the room the athmosphere of a dance studio. A big mirror a small piano, a big window which brings interesting light inside. Everything is better than a plane grey wall. If you have a wall put some pictures with dancers on it.
Create depth not just with the position of the people, but with the differences between foreground and background.For example lights, shadows, colors and focus point, all this and more you can use to create depth.
An even lit room looks mostly boring. Create a special atmosphere with a window, mirrors and small ceiling lamps. The girl in the back could be in the darker part of the room, but one part of her face could get light from a window or a lamp. If you have dark cloth in the forground and a dark background, create a rim light from behind or make
the background bright or/ and out of focus.
If there would be a mirror in the background, put a window with a nice view or some interesting light at the opposite wall.
There are countless possibilities to enhance the quality of a picture. But first it should be clear what the picture is about. It can be a story, a mood, an atmosphere, a special place or time. Once this is clear you can work on it with the help of perspective, light, focus and image composition.
@isis4444merlin
Posing: Looks great, nice job
Lighting: It's pretty tough to make lighting stand out when you have that many figures. Looks consitent though.
That grey wall needs "something". Maybe even just photoshop some fancy text.
Title: Gamer & Nerd sisters
Intermediate challenge
Lighting, posing, emission, L.I.E , instance ( for ligting the wall RGB ) surfaces, geometry editor, etc...
I think that all objects in my scene are free ( mostly from RDsity )
Monitor keyboard and mouse are i think low poly but i menaged to crete RGB on them.
no postwork
@aki3d
Thank you so much for your thoughtful and thorough critique. I will be working on this further so it is nice to have so many suggestions.
Ahhhhhh and Urrrrg....the grey wall. Let's just call it what it is...my wall of frustration. I choose to use it after experimenting unsuccessfully for days with a mirror wall and a wall of windows with a beautiful outdoor scene. Both gave a much better appearance except, when it came to adding enough lights to light all of the characters well and in an interesting fashion. I was getting too many reflections from floor, glass and mirror making the lighting look crazy and un-natural. So, I through up a wall so that I could control the lighting enough to get it in here and get some feedback. This is why in my first post I asked if anyone is familiar with any tutorials about lighting scenes with multiple characters/multiple focuses. Seems to me there must be a best practices for something like this? :- )
And, I do have a very clear story in my head. In fact you got most of it :- )
The only major difference is that the story in my head takes place at a Modern dance studio. The master choreographer/teacher has brought in a talented Flamenco dancer because he wants to blend his modern style with some flamenco technique. There is a jealous couple and the lone girl in the back is fretting that she might lose her partner to the new girl. All of the dancers from the modern studio are dressed appropriately. I might add a shirt to the central male dancer but shoes are not a must for him, in this case.
Thanks again for the feedback. As I go back and tackle the lighting I will also think about the other elements you mentioned.
@alewis478
Thank you for your very helpful feedback. I love to pose and I really appreciate that you said that lighting can be tough when lighting so many characters...I have found it to be a frustrating yet a wonderful challenge. I am really attracted to doing these multi-person scenes so I am hoping that someone here might be able to point me to some specifics for lighting this type of scene. As for my lovely grey wall, please see my above explanation to aki3d. I appreciate you both calling me on it!
I'll put this one in the Intermediate challenge just to pretend I'm more confident in it than I actually am. :)
Meet Alicia Sparks and her fire squirrel companion, Fiammata. They are part of the growing universe I have where a few D&D campaigns I run are taking place, and since she's about to be introduced to a group a picture seemed warranted.
A Spark and a Fire
Alicia Sparks is a woman in her late twenties with a penchant for travel. Originating from the wild islands in the south, she comes touting new stories, interesting skills, and most captivating of all - her fire squirrel companion, Fiammata. While even Alicia is unsure what exactly Fiammata is, they have been the best of friends for just over two decades and have made their way up to the windswept north to find their next adventure. Naturally, Fiammata wouldn't want to hurt her human companion, and so she wouldn't want to burn the only clothes Alicia has.
This was rendered in Daz Studio. The fire and smoke effects were added in Photoshop because I couldn't for the life of me figure out how or if I could do flames and smoke within Daz.
I kept running into hardware limits (my computer is powered by a ten year old i7-2700k CPU, so a bit hard to work with). I ended up having to export the background, Alicia, and Fiammata each as separate layers and loading them on top of each other. This was my first real attempt at working with custom emissive surfaces, which was a fun time.
I'm excited to hear any feedback!
I have added depth of field to my image and changed the pose and camera angle slightly.
I don't think my PC can cope with dForce so I have tried to use the garment handles to alter the skirt poses instead