Aug 2015 New User Contest (WIP-THREAD)

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Comments

  • LinwellyLinwelly Posts: 5,956

    I think I might have got something workable for the poolside wetness.  I'm using a waterplane I have got from somewhere and I have selected a portion of it and made a new surface, then turned the rest of the surface clear and made the new part water, seems to work ok.

    Doing a test render now.

    Cheers for the sugestions and If you do come up with anything else i'd love to hear it.

    Cheers.

    Sounds like an interesting way to do it, I would definitly like to see the results.

  • ScavengerScavenger Posts: 2,674

    I think I'm calling this one done, and work on finalizing Big In Japan, but I wanted to check on if anyone had any last minute thoughts.  (It's funny, in this contest I've made what would be my most simple composition and my most complex).

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  • isidornisidorn Posts: 1,601

    I just noticed what the dog to the right is doing. Fun little detail.

  • LinwellyLinwelly Posts: 5,956
    Scavenger said:

    I think I'm calling this one done, and work on finalizing Big In Japan, but I wanted to check on if anyone had any last minute thoughts.  (It's funny, in this contest I've made what would be my most simple composition and my most complex).

    I would tone down the ambient on the grass by.. a lot, I notice you need it in a lighter tone so that the dogs can be seen but it looks to bright for me for a moonlit scene.

  • Ok here is my test render of the water on pool side.  I have got the alignment wrong, so there is some work to do there, but I looks ok I think.  I looks more like a puddle of water than just wet concrete though.

    Cheers

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  • KA1KA1 Posts: 1,012

    Ok here is my test render of the water on pool side.  I have got the alignment wrong, so there is some work to do there, but I looks ok I think.  I looks more like a puddle of water than just wet concrete though.

    Cheers

    This is looking great!! There is a "wet concrete" shader included with http://www.daz3d.com/irender-materials-architectural which you could apply to the pool edge (if you have it!) I did some test renders with it and it seems to look like it would work for what you're after. I also used a cargo net which I flattened, added a ctrl-click iRay standard water shader which made for a good wet surface with random little puddles and wet look as well, not sure what the cargo net was from though!

  • LinwellyLinwelly Posts: 5,956

    Ok here is my test render of the water on pool side.  I have got the alignment wrong, so there is some work to do there, but I looks ok I think.  I looks more like a puddle of water than just wet concrete though.

    Cheers

    Very good! I like the effect.

  • JackReasonJackReason Posts: 144

    Here is mine. Tips and comments appreciated.

  • KA1KA1 Posts: 1,012
    Hi JackReason, really nice render, my only thought would be the eyes seem to look a bit dark and the reflection in them a little subtle for the amount of light the scene has? This is just my begginer observation mind so can be taken with a pinch of salt!
  • IceCrMnIceCrMn Posts: 2,130

    I've been working on that eye thing myself.It happens when trying to use more "normal" values for white.So far, I've not found a solution :( 

  • JackReasonJackReason Posts: 144

    Made some changes to the shader settings.

  • KA1KA1 Posts: 1,012

     

    Made some changes to the shader settings.

    Perfect! From my perspective she looks human now whereas the eyes in the previous render were letting a beautiful image down! Great work :)

  • ChoholeChohole Posts: 33,604

     

    Made some changes to the shader settings.

    What song is it illustrating?

  • JackReasonJackReason Posts: 144
    edited August 2015
    Chohole said:

     

    Made some changes to the shader settings.

    What song is it illustrating?

    Green is the Colour

    Pink Floyd

    Post edited by JackReason on
  • ScavengerScavenger Posts: 2,674
    edited August 2015

    Ok..I'm nearing completion..a few tweaks I'll make..turn the robot weapons blue, I think so there's not so much red coloring..make a sword that you can't see shine a bit so you can see it...maybe add some "god rays" to the headlights of the car and bike...but i'd like some extra eyes here:)

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  • IsazformsIsazforms Posts: 210

    Song: Memories (from musical cats).

    DAZ studio 4.8 Iray

    postwork: GIMP

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  • LinwellyLinwelly Posts: 5,956
    Scavenger said:

    Ok..I'm nearing completion..a few tweaks I'll make..turn the robot weapons blue, I think so there's not so much red coloring..make a sword that you can't see shine a bit so you can see it...maybe add some "god rays" to the headlights of the car and bike...but i'd like some extra eyes here:)

    This has become much better, I like the damaged and overturend car and the effect of the light is far better.

    Here are some thoughts, I think you are right, there is too much re light now. when you change think about who gets which colour, as its part of your story, the godzilla has red as its basic so every red light will act as support in the mood for the godzilla, the mech girls have pink right now, basically I think its fitting and got a lovely glow, but then their basic colour ist somthin bluish, becouas of their surface and the eyes. The neons of the hous support the godzilla right now.

    I was wondering about the normal sized people, there is that guy with the bike, a reporter? he stnads there at a risky place, maybe he shoud take some cover filming from the fromt where the fence is?

    those three on the stones ore cheerleader??? what are they doing there how do they fit in yout story?

    hope this helps

  • isidornisidorn Posts: 1,601

    I think the "Big in Japan" set is crazy enough (no offense ment) to make perfect sense to have a group of cheerleaders in it. :) Not sure what advice can be giving for it. As I said, it's a crazy scene so it feels a bit like anything and everything goes in it. One thing that could be done I guess, is to completely swamp it with little things to discover when looking closer at it, like my personal favourite the popcorn eating lady on the balcony. But deadline is coming up soon so it's probably best not trying to do too much at this point.

     

    JackReason, is that plant what I think it is? The eyes look much better now btw.

  • Linwelly said:
    Scavenger said:

    Ok..I'm nearing completion..a few tweaks I'll make..turn the robot weapons blue, I think so there's not so much red coloring..make a sword that you can't see shine a bit so you can see it...maybe add some "god rays" to the headlights of the car and bike...but i'd like some extra eyes here:)

    This has become much better, I like the damaged and overturend car and the effect of the light is far better.

    Here are some thoughts, I think you are right, there is too much re light now. when you change think about who gets which colour, as its part of your story, the godzilla has red as its basic so every red light will act as support in the mood for the godzilla, the mech girls have pink right now, basically I think its fitting and got a lovely glow, but then their basic colour ist somthin bluish, becouas of their surface and the eyes. The neons of the hous support the godzilla right now.

    I was wondering about the normal sized people, there is that guy with the bike, a reporter? he stnads there at a risky place, maybe he shoud take some cover filming from the fromt where the fence is?

    those three on the stones ore cheerleader??? what are they doing there how do they fit in yout story?

    hope this helps

    I like the general tone and setting, but I cannot see Godzilla's face/head at all. It's just too dark up there. I also think the POV is too straight on. Have you considered moving the camera downward , which would help emphasize their height? At first glance I thought they were normal sized- creatures fighting. I don't get a sense of scale until I notice the other people and props in the image. (BTW: I definitely like this piece -- love the sense of action!)

  • mmitchell_houstonmmitchell_houston Posts: 2,484
    edited August 2015

    I started this about a week ago and have been playing around with it ever since, mostly as an experiemtn in iray lighting and as an excuse to use some new purchases I scored during the various summer sales that Daz had over the past few months). The moment I chose to use the Curious Tea, I could hear the old 60s music playing in my head -- and from there it became an experiment in creating something new for me: A "Busy Scene." I normally create more simple scenes, more appropriate for converting to line art. But this time I wanted to let iray do its magic, so I've been letting it run to bring out a wealth of detail and color that I normally don't explore in my art.

    NOTES ABOUT MY PROGRESS: None of my WIPs below finished rendering. Some might run for a day or so, I think I left one running for about 30 hours. But I always stopped them because they were obviously not going to make the final cut.

    WIP 1 was the initial set up which used Western characters I already had clothed and created. The woman is G2F wearing the Southern Belle dress by Wild Designs. The guy is G2M wearing the Western Outlaw by Yura and Daz Originals. The setting is, of course, the rightly popular Rosemill Moor house, with the new iray lights. There are also some props scattered about, and I don't recall what each of them are. There's also, of course, the adorable House Mouse in all his finery. My goal with this first set-up was just to put a bunch of stuff around and try to make a whimsical scene. Obviously, the composition was horrible -- the mouse was lost in the chandelier, and the setting didn't really have enough atmosphere for my liking.

    WIP 2 Just a slight modification of the original. I moved the camera to get the mouse clear of the lighting. Note the use of the square shape for the image.

    WIP 3 I decided that this image was going somewhere more than just an experiment in lighting, so I reformatted it as a narrow illustration that is suited for use as a cover on a small fanzine that a friend of mine publishes. There's a lot of space at the top so we can put the logo there when we're done. The big problem I had with this version was that it was still WAY too dark. This was also the point at which I realized that the ribbon was going right through the woman's cheek!  Yup, that needed a fix.

    WIP 4 The more I looked at it, the more thought I was getting away from the song. I needed to play up the Alice in Wonderland theme, but without getting literal. So, I added a cat to the back of the chair, and tried to give it a smile. I also moved the end-table (lower right) forward, and decided that I might as well play with caustics -- so I tossed a crystal sphere next to the chair. This image was also my first attempt at using tone mapping -- I increased the ISO and fstop, plus made several other tweaks here and there.

    Right now, I'm still not finished. I aborted the render above and have another one going for about 3+ days. Unless some feedback here really influences me to make changes, I think the next one will be my submission piece.

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  • IsazformsIsazforms Posts: 210

    No comments for me? frown

  • Sorry, lazforms. Didn't mean to leave you out. This is a nice start: I like the simplicity of the scenery -- it give it a feeling like it's actually from a play.

    I love that song -- it evokes longing and regret. Although I like this in general, I'm not seeing those emotions portrayed here. Speaking strictly in technical terms, I suggest mirroring her pose (i.e. swap her left and right hand positions). Her right arm being up like that is kind of blocking her gaze and makes her head feel trapped. Swapping would open her up, letting us see more of her. It would also minimize the effect that we're getting now, that she's looking at her hand rather than striving for some unobtainable memory of the past.

    I think this needs to be more about light and shadow, so I also suggest dimming the front light (the one that's off camera) a lot, and then moving her back, closer to the streetlight. It's a cool light source, but right now all it's bringing to the party are the funky shadows on the wall, when it would be much cooler to see those shadow shapes play across her body.

    Hope all this helps! I like what I see so far and am looking forward to seeing more.

  • ewcarman said:

    I think I'm done with this one for this month's contest. Lighting was a real challenge (when is it not?). I've got a few lights trying to soften the shadows and emphasize the actor's faces more without spoiling the effect of the overhead streetlight - or so I hope.

    A couple of things I wanted to share that really helped me out with this render this month.

    1. Deformers - This is the first time I really used them. The red cloak is for a G2F and the actor is the generic G3F. There were a couple of issues getting some areas to lay correctly. Once I exhausted all the provided morphs, I tried the deformers. They were very helpful. Here are a couple of links you might find useful.

    http://docs.daz3d.com/doku.php/artzone/pub/software/dform/dform_options

    2. Artifacts or Fireflies. I had some of these (I think you can see them in my previous WIP) and I couldn't figure out how to get rid of them. (Iray render) I found the following advice (just can't remember from where). Base Color/Texture should be RGB >= 225. Also, try Zero roughness surfaces. So, on the building where the artifacts were most prominent, I changed the base color from 205/205/205 to 225/225/225 and made the roughness surface zero. The artifacts went away. It didn't seem to change the quality of the render either.

    Good Luck in this month's contest!

    Once you get into the habit of using deformers, you will never go back! They can change your entire experience with fabrics and hair. Also, thanks for the tip about setting the base color. I'm going to try that and see if it can fix a few problems I'm having with another scene.

  • isidornisidorn Posts: 1,601
    Isazforms said:

    No comments for me? frown

    I'll offer my thoughts even though I'm still a newbie. Just a week ago I would have been happy with the picture if I had done it myself. It's a nice scene and the character has a good pose. With everything I have learned this last week, much thanks to all comments in this thread, I've started looking at renders in a different way.

    In addition to what mmitchell said above I'd advice to put more focus on the main feature of the picture, which I assume would be the woman. As it's now, my eyes are first drawn to the streetlight as it's the brightest object in the fairly overall dark scene. I would also like to encourage you to experiment with depth of field. I've only just tried it myself for the first time so I can't really give any advice on the topic, but it makes a great difference for putting something in an image in focus.

     

    mmitchell_houston, as a newbie I have nothing to add to your image. It looks good to me. Always interesting to see how a work progress, so thanks for sharing. And Iray surely can make the rendering time go nuts.

  • Cris PalominoCris Palomino Posts: 11,480
    edited August 2015

    Isazforms,

    My first impression made me ask "What is she doing?"  The second was that there seemed to much emphasis on the lamp where I think you want your emphasis on her.  The expression is not really telling me much and is in shadow.  The hands look as if maybe she's supplicating, but nothing else reinforces that, if that is the intent.

    So, then the question is, what is the intent?  Note how much explanation you have to give me to tell me what's going on.  The more you have to explain, the less your picture is doing it for you and that will tell you what you need to change so you can do with the least amount of explanation.  It's a good way to look at any scene to see how successful you are in your storytelling.

    Good luck.  I look forward to seeing how the image progresses.

    Post edited by Cris Palomino on
  • FishtalesFishtales Posts: 6,131
    edited August 2015

    Isazforms

    Could I suggest a cut?

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  • ScavengerScavenger Posts: 2,674
    edited August 2015

    I changed the robot weapons to blue, which really helped the scene.

    isidorn said:

    JackReason, is that plant what I think it is? The eyes look much better now btw.

    Probably not, as I don't know what you're refering to :).

     

    Linwelly said:
    I was wondering about the normal sized people, there is that guy with the bike, a reporter? he stnads there at a risky place, maybe he shoud take some cover filming from the fromt where the fence is?

    those three on the stones ore cheerleader??? what are they doing there how do they fit in yout story?

    hope this helps

     

    Oh, everyone in the picture is part of the story and has a reason for being there :D

     

    Linwelly said:
     

    I like the general tone and setting, but I cannot see Godzilla's face/head at all. It's just too dark up there. I also think the POV is too straight on. Have you considered moving the camera downward , which would help emphasize their height? At first glance I thought they were normal sized- creatures fighting. I don't get a sense of scale until I notice the other people and props in the image. (BTW: I definitely like this piece -- love the sense of action!)

    Good call on the head..I had thought of that earlier, but forgot to deal with it.

    The idea of the pov I'm using is essentirally Japanese fighting video games..ie: Street Fighter... My original idea had the camera down the street behind the kaiju, but I couldn't frame things up in a way I liked.

    (as for adding more bits and pieces, this is 10gig+ when loaded..I'm hitting the limits of what my computer can handle.. It takes 30sec-minute for the camera dropdown to appear when i click :/ )

    Thanks all for the comments.  I think I'll set up for some spot rendering over night for the head, then call it art :D

    Post edited by Scavenger on
  • HI Guys

    I have completed my final render for my scene, unfortuantly I ran out of time to make a few additions I really wanted to make. bit I think its not bad now.

    Let me know if you see anything really wrong.

    Cheers

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  • LinwellyLinwelly Posts: 5,956
    Scavenger said:
     
    Linwelly said:
    I was wondering about the normal sized people, there is that guy with the bike, a reporter? he stnads there at a risky place, maybe he shoud take some cover filming from the fromt where the fence is?

    those three on the stones ore cheerleader??? what are they doing there how do they fit in yout story?

    hope this helps

     

    Oh, everyone in the picture is part of the story and has a reason for being there :D

     

    Hi Scavenger, I'm sure it does, but you have to keep in mind that we don't know the story you are thinking about, and I for one don't know the video you might refer to. So your render needs to be self telling the story otherwize it will be just confusing.

  • LinwellyLinwelly Posts: 5,956

    HI Guys

    I have completed my final render for my scene, unfortuantly I ran out of time to make a few additions I really wanted to make. bit I think its not bad now.

    Let me know if you see anything really wrong.

    Cheers

    Nice! that water works really well, did you use the concrete shader or is all water on the side by the method you descibed above?

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