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Comments
First question..Is the skull suppose to be like a crystal skull? Second question....does the skull have a sort of a skin/bone texture layer in/on it? Third question... does the skull have a uv/texture map that you know of?
I have an idea in my head depending on what you want to achieve and what is available to work with. :)
Oh, may I ask what an emissive geometry shell is?
The skull has a bone texture map applied.
A geometry shell is a thin layer with the same shape as the original figure/object. You can apply any texture to this shell and can also control the distance to the original figure; in this case I made it transparent and turned emission on. I am using Iray by the way.
I tried to get a green halo surrounding the skull but without hiding it.
Oh ok..was just wondering if you might be aiming for more of a crystal skull like image and glow. I have zippo experience in iray, so I would be of no help there.
This is just texture ideas and might help you figure it all out. :) I was just wondering about the texture and thinking would it be possible to make your bone texture more of the green glow you are thinking of by making it a florescent type green?
Like for instance, take the bone texture make it a grey scale so you have the highlights, shading, details of the original bone texture and then applying a green florescent type color to it as a overlay layer. or you could switch it around and use the grey scale bone texture layer as the overlay layer instead depending on what your preferences would be. A person would have to experiment around to see what they liked. You would create this in PS, Gimp, or another paint type program with layers ability of course. :)
Thinking as I go here and trying to remember what I have learned from the videos I have watched so far on lighting. I have no idea if this would even work or achieve your desired results. Have you tried placing a light source (like a point light) inside the skull, making it green, and turning it on? My understanding is it radiates in all directions. I would think you might have to take the greyscale bone map and make it an opacity (use in the opacity slot) and adjust the sliders from there.
I hope this helps you figure out something. :) Wished I had a skeleton now to try this out on. LOL
Hi Rafmer
I tried to see if I could get a geometry shell to work and had no luck. I also thought a primitive sphere might work as the "glow" you were looking for. That didn't work either.
You might have better luck turning the skull itself into an emmissive light but I haven't tested that myself. (Just occured to me while I was typing)
Thank you both for the suggestions, I will try them!
You're welcome! I wish you the best of luck and hope something works out! :)
Hair can be a problem when you don't know what to do with it.
Saint George and the Dragon
Okay, I am late getting this submitted; just haven't had the time to work on it this month. I have had a lot of fun learning about lighting though! I've attached files of the image with different lights on. Hopefully that will help with advice for improvement. I am using 3Delight, Daz Studio 4.9.
Let me know what you all think! Thanks in advance.
I managed to get something decent; details on the skull are almost washed out but the glow is quite close to what I had envisioned.
I tried different approaches of what you both suggested and finally made the skull emissive, tweaked the bloom settings and added a bit of glowing smoke.
I, also, added a bit more of drama to the image.
This is a good idea to make a render with the different lights. It really helps you to see what each individual light is doing and whether or not it is actually adding anything to the overall image.
Good job on getting the effect you wanted. Sometimes we just have to compromise to get the look we want.
First of all, great story! St. George and the Dragon is classic to start with. You have all the clues to tell us what is going on. St. George's pose looks in balance, and I don't see any awkwardness. All in all, this is very good, so I'd like to give you some suggestions to really make this render pop.
You may wish to move the position of the lady. I know she is standing beyond the fight, but the angle makes it appear that she is sitting on the dragon's back.
I see that you have a good grasp of lighting, so I don't need to give any technical advice here. Giving us so much information is great, thank you. When all the lights are blended, the result is soft lighting and shadows... as though it's overcast outside. While that ambiance is fine, the result makes the image a little bit flat. I think this render would really benefit from darker shadows to add drama and increase depth. I suggest you save your scene with a new name to preserve the original and do some drastic experimentation. Add some poetry to your lighting - the divine halo is great, by the way, casting St. George in warm light. Cool the light for the dragon, and darken the shadows on him. This creates the idea of good in the light and evil in shadows (very medieval by the way). The lady waiting to be rescued could be in mid range.
You may also want to consider different camera angles. Add a few more cameras and do experimental renders. Sometimes we find a better angle (or an unexpected one) can make all the difference, and transform a good render into a great render.
That turned out really good! Glad you were able to get it closer to what you envisioned. :)
How do you do "fog lights" with 3Delight? Thanks
Skull looks much better.
You can use the UberVolume shader by Omnifreaker that comes free with DAZ Studio. There is an included Help Tutorial with tips on how to use this shader.
AoA also has Atmospheric Affects Cameras that only work with his AoA light sets.
Editted to add: This is currently in Fast Grab: Set the Mood
Thank you all for your help and comments, I've submitted that final render to the entry topic. Good luck to all of you!
I'm still struggling with my spider picture. Not sure that one will be done in time. However, I like how this one came out and may submit it. It's called "Firestation Fun". The lighting isn't complicated (though lighting two characters facing opposite directions is a challenge sometimes!) The light's softness plus the colors in the picture remind me of a Norman Rockwell painting. It's actually for a romantic comedy series I'm writing, set in a small Midwest town. More details in my gallery here: http://www.daz3d.com/gallery/users/299490/
This is the other one I'm thinking of submitting, more character sketches from my writing. It's called, "Make It Stop"
Those are nice renders Llynara. Good luck Rafmer!
I made some changes to mine and may put it in the contest. I am just happy at this point to learn what I have. :)
Thanks, Liana! I'm new too, and the learning curve can be huge sometimes, but these contests really help. We can do them together, as well as lament about falling off the bandwagon over in the Dazaholic thread, LOL.
You're welcome! Sounds good to me. :) Many times it is good to have someone to work with and fall off the bandwagon together. I think I started something there.LOL :) My final image with the new title.
Very nice, Liana! The lighting looks great!
One more possibility. I started this one as a joke. It's Gianni 7 and I taking a vacation to the Streets of Tuscany. He's about to kiss my hand, which is sore from all the clicking I've done lately buying stuff on sale! Love how the lighting came out with Uber Environment2. If you click on the full pic here: http://www.daz3d.com/galleryimage/image/107158/enchanted-in-tuscany1_full.jpg, you can see the sunlight glistening a little off the golden threads in the dress. The only thing I'm not wild about is the background positioning. Might change the camera angle or move them to another part of this breathtaking set. Best purchase I've made so far, aside from my dear Gianni 7! LOL
I have been working on several lighting projects. My problem with DAZ3D seems to be that I must render and re-render and every light after the 8th or so does not count. And any area blockers cause many unforseeable problems. I have not used many spotlights before, so it is interesting getting it to work. Gobos I need to try again. I was trying to get wave effects with it to no effect.
I have also been using Cararra but I am new to it, so I will not post all my work of shame only a few.
So far I have had the best luck with spotlights, area lights over water in DAZ3D in 3delight mode with detail turned up, and then doing a secondary landscape in from Terragen 3 Paid Edition, and painting / using fog from that software package.
The following images are there because: 1) this is about as far as I have come with Cararra in terms of mist and oceans. 2) This is my furthest in render for a strange scene with a lot of glowy lights. 3) This was my real project of the week. And displays what I have been trying to do. It included some photoshop work to stitch everything together and I used a hard filter opacity layer to bring out the colour. No colour touch ups yet.
My main question is how do you get large objects to render in Carerra without it crashing. Is this enough light? Does it need more?
Time for me to take my first image again. I wasn't really satisfied with it, so I changed quite a few things.
I switched positions on camera of the two fencers, changed their poses for a more dynamic ones and increased the overall luminosity of the scene.
There are a few things I would like to improve; things like the hands grip on the saber, the reflections on her hair and maybe rotate the scenario to avoid those pillars behind him. But it's a 10+ hours render and I would like to get your opinions and feedback first if you would be so kind. Thanks in advance!
Mkatzberg- Love your fog, looks very good. I have Carrara too but haven't played with it at all yet. I like your pirate ship a lot. Are the people fleeing the ship or sneaking up on it?
Rafmer- I think the poses look good, so does the lighting. A different angle may help communicate the action and the story behind the action better.
Thanks for the comments. Here's a quick and dirty render to show where I'm going. Still needs a couple more props and postwork.
Now that it has a window, I'm wondering if I can do something with that.
Great work Fyreheart, you may use one of the following options, 1st is to use a skydome, and the 2nd is to create a new Plane primative and change the surface with landscape or whatever you find suit your story (I guess you know how to do that if not I can show you).
A stardome would look cool. Might want a little bit of light on his face (maybe the eyes). Perhaps a reflected light? I know he's supposed to be in shadow, but the face seems almost too dark. There's a great expression there that gets lost. Love what you're doing with the light on his hand, the envelope, and the table.
EDIT: Might be my monitor at work. His face looks ok here at home. Sorry!