February, 2016 New User 3D Art Contest “Lighting” (WIP Thread)

dracorn

SGTGhost777 said:

Wasteland Garage

The biker in the garage is a little disheartend by the news he has just received.

I have just over one year of experience with digital art and I would appreciate any feedback that is offered.

You need additional light on the disheartened biker to make him stand out.  I had to look for him to find him.  Perhaps a little white light directly on him to bring him foward while the green background recedes.  Also, you can darken the green of the garage, or maybe consider making the inside of the garage true lighting with green accents to draw the eye to it.  Move the robot to the right, because he and the biker seem like one object. 

The orange tint to everything is very interesting, making it seem a little alien.  However, I think it is a little to over-saturated, and appears garish.  Make it more subtle, because it is hiding the detail in the scene and taking away the depth. 

You might want to consider zooming in towards your characters.  Yes, I know you have a great background, but we the viewers are so far away it's hard to see the emotion.  I had the same problem with my chess players.  I wanted to show them in a lifeboat crammed with stuff in the middle of the ocean while they played chess.  But I lost the story because I was too far away.  I had to come in close and then the personality, the action and the story could be revealed. 

Think about this idea:  you could completely change the point of view to the inside of the garage looking out.  That way you are up close and personal to the biker and see that action, and next you see his companions and finally the middle of nowhere landscape.  Right now it's the other way around.

 

dracorn

evilded777 said:

dracorn said:

This is my last render for the evening.  I decided to get the lighting right while I play around with creating morphs to fix the coat.  I found that the texture I chose for the captain just wasn't working for him.  It seemed flat and obscured some of the detail.  So I replaced it with another and am much happier with it. 

Then I struggled with some dark shadows on the captain I didn't like.  Most notably is his finger casting a shadow on his chin/neck that looks weird.  I used several linear point lights w/o shadows to soften the vertical shadow on his sleeve and bring in a little more light to his face.  I tried a point light between his hand and face, but either the shadow was still too dark or his face became too light.  Here is a limitation of 3Delight - a light addition won't make a shadow go away as in real life.  I had to settle for an ok medium and decided I will do a little postwork to soften the shadows. 

I discovered that the bishop was hidden in the shadow of a rook, so I played with the arrangement of the black pieces on the right so that the bishop is now prominently lit.  I raised the light in the lamp to showcase the pieces a little more. 

I can't twist the lamp any more, because it results on unwanted shadows on either the sailor or the captain.  So with maybe a little more tweaking, the light is about where I want it.  I have some nice backlighting from the moonlight I like. 

Never mentioned the title, but this is "Bishop Takes Queen."

@dracorn: I really like your image, and your process.

Are you only using the one point light in the lamp? Mightn't it be easier to rig some other lights to augment that light rather than trying to beat it into submission to make it do everything you want? You could aim some spotlights so that they overlap with the point light and don't produce ungainly shadows.

I love it the way it stands.  The one keylight (if it is indeed one light only) is producting great illumination where you want it.  Using more lights just might make it a little easier. Also, you could dim that point light and make those shadows less distractring.

Have you thought about any rim lights for your actors? They stand out pretty well... but a little enhacement couldn't hurt.

I like the rim light idea. 

You know, it took my husband to tell me that the shadows actually looked good.  The most unflattering shadows are on the captain, and that vertical shadow looks like the bars of a cell - as though he is trapped.  Now I kinda like them.  I may make them slightly more subtle in postwork, but I am not going to eliminate them.  Thanks for your feedback.

dracorn

Kismet2012 said:

dracorn said:

This is my last render for the evening.  I decided to get the lighting right while I play around with creating morphs to fix the coat.  I found that the texture I chose for the captain just wasn't working for him.  It seemed flat and obscured some of the detail.  So I replaced it with another and am much happier with it. 

Then I struggled with some dark shadows on the captain I didn't like.  Most notably is his finger casting a shadow on his chin/neck that looks weird.  I used several linear point lights w/o shadows to soften the vertical shadow on his sleeve and bring in a little more light to his face.  I tried a point light between his hand and face, but either the shadow was still too dark or his face became too light.  Here is a limitation of 3Delight - a light addition won't make a shadow go away as in real life.  I had to settle for an ok medium and decided I will do a little postwork to soften the shadows. 

I discovered that the bishop was hidden in the shadow of a rook, so I played with the arrangement of the black pieces on the right so that the bishop is now prominently lit.  I raised the light in the lamp to showcase the pieces a little more. 

I can't twist the lamp any more, because it results on unwanted shadows on either the sailor or the captain.  So with maybe a little more tweaking, the light is about where I want it.  I have some nice backlighting from the moonlight I like. 

Never mentioned the title, but this is "Bishop Takes Queen."

Great expressions.  I love the smug look on the sailor's face and the look of dismay on the Captain.

 

I noticed in your early shots showing us the setup that the water has slight ripples.  Perhaps a slight tilt to the camera angle to tell the viewer that they are on water?  Or maybe tilt the boat slightly either towards or away from the camera?

 

The water came with the Jolly Boat, and has a surface morph so that the inside of the boat isn't flooded.  So there is no way to turn the boat, and I have the camera angle the way I want it.  But I do agree that the water needs to be brought out.

The water prop is pretty small, but I also have Ocean Wide, which is what I wanted to use in the first place, but it "flooded" the boat.  I'm thinking I could add Ocean Wide to make the horizon more distant and increase the water in the picture, but I will have to lower it on the Y axis so that it is below the bottom of the boat.  I can play with the surface color of Ocean wide to blend it with the Jolly Boat water prop.  I'm hoping it's dark enough so that there isn't a line where one ends and the other begins (possibly more post work).

I was planning on painting in the reflection of the moon along the water in post work anyway.  The moonlight is coming from the port side of the boat.  While I'm at it, I could also add some highlights here and there to bring out the ripples.  Maybe a spotlight or two may do the trick for me.

Belaal

I did not much like the dust field surrounding the main character. Felt like it took away from the presence I was trying to give her.  So, I moved it back to just encompass the background.

 

 

Kismet2012

Belaal said:

I did not much like the dust field surrounding the main character. Felt like it took away from the presence I was trying to give her.  So, I moved it back to just encompass the background.

 

 

She does stand out from the background.

IceDragonArt

dracorn said:

Ice Dragon Art said:

Okay this is a rough draft.  3Delight - Uber environment with sky 8.  I darkened the Uber environment lights quite a bit to make it nightime using darker grey and blue greys.  I have point lights on the top of the staff and along the lightning bolt.  It needs..... something more.  Or less lol. Not sure where to go with this, I would kind of like to make the circle glow a bit more but have no idea how to make that happen. I feel like the edges need to be darker.

Ok - let's see what we can do to make this one pop!

Lightning puts out considerable light - try adding a linear point light in the middle, and widen the Falloff End to cover the tree, and make the Falloff Start wide enough to touch the wizard's side.  It should be lighting up everything around it, so the light bathes both the tree and the wizard, casting dramatic shadows all around.  If that's not dramatic enough, aim a spotlight from the center of the lightning towards the tree.  As this lighting brightens up the scene, you may need to lower your UE2 lighting so that the shadows remain dramatic. 

Secondly, some wind effect seen in the hair or the back or side of the robe would also add to the drama (maybe use longer hair?), perhaps as a result of the power of the lightning bolt.  Picture the scene as a movie in your mind - go all out Hollywood - what would you expect to see?  Is your wizard straining because of concentration, or does he have a wild look of glee?  Wide eyes with furrowed brows and a wide open smile may accomplish this.

Vary your arms a little - have one higher than the other, and bend the elbow of one to make the pose less symmetrical.  These can be subtle changes. 

Complement it with a body pose where his waist is twisted and his back is arched (hide the robe while you do this to make it easier):

Start at the pelvis, and bend it.  This will pull his legs off the ground.  Re-select G2M and rotate to put his feet back onto the ground.  Now he is bending over.  Select the lower abdomen and bend it back slightly (not enough to straighten him out) and twist it a little bit.  Select the upper abdomen and do the same.  Now select the chest and do the same.  Rotate the whole character so his feet are facing to the side and his chest is twisted in the direction you want.  You can also adjust his head - twist the neck and the head, even use side to side on head.  Eyeball it until you get what you want - this will make him less stiff.   

Am I seeing one of Jepe's effects?  Add one to the tip of the wizard's staff - or maybe bump up the emitted light so that the glow is radiating off of it the same way you in crease the light in the ring.  Pick a color other than white or blue to contrast, perhaps a warm color.  Its light radiating onto the wizard's arm and side of his head will provide a great contrast to the blue-white of the lightning.  Maybe consider changing the color of the ring as well to contrast.  Try orange as a complementary color to the blue to really make it pop.

While you're at it, a little more glow to the eyes would be good as well.   

 

Thank you!  That was exactly the kind of advice I needed.  I just ran into a blank wall in my head lol. I"ve had this idea in my head for a couple of months and just couldn't move forward and even start it,  I didn't know what to do with it lol.  Will be working on this more over the next several days.

 

Shinji Ikari 9th

My latest version is rendering as I type this, but my mind/heart not with it.  We lost my uncle sometime this morning. Sorry about bringing it up, but it's been hard from the time that my cousin and I found him about seven hours ago. Please don't let this distract from the purpuse of this thread.

Shinji Ikari 9th

Here's my latest version.

P.S. Please don't let my last post distract everyone from what we're here for.

h_habash

Shinji Ikari 9th said:

My latest version is rendering as I type this, but my mind/heart not with it.  We lost my uncle sometime this morning. Sorry about bringing it up, but it's been hard from the time that my cousin and I found him about seven hours ago. Please don't let this distract from the purpuse of this thread.

Please accept my condolence Shinji.

h_habash

This is the adjusted rener where the pointlights been moved abit closer to the middle kids to give them brighter view, I also rufflrd the boys hair as much as the hair morph control provided.

Freelight

Kismet2012 said:

dracorn said:

This is my last render for the evening.  I decided to get the lighting right while I play around with creating morphs to fix the coat.  I found that the texture I chose for the captain just wasn't working for him.  It seemed flat and obscured some of the detail.  So I replaced it with another and am much happier with it. 

Then I struggled with some dark shadows on the captain I didn't like.  Most notably is his finger casting a shadow on his chin/neck that looks weird.  I used several linear point lights w/o shadows to soften the vertical shadow on his sleeve and bring in a little more light to his face.  I tried a point light between his hand and face, but either the shadow was still too dark or his face became too light.  Here is a limitation of 3Delight - a light addition won't make a shadow go away as in real life.  I had to settle for an ok medium and decided I will do a little postwork to soften the shadows. 

I discovered that the bishop was hidden in the shadow of a rook, so I played with the arrangement of the black pieces on the right so that the bishop is now prominently lit.  I raised the light in the lamp to showcase the pieces a little more. 

I can't twist the lamp any more, because it results on unwanted shadows on either the sailor or the captain.  So with maybe a little more tweaking, the light is about where I want it.  I have some nice backlighting from the moonlight I like. 

Never mentioned the title, but this is "Bishop Takes Queen."

Great expressions.  I love the smug look on the sailor's face and the look of dismay on the Captain.

 

I noticed in your early shots showing us the setup that the water has slight ripples.  Perhaps a slight tilt to the camera angle to tell the viewer that they are on water?  Or maybe tilt the boat slightly either towards or away from the camera?

 

Maybe switching the lamp light to soft shadow with a short fall off, pulling back the camera and widening the lense angle to place your characters within the middle two thirds of the frame. Just enough so you can see the fall off on the water. Then try building a 50 infinite light dome with each light a dark sky blue with a setting of one and 50 percent shadow. It should give a feeling of being marooned on a boat.

Kismet2012

Shinji Ikari 9th said:

Here's my latest version.

P.S. Please don't let my last post distract everyone from what we're here for.

I love your changes.  The different coloured lines on the floor would help navigating this structure.  The change in lighting and the soldiers armour help them standout from the background and those lighting props in the centre of the ceiling are nto distracting.  Well done.

 

My condolences to your and your family.  I know what a shock a sudden, unexpected death in the family can be. 

Kismet2012

h_habash said:

Here is the second sucessful render to my scene, I've changed the point lights to linear point light in the wall lights which I belive it changed the room lighting to better, I've changed also the light prop, added extra props to the scene, now it looks like a real or closer to a kids room especially with Two boys fighting together

The kids are much easier to see know.  The only down side I can see in moving the lights is now the white blanket on the upper bunk is a bit bright.  It appears to be reflecting the lights.

evilded777

Shinji Ikari 9th said:

Here's my latest version.

P.S. Please don't let my last post distract everyone from what we're here for.

This is such a huge improvement. For now, my condolences.

Saphirewild

Here is the begining of my 2nd entry WIP

Any and all advice is so welcome with this one as I am kinda drawing a blank as what I can do to make this one pop more....... and also did this in 3Delight and lighting is distantlight colored blue for night affect shadows tweaked a bit to give moon glow affect

h_habash

Kismet2012 said:

h_habash said:

Here is the second sucessful render to my scene, I've changed the point lights to linear point light in the wall lights which I belive it changed the room lighting to better, I've changed also the light prop, added extra props to the scene, now it looks like a real or closer to a kids room especially with Two boys fighting together

The kids are much easier to see know.  The only down side I can see in moving the lights is now the white blanket on the upper bunk is a bit bright.  It appears to be reflecting the lights.

Yes you're right, I've missed fixeing it before I start rendering the scene, I'll fix this soon. Thanx Kismet.

evilded777

3DRender the home of Jeremy Birn, a Technical Director for Pixar Animation and author of Digital Lighting and Rendering (currently in its Third Edition). His book should be owned by everyone who wants to learn about lighting 3D space.

One of the greatest things at Jeremy's site is an archive of Lighting Challenges, where you can see the same 3D scenes rendered by different people, view discussions about lighting these scenes, and even download the scenes yourself for practice (although I think most of these do not contain textures, so you'd have to do the surface materials yourself).

Kismet2012

Saphirewild said:

Here is the begining of my 2nd entry WIP

Any and all advice is so welcome with this one as I am kinda drawing a blank as what I can do to make this one pop more....... and also did this in 3Delight and lighting is distantlight colored blue for night affect shadows tweaked a bit to give moon glow affect

Did you apply any kind of light emitter to the lightening?  The lightening should be providing light to this scene.

 

Here are some Google images of lightening strikes at night:  https://www.google.ca/search?q=images+of+lightning+at+night&safe=images&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjGlJTn7O_KAhWGlB4KHetFB1wQsAQIHg&biw=1400&bih=763&dpr=1.2

 

Szark has an excellent tutorial on UE2 lights here that includes how to use the light for emissions.

TabascoJack

evilded777 said:

3DRender the home of Jeremy Birn, a Technical Director for Pixar Animation and author of Digital Lighting and Rendering (currently in its Third Edition). His book should be owned by everyone who wants to learn about lighting 3D space.

One of the greatest things at Jeremy's site is an archive of Lighting Challenges, where you can see the same 3D scenes rendered by different people, view discussions about lighting these scenes, and even download the scenes yourself for practice (although I think most of these do not contain textures, so you'd have to do the surface materials yourself).

This.  His book contains a lot of useful information. 

The 3drender site has the archive of lighting challenges - the thread has migrated to cgsociety.org and has some of the newer challenges as well.

 

Saphirewild

evilded777 said:

3DRender the home of Jeremy Birn, a Technical Director for Pixar Animation and author of Digital Lighting and Rendering (currently in its Third Edition). His book should be owned by everyone who wants to learn about lighting 3D space.

One of the greatest things at Jeremy's site is an archive of Lighting Challenges, where you can see the same 3D scenes rendered by different people, view discussions about lighting these scenes, and even download the scenes yourself for practice (although I think most of these do not contain textures, so you'd have to do the surface materials yourself).

Thanks so much for sharing this with us Evilded I am checking it out now be back in a couple months jking so I can everything out on this web site wow so much!!!

IceDragonArt

Shinji Ikari 9th said:

My latest version is rendering as I type this, but my mind/heart not with it.  We lost my uncle sometime this morning. Sorry about bringing it up, but it's been hard from the time that my cousin and I found him about seven hours ago. Please don't let this distract from the purpuse of this thread.

So sorry Shinji we had an unexpected death a couple weeks ago as well.  Its never easy..

From the Ashes

Here's my full render, thanks for the feedback to improve it.  Took a while to get it done it kept stopping around 30% done.  Didn't realize when I upgraded to 4.9 it by default stops rendering in IRay after 2 hours.  Once that was pointed out it rendered fine. :-)

Infiltrator - Rendered in DAZ 4.9, in IRay

Lighting:  Key Spotlight on David main character, 5 Emissive IRay Lanterns. Going for a gaslight look.

lucasdestoop

evilded777 said:

Shinji Ikari 9th said:

Here's my latest version.

P.S. Please don't let my last post distract everyone from what we're here for.

This is such a huge improvement. For now, my condolences.

I agree. Much better indeed.

My condolences 

Freelight

Shinji Ikari 9th said:

Here's my latest version.

P.S. Please don't let my last post distract everyone from what we're here for.

I like the way the picture tells its own, immediately making the mind wonder that whatever is on the other side of the door is more frightening to the soldier on guard than whatever he is supposed to be guarding against. I feel like making a version myself. A low level volumetric cloud maybe a good experiment to bring touches of the floor light. Rendering times will be much slower though. You could fake it by using two tiny thin 2d planes with a glow shader the same colour as your lights. In Carrara you can add the shader and place an aura filter in the scene tabs. Though I don't know what software you use. Again nice scene.

lucasdestoop

With a few changes

 

Linwelly

Ice Dragon Art said:

Okay this is a rough draft.  3Delight - Uber environment with sky 8.  I darkened the Uber environment lights quite a bit to make it nightime using darker grey and blue greys.  I have point lights on the top of the staff and along the lightning bolt.  It needs..... something more.  Or less lol. Not sure where to go with this, I would kind of like to make the circle glow a bit more but have no idea how to make that happen. I feel like the edges need to be darker.

Sonja, as I happened  to struggle with a similar problem and just found a very nice solution i will give you the link to the 3delight laboratory thread place where the problem is adressed. Its not trivial but once understood its a lot of fun: http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/comment/1011047/#Comment_1011047, starts with the top entry, more info in the following. I will post my WIP where I put it in use ASAP

dracorn

lucasdestoop said:

With a few changes

 

Oooooohh... I like that color subtlety coming in.  One question, is she supposed to be looking at her subject?  Her head is thrown so far back it appears she is focusing on the ceiling.

dracorn

From the Ashes said:

Here's my full render, thanks for the feedback to improve it.  Took a while to get it done it kept stopping around 30% done.  Didn't realize when I upgraded to 4.9 it by default stops rendering in IRay after 2 hours.  Once that was pointed out it rendered fine. :-)

Infiltrator - Rendered in DAZ 4.9, in IRay

Lighting:  Key Spotlight on David main character, 5 Emissive IRay Lanterns. Going for a gaslight look.

Looking much better! 

Question:  Is your spotlight rendering the shadows?  Shouldn't the shadows be coming from the lamp behind him - I don't see any. 

I also think a little more light on the robot will bring him foward from the background where he is still blending in.  The contrast between the robot and the bright lamp it is holding makes the lamp look like it is floating.

 

Linwelly

Here is a WIP with that Glow effect, see link in my post above, so yes highlander still sticks his hands into the stone... but just to show what's possible, there is no postwork involved and its done in 3dlight

rufuslong

evilded777 said:

3DRender the home of Jeremy Birn, a Technical Director for Pixar Animation and author of Digital Lighting and Rendering (currently in its Third Edition). His book should be owned by everyone who wants to learn about lighting 3D space.

One of the greatest things at Jeremy's site is an archive of Lighting Challenges, where you can see the same 3D scenes rendered by different people, view discussions about lighting these scenes, and even download the scenes yourself for practice (although I think most of these do not contain textures, so you'd have to do the surface materials yourself).

Thank you very much for the links, had a look at the site & am sure I will learn a lot from it.