Carrara Challenge #26: “Caustics and Nautical”

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Comments

  • wgdjohnwgdjohn Posts: 2,634

    Go Misty... go... I noze you can crank one out. :)

  • MarkIsSleepyMarkIsSleepy Posts: 1,496
    edited July 2016

    I ended up completely abandoning my nautical entry - I just got back from vacation and then got distracted playing with Substance Painter and discovered I just had no interest in continuing it right now.  

    Instead, I whipped this up today as a last minute caustics entry.  Kodos and Kang were modeled in Blender and textured in Substance Painter then imported to Carrara where I set up their shaders and created a simple scene for them.  The disco ball is a vertex sphere with all edges set to sharp and a created-from-scratch mirror shader appied to create all the caustics effects, the dance floor is just a plane and the DJ booth is just three cube primitives.  The caustics made the drool light up like it is glowing, which I did not intend, but I kind of like how it looks so I kept it for the final.

    Scene Setup (I have two gel light sets in the scene but I hid them for this screenshot for the sake of readability - only shown in the scene are the spotlights pointing at the disco ball):

    scene setup

    Render with no caustics:

    render no caustics

    Render with caustics turned on:

    render caustics

    The final with post-work is also attached - all I did was take the final Carrara render with the caustics, adjust the color and levels a little bit, add some fog, a text scroll and some vignetting.

    SceneSetup.JPG
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    KangKodosDanceParty_Render_NoCaustics.jpg
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    KangKodosDanceParty_Render_Caustics.jpg
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    KangKodosDanceParty_Final.jpg
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    Post edited by MarkIsSleepy on
  • MistaraMistara Posts: 38,675
    wgdjohn said:

    Go Misty... go... I noze you can crank one out. :)

     

    lol.  thanks! 

    2 more 3 day weekend days to go

  • MistaraMistara Posts: 38,675

    think ise gonna have to lower my modelling ambitions laugh

    wah what time is it?

    home all day tomorrow, haz caffeine.  and ice cream and vodka.

    yknow whats kewl, when it looks like ocean spray left water drops on the camera ...
    and lightning bolts.

  • HowieFarkesHowieFarkes Posts: 606
    edited July 2016
    3DAGE said:

    hi Msteaka :)

    if you make the ocean higher resolution,. you'll get more detail,.,.use the "Sampling grid" options to set the resolution to 1024 for the best detail

    If you add the ocean to a replicator,. and set the replicator to "seamless"  it'll tile the ocean. (it does the same with terrains)

     

    In the ocean shader,. you can use any shaders to add bump or colour ,. Noise/Fractal noise,. can work well for bump.

    You can also add terrain elevation shaders to add some white tops, ...only on high points

    Here's an image I did many years ago with a high resolution ocean primitive also using fractal noise in the bump channel to add the smaller ripples to the water.

    swimmers.jpg
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    Post edited by HowieFarkes on
  • MistaraMistara Posts: 38,675

    simple desert shader makes a nice ocean floor.

    ocean primitive harder trying for balance between replicating and not looking too patterned.

    lil changes but i broke it.JPG
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    Doc19.png
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  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,326

    Great stuff!

    Mark... Wow!!! That is SO cool! I'm kinda glad you've dropped the nautical idea! LOL Gorgeous renders!!!

    Howie... that is an excellent render! Love it!

     

    MistyMist said:

    simple desert shader makes a nice ocean floor.

    ocean primitive harder trying for balance between replicating and not looking too patterned.

    Always a balancing act ;)

  • MistaraMistara Posts: 38,675

    ocean shader, could take on cast of the sky?

    grey dreary sky - dark water
    happy blue sky - happy blue water

    fresnel magic?

     

  • chickenmanchickenman Posts: 1,202
    MistyMist said:

    ocean shader, could take on cast of the sky?

    grey dreary sky - dark water
    happy blue sky - happy blue water

    fresnel magic?

     

    Take a look at the ones already included in Carrara shaders and work from there.

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,326

    ...and be sure that "Reflections" are enabled in the Render Room ;)

  • MistaraMistara Posts: 38,675

    starting point. 

    Doc31.png
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  • chickenmanchickenman Posts: 1,202
    MistyMist said:

    starting point. 

    That is a nice shader Misty

  • MistaraMistara Posts: 38,675
    edited July 2016
    MistyMist said:

    starting point. 

    That is a nice shader Misty

    it's the shader from the moving water tutorial on carrara cafe, smiley
    testing lil changes one at a time

    trying the fresnel.  

    and seeing if can set the froth to start it's thing at higher wave amplitude.  5ft wave amplitude ocean rendering mostly white

     

    beach is infinite plane with simple desert terrain shader

    Post edited by Mistara on
  • wgdjohnwgdjohn Posts: 2,634
    edited July 2016

    Entry Thread Closes/Voting Begins: Saturday Jul 30, 2016 23:59:59 CST (GMT-6)
    Voting Ends: Sunday, Aug 6, 2016 23:59:59 CST (GMT-6)

    No pressure... just wanted to remind anyone still grinding away a an entry.

    Speaking or grinding away... that's way my tiny brain's gears are doing... they are not that happy with my entry, it turned out too bright (a bit washed out) and wonder if I should try to change it. What to do.... hmmmm.

    Post edited by wgdjohn on
  • MistaraMistara Posts: 38,675
    wgdjohn said:

    Entry Thread Closes/Voting Begins: Saturday Jul 30, 2016 23:59:59 CST (GMT-6)
    Voting Ends: Sunday, Aug 6, 2016 23:59:59 CST (GMT-6)

    No pressure... just wanted to remind anyone still grinding away a an entry.

    Speaking or grinding away... that's way my tiny brain's gears are doing... they are not that happy with my entry, it turned out too bright (a bit washed out) and wonder if I should try to change it. What to do.... hmmmm.

     

    would go with what makes you happiest!

  • wgdjohnwgdjohn Posts: 2,634
    edited July 2016

    Simply lowering the single bulb light intensity did the trick. Hooray... got color back. [john jumps for joy]

    Note: If that disqualifies me... it's ok. While I wouldn't mind a  any place... I use these Challenges for learning and the enjoyment of using my favorite program regularly.

    Carrara is funnn!

    Post edited by wgdjohn on
  • chickenmanchickenman Posts: 1,202

    Just have to replace the picture and you should be done as the entry deadline is not past yet.

  • wgdjohnwgdjohn Posts: 2,634

    Thanks chickenman, It's up now.

  • DiomedeDiomede Posts: 15,125
    edited July 2016

    i have not liked my pogress thus far on my stone age nautical coracle entry.  here is  WIP on a classic mad scientist scene.  have to add the mad scientist and clutter, but i like the caustics thus far. 

    mad scientist wip.jpg
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    mad scientist wip assemble room.JPG
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    Post edited by Diomede on
  • wgdjohnwgdjohn Posts: 2,634

    Great. I'll have to experiment some more with Caustics to see how you have it effectings only some parts of the scene and not others... I'm guessing the two lights only shine on the 3 tubes and 3 green/clear objests then the bulb light is to light the rest of the scene. Like I said I'm guessing.

  • MistaraMistara Posts: 38,675
    edited July 2016

    tinkering with the Fresnel, think i understand it now. mebbe, lol
    I turned off every other shader option i could think of to isolate the Fresnel.
    Fresnel truly changes the shader with the angle of the camera.
    using the same exact shader settings, i only tilted the camera. makes a big diff

    was fun, but not working out the way i wanted.
    goal was to make the cast of the sky tint the ocean water. 
    (would be interesting if could plug the realistic sky as an hdr light!)

    shifted gears and started with mirror reflection, enabled blurry and put cranked it to 100%
    slow render but looks nice i think.

    tried a few absorption renders, tried using the 'environment' option under the shader's dropdown list. by environment was hoping meant the sky.

    100% blurry reflection on the ocean primitive seems promising.  my final render will take a while, can't wait for the last day - Saturday.  

    the last 2 images i didn't change the shader at all, changed only the realistic sky preset.

    01 163 isolating fresnel1.JPG
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    02 163 isolating fresnel2.JPG
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    05 163 isolating fresnel fresnel rotate camera angle1.JPG
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    06 163 isolating fresnel fresnel rotate camera angle3.JPG
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    04 163 isolating fresnel fresnel depends on camera angle1.JPG
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    163a environment.JPG
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    163b absorption.JPG
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    Post edited by Mistara on
  • wgdjohnwgdjohn Posts: 2,634

    Work your magic... Mistyfy me. :)

  • MistaraMistara Posts: 38,675
    edited July 2016

    lol. 

    2 days to model something new

     percolating fresh pot o hazelnut coffee, should keep me awake couple more hours.

    somethin i can sweep, sweep operation always fun

    ssippss

    witcher3 soundtrack for background music.

    gonna hafta save the flying fortress for another challenge.

    what about stairs. kinda stairs for a plaza

    ... stairs always useful, unless can fly, dragons dont use steps

     

    Post edited by Mistara on
  • HeadwaxHeadwax Posts: 9,964
    diomede said:

    i have not liked my pogress thus far on my stone age nautical coracle entry.  here is  WIP on a classic mad scientist scene.  have to add the mad scientist and clutter, but i like the caustics thus far. 

    yes there is a certain glow happening, adds some kind of resonance I think

     

  • MistaraMistara Posts: 38,675
    edited July 2016

    wipp, wipp it good. 

    lathed instead, lathing so fun

    resize grid
    insert poly line
    turning off the bottom grid, less confusing
    wanna make a lil lip on the step top, worry about rounding later

    used lathing instead of the sweep.

    highlighted polyline drawing, 
    menu - Construct, lathe
    curser changes to plussign
    in right pane set number of sections, i set 120
    then click on the edge the lathe will circle around (axis!)

    pouf

    selected edge, loop, think i want to extrude along
    extract along
    to tuck the edge under before deleting all those triangles
    select one edge, then the + under selection, 
    deselect that one extra selected vert, hold ctrl key, marquis that lil bugger
    delete key - poof gone

     

    cept the top all triangles

    would be better delete all those tris, stick a primitive there instead?

    quads have to be square shaped. or can be funky shape?

     

     

    01 set grid , 6inch height per step.JPG
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    02 polyline draw.JPG
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    03 number of sections.JPG
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    04 lathe.JPG
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    05 don't want all that on the bottom.JPG
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    06 extract along.JPG
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    08 delete key.JPG
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    09 all tris on top.JPG
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    Post edited by Mistara on
  • DiomedeDiomede Posts: 15,125
    edited July 2016

    Misty - It would increase polygons considerably, but if you really want to get rid of the tris, you could check smoothing and then convert.  Not worth it, probably.  Cool lathe.

     

    Here is the mad scientist with and without caustics.  No other difference.  As Headwax noted, the glow effect makes it.  Wgdjohn is correct about the lighting in that I have some lights which only affect part of the scene.  Content used is the figures and their clothes.  G2M and G2F are in the tanks.  Genesis is holding up the needle.

    with caustics.jpg
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    without caustics.jpg
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    Post edited by Diomede on
  • MistaraMistara Posts: 38,675

    finishing up on the stairs. came out higher poly than i'd planned.

    lowered the poly count on the top of it
    select every other edge for delete
    backspace to delete (delete-key did something weird)

    technically is a quad now. not a square quad. 

    step-lip too much, want to move it inwards.
    select a face, loop
    so now i want to move it along it's normal.how to move them inward? in wings i would scale.
    scale x and y? - seemed to work
    okay, doing the same for rest of the steps

    i'm having trouble deselecting a single face

    doing the x,y scaling thing on the inner ring of edges
    wuhoh, loop isn't working on funky quads, formerly tris
    oh well, will keep it mind for next challenge.

    want to bevel the step-lip a bit,
    choices:
    -Quick Fillet tool lets you extract a selected edge along the edges next to it. The result is similar to using the Fillet tool set to range 0
    -Extract Around tool lets you create two edges parallel and around the original selected edge, or edges. Unlike the Quick Fillet tool, the original edges remain
    -Extract Along tool lets you extract a selected edge along the edges next to it. This tool is useful for fine-tuning a model, for example adding a loop of edges around an existing edge

    picked Extract Along, then the x,y scale again
    pretty sure isn't the right way to do this, something simpler than x,y scale?

     

     

    01 selected every other edge for delete.JPG
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    02 technically is a quad.JPG
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    03 move relatice was it.JPG
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    04 huh.JPG
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    05 trouble deselecting a single face.JPG
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    06 scale x,y the edge loops.JPG
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    07 extract along, scale x,y 1 inch.JPG
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  • chickenmanchickenman Posts: 1,202

    That is looking nice now Misty

  • wgdjohnwgdjohn Posts: 2,634
    edited July 2016

    Misty, Kewl... Ohhhhh can hardly wait for the next phase.

    Diomede, Looks great.

    Post edited by wgdjohn on
  • MistaraMistara Posts: 38,675

    okay, next phase.

    i did the shader domains here: http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/comment/1417536/#Comment_1417536
    was just too many missteps to clutter this thread broken heart

    setting up the shader/mat zones

    Assign Shaders to Shading Domains
    Opening model in Shade Room - there nothing under Shader Domains.

    From the dropdown list, under Shading Domains, - new master shader
    for each mat zone/shader domain
    Bottom right, shaders tab to rename the shaders, shader1,etc
    click instances tab, highlight model to bring back the top,right shading tab


    **side note; would like to learn what Projection Mapping does

    next - uv templates.

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