December 2017 New User 3D Art Challenge - Free Render Month: Wrap it up!

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Comments

  • ricswikaricswika Posts: 132
    edited December 2017
    I am not sure if GIMP offers any plugin support for .exr's but there may be several alternatives out there for this.

    It didn't until just now :) Gimp 2.9 does support .exr but lacks 'layered EXR support'. Thanks for the video link. I might have to try Affinity for $50.

    From a GIMP 2.9 review:

    • Due to EXR IO support being quite basic you cannot currently change EXR save options (like compression or alpha channel prefs). Hence images always get saved with a (rather weak) ZIP blocks compression. Because of this resulting files are usially 50-60% larger than those saved from Photoshop (I usually prefer PIZ, then ZIP compression when saving out my EXRs).
    • There is no layered EXR support. Coming (hopefully) in GIMP 3.
    • Saving 32-bit EXRs sometimes produces broken images. Mostly applies to large (over 4000px wide) images, so avoid exporting large 32-bit HDRIs. It's pretty much pointless anyway since 16-bit (half) float is plenty, so not much of a con here.

     

    Post edited by ricswika on
  • ricswika said:
    I am not sure if GIMP offers any plugin support for .exr's but there may be several alternatives out there for this.

    It didn't until just now :) Gimp 2.9 does support .exr but lacks 'layered EXR support'. Thanks for the video link. I might have to try Affinity for $50.

    From a GIMP 2.9 review:

    • Due to EXR IO support being quite basic you cannot currently change EXR save options (like compression or alpha channel prefs). Hence images always get saved with a (rather weak) ZIP blocks compression. Because of this resulting files are usially 50-60% larger than those saved from Photoshop (I usually prefer PIZ, then ZIP compression when saving out my EXRs).
    • There is no layered EXR support. Coming (hopefully) in GIMP 3.
    • Saving 32-bit EXRs sometimes produces broken images. Mostly applies to large (over 4000px wide) images, so avoid exporting large 32-bit HDRIs. It's pretty much pointless anyway since 16-bit (half) float is plenty, so not much of a con here.

     

    Well that sucks about GIMP. Figure they would know people will want to use layers with exrs.,,baby steps i guess:/

  • ricswikaricswika Posts: 132
    edited December 2017

    Well that sucks about GIMP. Figure they would know people will want to use layers with exrs.,,baby steps i guess:/

    I noticed Affinity has a 10 day free trial and supports GPU acceleration, so looks like something to try. It sucks having to learn another photo editor, but seems like it will be worth worth the effort. Affinity works a lot like photoshop from what I've read. I think PSE is about $100 with no subscription.

    Am also taking a good look at Corel Paintshop Pro.

     

    Post edited by ricswika on
  • ItsCeoItsCeo Posts: 471
    daybird said:

    After struggling with many fails and endless render times over 15h here is my momentary result.

    This inspires me to make something.  It is beautiful. Thank you!

  • ricswika said:

    Well that sucks about GIMP. Figure they would know people will want to use layers with exrs.,,baby steps i guess:/

    I noticed Affinity has a 10 day free trial and supports GPU acceleration, so looks like something to try. It sucks having to learn another photo editor, but seems like it will be worth worth the effort. Affinity works a lot like photoshop from what I've read. I think PSE is about $100 with no subscription.

    Am also taking a good look at Corel Paintshop Pro.

     

    Natron is a free compositor that supports exrs.

  • GeffeGeffe Posts: 63
    edited December 2017

    Fixed the pokethrough, a few minor alterations to poses, very slight increase to crush blacks in tone mapping, changed the dof area a little, and messed with the lighting. I also lowered some of the tile and displacement subd settings on the Terradome zones in the background, which I guess were probably adding considerably to the render time, more than likely without being visibly different.

    Dwarf Battle 02.jpg
    1920 x 1080 - 1M
    Post edited by Chohole on
  • RinelleGreyRinelleGrey Posts: 25
    edited December 2017

    I'm working on an image for a fantasy book cover. This is the best I've done so far, though it still needs a bit of work. Expression and hair needs to be tweaked, and lighting still isn't right. I also lost the laces on her shirt somehow, and can't figure out how to get them back. I'm reasonably happy with how it's going so far though.

    (Not sure how to insert my image into the post, I'm obviously missing something...)

    Edited to add the image into the post, thanks shaneseymourstudio

    ghostlightstest08.png
    700 x 1000 - 1M
    Post edited by RinelleGrey on
  • I'm working on an image for a fantasy book cover. This is the best I've done so far, though it still needs a bit of work. Expression and hair needs to be tweaked, and lighting still isn't right. I also lost the laces on her shirt somehow, and can't figure out how to get them back. I'm reasonably happy with how it's going so far though.

    (Not sure how to insert my image into the post, I'm obviously missing something...)

    Very cool image! I like the lighting especially.

    To insert a pic you first attach it and post as you have then in upper right of your post will be a gear icon you can click on and select edit post.

    Right click on your attached image and open in either another window or tab. Click inside the adress bar of that window you opened and select and copy that address.

    Go back to the window woth post open for editing and click to place your cursor where you want to place the image. With cursor in place look up where the buttons are for things like text. There is a button, top row I think, to add an image. Click that and you will get a new window. Paste the address you copied into the top field and give it a title second field. Next set pixel size, think max on longest side can only be 1200px.

    Click ok and save post.

  • daybirddaybird Posts: 655
    HighElf said:

     

    Linwelly said:
    HighElf said:

    I like the pic. What I would try to use is one of two things, to darken the scene. 1st) I would try to reduce the intensity of the HDRI

    2.) Make use the shutter time, f/stop, ISO film triangle. in this case. I would raise the f/stop or the shutter time. Maybe both.

    This is good advice, than I would as well reduce the light intensity of the building on the right, I understand you want to give the silhouette a bright frame but I have the feeling this is a bit much.

    As well I blieve that the mail light source needs to have a bit of an upward angle on the girl to achive a similar effect as in the photo, the I woudl advise to take out the bloom and just use dof, maybe in the tona Mapping turn up the Burn highlights

    Thx for all the advices and especially shaneseymourstudio for the tutorial. I hope I get it to work in gimp!! 

    Momentary I'm unable to do a lot renders. I work nearly 12h per day and this weekend we must do a extra shift.

    And I definitely need a nvidia card. Do iray render without one, is like shoveling snow with a spoon. -.-

  • Kismet2012Kismet2012 Posts: 4,252
    edited December 2017

    I am already at work on another revision of this one after seeing how it rendered with first draft but figured I would go ahead and post the initial work right out of the oven no post work.

    Some of my own critiques that I want to fix include:

    1) Shifting the pool table so that from this PoV it creates leading lines on both sides and is centered for the camera on each side instead of the right side getting cut off early by rotating the pool table

    2) Changing that expression on the girls face from something less 'meh' and getting her head leaned back more so it does not appear her eyes are rolling into the back of her head (didnt look as bad in iRay view with all the noise but final reander lets it really shine through)

    3) The lava coming out of the dragons mouth (Really would love any input as to how best turn an emissive into more of a flame effect instead of looking like glowing lava vomit

    4) Fix DoF which I forgot to change after adding the dragon so that he would be in focus. I would love any DoF tricks you guys have learned. I notice that I do not consistently get a strong DoF effect. I did not think that Daz tone mapping effect for F/Stop affected the DoF strength like it would in a real world camera (Not sure if I read that somewhere or made it up) but if that is the secret and someone can confirm please let me know.

    5) I would like to add steam around the surface of the pool table where the lava/fire is hitting to create an atmospheric effect within daz so it is not needed for post work. I welcome any pointers or links for this effect as I would really love to know how to make it without having to purchase the premade effect.

    6) Adjusting the composition so the image is not so camera left heavy

    7) Deforming the pool table so that the que ball is beginning it's journey by melting through and dipping down into it

    This is just my initial list after seeing the image right out of render. I welcome any critique/suggestions for this.

    Title: Lady and the Dragon

    Software: Daz3d 4.10

    Models: Mackenzie G8F wearing Hongyu's Bikini with a preset shader and Orphelia_Hair. DAZ Dragon 3 with default available mats and poses.

    Props: Glassware Collection for Iray Vol. 2 (Tasty beverage under Mackenzie's hand holding the pool stick). I used Liquid Pack for the lava/flame for the Dragon and one of the presets for blood to scale and set the lava/flame initially and then applied an emissive to it for the effect. I tried to tweak it to get it looking better but still feel it is lacking considerably.

    Environment: Deco Downtime

    Posing: Girls night out set

    Lady And The Dragon

    My first thought for the little dragon's fire was to turn down the emmission a bit.  When it is high it can "blow out" the prop.

     

    Post edited by Kismet2012 on
  • Kismet2012Kismet2012 Posts: 4,252
    Geffe said:

    For point 5, I know you said you don't want to purchase it, but if it comes to that, I think Sickleyield just released a product called Fast Iray Steam (or something similar) in today's sale.

    Man, this scene took ages to render, like 2 and a half hours (really testing the limits of how many G3 figures my pc can handle in one scene). Lots of pokethrough and stuff to fix, and the lighting needs work, but I'm reasonably happy with the posing and camera angle.

    You have done a very nice job on the posing.  Getting interacting characters posed isn't easy.  I did notice, however, that the right toes of your guy in blue with the shield is in the rock.  It looks like you need to put some more bend in his toes and possibly a bit more bend in this shin.

  • Kismet2012Kismet2012 Posts: 4,252
    Linwelly said:

    I am already at work on another revision of this one after seeing how it rendered with first draft but figured I would go ahead and post the initial work right out of the oven no post work.

    Some of my own critiques that I want to fix include:

    1) Shifting the pool table so that from this PoV it creates leading lines on both sides and is centered for the camera on each side instead of the right side getting cut off early by rotating the pool table

    2) Changing that expression on the girls face from something less 'meh' and getting her head leaned back more so it does not appear her eyes are rolling into the back of her head (didnt look as bad in iRay view with all the noise but final reander lets it really shine through)

    3) The lava coming out of the dragons mouth (Really would love any input as to how best turn an emissive into more of a flame effect instead of looking like glowing lava vomit

    4) Fix DoF which I forgot to change after adding the dragon so that he would be in focus. I would love any DoF tricks you guys have learned. I notice that I do not consistently get a strong DoF effect. I did not think that Daz tone mapping effect for F/Stop affected the DoF strength like it would in a real world camera (Not sure if I read that somewhere or made it up) but if that is the secret and someone can confirm please let me know.

    5) I would like to add steam around the surface of the pool table where the lava/fire is hitting to create an atmospheric effect within daz so it is not needed for post work. I welcome any pointers or links for this effect as I would really love to know how to make it without having to purchase the premade effect.

    6) Adjusting the composition so the image is not so camera left heavy

    7) Deforming the pool table so that the que ball is beginning it's journey by melting through and dipping down into it

    This is just my initial list after seeing the image right out of render. I welcome any critique/suggestions for this.

    Title: Lady and the Dragon

    Software: Daz3d 4.10

    Models: Mackenzie G8F wearing Hongyu's Bikini with a preset shader and Orphelia_Hair. DAZ Dragon 3 with default available mats and poses.

    Props: Glassware Collection for Iray Vol. 2 (Tasty beverage under Mackenzie's hand holding the pool stick). I used Liquid Pack for the lava/flame for the Dragon and one of the presets for blood to scale and set the lava/flame initially and then applied an emissive to it for the effect. I tried to tweak it to get it looking better but still feel it is lacking considerably.

    Environment: Deco Downtime

    Posing: Girls night out set

    Lady And The Dragon

    Most things you mentioned you are on a good way, I might add some dark burn markings on the table surface ( around that hole you plan)

    3) The lava coming out of the dragons mouth (Really would love any input as to how best turn an emissive into more of a flame effect instead of looking like glowing lava vomit

    you can use the opacity channel for that. depending on the "lava"prop you used for the fire hes spitting there might be already some map in the opacyty channel, with that or even if there is noe you can experiment with the opacity strength, turn it down to 50% and make a spot render go up and down with percentage depanding on what you want to have it look like

    you can as well try to make your own map for the opacity channel

    5) I would like to add steam around the surface of the pool table where the lava/fire is hitting to create an atmospheric effect within daz so it is not needed for post work. I welcome any pointers or links for this effect as I would really love to know how to make it without having to purchase the premade effect.

    If you want to buy something for that, I'd like to point you to this handy tool  by Sickleyield:https://www.daz3d.com/fast-fog-iray or even her newest: https://www.daz3d.com/sy-swift-steam-iray

    you can make those yourself as well, find some hints about the how to here: https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/comment/1654176/#Comment_1654176 ; the descrition is for 3delight and original for fog and similar things but can easily adapted to ane need of atmospheric effect

    7) Deforming the pool table so that the que ball is beginning it's journey by melting through and dipping down into it

    this largely depends on the poly mesh available of the table surface. if its just one big poly the only option is to make an opacyty pap out of the table with a black spot where you want the hole, throw that in the opacyty channel and there is a hole. If there are more poly you can try to use a deformer on the table making a dell at the place you want and then use the geometry tool to select a handfull of olys at the lowest point of the dell to make them invisible

    Black spots of burned surface you can add with a selfmade paint of burnt spots you add to the table surface with the layered image editor (LIE) play with the parcentage of how mucht the added bit will show to make the edges more natural

     

    .

    Thanks for the feedback and link Linwelly!

    I tried using the opacity like you had mentioned and did not get a result that I was happy with, unfortunately. I will keep researching to try and find what I need to do for that.

    I remember reading somewhere about LIE's but have not used them yet. Thanks for mentioning them as that gives me another tool and something to look up.

    I saw the new fog that is available for purchase and I am totally for purchasing it and think it is absolutely worthwhile to do so, however, I know that many of these products are made using techniques that users can replicate should they have the know how. I am all for supporting content creators but also want to learn how to do alot of these things myself and am not afraid to put in the research time. Often, already, I have found out many things just from the items that I have already purchased about how they are achieved and that helps tremendously being able to pick apart the settings. I am going to check out the post you linked for the 3Delight version and see what I can come up with. 

    It looks like the pool table is one big poly as the deformer tool would not work on the small section I targeted. I am curious if I am able to introduce more polys and even replicate the top plane of the pool table in order to get the extra polys. 

    Thanks so much for the feedback!

    An excellent resource is DS Creative Magazine.  There are some really good tutorials.

    There is one for LIE's in Issue 5 on Page 52.  http://issuu.com/philatdsc/docs/ds_creative_05

    and in Issue 15 on Page 38:  http://issuu.com/philatdsc/docs/ds_creative_15

     

    There is a DOF tutorial in Issue 6 on Page 48:  http://issuu.com/philatdsc/docs/ds_creative_06

    An article/tutorial on Iray Fog and Water in Issue 11 on Page 40:  http://issuu.com/philatdsc/docs/ds_creative_11

    And you might find the Geometry Editor usefull for the Pool Table's top.  Issue 14 on Page 36:  http://issuu.com/philatdsc/docs/ds_creative_14

     

     

     

  • Kismet2012Kismet2012 Posts: 4,252

    Ment to post this after work yesterday, but here's my start.

    Great start.  I am looking forward to seeing who shows up.

  • Kismet2012Kismet2012 Posts: 4,252
    daybird said:

    After struggling with many fails and endless render times over 15h here is my momentary result.

    This has a strong emotional pull to it.  I can feel her pain and disappointment.

  • Kismet2012Kismet2012 Posts: 4,252
    ricswika said:

    Title: Deco Christmas Cats

    Software: Daz Studio, Iray, Photoshop

    Made with...

    I am fairly happy with this, except:

    • the lighting on the mouse in the tractor
    • the shape of the ornimantes in closeup have straight edges.
    • I might need a few more decorations on the walls.

    Here are a few closeups from the same image:

    800

    I love this.  Very whimsical.

     

    Adding SubD to the ornaments could help with those straight edges but be warned.  It will add to the render time so I could suggest only apply it to the ornaments that are highly visible.

  • Linwelly said:

    I am already at work on another revision of this one after seeing how it rendered with first draft but figured I would go ahead and post the initial work right out of the oven no post work.

    Some of my own critiques that I want to fix include:

    1) Shifting the pool table so that from this PoV it creates leading lines on both sides and is centered for the camera on each side instead of the right side getting cut off early by rotating the pool table

    2) Changing that expression on the girls face from something less 'meh' and getting her head leaned back more so it does not appear her eyes are rolling into the back of her head (didnt look as bad in iRay view with all the noise but final reander lets it really shine through)

    3) The lava coming out of the dragons mouth (Really would love any input as to how best turn an emissive into more of a flame effect instead of looking like glowing lava vomit

    4) Fix DoF which I forgot to change after adding the dragon so that he would be in focus. I would love any DoF tricks you guys have learned. I notice that I do not consistently get a strong DoF effect. I did not think that Daz tone mapping effect for F/Stop affected the DoF strength like it would in a real world camera (Not sure if I read that somewhere or made it up) but if that is the secret and someone can confirm please let me know.

    5) I would like to add steam around the surface of the pool table where the lava/fire is hitting to create an atmospheric effect within daz so it is not needed for post work. I welcome any pointers or links for this effect as I would really love to know how to make it without having to purchase the premade effect.

    6) Adjusting the composition so the image is not so camera left heavy

    7) Deforming the pool table so that the que ball is beginning it's journey by melting through and dipping down into it

    This is just my initial list after seeing the image right out of render. I welcome any critique/suggestions for this.

    Title: Lady and the Dragon

    Software: Daz3d 4.10

    Models: Mackenzie G8F wearing Hongyu's Bikini with a preset shader and Orphelia_Hair. DAZ Dragon 3 with default available mats and poses.

    Props: Glassware Collection for Iray Vol. 2 (Tasty beverage under Mackenzie's hand holding the pool stick). I used Liquid Pack for the lava/flame for the Dragon and one of the presets for blood to scale and set the lava/flame initially and then applied an emissive to it for the effect. I tried to tweak it to get it looking better but still feel it is lacking considerably.

    Environment: Deco Downtime

    Posing: Girls night out set

    Lady And The Dragon

    Most things you mentioned you are on a good way, I might add some dark burn markings on the table surface ( around that hole you plan)

    3) The lava coming out of the dragons mouth (Really would love any input as to how best turn an emissive into more of a flame effect instead of looking like glowing lava vomit

    you can use the opacity channel for that. depending on the "lava"prop you used for the fire hes spitting there might be already some map in the opacyty channel, with that or even if there is noe you can experiment with the opacity strength, turn it down to 50% and make a spot render go up and down with percentage depanding on what you want to have it look like

    you can as well try to make your own map for the opacity channel

    5) I would like to add steam around the surface of the pool table where the lava/fire is hitting to create an atmospheric effect within daz so it is not needed for post work. I welcome any pointers or links for this effect as I would really love to know how to make it without having to purchase the premade effect.

    If you want to buy something for that, I'd like to point you to this handy tool  by Sickleyield:https://www.daz3d.com/fast-fog-iray or even her newest: https://www.daz3d.com/sy-swift-steam-iray

    you can make those yourself as well, find some hints about the how to here: https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/comment/1654176/#Comment_1654176 ; the descrition is for 3delight and original for fog and similar things but can easily adapted to ane need of atmospheric effect

    7) Deforming the pool table so that the que ball is beginning it's journey by melting through and dipping down into it

    this largely depends on the poly mesh available of the table surface. if its just one big poly the only option is to make an opacyty pap out of the table with a black spot where you want the hole, throw that in the opacyty channel and there is a hole. If there are more poly you can try to use a deformer on the table making a dell at the place you want and then use the geometry tool to select a handfull of olys at the lowest point of the dell to make them invisible

    Black spots of burned surface you can add with a selfmade paint of burnt spots you add to the table surface with the layered image editor (LIE) play with the parcentage of how mucht the added bit will show to make the edges more natural

     

    .

    Thanks for the feedback and link Linwelly!

    I tried using the opacity like you had mentioned and did not get a result that I was happy with, unfortunately. I will keep researching to try and find what I need to do for that.

    I remember reading somewhere about LIE's but have not used them yet. Thanks for mentioning them as that gives me another tool and something to look up.

    I saw the new fog that is available for purchase and I am totally for purchasing it and think it is absolutely worthwhile to do so, however, I know that many of these products are made using techniques that users can replicate should they have the know how. I am all for supporting content creators but also want to learn how to do alot of these things myself and am not afraid to put in the research time. Often, already, I have found out many things just from the items that I have already purchased about how they are achieved and that helps tremendously being able to pick apart the settings. I am going to check out the post you linked for the 3Delight version and see what I can come up with. 

    It looks like the pool table is one big poly as the deformer tool would not work on the small section I targeted. I am curious if I am able to introduce more polys and even replicate the top plane of the pool table in order to get the extra polys. 

    Thanks so much for the feedback!

    An excellent resource is DS Creative Magazine.  There are some really good tutorials.

    There is one for LIE's in Issue 5 on Page 52.  http://issuu.com/philatdsc/docs/ds_creative_05

    and in Issue 15 on Page 38:  http://issuu.com/philatdsc/docs/ds_creative_15

     

    There is a DOF tutorial in Issue 6 on Page 48:  http://issuu.com/philatdsc/docs/ds_creative_06

    An article/tutorial on Iray Fog and Water in Issue 11 on Page 40:  http://issuu.com/philatdsc/docs/ds_creative_11

    And you might find the Geometry Editor usefull for the Pool Table's top.  Issue 14 on Page 36:  http://issuu.com/philatdsc/docs/ds_creative_14

     

     

     

    Awesome! Thanks for the links. I had no idea it existed.

  • ricswikaricswika Posts: 132
    ItsCeo said:
    daybird said:

    After struggling with many fails and endless render times over 15h here is my momentary result.

    This inspires me to make something.  It is beautiful. Thank you!

    Yes, inspiring and on a CPU.

  • ricswikaricswika Posts: 132
     

    Adding SubD to the ornaments could help with those straight edges but be warned.  It will add to the render time so I could suggest only apply it to the ornaments that are highly visible.

    Great idea to do the ones that are highly visible. I had trouble in the past with sub-div making everything go really sloooooooo...

  • ricswikaricswika Posts: 132
    edited December 2017
    Geffe said:

    Fixed the pokethrough, a few minor alterations to poses, very slight increase to crush blacks in tone mapping, changed the dof area a little, and messed with the lighting. I also lowered some of the tile and displacement subd settings on the Terradome zones in the background, which I guess were probably adding considerably to the render time, more than likely without being visibly different.

    Everything looks really good. Very nice blacks.Maybe adjust the rim light falling on that dude with the head dress to highlight more of his profile, either move the light or turn his head a tad perhaps. The guy in the rear looks a little bit weightless. If you flex his left toes and lower him a bit, it might give him more weight. Looks like a real interesting scene.

    Post edited by ricswika on
  • Rendered this new idea this afternoon, but took a nap before I got it posted.

    dec2017-2a.png
    1080 x 872 - 1M
  • I'm working on an image for a fantasy book cover. This is the best I've done so far, though it still needs a bit of work. Expression and hair needs to be tweaked, and lighting still isn't right. I also lost the laces on her shirt somehow, and can't figure out how to get them back. I'm reasonably happy with how it's going so far though.

    (Not sure how to insert my image into the post, I'm obviously missing something...)

    Very cool image! I like the lighting especially.

    To insert a pic you first attach it and post as you have then in upper right of your post will be a gear icon you can click on and select edit post.

    Right click on your attached image and open in either another window or tab. Click inside the adress bar of that window you opened and select and copy that address.

    Go back to the window woth post open for editing and click to place your cursor where you want to place the image. With cursor in place look up where the buttons are for things like text. There is a button, top row I think, to add an image. Click that and you will get a new window. Paste the address you copied into the top field and give it a title second field. Next set pixel size, think max on longest side can only be 1200px.

    Click ok and save post.

    Thanks! I think I've got it now!

    The lighting is a combination of IBL and ghostlights. I just got them yesterday, and am enjoying experimenting with them. Very easy to use!

  • I have added some more story elements to the scene in this revision (3). I am still not happy with the DoF, as I want the new figure on camera right to be more blurred but still noticeable so will re-render with that change in future revision.

    Lady And The Dragon Rev 3

    I'm enjoying seeing the development of this one. Her expression is much better in this one, and the dropping pool que is a nice touch. :)

    The woman in the bottom right doesn't seem quite right. She seems too close to the other woman to be lower and smaller.

  • I have added some more story elements to the scene in this revision (3). I am still not happy with the DoF, as I want the new figure on camera right to be more blurred but still noticeable so will re-render with that change in future revision.

    Lady And The Dragon Rev 3

    I'm enjoying seeing the development of this one. Her expression is much better in this one, and the dropping pool que is a nice touch. :)

    The woman in the bottom right doesn't seem quite right. She seems too close to the other woman to be lower and smaller.

    She is actually just in front of the cam which is a little over half the pool table away. I set it up this way for some story where she is trying to regain control of her dragon she is training. I will post another angle to show distance at some point and may tweak the position at some point.

  • HighElfHighElf Posts: 366
    edited December 2017

    A grainy first draft of "Weihnacht' ist überall"

    dez2017.jpg
    1920 x 1080 - 2M
    Post edited by HighElf on
  • GeffeGeffe Posts: 63
    edited December 2017

    The more I look at that Deco Christmas Cats entry, the more I like it. The only slight criticism I have is that in the closeups the cats' eyes look slightly too deepset in their eyesockets. Not really noticeable in the main pic though.

    I was taking a break from the dwarf battle scene, trying some quick renders of some of the stuff collecting on my hard drive from all the sales and freebies lately, and kind of liked this one. I turned the bloom filter on (I have no idea what the settings do so I just left them at defaults, for now), changed a lot of shaders, and used a light with temperature set to 7000k (which I think makes it slightly blue-ish) to light the main character, and a couple of red tinted lights for the background and rim lights.

    Caught 01.jpg
    960 x 1080 - 460K
    Post edited by Geffe on
  • daybirddaybird Posts: 655

    After I failed, to do good post work in Gimp, I tried in Daz to make changes. 

    It was really difficult to erase the harsh lights on the buildings, because I only light the scene with a primitive that I use as sun. (Enviroment intesity from dome is set to. 0.0097)

    The buildings are from the www.daz3d.com/airport-island-city-center and have extreme shiny and reflecting surfaces. I tried so many things, to erase the shiny roof from the round tower, but get no succeed. So I dropped him out and replaced him with another building from the set.

     

    After that, I reduced the DoF, Environment map/lighting resolution a little. I also canceled the bloom effect, but still miss him and maybe I tried another render. The rendertime is stil high (15h), but I like this set a much. 

    kim jpg 10.12.17.jpg
    2560 x 1582 - 1M
  • HighElfHighElf Posts: 366

    And the changes were worth it. This picture really generates some emotional impact.

  • ricswikaricswika Posts: 132
    edited December 2017
    ricswika said:

    Title: Deco Christmas Cats

    Software: Daz Studio, Iray, Photoshop

    Made with...

    I am fairly happy with this, except:

    • the lighting on the mouse in the tractor
    • the shape of the ornimantes in closeup have straight edges.
    • I might need a few more decorations on the walls.

    Here is the next version with everything in place. I lost some of the depth on the floor when I added the spot light on the mouse. I ended up buying Affinity photo to work with .exr files. So I want to render again to .exr with the spot light on the mouse on a seperate layer to see if I could fix the lighting on the mouse in post without messing up the depth of the floor.

    Post edited by ricswika on
  • daybirddaybird Posts: 655

    This looks incredible complex. I think my computer wouldn't even handle the half of this scene.

    ricswika said:
    ricswika said:

    Title: Deco Christmas Cats

    Software: Daz Studio, Iray, Photoshop

    Made with...

    I am fairly happy with this, except:

    • the lighting on the mouse in the tractor
    • the shape of the ornimantes in closeup have straight edges.
    • I might need a few more decorations on the walls.

    Here is the next version with everything in place. I lost some of the depth on the floor when I added the spot light on the mouse. I ended up buying Affinity photo to work with .exr files. So I want to render again to .exr with the spot light on the mouse on a seperate layer to see if I could fix the lighting on the mouse in post without messing up the depth of the floor.

    This looks incredible complex. I think my computer wouldn't even handle the half of this scene.

  • ricswikaricswika Posts: 132
    daybird said:

    This looks incredible complex. I think my computer wouldn't even handle the half of this scene.

    You would benift from even a cheap GPU. Maybe you can find one used on fleabay. I recently sold three GPUs for about $100 and built a watercooled workstation just for this. I maxed it out with two GTX 1080 SC2 GPUs, SD drive and 32G. It is great. I can run overclocked to about 125% the rated clock speeds when rendering, so it is blazing fast. Fast enough to render in real-time in the viewport even with that huge scene. I still put everything into groups and turn things off when I'm editing to get the viewport to be even more responsive. I've been rendering at 6000x4000 and downsizing. I get a decent render in about 15 minutes at that massive resolution, but sometime just let it run for hours until it it is almost totally converged.

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