Whilst experimenting to see if it was possible to get a greyscale image render directly out of Carrara without the need for third-party plugins, I thought I'd share with the Community some of my findings...
The images below show that it is possible to render out separate RGB channels which can then be processed further for effect:
THE SIMPLE 'HOW TO'
By placing a plane between the camera and scene objects in view, you can apply a shader that will 'absorb' the unwanted colour channels (click on images below for setting details.) For example, if you want to see the Red channel only then you need to absorb the Green and Blue ones; Green + Blue = Cyan. In the following example Cyan is the chosen colour to absorb. A quick way to find the desired absorption colour is to add/subtract 50 to the H value when using the HSL Color Picker.
HINT: Red has an H value of 0.00, Green 33.33 and Blue 66.67. Their compliments are Cyan 50.00, Magenta 83.33 and Yellow 16.67 respectively.
When creating your final BW image, you can modify the result by using one or two of the colour channels as a starting point - just an idea!
Here's an example rendered with just one light, using a map (just any image will do) instead of the blinds preset. I made the image I used for the gel (attached in case you want to download it and play around) in about 15 seconds in Photoshop. It's just white where I want light to pass through and shades or grey/black where I don't. Lighter grey lets more light through.
Note that since I was making my own map to use, I also applied a little bit of blur to it to soften the edges some more.
You can get pretty crazy with creating your own light gels like this. Attached are some quick renders using a mix of different light gels I either bought here or made myself.
that will be a great challenge for you Misty ... looking forward to seeing your results
Here I used the BW Blue filter in Carrara and used a very strong light at around 350 to accentuate the rims
then more adjustments in PSE
seems the upload images aren't showing again in edit mode.... what is Daz doing!!
Wow!
PS - Stezza covered a lot of the basic archetypes of noir here, and covered them very well (the appropriate slang term is "he killed it" :). However, please feel free to use the same elements in your renders. In a Noir Challenge, everyone gets to use these elements, and use them often.
Sorry if this was self-evident. Just thought that it needed to be spelled out for those who may be concerned of stepping on toes.
Hello, hello. I have now cleared quite a bit of non-3D stuff off my desk. Woopie-eye-A!
Freebie Noir Prop - Gun and box of bullets.
See attached. I made this for a prior challenge. Free to use for any purpose. The shaders for the box might not come through so just apply something simple.
Started this before Stezza uploaded his great Le Chasseur render - Smokin'!
Love the stance of the alien in the foreground and do you mind me making a suggestion? There's not enough contrast between protagonist and scenery. Perhaps you could throw the background building into shadow?
Selina
Hello Selina, feedback is always welcome !!!!
Unfortunately my scene has suffered an "End of file error" and apart from rebuilding the scene from scratch or doing some advanced post-work the options are a bit limited.
Here's a short tutorial and accompanying image maps to illustrate my findings on Light Blind Gels. You can use it to create your own Blinds just as you want them!
Selina
thanks so much to you and Diomede for your kindness. Looking forward to watching the vid and shooting myself in said foot
See attached. I made this for a prior challenge. Free to use for any purpose. The shaders for the box might not come through so just apply something simple.
Thanks Diomede! What shader do you recommend for the barrel?
I remember when I tried to talk you into using a snub nose instead. What I didn't realize until later is that you had modeled the gun yourself. :( And its an excellent model.
I used the built-in "Barn Doors" Gel on my main Spot to focus the eye into the center of the snooker balls and the smoking cue (thanks to Primivol)! The restricted lighting seems to suggest menace to me... with it's black shadows and keylit objects; I don't know if people agree?
Yes it does suggest menace. I haven't experimented with Barn Doors, maybe once(?), so thanks for the reminder that function even exists. :)
@Diomede - thanks for posting the link, I haven't read it yet but hopefully will stimulate imagination here.
@Stezza - cool use of gels. Knocked it out on a practice run? - wow!
@head wax - super cool use of the filter, and I love the perspective. Just the thumbnails alone have a wonderful spooky vibe with those long shadows. :)
@ Selina - brilliant about using absorption. Thanks for sharing you in depth findings.
here two not noir but using sand plugin with Toon1Pro111
first one is the pure posteffect01.render pass
carrara seperates posteffects out in two passes
the second one is a straight render
Cool effects head wax. I don't have much experience with ToonPro other than a few tests. Cool that the sand plugin can be combined with ToonPro? (Sand filter doesn't work for me anyway...but may be cool to know :) ).
Unfortunately my scene has suffered an "End of file error" and apart from rebuilding the scene from scratch or doing some advanced post-work the options are a bit limited.
Bunyip02, sorry to see that, what a total, frustrating drag. Great image! Wonder who was the unfortunate recipient of all those bullets?
Hello, hello. I have now cleared quite a bit of non-3D stuff off my desk. Woopie-eye-A!
Freebie Noir Prop - Gun and box of bullets.
See attached. I made this for a prior challenge. Free to use for any purpose. The shaders for the box might not come through so just apply something simple.
Thanks Diomede! Great you got your desk cleared...so now you can focus here, where your attention belongs.
this Youtube uploader used Carrara AFAIK for their animation
@th3Digit - I remember a year or more ago someone posted a preview here for that and I was so psyched about it. I always wondered what happened and if the full version was ever available. Thanks for the reminder.
Comments
that will be a great challenge for you Misty ... looking forward to seeing your results
Here I used the BW Blue filter in Carrara and used a very strong light at around 350 to accentuate the rims
then more adjustments in PSE
seems the upload images aren't showing again in edit mode.... what is Daz doing!!
That's a beauty Stezza :) Master of lighting are you. Great atmosphere too
very cool
terrific thank you for the blow blow by!
Thank you UB :)
here two not noir but using sand plugin with Toon1Pro111
first one is the pure posteffect01.render pass
carrara seperates posteffects out in two passes
the second one is a straight render
.
Great work by everybody.
Started this before Stezza uploaded his great Le Chasseir render. "Smokin"
Carrara setup
Raw render
Black and white.
I think I'll make a try this challenge. Something inspired from this scene from "Casablanca"
.
Wow!
PS - Stezza covered a lot of the basic archetypes of noir here, and covered them very well (the appropriate slang term is "he killed it" :). However, please feel free to use the same elements in your renders. In a Noir Challenge, everyone gets to use these elements, and use them often.
Sorry if this was self-evident. Just thought that it needed to be spelled out for those who may be concerned of stepping on toes.
MDO2010 and Stezza, thanks for those excellent light gel tips! And thanks to Misty for the great question (I wouldn't have thought to ask).
HW, great looking usage of the sand plugin. For some reason it doesn't show up in my filter menu, while the B&W filter(s) works fine.
Ha! Bunyip, you stole my idea. :)
Philemo, look forward to hearing you play it again, Sam. :)
Selina, you are just above and beyond! Thanks for posting that tutorial.
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Hello, hello. I have now cleared quite a bit of non-3D stuff off my desk. Woopie-eye-A!
Freebie Noir Prop - Gun and box of bullets.
See attached. I made this for a prior challenge. Free to use for any purpose. The shaders for the box might not come through so just apply something simple.
Hello UB, you could always do a Frazetta-esqe girl variation.
Hello Selina, feedback is always welcome !!!!
Unfortunately my scene has suffered an "End of file error" and apart from rebuilding the scene from scratch or doing some advanced post-work the options are a bit limited.
terrific stance on the alien, wonderful idea - sorry about the car file :(
terrific Philemeno, great that you will enter, looking forward to seeing how you approach that!
thanks so much to you and Diomede for your kindness. Looking forward to watching the vid and shooting myself in said foot
Thanks UB , strange about the sand filter , bummer - is it showing up in the extensions folder ?
this Youtube uploader used Carrara AFAIK for their animation
Thanks Diomede! What shader do you recommend for the barrel?
I remember when I tried to talk you into using a snub nose instead. What I didn't realize until later is that you had modeled the gun yourself. :( And its an excellent model.
Yup, all three files.
Hmmm.
I have two sand.txt files - one a sand-copy.txt file - not sure why I will have alook at them and see if they are the same
Great theme UnifiedBrain! Some of the images from the chapters of the old Eovia user guides were kind of noir-ish. :)
Great work here all, and so fast!!
I'm still working on a model, and still haven't decided on an overall theme. Hopefully done with the model by tomorrow so I can show a WIP.
Yes it does suggest menace. I haven't experimented with Barn Doors, maybe once(?), so thanks for the reminder that function even exists. :)
@Diomede - thanks for posting the link, I haven't read it yet but hopefully will stimulate imagination here.
@Stezza - cool use of gels. Knocked it out on a practice run? - wow!
@head wax - super cool use of the filter, and I love the perspective. Just the thumbnails alone have a wonderful spooky vibe with those long shadows. :)
@ Selina - brilliant about using absorption. Thanks for sharing you in depth findings.
@Stezza - love the subject and compostion - dynamic!
@MD02010 - thank you for sharing you experiments with absorption and your explanation of using light settings with the Blinds option.
Awesome - looks like a poster for a movie!
Cool effects head wax. I don't have much experience with ToonPro other than a few tests. Cool that the sand plugin can be combined with ToonPro? (Sand filter doesn't work for me anyway...but may be cool to know :) ).
Bunyip02, sorry to see that, what a total, frustrating drag. Great image! Wonder who was the unfortunate recipient of all those bullets?
Thanks Diomede! Great you got your desk cleared...so now you can focus here, where your attention belongs.
@th3Digit - I remember a year or more ago someone posted a preview here for that and I was so psyched about it. I always wondered what happened and if the full version was ever available. Thanks for the reminder.
Thank you @DesertDude!
Looking forward to seeing what you come up with
Cool video @WendyLOvesCats
@UB
here is the contents of my sand.txt
COMP {
RsID 198
Strg "Sandy filter"
Strg "SDK Examples"
}
I think I must have made a copy of it because I experfimented with cchanging the number 198 to others - not make any difference??
I also have a sand.mcx and sand.dat
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