Dust Rider's "almost art" stuff
DustRider
Posts: 2,754
I've been thinking about making Art Studio thread for a while, and finally decided to give it a try thanks to some great encouragement by Ice Dragon Art (yeah, it was probably a month or two ago that she provided the encouragement ... I'm slow). Just a quick word of caution, I tend to do renders with "skimp wear", impractical armor, sexy female warriors, etc. If you don't like this type of render, you probably need not look any further, as that will likely be the large majority of what I post. I sometimes render other things, and not everything will be impractical clothing, but I thought I'd just warn everyone first (hopefully the thread title works to help warn people as well).
Initially I'll post both new, and a few older renders, since I'm really slow, and it would take months or years to build up any sort of totally new content to be of any interest. I'll also most likely post renders here, that for what ever reason, I didn't feel they were quite up to snuff for adding to any of my galleries. Maybe some test renders, or renders from just messing around with new stuff that I think someone might be interested in.
Feel free to give constructive criticism if you wish, as I definitely am not an artist, and more of a technician, and can always use a little help to improve my renders. I am able to create images I like by setting up shaders and lighting in a technically and visually appealing manner, but I lack the creative vision of a true artist.
I should also warn you that I'm really more of a forum lurker, and I also tend to "go away" for several days to a couple of weeks at a time (a total of about 2-3 months a year). At times I have a rather demanding schedule that leaves little to no time to interact on the forums. So, if I don't respond to a post in a timely manner, please don't take it personally as it can sometimes take me a while to find enough time to actually respond in a coherent manner.
Thanks in advance for stopping by and chiming in!!
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Comments
As my first “art” post, I wanted to ask which version of “Cyberea” do you think would be best to post in my Gallery here. Yes, could post all three images, but I try to keep images posted to a gallery to a single version. I really couldn’t decide which would be the best, so I thought I’d try asking for your opinion.
I’ll also try to give a bit of information for all of my posted images. For this image I used Cyberean for G8F from available here, with a lot of additional morphs to give her "just the right look" (at least for me). I modified the skin shaders quite a bit too. The boots are OLK Boots from DX30 from here. I modified the skin shaders quite a bit, and the shaders on the boots are my own "creation". The outfit is Cyria for G2F, I modified the original suit texture map with the GIMP to change the color from orange to white, by using white, I can easily change to color to anything I want in the future by simply changing the base color for Iray. The hair is Shaved Side Hair for Genesis 3 and 8 Females. The only lighting is the default HDRI for Iray in DAZ Studio (plus the very small amount of light from the prop lights)..... most people seem to think the HDRI it's horrible for lighting, but when rotated to the proper angle, it seems to do quite well (at least IMHO, but maybe my idea of what good lighting is, isn't so good). I also used 2 sectional planes the remove light obstructions from the PSI Barracks scene.
I posted two other images that are basically the same at Rendo (here) and at DA (here – has the mature tag). Depending on the feedback I get here, I may use the Rendo version setup, and will definitely re-render to include the “jewelry” I used for the Rendo version (I got the jewelry and the Nano Bikini in the Rendo version after rendering the images to post for this thread).
Thanks in advance for any comments/advice! Oh, and don't forget to zoom to full resolution
Image 1
Image 2
Image 3
I am waiting on pins and needles to see some of the artistic mind of your @DustRider!!
Reserved for first post
LOL! You might be waiting a really long time for that, but hopefully you'll find something at least interesting
As luck would have it, I was so slow in getting this thread started, I actually have a brand new, just finished today, image to share! More information about it can be found in my gallery post here. This was just a fun image done for a contest on DA - "Please take care of me". I think it really fit the contest theme well ... without any words.
If you are interested in any details not covered in my gallery post, please feel free to ask me (and of course give comments on it as well).
Image Title: Don't Even Try Me ...
(please zoom in to see all the details)
Hurray! Great to see you started a thread over here on the dark side... I mean the Art Studio..
For the first one I am really tornb between the first and the last. I like the second one because I like the tattoos but that the skimp wear shows but I think its cut off at a bit of an odd place. I'm going to go with number one because it tells more of a story.
And I like the humor in the next render and the posing and expressions are spot on.
Woot woot I am really liking your First render of the girl in blue the one where she is standing tall and flirty!!
The render of your fighting ladies is amazing as well!!
Love your renders! And a big thank you for the great tip about changing the Cyria outfit to white
. I have never have thought of doing that and it saves so much time in the long term.
Thanks .... and thanks for encouraging me to start a thread
I feel much like you about the fisrt set of images. I like the first because it tells more of a story, but something bout the portrait view just catches my eye.
Thanks! So far the first image seems to be the favorite (was my wife's favorite as well).
Thank you, and so glad you liked the info about modding the outfit. It doesn't work easily all of the time, but for items where different parts aren't different material zones it can be a quick fix. It's really easy if the item in question has solid colors in the diffuse texture map, just select the area where you want to change colors with the fuzzy select tool (at least that is what it's called in Gimp), then bucket fill with white. You can then use the diffuse map with white and as your diffuse texture and just modify the base color. It worked quite well for the Cyria outfit because the trim was black, with a light gray pattern, so when the base color was changed to blue, the black stayed black, and the light gray patter took on a blue hue.
I actually modify the base color quite a bit, even without changing the texture map. It comes in real handy when kit bashing and some items in the scene are too bright to match everything else (or just simply to bright). When this happens I just change the base color to a light shade of gray to help make the item a bit darker.
I'm sure this was much more explanation than you needed, but maybe someone else will find it helpful.
Oh I just went and had a look at the one on Deviant Art. LOVE it! (Despite the fact that I'm a girl, I have a real fondness for pin ups, impractical skimp wear and tasteful nudes lol.)
Excellent thread, DustRider. I can't wait to see more.
I am going to share my preferences because you asked. However, you absolutely should NOT follow my prefences because modern audiences have different expectations. Although there are exceptions, I generally prefer images in which the camera is pulled back to see the full scene. Therefore, I like your first image best. Furthermore, I do not like forced DOF (again, there are exeptions). .I like images that tell a story, preferably a humorous or scary one. Often (but not always) the scene context helps convey the gag or the danger. If you use multiple frames, you can selectively zoom the camera in..
See Buster Keaton, the Art of the Gag - (click to play)
Thanks! That's my favorite version too. I was actually going to post it to this thread, with the same three views as above, when I got notification from DA that it needed the mature tag. I thought it had everything covered properly ..... but I guess that's what thought did for me
Thanks Diomede for chiming in, you always have some very thought provoking posts, and I always value your opinion a lot. Hope I don't disappoint you!
Diomede's post, and his new "expanded" user name helped me remember that Carrara was what actually started off my serious addiction.... ummm..... I mean journey here at DAZ.
I got Poser many years ago (have every version from 2 to PP 2014), but the render engine in Poser 3 was dreadfully inadequate. Back when you could actually easily transfer software licenses, I got a used version of Cinema 4D (version 6) off of Ebay, and Carrara Studio 2 off Ebay as well (along with Carrara 1, and RayDream 5.5 IIRC). I needed an application to model with, and hopefully render Poser figures. I loved modeling in C4D, it just worked well for me, and the render in was better than Carrara too, but just slightly. C4D 7 had been out for about 8 months, and I was just about ready to upgrade it when Carrara Studio 3 came out. After a lot of consideration, I decided to upgrade to Carrara 3, because it had some amazing improvements to the renderer, and it had Transposer which gave you the ability to directly import Poser scenes into Carrara (C4D 7 already had this, but the upgrade to Carrara 3 was about $200 dollars less).
So fast forward a few years .... DAZ 3D bought Carrara and Hexagon (which I also owned) from Eovia. I had messed around with the free beta version of DS, but never got "serious" with any DAZ 3D products until DAZ released the upgrade for Carrara 6 IIRC. Well, to get the best "deal" on it, I joined the PC, and bought a few things I'd wanted for a while along with my Carrara upgrade, and I'm still here. I started using DS with version 3, and now use DS a lot. But I still enjoy Carrara for some of the amazing things it can do. though DS has come a long way. Since now I can easily get the results I want with DAZ content, I don't use Carrara as much as I used to
.
Anyway, I thought I'd repost a few images from my Gallery that were done with Carrara, since that is what really got me started with DAZ 3D.
This image was done for one of the Carrara challenges (there is almost always an active Carrara Challenge in the Carrara forum ... they are great fun, and also have great prizes). It was completely set up in Carrara except for the Dragon. I had to apply the textures to the Dragon in DS, save the scene, then open the dragon in Carrara. The scene was rendered using the Octane Render plugin for Carrara. I modified/set up almost every shader for every object in the scene (something you get used to doing with Carrara). The female figure is custom Genesis 2 figure, and the Dragon is the DAZ Dragon 3. The fog or dust haze was added using Gimp, and levels were slightly adjusted in gimp, and the sig added in gimp as well. Otherwise, the image is just like it came out of Octane. I really like the way the Dragon's skin, horns, claws, and teeth tuned out (need to zoom to full resolution to really see it). More information on the image can be found in my gallery here.
Image title: Treasure Guardian
This image was also done for one of the Carrara Challenges rendered using Carrara's internal renderer. I think it's a great example of the quality you can get directly from Carrara. For this image I used the Millennium Dragon and a custom V4 (Victoria 4) character. Again, I modified virtually every shader to get just the tight look. I had to add the reflections on the front of the glass in post because IIRC adding DOF caused some weird effects .... I think it made everything inside the glass blurry (rendered two images, one with DOF and one without). Please zoom to full resolution to see all the details.
Image Title: A Moment Frozen in Time (galley link)
On last render done with the Octane Render plugin for Carrara. Completely set up in Carrara with another custom Genesis 2 figure, lit with mesh lights and an HDRI (outside the building, so it doesn't add a lot to the lighting). As usual, please zoom to full resolution to see the details.
Image Title: Now ... what should I do with this... (gallery link)
Thanks for stopping by!!
This image is similar to one I posted in my gallery here, with the lighting and pose adjusted ever so slightly. I'm not sure I'm 100% satisfied with it yet, but thought I'd post it before Holiday festivities"take me out" for a few days ..... OK more like a couple of weeks.
This was done with the current DS 4.11.x beta. The lighting is super simple, the default HDRI and one spot light behind her on the left side of the image as a rim light. The character is my modified version of Chameleon Rose from Rendo. The shorts were the next best thing to show of her detailed skin/body (with adjusted shaders) for her in my available cloths, that didn't break the TOS here (I have too versions of her in her original outfit in my DA gallery here and here ... if you are interested .... the lingerie she comes with also has skin pressure morphs which really help the realism).
Two tumbs up!
Since you asked, I'd go with the full image ( 1 ) instead of the close up, it just seems the full pose shows of her flirty, sassy nature.
Frozen in time is really nice! I love the reflection of the window on the glass and the letter gives an air of mystery.
The last is some really beautiful skin, like how she is painted by light but her face is shadowed and sad
This is really useful information and something that will extend the use of a lot of my older wardrobe items
Luciana loves to read, and would rather spend the day at the library than just about anything else.
This image was done for the "Female Book Worm" contest at the Adult-Artists DA group.
I rendered the image using DS 4.11.x Beta and Iray. Liciana is a custom character I created starting with Mika 7, dialing her back a little, then adding in a lot of additional morphs. Her skin uses the Mika 7 textures, with modified shaders. The outfit top uses the base texture set (very light blue )with modified shaders, and adding turquoise blue to the base color, I added nearly the same color to the straps on her shoes to make them match her top. The lighting is rather complex with 2 rim lights (spot lights), 2 key lights (one spot and one mesh), two mesh fill lights, and the base HDRI at a very low intensity. The reason for the complex lighting was to help her stand out from the book case a bit more. The image was rendered to about 4,000 samples to clear up the reflections on the hair.
All comments and crits greatly appreciated. (please zoom to full resolution to see the great details)
Image Title: Luciana at the Library (Gallery Link)
I just wanted to say thanks everyone your input on my second post, and let you know I finally posted an image to my gallery here (as seen below). It's a bit different from the originals I posted, but I think it's a good midpoint between the DA image and the first images I posted.
Thanks again!
Image Title: Cyberea (Gallery Link)
Another one of Cyberea - this one took 28 hours to render due to the scene lighting and shaders. Would have been faster if I messaged some of the material a bit, but I wanted to see just how long it would take.
Image title: Cyberea .... On Deck (gallery link)
Twenty eight hours? Hope you have great cooling equipment for your computer.
Excellent!
That is one long render time!
And these all look great.
I use a laptop, it has very good cooling! Thanks!
Thanks so much!
I've been way too busy in RL, so I thought I'd post a fun image I did a while back that's not in any of my galleries.
Image title: Troll Hunter
What a great Troll Hunter render!!
She has a very confident look on her face! Love the signs and the lighting is really beautiful
Thanks!