Novica, Serene Night, & Invited Guest Contributors Tips & Product Reviews Pt 3
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Here is an image, where you can see more of the tentacles. It takes a while to pose them naturally, and I still have to postwork the sheaths on the arms, but you can see how they look here:
That's an awesome image SereneNight! The tentacles look great in this one. I also really like the characters' poses, all of them look very natural.
I noticed, I just thought it was him. I remember the one you did on our previous thread.
You know me well!
@sereneNight - thanks, that Micah hair seems to work really well without much trying. And the lights are totally thanks to AgeOfArmour - I use those Advanced Ambients a lot. Love your latest sci-fi renders by the way - not a genre I do much with (only if it comes up in RRRR) but I like to see what others come up with.
@Novica - thanks too.
@Tarina Kivi - thanks, re the jewellery renders. As for the polar bear, I'm still working on it to try and get the look better - I used one of 3 presets for the fur, maybe the promos used a different one. It takes a while to render so trying lots of different settings and lights is going to take me some time! Alessandro has a thread about the bear - maybe I'll re-read it and see if he says anything about lighting, etc.
ETA: This is the thread - why didn't I read it first?! :red: http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/34494/
@Totte - love the latest character, nice render - and wow that's a very narrow DOF zone you've got there!
This is tomorrow's review for y'all. Starting back to work in the AM, so will be returning to only checking the forums at night. =-) Boy, I'm going to miss my time off... =-)
Todays Review:
FWX Koichi
http://www.daz3d.com/fwx-koichi-character-and-accessories
Fisty FWArt Xena
Other content Used
Freak Big Sweater (DAZ, Karth)
Captain Runner (DAZ, Lobo75)
Streetwear Jeans for Genesis (Streetwear)
Streetwear Men’s Sneakers for Genesis (Streetwear)
Hermes Hair (Mairy, 3d Dream)
Skywing (steve100) Content Paradise
War Dog Genesis (Luthbel)
War Brotherhood (Arien)
Aussie Girl (DAZ 3D Mada Thorne )
Esidor Hair (Pg-Graphics
http://www.daz3d.com/freak-5-big-sweater
http://www.daz3d.com/captain-runner
http://www.daz3d.com/streetwear-jeans-for-genesis
http://www.daz3d.com/streetwear-mens-sneakers-for-genesis
http://www.daz3d.com/hermes-hair
http://www.daz3d.com/wardog-for-genesis
http://www.daz3d.com/war-brotherhood
http://www.daz3d.com/aussie-girl-outfit
http://www.daz3d.com/coloration-esidor
Koichi is a handsome roguish asian male character with slim build, two mat options, a face and body morph, facial hair textures and a ring and necklace. (Oh, and for Novica, there are also 2 lights used in the promo pack included). He poses and renders well as you can see. He is for Genesis 2, and requires Genesis 2 Male Body Morphs
I was pleased with Koichi in general. He looks good and is easy to use. Nicely done.
Overall a great character, looks good. Check him out.
1-4 Koichi posed
@MelanieL: Thanks for pointing out that thread. Alessandro is certainly very helpful in his support of the LAMH product. I will have to read through it and through all those other threads on LAMH too and maybe I will finally be able to render sth decent using it. AM's promos always look superb and I hope that I will be able to get a similar look someday. ; ) I'm looking forward to your next polar bear render, it's such a great looking figure and I would love to see your previous render with the "improved" fur, I really liked that image (except for the bear's fur ; P). :)
@SereneNight: Great review, Koichi does look good in your images. I like that every render has a little something added to it to make it more interesting - like that alien plant and a cute dragon! ;) The one with the couple is lovely as well.
I try to look at everything new as soon as it hits the Store, especially products as nice as Koichi. How did I miss this one? In my Runtime now, thanks for the review, SereneNight. Hope the workweek goes well for you. :)
I am spoiled with time off. I work in a tech support call center, so let the phones begin tomorrow! =-)
I liked your image in the thread in the commons with the Fly Girl and the fully insect body. That looked cool. =-)
I would be interested if those people who buy Koichi think his skin has an ashy tone to it. I originally commented on it, but then wondered if it might be my lights and removed this comment.
I think he's nice-looking, just wondering if others experience similar results. =-)
Invited Guest Contributor
**General Note** Numbers shown here may vary, depending on the UNITS you have your software set to!
Okay, so here is my ultimate tutorial on Depth of Field. There are 2 approaches to DOF, and which you use depends greatly on your computer's processing power and the software you use. Things to keep in mind as you choose...
1) You can create DOF in the software you render with (DS or Poser.) Rendering good, quality DOF effects in either Poser's native Firefly or DAZ Studio's native 3Delight increases render times. Depending on the size and other quality settings, this increase in time can be quite significant. (I have never used DOF with Lux or Octane, but I'm fairly certain this would apply there, too.)
2) You can use a depth map to generate DOF effects in postwork. Rendering a depth map is possible in both programs natively, but these methods IGNORE TRANSPARENCY. This is kind of a big deal, as any areas around transparency-mapped hair will be very, noticeably wrong. To get a depth map that accounts for transparency, I recommend the following add-ons:
-----> For DS: Atmospheric Effects Cameras
-----> For Poser: Advanced Render Settings2 (Poser 9 and up) or Advanced Render Settings (Poser 8 and below)
Both Photoshop and GIMP can use depth maps to generate simple DOF effects. (In GIMP it seems you need a plugin, and while I've never used it, the description of this plugin would provide the same functionality within Photoshop.)
This method saves time.
3) To get images with background AND foreground DOF, (Blurry behind AND in front of your focus point) you're pretty much stuck with using software, not a depth map. All that in mind...
DOF In Daz Studio
1) Set your scene. Create your main camera. In the main camera's settings, you will see settings for Depth of Field, Focal Distance and F/Stop. These are the things you need to control to create the DOF you want.
2) To visualize the part of your scene that won't get blurry, switch to your perspective view or to another camera that you can move around without goofing up your scene. If you have the Depth of Field slider selected (green "yes") you will be able to SEE the DOF "box" in front of your main camera. Everything in that box will be in-focus. Things outside the box will gradually get more and more out-of-focus.
3) To adjust these settings... While looking through the perspective camera, select the main camera in your scene tab. Bring up the camera settings for the main camera. The Focal Distance slider will move the entire box forward and backward, adjusting where the center of your focused area is. The F/Stop slider will make the box bigger or smaller, adjusting how much of your scene is blurred.
4) When rendering DOF, you MUST increase your X&Y pixel samples. I used 18 as a starting point. You may be able to go as low as 10 or 11, but the smaller this number is, the more pixelated your blur will appear.
The first image shows the camera and render settings for DS. The second image shows a comparison of F-stop values in four DS renders.
DOF In Poser
1) Set your scene. Using the main camera is fine. In the camera's parameters, you will see dials for Focus Distance and fStop. Alas, the effects of turning these dials is completely invisible. In Poser, you can visualize the Focus Distance with a preview setting, but fStop changes are really only visible through test renders.
2) To visualize the Focus Distance , Go to Display/Guides/Focus Distance Guide in the main dropdown menus and check it. A dark cross-hair should appear. If you don't see it, it's either because your focal distance is behind your camera or because it's behind a prop/figure/item in your scene. As you turn the Focus Distance dial, you'll see the crosshairs move forward and backward. Your goal is to get the dot in the center of the crosshairs aligned with whatever you're aiming at. This takes a little imagination, because you only have an "X" across the screen, which usually does not neatly intersect with your object.
3) Once you think you have the Focus Distance right, you have to decide on an fStop value. I cannot help you know EXACTLY what your fStop should be. Small numbers mean a lot of blur. Big numbers mean less noticeable blur. Aside from that, you have to test render. Do your test renders with crummy render settings. It gives you a general idea of what you want it to look like.
4) Just as in DS, when you render, increase the pixel samples. I used 18 in my renders. You may be able to get away with a lower number. Be aware that the fewer pixel samples you have, the grainier the blur will be.
The third image shows the camera and render settings for Poser. The fourth image shows a comparison of F-stop values in four Poser renders.
You may all now be appropriately impressed with how awesome I am at getting the same scene set in DS and Poser, one with Genesis and the other V4. Ha.
Okay, finally...
DOF In Postwork
IN DS:
1) Render your scene just as it is and save it -- this will be the base image you'll be adding DOF to in postwork. Then, turn out all the lights and reduce your quality settings a lot. (Drop your pixel samples, raise your shading rate, etc., etc.)
2) The easiest way to get a depth map that accounts for transparency is the fog camera in Atmospheric Effects Cameras. Ironically, you should NOT use the depth camera because it does not account for transparency. Get the fog camera to "see" what your main camera does by copying your main camera and then pasting that pose onto your fog camera. Look through the fog camera. Now, make sure your items have no surfaces with ambient values or with very shiny shaders. You may have to manually go into the surfaces tab and adjust these. Now, in the fog camera's settings, set the fog color to white. Render. Voila, a render where close objects are black and items further back get gradually lighter. Save this.
Note: You can change how quickly this color change from black to white occurs by changing the fog visibility. A higher visibility will give you a more gradual change. A lower visibility will give you a more abrupt one.
IN POSER:
1) Render your scene just as it is and save it -- this will be the base image you'll be adding DOF to in postwork. Then, turn out all the lights and reduce your quality settings a lot. (Drop your pixel samples, raise your shading rate, etc., etc.)
2) Open the Advanced Render Settings2 (Poser 9 and up) or Advanced Render Settings (Poser 8 and below) python script. Check "Z-Depth." Uncheck "Default." Render. Voila, you have a render where close objects are white and items further back get gradually darker. Save this.
Note: You can change how quickly this color change from white to black occurs by changing the minimum and maximum Z-depth numbers. The minimum is the distance from the camera which will be pure white. The maximum is full black. The "Auto" numbers usually work very well.
LAST, IN PHOTOSHOP:
(GIMP has a similar capability. I am unfamiliar with how to use it, but it exists.)
1) Open your regular image. Place the Z-Depth map as a second layer.
2) Select the entire canvas and copy the Z-depth canvas (ctrl-C).
3) Go into the channels tab (right next to “layers” by default, I believe.) Click the little “square/folded corner” icon to create a new channel (PS will name it Alpha 1.) Paste (Ctrl-V) the z-depth data onto the alpha channel. Make sure you click the RGB channel layer before you go back to work, or you’ll only see the Alpha channel and have no idea why your scene is gone!
4) Swap back to the layers tab. Go back into your image. Make the z-depth layer invisible or delete it. De-select the canvas. Go to Filters/Blur/Lens Blur. If you’re using a DS black-is-close map, make sure the “invert” checkbox is EMPTY. If using a Poser white-is-close map, make sure the box is CHECKED. Then from the pull-down menu, select the “Alpha 1” channel as the source of your depth map. You will see the DOF in the preview window. Changing the radius affects how much blur is in the background. This is SO NICE, because you can see your depth of field without needing to do a zillion, slow test renders.
The drawback to this is that you really can't get blur behind AND in front of your focus item. In postwork, your focus object is clear and everything behind it is blurry.
The fifth image shows fog camera settings for DS, Advanced Render Settings for Poser, Photoshop screenshots, and an example of a postwork DOF on the scene above.
Notice how the staff (popping out toward us) is not blurred in the postworked version.
And there it is!
Good luck!
The best DOF explanation I think I've seen :) Nice to have the "ins and outs" explained. If I were to write the tutorial, it would be "putz with this and see what it does. The End." (Hey, works for me SOME of the time.) Seriously- very, very nicely done- thanks for taking the time to type all that up. Wow!
Thanks for doing the DOF tutorial..I have been putzing with it all afternoon, with no good results. I did get the blurring but my ambient light made the skin really bad when rendering through the main camera which was strange, I didn't change the pixels x & y tho so maybe that was contributing? I will keep trying and post when I get it :)
Just a heads up here, this thread has many features of DS and other software covered. DOF was covered pretty in depth by Szark.
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/28192/ The December WIP needs added yet but I have not gotten to it as of yet. This is just some FYI to keep people from inventing the wheel for like the 5th time in a row.
Lol... I'm a teacher. Can't help myself! And I did add the part about using depth maps with transparencies, so I guess it wasn't a total reinvention. But thanks for the heads-up -- awesome resources there! :coolsmile:
Very nice explanation - it's the exact method I use! In addition, what can be handy is setting the DOF Plane Color to something other than the default white (found under the Display parameter settings). That way you can give the fore and aft planes contract against any background.
@ KaribousBoutique: wow, thanks for the comprehensive tutorial on DOF. I'm sure I speak for Novica and myself, that we appreciate the thorough and excellent job you did. =-)
My post was not a cut down, The Tut is awesome and very well done. I simply wished to point out that many of the things we as Users find as NEW to us have probably been covered before in some forum. I simply thought a link to those that I knew were covered could be a resource to the users that had not seen them before. I know that I have personally done the very save mini TUT on a topic at least 5 times in five different forums before just because some users never visit any threads except for those they enjoy.
Oh, I'm sorry if I sounded snippy! I honestly was trying to be funny -- and apparently failing, LOL! I'm frequently teased about my CONSTANT explanations of, well, everything. I have taught every level of science from 6th grade earth science to advanced physics and I am, therefore, a fountain of useless information. By age 3, my daughter (who is my captive audience) could tell you that the sunset was orange because of refraction.
No offense taken, nor any intended. It really IS a fantastic list of resources!
Hmm. Really enjoying this alien plant set by Petipet.
http://www.daz3d.com/alien-plants
I think Petipet is so versatile!! Making awesome alien plants. These are easily as good if not better than other plants in the store. Plus, there is really a lot of variety in the pack making it a great value!
Alien plants will certainly be my next review... On weds, time permitting.
These plants will also be useful for underwater renders as well... Hmm... Ideas are percolating. =-)
That's what Smileys are for. ;-) :)
I have visited almost all of those links on DOF, I have searched the forums for hours for info on how to do this but the search sucks,I have also used google to search which was better. I went through the entire contest on DOF to get info on how to do it, I worked on it all day yesterday and got limited results, I seriously don't know what I am doing wrong cause every time I try it something else doesn't work but I do appreciate your efforts KaribousBoutique and will work on that more today hopefully with some decent results :)
Just a quickie. I made a mistake. Koichi is wearing Hermes hair, not Aether hair. Same Artist's (at least mostly), just different style. Sorry about that, I've updated the review, since Hermes hair is sold here at DAZ, and want to give credit where credit is due!
@KaribousBoutique: Great tutorial, thank you for taking the time to make it, it's nice to have all of it explained in one place.
@Jaderail: Thank you for the link to that page. Very useful.
@SereneNight: I agree, Alien Plants are awesome, one of the best PC releases of all time for me. ; ) They also have a way of generating lots of ideas for renders, I cannot wait to see what you will come up with for your review...
I can't leave a scene at the moment (takes forever to come back on, IF it does- studio is overwhelmed) so can someone do this...otherwise it will be much later before I can do it (but will happily do so if no one is available)
load a figure into World Center with a vase/bush/anything in front of the figure (not TOO close, we want a range for DOF to play with)
do a tree in the background, same thing- not too close
do a nice depth of field setup with the bush/vase in front and the tree in back out of focus
send Kharma the settings so she can play with it. (All you need to do Kharma is Create>Camera (label it DOF to keep it straight) and put in those settings. Then go to Scene>Camera DOF so it's selected. Then go to Perspective camera and you'll see those planes, where they are, and my changing the settings you'll see it working.
I think giving her something to play with will help, and more quickly.
Thanks for the tip KaribousBoutique. I was wondering why my scenes look blurry even when I set the shading rate to 0.2 or 0.3. I need to increase the number of pixel samples for my render.
Well, schools here have been canceled again tomorrow -- forty-below wind chills scare even us Wisconsinites -- so at least I'll have render time! Just picked up the new DM bundle and am eager to play with it.
One of these days I will visit Wisconsin. I can take photos of the countryside and the photos as backgrounds in my renders.