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My 'Firthaven' comic production blog

mschackmschack Posts: 337
edited September 2021 in Carrara Discussion

Thought I would make this thead to share my comic production as it relates to Carrara for anyone interested.

Partially to keep my motivation up by sharing my progress/plans and even getting your feedback in an effort to improve...

Feel free to post any comments/critiques/suggestions/questions along the way.  All are welcome.

Thanks!

Post edited by mschack on
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  • mschackmschack Posts: 337
    edited September 2021

    Start out with a large walled city I have started work on.  Its not 'Scififunk' huge but I think it will be big enough to have a multitude of interesting settings.  Should be big enough to have the distant wall fade out with a little perspective fog.  This was modeled in Large mode, just because the realistic sky fog works better.

    The base model is 26k polys.  I suppose I didn't have to make it that big but it is nice to have enough definition for adding some undulation to the ground.

    I will model buildings separetely.  I also put a canal sorta thing running through the middle.

    Notice the entance in the front to see the relative scale.

    city1.png
    1600 x 700 - 181K
    city2.png
    1844 x 1080 - 515K
    city3.png
    1600 x 700 - 137K
    Post edited by mschack on
  • JonstarkJonstark Posts: 2,738

    Just took a look at episode 1.  The rain and dark forest scenes were well done, like the blue mist feeling in the distance past the trees (atmosphere in the realistic sky editor? fog? volumetric effect?)  also curious how you did the rain.  

    One comment is that in silhoutte in the darkened woods, it looked like the girl had a short bob like hair, while inside next to the firelight and better lit, she looks like she's got shaved/close-cropped hair.

  • mschackmschack Posts: 337

    Thanks for the comment!

    Yes the GMIC 'painting' filter sometimes does funny things by blobbing shadows together with the foreground objects.  I will have to double check and make sure I removed her hair on the outside image as she originally had hair... On the inside I actually had to light up the top of her head so it didn't look look hair...

    For the rain; I made a plane with some fractal noise stretched on the X axis (scale transform of the fractal noise) in the Alpha channel.  It works very well and by using the noise shuffle you can make it different for each image.  I also added a glow colour since it is unlit,  One of the problems with the GMIC rain and snow filter is that it renders exactly the same every time.

    The fog is the distance fog with a blue colour. The one disadvantage to this is that lights have a hard time shining through it.  The light on the inside of the tent I had to crank up to 4000% lol

  • HeadwaxHeadwax Posts: 10,013

    Hya very nice, I like how you have the longshot starting off to set the scene,

    I've been doing graphic novels for a while now with carrara - some hope on the horizon with one of them - good to see someone else doing it

    I've recently been using affinity publisher - great and easy to do layouts - Clip studio for effects and speech ballons etc

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,628

    Very cool!

  • mschackmschack Posts: 337

    Thanks Dart!

    I am using an old version of Manga Studio which is the predecessor of Clip Art Studio if I am not mistaken...

    Do you publish your novel Headwax?

  • mschackmschack Posts: 337
    edited September 2021

    Jonstark said:

    Just took a look at episode 1.  The rain and dark forest scenes were well done, like the blue mist feeling in the distance past the trees (atmosphere in the realistic sky editor? fog? volumetric effect?)  also curious how you did the rain.  

    The rain plane. This method does have the disadvantage of not letting light through.  Maybe I should use the transparency channel instead...

    And I did forget to turn off her hair lol... thanks.

    rainplane.PNG
    1356 x 776 - 498K
    Post edited by mschack on
  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,628

    mschack said:

    Thanks Dart!

    I am using an old version of Manga Studio which is the predecessor of Clip Art Studio if I am not mistaken...

    Do you publish your novel Headwax?

    I remember looking deeply into Manga Studio back when Smith Micro (I think? or was it Electronic Arts?) had it on promotion for a really great deal. In the end, I never took the bait. I bet it's perfect for this type of look though!

  • HeadwaxHeadwax Posts: 10,013
    edited September 2021

    mschack said:

    Thanks Dart!

    I am using an old version of Manga Studio which is the predecessor of Clip Art Studio if I am not mistaken...

    Do you publish your novel Headwax?

    May have some good news soon. Graphic novel - 80 pages ... lot of work.

    Been working with a NY agent for quite a while now - no joy yet. Closets was a tv guy wanted to make a tv series out of one of my unpublished books - he talked the talk worked with all the big guys and talked big money.

    Fell through after 8 months.

    So I make it a point not to get excited about stuff now.

    The agent is an editorial agent - so I send her stuff and she tells me what is wrong with it. You end up not having any ego at all about your work.

    She's pretty brutal. And she needs to be. If she send stuff to publishers  which isnt 110 percent then they won't take her seriously.

     

    I'll have another look at your work and get back with a critique since I saw you asked for it.

     

     

    Post edited by Headwax on
  • HeadwaxHeadwax Posts: 10,013

    Looks good, I didn't see the narratorial box before "Somehere in the midland forest"

     

    I guess the first three frames are too much the same. You could gradually zoom in - as an example.

    So zoom in gradually on the action.

    You want every frame to say something in addition to the dialogue.

    I like how it's going and it's good you ended it on a question (who is the girl etc)

    So many choices!

     

     

  • mschackmschack Posts: 337

    Well good luck to you!

    I don't have much yet, I just put up a few panels to see how everything worked and how it looked.  I don't like how it joins each panel right together, I may have to put a small space at the bottom of each image,

  • JonstarkJonstark Posts: 2,738

    To be honest, at first I thought there would be a 2nd page, but that I was just too dumb to find the 'next' button, lol  :)   

  • mschackmschack Posts: 337

    Yeah it just butts the images together.

  • HeadwaxHeadwax Posts: 10,013

    oh forgot to say there's a rain storm thing I made a while ago

    pdf here bb74f10d2b4c64b689a80091244bab.pdf (daz3d.com)

    as the images for explantion vanished ...

     

    Carrara Rain Storm - Free to Carrara Users - beta released (updated) - Daz 3D Forums

  • JonstarkJonstark Posts: 2,738

    Wow!  How did I miss that?  Terrific resource, thank you very much Headwax  :)

  • mschackmschack Posts: 337

    That is a nifty way of doing the splashes

    Nice renders!

  • HeadwaxHeadwax Posts: 10,013

    Jonstark said:

    Wow!  How did I miss that?  Terrific resource, thank you very much Headwax  :)

     

    pleasure , bit fiddly but works fine 

  • HeadwaxHeadwax Posts: 10,013

    mschack said:

    That is a nifty way of doing the splashes

    Nice renders!

    thanks - necessity the mother of invention :) rain is always good 

    you can doe the same with leaves etc I guess - there's one or tw0 products in the store? - swarms of things

     

     

  • UnifiedBrainUnifiedBrain Posts: 3,588

    Headwax said:

    m

    The agent is an editorial agent - so I send her stuff and she tells me what is wrong with it. You end up not having any ego at all about your work.

    She's pretty brutal. And she needs to be. If she send stuff to publishers  which isnt 110 percent then they won't take her seriously.

     

    Agreed.  It doesn't matter if you are a writer or an artist.  Good editors are worth their wieght in gold.

  • UnifiedBrainUnifiedBrain Posts: 3,588

    Jonstark said:

    Wow!  How did I miss that?

    Maybe if you were not gone for months at a time...?  smiley

      Terrific resource, thank you very much Headwax  :)

    I agree.  It is one of my favorite products.  He used to call it Storm Creek.  "Carrara Rain" is the current name, and it fits well.  Used it in a couple of Challenges so far:

     

  • JonstarkJonstark Posts: 2,738

    Aww, looks like they're about to hug.  Terrific render, very atmospheric.  :)  

     

    Yeah, sadly I've been too long away.  But even when life was beating me up pretty bad and I had no time to spare, I still tried to peek my head in now and again in lurker mode to try to keep up.  This would have been a real gem I could have missed if not pointed out to me.  :)

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,628

    Yeah... I got pulled away for a  l o n g  time as well. Probably longer than you. It bothers me to miss these gems!

     

    Eventually I like to take time to go page after page, deep into the forum to find missing topics/posts to other topics.

     

    When I was making ►►► Carrara Information Manual ◄◄◄ I spent vast amounts of time digging through every darned topic I could find. Really bummed me out when the software changed and pretty much wrecked it. Took me another  l o n g  time to go through and fix it - mostly.

  • HeadwaxHeadwax Posts: 10,013

    UnifiedBrain said:

    Headwax said:

    m

    The agent is an editorial agent - so I send her stuff and she tells me what is wrong with it. You end up not having any ego at all about your work.

    She's pretty brutal. And she needs to be. If she send stuff to publishers  which isnt 110 percent then they won't take her seriously.

     

    Agreed.  It doesn't matter if you are a writer or an artist.  Good editors are worth their wieght in gold.

    double their weight :)

  • HeadwaxHeadwax Posts: 10,013

    UnifiedBrain said:

    Jonstark said:

    Wow!  How did I miss that?

    Maybe if you were not gone for months at a time...?  smiley

      Terrific resource, thank you very much Headwax  :)

    I agree.  It is one of my favorite products.  He used to call it Storm Creek.  "Carrara Rain" is the current name, and it fits well.  Used it in a couple of Challenges so far:

     

    thanks for the kind words - nice renders :) looks pretty wet!

  • DiomedeDiomede Posts: 15,194
    edited September 2021

    Well done, mschack.  I enjoyed these first panels and it made me anticipate more.  I like how you were able to use the GMIC filters to get a consistent feel.  

    On editors: add me to the list of people who values editors, especially editors willing and able to give constructive negative feedback.  A sometimes forgotten good editor skill is for the editor to be able to accept constructive negative feedback.  The best relationships I have had with editors have been when I have been able to push back a little - this is what I am trying to say, and your suggestions change the meaning, can we look for another alternative?

    Back on topic - keep up the great work, mschack.

    Post edited by Diomede on
  • HeadwaxHeadwax Posts: 10,013 
    Framed Ink : Drawing and Composition for Visual Storytellers

    is a game changer 

    good to see that people ha e worked with editors!

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,628

    Headwax said:

    Framed Ink : Drawing and Composition for Visual Storytellers

is a game changer 

    Thanks! Wishlisted! Loves me a good Book!!!

  • mschackmschack Posts: 337

    Thanks for your comments guys! 

    Right Diomede I accept any critique as long as it's constructive.

    I am not even to the point of even cosidering an editor lol.  I know my ability or lack thereof but hey it's kinda fun to do this sorta thing.

    Headwax could we see a panel or two of yor novel?  Just interested in seeing the style you came up with...

     

  • mschackmschack Posts: 337

    Wow happy 250 posts to me!  Thats more than I ever expected, and I pale in comparison to most of you...

  • WendyLuvsCatzWendyLuvsCatz Posts: 38,320
    edited September 2021

    30K came and went for me (was aware it was approaching) because times were adverse and I never knew if a post would be published surprise

    Happy 250 mschack kiss

    Post edited by WendyLuvsCatz on
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