Non-photorealistic Renders (NPR)

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Comments

  • dreamfarmerdreamfarmer Posts: 2,128

    I picked up ReStyle for quite the discount!  With that and Clean, turned this:

     

    into this (click for bigger):

     

    The tutorials I've read for ReStyle are all 'use it in subtle ways, with translucent layers' but I am all MUHAHAHAHA THE POWER.

     

    Oh, by the way: I think that if you're storing rather than using the $20 credit it only lasts for 30 days :(

    Forest Test 4.png
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    Forest Test 4-NPR.png
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  • firewardenfirewarden Posts: 1,482

    Oh, by the way: I think that if you're storing rather than using the $20 credit it only lasts for 30 days :(

    Rats! Oh, well, lol, worth trying. ;)

  • xmasrosexmasrose Posts: 1,403

    Have been reading and watching this thread from the beginning and love it.

    I downloaded Topaz trial a couple of days ago so this comes right on time for me. Thanks everyone for sharing.

  • ToborTobor Posts: 2,300
    philebus said:

     I'm doing some simple corrections on the renders before taking them into ArtRage and attacking them with the palette knife. 

    You and Bob Ross just love your palette knives! wink 

    Anyway, looking good, as your stuff always does.

     

  • DaremoK3DaremoK3 Posts: 798

    Artini:

    I should have stated that both the hammer, and the monkey are still Vector images (rasterized for forums only).

    I did not paint over them with a raster paint program, but made use of the SVG and converted it in Inkscape to EMF.  Then I opened the EMF files in Creature House Expression 3 (vector illustration software - now MS Expression 4 - I use both), and went to work modifying the files.

    Why I appreciate you showcasing the output formats for VectorStyle 2 for Carrara is because you showed that the line work is usable in other vector imaging software (single line vectors) unlike utilizing raster to vector workflow in Inkscape (Bitmap Path Trace) that yields double lined/filled edging.  The inkscape workflow doubles the workload in Expression, but VectorStyle 2 for Carrara is one-to-one translation.

    This puts the plug-in on par with FreeStyle for SVG vector output sans the ability to custom select lines to be drawn (unless this is available in VS2 as well).

    Also, if I just wanted to paint over one of your images, I would have chosen the gargoyle images.  Those would have been real fun to play with...

  • Oso3DOso3D Posts: 15,011

    Trying to capture the look of modern comicbooks...

    The lines are LR9K, I'm pretty happy with that. Then a light flat color pass.

    The finicky part is then a shaded part (with diffuse set to white) and then running that through FilterForge graphic novel filter (trying to get a reduced number of colors, essentially, but still smooth)

     

    Captain Atomic2.png
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  • Just as an FYI, Topaz Labs is having a (not very common) sale of 40% off everything: http://www.topazlabs.com?hr=Wdwdm

    Clean does great cartoony filters and there's several other (Simplify, Impressions, Glow) that do nice NPR stuff. I think the sale puts Clean at less than $20. The above is a referral link that gives you $20 of credit on a purchase. Not quite sure how those stack but might be worth checking out.

    Hey dreamfarmer. I used your link and got me some Topaz filters, hopefully you got your credit as well. Now I need to figure out how to use them. Can't wait til my weekend off. 

  • firewardenfirewarden Posts: 1,482

    I love the cards. I've toyed with doing something like that as well but got totally hung up on the framing part.

    Also, I feel like a dork; I looked through the thread before posting but mostly at pictures, and totally missed Firewarden's mention of the same offer. :p

    I didn't have the $20 credit on mine, so each was good. I'll take the link out of my second post if you've used it and gotten $20 credit. Have you? I don't want anyone else using it, since it looks like store credit doesn't do me any good.

  • Oso3DOso3D Posts: 15,011

    Two images for a RPG I'm doing art for.

     

    Races Dwarf F.png
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    Races Dwarf M.png
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  • firewardenfirewarden Posts: 1,482

    Two images for a RPG I'm doing art for.

     

    Those are awesome!!!!

  • dreamfarmerdreamfarmer Posts: 2,128
    edited April 2017
    Also, I feel like a dork; I looked through the thread before posting but mostly at pictures, and totally missed Firewarden's mention of the same offer. :p

    I didn't have the $20 credit on mine, so each was good. I'll take the link out of my second post if you've used it and gotten $20 credit. Have you? I don't want anyone else using it, since it looks like store credit doesn't do me any good.

    It told me I already had the credit. I did manage to use it and the coupon (again!) to pick up Glow, which looks like it has more NPR functions than I would have expected. That is, it's all obviously NPR but it looks like it has some _subtle_ functions as well as neon ones.

    Post edited by dreamfarmer on
  • HeadwaxHeadwax Posts: 9,987
    edited April 2017

    Two images for a RPG I'm doing art for.

     

    looks like you are going places with these William

     

    Here's a Carrara render postworked in a tutorial "How to Paint Like Raphael"

     

     

    Post edited by Headwax on
  • ArtiniArtini Posts: 9,462
    DaremoK3 said:

    Artini:

    I should have stated that both the hammer, and the monkey are still Vector images (rasterized for forums only).

    I did not paint over them with a raster paint program, but made use of the SVG and converted it in Inkscape to EMF.  Then I opened the EMF files in Creature House Expression 3 (vector illustration software - now MS Expression 4 - I use both), and went to work modifying the files.

    Why I appreciate you showcasing the output formats for VectorStyle 2 for Carrara is because you showed that the line work is usable in other vector imaging software (single line vectors) unlike utilizing raster to vector workflow in Inkscape (Bitmap Path Trace) that yields double lined/filled edging.  The inkscape workflow doubles the workload in Expression, but VectorStyle 2 for Carrara is one-to-one translation.

    This puts the plug-in on par with FreeStyle for SVG vector output sans the ability to custom select lines to be drawn (unless this is available in VS2 as well).

    Also, if I just wanted to paint over one of your images, I would have chosen the gargoyle images.  Those would have been real fun to play with...

    Thanks for explanation. I have not had an idea, how you do it, so I appreciate your tips on that matter.

     

  • ArtiniArtini Posts: 9,462
    edited April 2017

    I picked up ReStyle for quite the discount!  With that and Clean, turned this:

    ...

     

    You also made an amazing job with your base image. Below it is after applying some Nik filters and the other actions.

    image

    dreamfarmer01orgPs06.jpg
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    Post edited by Artini on
  • firewardenfirewarden Posts: 1,482
    edited April 2017
    Also, I feel like a dork; I looked through the thread before posting but mostly at pictures, and totally missed Firewarden's mention of the same offer. :p

    I didn't have the $20 credit on mine, so each was good. I'll take the link out of my second post if you've used it and gotten $20 credit. Have you? I don't want anyone else using it, since it looks like store credit doesn't do me any good.

    It told me I already had the credit. I did manage to use it and the coupon (again!) to pick up Glow, which looks like it has more NPR functions than I would have expected. That is, it's all obviously NPR but it looks like it has some _subtle_ functions as well as neon ones.

    Wow.  I never even messed with Glow before. It has some surprising effects. I tried it on my white VIking statue:

    Viking Statue white glow v1 sm.png
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    Post edited by firewarden on
  • HeadwaxHeadwax Posts: 9,987
    edited April 2017

    Couple of Worked up Carrara renders using the ones from the no post work Challenge thread as a starting point.

    The challenge is here and involves NPR as well:  Feel free to put some images in :)

    The book cover I'm not happy with how the author's name sits.

     

     https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/comment/2321356/#Comment_2321356

     

     

     

     

     

    Post edited by Headwax on
  • philebusphilebus Posts: 242
    head wax said:

    Couple of Worked up Carrara renders using the ones from the no post work Challenge thread as a starting point.

    The challenge is here and involves NPR as well:  Feel free to put some images in :)

    The book cover I'm not happy with how the author's name sits.

    These are absouletly gorgeous! Truely weird and ghostly. For illustration, I would favour the first one but for the purpose of a book cover, the colour used in the second makes it absolutely the right choice.

    I would say that the author name needs to be a tad larger and a little further in from the edge - I would try it at the same size as "adventures of" and roughly half way between "Sheriff Skull" and the bottom. At the end of the day, it is a bit of a trial and error thing though. I have tried it out as a thumnail and would suggest making the title larger but having said that, if I saw this as a thumbnail on Amazon/Kobo, I would click to look on the strength of the image alone - even at a small size, it retains its attaction. Fantastic work.

  • HeadwaxHeadwax Posts: 9,987

     

     

    philebus said:
    head wax said:

    Couple of Worked up Carrara renders using the ones from the no post work Challenge thread as a starting point.

    The challenge is here and involves NPR as well:  Feel free to put some images in :)

    The book cover I'm not happy with how the author's name sits.

    These are absouletly gorgeous! Truely weird and ghostly. For illustration, I would favour the first one but for the purpose of a book cover, the colour used in the second makes it absolutely the right choice.

    I would say that the author name needs to be a tad larger and a little further in from the edge - I would try it at the same size as "adventures of" and roughly half way between "Sheriff Skull" and the bottom. At the end of the day, it is a bit of a trial and error thing though. I have tried it out as a thumnail and would suggest making the title larger but having said that, if I saw this as a thumbnail on Amazon/Kobo, I would click to look on the strength of the image alone - even at a small size, it retains its attaction. Fantastic work.

     

    Thanks @philebus :)

    And thanks for the c and c. Your suggestions will do the job!

    I screwed up during the process because I was so busy having fun that I realised at the end I'd left the author's name out :)

    So it was something that should have been incorporated at the beginning rather than the end .

    I see you have an amazing collection of covers. https://www.daz3d.com/gallery/images/?tags=book-cover

    ! I must go and study them :)

    cheers again

     

  • MarkIsSleepyMarkIsSleepy Posts: 1,496

    Those book covers are awesome!

  • KnittingmommyKnittingmommy Posts: 8,191

    I was doing an experiment in Iray and tone mapping.  I liked the results I got.  What surprised me was what it looked like after I was done with a couple of Filter Forge filters.  I really how they turned out.  I was surprised that I could still get some bold colors since I started out with a heavily desaturated image.

    Original:

    Mixed Media Illustrator:

    Old Book Illustrator:

  • ToborTobor Posts: 2,300
    head wax said:

    So it was something that should have been incorporated at the beginning rather than the end .

    Your art is, as usual, terrific. This is quality stuff.

    Here's a secret: Start with the text. It may seem odd, but the text is actually the key part of any cover. While a cool graphic will grab attention, it's the text that sells the book (or DVD or CD or whatever). The text forms the basic layout, and you can then design the cover around it. Most folks do it in reverse, and then they end up having to pack the text into awkward places because it's easier to redo that than the art. Unfortunately, this approach then leaves both the graphic and the text lacking.

    You've already done the cover art, so this one is in the bag, but you might want to consider the art as-is has some distractions that could actually work with the right text placement. The eye flow isn't quite right as it is -- there's a moon (or something in the upper-left hot spot, then our eye gazes to the main character, then the hand and the pentagraph, and then finally settles onto the title. The graphic is highly asymmetrical but the text is plain-old centered, and because of it lacks impact. I'd start with this first, and play with the text placement to use the symmetry, or lack thereof, of the graphic to my advantage. If the source graphic you created has more space on the right, consider that as a starting point for a non-centered text treatment.

  • ToborTobor Posts: 2,300

    I wanted to add that a handy technique, particularly in the pulps that philebus likes to re-create, is to eschew the full-bleed cover. When there isn't a lot wf qiggle room for the graphic and you need more impactful text, you might try placing the art into "frames." Here are two examples where the text is made to really stand out amid a great piece of art. Neither of these examples showcases the merits of your piece, but hopefully they gets the idea across:

    https://www.amazon.com/True-Jesus-Uncovering-Divinity-Gospels/dp/162157637X/
    https://www.amazon.com/Shack-Where-Tragedy-Confronts-Eternity/dp/0964729237/

    The Limbaugh book is particularly grabbing -- it's an interesting title, to be sure, but I wonder how much of the success of this book might also be due to its cover. It's doing pretty well for being out just a few days. The cover is IMO one of the best I've seen this year.

    In any case, there's no rule that full-bleeds are the one and only kind of cover you can do. Both of the bestseller list examples divide the cover vertically, but it can also work to frame the art horizontally

  • philebusphilebus Posts: 242
    edited April 2017

    Well, I found a nice chariot in my runtime - it's amazing the all stuff I have there but haven't used yet! I'm starting to realise just how long this project might take me though. The book is almost done but needs a few re-writes here and there thanks to some late decisions about how to term some elements of the games. I would also like to include rules for Minchiate with a view to doing a set of add-on trumps for them as well.

    I had sketched out a few ideas for a set of traditional suit cards but decided that I would let myself have some fun instead and so I'll do some animal suits. Ken Gilliland (of Songbird Remix fame) is working on a new Frog model, so a suit of frogs is a must. If I can stand to work with snakes (easy-pose is not always so easy), then they will be the second suit. Finally, there will be two suits of birds - Owls and Crows.

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    Post edited by philebus on
  • HeadwaxHeadwax Posts: 9,987
    Tobor said:

    I wanted to add that a handy technique, particularly in the pulps that philebus likes to re-create, is to eschew the full-bleed cover. When there isn't a lot wf qiggle room for the graphic and you need more impactful text, you might try placing the art into "frames." Here are two examples where the text is made to really stand out amid a great piece of art. Neither of these examples showcases the merits of your piece, but hopefully they gets the idea across:

    https://www.amazon.com/True-Jesus-Uncovering-Divinity-Gospels/dp/162157637X/
    https://www.amazon.com/Shack-Where-Tragedy-Confronts-Eternity/dp/0964729237/

    The Limbaugh book is particularly grabbing -- it's an interesting title, to be sure, but I wonder how much of the success of this book might also be due to its cover. It's doing pretty well for being out just a few days. The cover is IMO one of the best I've seen this year.

    In any case, there's no rule that full-bleeds are the one and only kind of cover you can do. Both of the bestseller list examples divide the cover vertically, but it can also work to frame the art horizontally

     

    Tobor, thank  you so much for your advice. Very much appreciated. Now to sit down and digest :) !!!

     

  • HeadwaxHeadwax Posts: 9,987
    philebus said:

    Well, I found a nice chariot in my runtime - it's amazing the all stuff I have there but haven't used yet! I'm starting to realise just how long this project might take me though. The book is almost done but needs a few re-writes here and there thanks to some late decisions about how to term some elements of the games. I would also like to include rules for Minchiate with a view to doing a set of add-on trumps for them as well.

    I had sketched out a few ideas for a set of traditional suit cards but decided that I would let myself have some fun instead and so I'll do some animal suits. Ken Gilliland (of Songbird Remix fame) is working on a new Frog model, so a suit of frogs is a must. If I can stand to work with snakes (easy-pose is not always so easy), then they will be the second suit. Finally, there will be two suits of birds - Owls and Crows.

     

    Nice work. Has me convinced it's done by hand! All it needs is a few fingerprints. Thanks for the headsup on the frogs :)

     

  • HeadwaxHeadwax Posts: 9,987

    Thanks for labelling these filters. That really helps.  I liked the middle image the best. 

     

     

    I was doing an experiment in Iray and tone mapping.  I liked the results I got.  What surprised me was what it looked like after I was done with a couple of Filter Forge filters.  I really how they turned out.  I was surprised that I could still get some bold colors since I started out with a heavily desaturated image.

    Original:
     

    Mixed Media Illustrator:

     

     

     

     


     

     

  • HeadwaxHeadwax Posts: 9,987

    Here's a derivative of an image I made for the presnt Carrara challenge. It makes heavy use of a Fresnel effect to get a little glow. Without the fresnel everything blended into one even more.

    The Fresnel is an add on by shoestring shaders

     

  • firewardenfirewarden Posts: 1,482
    head wax said:

    Here's a derivative of an image I made for the presnt Carrara challenge. It makes heavy use of a Fresnel effect to get a little glow. Without the fresnel everything blended into one even more.

    The Fresnel is an add on by shoestring shaders

     

    Wow!!! Amazing. I am thinking I need to spend some time playing with Carrara this summer. Then again, I need to spend time with Linrender9000 and Sketchy. (And take some art lessons.)

  • Bunyip02Bunyip02 Posts: 8,624

    Steam Mech, Carrara YAToon filter.

  • Bunyip02Bunyip02 Posts: 8,624

    Walkies. Carrara YAToon filter. Then postwork in Filter Forge with watercolour filter.

This discussion has been closed.