Non-photorealistic Renders (NPR)

mmitchell_houston

Sammy_jr_mart said:

Something simple, did a horse.

This is very attractive. It looks like the sort of sketch you would do for an art class or as a study in technique -- and that's kinda what we're all doing here, right? Studying and learning through sharing. Particularly nice work on the grass patch and the tail. I like your simple color choices.

mmitchell_houston

I have FINALLY finished writing my Noir Style Tutorial over at my blog. It updates twice a week and the last installment (which is a contents/summary page with all the links on it, and a new 1-page summary) will appear next Friday on Sept. 22, 2017. At that time, I will post a proper link to it (if you're interested, though, the first 19 parts are available by clicking on my blog link below (yeah, the whole thing is 21 parts and ran for three months! What the heck was I thinking?).

Anyway, it dawned on me that I haven't posted anything new for a while. So here is the faerie character, named Nirona, who was the subject of the tutorial. And who, incidentally, is one of the characters in my upcoming comic book project (of which I shall speak more in the future).

Here she is with my classic noir style (including the shading tone used for print).

And here she is in a cool two-tone look.

Headwax

mmitchell_houston said:

I have FINALLY finished writing my Noir Style Tutorial over at my blog. It updates twice a week and the last installment (which is a contents/summary page with all the links on it, and a new 1-page summary) will appear next Friday on Sept. 22, 2017. At that time, I will post a proper link to it (if you're interested, though, the first 19 parts are available by clicking on my blog link below (yeah, the whole thing is 21 parts and ran for three months! What the heck was I thinking?).

Anyway, it dawned on me that I haven't posted anything new for a while. So here is the faerie character, named Nirona, who was the subject of the tutorial. And who, incidentally, is one of the characters in my upcoming comic book project (of which I shall speak more in the future).

Here she is with my classic noir style (including the shading tone used for print).

And here she is in a cool two-tone look.

wow, she looks wonderful !! love the firest one especially

thanks for the tut, looking forward to reading it! do you mind if I link to it in Carrara NPR thread we have?

 

Headwax

This is from the Carrara challenge on at the moment.

 Cow Chucking Device - after Cripeman's blue print tutorial - used also filter forge old photo and topaz impression :)

Rendered out gouraud and NPR outline - combined in post - using gouraud layer at 45 percent opacity

 

 

 

 

mmitchell_houston

head wax said:

mmitchell_houston said:

I have FINALLY finished writing my Noir Style Tutorial over at my blog. It updates twice a week and the last installment (which is a contents/summary page with all the links on it, and a new 1-page summary) will appear next Friday on Sept. 22, 2017. At that time, I will post a proper link to it (if you're interested, though, the first 19 parts are available by clicking on my blog link below (yeah, the whole thing is 21 parts and ran for three months! What the heck was I thinking?).

Anyway, it dawned on me that I haven't posted anything new for a while. So here is the faerie character, named Nirona, who was the subject of the tutorial. And who, incidentally, is one of the characters in my upcoming comic book project (of which I shall speak more in the future).

Here she is with my classic noir style (including the shading tone used for print).

And here she is in a cool two-tone look.

wow, she looks wonderful !! love the firest one especially

thanks for the tut, looking forward to reading it! do you mind if I link to it in Carrara NPR thread we have?

Thanks! By all means, link to it! I appreciate it.

mmitchell_houston

head wax said:

This is from the Carrara challenge on at the moment.

 Cow Chucking Device - after Cripeman's blue print tutorial - used also filter forge old photo and topaz impression :)

Rendered out gouraud and NPR outline - combined in post - using gouraud layer at 45 percent opacity

 

Hah! Nice effect, and very funny! I do think the brown at the bottom is a little overpowering, although not being able to read everything clearly actually makes it a little funnier.

JamesJAB

Here's a little bit of playing with filters on top of an Iray render of Callie 6 with DG Iray Toon Styles for Genesis 2 materials applied.

And Here is what the render looked like without any postwork

 

algovincian

Picked up some older Unicorn Stuff in the special promotion during the sale while grabbing Linday's new character Syble (my first G8 character). Oh noes . . . I broke the seal! lol

Finally grabbed M-65 American Icon, too, which I've wanted for some time now. It's got to be one of the most realistic pieces of clothing I've seen in the store. Should look great on Syble. Anyway, here are the 2 unicorns:

https://www.daz3d.com/tumbleweed-the-toon-horse

https://www.daz3d.com/da-unicorn-for-daz-horse-2

Tumbleweed rendered fine in my algos, but the DAZ Horse 2 unicorn needs some work. After looking at the output a little closer, the hair on his hooves seems abrupt, and his eyes are too dark as well (IRay mat conversion). Not bad for pretty much straight out of the box.

Am I the only one that hears Eddie Murphy's voice in my head when I look at Tumble Weed? Maybe it's the grin? 3DUs creations always have so much character. The more dignified DAZ Horse 2 seems a little annoyed by his counterpart's exuberance.

- Greg

mmitchell_houston

algovincian said:

Picked up some older Unicorn Stuff in the special promotion during the sale while grabbing Linday's new character Syble (my first G8 character). Oh noes . . . I broke the seal! lol

Finally grabbed M-65 American Icon, too, which I've wanted for some time now. It's got to be one of the most realistic pieces of clothing I've seen in the store. Should look great on Syble. Anyway, here are the 2 unicorns:

https://www.daz3d.com/tumbleweed-the-toon-horse

https://www.daz3d.com/da-unicorn-for-daz-horse-2

Tumbleweed rendered fine in my algos, but the DAZ Horse 2 unicorn needs some work. After looking at the output a little closer, the hair on his hooves seems abrupt, and his eyes are too dark as well (IRay mat conversion). Not bad for pretty much straight out of the box.

Am I the only one that hears Eddie Murphy's voice in my head when I look at Tumble Weed? Maybe it's the grin? 3DUs creations always have so much character. The more dignified DAZ Horse 2 seems a little annoyed by his counterpart's exuberance.

- Greg

Nope, you are NOT the only one who hear's Eddie Murphy's voice in your head when looking at Tumble Weed! That is what I thought, instantly. And yes, the two figures next to each other are VERY funny because the dignfied unicorn is looking at his companion as though he were an embarassing goofus. Very nice work together.

And, although I see what you mean about the hair near the hooves, it doesn't bother me. Perhaps a little more variety in the length would be a good thing, though. As always, you create STUNNING work.

mmitchell_houston

JamesJAB said:

Here's a little bit of playing with filters on top of an Iray render of Callie 6 with DG Iray Toon Styles for Genesis 2 materials applied.

And Here is what the render looked like without any postwork

Very attractive! Lots of personality shines through in this simple character study. If I were to make one suggestion, it would be to lighten the fur on the boots before doing the post work. There is a very strong, odd-looking, black shadow that runs down the entire run. If it were a little lighter to begin with, you might get a better result. Of course, I'm just nitpicking. This is cute, and I do like your use of bright colors. And I love how the wood steps came out in the postworked version.

mmitchell_houston

algovincian said:

 

You know, looking at this a second time, especially in the smaller thumbnail here, I can't help but think that the toon horse needs a thicker outline. Cartoons typically have heavier lines, and it would create an even stronger contrast to the more dignified, fancy style of the other unicorn. Just a thought. I suspect you'd have to process both images separately, then combine them in post, right?

Headwax

algovincian said:

Picked up some older Unicorn Stuff in the special promotion during the sale while grabbing Linday's new character Syble (my first G8 character). Oh noes . . . I broke the seal! lol

Finally grabbed M-65 American Icon, too, which I've wanted for some time now. It's got to be one of the most realistic pieces of clothing I've seen in the store. Should look great on Syble. Anyway, here are the 2 unicorns:

https://www.daz3d.com/tumbleweed-the-toon-horse

https://www.daz3d.com/da-unicorn-for-daz-horse-2

Tumbleweed rendered fine in my algos, but the DAZ Horse 2 unicorn needs some work. After looking at the output a little closer, the hair on his hooves seems abrupt, and his eyes are too dark as well (IRay mat conversion). Not bad for pretty much straight out of the box.

Am I the only one that hears Eddie Murphy's voice in my head when I look at Tumble Weed? Maybe it's the grin? 3DUs creations always have so much character. The more dignified DAZ Horse 2 seems a little annoyed by his counterpart's exuberance.

- Greg

 

hey that's a great effect algovincian ​, nice to see you posting work again

 

Headwax

mmitchell_houston said:

head wax said:

This is from the Carrara challenge on at the moment.

 Cow Chucking Device - after Cripeman's blue print tutorial - used also filter forge old photo and topaz impression :)

Rendered out gouraud and NPR outline - combined in post - using gouraud layer at 45 percent opacity

 

Hah! Nice effect, and very funny! I do think the brown at the bottom is a little overpowering, although not being able to read everything clearly actually makes it a little funnier.

thanks!, and thanks for the link permission thing :)

 

eugene_lab

Redid a couple of processes in photoshop, any critique would be much appreciated.

 

algovincian

head wax said:

hey that's a great effect algovincian ​, nice to see you posting work again

Thanks head wax - life has been kickin' me arse lately!

mmitchell_houston said:

algovincian said:

 

You know, looking at this a second time, especially in the smaller thumbnail here, I can't help but think that the toon horse needs a thicker outline. Cartoons typically have heavier lines, and it would create an even stronger contrast to the more dignified, fancy style of the other unicorn. Just a thought. I suspect you'd have to process both images separately, then combine them in post, right?

The way my process is setup currently, there are 117 files saved for each scene processed. It starts with the analysis passes and ends with the finished styles (most of which I've posted at one point or another here in this thread). It also includes numerous masks derived from information contained in the analysis passes, as well as additional rendering (stroking) done by the fractal algorithms (outlines, shading, etc.).

Normally, I control the look of the output by setting up the lighting and materials before the process even starts. However, I can interrupt the process and manually edit files, and then resume. Occasionally, I'll do this after the analysis passes have finished. For some scenes, I'll manually tweak the z-depth pass to have greater control over what is in/out of "focus". I could locally adjust the contrast/brightness, or even paint in some guide lines, in some of the other analysis passes to encourage the algos to draw heavier lines in certain areas, but this isn't something I've done in a long time.

In some of the styles, being in/out of focus can mean more than just a lens blur. In the unicorn image that I posted, I set up the depth (by setting the position of a "focus" and a "blur" object in the scene before rendering started) such that the rear-end of the guy on the left would be somewhat "out of focus". This helped to set it apart a bit from Tumbleweed by drawing slightly lighter/finer lines:

I could do something similar to separate the 2 completely - having Tumbleweed in focus, and DAZ Horse 2 out of focus. I could then create a new "style" that renders things in focus with heavy, fatter lines (strokes made by the fractal algos) and renders things out of focus with thinner lines. Creating new styles with the tools is something I really enjoy.

This would accomplish what you're talking about in a single go, which is appealing to me since I strive to avoid manual editing. Alternatively, since all of the styles are rendered every time I run a scene through the algos, the output from different styles can be composited however I wish manually with the help of masks created during the process.

Currently, I don't have the fractal algos rendering any heavy lines, although I have played with it in the past (I prefer finer lines for more detail). Do you have Tumbleweed? I'd love to see how you are envisioning it.

- Greg

PS: Sorry for the book, but others have been interested in this sort of technical info in the past.

tkdrobert

Finally got some of my stuff on Renderosity.  Will take a few days to get it all up there.

FirstBastion

Sammy_jr_mart said:

Something simple, did a horse.

 

Really good.  I could see a whole series of these put together into a children's book or something like a card set.  Simple yet quite professional looking. 

Sammagi

tkdrobert said:

Sammy_jr_mart said:

Something simple, did a horse.

 

 

This is really nice.  I don't own a horse, but I think they are beautiful animals.  I've been horse back riding a few times and I love it.

Knittingmommy said:

It might be simple, but it looks amazing.  :)

Thanks both of you :)

mmitchell_houston

algovincian said:

head wax said:

hey that's a great effect algovincian ​, nice to see you posting work again

Thanks head wax - life has been kickin' me arse lately!

mmitchell_houston said:

algovincian said:

 

You know, looking at this a second time, especially in the smaller thumbnail here, I can't help but think that the toon horse needs a thicker outline. Cartoons typically have heavier lines, and it would create an even stronger contrast to the more dignified, fancy style of the other unicorn. Just a thought. I suspect you'd have to process both images separately, then combine them in post, right?

The way my process is setup currently, there are 117 files saved for each scene processed. It starts with the analysis passes and ends with the finished styles (most of which I've posted at one point or another here in this thread). It also includes numerous masks derived from information contained in the analysis passes, as well as additional rendering (stroking) done by the fractal algorithms (outlines, shading, etc.).

Normally, I control the look of the output by setting up the lighting and materials before the process even starts. However, I can interrupt the process and manually edit files, and then resume. Occasionally, I'll do this after the analysis passes have finished. For some scenes, I'll manually tweak the z-depth pass to have greater control over what is in/out of "focus". I could locally adjust the contrast/brightness, or even paint in some guide lines, in some of the other analysis passes to encourage the algos to draw heavier lines in certain areas, but this isn't something I've done in a long time.

In some of the styles, being in/out of focus can mean more than just a lens blur. In the unicorn image that I posted, I set up the depth (by setting the position of a "focus" and a "blur" object in the scene before rendering started) such that the rear-end of the guy on the left would be somewhat "out of focus". This helped to set it apart a bit from Tumbleweed by drawing slightly lighter/finer lines:

I could do something similar to separate the 2 completely - having Tumbleweed in focus, and DAZ Horse 2 out of focus. I could then create a new "style" that renders things in focus with heavy, fatter lines (strokes made by the fractal algos) and renders things out of focus with thinner lines. Creating new styles with the tools is something I really enjoy.

This would accomplish what you're talking about in a single go, which is appealing to me since I strive to avoid manual editing. Alternatively, since all of the styles are rendered every time I run a scene through the algos, the output from different styles can be composited however I wish manually with the help of masks created during the process.

Currently, I don't have the fractal algos rendering any heavy lines, although I have played with it in the past (I prefer finer lines for more detail). Do you have Tumbleweed? I'd love to see how you are envisioning it.

- Greg

PS: Sorry for the book, but others have been interested in this sort of technical info in the past.

NEVER apologize for giving us the details. I'm one of those who, in the past, has read each and every "chapter" of your "book." Seriously, I really enjoy reading your details. I understand just enough to be really envious of what you've achieved. I'm looking forward to the next iteration in your style.

Worlds_Edge

Your fairy character looks great @mmitchell_houston  And the two tone look is indeed very cool

@JamesJAB good job with Callie 6.  It seems like you still had to do a lot of work after applying the toon shaders.  Thanks for the before and after - always interesting and educational.

@algovincian  I'm astounded by how you tooned up a non-toonie character (the horse) so well that it doesn't look weird next to an out of the box toonie character.

@eugene_lab I feel the pants/top don't go well together but you did a good job turning her into a toon.  I love the fact that her facial features are nice and sharp.

Sammagi

mmitchell_houston said:

Sammy_jr_mart said:

Something simple, did a horse.

This is very attractive. It looks like the sort of sketch you would do for an art class or as a study in technique -- and that's kinda what we're all doing here, right? Studying and learning through sharing. Particularly nice work on the grass patch and the tail. I like your simple color choices.

Thank you! its exactly what I'm going for. Like to more of this as I work on my comic. Now I'm building assets for the community as well.

 

Diomede

Working on hair and a beard.

 

Sammagi

FirstBastion said:

Sammy_jr_mart said:

Something simple, did a horse.

 

Really good.  I could see a whole series of these put together into a children's book or something like a card set.  Simple yet quite professional looking. 

Thank you!

 

 

algovincian said:

Picked up some older Unicorn Stuff in the special promotion during the sale while grabbing Linday's new character Syble (my first G8 character). Oh noes . . . I broke the seal! lol

Finally grabbed M-65 American Icon, too, which I've wanted for some time now. It's got to be one of the most realistic pieces of clothing I've seen in the store. Should look great on Syble. Anyway, here are the 2 unicorns:

https://www.daz3d.com/tumbleweed-the-toon-horse

https://www.daz3d.com/da-unicorn-for-daz-horse-2

Tumbleweed rendered fine in my algos, but the DAZ Horse 2 unicorn needs some work. After looking at the output a little closer, the hair on his hooves seems abrupt, and his eyes are too dark as well (IRay mat conversion). Not bad for pretty much straight out of the box.

Am I the only one that hears Eddie Murphy's voice in my head when I look at Tumble Weed? Maybe it's the grin? 3DUs creations always have so much character. The more dignified DAZ Horse 2 seems a little annoyed by his counterpart's exuberance.

- Gr

after you pointed on the eyes and hooves, I still like this one a lot! I'm reluctnant to use Iray due to my PC, but since I"m learning the ropes 

Even after you pointed on the eyes and hooves, I still like this one a lot! I'm reluctnant to use Iray due to my PC, but since I"m learning the ropes  

eugene_lab

Additional samples, let me know what you think?

algovincian

Sammy_jr_mart said:

FirstBastion said:

Sammy_jr_mart said:

Something simple, did a horse.

 

Really good.  I could see a whole series of these put together into a children's book or something like a card set.  Simple yet quite professional looking. 

Thank you!

 

 

algovincian said:

Picked up some older Unicorn Stuff in the special promotion during the sale while grabbing Linday's new character Syble (my first G8 character). Oh noes . . . I broke the seal! lol

Finally grabbed M-65 American Icon, too, which I've wanted for some time now. It's got to be one of the most realistic pieces of clothing I've seen in the store. Should look great on Syble. Anyway, here are the 2 unicorns:

https://www.daz3d.com/tumbleweed-the-toon-horse

https://www.daz3d.com/da-unicorn-for-daz-horse-2

Tumbleweed rendered fine in my algos, but the DAZ Horse 2 unicorn needs some work. After looking at the output a little closer, the hair on his hooves seems abrupt, and his eyes are too dark as well (IRay mat conversion). Not bad for pretty much straight out of the box.

Am I the only one that hears Eddie Murphy's voice in my head when I look at Tumble Weed? Maybe it's the grin? 3DUs creations always have so much character. The more dignified DAZ Horse 2 seems a little annoyed by his counterpart's exuberance.

- Gr

after you pointed on the eyes and hooves, I still like this one a lot! I'm reluctnant to use Iray due to my PC, but since I"m learning the ropes 

Even after you pointed on the eyes and hooves, I still like this one a lot! I'm reluctnant to use Iray due to my PC, but since I"m learning the ropes  

Thanks, Sammy. I really enjoy rendering in Iray, but my NPR processing is done on an array of old refurbished boxes running Windows 7 with 4GB RAM and no video card at all - they are my slaves ;)

Long live 3DL!

On another note, yesterday another issue with the unicorn was pointed out to me by a 6 year old little girl who said, "I like your picture, but why did you draw a potato?" Potato . . . what potato? I looked at the image again, and then looked at her Mom as we both started cracking up. She joked about how that explained what Tumbleweed was looking at and why he was freaking out acting like a spaz lol.

Ever since she pointed it out, it's all I see! Anyway, the wee ones rule, and I cropped the image for her:

- Greg

 

algovincian

head wax said:

This is from the Carrara challenge on at the moment.

 Cow Chucking Device - after Cripeman's blue print tutorial - used also filter forge old photo and topaz impression :)

Rendered out gouraud and NPR outline - combined in post - using gouraud layer at 45 percent opacity

 

Catching up on this thread while I have a free moment this morning, and this one really stuck out. Really need to enlarge it to see the detail in all its glory - would love to see it in print. Awesome work, head wax.

- Greg

Artini

Playing with fluid simulations in Blender with a chair from:

https://www.daz3d.com/contemporary-furniture-vol-1

then filtered the image in https://www.daz3d.com/pd-howler-11-1

Knittingmommy

algovincian said:

Sammy_jr_mart said:

FirstBastion said:

Sammy_jr_mart said:

Something simple, did a horse.

 

Really good.  I could see a whole series of these put together into a children's book or something like a card set.  Simple yet quite professional looking. 

Thank you!

 

 

algovincian said:

Picked up some older Unicorn Stuff in the special promotion during the sale while grabbing Linday's new character Syble (my first G8 character). Oh noes . . . I broke the seal! lol

Finally grabbed M-65 American Icon, too, which I've wanted for some time now. It's got to be one of the most realistic pieces of clothing I've seen in the store. Should look great on Syble. Anyway, here are the 2 unicorns:

https://www.daz3d.com/tumbleweed-the-toon-horse

https://www.daz3d.com/da-unicorn-for-daz-horse-2

Tumbleweed rendered fine in my algos, but the DAZ Horse 2 unicorn needs some work. After looking at the output a little closer, the hair on his hooves seems abrupt, and his eyes are too dark as well (IRay mat conversion). Not bad for pretty much straight out of the box.

Am I the only one that hears Eddie Murphy's voice in my head when I look at Tumble Weed? Maybe it's the grin? 3DUs creations always have so much character. The more dignified DAZ Horse 2 seems a little annoyed by his counterpart's exuberance.

- Gr

after you pointed on the eyes and hooves, I still like this one a lot! I'm reluctnant to use Iray due to my PC, but since I"m learning the ropes 

Even after you pointed on the eyes and hooves, I still like this one a lot! I'm reluctnant to use Iray due to my PC, but since I"m learning the ropes  

Thanks, Sammy. I really enjoy rendering in Iray, but my NPR processing is done on an array of old refurbished boxes running Windows 7 with 4GB RAM and no video card at all - they are my slaves ;)

Long live 3DL!

On another note, yesterday another issue with the unicorn was pointed out to me by a 6 year old little girl who said, "I like your picture, but why did you draw a potato?" Potato . . . what potato? I looked at the image again, and then looked at her Mom as we both started cracking up. She joked about how that explained what Tumbleweed was looking at and why he was freaking out acting like a spaz lol.

Ever since she pointed it out, it's all I see! Anyway, the wee ones rule, and I cropped the image for her:

- Greg

 

Lol! That's kids for you.  They come up with the coolest perspective on things.  :)  I do like your original, potato and all.  I love Tumbleweed's expression.  Your art always amazes me.  The cropped version looks good, too.

Artini

One more with another filter from PD Howler.

mmitchell_houston

Today, I'm limited to short bursts on the computer. I had a procedure done this morning (cortisone injection & lubricant in an attempt to lessen pain from torn cartilage in my knee). So, even though I've got the day off, I need to keep it elevated, which means no more than 45-min at a time on the computer.

So, here's a "quick" sketch of my character, Nirona. I say "quick" because I did spend longer on it than this deserves (started it two days ago, with only a little time spent on it here and there). I'm just playing around with expressions and a few tricks on how to boost my speed so I can actually start creating the comic story she's in. 

Here's a detail of the expression I was working on.