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@Novica That's a great tutorial on shadows! Thanks so much. I think that will really come in handy when I try this experiment in again. Might actually get it right next time. :)
I did a shadow years ago but, as usual, I can't find the image :)
What I can remember I turned the image into an all black shape and cut it out so all I had was the black image of the object/figure. Placed it on a new layer. Used perspective to lay it down keeping the base locked to the base of the figure until it matched the shadows in the background image I was using. I then used Screen to blend it into the background. I think as it was years ago :)
Here are a couple of videos that might help though.
https://photoshopcafe.com/tutorials/cast_shadow/cast_shadow.htm
Look at this one from 18:40.
So I was wondering, knittingmommy...when you rendered your figure out so that you could use her to create the shadow, how did you do it? I can mask the figure out, but it would be easier to render it out with an alpha channel or someway that there isn't a background. So is there?
I think your shadow is near perfect, but of course your going to be the one who has to like it!!!!
@KevinH I just rendered it in Iray with Dome and Ground set to off and then saved as a .png so DS would save the rendered figure without a background. Everything else I did on separate layers in Gimp. The only part that was actually rendered in DS was the girl.
Thanks, @Saphirewild. I know I'm usually my own worst critic. I do try to work on that.
I did a video for doing shadows in post for PS, you might be able to adapt it for Gimp. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LiDXwKLCNrE&t=5s
As far as direction, you go the opposite way the light is coming. On this one you can see the light coming from the front left so the shadow would fall back right. The floor shadow needs to start at her feet then go away from the body, when it hits the wall it would then go straight up from where the floor shadow meets the wall.
Thanks, knittingmommy for the explanation. I will try doing that too, so maybe I can just get the figure when I render for certain images.
Deathbycanon, you asked about a lantern that I used in one of my images in your comment. I did respond, but I'm not sure if you saw it. Maybe there is a way to respond directly to another forum member, but I'm not sure how to do it. In any case, if you didn't see my response....I think the lantern was just an image that I dropped into my picture. I masked out the handle so it looked like he was holding it and then I used brushes and layers to make it appear that the light was glowing.
I'm playing catchup, so if this has been mentioned already, I apologize. Your shadow is on a separate layer, so you can remove the shadow under her feet. Then it will look like she is planted on the floor. Also, the shadow should lie on the floor until it reaches the wall. As an example, here's an image I did a couple of years ago showing, (for the contest with the 3D Print of Vicky,) where I added the print and shadow in Photoshop:
The image links to the gallery page, if you want to see it larger.
Does anyone have the G3M body hair by RedzStudio (@Redz ) over at Rendo? How does it look on G8M? Does it work well on the new guys? I've had this on my wishlist over there for a while. I did end up getting the Oh my brows but haven't picked up the body hair yet. I'm thinking of going ahead and picking it up the next time it's on sale.
I've been trying other body hair in my product library on current WIP but not getting the look I want so far.
I think one of the problems is that I added shadows on the floor and the feet that ended up looking like crap. I need to get rid of that layer. And, yes, all of the shadows were on their own separate layers so I should be able to play with it some more and figure it out at some point. Thanks for the advice. I'll always take all that I can get. :)
I have it. I can test it on G8M, in a bit. Had my eyes examined today, and they are still dilated!
Thanks that would be great. No rush. It isn't on sale right now.
The G3M Oh My Body Hair from RedzStudio autofits pretty well to the G8M base figure. There appears to be an issue in the shoulders, half on the "arm" hair and half on the "back" hair. I think you could adjust the bones in the shoulder and upper arm area and move it back into place via the Joint Editor without too much trouble. Other than that, it looks really great on G8M. Here are some images. First, showing the stubble closeup from three different angles. (You can see the misbehaving shoulder hair, too.)
Next is a full-body view from the front.
And finally, a full-body view from the rear:
There is pubic hair as well, but I did not apply it. Hard enough to keep the images TOS compliant and show off how good it looks on the legs and torso. The images link to the larger, original renders.
Thanks, L'Adair. I appreciate it. Looks like I'll definitely be picking it up the next time it's on sale. That would probably be quicker than waiting for someone to make one specifically for G8M.
I finally got to a chapter in my book where a character I only vaguely had an idea of has a major role. I knew she was a witch but not what she looked like or anything. I had to figure it out quick so I could write the chapter she's in. After thinking about her for most of the day, she suddenly morphed into a very dynamic character that I'm now thinking may have to get her own story sometime. I really like how she grew in my head into this very bright, intelligent, and witty girl.
Meet Vasthie. She's a first-generation American born of Haitian immigrant parents. She's a very modern girl with a wicked sense of humor who still has a foot in the old traditions thanks to her Grams, a Haitian Vodou Priestess. Her modern take on the old religion is to marry her family's past with her Wiccan philosophy turning her into one of the most powerful witches of her time.
I really like her! She definitely looks confident and determined. Beautiful!
It's a bit funny how the common perception of witches in the passed few decades has gone from evil old warty pointy nosed hags to (often teenage) beauty queens.
As for Vasthie, she does look interesting. Wether or not you ever get her her own story, the feeling that there's a story behind her is a good thing for a "supporting" character, making her feel more alive and real and not just like someone put into the story with the sole purpose of helping (or opposing) the main cast.
Thanks, @IceDragonArt and @isidorn. I don't know if I'll write her story or not. However, she is an interesting character and I really hope that I can do her justice on the page of this story. I have a feeling that she will be one of those supporting characters that might steal the scene. :)
When I was a kid, I heard that "only bad witches are ugly."
She has to be the most beautiful Witch I have ever seen!!!
Lovely render Knittingmommy. :) I am far behind again here. lol
Vasthie - Great render, KM. Hmm - good mojo or bad?
Loads of Mojo, either way! Lovely lady.
@Saphirewild Thank you. I really like how she turned out, too. It's so much fun doing my own mix of morphs to create my own unique characters, too.
@Liana Thanks. You'll catch up I'm sure. I'm actually falling behind since I've been writing so much so I can understand that completely. :)
@Dracorn Oh, definitely good mojo! She's on the good guys' side. :)
@DarwinsMishap Yep, lots of mojo. I have plans for her and she'll be a key character in each of the books in the series. I'm going to have to be careful that she doesn't take over each book until she gets her own story. :)
So, I've been working on my author website. As I get closer to finishing this first book in the series, I realize that I really do need a website up where I can do updates on current projects, put character bios with images of what each of my characters looks like. I'm still adding some things to it, but I hope to have it published soon. I thought I'd post the banner image that I came up with yesterday for my website and get some opinions on it. I'm uploading a screenshot of what the website looks like from within the editor since it hasn't been published yet. I really would like opinions on how both look. Let me know what you think.
Both characters are my own mix. The male is using DM's Salvatore skin on my own G8M mix. I just couldn't resist using it as DM does such great work on his skins. I thought about actually using his morph but decided it might be best if I used my own morphs. The female's skin is BD Jaiyana on my own morph mix on G8F. I really like how her skin turned out, too. One of these days, I'll have to do a render of both characters with their original morphs.
Banner
Website mockup
The image is quite dark which isn't a problem but the dark red writing is getting lost in the background. Also remember there will be people coming to the site who may be colour blind and wont even see the writing. I also wouldn't have the writing across the image. You have space on the left side of the couple which could be used instead.You will have to remember too that the search engines wont pick up on the image or the writing for search purposes so the writing will have to be used as a place marker for the image so that it is and so that people entering your site with images turned off will still see the writing.
@Fishtales Yeah, I was thinking that the text would be a problem. I'm having trouble figuring out what color text would actually work, though, so I'm still playing with color and positioning. Thanks for the advice because it definitely mirrors what I was pretty sure would be an issue.
There are sites to help with colour schemes.
This Google search should help.
https://www.google.co.uk/search?client=opera&q=website+colour+scheme+picker&sourceid=opera&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8
Here is one from Adobe. Under Colour Rule there are various ways to combine colours such as :-
Analogous where the colours use adjacent colours around the wheel.
Triad which uses only three colours.
I like the render too. The lettering I can hardly see. I am not color blind. :) Can you place the text above or below the promo pic?
Really great render and pose KM. Couples poses are really difficult for me. Hats off to you for getting it right.
I agree that the lettering is not visible enough. Perhaps try gold, silver or white?
One suggestion I have relates to the male character's arm. From the angle, his shoulder to elbow length looks shorter than his elbow to wrist length - i.e., to me it looks like the shoulder to elbow length should appear longer. I don't know what the fix is. One thing might be, with a bit of photoshop editing, you could imply that the elbow is down way lower. Anyway, not a huge deal, and I may be completely off base.
@Fishtales I'll take a look at those sites. I need to find colors that go with the image I created but stand out enough to be seen if it's going to be on the image.
For the moment, I switched things up a little and put the text below the image. I also edited the text just a little bit. It's so hard coming up with taglines sometimes. :) Just ignore that 'drag elements here part. That's part of the editor and doesn't get published.