October 2016 New User Contest - Atmosphere (WIP Thread)

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Comments

  • IceDragonArtIceDragonArt Posts: 12,548

    Okay thank you!  You totally made my day.

    Yes...that is a compliment.  Didn't mean to be obtuse about it.

     

    Also, yes.  It does qualify for the contest.

     

  • berriboyberriboy Posts: 172
    berriboy said:

    I haven't been around for a long time and would like to add this render to this months competition.

    There are a lot of really nice atmospheric renders but I think we need more godrays.

    This is a great image.  A really nice start.  I love the god rays and all your skeleton warriors.

     

    I would suggest trying to vary their poses.  The skeletons carrying torches all seem to have the exact same pose.  You have more variety in the head positions of the skeletons carrying the staffs ( I especially like the one looking out the window as he walks by ), but their strides are all the same.  If they are marching in some kind of formation this is to be expected but they appear to be a bit more disorderly to me. 

     

    I realize it is a challenge to have so many figures in one image to start with but some subtle adjustments can make a huge difference.  Adjusting the angle of heads, slight differences in stride, etc.

     

    A great start. 

    Thank you Kismet. The characters are instances, thats why they all have the same pose. I want to make them all individual characters for the final render though I'm not sure how many I will be able to get in the scene before I run out of Vram.

  • DefenistratDefenistrat Posts: 68
    edited October 2016
    ewcarman said:
    ewcarman said:
    ewcarman said:
    ewcarman said:

    I swapped in the Free-Spirit-Hair, which I've found so many uses for. Great Morphs. I think this looks a lot better (a few small tweaks as well).

    ewcarman said:

    I swapped in the Free-Spirit-Hair, which I've found so many uses for. Great Morphs. I think this looks a lot better (a few small tweaks as well).

    I think your pose, your lighting, the concept is all very beautiful. However, I think it could be more powerful. Not to say that it is not a powerful image, but a couple of things that might help make an impact.

    1. Her pose is beautiful, but the strongest focal point in the image is probably her arm, which is well lit and right in the middle of the top left focal point. While her pose is beautiful, I feel like it takes a while to take it in. It might be worth adjusting the camera or her position so that her torso is more the focal point. Frankly, I think you might have a challenge in putting her face or body in a focal point, without boxing her into the edge of the image. I don't know, I could be wrong here. Maybe somebody else should weigh in on that one.

    2. I don't think this is a pose that a character could be in for very long. Therefor, I feel that she is caught in motion. Her hair is in a really static position, like she has been standing like this for a while, but her body is off balance. I think her hair needs more motion.

    3. Lastly, her hair and parts of ther backside blend too well into the dark background, making it hard to see them. I only have a few tools in my 3D toolbox right now, so I probably say this too much, but I think she needs something to light up her back, whether that is just a subtle ambient light, or a powerful contrasting rim light, I don't know.

    Anyway, a list of three things... that feels like too much for an image that already looks this good. But they are just suggestions. However, how do you do those fireflies in your godrays? And are you using 3Delight or Iray? I have seen these on Iray images, and I have not been able to figure out how they are done, so I have actually been cheating and adding them in post work in GIMP, which feels a little dirty...

    @Defenistrat Thank you for your feedback! Good points all.I see what you mean by the hair. Honestly, I was so happy to get it to hang down that way, I didn't give it another thought. I'll have to see about adding some motion to it. There are a number of parts to this hair that I might be able to take bits and pieces and create an interesting effect. I really like this hair too, Once you tilt the head forwards or back, so many hairs have trouble morphing to show a little (or lot in this case) gravity.

    About the rim lights.... I've gone back and forth with adding them to this image. It is obviously lit from the source-on-high, so I'm not sure about adding other sources. I've actually got about 5 other lights in the scene - all turned off at the moment - that I've experimented with. But since this was something you noticed right away and I've been struggling to decide whether or not to do it, I suppose I should take another look.I suspect you are right and if I can get just a little highlight on her, it might really get her to pop. 

    For focal points, I agree that this is a difficult pose to put into hot-spots. I played with the camera at different angles - angled towards the front, back, etc. and finally settled on this. I guess it's more portrait? Good advice though and definitely worth a few more experiments.

    As for the fireflies in the light beams, I picked up Epic Godrays in the sales this last month and used that. I'm very happy with how easy it is to use and the effect it has on the image. I've done these before, using Sickleyield's tutorials, and they just didn't turn out this nice or easy. And this is an Iray image.

    Oh, and it's not cheating to use GIMP for a little post. smiley

     

    @Defenistrat - This is the final version and I think it turned out great. Adding a fill light has added some subtle highlights "behind" her and gets her to pop from the background a little better without spoiling the overall lighting effect. I also added a little bit of movement to her hair so it looked more like it was still falling into place. I tried different camera angles, but came back to the original. At any rate, thank you for the great suggestions and observations. I'm very happy with this one.

     

    @ewcarman

    I agree that this turned out great. Thanks for taking my feedback into consideration. It was mostly just ideas, but I agree that it would be hard to improve upon what you have as this is a solid image. Good luck!

    edit: Oh, and thanks for pointing me to Epic Godrays. I actually tried Sickleyield's atmosphere tutorial a couple of times now, and I had the same issue as you, but I have seen this style of godrays in the Galleries and was wondering how people achieved them. Thanks!

    Post edited by Defenistrat on
  • kanegs said:
    kanegs said:
    kanegs said:
    kanegs said:
    kanegs said:

    Here's idea #2:

    That's pretty creepy (in a good way).  Do the doors open at all?  Right now his arm (my right) looks a bit like its floating because of the way the door cuts it up.  Maybe you could open it a bit more, or maybe have him grasping the door with his fingers curled around the edge to pull it open? 

    I made some posing changes, I'm not quit happy with my changes. I don't have a lot of room to work with. I need the window light behind him, and the doors in front of him.

    I also altered the lighting / godrays to speed up the rendering (last image took 40+ hours, this one a little over 2).

    So I didn't see the first render until I quoted the second image. That said, with this second darker image, when I saw it I felt this horrible sense of uneasyness, as something that I couldn't see very well looked like it was coming towards me...

    Then I went to comment on how your figure needs to be lighted more, and I saw your original image. In addition to feeling not just a sense of horror, but also a little disgust at his... almost shiney skin and slightly amorphous shape, I also thought "Why did they change from THAT?!"

    Meaning, I like your original one significantly better (personally). I just read what advice Sonja would have given you to put your scary creature in the dark (cause Sonja's really good, and was struggling to figure out why she would tell you to do that >_<), and I think she was more suggesting that the creature stay where it was, but maybe adjust the hand. It's not that it looks bad where it is, it's just that a little action, like the creature reaching out, or opening the door, or maybe hand on the glass, could really enhance it.

    I'm hesitent to add this, because I love where your creature is positioned in the image (still talking about your first render), but it might also be worth zooming in a little more. If you do so, you would want to make sure that it doesn't become too easy to make out the creature's features.

    Anyway, love it! Can't wait to see where this goes!

    Thanks for the suggestions. This next image was already rendering before I saw your comments. I added a mesh light to fill in a little bit.

    So I decided to take a step back... I went back to the original pose and just changed the arm and hand, then I moved the camera closer.

    Yep, I think this is what Sonja was recommending. This looks great.

    I think it looks a lot better without the overhead lights. I found them really distracting, esspecially with the glow. I kind of like the glow in the image overall, but that really intense glow in the bottom part of the crack in the door is a little distracting.

    But I am liking this rendition the best!

    Thanks everyone for your suggestions. I made a few more changes:

    • I toned down the bloom effect.
    • I increase the surface bump intensity.
    • I metalized the door handles.
    • I also made some changes to his hand/finger pose on the door--it's a little more subtle and I'm not sure it's an improvement.
    • Finally, since we can just start to make out his face, I opened his mouth.

    I REALLY like this image. I feel like you have already done so much on this to make it a great image. My final critique would just be that there could be a little more atmosphere in the foreground. I feel like after all the work you've already put into composition, maybe that should have come out earlier :-/ ... However, it does HAVE atmosphere. At the end of the day, I am not really sure if the judges judge the best picture that HAS the required theme, or the image that best epitomizes the theme. Does that make sense?

    That said, The image in and of itself is great. I wouldn't even suggest the forground atmosphere if it wasn't for the competition. If I look at this image for too long, I start to get the feeling that I only have a few short seconds, if even that, to run, like it's my only hope. But deep down, I know it's not going to make a difference. So instead I stare in horror, thinking that my best chance is in the hope of just waking up and discovering I'm having a nightmare... hopefully

  • berriboy said:

    I haven't been around for a long time and would like to add this render to this months competition.

    There are a lot of really nice atmospheric renders but I think we need more godrays.

    I think this looks great! Is this an initial draft, or is this completed? It looks good enough to be completed...

  • dreamfarmerdreamfarmer Posts: 2,128
    kanegs said:
    kanegs said:
    kanegs said:
    kanegs said:
    kanegs said:

    Here's idea #2:

    That's pretty creepy (in a good way).  Do the doors open at all?  Right now his arm (my right) looks a bit like its floating because of the way the door cuts it up.  Maybe you could open it a bit more, or maybe have him grasping the door with his fingers curled around the edge to pull it open? 

    I made some posing changes, I'm not quit happy with my changes. I don't have a lot of room to work with. I need the window light behind him, and the doors in front of him.

    I also altered the lighting / godrays to speed up the rendering (last image took 40+ hours, this one a little over 2).

    So I didn't see the first render until I quoted the second image. That said, with this second darker image, when I saw it I felt this horrible sense of uneasyness, as something that I couldn't see very well looked like it was coming towards me...

    Then I went to comment on how your figure needs to be lighted more, and I saw your original image. In addition to feeling not just a sense of horror, but also a little disgust at his... almost shiney skin and slightly amorphous shape, I also thought "Why did they change from THAT?!"

    Meaning, I like your original one significantly better (personally). I just read what advice Sonja would have given you to put your scary creature in the dark (cause Sonja's really good, and was struggling to figure out why she would tell you to do that >_<), and I think she was more suggesting that the creature stay where it was, but maybe adjust the hand. It's not that it looks bad where it is, it's just that a little action, like the creature reaching out, or opening the door, or maybe hand on the glass, could really enhance it.

    I'm hesitent to add this, because I love where your creature is positioned in the image (still talking about your first render), but it might also be worth zooming in a little more. If you do so, you would want to make sure that it doesn't become too easy to make out the creature's features.

    Anyway, love it! Can't wait to see where this goes!

    Thanks for the suggestions. This next image was already rendering before I saw your comments. I added a mesh light to fill in a little bit.

    So I decided to take a step back... I went back to the original pose and just changed the arm and hand, then I moved the camera closer.

    Yep, I think this is what Sonja was recommending. This looks great.

    I think it looks a lot better without the overhead lights. I found them really distracting, esspecially with the glow. I kind of like the glow in the image overall, but that really intense glow in the bottom part of the crack in the door is a little distracting.

    But I am liking this rendition the best!

    Thanks everyone for your suggestions. I made a few more changes:

    • I toned down the bloom effect.
    • I increase the surface bump intensity.
    • I metalized the door handles.
    • I also made some changes to his hand/finger pose on the door--it's a little more subtle and I'm not sure it's an improvement.
    • Finally, since we can just start to make out his face, I opened his mouth.

    Changing his hand is not an improvement. It becomes subtle, and that tones down the atmosphere of danger and menace. The hand before was WONDERFUL. Now it's just a subtle touch. Seriously. I also liked the higher bloom because it added more unworldliness but it's not as important as the hand, personally.

  • dreamfarmerdreamfarmer Posts: 2,128

    This is a mistake, not what I planned, some kind of error I have to chase down. Or do I?

    not what I planned.png
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  • Not sure if this will work for this contest.  Its pretty far off what I started with...

    Sonja, remember that time I mentioned that I had seen your images in the galleries, and had seen enough of them that I just decided to peruse your whole gallery? And after that I was very excited to be in the same competitions as you? As someone who has perused your gallery, I can say you have grown a lot. I hope that doesn't come off condescending, I mean that as in you obviously have an artistic ability, but I feel like your submissions that last couple of months have shown improved artistic ability. I think this is one of your best.

    Now... as I was writing that, I did notice that her... dress?... thing is going through her right leg. I would chalk that up to a technical issue. I love the colors, the pose, the lighting... just the overall drama of this image.

  • ewcarman said:

    Here's a first cut.

    The first is a more traditional scene - the second I went a little "spookier"....

     

     

    Very nice. I really like the first image. But the light shining through the night/mist in the second is very cool too.

    Ditto to this, word for word.

    It took me a while to understand the cone of light at the top of the scene. I think you put it there to show that there is a lighthouse so you don't have so much empty space in the top left of the image? It's just that without seeing the source of the light very well, the cone of light doesn't make so much sense.

  • berriboyberriboy Posts: 172
    berriboy said:

    I haven't been around for a long time and would like to add this render to this months competition.

    There are a lot of really nice atmospheric renders but I think we need more godrays.

    I think this looks great! Is this an initial draft, or is this completed? It looks good enough to be completed...

    Thank you. It is still a wip, at the moment I am working on poses for the skeletons so they don't all look the same.

  • Kismet2012Kismet2012 Posts: 4,252
    berriboy said:
    berriboy said:

    I haven't been around for a long time and would like to add this render to this months competition.

    There are a lot of really nice atmospheric renders but I think we need more godrays.

    This is a great image.  A really nice start.  I love the god rays and all your skeleton warriors.

     

    I would suggest trying to vary their poses.  The skeletons carrying torches all seem to have the exact same pose.  You have more variety in the head positions of the skeletons carrying the staffs ( I especially like the one looking out the window as he walks by ), but their strides are all the same.  If they are marching in some kind of formation this is to be expected but they appear to be a bit more disorderly to me. 

     

    I realize it is a challenge to have so many figures in one image to start with but some subtle adjustments can make a huge difference.  Adjusting the angle of heads, slight differences in stride, etc.

     

    A great start. 

    Thank you Kismet. The characters are instances, thats why they all have the same pose. I want to make them all individual characters for the final render though I'm not sure how many I will be able to get in the scene before I run out of Vram.

    Instances...of course.  

     

    If your system cannot handle all those individual skeletons the image is still wonderful.

  • TotteTotte Posts: 13,965
    berriboy said:
    berriboy said:

    I haven't been around for a long time and would like to add this render to this months competition.

    There are a lot of really nice atmospheric renders but I think we need more godrays.

    This is a great image.  A really nice start.  I love the god rays and all your skeleton warriors.

     

    I would suggest trying to vary their poses.  The skeletons carrying torches all seem to have the exact same pose.  You have more variety in the head positions of the skeletons carrying the staffs ( I especially like the one looking out the window as he walks by ), but their strides are all the same.  If they are marching in some kind of formation this is to be expected but they appear to be a bit more disorderly to me. 

     

    I realize it is a challenge to have so many figures in one image to start with but some subtle adjustments can make a huge difference.  Adjusting the angle of heads, slight differences in stride, etc.

     

    A great start. 

    Thank you Kismet. The characters are instances, thats why they all have the same pose. I want to make them all individual characters for the final render though I'm not sure how many I will be able to get in the scene before I run out of Vram.

    Instances...of course.  

     

    If your system cannot handle all those individual skeletons the image is still wonderful.

    You can have two poses, then rotate the instances a little different and creativily make the illusion that they are all different. I did this one a long time ago using five different base figures that were instantiated ;-)
     

  • ewcarman said:

    Very nice. I really like the first image. But the light shining through the night/mist in the second is very cool too.

    Ditto to this, word for word.

    It took me a while to understand the cone of light at the top of the scene. I think you put it there to show that there is a lighthouse so you don't have so much empty space in the top left of the image? It's just that without seeing the source of the light very well, the cone of light doesn't make so much sense.

     

    It is supposed to be a lighthouse.  

    Right now it feels to me like I'm trying too hard with the second image as it currently stands..   I should probably just back off with the cone of light and focus more on the ship itself.

  • IceDragonArtIceDragonArt Posts: 12,548
    edited October 2016

     

    Sonja, remember that time I mentioned that I had seen your images in the galleries, and had seen enough of them that I just decided to peruse your whole gallery? And after that I was very excited to be in the same competitions as you? As someone who has perused your gallery, I can say you have grown a lot. I hope that doesn't come off condescending, I mean that as in you obviously have an artistic ability, but I feel like your submissions that last couple of months have shown improved artistic ability. I think this is one of your best.

    Now... as I was writing that, I did notice that her... dress?... thing is going through her right leg. I would chalk that up to a technical issue. I love the colors, the pose, the lighting... just the overall drama of this image.

    Wow, thank you very much!  Not condescending in the least, I take that as a huge compliment.  A lot of the growth is due to these contests they really made me move outside my comfort zone. 

    I don't know that I would call it a dress exactly lol...It does look like its going through her right leg but I have looked at it from all angles and its not really and I'm not sure if I could change it now anyway.  I will have another look though and see if I can get it changed enough that it looks right.

    Post edited by IceDragonArt on
  • TotteTotte Posts: 13,965

     

    Sonja, remember that time I mentioned that I had seen your images in the galleries, and had seen enough of them that I just decided to peruse your whole gallery? And after that I was very excited to be in the same competitions as you? As someone who has perused your gallery, I can say you have grown a lot. I hope that doesn't come off condescending, I mean that as in you obviously have an artistic ability, but I feel like your submissions that last couple of months have shown improved artistic ability. I think this is one of your best.

    Now... as I was writing that, I did notice that her... dress?... thing is going through her right leg. I would chalk that up to a technical issue. I love the colors, the pose, the lighting... just the overall drama of this image.

    Wow, thank you very much!  Not condescending in the least, I take that as a huge compliment.  A lot of the growth is due to these contests they really made me move outside my comfort zone. 

    I don't know that I would call it a dress exactly lol...It does look like its going through her right leg but I have looked at it from all angles and its not really and I'm not sure if I could change it now anyway.  I will have another look though and see if I can get it changed enough that it looks right.

    I have to agree on that - Great artistic talent, and now when the tools starts to feel comfortable great are comes out! 

     

  • IceDragonArtIceDragonArt Posts: 12,548
    Totte said:

     

    Sonja, remember that time I mentioned that I had seen your images in the galleries, and had seen enough of them that I just decided to peruse your whole gallery? And after that I was very excited to be in the same competitions as you? As someone who has perused your gallery, I can say you have grown a lot. I hope that doesn't come off condescending, I mean that as in you obviously have an artistic ability, but I feel like your submissions that last couple of months have shown improved artistic ability. I think this is one of your best.

    Now... as I was writing that, I did notice that her... dress?... thing is going through her right leg. I would chalk that up to a technical issue. I love the colors, the pose, the lighting... just the overall drama of this image.

    Wow, thank you very much!  Not condescending in the least, I take that as a huge compliment.  A lot of the growth is due to these contests they really made me move outside my comfort zone. 

    I don't know that I would call it a dress exactly lol...It does look like its going through her right leg but I have looked at it from all angles and its not really and I'm not sure if I could change it now anyway.  I will have another look though and see if I can get it changed enough that it looks right.

    I have to agree on that - Great artistic talent, and now when the tools starts to feel comfortable great are comes out! 

     

    Wow thank you so much!  I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed by all the nice comments.  I took a long break from really working on my art to raise my kids (I still sketched, and did other things, but serious art went by the wayside, between work and raising a family, there just wasn't time). My youngest is in her last year of college now and I have been slowly getting back into it and learning all the cool digital tools that weren't readily available when I was younger lol.

  • berriboyberriboy Posts: 172
    Totte said:
    berriboy said:
    berriboy said:

    I haven't been around for a long time and would like to add this render to this months competition.

    There are a lot of really nice atmospheric renders but I think we need more godrays.

    This is a great image.  A really nice start.  I love the god rays and all your skeleton warriors.

     

    I would suggest trying to vary their poses.  The skeletons carrying torches all seem to have the exact same pose.  You have more variety in the head positions of the skeletons carrying the staffs ( I especially like the one looking out the window as he walks by ), but their strides are all the same.  If they are marching in some kind of formation this is to be expected but they appear to be a bit more disorderly to me. 

     

    I realize it is a challenge to have so many figures in one image to start with but some subtle adjustments can make a huge difference.  Adjusting the angle of heads, slight differences in stride, etc.

     

    A great start. 

    Thank you Kismet. The characters are instances, thats why they all have the same pose. I want to make them all individual characters for the final render though I'm not sure how many I will be able to get in the scene before I run out of Vram.

    Instances...of course.  

     

    If your system cannot handle all those individual skeletons the image is still wonderful.

    You can have two poses, then rotate the instances a little different and creativily make the illusion that they are all different. I did this one a long time ago using five different base figures that were instantiated ;-)
     

    That is a really nice image Totte.

  • berriboyberriboy Posts: 172
    edited October 2016

    I was able to load and pose individual figures but my PC was very slow.

    Can someone please explain how I can place an image in the post.


     

    atmo_hall2.jpg
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    Post edited by berriboy on
  • IceDragonArtIceDragonArt Posts: 12,548

    Click on your attachment, then copy the url.  come back to your post and click on edit.  Use the picture box (the mountain and sun looking thing) and paste the url into it.  Change the dimensions so the highest number is 800 then hit save.

  • berriboyberriboy Posts: 172

    Click on your attachment, then copy the url.  come back to your post and click on edit.  Use the picture box (the mountain and sun looking thing) and paste the url into it.  Change the dimensions so the highest number is 800 then hit save.

    Thank you for the help. yes

  • IceDragonArtIceDragonArt Posts: 12,548

    Any time.  I hope it was clear lol.

  • Was hit by this just now. Hot out of IRAY.

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  • I was just experamenting with the geometry editer in DAZ, and found that if you select and create a new surface from a textured object, then apply the same texture to your new surface as the surface it was part of, it will be seemless. If you have a phone or something like that you can use this trick to make the screen emissive.

  • TotteTotte Posts: 13,965
    edited October 2016

    I was just experamenting with the geometry editer in DAZ, and found that if you select and create a new surface from a textured object, then apply the same texture to your new surface as the surface it was part of, it will be seemless. If you have a phone or something like that you can use this trick to make the screen emissive.

    Yes, the UV map and the surfaces are separated entities in the obj. You can assign polygons to new or other surfaces which only defines which material they will have, but the UV map (which defines from where at the texture map the polygons sits) is constant. The only issue you can, and will fall into is if a polygon is on the UV map at a location where the texturemap you point it to doesn't have any texture data.

     

    Post edited by Totte on
  • dreamfarmerdreamfarmer Posts: 2,128

    I don't know if I should use this as an entry or not.

    "Awaiting Mama's Return"

    waiting for mama.png
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  • TotteTotte Posts: 13,965

    I don't know if I should use this as an entry or not.

    "Awaiting Mama's Return"

    Much better! 
    Suggestion, try to make the light from the fire light up around the room a little more, and you have a very strong light hitting the back of the kids head, try to make that less focused, which might make the fire light look even better.

  • dawnbladedawnblade Posts: 1,723

    Added some light coming from your top left, and a bit of fog/haze.

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  • Shinji Ikari 9thShinji Ikari 9th Posts: 1,184
    edited October 2016

    Here's a link to my first and only video that I rendered in DAZ almost 2 years ago.

    https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/22879643/thriller.avi

    (Warning it's 300+ MB in size.)

    Can anyone guess the dance he's doing?

    Post edited by Shinji Ikari 9th on
  • Here's a new idea in the spirit of the month. Might call it "Cyber Thriller" if I go with it.

    oct2016-7a.png
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  • Kismet2012Kismet2012 Posts: 4,252
    dawnblade said:

    Added some light coming from your top left, and a bit of fog/haze.

    There is a lot going on in here.  I hope he doesn't lose control of all of those elements.  wink

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