October 2016 New User Contest - Atmosphere (WIP Thread)

Diomede

BorisBadenov

Here is a demonstration of creating a new shading domain on Victoria 6 and making it invisible in the region of the poke-through.  This can be convenient if a figure is wearing long pants, etc.

Similar to the harness example, select the"actor" level of the V6 Genesis 2 Female figure.  Click the wrench icon to enter the modeling room.  Use the selection tools to select the vertexes that would be covered by long pants and boots.  Use the menu on the right to create a new shading domain.  I named it something that I would remember to make invisible in the alpha channel.

Next, with the actor level still selected, click the paintbrush icon to enter the texture room.  Open the shader for your new shader domain.  Set the alpha channel to black or zero.  That will make those vertexes invisible.

In the attached screenshots, there had been some poke through on the right calf.  I used this method to create a new shading domain for the G2F legs.  A test render shows that the poke through is fixed.

dawnblade

Linwelly said:

Sorry for the late reply, I see you're working hard. the spere is tricky, as I said. If you are comfortable with Gimp or photoshop you could try some shifting around there but I like what you did with the plane as well.

As for the Head being black is another challenge. You can take your original image of the head to Gimp or Photoshop ( make sure to duplicate and hide the original and safe to a different file name in the end, you don't want to loos your original) and place it on a white background again put the two layers (the head and the white) together swithc to greyscale and flip colours so you get black for white and vice versa. You might have to increase contrast and brightness to get the background really black and the head should be in white/greys. export that to be your new screaming head trans map which you import into the opacity channel. into diffuse and pribably ambient I would try putting the original.

Alternatively, you could try to change the opacity colour in the suface setting to white, but that is only easy when its already listed as an option, otherwise you would need to go into the shader mixer or shader builder, which I'm not all to firm with yet myself.

ps. for a better grounding of your mage you might have to get the shadows more intense, right now there is so mcuh ligh he almost seems afloat. Probably check back on the shadow settings in your lights.

Thank you @Linwelly for the instructions for the screaming head! I'll work on it today.

I'll work on the shadows again too. I am very surprised that with the number of lights in the scene, that shadows aren't rendering on the ground near the summoner. There is a faint shadow of him behind his cape in the dark areas of the platform he's standing on, but since I have DOF on it is hard to tell it is there.

 

Linwelly

dawnblade said:

Linwelly said:

 

Thank you @Linwelly for the instructions for the screaming head! I'll work on it today.

I'll work on the shadows again too. I am very surprised that with the number of lights in the scene, that shadows aren't rendering on the ground near the summoner. There is a faint shadow of him behind his cape in the dark areas of the platform he's standing on, but since I have DOF on it is hard to tell it is there.

 

You know the with 3delight you need to turn shadwos on for every light? Just check in the lights setting if you got everything on raytraced ant then play around which shadow should fig soft and which hard shadows.

dawnblade

Linwelly said:

dawnblade said:

Linwelly said:

 

Thank you @Linwelly for the instructions for the screaming head! I'll work on it today.

I'll work on the shadows again too. I am very surprised that with the number of lights in the scene, that shadows aren't rendering on the ground near the summoner. There is a faint shadow of him behind his cape in the dark areas of the platform he's standing on, but since I have DOF on it is hard to tell it is there.

 

You know the with 3delight you need to turn shadwos on for every light? Just check in the lights setting if you got everything on raytraced ant then play around which shadow should fig soft and which hard shadows.

Right! I thought I had checked each of them, but I'll do it again in case I missed any. Thanks!

Totte

Shinji Ikari 9th said:

dracorn said:

Shinji Ikari 9th said:

Kismet2012 said:

Shinji Ikari 9th said:

Here's a new idea in the spirit of the month. Might call it "Cyber Thriller" if I go with it.

Your image is a little dark on my monitor but I love the concept.

Here's version b. I was listening to to the song last night and it hit me.

I love it!  Great concept!

Beautiful copper coloring as well.  Since it's monochromatic, you can add some interest by changing the color of their eyes - I would suggest green or blue to complement the red/copper.

I have to ask - what was the song you were listening to?  I.e., what are they dancing to?

Thriller by the late Micheal Jackson.

Nice - Reminds me of an old entry I did for the PC contest some years ago: https://www.daz3d.com/gallery/#images/3718  ;-)

 

Shinji Ikari 9th

Totte said:

Shinji Ikari 9th said:

dracorn said:

Shinji Ikari 9th said:

Kismet2012 said:

Shinji Ikari 9th said:

Here's a new idea in the spirit of the month. Might call it "Cyber Thriller" if I go with it.

Your image is a little dark on my monitor but I love the concept.

Here's version b. I was listening to to the song last night and it hit me.

I love it!  Great concept!

Beautiful copper coloring as well.  Since it's monochromatic, you can add some interest by changing the color of their eyes - I would suggest green or blue to complement the red/copper.

I have to ask - what was the song you were listening to?  I.e., what are they dancing to?

Thriller by the late Micheal Jackson.

Nice - Reminds me of an old entry I did for the PC contest some years ago: https://www.daz3d.com/gallery/#images/3718  ;-)

 

Just took a look at your render, and I loved it.

kanegs

And now for something completely different....

"Caught in the Rain"
Rendered in DAZStudio (no post-work)

sueya

Finally found time to put together an entry for this contest. I used the RDNA fog props for this. Was pleased to find they work in Daz Studio. I would welcome your feedback.

dawnblade

Turns out that there were so many lights that the summoner's shadow was being washed out on the ground behind him. Doh!

Since this is supposed to be a dark cavern scene, I changed the lighting for a darker feel, and so that his face is lit by his magic. Still working on the screaming head.

Xangth

Wow some fantastic stuff everyones render projects are comming along  very well. The girl in the rain image is way cool. I have not had much time latley working full time has not allowed for time for artwork. Here is the newest renderup of the first idea with the warewolf running through a foggy forest at night. I'm changing the title. The remder is a Bryce 7.

Title: Night Hunter

 

 

 

Xangth

Wow some fantastic stuff everyones render projects are comming along  very well. The girl in the rain image is way cool. I have not had much time latley working full time has not allowed for time for artwork. Here is the newest renderup of the first idea with the warewolf running through a foggy forest at night. I'm changing the title. The remder is a Bryce 7.

Title: Night Hunter

 

 

IceDragonArt

kanegs said:

And now for something completely different....

"Caught in the Rain"
Rendered in DAZStudio (no post-work)

This is awesome

Holloko

I've been gone and haven't been keeping up - there are some great projects out there this month!

I managed to throw this one together this weekend. Rendered in Daz using 3Delight. Visual Style Shaders are used. Hair and the ravens uses DG toon style hair shaders. Eyes are DG toon style eyes for gen 2 males. I even applied VS shaders to smoke props to get the cloud effect (set to .075 opacity).

I'd appreciate some feedback.

The Raven King Comes

Totte

Many great ideas coming along here!

mike_from_nz

Unfortunately I might not get a chance to do any more on this, as I am flying out of the country in two days. I did this quite quickly tonight to print off for a couple of little neices I have that I couldn't quite convince there were fairies living in their own garden!

I have been trying to figure out Iray rendering and think I finally have worked out a much much faster render on my iMac. Default settings were so slow! Definitely understanding now how Iray loves a lot of light and big apertures! This render took 17mins with an additional 30 mins of PS work, I could have left it rendering a bit longer but ran out of patience as it is quite late here in NZ - so much dedication!

I took the photo in the South Island in a beautiful area called Paradise. Really, Paradise! Would also be interested to know how much of a cheat I've been? Is it expected to have all items rendered in 3d eg. backgrounds. Feel free to tell me so :)

 

 

dracorn

kanegs said:

And now for something completely different....

"Caught in the Rain"
Rendered in DAZStudio (no post-work)

Love the rain in the headlight effect.  It doesn't appear that she is going very fast in this render, but to add the impression that she is moving, I suggest adding a glow trail behind the vehicle. 

dracorn

mike_a5f82f8385 said:

Unfortunately I might not get a chance to do any more on this, as I am flying out of the country in two days. I did this quite quickly tonight to print off for a couple of little neices I have that I couldn't quite convince there were fairies living in their own garden!

I have been trying to figure out Iray rendering and think I finally have worked out a much much faster render on my iMac. Default settings were so slow! Definitely understanding now how Iray loves a lot of light and big apertures! This render took 17mins with an additional 30 mins of PS work, I could have left it rendering a bit longer but ran out of patience as it is quite late here in NZ - so much dedication!

I took the photo in the South Island in a beautiful area called Paradise. Really, Paradise! Would also be interested to know how much of a cheat I've been? Is it expected to have all items rendered in 3d eg. backgrounds. Feel free to tell me so :)

Doesn't sound like a cheat to me.  You've added the shadow on the log of the sitting fairy which grounds them to the photo, and matched the lighting well.  The bokeh gives a magical effect which not only looks good but I suspect covers over some overexposed parts of the photo as well.  I struggle with exposure in photos with a mixture of sunlight and shadows as well. 

The flying fairy's hand is a little out of focus - this is good because it gives the impression that she is moving.  I suggest blurring the detail on her wings because they are moving.  The hummingbird effect would work very well here, but unfortunately, I am not well versed in Photoshop or GIMP so I can't suggest how to do that.

The hardest thing with a photo background is making the 3D objects look like they belong there.  I think you did a very good job of doing it. 

mike_from_nz

dracorn said:

Doesn't sound like a cheat to me.  You've added the shadow on the log of the sitting fairy which grounds them to the photo, and matched the lighting well.  The bokeh gives a magical effect which not only looks good but I suspect covers over some overexposed parts of the photo as well.  I struggle with exposure in photos with a mixture of sunlight and shadows as well. 

The flying fairy's hand is a little out of focus - this is good because it gives the impression that she is moving.  I suggest blurring the detail on her wings because they are moving.  The hummingbird effect would work very well here, but unfortunately, I am not well versed in Photoshop or GIMP so I can't suggest how to do that.

The hardest thing with a photo background is making the 3D objects look like they belong there.  I think you did a very good job of doing it. 

Yeah agree about wings, a blur definitely needed there. The hand is just out of focal range, I wanted to try and match the photo DOF - pretty tricky! The bokeh is actually part of original image. It was a magical morning in that forest. Thanks for you feedback :)

kanegs

Ice Dragon Art said:

kanegs said:

And now for something completely different....

"Caught in the Rain"
Rendered in DAZStudio (no post-work)

This is awesome

You're too kind! Thank you for your encouragement.

kanegs

dracorn said:

kanegs said:

And now for something completely different....

"Caught in the Rain"
Rendered in DAZStudio (no post-work)

Love the rain in the headlight effect.  It doesn't appear that she is going very fast in this render, but to add the impression that she is moving, I suggest adding a glow trail behind the vehicle. 

Thanks for the suggestion, I was trying to imply that she had just left the Cafe and was about to merge with traffic.

Linwelly

mike_a5f82f8385 said:

Unfortunately I might not get a chance to do any more on this, as I am flying out of the country in two days. I did this quite quickly tonight to print off for a couple of little neices I have that I couldn't quite convince there were fairies living in their own garden!

I have been trying to figure out Iray rendering and think I finally have worked out a much much faster render on my iMac. Default settings were so slow! Definitely understanding now how Iray loves a lot of light and big apertures! This render took 17mins with an additional 30 mins of PS work, I could have left it rendering a bit longer but ran out of patience as it is quite late here in NZ - so much dedication!

I took the photo in the South Island in a beautiful area called Paradise. Really, Paradise! Would also be interested to know how much of a cheat I've been? Is it expected to have all items rendered in 3d eg. backgrounds. Feel free to tell me so :)

 

 

Mike, I think this is a beautiful work and I like the idea! As for the the question of cheating, the thing we want you to learn or experiment with in this contest is to make atmosphere with DS/bryce/Vue or some other renderer. As I understand the rendered part is the faires the rest is done in post? I guess that answers your question. ( I can only say once more, that there is nothing wrong with postwork and it has great possibilities but for this contest the main challenge is to work with the program). I take it there is not much time for you to change things which is a pity as I would like to see this evolving.

DAZ_ann0314

For those participating, we would love to get your feedback and ideas here: New User Contest Revamp Discussion if you have some time to spare

dracorn

Finally got a chance to work on this. 

I was having trouble getting the effect I wanted with Above the Fog, as I wanted the fog spilling out of the doorway rather than covering the ground.  So I had to scrap the first idea and opted instead for Ron's Dry Ice in Photoshop.

This should be my final version unless somebody has any suggestions.

 

dracorn

mike_a5f82f8385 said:

dracorn said:

Doesn't sound like a cheat to me.  You've added the shadow on the log of the sitting fairy which grounds them to the photo, and matched the lighting well.  The bokeh gives a magical effect which not only looks good but I suspect covers over some overexposed parts of the photo as well.  I struggle with exposure in photos with a mixture of sunlight and shadows as well. 

The flying fairy's hand is a little out of focus - this is good because it gives the impression that she is moving.  I suggest blurring the detail on her wings because they are moving.  The hummingbird effect would work very well here, but unfortunately, I am not well versed in Photoshop or GIMP so I can't suggest how to do that.

The hardest thing with a photo background is making the 3D objects look like they belong there.  I think you did a very good job of doing it. 

Yeah agree about wings, a blur definitely needed there. The hand is just out of focal range, I wanted to try and match the photo DOF - pretty tricky! The bokeh is actually part of original image. It was a magical morning in that forest. Thanks for you feedback :)

Really?  Natural Bokeh makes the photo even better! 

IceDragonArt

dracorn said:

Finally got a chance to work on this. 

I was having trouble getting the effect I wanted with Above the Fog, as I wanted the fog spilling out of the doorway rather than covering the ground.  So I had to scrap the first idea and opted instead for Ron's Dry Ice in Photoshop.

This should be my final version unless somebody has any suggestions.

 

Love the fog coming out of the door...

IceDragonArt

Finally had a chance to work on this a bit more.  Suggestions welcome.  I will be doing a tiny bit of postwork on this if I have time but not much.

kanegs

Linwelly said:

kanegs said:

dreamfarmer said:

kanegs said:

Defenistrat said:

kanegs said:

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.

I moved the hand again and added some dust to give it more atmosphere (there's dust infront of the doorway, and behind the demon).

Thanks everyone for your suggestions.

This took 60 hours to render--no post work.

when I compare these two (you need to click on open previous quotes to see which two I mean) I actually think the upper one is better. I understand your intention of getting a creepy mood, but the latest one is doo dark in the overal tones. There is not much for the eye to keep the attention. So I would suggest something in between for the bloom and the light settings. A tad more of light will make the dust in the air more visible as well.

Thanks for your suggestions. I made the light streaming through the windows ten times brighter. The dust absorbs a ton of light.

dracorn

Ice Dragon Art said:

Finally had a chance to work on this a bit more.  Suggestions welcome.  I will be doing a tiny bit of postwork on this if I have time but not much.

I'm not getting a sense of directional light. 

Take a cue from the clouds - there is a directional highlight from the moon and a deep shadow below.  Doing something similar in your scene will not only match the clouds but add depth and drama.  Decrease your ambient light but not so much that you lose all detail, and increase your moonlight.  That otta make your scene pop. 

IceDragonArt

dracorn said:

Ice Dragon Art said:

Finally had a chance to work on this a bit more.  Suggestions welcome.  I will be doing a tiny bit of postwork on this if I have time but not much.

I'm not getting a sense of directional light. 

Take a cue from the clouds - there is a directional highlight from the moon and a deep shadow below.  Doing something similar in your scene will not only match the clouds but add depth and drama.  Decrease your ambient light but not so much that you lose all detail, and increase your moonlight.  That otta make your scene pop. 

Great thanks!  Been awhile since I did 3delight lol.  I've gotten used to just throwing up the HDR and just letting Iray do the work for me.  Hopefully I will have a couple hours to work on this before time runs out!

unLight865

Hm, will have to see if I can cook up something over the weekend, though it doesn't seem likely .

Anyway, a lot of good pictures here; some comments below :

Ice Dragon Art said:

Finally had a chance to work on this a bit more.  Suggestions welcome.  I will be doing a tiny bit of postwork on this if I have time but not much.

Nice ... it seems the octopus-monster doesn't like the "please don't feed"-sign, and that won't be there very long anymore   (after all, breakfast is a necessity, isn't it?) .

The cloudy background also looks good, just the green mist seems a bit too uniform.

dracorn said:

kanegs said:

And now for something completely different....

"Caught in the Rain"
Rendered in DAZStudio (no post-work)

Love the rain in the headlight effect.  It doesn't appear that she is going very fast in this render, but to add the impression that she is moving, I suggest adding a glow trail behind the vehicle. 

Maybe she's just starting after having visited the cafe in the background?

 

Ice Dragon Art said:

dracorn said:

Finally got a chance to work on this. 

I was having trouble getting the effect I wanted with Above the Fog, as I wanted the fog spilling out of the doorway rather than covering the ground.  So I had to scrap the first idea and opted instead for Ron's Dry Ice in Photoshop.

This should be my final version unless somebody has any suggestions.

 

Love the fog coming out of the door...

Agreed, the fog-effect is great.

( P.S.: Is he supposed to be a monster or an undead viking??  )

 

Holloko said:

I've been gone and haven't been keeping up - there are some great projects out there this month!

I managed to throw this one together this weekend. Rendered in Daz using 3Delight. Visual Style Shaders are used. Hair and the ravens uses DG toon style hair shaders. Eyes are DG toon style eyes for gen 2 males. I even applied VS shaders to smoke props to get the cloud effect (set to .075 opacity).

I'd appreciate some feedback.

The Raven King Comes

I see this is supposed to be toony - but with these striped lines, the raven looks like carved from wood... Especially since they're on his beak, too.

 

dawnblade said:

Turns out that there were so many lights that the summoner's shadow was being washed out on the ground behind him. Doh!

Since this is supposed to be a dark cavern scene, I changed the lighting for a darker feel, and so that his face is lit by his magic. Still working on the screaming head.

Great - only the larger swirling effect  (I'd suppose it's a trail from his left-hand magic)  seems a bit too blurred for my liking - makes the image seem like hand-painted somehow, while the rest looks more realistic.

Though, if you want it to look like that, then there's nothing wrong with that.

BorisBadenov said:

 

dracorn said:

This is beautiful!  I can see a ship coming in to land on the far platform.

Thanks @dracorn.

I did consider sticking with a sci fi theme, but from the beginning I envisioned something like this.  Still needs work.  Poke-through is a problem I have no experience with in Cararra.

Hmm... a dragon-landingpad ? Nice creative mix of fantasy & SF - *like* .

 

However, the texture on the dragon in front might use some... upsampling is it called? Especially the wing which takes a sizeable portion of the image looks a bit too much like blurred pixels...

Ok, just tried on a screenshot of this - doesn't seem to help much...

 

Just to clarify:   I really like your picture ( and the MSD anyway, if you look at last months' contest ) - I just think a more detailed wing-texture would make it even better, however that might be achieved.

But then, that's not the focus of this months' contest, so it propably doesn't matter too much.

 

[edit:]

mike_a5f82f8385 said:

Unfortunately I might not get a chance to do any more on this, as I am flying out of the country in two days. I did this quite quickly tonight to print off for a couple of little neices I have that I couldn't quite convince there were fairies living in their own garden!

I have been trying to figure out Iray rendering and think I finally have worked out a much much faster render on my iMac. Default settings were so slow! Definitely understanding now how Iray loves a lot of light and big apertures! This render took 17mins with an additional 30 mins of PS work, I could have left it rendering a bit longer but ran out of patience as it is quite late here in NZ - so much dedication!

I took the photo in the South Island in a beautiful area called Paradise. Really, Paradise! Would also be interested to know how much of a cheat I've been? Is it expected to have all items rendered in 3d eg. backgrounds. Feel free to tell me so :)

 

 

Looks nice, but the fairies seem a little bit like plastic - maybe try some different skin-shaders or lighting ?

Again, it's not the main point in this contest, just something I think might be improved...

[/edit]

[edit2:]

JesterVII said:

Seen this contest ad was like what the heck I'll give it a whirl. Haven't done any in a while. It's tittled "The Master Returns."

 

Edited to fix spelling

He seems to be afloat somewhat ( look at the shadow he's casting ) ... and while this isn't impossible given the character hinted at, it seems like you wanted him to actually stand there... so, you should move him down ( y-axis ) a bit, I think.

Saphirewild said:

Here is another idea I had using Daz Studio rendering in IRay (Only got to 75% so still pixeled) no postwork.

For me, even 100% often still stay pixeled, especially for dark scenes  - what am I doing wrong there ?

Kismet2012 said:

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. 

Nice picture , plus I agree to the "losing control"-point...

P.S.:  A lot of contradictory elements there... I wonder what that's supposed to be when the spell is finished ( provided he makes it... ) ?

[/edit2]

[edit3:]

dstuffle said:

Here's Version 1 of my first idea.

Looks great . Just the snakes' eyes seem a bit lifeless and static - maybe turn them (not the head) forward a bit to focus on the altar/podest, and give them some subsurface or transparence?

ewcarman said:

After the sales this last month, this is a great contest. I just picked up the Epic GodRays among other things. Just starting to play with it, but it is very cool.

Defenistrat 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).

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...

From what I see on the first version, the hair already is dynamic ( it's just not very visible in the later versions ) ...  But a rimlight really would improve the picture, I think.

[edit4:]

Oops, seems I got fooled by the "not being visible"-part... indeed the later version does have static hair - for whatever reason this change might have been done...

[/edit4]

Linwelly said:

Shinji Ikari 9th said:

dracorn said:

Shinji Ikari 9th said:

dracorn said:

Shinji Ikari 9th said:

Kismet2012 said:

Shinji Ikari 9th said:

 

Here's a new idea in the spirit of the month. Might call it "Cyber Thriller" if I go with it.

Your image is a little dark on my monitor but I love the concept.

 

Here's version b. I was listening to to the song last night and it hit me.

I love it!  Great concept!

Beautiful copper coloring as well.  Since it's monochromatic, you can add some interest by changing the color of their eyes - I would suggest green or blue to complement the red/copper.

I have to ask - what was the song you were listening to?  I.e., what are they dancing to?

Thriller by the late Micheal Jackson.

Yep!  I can hear it as I look at the render.  I love it!

 

Glad to read that dracorn. How's this for version c?

Shinji, I really like where you ventured with this one, and yes the music is in there. The green for the eyes works very good. There just one suggestion: to alter the camera postition enough that the foot of the robot in front is not cut off. just placing the camera a tad lower should do the job, as there is enough free space over their heads.

Wouldn't really agree on this advice - personally, I feel such a cut-off to increase immersion as it increases the impression of the camera being part of the scene... but then, opinions can differ.

[/edit3]