"Syberia" style backdrop renders?

DrGonzo62

Hi,
Any suggestions on how to achive the look of the backdrop renders in the *original* Syberia 2.5D game?
Here is a link to screenshots for those not familiar with that game, or simply don't remember the look.

The images have an almost dreamlike quality to them, somewhat handdrawn.
So far I have only been doing photorealistic iRay renders, and I'm wondering if that Syberia look can be done in DAZ, or at least by altering DAZ renders in a 3rd party application?
Is it mostly a matter of using the apropriate shaders in DAZ?

I'm not new to CGI, but programs have evolved a lot over the years and I can't think of a way to render a 3D scene with a look like that.
Any thoughts?

Thanks
Kay

Fishtales

After a quick glance I would try desaturation mute the colours to get the grayness and Atmocam for the mist effect.

Jim_1831252

Well, for a start the use of volumetrics is a key feature in the look. The models are generally low poly and a lot of the details are texture based, but over all many of the scenes display a lot of detail. Bounce lights are placed instead of relying on physically based calcualtions. A lot of the models are stylised instead of going for realism. A lot of it is quite drab and flat without much specular or glossy reflections.

I think if you take these features you could recreate the style and look.

Llynara

You may be able to achieve a lot of that with postwork. There are some incredible filters and actions out there that will help you achieve whatever style you want. Topaz and Filter Forge plugins for Photoshop come to mind, but there are plenty of others. 

DrGonzo62

Thanks for the feedback everyone!

@Fishtails: I'll give AtmoCam a shot. Looks promising!

@Jim: Those are some good observations. You're right, it would be better to go for less of a PBR look and actually reduce the realism of an image to give it this more handdrawn quality. That look was probably in part due to render limitations back in early 2000 I can imagine. But I think it really worked great for this game. I will try to either avoid photometric lighting, or at least drastically reduce the effect of it.

@Llynara: These filters you mentioned do look awesome. Not cheap, but they would help to achive that look I'm sure.

Time to do some testing.. :)