Hidden Treasures- Fun with Older Sets

FenixPhoenix

Close-up render of DM Gadomar & Ecomantics - Efficient Ecosystems. I've got only two light sources set up. One is a sky from iRadiance Sky (sunset HDRI). The other is a warm ghost light right behind the camera and pointed towards the characters. Needless to say, I really like how amazing Gadomar looks! It's perfect in closeups too & Ecosystems just enchances it! 

Unaltered DAZ render (only added the signature):

The Promise of a Kiss - Photoshop Postwork:

TabascoJack

Here's part of the old Spanish Rose - Chalet de Sevilla set.

Some minor tweaks (added a light in the back room, changed out the back wall to be a real wall and not a fake background picture)  Updated the glass shader in the sconces.

Llynara

@JamesJAB Thank you for sharing your settings with us. That really turned out great!

@Linwelly Love the lighting in this one. Very nice! 

@Giselle3000 You made Gadomar and Ecomantics look stunning! Love the emotion and lighting in that render too. 

@TabascoJack You did some really cool stuff with that old set! That turned out very well. 

Llynara

There are a lot of incredible renders in this thread, but I have to say, this is one of my favorites. What @L'Adair did with this window is amazing. I can't wait to play with this set!  

L'Adair said:

And here's a quick render of BRC Serenity, followed by a clay render to show the detail. This set has a lot of the details modeled in.

This is an Iray Uber Base conversion, with the window glass added to the Emission Color parameter, color set to white (1.00, 1.00, 1.00,) and Emission Temperature set to "0". Luminace is 10 kcd/m^2. It doesn't light up the room, but you can see the glass as if it were backlit. The gold design shows up, too, which isn't really accurate, but I also used three ghost lights, one for each window, and the added light would allow for the gold design to be visible as something other than black. No bump, no normals.
 

Llynara

@greybro I don't think your reply came through. Would love to know, if you remember, which set you used here. It really looks great. 

Greybro said:

Llynara said:

@greybro This looks fantastic! Which set is it? I'll put it in the index.  

Greybro said:

One of my favorite activities is to upconvert some old set to IRay and make a modern looking Iray render. I think I paid under a buck for this outfit and environment altogether.

Paris for V4 and the Fashion Catwalk. Got them for 0.46 and 0.30 on sale! Now TTHAT is what I call a discount!

 

 

 

 

Knittingmommy

Lots of great images here.  I love seeing the older content revitalized.  It looks amazingly good with the new technologies.

BlueIrene

I was going to do a few more of this one from different angles, but I'm getting behind with more important stuff because we've got a 32 degree heatwave here in the UK (much, much hotter than we're used to) and my poor computer is complaining even without doing any rendering and so I'm babying it a bit until the weather breaks, hopefully tonight. Anyway, here's maclean's bedsit (well, a bit of it).

 

L'Adair

Llynara said:

There are a lot of incredible renders in this thread, but I have to say, this is one of my favorites. What @L'Adair did with this window is amazing. I can't wait to play with this set!  

L'Adair said:

And here's a quick render of BRC Serenity, followed by a clay render to show the detail. This set has a lot of the details modeled in.

Aw, shucks.

Thank you, Llynara. (But I think the credit goes mostly to the Ghost Lights. I'll have to do a test render without the emissive windows and see if it makes much difference...)

Greybro

https://www.daz3d.com/v4-paris

and 

https://www.daz3d.com/fashion-catwalk

Greybro

https://www.daz3d.com/v4-paris

and 

https://www.daz3d.com/fashion-catwalk

Llynara said:

@greybro I don't think your reply came through. Would love to know, if you remember, which set you used here. It really looks great. 

Greybro said:

Llynara said:

@greybro This looks fantastic! Which set is it? I'll put it in the index.  

Greybro said:

One of my favorite activities is to upconvert some old set to IRay and make a modern looking Iray render. I think I paid under a buck for this outfit and environment altogether.

Paris for V4 and the Fashion Catwalk. Got them for 0.46 and 0.30 on sale! Now TTHAT is what I call a discount!

 

 

 

 

 

Llynara

You're welcome, L'Adair and thank you, Greybro. I don't know how I missed that set. Never seen it before. Looks great in your render! 

Greybro

Llynara said:

You're welcome, L'Adair and thank you, Greybro. I don't know how I missed that set. Never seen it before. Looks great in your render! 

It's actually a really big set, like a giant 3 sides room with the stage, chairs and lights.

maclean

Astracadia said:

I was going to do a few more of this one from different angles, but I'm getting behind with more important stuff because we've got a 32 degree heatwave here in the UK (much, much hotter than we're used to) and my poor computer is complaining even without doing any rendering and so I'm babying it a bit until the weather breaks, hopefully tonight. Anyway, here's maclean's bedsit (well, a bit of it).

 

Wow! Well done! I honestly wouldn't have recognised it!

BlueIrene

maclean said:

Astracadia said:

I was going to do a few more of this one from different angles, but I'm getting behind with more important stuff because we've got a 32 degree heatwave here in the UK (much, much hotter than we're used to) and my poor computer is complaining even without doing any rendering and so I'm babying it a bit until the weather breaks, hopefully tonight. Anyway, here's maclean's bedsit (well, a bit of it).

 

Wow! Well done! I honestly wouldn't have recognised it!

'Wow!' back at you - your response is high praise indeed, coming from the guy who actually created it! Honestly though, it would not have been nearly as easy (or as much fun!) if your geometry and material zones weren't as excellently put together as they are. All I did was use the geometry editor to create a separate material zone for the stool so that I could give it a leather seat. The rest is just a matter of merrily re-decorating with iRay shaders and adding new lighting (I swapped out the ceiling lights for some of those in the Ghost Lights 2 product). I had a great time doing all this and it didn't take overly long either. Thanks for making it so simple :)

FenixPhoenix

Astracadia said:

I was going to do a few more of this one from different angles, but I'm getting behind with more important stuff because we've got a 32 degree heatwave here in the UK (much, much hotter than we're used to) and my poor computer is complaining even without doing any rendering and so I'm babying it a bit until the weather breaks, hopefully tonight. Anyway, here's maclean's bedsit (well, a bit of it).

This looks wonderful, @Astracadia!

-----

BTW, for anyone interested, the humblebundle for this month is a software bundle. For those without Photoshop/Lightroom (and even for those that do have it) you can get:

• Corel Photo Brush - ParticleShop (this looks promising for post-work effects)
• Corel Painter Essentials 5
• Corel Photo Brush -Aftershot (which looks similar to Lightroom)

Among other programs if you beat the average (which right now is $9.02 USD). For those who have never tried LastPass, the price is worth it for that premium license. Tagging @KyotoKid since I know you don't have photoshop. I've just got this ones, so I'm not sure yet how it compares to photoshop, but it might be worth having a look!

kyoto kid

....hmm not sure about this.  Don't want to run into llience issues with Corel.

I already have both Gimp (which I have become pretty good with) and Krita, as well as PSP X4 (stopped upgrading as they went to download only and charged extra for a DVD).

IceDragonArt

Wow, all of this looks fantastic. I will have to play with all of this once my sons wedding is over on the 1st.  No time to actually do much fiddling, I am happy I have time right now to do something simple to relax lol. 

FenixPhoenix

kyoto kid said:

....hmm not sure about this.  Don't want to run into llience issues with Corel.

I already have both Gimp (which I have become pretty good with) and Krita, as well as PSP X4 (stopped upgrading as they went to download only and charged extra for a DVD).

Not sure about what you mean regarding the licence. Humble Bundle is a trusted site & the products they get are from the company themselves. They offer bundles for a limited time (usually a week) in a "pay what you want" format. They actually started with offering only games and have expanded to apps, software & books/comics throughout the years. As you're paying, you decide what percentage of what you've paid goes to charity, to humble bundle and the company. The good thing about these corel serials you get with the bundle, is that the licence allows installation in 3 devices (I think photoshop only allows you to install it in 2 devices). Also, it seems particle shop can be used via Photoshop & Aftershot, through extensions. So I'll be playing with it tonight and see what it does.

 

Ice Dragon Art said:

Wow, all of this looks fantastic. I will have to play with all of this once my sons wedding is over on the 1st.  No time to actually do much fiddling, I am happy I have time right now to do something simple to relax lol. 

Oh, congratulations to your son! Hopefully you'll be able to relax once that's done!

Oso3D

I was inspired by this thread.

Courtyard came out in 2004, that's Victoria 4. Most of the building textures are Mec4D stone textures, though I had to preserve original stuff for the detailed reliefs. Getting the stone block textures to line up with the geometry of blocks along edge was a royal pain. I think it ended up tiled 4.57 or something, and then there was a building where the scale of two connected walls was different. NNNGH.

Figure is Victoria with an elite texture (heh) converted through NGS Anagenessis.

Shigi hair was horrible but made it work as best I could, using Mec4D's Unshaven 2 hair shaders. The texture maps for Shigi hair stink -- they are angled so not easily replaced, have weird UV, and to top it off the flow of the hair has some rather obvious sharp bends in it that I pretty much couldn't avoid without redoing everything. Still, with some distance and the overall effect, it ended up mostly decent.

Finally, ran through some NIK filters to make it look a little photographic. I probably should have reduced vibrance a little, but oh well.

 

So it's no Stonemason or Tomalin, but for positively creaky old content, I'm happy!

 

MelanieL

Well, Will, even Vicki looks a bit depressed about her hair! Nice stonework though.

Greybro

An oldie but a goody converted to IRay.

FenixPhoenix

timmins.william said:

I was inspired by this thread.

Courtyard came out in 2004, that's Victoria 4. Most of the building textures are Mec4D stone textures, though I had to preserve original stuff for the detailed reliefs. Getting the stone block textures to line up with the geometry of blocks along edge was a royal pain. I think it ended up tiled 4.57 or something, and then there was a building where the scale of two connected walls was different. NNNGH.

That looks great, @timmins.william! I can only imagine the well of patience you have to fidget with the wall until it was lined up so seamlessly! Which product is that courtyard?

 

Greybro said:

An oldie but a goody converted to IRay.

Thanks for sharing your Old West Mercantile Interior  render here, @Greybro! I want to take a shot at this one next, because NGS handles wood so beautifully! Once I finish rendering and comparing the one I'm doing, I'll see if I can get some comparisons for this set as well :D. Did you convert it through uberbase or through shaders?

Oso3D

https://www.daz3d.com/the-courtyard

The textures are very nice, but... reeeeeally small.

 

FenixPhoenix

timmins.william said:

https://www.daz3d.com/the-courtyard

The textures are very nice, but... reeeeeally small.

Oh wow! They do look tiny D:

Oso3D

Yeah. It's a nice environment but you really need to retexture a lot.

Here's another, using https://www.daz3d.com/spanish-rose-jardin-de-sevilla

Also Victoria 4 with dynamic dress, https://www.daz3d.com/maple-tree-pack-1 and https://www.daz3d.com/g3d-da-grass-and-plant-pack

FenixPhoenix

Alright, so I need to stop doing so many comparison renders because... at some point I lose track of which settings I'm using and I feel like crying D:. Anyways, here's DM Mirador.

As always I'll separate/organize things a bit, like:

1. Out of the Box Batch
2. N.G.S. Anagenessis 2 - Revolution inclusion Batch (N.G.S. for short)
3. Best Result

Things to consider:

• All of this are lighted the same way, which is with an HDRI iradiance map and nothing else.

First set:

• Render converting the original materials into Iray via Uberbase.
• Second render converting the original materials into Iray via Uber Architecture (which I just found today -_-).
• Third render tweaking the settings for Uber Architecture by lowering reflectivity and glossy settings.
• Thoughts: First render seems to make the materials a bit flat, making light bounce off the surface. Second render seems to transformed everything into REALLY polished marble. Third render looks a bit better, but everything's washout. I suspect there's something that's handling the stone like metals.

Second Set:

• This shows Uberbase transformed materials + Bump (dialed to 20) & Normal Maps (dialed to 2) created in Photoshop.
• Thoughts: Though the maps create interesting and more realistic surfaces (rough rock) I don't like how washout things look.

Third Set:

• This shows Uberbase transformed materials + Bump (dialed to 20) & Normal Maps (dialed to 2) created in Photoshop + Shader Setting from Ingenious Rock Shaders.
• Thoughts: Colorwise this looks MUCH better. I like how old it looks and the maps work very well in creating pores on the surfaces. Can't seem to make those stairs work (or at least the sideview of them break the realism).

Fourth Set:

• This shows Uberbase Architecture transformed materials + Bump (dialed to 20) & Normal Maps (dialed to 2) created in Photoshop + Shader Setting from Ingenious Rock Shaders.
• Ignore the tag on the FIRST render of this set. Forgot to change it. This is the same render shown above, which shows the Uber Architecture + Maps but WITHOUT the shader settings.
• Thoughts: The stone looks a lot rougher, and it's interesting how the floor now looks "wet" or like it's stained. It's a much whethered look, but it has a cool vibe to it.

Comparison render:

FenixPhoenix

2nd Batch - NGS inclusion

 

First Set:

• Original materials + NGS Shader applied (no Bump/Normal map aside from those you get via NGS). Translucency Weight was dialed down to 0.20.
• Thoughts: This looks good for a creepy vibe render. It's a good middle ground, where the textures don't look too rough nor too flat. You do, however, lose the original colors. I suspect maybe dialing down Translucensy even more might do the trick.

Second Set

• Original materials + NGS Shader applied + Bump Map (20) & Normal Map (2) (forgot to add it in the tag. It gets confusing trying to organize things) + Shader Setting from Ingenious Rock Shaders.
• Thoughts: You get back the original color and the maps help add a bit more depth. Overall, I think this might be the best looking one.

 

 

FenixPhoenix

Best Result

• I'd say any of these three could work depending on what vibe you're going for. It's very apparent that Normal/Bump maps do make things look a LOT better. Especially because they help create interesting shadows.
• However, I'd say the third one (UberArchitecture + Maps + Shaders) might be the most realistic look.

FenixPhoenix

And here's a render using DM Mirador (using the first option in best results settings). Little guy is Skywing, which you can find here.

No post work:

Photoshop & Lightroom Postwork:

kyoto kid

..cute, I like that. 

That is about the extent of post that I do.

For those who don't have PS, Gimp and Krita can also produce similar effects.