Novica & Serene Night's Renders, Tips, Tutorials & Product Reviews Part 1
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Right click on the neck (or giraffe root node) and select Expand->Expand From Selection. No more click click click... needed to get to the head.
LOVE YOU!!!!! What a stepsaver. So where have you been all my life? Well ,since last September anyway....
Oh, I'm around the forums here and there. :-) I drop in here occasionally. I enjoy your product reviews.
Opps!! I missed the Page about naming the Chickens. Before I do, member I love cartoon's even at my age so Toon names it will be. I'm seeing a Sunday News type cartoon titled "Cluck and Cackel off the Farm"
And nope, neber haz be nun'a dem der G'rafts. Funny lookin' critter aint it?
EDIT: Caption for G'raft and Cackel, "Excuse me der Mr.Funny lookin' Cow. Haz you seen Cluck from way up der?
I LOVE those names! "Attention all vendors- see Jaderail to name your critters!"
I went back and put their names in the titles. They are now officially named in the thread.
Coming next- the toon snake. LOVE him- he is easier to control, curls nicely without going haywire when you click and pull. It's really neat- like a real snake curling and uncurling. If you have kids, this would be the one to let them "play" with. (Being serious. It's addictive- I was pulling him around for a few minutes just playing- and yes Jaderail, I love cartoons too!)
The snake will be later tonight- however, I'll go get him with the chicken to show you how fast and easy he is to pose. Back in a bit.
3D Universe Toon Snake
http://www.daz3d.com/3d-universe-toon-snake
Not meant to be an artistic render, just decided to do a complicated, twisted snake to show how "bendy" he can be, and to show how well the chicken can be manipulated to intertwine with other critters.
Things to note- the chicken's feathers are easy to click on and can be pulled left and right, or, as you see from the one behind the snake's head, up and down. That feather also bent in sections, so I was able to curve it with the backside of the snake's head.
Okay, a couple things I have to figure out-
I recall when items don't have the smoothing modifier that you can create them by going up to the little menu up above the word "Scene" but I'm not seeing that option. (I have the snake selected.) The edges are really pointed, instead of curving. (Granted, my snake is really strutting his stuff and curving sharply.) So that's the first thing, the snake doesn't have a smoothing modifier and the snake is a bit sharp cornered. So, what exactly does edge interpolation do? That has to do with d-formers? I turned that on smooth edges/corners, and it did nothing.
TITLE: "Sssh...It Was Just A Bad Dream."
I think I need to pay more attention to your posts on lighting!
In my opinion it's a good idea to stick with raytracing, but not for the reasons you gave. Raytraced shadows should generally take longer to render than Deep Shadow Maps (DSMs). If someone said that DSMs increase render time, they might have meant vs. no shadows at all.
My understanding is that at some point the version of the 3Delight render engine that comes with DAZ Studio got updated to a newer and faster version, but the tradeoff was that DSMs kinda got broken...or at least they became much more likely than they had been to cause those kinds of artifacts. It's a 3Delight issue, not entirely a DAZ Studio one.
The other reason to stick with raytraced shadows is that they are more realistic. At least to me, DSMs aren't worth the trouble, except MAYBE for test renders.
Actually the last two versions of 3DeLight in DS has had the DSM render artifacts. And it is fully a Render problem not a DAZ Studio problem.
The Deep Shadow Map setting is pretty much what the name implies. DEEP shadows, you get no fill light in them so they are DARK shadows with little control beyond some edge softening and blurring. The most popular use of them are for comic type renders. They Render okay speed wise after they are Calculated on the render, but each light must be calculated for their shadows before the Render can start. That is what slows down your render.
It's taken me a few days but here's a PH Catwalk render! Took your advice and used one of my favorite characters: Modern Muses Tamesis. Well, you know me...I had to play with the morph dials. So this is Tamesis skin, 50% Tamesis morphs, with bits of V5, S5, S4, Julie, and A5 mixed in (10% each), plus a few extra tweaks. :-P But I think of her more as a modified Tamesis than a completely new character.
The closeup is just to see the hair better--I didn't put much effort in to make that one look good (what's up with her teeth? I think I need to take a trip to the Surfaces pane...).
OOOOH, I really like her! I have that character too, dialed a bit of her into one of the characters but can't remember which one, think it was Cassidy. I love what you've done with her. And yes, the teeth have a bit of a rose glow (on the far right as we view her) don't they? That is weird- is that the ambient color that would do that? (Ambient is for lighting changes, specular is shine, right? So it could be specular? I'm still learning.)
YOU learning lighting tips from ME is like the Pillsbury Doughboy asking how to bake. But thanks for the compliment, lol. I will post the settings of that one render so folks can experiment/do fast setups and change from there- if they'd like to see how it was done. And you can play with it and tell me how to do it better :) There's no uber anything.
I'll be posting the settings for this one later today: (that Scott-L is mentioning) http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/19756/P750/#386387
Which does bring me to a tip I DID forget to mention:
TIP:
For portraits with dark backgrounds and dramatic lighting- dress your character in dark / dark with top section light- so he/she fades into the background the lower you go. That was the X Dress if I remember correctly and I also tested it in red, then darkened it to maroon and that looked good too. But went with the black lower section, with lighter upper section.
Want to try the Mood Lights that were previously mentioned. :) But I think you need to use Uber lighting and I haven't done that yet. So we'll see!
Make sure you have the snake selected in the scene tab and then you can either go to Edit->Object->Geometry->Apply Smoothing Modifier on the main menu across the top or from the little 3 lines menu at the top of the Scene Tab choose Edit->Geometry->Apply Smoothing Modifier.
I'm not sure if that will help with this issue or not since I've only used it to add a smoothing modifier to certain older clothing items that didn't have one so I could fix poke through.
You might also try playing with the SubDivision settings under the Parameters Tab->Mesh Resolution. Increasing the SubDivision level will add more polygons which should smooth things out a bit. Also, I've read that some of the older products don't work well with DS 4.6 new default Catmark SubDivision Algorithim so you might try switching that back to the legacy Catmull-Clark one.
I've never actually played with any of the SubD stuff though so I'm not sure what effect it will have.
Noticed an issue with my render (not the closeup one)...the skydome I had used was blocking my distant lights! Turned Cast Shadows off on the skydome...re-rendering now. I'll probably need to re-render yet again, as I think I've got too much specular now, but I want to wait and see how it turns out.
I think it's wise of you to stick with the basic lights for now; it'll give you a very strong foundation to build on. I almost always use Uber lights, and truth be told I'd be somewhat lost without them... I meant what I said about learning from your lighting tips. :) At some point I realized that I've been coming to this thread not just to find out what you've been learning, but to find out what I could learn from you.
Regarding Tamesis...she's great. DS or Poser mats, V4 or Genesis, human or fae, fair skin or darker skin or ghostly pale skin...no makeup or light makeup or heavy makeup or dramatic fantasy makeup, eyes that come in pretty much any color plus lots of fantasy options... I always look for versatility when I shop, and I don't know of many products that are more versatile than the Tamesis Bundle. Definitely worth checking out for those who don't own it.
The PA, surreality, has a lot of beautiful, unique-looking female characters (plus a couple men). Aside from Tamesis, I own Amalie and will be looking to add others at some point. Surreality doesn't have many that come with Genesis morphs like Tamesis does, but Genesis users can use the skin textures (and those of you with GenX can use the morphs too). Plus she's promised some new characters based on Genesis 2 Female.
Novica.. I adore that chicken and snake render.. so darn cute, I honestly Squeeled when I saw it *smiles happily*
This page is missing something, hmm, oh I know. Cluck & Cackel. Good stuff folks, I'm following right along here.
Well we got Cackel wid a Snakiypoo but poor Cluck in short supply.
Novica's thread is great. I learn a lot here. Mostly things I've never thought or tried. It is very useful resource. =-)
I like the snake and chicken. Very creative. AWW.
I have a question about 'willow spring' you rendered earlier. How are the included lights. Do you like the 'night' light that is included in the set.
I am curious. I do really like predatron's lights, and am wondering how that renders out of the box.
Thank you for all the kind comments everyone. I'm delighted if you find anything you can use, as you've all helped me so much when I have questions. If you have anything (tips, forum links, renders) you want to share, feel free. I'd like folks to know they can post product reviews too- if you find something you really like, let others know, like Scott-L did with Tamesis. Here's the links BTW. I also have her, you've aroused my interest Scott-L!
http://www.daz3d.com/modern-muses-tamesis
http://www.daz3d.com/otherworldly-wonders-tamesis
http://www.daz3d.com/tamesis-bundle
Thanks Sisca- for answering about the smoothing- I knew it had to be there somewhere, I'll retry the snake (if the darned thing saved. Twice today my version 4.6 has NOT saved a scene or a scene subset.)
Serene Night-I will do them for you (Willow Spring lights) day and night- in the middle of a render at the moment. I'd like to see what those do, too.
The next render in progress has me grinning. It's a product review and called, "What'll I do NOW?"
Highly recommend if you need a room for "on the floor" interaction (animals, kids, etc) use The Study. It's got a neat fireplace (with firegrate) and a chair, nice walls- so if you want to do a family friendly scene, think about that one. PC members- only $1.99. When you first see it, you'll think it's very formal. Try it- it's family friendly! You'll see in a few minutes, IF the lighting is right. This one has proved a bit...um, challenging.
http://www.daz3d.com/the-study
The rug will be from Opus Magnum.
The set is The Study.
The two characters that took quite awhile to pose- a surprise. Coming shortly.
There. This is more in line with what I wanted:
So...tip for everyone...if you're using a skydome (or other large-scale geometry that forms part of your scene) and distant lights: make sure the skydome has "Cast Shadows" turned off so that the lights can pass through it.
You're a good parent. You're very conscientious- and you just can't explain how something like this could happen. Everyone else had already gone to bed, and you only turned your back for a minute... but that's all it took. So now you and the rest of the family are frantically searching, room by room. Then you see it- the door to the formal study is cracked, just big enough to give you hope. You quickly peep through the door and in the dim light, can't believe what you see- and it's such a relief. Apparently Baby has found a bedtime buddy!
So I'm toying around with getting the rump to relax, but thought I'd go ahead and show you what I'm doing. This is Noodles (the cat) and the toon baby. Two versions.
Bedtime Buddies (Aka "What'll I Do NOW?")
MUCH nicer. You made me grin- you post about watching how I light things, then you posted a dark one, and I was thinking, "WOW, this dude really DOES need help..." lol
Noodle The Toon Cat
3D Universe's Toon Baby
By the way, you'll notice in Scott's signature- please go vote in the Genesis Custom-Dialed Character Contest. Scott and I (and Jaderail and Laticis) are all sponsors and we want to finish giving away our money, lol! The artists created some neat people and creatures using various morphs and products- it's really fascinating. It's really easy to vote in the poll, the renders are all right there for you, so head on over!
The two products used in the last render (and no, the cat's rear doesn't lower, so I'm stuck with a cat that looks like a dead polish sausage curled up)
http://www.daz3d.com/noodle-the-toon-cat
http://www.daz3d.com/3d-universe-s-toon-baby
And the baby also has this: Blossom!
http://www.daz3d.com/blossom-for-3d-universe-s-toon-baby
Geez, in this render, Noodle really does look DEAD, so the new title is, "Quick, anyone know CPR?"
The Study
Here is The Study with a bright distant light and a far-away view so you can see the set better. Remember, the rug is from Opus Magnum. Otherwise, the floor may look too fancy/out of place for a family type render. If you use depth of field, this would be a nice cheap set to use for in-home renders.
Will post a closeup of Noodle and Baby using this lighting (nothing special, just added this one bright distant light)
So far as products go- Noodle has a lot of bend, twist, and doing-what-cats-do poses (even begs.) You can make him plumper, shorten the tail, change the face, etc- a totally fun cat to doodle wtih. And you can't really tell it too much in my lights out (except for hallway light) renders, but the teeth glisten and you don't have to adjust the glossiness at all.
The Baby has morphs for the standard person, all the way down to each finger, so no surprises there. I did not change any morphs for the head, this is the out of the box character. One thing to watch- when spot rendering, test the eyelash area. If you have light coming from above-side / above / side, it casts weird shadows from the eyelashes and it looks like triangles plastered on the eyeballs. Very distracting.
MUCH nicer. You made me grin- you post about watching how I light things, then you posted a dark one, and I was thinking, "WOW, this dude really DOES need help..." lol
LOL, thanks. Yeah, not sure why my first reaction, when the original version finished rendering, was "yeah, that looks good." :roll: After seeing it next to the other it was clear there was something wrong...
I like your baby & cat scene, especially the baby's expression. Very believable I think. :)
Willow Spring
Okay, here we go. Going to test the light presets. At least, I THINK we are. Now don't cringe, I've always used my own lights, so (stop laughing) I'm going to waddle through this and see how to do it. (That's what this thread is for...) I'm going to show you how the entire set loads, where Genesis will be as it loads, and go from there. (Photo 1, Photo 2 closeup)
Okay, step one- Genesis is in the fountain when you load the entire set. (You have the option to do that, or piecemeal it. I want to show SereneNight how the lights are with the set in place.
Let's add some trees and stuff so we can get a better feel of the lights. Oh WOW. I clicked on "potted plants" and poof, they were all IN PLACE. Nice! (Photo 3) (And there's MORE on the ledges. They populated all over the place, and very nicely placed I might add.)
Next, "props" which were barrels, crates, etc. Here's where they appeared. Then I clicked on grass main, grass long, weeds, and willow tree. (Nice tree!)
Fast setup. This will take you maybe....two minutes! (Not kidding, click click click. Done)
So added the ivy (it's in individual clumps.) Will get a character situated so we can really test the lights, and back in awhile.
EDIT: Chiara is ready to go in the X Dress, Saucee Sandals, and Nordic Hair. (Don't worry, I did adjust the top, and straightened the fingers. HATE Genesis 2 curly fingers.)
Hmmmm. Well, I'm posting my experiences, so here tis. NOT my typical render, lol. If you use the Daylight with torches setting, "out of the box" then the light (Sunlight) is set to 150%, and it's 253/253/253.
Well, this certainly isn't what I expected from a light preset. It's GOT to be me....right? No other lights in scene, just the Daylight with torches preset from the vendor. This seems obvious, but since it's my first light preset, I'll ask- you just click on the lights in the content library (or smart content) and it's applied, RIGHT? I shouldn't have to go change anything in Surfaces to dull this down!
There are only 3 distant lights for this. Image, Skylight, and Sunlight. Turned each one off and NO difference.
Image is 255's (across the board, meaning 255/255/255 for color) at 50% intensity- no shadows.
Skylight is a medium blue 180/204/224 at 52%, no shadows
Sunlight is 253's and 24.5%, no shadows.
What's the deal here?
Second image, I lowered the intensity to 24.5 for Sunlight. Huh. I did, really. Default light IS off.
Oh my heavens, it's the TORCH lights. They're THAT bright?????
I had changed all the sky settings, etc- back in a bit, will undo all that and turn off the torch lights. Well, now YOU know. :)
EDIT: Wait a minute- you know me, putzing...I thought, "Why delete those settings I did, why not remove the torchlights and see... so I was taking out all the torchlights, then noticed one had a really nice light angle. I KEPT one torchlight, and am adjusting my settings, and I'll share the render. THEN we'll remove all the torchlights and see what just the sky and sun and image do.
They're Poser light sets -- those tend to be too strong if used out-of-the-box in DS.
Wow, that looks a bit too bright! I had that happening when I accidentaly loaded two sky domes/light thingies. Maybe it;s the daylight + torches? I think I have this set too, might fiddle with it a bit to see if it behaves the same.
EDIT: Night with torches isn't much better. Poser Lights indeed..
The Nameless (who might one day be named after all), confused and lost. Such a bright night!!
Okay, so while we're at it (Thanks fixmypcmike, good to know!) let's FIX the poser lights. I'll change the settings, you can adjust from there, find what you like as a starting point. Here's the first one, using the skylight, sunlight, image light, and one torch light. We are using number TWO if you want to play along.
Unbelievable colors needed to fix this thing!