More Non-photorealisitic Renders (NPR II)

Headwax

tkdrobert said:

I can do something other than scifi, I really can:

great to divsresify though i love your sci fi works

 

Artini

Thanks a lot, Headwax.

I have noticed, that look of this post effect heavily depends on the scene and varies a lot.

I have started to use the color grading on the camera as well, to get even more possibilities.

After that, the screenshots are no longer up side down, so the renders and animations

does not need to be fixed in external graphic editor.

 

mmitchell_houston

The editor of the comic I'm working on wants the main hero to have some curls in his hair, so here's my first take at it. As before, this is Michael 4 with a modified version of Farconville's great face morphs. However, with Arton's hair up higher off his face, I'm thinking the face is too long and angular. I'm going to need to tweak it a bit to soften it so he looks a little younger. Also, before sending it to the editor, I need to fix those weird shadows on his tunic.

jepsonpeteCMT

mmitchell_houston said:

The editor of the comic I'm working on wants the main hero to have some curls in his hair, so here's my first take at it. As before, this is Michael 4 with a modified version of Farconville's great face morphs. However, with Arton's hair up higher off his face, I'm thinking the face is too long and angular. I'm going to need to tweak it a bit to soften it so he looks a little younger. Also, before sending it to the editor, I need to fix those weird shadows on his tunic.

Looking good. I tried doing a bit of an edit on this, hope you don't mind. I removed the block of black shadow from his forehead which may make his face look a bit younger. See what you think.

Pete

jepsonpeteCMT

Artini said:

I have not tried the animation yet, but I will try to make one, if I find some cool idea for it.

In the meantime, another render. I think, I am addicted ;)

This one is looking good. There's a lot more saturation and contrast. Those clouds are quite impressive. Do you do any post editing in photoshop as well?

A possible technique you could also try is to save out an image at twice the size and then shrink it by half in Photoshop, eg. a 4K render at 4096 x 2048, shrunk down to a 2K final image at 1920 x 1080. Just a thought, it might be worth experimenting to see what kind of effect it has on the image.

This is a really interesting style. I also noticed Flockaroo have an oil paint effect as well.

mmitchell_houston

jepsonpete_63996f7ec6 said:

mmitchell_houston said:

The editor of the comic I'm working on wants the main hero to have some curls in his hair, so here's my first take at it. As before, this is Michael 4 with a modified version of Farconville's great face morphs. However, with Arton's hair up higher off his face, I'm thinking the face is too long and angular. I'm going to need to tweak it a bit to soften it so he looks a little younger. Also, before sending it to the editor, I need to fix those weird shadows on his tunic.

Looking good. I tried doing a bit of an edit on this, hope you don't mind. I removed the block of black shadow from his forehead which may make his face look a bit younger. See what you think.

Pete

THANKS! That is a much-needed edit (and one I considered making but I got in a rush to get to bed). You're right, that does make him look younger.

I'm hoping to have more time to spend on this new hairstyle later this week. I see LOTS of areas for improvement (and I also picked up another hairstyle over at Rendo that I want to try out).

EDIT: I just noticed that you also filled in the shadows on his abdomen. GOOD CALL and it really helps.I think was kind of rushing it because this is definitely a throwaway image. The face is wrong (I'm beginning to think that the jaw is okay but that his mouth is just up too high – maybe a little more distance between his nose and mouth might fix things; which is not something I would do in a realistic image, but in a cartoon it could be fine) and I'm not yet confident on how to generate the details on the curls. If I use this hair (and right now it's the top contender) I will need to do a lot more work on the hair textures. THANKS AGAIN.

Artini

jepsonpete_63996f7ec6 said:

Artini said:

I have not tried the animation yet, but I will try to make one, if I find some cool idea for it.

In the meantime, another render. I think, I am addicted ;)

This one is looking good. There's a lot more saturation and contrast. Those clouds are quite impressive. Do you do any post editing in photoshop as well?

A possible technique you could also try is to save out an image at twice the size and then shrink it by half in Photoshop, eg. a 4K render at 4096 x 2048, shrunk down to a 2K final image at 1920 x 1080. Just a thought, it might be worth experimenting to see what kind of effect it has on the image.

This is a really interesting style. I also noticed Flockaroo have an oil paint effect as well.

Thanks. It is a direct render from Unity at 4K resized in Photoshop to Full HD, though I added also Amplify Color to the camera, as well.

After that, images taken by free Screenshot Companion in Unity, does not require fixing upside down or mirroring.

It also help with recording animations.

 

tkdrobert

Master Yoda

mmitchell_houston

Artini said:

jepsonpete_63996f7ec6 said:

Artini said:

I have not tried the animation yet, but I will try to make one, if I find some cool idea for it.

In the meantime, another render. I think, I am addicted ;)

This one is looking good. There's a lot more saturation and contrast. Those clouds are quite impressive. Do you do any post editing in photoshop as well?

A possible technique you could also try is to save out an image at twice the size and then shrink it by half in Photoshop, eg. a 4K render at 4096 x 2048, shrunk down to a 2K final image at 1920 x 1080. Just a thought, it might be worth experimenting to see what kind of effect it has on the image.

This is a really interesting style. I also noticed Flockaroo have an oil paint effect as well.

Thanks. It is a direct render from Unity at 4K resized in Photoshop to Full HD, though I added also Amplify Color to the camera, as well.

After that, images taken by free Screenshot Companion in Unity, does not require fixing upside down or mirroring.

It also help with recording animations.

Thanks for the info. I had no idea there was a "color amplification" feature in Unity. I really do need to reinstall it and see what it can do sometime.

jepsonpeteCMT

tkdrobert said:

Master Yoda

This is great. You are at a Jedi level when creating the starwars artwork. It has a nice painterly feel to it. The faded background is very cool.

jepsonpeteCMT

mmitchell_houston said:

Artini said:

jepsonpete_63996f7ec6 said:

Artini said:

I have not tried the animation yet, but I will try to make one, if I find some cool idea for it.

In the meantime, another render. I think, I am addicted ;)

This one is looking good. There's a lot more saturation and contrast. Those clouds are quite impressive. Do you do any post editing in photoshop as well?

A possible technique you could also try is to save out an image at twice the size and then shrink it by half in Photoshop, eg. a 4K render at 4096 x 2048, shrunk down to a 2K final image at 1920 x 1080. Just a thought, it might be worth experimenting to see what kind of effect it has on the image.

This is a really interesting style. I also noticed Flockaroo have an oil paint effect as well.

Thanks. It is a direct render from Unity at 4K resized in Photoshop to Full HD, though I added also Amplify Color to the camera, as well.

After that, images taken by free Screenshot Companion in Unity, does not require fixing upside down or mirroring.

It also help with recording animations.

Thanks for the info. I had no idea there was a "color amplification" feature in Unity. I really do need to reinstall it and see what it can do sometime.

Unity is being used by some pretty big companies these days due to what they call "the real time revolution" rendering production quality material in real time.

The video that caught everyone's attention was the "Adam" video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXI0l3yqBrA

Soon it is due to unveil real time ray tracing, which is going to completely revolutionise the animation and game design industries.

You can check out the Unity asset store without having to download the software, just to see what's available:

https://assetstore.unity.com/

 

Daz still provide one of the best free render engines (Iray). Does Poser use Iray? I haven't used Poser since about version 3. I bought the software years and years ago, when I was first getting into 3D design and animation

 

Artini

mmitchell_houston said:

Artini said:

jepsonpete_63996f7ec6 said:

Artini said:

I have not tried the animation yet, but I will try to make one, if I find some cool idea for it.

In the meantime, another render. I think, I am addicted ;)

This one is looking good. There's a lot more saturation and contrast. Those clouds are quite impressive. Do you do any post editing in photoshop as well?

A possible technique you could also try is to save out an image at twice the size and then shrink it by half in Photoshop, eg. a 4K render at 4096 x 2048, shrunk down to a 2K final image at 1920 x 1080. Just a thought, it might be worth experimenting to see what kind of effect it has on the image.

This is a really interesting style. I also noticed Flockaroo have an oil paint effect as well.

Thanks. It is a direct render from Unity at 4K resized in Photoshop to Full HD, though I added also Amplify Color to the camera, as well.

After that, images taken by free Screenshot Companion in Unity, does not require fixing upside down or mirroring.

It also help with recording animations.

Thanks for the info. I had no idea there was a "color amplification" feature in Unity. I really do need to reinstall it and see what it can do sometime.

Amplify Color (just the name of the package) and an extra Amplify LUT Pack are the paid items in Unity store.

One can of course program them by yourself, but I do not have such skills for that, yet.

There are also free items, like Simple LUT Adjuster by Digital Ruby and

Cinematic Look LUT Library and Cinema Themes 2 - Color Grading LUTs Library

for Post Processing stack 1 from older versions of Unity.

 

Artini

Another render processed additionally in Topaz Studio (Enchanced Day Sky preset).

Artini

Just wanted to show effect of color grading with Amplify Color.

An example free model in Sketchup format from 3D warehouse with shader and postprocess effect from Jiffycrew Cel Shading.

Without color grading:

and with color grading applied:

Artini

Another example of color grading on https://www.daz3d.com/dm-s-serenus

With only Jiffycrew postprocess camera:

also with cel shaders applied:

and with different color gradings applied:

mmitchell_houston

tkdrobert said:

Master Yoda

Looking good. Trying to nab a second "Staff Pick," eh? Well, you certainly deserve it.

I like this one a lot. Great setting and you really nailed the Yoda character. Not sure I like the robe texture, though – it looks kind of like concrete or stucco. The eys are nicely lit and the entire scene is well composed. Nice job, bud!

tkdrobert

Cad Bane.  I watched Star Wars the Clone Wars with my 2 kids.  While my oldest daughter loved Ahsoka,  I really liked Captain Rex and Cad Bane.  I always root for the good guys, but a good story needs good heroes and good villains.  I thought Cad was a far more interesting villain than Count Dooku or General Grievous.

tkdrobert

mmitchell_houston said:

tkdrobert said:

Master Yoda

Looking good. Trying to nab a second "Staff Pick," eh? Well, you certainly deserve it.

I like this one a lot. Great setting and you really nailed the Yoda character. Not sure I like the robe texture, though – it looks kind of like concrete or stucco. The eys are nicely lit and the entire scene is well composed. Nice job, bud!

The robe didn't have a lot on bones.  It would've looked better if I could have put some creases in it.  Maybe the smudge tool in Photoship could've helped without making the rest of the image too smudged.  Food for thought.

tkdrobert

This one id bother me and I can't figure out why?  Is it the background?  Is it the lack of detail on the model (my usually technigues don't work as well?  Help me out here.

mmitchell_houston

tkdrobert said:

This one id bother me and I can't figure out why?  Is it the background?  Is it the lack of detail on the model (my usually technigues don't work as well?  Help me out here.

I LIKE IT! Lots of character and menace here. (Not a fan of the way that background element intersects perfectly with the rim of his hat, though – it looks odd.) Looking at those eyes and you just NAILED IT. Really cool work.

mmitchell_houston

tkdrobert said:

Cad Bane.  I watched Star Wars the Clone Wars with my 2 kids.  While my oldest daughter loved Ahsoka,  I really liked Captain Rex and Cad Bane.  I always root for the good guys, but a good story needs good heroes and good villains.  I thought Cad was a far more interesting villain than Count Dooku or General Grievous.

This could not be more of a classic composition if you tried! The framing with dark shades and the opening of bright colors behind him is just spot-on perfect. Oddly enough, the only thing that doesn't work for me is that little ship flying in the distance over his shoulder. It detracts from the clean flow of the major elements. Love the ground, btw. QUESTION: Did you think of adding a wisp of smoke or tiny glow to the dead guy's chest so you could complete the "story" of the scene?

tkdrobert

mmitchell_houston said:

tkdrobert said:

Cad Bane.  I watched Star Wars the Clone Wars with my 2 kids.  While my oldest daughter loved Ahsoka,  I really liked Captain Rex and Cad Bane.  I always root for the good guys, but a good story needs good heroes and good villains.  I thought Cad was a far more interesting villain than Count Dooku or General Grievous.

This could not be more of a classic composition if you tried! The framing with dark shades and the opening of bright colors behind him is just spot-on perfect. Oddly enough, the only thing that doesn't work for me is that little ship flying in the distance over his shoulder. It detracts from the clean flow of the major elements. Love the ground, btw. QUESTION: Did you think of adding a wisp of smoke or tiny glow to the dead guy's chest so you could complete the "story" of the scene?

As a matter of fact, I was going to add smoke from his guns and from the vitim's chest.  The final image came out different than what I originally imagined (that happens a lot).  The smoke detail got lost in the creative process. Maybe I should start writing creative outlines to remind me of stuff like that.  :-(

tkdrobert

mmitchell_houston said:

tkdrobert said:

This one id bother me and I can't figure out why?  Is it the background?  Is it the lack of detail on the model (my usually technigues don't work as well?  Help me out here.

I LIKE IT! Lots of character and menace here. (Not a fan of the way that background element intersects perfectly with the rim of his hat, though – it looks odd.) Looking at those eyes and you just NAILED IT. Really cool work.

"Not a fan of the way that background element intersects perfectly with the rim of his hat"

I think that's what was bothering me.  I tried several post-work ideas, but they didn't satisfy me.  I almost scraped the whole thing for a different background but changed my mind, thinking I was being to picky.

mmitchell_houston

tkdrobert said:

mmitchell_houston said:

tkdrobert said:

Cad Bane.  I watched Star Wars the Clone Wars with my 2 kids.  While my oldest daughter loved Ahsoka,  I really liked Captain Rex and Cad Bane.  I always root for the good guys, but a good story needs good heroes and good villains.  I thought Cad was a far more interesting villain than Count Dooku or General Grievous.

This could not be more of a classic composition if you tried! The framing with dark shades and the opening of bright colors behind him is just spot-on perfect. Oddly enough, the only thing that doesn't work for me is that little ship flying in the distance over his shoulder. It detracts from the clean flow of the major elements. Love the ground, btw. QUESTION: Did you think of adding a wisp of smoke or tiny glow to the dead guy's chest so you could complete the "story" of the scene?

As a matter of fact, I was going to add smoke from his guns and from the vitim's chest.  The final image came out different than what I originally imagined (that happens a lot).  The smoke detail got lost in the creative process. Maybe I should start writing creative outlines to remind me of stuff like that.  :-(

Y'know, writing down ideas is something I've been thinking of doing. I do it for my professional editing work (in fact, I just completed a long list of things I need to do on a technical document before I send it back to the authors). Definitely something to think about for my artwork, too.

wsterdan

tkdrobert said:

mmitchell_houston said:

tkdrobert said:

This one id bother me and I can't figure out why?  Is it the background?  Is it the lack of detail on the model (my usually technigues don't work as well?  Help me out here.

I LIKE IT! Lots of character and menace here. (Not a fan of the way that background element intersects perfectly with the rim of his hat, though – it looks odd.) Looking at those eyes and you just NAILED IT. Really cool work.

"Not a fan of the way that background element intersects perfectly with the rim of his hat"

I think that's what was bothering me.  I tried several post-work ideas, but they didn't satisfy me.  I almost scraped the whole thing for a different background but changed my mind, thinking I was being to picky.

I’d go with a different background, myself. There’s just a bit too much congruence between the character and the background — mmitchell_houston mentioned the hat, but the congruence of the rifle stock is there as well. It’s an awesome background, I just don’t think it works well with this character in this stance.

— Walt Sterdan

tkdrobert

wsterdan said:

tkdrobert said:

mmitchell_houston said:

tkdrobert said:

This one id bother me and I can't figure out why?  Is it the background?  Is it the lack of detail on the model (my usually technigues don't work as well?  Help me out here.

I LIKE IT! Lots of character and menace here. (Not a fan of the way that background element intersects perfectly with the rim of his hat, though – it looks odd.) Looking at those eyes and you just NAILED IT. Really cool work.

"Not a fan of the way that background element intersects perfectly with the rim of his hat"

I think that's what was bothering me.  I tried several post-work ideas, but they didn't satisfy me.  I almost scraped the whole thing for a different background but changed my mind, thinking I was being to picky.

I’d go with a different background, myself. There’s just a bit too much congruence between the character and the background — mmitchell_houston mentioned the hat, but the congruence of the rifle stock is there as well. It’s an awesome background, I just don’t think it works well with this character in this stance.

— Walt Sterdan

The first background I tried didn't work either.  When do portrait images, I try to have an intersting background, but sometimes struggle with it.

tkdrobert

Playing around with a creature creater morphs to make a Falleen Mercenary.  This race was introduced in a novel (pre-Disney) with a comic book tie-in called Shadows of the Empire.  I don't think they've ever appeared in live-action nor the cartoone but I could be wrong.

Rakuda

Like this one. Muted colors remind me of Hokusai. Great effect.

:)

mmitchell_houston

Updated the Arton character a little bit more. This time I softened the face and worked on the hair a little more. I'm going to try a few more tests with this version of the character, but I think I'm pretty close to sending this back to the editor.

plasma_ring

Some stuff I've been doing over the past few months! In chronological order of creation. I did a lot wrong in the first one, but it also taught me what I wanted to be able to do consistently. 

One of the biggest challenges I kept running into is that I'd come up with what I thought was a really decent lighting scheme, then bring the render into Photoshop and find that no matter what I did to it, in the end it pretty much looked like a processed stock photo. The raw render matters a lot, mainly because a faithfully realistic render might contain a bunch of incidental details an illustrator wouldn't bother to include. So it's forced me to be more careful with materials, props, and especially lighting. I'm very up front about these being 3D models, but the style I'm using can easily strain credibility in the sense that it feels wrong or off if shadows and highlights don't look like they were deliberately chosen and shaped.