Tynkere's Toying & Rendering Topic
Hi Everyone,
Inspired by another member who will have a kind of “My Progress in 3D” style topic-- and a history of his/her work-- decided to take the plunge and post.
I could post only my best renders here and have people thinking, “Wow! That guy could be a PA or something!”
Unfortunately that would be untrue since I don't have any really good renders yet...
March will make 5 months in 3D art. Plenty of experience 2D art-- photography and drawing cartoons, but big difference between pencils, paper, and cameras!
Like to think people learn at their own paces. Mine might be a snail's pace... Stuck in molasses... Outside... 100 degrees below zero in Siberia. (Apologies to snails and anyone living in Siberia.)
Anyway, hope you enjoy and of course comments welcome.
Thanks your reading!
--Bruce
Victoria 8 Woo-Boy! Do they actually do anything? Am thinking you're supposed to be able to view them from any angle and save as AVI or something...
I thought 'atmosphere' meant the sky and dust & stuff. It means "mood" or "tone" in 3D speak.
I discovered that making a camera and having it in focus can be very useful in DS.
Also discovered people don't like advertising
Then I fell down a rabbit hole called 3Delight. Lots of fun!
Smart content is for people like me who don't even know what they've downloaded in some of these bundle. I have no idea where the shirt is from/
Meanwhile I still love 3 delight. Was very fortunate to have some members here help me translate German.
Walked straight into a steaming pile of it when I posting this render in the commons. Never comment about 'mature' people... : )
Then there's the silly stuff that I really enjoyed
RRRR contest-- Army just isn't what it used to be...
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Edit: weeding out old imgur files. PM missing links.
Comments
Lol welcome to the art forum! Stunning pieces of work, you've come a looong way dude! Will follow this thread with great interest
Welcome to the art forums! We all started at the same place, which is the beginning lol. I see you popped into another newcomers thread so hopefully you saw the information on thenew user challenges forum.
I really love the render with the cat, great story there!
If you are familiar with photography to a certain extent it will help when it comes to composition and lighitng. I came over to the dark side from 2d art as well and while in some ways its wildley different, in others, not so much. Don't hesitate to ask if you run into something you can't figure out. There is a LOT to learn and there are no silly or stupid questions. I still ask all kind of questions even after 2 years lol.
Looking forward to seeing what else you do!
Hey, welcome to the forums and thank you for welcoming me as well! Your stuff is pretty awesome! I like your renders!
Welcome to the Art Studio! :)
Welcome! My first tip would be.. have fun! That's the main thing to keep going.
The second would be.. stay curious. "What does this button/slider do" is something you should never stop asking ;) But.. bes sure to save often in case it explodes on you..
Thank you for all the kind replies. I'm my own worst critic, and it's kind of funny. I'm in my mid 50s! What am I scared of?
But posting my gallery with all the experienced "Heavy Hitters" around here was scary, so thanks again!
@ Sven
Straying off a little, but I looked at 3DL renders and wow... Both inspiring and hopelessly depressing! Be decades-- if ever-- before I can do renders that photorealistic! You're using IBL Master now?
How is "Wowie" doing on his Shader project? Last time I checked, the UI looked like mission control from NASA! When he's finally done, that should give me plenty of sliders to play with in 3DL!
@ IceDragonArt
I'm still learning names, but think I recognize your avatar. Pretty sure you replied to some FAQ I had at "New Users" forum. That too was very intimidating for some reason. Nice to know everyone here is very supportive and ice to new-comers. Anyway, if you missed the thank you. Here is again. Thanks!
@ Knittingmommy
Hmmm.... Posing challenge this month. Guess I'll see you at NU for 'shop talk'
@ Mori_mann
That's wonderful advice. I'm really enjoying the RRRR because it suits my very dry sense of humor, and it's fun!
As for "Wonder what this slider do?"
How did you know!
That's almost exactly how I've learned. "Darius' eyes look flat. Wonder what happens if I move this slider.... Woah! That makes his eyes look white like a voo-doo zombie. Better leave that one alone!"
Others though... "Oh! So that might be how they do that!"
Thanks for reading and enjoy what's left of weekend everyone!
--Bruce
Two more astonishingly inane renders from my 'dead' folder...
I was paying tribute to Alexandra of course & wanted a real close-up to see what they were debating about eyebrows and skin. It got mixed reviews. : )
This is one I didn't use from a New User contest because I thought 'Atmosphere' meant the sky or the weather. ; )
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Edit: weeding out old imgur files. PM if see broken links.
Ha, take a good look at the beginning of my thread lol. My very first forays into this lovely world were really not that stellar. I've been at it for about 2 1/2 years now (and for the record, I'm in my early 50*s as well and was just as terrified lol)
And I don't know, now I'm super curious about those zombie eyes you mentioned lol.
Thank you so much for your kind words, but you're wrong, i took me years and years of trial and (mostly) error to get to the point of actually sharing my renders, you made it in a couple of weeks, so very well done indeed! I really like IBLM but it doesn't work for everything, AoA lights are still a very good and fast option, it seems;) Also RR3 by Marshian is very nice if you need color bounce in your render.
Well we're all still waiting, I got the impression he was making good progress, and yeah that interface was rather impressive LOL, I'll be lost in there for weeks and months
Oh and that portrait looks very good indeed, love the lightning
@ Icedragon
Well I had a look and commented at your topic. Pretty amazing. Hopefully my reply there wasn't too long winded. (I type really fast in a sort of flow of consciousness style. In real life, I think it's called being a chatterbox. : )
@ Sven
I don't want to sound arrogant or start a controversy or anything, but lets just say, I found that one render engine was easier to learn because of its preview, and the other required-- still requires-- a lot of research,reading some of the source material, etc. I want to understand why, a certain slider does what it does, not just "use it to do this" sort of thing. Hope that makes sense. It's late and I'm kind of tired after work. Bottom line: while I enjoy both, one of them requires disipline maybe, and a great deal more patience. I really respect people who have spent years learning either one, but I do think one might be more of a challenge. Hopefully a comment like that won't get me into trouble! : )
Anyway, here are a few more I've reduced in size and uploaded to Imgur. (I haven't figured out how people make a gallery and even if I did know... Nothing that merits putting up there for now at least)
Was going to do this one for Christmas, but couldn't figure out how to get his slingshot to work. Probably requires Hexagon. Maybe revisit it...
Accidently discovered you can get some interesting looking abstracts by messing around with the camera settings in IRay. It's the set from "Area 19" I think. Rectangular emergency lights are going around virtual round optics? The saturated green was done in photoshop. I'm not very good with titles. I named it "Rings" (As opposed to triangles -- I know my geometry!)
More messing around with the camera because I was getting no where with glass in 3DL versus IRay comparisons. Thought this one was kind of neat. Named it "Approaching C"
Area 19 again, and I saturated the colors in photoshop.
Doesn't do Mr. Gilliland's birds justice. Think you'd have to be an ornithologist to pose one in flight. Songbird rigging from hades! Also took a long time to get her hand to fit binoculars.
Victoria 8 is another one where I got lucky. With some facial tweaks and scaling (Vicky 8 is *huge* !) DS character looks very close to one I draw in my comics named "Rita"
By day, "Rita" is a college student & parking lot attendant (meter maid) who drives a golf cart when not writing tickets. By night, she's part of a gang of 'not so super' super-heroes.
Hope you enjoyed, and thanks for reading!
--Bruce
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Edit: weeding out old imgur files. PM if see broken links.
Welcome. The story aspect of your work is strong. I especially like the one of the kids on the hillside with the dog. Look forward to seeing how this develops. Seems you are off to a good start :)
Don't worry bout that, I mean they are just tools, right! Just want to say again that I like what you have come up with so far, keep them coming:) And yea I'm a sucker for challenges=)
@ Rakuda
Kind of you to say about story aspect. That's since I enjoy writing, everyone enjoys an illustration every now and then.
@ Sven
Tools yes, but let's say some are easy like maybe a hammer, while others a little more difficult-- a slide rule? ; 0 !
I'm saving glass in 3DL for the last one. : )
So March has been busy, but still time to have some fun, and I think that's it for my 'dead' folder.
I did this one to try to explain how diagonal lines can help draw the eye, so they're pretty obvious. A volunteer thanked me for demo on 'leading lines.' Confusion as some thought 'leading lines' only meant Vicky. ; )
Did this one to beta test an outfit at another site. I don't think you have to be important, or even very experienced to test an outfit. Just sign up...
"Dawn" is rigged differently than DAZ characters. This render doesn't do her justice. They have some amazing artists at the other place-- esp. wildlife-- and I'm glad I found it. Very nice people at both sites. : )
Another old one from a contest. I just wanted to use Owen and a prop that had been on sale I think. To my surprise it got picked, with the description "pressing the envelope of perspective." I don't know who writes these things, but he or she could probably help polish up my resume!
I got a new (used) card that has plenty of memory now for more complex scenes like this one. I'd hoped to enter this into a contest, but the card I traded didn't have enough memory... Who knows? Maybe less is better. Too much clutter!
Still plugging away at 3DL. Think I finally have reflective surfaces figured out, but glass window panes... Three months and they still don't look very convincing.
This started out as 'copy a pose from a photo.' That didn't seem very interesting so I made into a Grenfell Tower tribute.
Guess that's it for March. Hope you enjoyed, and thanks for reading!
--Bruce
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Edit: weeding out old imgur files. PM if see broken links.
Yup, I enjoyed, especially the last one, very nice indeed! Keep 'em comin'
@Tynkere - You've got some great work here. Glad to see your thread. You don't have anything to worry about. If you want to see snail's pace, some of us () have been here almost ten years and are just now overcoming that fear of posting with the great artists. I love what you've done with that entry for posing. Looking forward to seeing more.
Thanks for replies. Hope everyone had a fun & enjoyable Easter!
Am renaming this topic (for those who are very observant) because...
While ‘render rejects’ is just me making fun of my novice ability-- renders that have been featured...
...Could be misinterpreted as me not taking that recognition seriously. Actually I’m quite honored, so best to avoid any possible misunderstandings.
Thanks for reading!
--Bruce
PS: Tips on realistic looking plate glass in 3DL greatly appreciated. (see last render) I get a "This is outdated. Recompiling script" message & glass continues to look like a gray transparency...
Well I for one think you do an amazing job on your renders Bruce!!!
Did you try to open shader builder and click recompile? (with the surface selected)
Did you use refraction for the glass? Combined with a displacement map to add a little irregularity to the glass, it may work as you intended? (refraction strength 100%, IoR 1.52)
I got this https://www.daz3d.com/metalized-glass-shaders-for-daz-studio a while back, pretty nice presets;)
@ Sapphire
Thanks. Am discovering this is as much technical know-how as 'artistic' so appreciate the encouragement.
Had a look at your gallery and looks like the Judges Saga continues... Too bad you ran out of time. : /
Best wishes on the RRRR contest!
@ Sven
Thanks for the tip. Kind of works now, but am using a simple plane. 3D objects-- his wine glass-- still look black for some reason. If I set IoR to zero then looks like nothing at all. Red in the milk bottle. Maybe AoA product can help.
And yes, I like 3DL because I never got over playing shadow puppets as a child.
thanks for reading
--Bruce
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Edit: weeding out old imgur files. PM if see broken links.
Nah that's a render settings issue. You need to increase ray trace depth in the render settings pane until the rays go ( you can see) through the glass surfaces. Try 3 or 4, that should do the trick
ETA: Sorry I just realised I totally missed the point . Those are billboards? Then I'm out of ideas I'm afraid. You obviously won't get proper refraction/reflection, using no geometry, so you have to fake it some way. What kind of maps are provided for the glass?
You're doing well - keep it up!
Am up late (or very early) with this guy who had eye surgery. He rules the roost around here, so whatever it takes. Now that he’s almost recovered though, he wants out and can be very loud about it. I guess that’s a good sign he’s feeling better. Been a long time since either of us have been woken up with 'baby duty' or in this case 'cat duty.'
To topic then.
‘Billboards’ = using simple 2D planes? Makes sense. No depth is physically impossible: presets won’t work.
So... I worked on it this afternoon. Set Raytrace to 6 just to make sure. (It had a default of 2?) Anyway thanks for the tip. That one really helped!
Made a rectangle with depth down to .050% (maybe 3mm) -- use same saved setting file I made.
“Glass” is a more ‘white’ color now, while retaining reflectivity. Less exaggerated offset & magnifying him. Found a prop that seems to work better in 3DL. Vase is reflecting warehouse and might explain black. Large set and so not all of it is well lit.
Now your question about maps makes sense. Example: “Displacement Strength” > choose map > min/max (default) -/+ .10 ( I would make a .jpg with a few streaks or some kind of texture?)
One last question. If Opacity Color on sphere is green, wouldn’t it cast a greenish shadow?
I really appreciate your time in helping me on this. Would ask at 3DL Lab topic, but don’t want to interrupt “Wowie” and that amazing project of his.
Thanks for encouragement and taking time to post. Some days I might need more encouragement than others. Been a very long Monday-- or early Tuesday now.
--Bruce
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Edit: weeding out old imgur files. PM if see broken links.
Awww sweet kitty! I hope he recovers quickly and well!.
I can't help with 3DL, I crossed over to the dark side some time ago lol.
Sweet! Good to hear he's ok!
Yeah you can make your own maps to give a surface some structure, and refraction will take displacement into account, works well if you want to create small imperfections for a window (think old church) glass.
Glad to help, no problem at all;)
The DS default shader won't give you colored shadows, by default. Made a quick test scene. This is a spotlight with the default shader:
You can import that surface into shadermixer to make it colored. Select the object and its surface, then open the shadermixer pane and select "import from scene". Then go to opacity color and make adjustments as shown in this screenshot:
The result with the modified shader applied:
Or use another shader like the AoA Carnival glass shader, it will give you the right color out of the box:
Last example is a caustic spot, caustic camera and a caustic shader, all made in shadermixer. Gives you bounced light, requires high poly models to work properly, and it isn't very realistic, but pretty fun:) Iray does a better job with caustics, in 3DL you need to do a lot of fiddling around to get a descent result.
Sorry for the long post=)
And you made good progress with the last render
Thanks. He's a handful now that the stitches are out. Vet and veterinary surgeon want him indoors for another two weeks. Kitty rehab to give him a little more time to heal. He's used to tom-catting outdoors at night, and think he's getting cabin fever.
And if we try to ignore kitty... Our fox terrier will bark at us. "Open the door so I can go sniff at the cat and check on things." Animals... They have us humans very well trained.
Not at all! Appreciate your taking the time for examples & screenshot in mini-tutorial. Hopefully I'll have something to show once I've had time to practice it.
I like the little test guy btw. : )
Love the experiments with the caustics. Keep pushing! Really enjoyed looking through your thread.
Thanks for checking it out. Hopfully with Sven's tutorial I can get a handle on glass. And from glass... Next step believable eyes? Probably take years at my speed. ; )
Long as here, have quick Carerra question for you, or will post at their forum.
Using the DIM, even if I say put *.CAR files in its directory on "E" drive, it will *always* put them on "C." So I un-installed it, and might just have to do manual install. (Have to do that with Bryce anyway.)
Bottom line: known issue? Something simple I'm missing in the DIM? Download/install "Tangy Apple Orchard." I select E:\Prgramfiles\Carrera | the DIM will put it on "C" every time. ???
Danger! I am about to pretend to know something about DIM and installation. LOL.
Daz's DIM installation program allows you to have multiple installation locations. You can switch among them using the little gear icon in the upper right corner of the DIM menu. Before installing something, make sure you have selected the path appropriate to the location of that program. For example, I have separate locations to install content related to Studio, Carrara, Bryce, and video tutorials. My video tutorials are installed on a completely different drive from Carrara or Studio content.
When I buy and install Carrara-dedicated content, I open DIM, change the installation location to my Carrara area (see "current" at bottom of installation menu), do the installation, and then switch back to Studio default before closing DIM. Nat sure that this method is actually best, but I like having the option of sing DIM to find the location of all of the files associated with purchased content.
Congratulations on your RRRR!
Looking forwad to your 404.
Congratulations for the great job you did on RRRR. It was really good, and you deserved to win. Don't stop doing great things.
Congrats!