CARRARA CHALLENGE 46: Get your Retro on

Headwax

thanks Stezza et Bunyip :)

Wow Bunyip you are a shader WIKI :)

Headwax

Here's a shader trick to give you interesting lighting.

If you can't read the images click the little ones at the bottom of the post!

1) Place your figure (in this case Groover) on a plane.

2)Then Make a huge sphere that encompasses one light bulb, the camera and the plane

 

3) In the texture room make the sphere and plane shaders 100 percent reflection

 

 

 

4) In the render room turn off reflections so they don't render. But turn on Caustics! That way the reflections will reflect light even though they don't render!

 

 

5) Here is the unretouched render. You can fiddle with intensity photo count etc in the Caustics paramters to get better quality.

So this render has only ONE LIGHT.

I can get back blown out highlights by adjusting the light bulb position or using eg a material- diffuse pass in post. I can also bring in shadows where necessary by using my shadow pass.

 

 

materail diffuse pass

 

Shadow Pass

Headwax

•  

Here is 'Caustic Groover" with those extra passes added in post and some tone mapping.

I ended up using another shadow pass to get him to 'sit' on stage better - I also used meterial diffuse, and coverage pass and ambient occlison pass. I isolated the hair with a primitif pass. The tone mapping made him slightly more cartoon like

The ambient occlusion pass bought back a bit of three dimensionality

 

Bunyip02

Headwax_Carrara said:

Here's a shader trick to give you interesting lighting.

If you can't read the images click the little ones at the bottom of the post!

1) Place your figure (in this case Groover) on a plane.

2)Then Make a huge sphere that encompasses one light bulb, the camera and the plane

 

3) In the texture room make the sphere and plane shaders 100 percent reflection

 

 

 

4) In the render room turn off reflections so they don't render. But turn on Caustics! That way the reflections will reflect light even though they don't render!

 

 

5) Here is the unretouched render. You can fiddle with intensity photo count etc in the Caustics paramters to get better quality.

So this render has only ONE LIGHT.

I can get back blown out highlights by adjusting the light bulb position or using eg a material- diffuse pass in post. I can also bring in shadows where necessary by using my shadow pass.

 

 

materail diffuse pass

 

Shadow Pass

Excellent walk-through, keep them coming !!! Render is great too !

PS Don't forget "Da Rules - Images Must be new, unpublished before the start of this challenge, to remain unpublished outside of the challenge while the challenge is on." Free advertising is welcome - so make sure you include a link to the Challenge thread !

 

Bunyip02

Mini-Tutorials 4. Shader Dirt/Rust/Mud

1. Double click the Shader required to open in Texture room
2. In the Color - Texture Map slot I want to use Mixer
3. Scroll down the list to Operators
4. Click on Mixer
5. Leave Source 1 as the Texture Map, in Source 2
6. Scroll down the list to Color
7. Click in the Color Box
8. In Color Picker select color
9. In the Blender slot
10. Scroll down to Natural Functions
11. Click on Cellular
12. Adjust Intensity
13. Adjust Scale
Note: Both steps 12 & 13 will require test renders to get it looking right

Option B
9. In the Blender slot
10. Scroll down to Noise Functions
11. Click on Turbulence
12. Adjust Brightness
13. Adjust Global Scale
Note: Both steps 12 & 13 will require test renders to get it looking right

Option C
9. In the Blender slot
10. Scroll down to Natural Functions
11. Click on Spots
12. Adjust Spot Size & Blending will require test renders to get it looking right

Bunyip02

Come on people - get those renders started !!!!!!!!!!!!

Headwax

thanks Bunyip - sorry didnt read that one!! 

another great mini tut from you thank you!

 

here's a complicated job - I used an old Viking Tunic for m2, cross dressed it to M4 then retextured it (that's why the circley bits are so disorted!)  and used a few transmaps to elminate all but the black thing around the coller and the belt

have to go through the shader tree later

Flash Gordon - used the trick with the caustics for lighting with  this one too - so one light - in this case a distance light

Tore a muscle in the surf today - you might be seeing me here more often....

 

Headwax

this is the original coat after a little retexturing but before alpha mapping it to show the shirt underneath

Headwax

Here's the same image worked up in PD - starting with different passes rather than the beauty or colour pass

 

 

 

Bunyip02

Headwax_Carrara said:

thanks Bunyip - sorry didnt read that one!! 

another great mini tut from you thank you!

 

here's a complicated job - I used an old Viking Tunic for m2, cross dressed it to M4 then retextured it (that's why the circley bits are so disorted!)  and used a few transmaps to elminate all but the black thing around the coller and the belt

have to go through the shader tree later

Flash Gordon - used the trick with the caustics for lighting with  this one too - so one light - in this case a distance light

Tore a muscle in the surf today - you might be seeing me here more often....

 

Very nice !!

Problem with rule changes between Challenges is that the rules can be missed - done it myself before....

Thanks on the Mini-Tutes, hopefully I can generate a few more while the Challenge is on - was hoping some of the others would chip in as well.

Hope the torn muscle is not too painful !

MarkIsSleepy

I was inspired by playing around with the GMIC filters and started thinking about old TV shows, so I am going to do sort of a reimagining of the intro to I Dream of Jeannie.

Here's my scene so far:

I will be adding an astronaut coming toward the bottle, which I still need to create textures for. Bottle model is a freebie by Gorilla Labs 3D from ShareCg.

The basic shape of the sand dunes and the sand ripples are created on a terrain using Realistic Sand Dunes for Bryce and Carrara by Bijan Studio, which sadly looks like it is no longer available in the store here. Instead of the included textures though I created my own simple procedural texture.

My sand texture

1. I started by simply mixing two sandy colors (RBG 220/187/143 and RGB 226/199/163) using a Noise texture as the driver for the mixer.
2. The noise texture is set to local space and has a very small global scale of only 2 - I want the mix to be subtle knowing I am working in a medium sized scene and will be rendering very close up.
3. The final color was good for beach sand, but I wanted more of a red desert color to it, so I added a multiply using a color that allowed me better control of the overall shade and after some experiments, settled on RGB 245/214/171 for the multiply color.
4. I set the highlight very low because I wanted a tiny amount of shine to it, I didn't want it looking like rock or stone.
5. The final piece was the bump to make it actually look more like sand. For this I copied the bump from my color mixer and increased the scale slightly to 5. In the top level shader I set the bump strength to 120%, then decided that was a little too strong after a test render, and lowered it back to 100%.

Incidentally, in case you don't already know, you can change how the color picker works. By default it the HLS wheel, which I usually like a lot because it really helps visualize what colors are complementary. In this case though I was tring to get to something specific and started with color picking from some reference images in Photoshop, which gave me RGB colors. To match the colors I picked as my starting points I used the dropdown in the color picker to change the picking method from HLS Wheel to RGB Sliders.

 

MarkIsSleepy

I'm using a Sun light and the Realistic Sky for my lighting and I started playing with those a bit. Added some haze to the sky, increased the overall brightness of the sky a bit, and added a Lens Flare to the light using the Desert Sky preset.

I also modeled a quick divot for the capsule to tie it into the landscape better. The divot uses a copy of the same sand shader as above, but I added a little bit of ripple displacement to it to help break it up and match the terrain. The divot has three levels of render-only smoothing to help add some geometry for the displacement to work on when it renders.

Palm trees are from the included Carrara content, but I replaced the color textures with some free palm trees photo textures from the web. I copied those textures into the transparency channel on the leaves and then lowered the brightness down to 5% and the max transparency levels to just 2 so the light doesn't pass through as many leaves.

The astronaut is going to go near the capsule, just crawling over the little ridge on the middle right side.

I like to get my lighting and composition as close as possible to final before adding geometry-heavy things like characters. I'll do that after I do the shaders on the bottle and then I'll start playing with the GMIC effects to get my final look.

Note that the image in the thread is being weirdly squashed, so please click on it to see at the correct image proportions.

The final render will be at twice this size (1920x1080) but I like to do all my tests at half size or smaller for speed.

 

Diomede

Bunyip - thanks for yet another tutorial.  You are full of awe (awesome).

Headwax - very creative way to get Flash’s collar.  I’m a huge Flash Gordon fan, but even more of the general approach of the old serials, not just Flash.  Last week had lots of chores that kept me in or around the house so I popped in an old serial called “Undersea Kingdom” starring Crash Corrigan.  Many of the stylized elements were familiar but the robots were hilarious.  They looked like cylindrical metal trash cans with legs.  Speaking of legs, get well soon.

 

MDO2010 - great camera angle.  Can’t wait to see the final version.  Only one way to make the subject better, and it is obvious.  Show me Barbara Eden!  LOL. Pretty sure a sizable minority of us are males of a certain age.  

 

Crssh Corrigan robots I think

https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&ccid=w5WbZgor&id=CB815A364F475D59515CAF519BF275B4EE88163F&thid=OIP.w5WbZgorpEaVygaozmt31QHaFj&q=undersea+kingdom+crash+corrigan+robots&simid=608027789984530742&selectedIndex=9

 

 

 

 

MarkIsSleepy

Getting closer to final.

The gulls are a free model I found at Free3D.com.

Current set-up rendered with DOF and two GMIC filters (Color/Retro Fade and Vignette). Remarkably for me, no post-work (yet).

The vignette seems to have killed my lens flare, so I will probably remove that for the final final.

Headwax

thanks Ted et Bunyip02 - Diomede those robots are a crackup!

MDO2010  thanks for the walk through - great scene - lens flare on sun was an eye opener

 

Headwax

Below is a walk through of getting the Viking tunic to look a little like flash gordons coller and belt - still very rough!!

You will learn:

1) how to extract a uv map from a model

2) how to use this to make an alpha map and a new texture map

 

Alpha maps help you hide parts of a model - you could also hide them in the modelling room but that can lead to jagged edges as you are reatricted to polygons 

 

 

Headwax

Here is original Viking Tunic from M2 - cross dressed to m4 but still lots of uv disortion - oh well :)

 

 

we go into the modelling room to get a UV map to export into photoshop

click UV mode etc as per next image 

 

 

we do the same for the Tunic Bottom and combine the two maps in ps to get this

so in photoshop we paint over the map in a different layer

we are trying to get this outfit

 

 

we apply the new texture in the shader room to see if we are on the right track - theres' little triangles below the belt that should be fixed but am too lazy 

 

we also add a 0 percent alpha to the arms to vanish them

 

back in photoshop i make an alpha map to hide those tunc parts we dont want - the white parts will show up so in carrara we willhave to nvert the transmap

transmap = alpha map

 

 

 

 

 

Headwax

we put the transmap in the alpha part ofthe tunic shader and invert it

 

 

i coloured the tunic red so you can see what is happening more easily

 

finally we put it on m4 - you can see belt is craapy fit

 

so we add a couple of morphs 

 

 

it looks slightly better - obviously a ready made belt would be berrter but the idea of the mini tut is to show you how to be creative with alpha maps on wht you alreadt have

sorry typing with one hand - other hand holding ice pack to leg

 

Bunyip02

MDO2010 said:

I was inspired by playing around with the GMIC filters and started thinking about old TV shows, so I am going to do sort of a reimagining of the intro to I Dream of Jeannie.

Here's my scene so far:

I will be adding an astronaut coming toward the bottle, which I still need to create textures for. Bottle model is a freebie by Gorilla Labs 3D from ShareCg.

The basic shape of the sand dunes and the sand ripples are created on a terrain using Realistic Sand Dunes for Bryce and Carrara by Bijan Studio, which sadly looks like it is no longer available in the store here. Instead of the included textures though I created my own simple procedural texture.

My sand texture

1. I started by simply mixing two sandy colors (RBG 220/187/143 and RGB 226/199/163) using a Noise texture as the driver for the mixer.
2. The noise texture is set to local space and has a very small global scale of only 2 - I want the mix to be subtle knowing I am working in a medium sized scene and will be rendering very close up.
3. The final color was good for beach sand, but I wanted more of a red desert color to it, so I added a multiply using a color that allowed me better control of the overall shade and after some experiments, settled on RGB 245/214/171 for the multiply color.
4. I set the highlight very low because I wanted a tiny amount of shine to it, I didn't want it looking like rock or stone.
5. The final piece was the bump to make it actually look more like sand. For this I copied the bump from my color mixer and increased the scale slightly to 5. In the top level shader I set the bump strength to 120%, then decided that was a little too strong after a test render, and lowered it back to 100%.

Incidentally, in case you don't already know, you can change how the color picker works. By default it the HLS wheel, which I usually like a lot because it really helps visualize what colors are complementary. In this case though I was tring to get to something specific and started with color picking from some reference images in Photoshop, which gave me RGB colors. To match the colors I picked as my starting points I used the dropdown in the color picker to change the picking method from HLS Wheel to RGB Sliders.

 

MDO2010 - Excellent render, great shader usage & tips as well !!!

Bunyip02

Headwax_Carrara said:

we put the transmap in the alpha part ofthe tunic shader and invert it

 

 

i coloured the tunic red so you can see what is happening more easily

 

finally we put it on m4 - you can see belt is craapy fit

 

so we add a couple of morphs 

 

 

it looks slightly better - obviously a ready made belt would be berrter but the idea of the mini tut is to show you how to be creative with alpha maps on wht you alreadt have

sorry typing with one hand - other hand holding ice pack to leg

 

Headwax superb walk-through !!!

Hope that leg heals up fast !

Bunyip02

Mini-Tutorials 5. Shader Panels & Rivets - Panels & Mosiac Tiles

Option A - Panels & Rivets
1. Double click the Shader required to open in Texture room
2. Top Shader
3. Scroll down to Complex Shaders
4. Click on Multi Channel Mixer
5. In the Source 1 - Color - Texture Map slot I want to use Mixer
6. Scroll down the list to Operators
7. Click on Mixer
8. Leave Source 1 as the Texture Map, in Source 2
9. Scroll down the list to Color
10. Click in the Color Box
11. In Color Picker select color
12. In the Blender slot
13. Scroll down to Pattern Functions
14. Click on Squares
15. Adjust settings will require test renders to get it looking right
16. In the Source 2 slot
17. Scroll down to Enhance:C
18. Click on Enhance:C Panel
19. In the Function box click on Rivets
20. Adjust settings
21. Blender slot
22. Scroll down to Value (0-100%)
23. Adjust settings
Note: Steps 20-23 will require test renders to get it looking right

Option B - Panels & Mosiac Tiles
16. In the Source 2 slot
17. Scroll down to Enhance:C
18. Click on Enhance:C Tile
19. In the Function box
20. Click on Mosiac
21. Adjust settings
22. Blender slot
23. Scroll down to Value (0-100%)
24. Adjust settings
Note: Steps 21-24 will require test renders to get it looking right

shlomi laszlo

i want an old fantasy image.

think 80's - early 90's black and white.

so how to make a b&w crosshatch from aiko maps on v4?

by the way you need to scale the 2d random maps on each area on v4 to fit diffrent sacles.

 

Bunyip02

shlomi laszlo said:

i want an old fantasy image.

think 80's - early 90's black and white.

so how to make a b&w crosshatch from aiko maps on v4?

by the way you need to scale the 2d random maps on each area on v4 to fit diffrent sacles.

 

Hello shlomi, I have not used Fenric's Extended Color Balance before, very interested in seeing how it turns out !!!

Most models I have looked at have differently scaled UV maps, good luck on getting the scales to match !

Bunyip02

Mini-Tutorials 6. Shader - Super Mixer

Wendy's original Screen-shot of a Super Mixer usage - https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/comment/4007711/#Comment_4007711

1. In the Color Slot
2. Scroll down to Shoestring Shaders
3. Click on Super Mixer
4. In Mix Shader enter Texture Map that will be your base for the Super Mixed image
5. Shaders 1 to 10 enter different shader options
6. In Color - Super Mixer slot - adjust Shaders 1 to 10 to get different effect on image - requires multiple test renders

Headwax

wow that's some super mix!

UnifiedBrain

Headwax_Carrara said:

 

Hilarious!  So clever, and the textures are just fabulous.

 

Bunyip02

UnifiedBrain said:

Headwax_Carrara said:

 

Hilarious!  So clever, and the textures are just fabulous.

 

Definately another classic by Headwax. Hope you have something/s lined up for a render or three as well UB !!!

UnifiedBrain

Bunyip, I absolutely will enter. :)  Just the normal struggles, thanks.

Bunyip02

UnifiedBrain said:

Bunyip, I absolutely will enter. :)  Just the normal struggles, thanks.

Looking forward to your entry/entries !!!

Bunyip02

Kermit and the "Floating Log"