The retro inspiration is Walk Like an Egyptian. "Do the sand dance" is a phrase from the second line of the song.
The creation process was convoluted. It started with some comments I read on skin shaders in the Commons. People were expressing admiration for their favorite skin shaders. I started to wonder if I could get more out of standard shaders by using better lighting techniques in Carrara. After a week or two, I felt like I was getting good results with V4 and standard Lana Elite shaders. You be the judge, as I took the result and applied it to the Egyptian theme above.
Since I didn't manipulate shaders very much in the foreground figure (other than the necklace and bikini), I needed to make a background that used more shader manipulation. I started with 3 primitave cubes to simulate clay blocks. To get a clay look, I added Nobiax's shader 12, which is a brushed metal panel, doubled the Specular map into the bump channel, and raised the bump to 250. To get the lines a little wavier, I added a touch of Brushify from GMIC.
All seven ladies in the background are V1, with all the color channel shaders changed to the Nobiax shader. The idea was to give the illusion of a bias relief, with the figures looking like carved statues in the clay. I could have sold the illusion more by doing postwork, but it was close enough for my tastes. The foreground is supposed to be the focus anyway. :)
The background was rendered separately, and reinserted into a backdrop. The final render with V4 and the record LP at 3000 x 1885 took about two minutes. Pretty zippy. No postwork.
The weirdest thing about the whole process, is that I had never even heard the song until a few months ago! (Misty posted a video) I know that Diomede used it to title one of his renders in Challenge 31, but I didn't understand his reference. What was I doing in 1987 when this song was #1? The answer to that will take too long. Hey, better late than never. I really like the song, and I got to use several Egyptian hair and clothing products which were accumulating on the computer, and I learned about Egyptian headdresses. Happy camper.
Victoria never looked so good! Great job. I especially like the reliefs on the back wall. We all have a lost year or two, so I wouldn't sweat not knowing the song.
Stezza, the lyrics in the last half of the song are pretty bizarre. :)
Diomede, I didn't just lose a year or two. In the past 30 years, I had never heard the song. Stuff gets recycled and mentioned over various media, so never encountering it seems unusual to me. :)
Insert Plant into scene, rearrange light so it comes from behind the plant
1. Double click the Shader required to open in Texture room
2. In the Subsurface Scattering slot, click on SubSurface Scattering
3. Tick the Enable Subsurface Scattering box
4. Click on the Color box, then pick a color in the Color Picker
5. Adjust settings, will require a few test renders to get it looking right (Note as this was an Alien plant I wanted it fairly translucent)
6. Copy (right mouse button) the Subsurface Scattering slot, and paste (right mouse button) into the Tentacles & Pods Subsurface Scattering slots
7. Want a darker color for the pods, so click in the color box, then pick a darker shade in the Color Picker
UB, upon taking another look at your character's face, I am reminded of Gene Tierney, which is the highest compliment there is. Purposeful? Is that Victoria's straight mesh improved just with shaders? , some dial spun morphs? a custom morph? In any case, another masterful job.
UB, upon taking another look at your character's face, I am reminded of Gene Tierney, which is the highest compliment there is. Purposeful? Is that Victoria's straight mesh improved just with shaders? , some dial spun morphs? a custom morph? In any case, another masterful job.
Thanks, got a few more lined up. Was thinking after that of doing a shader disection of some of the freebie shaders, or shader reviews, or rehashing some of the already existing tutorials but with my methodology breakdown - any preferences/or ideas ?
UB, upon taking another look at your character's face, I am reminded of Gene Tierney, which is the highest compliment there is. Purposeful? Is that Victoria's straight mesh improved just with shaders? , some dial spun morphs? a custom morph? In any case, another masterful job.
Sorry, I left out a bunch of product details. Thanks for asking, as I tend to forget this stuff fast. As it is, I had to go back and look at several items. :)
The head is from the Bianca character, which I understand is a very popular morph for V4. Did not use the body. Instead used standard V4 Utopian body morph and some other tweaks. Skin was Lana.
LP Record and needle came from Retro HiFi. Various Egyptian outfits and props were from Pharaohs of the Sun for M3 and V4. The V4 top is from Brazen, and retextured using Yellow Anodized Aluminum.
Thank you, Selinita and Stezza, for excellent help on my race track. I have redone the racetrack model. Same basic approach as above, but with more symmetry and smoother curves. I have also taken a different approach to the UVMap. I have straightened out the UV strips and aligned them so that a procedural shader will generate perpendicular lines across the track and around the sides. Ultimately, I will be painting some of the track textures, but it will be nice to use a procedural shader for some dash patterns on one shader domain to give the sense of speed. The UVs are not perfect, but much improved.
SHADER DISCUSSION
To get a combination of more frequent lighter colored lines that match up with less frequent darker colored lines, I used a mulichannel mxer.
In the first channel, I mixed black and white in the color channel, blended with the tile pattern, and set one direction to 10 and the other to 0. Noted the mortar percentage.
In the second channel, I mixed red and white in the color channel, blended with a tile 4 times the first. That means 40 in one direction and adjusted mortar by factor of 4.
In the blender for the multchannel mixer, I set a low number so that the first channel dominated, which makes the black darker and the red lighter.
So, hopefully, it looks like the track has a pattern of 3 light red lines and then a dark red line, repeated around the track, including the curves.
Again, my plan is to only use a similar procedural mixer to create dashes for one shader domain, but this is the concept., Here are a couple of views of the track with the procedural pattern applied.
ss01 new track model and uvmap.JPG
1539 x 749 - 110K
ss03 view 2 whole figure 8.jpg
1600 x 1200 - 51K
ss04 shader mixer of two shaders with not evenly balanced.JPG
1582 x 579 - 105K
ss05 shader mix black and white tile set to 10.JPG
772 x 662 - 71K
ss06 mixer 2 red and white tile set to 0 and note grout also 4 times.JPG
Insert Plant into scene
1. Double click the Shader required to open in Texture room
2. In the Color - Texture Map slot, copy the map (right mouse button)
3. In the Glow slot, scroll down to Operators, click on Multiply
4. In the Source 1 slot, paste the map (right mouse button)
5. Adjust Brightness
6. In Source 2, scroll down to Color
7. Click in the Color Box
8. Pick color in the Color Picker
9. Repeat steps 2 to 8, step 12 copy from Source 2 in Stem shader and paste in Source 2 in Stem02 shader
10. Repeat steps 2 to 8, step 5 leave Brightness at 100%, step 12 copy from Source 2 in Stem shader and paste in Source 2 in Pod shader
11. Repeat steps 2 to 8, step 5 adjust Brightness to 50%, step 12 copy from Source 2 in Stem shader and paste in Source 2 in StemCaps shader
13. In the Assemble Room, click on Effects tab
14. In Aura tick Enable
15. Click on Edit
16. In Aura window adjust color
17. Adjust Radius
18. Adjust Intensity
19. Click on Render button for a test render
20. Click OK to finish
wow you are a wiki Bunip02!! I used to be a ww11 air force nutter - lucky I am cured :) still have a zillion books - one about the flying tigers written while the war was still on,
After I redo the toy car, I will try my hand at an animation on the track. Want the track shaders to help give a sense of speed.
Progress on the track is looking great - love your dedication to your scenes !!!
double that. that's a terrific setup, loved Scaletrix cars ! sorry I didn't mention the follow the terrain plugi - thought you would have heard of it - my bad
Insert Plant into scene
1. Double click the Shader required to open in Texture room
2. In the Color - Texture Map slot, copy the map (right mouse button)
3. In the Glow slot, scroll down to Operators, click on Multiply
4. In the Source 1 slot, paste the map (right mouse button)
5. Adjust Brightness
6. In Source 2, scroll down to Color
7. Click in the Color Box
8. Pick color in the Color Picker
9. Repeat steps 2 to 8, step 12 copy from Source 2 in Stem shader and paste in Source 2 in Stem02 shader
10. Repeat steps 2 to 8, step 5 leave Brightness at 100%, step 12 copy from Source 2 in Stem shader and paste in Source 2 in Pod shader
11. Repeat steps 2 to 8, step 5 adjust Brightness to 50%, step 12 copy from Source 2 in Stem shader and paste in Source 2 in StemCaps shader
13. In the Assemble Room, click on Effects tab
14. In Aura tick Enable
15. Click on Edit
16. In Aura window adjust color
17. Adjust Radius
18. Adjust Intensity
19. Click on Render button for a test render
20. Click OK to finish
wow you are a wiki Bunip02!! I used to be a ww11 air force nutter - lucky I am cured :) still have a zillion books - one about the flying tigers written while the war was still on,
nasty business
I grew up with family friends who were veterans from WW2 to Vietnam, Infantry, Artillery, Tank Driver, and a tail gunner in an Avro Lancaster, always a sense of loss/hardship with them.
Insert Plant into scene
1. Double click the Shader required to open in Texture room
2. In the Color - Texture Map slot, copy the map (right mouse button)
3. In the Glow slot, scroll down to Operators, click on Multiply
4. In the Source 1 slot, paste the map (right mouse button)
5. Adjust Brightness
6. In Source 2, scroll down to Color
7. Click in the Color Box
8. Pick color in the Color Picker
9. Repeat steps 2 to 8, step 12 copy from Source 2 in Stem shader and paste in Source 2 in Stem02 shader
10. Repeat steps 2 to 8, step 5 leave Brightness at 100%, step 12 copy from Source 2 in Stem shader and paste in Source 2 in Pod shader
11. Repeat steps 2 to 8, step 5 adjust Brightness to 50%, step 12 copy from Source 2 in Stem shader and paste in Source 2 in StemCaps shader
13. In the Assemble Room, click on Effects tab
14. In Aura tick Enable
15. Click on Edit
16. In Aura window adjust color
17. Adjust Radius
18. Adjust Intensity
19. Click on Render button for a test render
20. Click OK to finish
Mini-Tutorials 15. - Pimp it Up
Got a model - shapes great, but those textures mehhhh....
1. Double click the Shader required to open in Texture room
Armor 4 Shader
2. In the Color slot, scroll down to Operators, click on Multiply
3. In source 2 slot, scroll down to Velouete Tools, click on 3D Random Map
4. Click on Black Wires
5. Click on 3D Transform tab
6. Adjust Global Scale
Armor 5 Shader
7. In the Color slot, scroll down to Operators, click on Multiply
8. In source 2 slot, scroll down to Velouete Tools, click on 3D Random Map
9. Click on Rectangular Vibe, left the scale as is
10. In the Reflection slot, scroll to Reflection
11. In the Shader slot, scroll to Value (0-100%)
12. Adjust setting
Armor 6 Shader
13. In the Color slot, scroll down to Operators, click on Multiply
14. In source 2 slot, scroll down to Velouete Tools, click on 3D Random Map
15. Click on Squares
16. Click on 3D Transform tab
17. Adjust Global Scale
18. In the Reflection slot, scroll to Reflection
19. In the Shader slot, scroll to Value (0-100%)
20. Adjust setting
Glow 1 Shader
21. In the Glow slot, scroll down to Operators, click on Multiply
22. In Source 1 slot, scroll down to Color
23. Click in the Color Box
24. Pick color in the Color Picker
25. In Source 2 slot, scroll down to Natural Functions, click on Cellular
26. Click on the Transform tab
27. Tick Enable Transform
28. Adjust Overall Scale
Undersuit 1 Shader
29. In the Glow slot, scroll down to Operators, click on Multiply
30. In Source 1 slot, scroll down to Color
31. Click in the Color Box
32. Pick color in the Color Picker
33. In Source 2 slot, scroll down to Natural Functions, click on Cellular
34. Click on the Transform tab
35. Tick Enable Transform
36. Adjust Overall Scale
Adding Aura
37. In the Assemble Room, click on Model in the Instances tab
38. Click on Effects tab
39. In Aura tick Enable
40. Click on Edit
41. In Aura window adjust Radius
42. Adjust Intensity
43. Turbulence, tick Enable
44. Click on Render button for a test render
45. Click OK to finish
NOTE: For the render/test render I used a HDRI to get the best out of the reflections
Comments
Victoria never looked so good! Great job. I especially like the reliefs on the back wall. We all have a lost year or two, so I wouldn't sweat not knowing the song.
Stezza, Bunyip, Diomede, thanks for the comments!
Stezza, the lyrics in the last half of the song are pretty bizarre. :)
Diomede, I didn't just lose a year or two. In the past 30 years, I had never heard the song. Stuff gets recycled and mentioned over various media, so never encountering it seems unusual to me. :)
Thank you, Ted!
Hi UB! Great lighting and shading! Especially for Carrara render engine. BTW, erothics
Thanks Vyusur!
Art Studio thread on the Challenge is up and running:- https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/322726/carrara-challenge-46-get-your-retro-on
Back in the Day
all items I modelled in Carrara - the brick phone, cassette tape & pencil from a previous challenge the notepad and player modelled today.
Just used Carrara's shaders nothing special and used th etext tool for the notepad.
Awesome !!! Also reminds me that I need to something about my cassettes and VHS tapes....
Mini-Tutorials 13. - SubSurface Scattering Plants
Recommend that you watch the following video Tutes first:-
Subsurface Scattering: http://carraracafe.com/tutorials/subsurface-scattering/
SSS vs Glow Channel for Skin: http://carraracafe.com/tutorials/sss-vs-glow-channel-for-skin/
Insert Plant into scene, rearrange light so it comes from behind the plant
1. Double click the Shader required to open in Texture room
2. In the Subsurface Scattering slot, click on SubSurface Scattering
3. Tick the Enable Subsurface Scattering box
4. Click on the Color box, then pick a color in the Color Picker
5. Adjust settings, will require a few test renders to get it looking right (Note as this was an Alien plant I wanted it fairly translucent)
6. Copy (right mouse button) the Subsurface Scattering slot, and paste (right mouse button) into the Tentacles & Pods Subsurface Scattering slots
7. Want a darker color for the pods, so click in the color box, then pick a darker shade in the Color Picker
Excellent modeling, Stezza.
Thanks for another useful tutorial, Bunyip.
UB, upon taking another look at your character's face, I am reminded of Gene Tierney, which is the highest compliment there is. Purposeful? Is that Victoria's straight mesh improved just with shaders? , some dial spun morphs? a custom morph? In any case, another masterful job.
Thanks, got a few more lined up. Was thinking after that of doing a shader disection of some of the freebie shaders, or shader reviews, or rehashing some of the already existing tutorials but with my methodology breakdown - any preferences/or ideas ?
Sorry, I left out a bunch of product details. Thanks for asking, as I tend to forget this stuff fast. As it is, I had to go back and look at several items. :)
The head is from the Bianca character, which I understand is a very popular morph for V4. Did not use the body. Instead used standard V4 Utopian body morph and some other tweaks. Skin was Lana.
LP Record and needle came from Retro HiFi. Various Egyptian outfits and props were from Pharaohs of the Sun for M3 and V4. The V4 top is from Brazen, and retextured using Yellow Anodized Aluminum.
Hubba Hubba UB that's a wonderful render
Bunyip o2 thanks for another enlightening tut :) really appreciayte the gen8 refernce
Like a dream Veronika :) a good dream at that
Thank you, Selinita and Stezza, for excellent help on my race track. I have redone the racetrack model. Same basic approach as above, but with more symmetry and smoother curves. I have also taken a different approach to the UVMap. I have straightened out the UV strips and aligned them so that a procedural shader will generate perpendicular lines across the track and around the sides. Ultimately, I will be painting some of the track textures, but it will be nice to use a procedural shader for some dash patterns on one shader domain to give the sense of speed. The UVs are not perfect, but much improved.
SHADER DISCUSSION
To get a combination of more frequent lighter colored lines that match up with less frequent darker colored lines, I used a mulichannel mxer.
In the first channel, I mixed black and white in the color channel, blended with the tile pattern, and set one direction to 10 and the other to 0. Noted the mortar percentage.
In the second channel, I mixed red and white in the color channel, blended with a tile 4 times the first. That means 40 in one direction and adjusted mortar by factor of 4.
In the blender for the multchannel mixer, I set a low number so that the first channel dominated, which makes the black darker and the red lighter.
So, hopefully, it looks like the track has a pattern of 3 light red lines and then a dark red line, repeated around the track, including the curves.
Again, my plan is to only use a similar procedural mixer to create dashes for one shader domain, but this is the concept., Here are a couple of views of the track with the procedural pattern applied.
After I redo the toy car, I will try my hand at an animation on the track. Want the track shaders to help give a sense of speed.
Thanks HW, appreciate the comment.
Progress on the track is looking great - love your dedication to your scenes !!!
Mini-Tutorials 14. - Fake SubSurface Scattering & Glow & Aura Plants
Insert Plant into scene
1. Double click the Shader required to open in Texture room
2. In the Color - Texture Map slot, copy the map (right mouse button)
3. In the Glow slot, scroll down to Operators, click on Multiply
4. In the Source 1 slot, paste the map (right mouse button)
5. Adjust Brightness
6. In Source 2, scroll down to Color
7. Click in the Color Box
8. Pick color in the Color Picker
9. Repeat steps 2 to 8, step 12 copy from Source 2 in Stem shader and paste in Source 2 in Stem02 shader
10. Repeat steps 2 to 8, step 5 leave Brightness at 100%, step 12 copy from Source 2 in Stem shader and paste in Source 2 in Pod shader
11. Repeat steps 2 to 8, step 5 adjust Brightness to 50%, step 12 copy from Source 2 in Stem shader and paste in Source 2 in StemCaps shader
13. In the Assemble Room, click on Effects tab
14. In Aura tick Enable
15. Click on Edit
16. In Aura window adjust color
17. Adjust Radius
18. Adjust Intensity
19. Click on Render button for a test render
20. Click OK to finish
Teaser for Future Tutorial - Pimp it up ! https://www.daz3d.com/beo-ripper
Andrew, thanks a lot!
Funny I just bought season 1 a few months ago. Was thinking about trying a dogfight scene. If I find the time.
Where did you get the flight suit ( the other store)?
I also picked up all seasons of Rat Patrol.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060018/
I may be able to do something from this one as well. I Have german uniforms Jeeps Motercycle and tanks.
Vyusur, how's your wonderful scene going - have you got a shader workflow you can share ?
WW2 USAAF pilot pack by adh3d - Renderosity.
It's for Apollo Maximus, I used XD4 (CrossDresser 4.0 Utility Suite - EvilInnocence) to convert it to M4
Hope you find time for an entry !!!
F4U Corsair by Bazze - http://www.colacola.se/map_1.htm
Willys MB Jeep Updated - https://www.renderosity.com/mod/freestuff/willys-mb-jeep-updated/56852
USTentM1942 - WWII Tent City - https://www.sharecg.com/v/71091/browse/11/Poser/WWII-Tent-City
wow you are a wiki Bunip02!! I used to be a ww11 air force nutter - lucky I am cured :) still have a zillion books - one about the flying tigers written while the war was still on,
nasty business
double that. that's a terrific setup, loved Scaletrix cars ! sorry I didn't mention the follow the terrain plugi - thought you would have heard of it - my bad
great effect, wonderful sense of subsurface
I grew up with family friends who were veterans from WW2 to Vietnam, Infantry, Artillery, Tank Driver, and a tail gunner in an Avro Lancaster, always a sense of loss/hardship with them.
Can get some great effects with the shaders !
Mini-Tutorials 15. - Pimp it Up
Got a model - shapes great, but those textures mehhhh....
1. Double click the Shader required to open in Texture room
Armor 4 Shader
2. In the Color slot, scroll down to Operators, click on Multiply
3. In source 2 slot, scroll down to Velouete Tools, click on 3D Random Map
4. Click on Black Wires
5. Click on 3D Transform tab
6. Adjust Global Scale
Armor 5 Shader
7. In the Color slot, scroll down to Operators, click on Multiply
8. In source 2 slot, scroll down to Velouete Tools, click on 3D Random Map
9. Click on Rectangular Vibe, left the scale as is
10. In the Reflection slot, scroll to Reflection
11. In the Shader slot, scroll to Value (0-100%)
12. Adjust setting
Armor 6 Shader
13. In the Color slot, scroll down to Operators, click on Multiply
14. In source 2 slot, scroll down to Velouete Tools, click on 3D Random Map
15. Click on Squares
16. Click on 3D Transform tab
17. Adjust Global Scale
18. In the Reflection slot, scroll to Reflection
19. In the Shader slot, scroll to Value (0-100%)
20. Adjust setting
Glow 1 Shader
21. In the Glow slot, scroll down to Operators, click on Multiply
22. In Source 1 slot, scroll down to Color
23. Click in the Color Box
24. Pick color in the Color Picker
25. In Source 2 slot, scroll down to Natural Functions, click on Cellular
26. Click on the Transform tab
27. Tick Enable Transform
28. Adjust Overall Scale
Undersuit 1 Shader
29. In the Glow slot, scroll down to Operators, click on Multiply
30. In Source 1 slot, scroll down to Color
31. Click in the Color Box
32. Pick color in the Color Picker
33. In Source 2 slot, scroll down to Natural Functions, click on Cellular
34. Click on the Transform tab
35. Tick Enable Transform
36. Adjust Overall Scale
Adding Aura
37. In the Assemble Room, click on Model in the Instances tab
38. Click on Effects tab
39. In Aura tick Enable
40. Click on Edit
41. In Aura window adjust Radius
42. Adjust Intensity
43. Turbulence, tick Enable
44. Click on Render button for a test render
45. Click OK to finish
NOTE: For the render/test render I used a HDRI to get the best out of the reflections
The recent one