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If I were to make an adjustment, it would be to implement a distant light (simulating outdoor sunlight) to produce some shadows in the desired direction (what compositionally best suits your vision of the image). Right now the reflections are good, but the lighting is too even, and doesn't seem natural for "outdoors". When you implement the distant light, you may also want to reduce the ambient lighting somewhat until you get a pleasing balanced result between shadow and sunlight.
The reflection in the crystal ball is good. I like that you are putting in the reflection of the "observer" (aka the camera point of view) in the crystal. As already noted, you may want to implement a linear point light at your candle and alter the shading to a white with a hint of yellow orange. Then adjust the range and falloff distance to light the parts of the room and your character you want, and adjust the intensity to make the light level seem realistic for a candle source. I also position linear point lights slightly ahead of the object acting as the light emitter (between object and camera).
I'm not particularly excited by the overall room lighting. I do think the character lighting is good, but I would be tempted to implement some off camera "ceiling" mounted spot lights to simulate a set of off camera candelabras. That would give the control to adjust your overall lighting by providing sources for backlight, fill light, and primary illumination of your figure. That being said, I do think the overall scene composition is good, and that everything I'm currently recommending are primarily tweaks to improve an already good start.
Recommendation 1 - read up on how to use the DForm tool for your water object ripple effects. It works, but the process is not very intuitive. I'm probably also not the best person to try to explain it, hehe. At a high level the effect "field" object in your scenes tab is where the deformation is to happen, and the DForm point object is where you grab the universal handles to move the direction/intensity of the effect. Moving it up the Y axis increases the vertical component of the effect for example. The Z axis increases/decreases the depth (as seen from the default forward view point) and X axis increases/decreases the width. A bit of experimentation and playing with some test renders should give you the hang of what each part of the DForm tool is doing to your water object. I also played with the "spline" setting replicating a short frequency sign wave on the two dimensional chart (I added multiple other points for this).
Lighting 101 is to implement at least two sources. Primary light, and a fill light. Outdoors this can be done with a distant light and ambient light. Indoors, I prefer to use at least a backlight as well, and usually light with spotlights (I don't generally use distant lights for indoors unless I want light coming in from a window/door), linear point lights (for visible light sources), and enough ambient to relieve shadow harshness (unless harsh shadows are what you are trying to achieve).
As far as the character and overall composition, I probably wouldn't change much myself. I'd also be curious to hear/see how you are implementing your splashing effect.
p.s. when first learning the DForm tool I recommend playing with a simple untextured primitive plane object in an empty scene to get a feel for how it interacts with a surface. Once you get a ripple effect you like with the plane, you can then take that knowledge and apply it to manipulating your water object. This just makes it a bit easier to see what is happening than trying to work it with your object already in a populated scene.
great image wflaks
thank you :cheese:
Recommendation 1 - read up on how to use the DForm tool for your water object ripple effects. It works, but the process is not very intuitive. I'm probably also not the best person to try to explain it, hehe. At a high level the effect "field" object in your scenes tab is where the deformation is to happen, and the DForm point object is where you grab the universal handles to move the direction/intensity of the effect. Moving it up the Y axis increases the vertical component of the effect for example. The Z axis increases/decreases the depth (as seen from the default forward view point) and X axis increases/decreases the width. A bit of experimentation and playing with some test renders should give you the hang of what each part of the DForm tool is doing to your water object. I also played with the "spline" setting replicating a short frequency sign wave on the two dimensional chart (I added multiple other points for this).
Lighting 101 is to implement at least two sources. Primary light, and a fill light. Outdoors this can be done with a distant light and ambient light. Indoors, I prefer to use at least a backlight as well, and usually light with spotlights (I don't generally use distant lights for indoors unless I want light coming in from a window/door), linear point lights (for visible light sources), and enough ambient to relieve shadow harshness (unless harsh shadows are what you are trying to achieve).
As far as the character and overall composition, I probably wouldn't change much myself. I'd also be curious to hear/see how you are implementing your splashing effect.
p.s. when first learning the DForm tool I recommend playing with a simple untextured primitive plane object in an empty scene to get a feel for how it interacts with a surface. Once you get a ripple effect you like with the plane, you can then take that knowledge and apply it to manipulating your water object. This just makes it a bit easier to see what is happening than trying to work it with your object already in a populated scene.
Kismet & Zmortis
Many thanks for the feedback.
Ripples are definitely on the drawing board starting from tomorrow, looks like deformers will push me out of my comfort zone,
but then that's why I entered. Have been trying to advance my DAZ3D skills before I get too involved in Carrara (more learning).
Zmortis
For the implementing of the splashing effect I was using brushes in Paint Shop Pro as post-work on the render.
I have some of Ron's brushes and can definitely recommend them.
I still need to buy his water effects, I am using a freebie which I was able to get a result with,
but I am sure Ron's will have a better selection for a better result.
As a general rule I try and do as much in the DAZ modelling I can and keep the post-work to only what can't be done
or if a special effect is needed that is best done in post-work.
If you have not used brushes before in PS or PSP they are something that you should add to your graphics skills.
There's a lot more that can be done than just dot shapes !!!!!!!!!
There are also some excellent tutorials on the internet on how to use brushes.
Many thanks for the comments and feedback, is welcome and appreciated !!!!!!!
Bunyip
Something a little different for a potential second entry.
Rendered with Octane again, but this time using a HDRI map for realistic lighting and reflections.
Great job on the orb!
This is just the beginning stages.
Change of lighting and. hopefully, a better looking candle!
Thanks for the advise zmortis,I've added the light to make some shadows ,is this ok?
Wow, everyone is doing such great work. A few quick comments on the recent images that haven't been posted to the Entries Thread yet (once an image is posted to the entries thread, I assume the artist is done with it and therefore will refrain from offering further suggestions).
Xangth: Your beach scene looks great...certainly better than I can do with Bryce at this point. My only suggestion is that the reflection looks a little too clear, too sharp. The Heavy Metal one is a great start...very interesting image. Not having seen the movie I'm not sure what direction you're going with it, but I am curious to see how it develops.
Bunyip02: Nice start! I like the splash effect you've got there, and the general look of the water. I would like to see more ripple and reflection on the surface though.
Atticus Bones: love the reflections on the armor. If this has a weak point, I think it's probably the character's skin. It just seems a little dull to me, not exactly sure why. The pose looks a little stiff, too...plate armor allowed more range of motion than is often believed. I'd like to see a more natural or casual-looking pose...even a slight asymmetry would help here. But nitpicking aside this is very impressive work!
spmwc: Very good start. Looking forward to seeing it with some improved lighting and a more complete set. Did you use the fantom trick on the character in armor?
stargazey: The orb looks amazing and the lighting/candle are much better in the latest version. By all means, keep working on it if you aren't satisfied yet, but I don't really have any suggestions at this point except to post it to the contest thread when ready. :)
Title: Garden Ball
Made some adjustments and added a character.
The scene looks quite nice. The lighting is good, the grass looks great, and the reflection looks fine too. EmotiGuy is an odd choice, in my opinion...seems kind of out-of-place, but on the other hand kind of serves to make the rest of the scene look more realistic by contrast. If you do want to use him you might think about adding another toony figure or prop to make him fit in more with the rest of the scene... Think about what you're trying to say with this image...what kind of mood and/or message you want to convey. Technically I think it's great, but at the moment it's leaving me a little confused.
The scene looks quite nice. The lighting is good, the grass looks great, and the reflection looks fine too. EmotiGuy is an odd choice, in my opinion...seems kind of out-of-place, but on the other hand kind of serves to make the rest of the scene look more realistic by contrast. If you do want to use him you might think about adding another toony figure or prop to make him fit in more with the rest of the scene... Think about what you're trying to say with this image...what kind of mood and/or message you want to convey. Technically I think it's great, but at the moment it's leaving me a little confused.
I have another version with a fairy but I haven't used Emotiguy and just thought I would try him. :lol:
I reworked the idea and turned it into a different subject using the beach and water. I'm still working on it as a second entry for this months contest. Comments and suggestions are welcome.
I would like to say everyone's work looks really good.
Title is "On a Summer Day"
Thanks Scott, not sure what you mean by the phantom trick, but if you mean did I place the second character in armor out of camera range then yes I did. I am not too sure on how to improve the lighting for the mirror effect. I don't have any mirrors so I created a sphere, changed the shape into an oval and added a chrome shader to give it a mirror like appearance. Now I just have to figure out how I want to fill in the scene.
Just thought I'd give this a try.
And as an example of a reflective surface, look at this guys blade. I had posted to another forum so I can't use it for the contest.
Thanks for the feedback, Scott. Tried my best to address the very valid issues you pointed out; still struggling a little with the skin though...
I have another version with a fairy but I haven't used Emotiguy and just thought I would try him. :lol:
Hello Kismet
Would the scene work if you had the Fairy holding a tennis racket ready to give EmotiGuy a serve, both reflected in the Garden Ball ?
Personally I like it !!!!!!
Regards, Bunyip
I have another version with a fairy but I haven't used Emotiguy and just thought I would try him. :lol:
Hello Kismet
Would the scene work if you had the Fairy holding a tennis racket ready to give EmotiGuy a serve, both reflected in the Garden Ball ?
Personally I like it !!!!!!
Regards, Bunyip
:lol: I love that idea. I just might have to try that. Maybe not as a contest entry but just for fun.
I described the "fantom trick" in a previous post: http://www.daz3d.com/forums/viewreply/661905/ It's a method you can use if you want a reflection not to match the appearance of what is being reflected.
Here's another tip (or rather, another use for the same fantom trick) if you want to use an environment sphere for raytraced reflections, but you don't want the sphere itself to show up in your render: set the sphere to the UberSurface shader. On the Parameters pane turn "Visible in Render" on (yes, on, even though this is counterintuitive). On the Surfaces pane turn Raytrace on and Fantom on. (See this thread)
A little background information, for those who may not be familiar with environment spheres or raytraced reflections...
An environment sphere is a sphere, typically with a High Dynamic Range Image (HDRI) applied to it. It can be used for realistic lighting (for instance, with UberEnvironment2), for raytraced reflections (basically referring to real reflections rather than mapped/faked reflections), and/or to serve as a backdrop to your scene (like a skydome).
I like that narrow, vertical band of illumination. You might try increasing shadow softness on whatever light you have there. And I would increase the overall ambient light of the scene (depending on what you are using, that might involve increasing the intensity of the UberEnvironment or other lighting, or adding some low-intensity lights of some kind to illuminate the darker areas of the scene). Your render is pretty small, too...personally I'd find it easier to provide feedback if you post a somewhat larger one.
What are your overall render settings?
Thanks for the feedback, Scott. Tried my best to address the very valid issues you pointed out; still struggling a little with the skin though...
Try attempting to get the arm up enough where the staff is laying on the shoulder. That's a pretty natural pose when holding something.
Thanks for the feedback, Scott. Tried my best to address the very valid issues you pointed out; still struggling a little with the skin though...
I like the pose [though what Frank is suggesting might look good, too], and I think the skin looks a little better. Unfortunately I have not used OctaneRender and have no idea how the materials settings translate to Octane.
I like that narrow, vertical band of illumination. You might try increasing shadow softness on whatever light you have there. And I would increase the overall ambient light of the scene (depending on what you are using, that might involve increasing the intensity of the UberEnvironment or other lighting, or adding some low-intensity lights of some kind to illuminate the darker areas of the scene). Your render is pretty small, too...personally I'd find it easier to provide feedback if you post a somewhat larger one.
What are your overall render settings?
Thanks for the feedback Scott. I hate to say that despite using daz for about 4.5 years give or take, I still don't know my way around when it comes to settings. If it's any help the first version was 450w*600h on it's size. I was trying with the light to give the impression of the actor being in an elevator with only the light being from the area outside the partially open doors from a single distance light. I've changed the render size to 600*800 for this version as well as adding a few more lights. (Personally I like this a little better.)
Thanks for the feedback Scott. I hate to say that despite using daz for about 4.5 years give or take, I still don't know my way around when it comes to settings. If it's any help the first version was 450w*600h on it's size. I was trying with the light to give the impression of the actor being in an elevator with only the light being from the area outside the partially open doors from a single distance light. I've changed the render size to 600*800 for this version as well as adding a few more lights. (Personally I like this a little better.)
I like it better, too. In the real world, even if the elevator is illuminated only from the outside like that, the light will be bouncing around in there creating some dim ambient light. The lights you added I think are a good simulation of that. Is that the figure's reflection on the wall behind it, or does that surface have an image attached to it? I'm wondering why it looks so pixelated...
I do like the lighting and candle in this image better. I think it looks pretty good now.
I think it is a step in the right direction. You now have to consider if you prefer this orientation of the shadows (which can be changed by orbiting the position of the distant light). I generally also adjust the intensity level of the lights (the ambient and distant light) until I like the blend of shadow vs. light on the figures as well. So for example for outdoor "daylight" scenes I may use an intensity of 50-60 on the ambient light source, and an intensity of 80-120 for the distant light source until I get a light/shadow blend I find pleasing. Lower intensities and color shifts (more reddish white) on the light would be used for dusk or dawn, and even lower with color shifts to bluish white or purplish white for evening or night. None of these settings are hard and fast rules, but general guides to help you achieve what you are looking for. I do encourage trying some adjustments to see which image results you like best.
As a general advice adjust one parameter at a time, do a small sized render to test, and refine the adjustments before working with another parameter until you get the hang of what adjustments give you what results. Changing a lot of parameters at the same time sometimes leaves you wondering which parameter gave you what result, which may make further adjustments more time consuming. Once you get a hang on how the lights generally work, then you can do multiple adjustments at one time.