New User Contest - October 2014 (WIP Thread)

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Comments

  • Cris PalominoCris Palomino Posts: 11,151
    edited December 1969

    Alright, I think I managed to get the eyes bright enough :)

    What do you guys think, what needs fixed?

    Good choice on making the gremlin eyes brighter; I'd also have missed they were there otherwise. Nice room setup. What products are you using for the room and gremlins?

    Nice use of the shadow on the wall. Does her demeanor mean she's happy to see him?

  • kaotkblisskaotkbliss Posts: 2,914
    edited December 1969

    The gremlin is this guy http://www.daz3d.com/gremlin scaled to 50%
    The room is this piece http://www.daz3d.com/the-living-room
    I added a bookcase from this http://www.daz3d.com/the-bookcase-collection
    Then I have V4 with shadows turned off and behind her is another V4 using the creature creator with phantom turned on :)

    Originally the idea was to have the gremlins barely noticeable (they were hiding after all) but needed to bring attention to them so they wouldn't be missed. Between the lighting and half behind objects, I could barely see them and I put them there.

    The thought is She's seducing/enticing the visitor (viewer) where they will meet a very bloody death. I attempted to give her a proper facial expression that would portray that, but it may not have come out as I hoped. I may have to do the finger curl "come here" gesture to make it more obvious?

  • Atticus BonesAtticus Bones Posts: 364
    edited December 1969

    The thought is She's seducing/enticing the visitor (viewer) where they will meet a very bloody death. I attempted to give her a proper facial expression that would portray that, but it may not have come out as I hoped. I may have to do the finger curl "come here" gesture to make it more obvious?

    DM's products often including an "enticing" pose or two.
    I also love how the gremlins are trying their best to hide as not to spoil the surprise.

  • Atticus BonesAtticus Bones Posts: 364
    edited October 2014

    A combination of two of the most common "baddies".

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  • les-2605719les-2605719 Posts: 16
    edited December 1969

    Nice one Atticus!

    That last pic is cool looking!
    I did some more work on my scene, but being a newbie I lost my last render camera pose,,, ugh
    I'm going to have to keep messing with my focal point because I really like the view on my first attempt, but
    I learned a lot more from my mistake. So its all good! Its close but still not the same.
    Anyways I need to work on my skins of my Undead in the back ground.
    Because right now they don't look the part.

    Trying to find a link to make my own textures for them.
    Any tips or links to Tutorials.would be appreciated.

    All Comments Welcomed

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  • les-2605719les-2605719 Posts: 16
    edited December 1969

    Say,
    I resized the last one to be more square like my first attempt, but
    does this wide screen look better? I think it might.

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  • Atticus BonesAtticus Bones Posts: 364
    edited December 1969

    Great start, les! I think the widescreen version look better too. To me the other version looks a little "squished".
    Lots of of good stuff going on: Nice POV, atmospheric lighting, and it's got an uncomfortable, almost claustrophobic feel (in a good way).
    Maybe try adding some depth of field to your camera to blur out the foreground and create an even more enclosed focal point...
    Also, do you have any photo editing software? A few simple adjustments would really bring out the details and increase the overall clarity.

  • kaotkblisskaotkbliss Posts: 2,914
    edited December 1969

    She's now winking and gesturing with her finger. That definitely makes the seductive part of the render a bit more obvious. I'm not sure the shadow and gremlins are doing enough for the ominous doom part though...

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  • kaotkblisskaotkbliss Posts: 2,914
    edited December 1969

    Les,
    I agree with Atticus. I was going to post something about it looking squished or deformed but hadn't gotten around to it yet. The 2nd widescreen is much better :)

  • Cris PalominoCris Palomino Posts: 11,151
    edited December 1969

    A combination of two of the most common "baddies".

    Great character, Atticus. :)

  • Cris PalominoCris Palomino Posts: 11,151
    edited December 1969

    She's now winking and gesturing with her finger. That definitely makes the seductive part of the render a bit more obvious. I'm not sure the shadow and gremlins are doing enough for the ominous doom part though...

    kaotbliss, when there are lights in your scene, and you disable them, it makes everything in your scene black. Disable visiblity on everything but your figure so she is a black silhouette and study your pose. You want that pose to read, especially since you have her beckoning with her crooked finger. Using a silhouette helps you see how strong your pose is or if you need to change it to read better. The stronger your silhouette, the more readily the pose reads.

  • Atticus BonesAtticus Bones Posts: 364
    edited December 1969

    I'm not sure the shadow and gremlins are doing enough for the ominous doom part though...
    How about a devil tail peaking out the back of the skirt, or a demonic hand concealed behind her back?
  • XenomorphineXenomorphine Posts: 2,421
    edited December 1969

    She's now winking and gesturing with her finger. That definitely makes the seductive part of the render a bit more obvious. I'm not sure the shadow and gremlins are doing enough for the ominous doom part though...

    Try folding the wings and seeing if it looks any better. Sometimes, it helps to give elements a more defined emphasis to show what they are meant to be. In shadows, especially.

  • XangthXangth Posts: 127
    edited December 1969

    wow lots of great stuff from everyone this month!! Competition is hard as usual.

    I have a few ideas but this one seems to be the best of them as yet. I'm still working on it.

    No title on this yet. comments and suggestions are welcome.

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  • kaotkblisskaotkbliss Posts: 2,914
    edited December 1969

    Adjusted the arm a little more, also adjusted the wings (thanks for those bits of advice :) )
    Also added some cobwebs and I'm trying to figure a way to bring attention to the blood-stained rug in front of the bookcase...

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  • Kismet2012Kismet2012 Posts: 4,252
    edited December 1969

    Added some misty/fog.

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  • Kismet2012Kismet2012 Posts: 4,252
    edited December 1969

    Everyone is doing a great job. Glad I am not a judge.

  • Scott LivingstonScott Livingston Posts: 4,331
    edited October 2014

    Nice progress, everyone!

    Atticus Bones: what you need at this point, I think, is a splash of color. Maybe a colored spotlight would do the trick? Maybe tweak the pose/expression a bit too...right now it has a "mug shot from Hell" feeling which I'm not sure properly captures the sense of horror you are going for. Another thing to consider...what's to say that this isn't an image of someone in a really impressive Halloween costume? Is there something you can add that will increase the viewer's appreciation that we're talking about real zombie Nazis? Because that would be truly terrifying...

    les: I like the widescreen angle better. At this point I'd focus on the lighting and on the main character's expression.

    kaotkbliss: This is coming together really nicely! Increasing the shadow softness a little might yield a nice effect. What is the source of the light that's casting the shadow? Any way we can make that light a more dominant part of your light rig?

    Xangth: In your case the lighting on the figure is excellent and I'd start concentrating on the composition of the image. Maybe move the woman off to the side (rule of thirds)? I'd also think about ways to draw attention to the shadowy background figure without actually putting much more light on it. Giving it a little more prominence in the scene can help to enhance the sense of dread and horror in the viewer.

    Kismet2012: love the overall atmosphere! Your rider blends in a bit...I'd think about adding a rim light to help draw the viewer's eye. Even if it doesn't really make logical sense to have a light source there...that's something that horror and suspense movies do a lot.

    Post edited by Scott Livingston on
  • kaotkblisskaotkbliss Posts: 2,914
    edited December 1969

    kaotkbliss: This is coming together really nicely! Increasing the shadow softness a little might yield a nice effect. What is the source of the light that's casting the shadow? Any way we can make that light a more dominant part of your light rig?

    I've got 3 lights in my scene (a linear point light in the fireplace using an orange color, a spotlight at a very low strength lighting up the back wall, and the main spotlight off to the left to cast the demon shadow on the wall)

    When you say increase the shadow softness, do you mean to increase the value making the shadow darker or decrease the value to make the shadow lighter? Other than changing the intensity or adding an !uber volume to the light, I'm not sure what else I could do with it.

  • Scott LivingstonScott Livingston Posts: 4,331
    edited December 1969

    I was speaking of the light that's casting the demon shadow. If you select that light and go to the Parameters pane (or the Lights pane), in the Shadows section there should be a control for Shadow Softness. This controls how hard (sharp) or soft (fuzzy) the shadow will look. Softer shadows are usually more attractive; hard shadows tend to be more dramatic. In this case I'd try something like 20% and then go higher or lower as needed.

  • Kismet2012Kismet2012 Posts: 4,252
    edited December 1969

    Thanks Scott for the feedback. You confirmed something I was feeling as well.

    I added an additional spotlight to try and highlight the figure. Hopefully I have done that without it being to obvious or look out of place.

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  • Atticus BonesAtticus Bones Posts: 364
    edited October 2014

    Atticus Bones: what you need at this point, I think, is a splash of color. Maybe a colored spotlight would do the trick? Maybe tweak the pose/expression a bit too...right now it has a "mug shot from Hell" feeling which I'm not sure properly captures the sense of horror you are going for. Another thing to consider...what's to say that this isn't an image of someone in a really impressive Halloween costume? Is there something you can add that will increase the viewer's appreciation that we're talking about real zombie Nazis? Because that would be truly terrifying...

    Thanks, Scott. I'm going to follow your advice and I'm totally reworking the zombie into a more convincing corpse.

    I originally dialed down the Naziness by removing all insignia because I was unsure of guidelines, but now I see that there's also a product in the Daz store with a swastika and sig runes, so I presume i'm ok to crank in back up in this context?

    Post edited by Atticus Bones on
  • kaotkblisskaotkbliss Posts: 2,914
    edited December 1969

    I was speaking of the light that's casting the demon shadow. If you select that light and go to the Parameters pane (or the Lights pane), in the Shadows section there should be a control for Shadow Softness. This controls how hard (sharp) or soft (fuzzy) the shadow will look. Softer shadows are usually more attractive; hard shadows tend to be more dramatic. In this case I'd try something like 20% and then go higher or lower as needed.

    Ahh, I see. I was thinking of the Shadow Intensity setting. I couldn't check to be sure as I had a 10 hour render going.
    I'm playing with that setting now :)

  • kaotkblisskaotkbliss Posts: 2,914
    edited December 1969

    Alright, so I changed the shadow softness (35%), that really does look a lot better!
    I also decreased the spread of the light to darken the corners of the image up a bit more (sets the image "feel" a little better I think)

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  • Atticus BonesAtticus Bones Posts: 364
    edited December 1969

    Better? :)

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  • Scott LivingstonScott Livingston Posts: 4,331
    edited December 1969

    Kismet2012, kaotkbliss and Atticus Bones: nice improvement, all of you!

  • kaotkblisskaotkbliss Posts: 2,914
    edited December 1969

    Thank you :)
    As I just found out with another render I'm working on, my monitor at home might be a bit brighter so images are coming out too dark on other monitors (such as the one I'm using right now)

    Is that the case with this render? On my work monitor I can't even see the rugs on the floor :(

  • XangthXangth Posts: 127
    edited October 2014

    Thank you for the suggestions! it is a help. I changed a few things, added some things and retextured things. Comments and suggestions are welcome.

    Title: Ghouls in the Old East Wing:

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  • wflakswflaks Posts: 46
    edited December 1969

    The Gathering

    DAZ 4.6,post work GIMP2

    Making them cute but deadly

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  • Atticus BonesAtticus Bones Posts: 364
    edited October 2014

    The Raspberry Virus (a work in progress).

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