May 2015 New User Contest - Action [WIP Thread]

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  • aaron575aaron575 Posts: 146
    edited December 1969

    dubby30 said:
    aaron575 said:
    This is what I am working on, need to do more with the lights and work out how to add a bullet fly past the running guys head.


    Thats a really great start! What i would suggest for the bullet would be a sphere primative stretch out and add a metallic like texture. The reason i suggest the sphere instead of a cylinder is that most bullets get deformed a bit as they fire will be easier to stretch a sphere out.


    DanielThank you Daniel, I will work on that later and see if I can come up with something.

  • aaron575aaron575 Posts: 146
    edited December 1969

    Linwelly said:
    @ aaron that render already has a good feel of action in it, and some interesting light effects on the fleeing guy. In the moment the light and colour scheme is a bit monochome an thus not catching enough, but I would like you to keep that light effect on him. I do have a bit pity on him becaus he will be shot the next moment, he is not difficult to be shot, I think it would add to the image if you either show somthing he can hide the next step or maybe let him make a jump roll to avoid being hit (very cliché I know).
    Thanks for the ideas Linwelly.
  • Cris PalominoCris Palomino Posts: 11,372
    edited December 1969

    dubby30 said:
    Thanks for all the good suggestions Cris.

    My next iteration..i stepped back and punted so to speak. My other 2 i was so focused on what was about to happen rather than what was actually happening. One is anticipation the other actual action. So i focused more on what was actually happening this time. I think it turned out quite a bit better than the other two from a purely action standpoint.


    Daniel

    I agree, Daniel. Good job!

  • aaron575aaron575 Posts: 146
    edited December 1969

    aaron575 said:
    This is what I am working on, need to do more with the lights and work out how to add a bullet fly past the running guys head.
    Love this image. If I might make a few suggestions to consider:

    Pull into the action. Focus on your action. Play with tilting the camera to emphasize the action. I tried lightening the hero and keeping the area with the villain darker....that can help bring out the flare from the muzzle and his menacing goggles. Love the palette and lighting you used.Thank you Chris, I put some of your suggestions into practice and came up with this.

    DAZ 4.8 and postwork in PS 5.1

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  • LinwellyLinwelly Posts: 5,947
    edited December 1969

    Here is the start of my WIP for this month. There are still some things I will have to adress, I will have to find a place for the katana that does not cover the face and the jumping guy needs to lean heavier on his staff.
    I'm not shure if I like that both weapons end outside the render. and there will be quiet some work with the lights, need them more dramatic.
    I would be glad to hear what you think to develop this further.

    fourth-son.jpg
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  • The Blurst of TimesThe Blurst of Times Posts: 2,410
    edited December 1969

    aaron575 said:
    Thank you Chris, I put some of your suggestions into practice and came up with this.

    DAZ 4.8 and postwork in PS 5.1

    The lighting is pretty cool... except for those muzzle flashes.

    The flashes are very uniform in shape and color. They are very opaque. They also don't appear to be casting any light.

    I don't have any specific tricks to give you for those, though. I know what I'd do, but it would take experiments on my part to get it right.

  • The Blurst of TimesThe Blurst of Times Posts: 2,410
    edited December 1969

    Linwelly said:
    Here is the start of my WIP for this month. There are still some things I will have to adress, I will have to find a place for the katana that does not cover the face and the jumping guy needs to lean heavier on his staff.
    I'm not shure if I like that both weapons end outside the render. and there will be quiet some work with the lights, need them more dramatic.
    I would be glad to hear what you think to develop this further.

    I don't like that both weapons end outside the render.
    I assumed that the jumping guy was using a staff, but I couldn't be 100% sure of that.

    You did a nice job with the clothing in general. The pants are a bit dark in my opinion.

    I do wish I could see more of both of their faces, and have more expressions on them.

    Your background, like many other backgrounds, don't do much for the scene. This is not necessarily bad, but it's not adding to the story in the picture.

  • GallowsGallows Posts: 95
    edited December 1969

    Katana's

    First draft.

    Katanas.jpg
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  • D.RobinsonD.Robinson Posts: 283
    edited December 1969

    My next iteration.

    I tweaked the lighting a little. I also adjusted the pose to the woman on the right so her body language reflects a little more desperation to regain her balance. Also changed the body line from the woman on the left to reflect more of shoving thru the target instead of just her arm.

    Also played with the camera angle and stuff....tell me what you think.


    Daniel

    Contempt.jpg
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  • Kismet2012Kismet2012 Posts: 4,252
    edited December 1969

    dubby30 said:
    My next iteration.

    I tweaked the lighting a little. I also adjusted the pose to the woman on the right so her body language reflects a little more desperation to regain her balance. Also changed the body line from the woman on the left to reflect more of shoving thru the target instead of just her arm.

    Also played with the camera angle and stuff....tell me what you think.


    Daniel

    Disclaimer: I am not a marital artist and maybe it is the camera angle but the right leg of the figure on the right looks odd to me. I am trying to imagine getting my leg in that position (assuming I had the flexibility).

    The only other suggestion I have is the hair on the figure on the right. If the morphs will allow it should be flying forward towards her face a little...to indicate her head snapping back from the blow?

    All your changes have turned this into a very powerful image.

    You definitely nailed the point Cris was trying to make with me about angling the camera.

  • D.RobinsonD.Robinson Posts: 283
    edited May 2015

    dubby30 said:
    My next iteration.

    I tweaked the lighting a little. I also adjusted the pose to the woman on the right so her body language reflects a little more desperation to regain her balance. Also changed the body line from the woman on the left to reflect more of shoving thru the target instead of just her arm.

    Also played with the camera angle and stuff....tell me what you think.


    Daniel

    Disclaimer: I am not a marital artist and maybe it is the camera angle but the right leg of the figure on the right looks odd to me. I am trying to imagine getting my leg in that position (assuming I had the flexibility).

    The only other suggestion I have is the hair on the figure on the right. If the morphs will allow it should be flying forward towards her face a little...to indicate her head snapping back from the blow?


    Thanks Kismet. I will try to mess with the leg issue. Not sure what i can do to make it look natural. If you look at my previous iterations she was in the middle of a high round kick then the other girl stepped in and behind her left leg so actually the reason why her leg is like that is because she was in the middle of a high kick with her right leg


    As for the hair i think i can do something let me see. Thanks

    Daniel

    Post edited by D.Robinson on
  • Kismet2012Kismet2012 Posts: 4,252
    edited May 2015

    dubby30 said:
    dubby30 said:
    My next iteration.

    I tweaked the lighting a little. I also adjusted the pose to the woman on the right so her body language reflects a little more desperation to regain her balance. Also changed the body line from the woman on the left to reflect more of shoving thru the target instead of just her arm.

    Also played with the camera angle and stuff....tell me what you think.


    Daniel

    Disclaimer: I am not a marital artist and maybe it is the camera angle but the right leg of the figure on the right looks odd to me. I am trying to imagine getting my leg in that position (assuming I had the flexibility).

    The only other suggestion I have is the hair on the figure on the right. If the morphs will allow it should be flying forward towards her face a little...to indicate her head snapping back from the blow?


    Thanks Kismet. I will try to mess with the leg issue. Not sure what i can do to make it look natural. If you look at my previous iterations she was in the middle of a high round kick then the other girl stepped in and behind her left leg so actually the reason why her leg is like that is because she was in the middle of a high kick with her right leg


    As for the hair i think i can do something let me see. Thanks

    Daniel

    Yes...I did notice that from your earlier image.

    She will also be trying, very hard, to stay on her feet. People do some strange contortions when they are desperately trying to stay on their feet.

    Post edited by Kismet2012 on
  • LinwellyLinwelly Posts: 5,947
    edited December 1969

    Here are some changes I made to my render, Thanks for the feedback Times,
    The poses are the same but I put them in a different place with those doors opening and some more buildings to be seen in the back.
    At least the staff is now seen completely and can not be confused with a rope anymore :)
    Added some blowing leaves for drama, not sure if I keep those. And I guess I will still have to add more light to the face of the attacker.

    fourth-son2.jpg
    960 x 960 - 1M
  • LinwellyLinwelly Posts: 5,947
    edited December 1969

    dubby30 said:
    My next iteration.

    I tweaked the lighting a little. I also adjusted the pose to the woman on the right so her body language reflects a little more desperation to regain her balance. Also changed the body line from the woman on the left to reflect more of shoving thru the target instead of just her arm.

    Also played with the camera angle and stuff....tell me what you think.


    Daniel

    Wow quiet some development in that fight scene. Most parts are really good now, and the curious distortion on the leg has already been mentioned by Kismet. The leotard makes me smile, would expect those colours in a pyjama :-).
    The expressions could be a tad stronger, in my opintion, and the girl getting shoved would haver her mouth slammed shut, but that really nitpicking on my side.

  • Kismet2012Kismet2012 Posts: 4,252
    edited May 2015

    Linwelly said:
    Here are some changes I made to my render, Thanks for the feedback Times,
    The poses are the same but I put them in a different place with those doors opening and some more buildings to be seen in the back.
    At least the staff is now seen completely and can not be confused with a rope anymore :)
    Added some blowing leaves for drama, not sure if I keep those. And I guess I will still have to add more light to the face of the attacker.

    If you are going to keep the leaves you might consider putting them closer to the floor. The way they are moving now would require a strong wind which would also affect the hair on the figures.

    You might also want to deal with the slight tangent created by the elbow of your figure on the left with the edge of the image.

    Repositioning your figures and the addition of props have really added to and strengthened your story.

    Post edited by Kismet2012 on
  • LinwellyLinwelly Posts: 5,947
    edited December 1969

    Gallows said:
    Katana's

    First draft.

    Interesting start on this one, Gallows. The poses in itself do look good. The interaction with each other is not clear to me at this state.
    For one I'm not shure if she is in a jump or not, I believe she is. But she seems to be closer to the viewer as well, could be wrong perception on my side though.
    Right now they are both in a defensive position, with long ways to attack but leaving their guard rather open ( If I were her I'd kick at his knee, gives a really bad fracture at this anlge, but then holding your naked hand in front of a swort or katana isn't the brightest idea as well :-P)
    So instead of them oogling each other and waiting who moves first, lets crack some bones ( or some such).
    Camera position could be a bit more dynamic as well.

  • D.RobinsonD.Robinson Posts: 283
    edited December 1969

    Revision from the one above based on Kismet's suggestions. I hadn't really considered that the kick already failed and she was now falling backwards (well i knew but....) So therefore her kicking leg would be dropping and the hip flex muscles would be changing direction. I also moved her left arm as well so we could see that her stomach muscles were flexing. Also worked with the hair i wish there was a morph for the sides of the head from front to back but alas no luck.

    Daniel

    Contempt_2.jpg
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  • D.RobinsonD.Robinson Posts: 283
    edited December 1969

    Linwelly said:
    dubby30 said:
    My next iteration.

    I tweaked the lighting a little. I also adjusted the pose to the woman on the right so her body language reflects a little more desperation to regain her balance. Also changed the body line from the woman on the left to reflect more of shoving thru the target instead of just her arm.

    Also played with the camera angle and stuff....tell me what you think.


    Daniel

    Wow quiet some development in that fight scene. Most parts are really good now, and the curious distortion on the leg has already been mentioned by Kismet. The leotard makes me smile, would expect those colours in a pyjama :-).
    The expressions could be a tad stronger, in my opintion, and the girl getting shoved would haver her mouth slammed shut, but that really nitpicking on my side.

    Yah i noticed that too with my last revision. I want the teeth showing but i do need to close her jaw. Thanks

  • The Blurst of TimesThe Blurst of Times Posts: 2,410
    edited December 1969

    Linwelly said:
    Here are some changes I made to my render, Thanks for the feedback Times,
    The poses are the same but I put them in a different place with those doors opening and some more buildings to be seen in the back.
    At least the staff is now seen completely and can not be confused with a rope anymore :)
    Added some blowing leaves for drama, not sure if I keep those. And I guess I will still have to add more light to the face of the attacker.

    I like the idea of the leaves, but I don't like the implementation. They are too uniform in color, size, and even in the spacing/positioning. It would be a difficult thing to add them in a way that is naturally random, I think. I like the concept, though. I just don't know if it's worth the time to make it a stronger part of the scene. Maybe less* leaves? That might make the workload easier to deal with.

    And I agree with Kismet about where the figures are. The way the elbow is cut off on the left side is not ideal, in addition to the top part of the katana. Shrinking the katana might be one thing to avoid an area of non-interest in the top left. Paper lanterns (if you have some) might also be nice to add, aside from adding more light sources.

    Here's one on ShareCG, but you'd have to cut off some geometry...
    http://www.sharecg.com/v/37476/browse/5/3D-Model/Chinese-lantern

    Here's a lower poly lantern...
    http://www.sharecg.com/v/32703/browse/5/3D-Model/Lanterns-model

    * Stannis Baratheon (Stephen Dillane): "Fewer."

  • The Blurst of TimesThe Blurst of Times Posts: 2,410
    edited December 1969

    dubby30 said:
    Revision from the one above based on Kismet's suggestions. I hadn't really considered that the kick already failed and she was now falling backwards (well i knew but....) So therefore her kicking leg would be dropping and the hip flex muscles would be changing direction. I also moved her left arm as well so we could see that her stomach muscles were flexing. Also worked with the hair i wish there was a morph for the sides of the head from front to back but alas no luck.

    Daniel

    That camera angle is much better at disguising how the cloth pattern stretches in the groin area. A definite improvement.

    How about the eyes on the woman on the right? The eyes going wider in an OH SHOOT moment, or the eyes closing & the mouth grimacing as she's hit? Eyes are always fun for me to manipulate.

    Where the woman on the left's left breast is possibly connecting with the inner thigh of the woman on the right is also perhaps odd.

    The woman on the left... maybe a kiai or some other shout as she's connecting? The left arm is in a curious position now that she's closer in & the failed kick is in a different spot.

    Hair is a tricky thing for sure since you may not have all the morphs & bones you need to do what you want.

    Again, on the background, it's nice work. I just don't think it adds anything in its current state. It doesn't NEED to add anything, but if you wanted it to say something, then it's not saying much.

  • h_habashh_habash Posts: 230
    edited December 1969

    Hi, I've been playing with my scene for the past days, and finally came out with this shot.

    The dragons are really a hard characters I've chosen, especially when trying to catch the proper pose :roll:.......

    Dragons_Lair_2.jpg
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  • The Blurst of TimesThe Blurst of Times Posts: 2,410
    edited December 1969

    h_habash said:
    Hi, I've been playing with my scene for the past days, and finally came out with this shot.

    The dragons are really a hard characters I've chosen, especially when trying to catch the proper pose :roll:.......

    Yes, the dragons have many moving parts. It's not easy to make it all work together with the wings, tail, and the rest of the bits.

    Your image seems to have bits of dragons. All the dragons are partially on the image, but not fully framed within the action. It feels like a short-cut to posing the whole figure.

    If the dragons already are problematic, I might suggest sticking with one dragon, and then seeing if you might add more afterwards. It may help you focus your efforts.

    The swordsman is a bit of a stiff. There are a lot of straight lines in his stance, and he seems rather mannequin-like as a result.

    One thing I suggest with swordsmen is to search on "Samurai duel". This brings up many images from old samurai movies. Find a pose/stance you like, and adapt it to your image.

  • Kismet2012Kismet2012 Posts: 4,252
    edited December 1969

    Latest version.

    I used some presets for the free LAMH script. Made some adjustments to the camera, lighting and poses.

    May,_2015_New_User_Cont_20.jpg
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  • edited December 1969

    You guys are all doing great work!

    In general, a few things I'm noticing that I keep repeating in the suggestions:

    Really focus on the action. Pull in close to it.

    Don't be afraid to let your characters bleed out of the frame. The more everything stays within the confines of the frame, the more staged it can feel. This includes tilting the camera. Use your camera angle to emphasize a downward pounce, running from danger, a terror almost on top of us.

    When you get in closer, you pull your viewer in with you. When you tilt your camera, you throw your viewer off-kilter and feel the movement you are trying to convey. Try to stay away from straight up or horizontal. Running, jumping, pouncing, stabbing, shooting at someone getting away, in the heat of the moment is fast, is angled...forward action, falling back reaction. Think of all the action movies you've seen and how bodies looked in motion, how they reacted to being hit, or hurled.

    Just keep playing with your image and try it different ways till it feels like you're really feeling what's happening. Rarely do i do any image that didn't require trying it differently many, many times till I found what worked.

    And remember, have fun with it!

    Your suggestions have been stellar, I wish I'd had an image in the pile for the feedback (I am slowly getting an idea together, hope to have one up in the next couple days, have been dealing with some health issues... death by a thousand paper cuts more than anything serious! So no worries.) I do hope you give us a chance for more rounds of awesome feedback!

    One question... I am struggling to figure out how to tilt the camera without using one of the preset cameras. Where do you do this?

  • Latest version.

    I used some presets for the free LAMH script. Made some adjustments to the camera, lighting and poses.


    Great fur, great camera angle, but now you need some awesome dramatic lighting to show them off. The shadow placement is a great part of the composition! I think just more warmth and contrast would help.

    And as far as creating a story goes... maybe a laser pointer beam on the sleeping kitties tummy might give baby kitten a reason for disrupting sleepy kittie's dreams. It could be distracting, or it could be cool, depends. You know me and putting too much stuff in an image.

    Post edited by Whitehart Creative Arts 3-D (fionathegood) on
  • dubby30 said:
    Revision from the one above based on Kismet's suggestions. I hadn't really considered that the kick already failed and she was now falling backwards (well i knew but....) So therefore her kicking leg would be dropping and the hip flex muscles would be changing direction. I also moved her left arm as well so we could see that her stomach muscles were flexing. Also worked with the hair i wish there was a morph for the sides of the head from front to back but alas no luck.

    Daniel

    The deformer tool is actually surprisingly easy to use to create your own morphs when you need them. I was going to suggest this for an earlier version of your image when the hip wouldn't fold nicely, but then you changed it, but now you seem to need it again!
    I found this video incredibly helpful and simple to follow... turn the volume up very high! It is for Daz 4, but it works perfectly fine for Daz 4.7
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Srsy-iDzQw

    Kudos for selecting a complex set of poses... it may be frustrating but you are forcing yourself to have a high trajectory learning curve. ;-)

    When you have a falling body, the hair needs to feel like it is falling/moving as well, and you could easily rotate it with the deformer tool as well.

    Post edited by Whitehart Creative Arts 3-D (fionathegood) on
  • The Blurst of TimesThe Blurst of Times Posts: 2,410
    edited May 2015

    One question... I am struggling to figure out how to tilt the camera without using one of the preset cameras. Where do you do this?

    Wait... you don't use cameras?!

    Here's what I learned from one of the various threads on this forum.
    What I do is I use the Perspective view in the Viewport to frame the scene how I want (tilted & whatever).

    Then I use Create -> New Camera -> Copy Active View

    That sets up a new Camera based on whatever view is in my Viewport... I've effectively "saved" that view in my Viewport, allowing me to continue to move my Perspective around in order to adjust my scene. It allows me to preserve whatever view I think will become my final window for rendering, and it also lets me have that Perspective view to do fine tuning.

    I use the drop-down in the Viewport to flip between the Perspective view & my new Camera whenever I need to adjust my scene.

    It's really nice to have those multiple views in order to tweak things more quickly.

    (I also usually create a Primitive - Torus, and parent it to the new Camera. I tilt the Torus so it doesn't obscure my view, creating a halo around the Camera. I then change the Torus to become an Emitter. This emissive Torus throws an additional level of light directly onto my subject. I use it to highlight whatever is in front of my camera.
    Again, this is another thing I learned from the forums, more or less.)

    Post edited by The Blurst of Times on
  • LinwellyLinwelly Posts: 5,947
    edited December 1969

    One question... I am struggling to figure out how to tilt the camera without using one of the preset cameras. Where do you do this?

    Wait... you don't use cameras?!

    Here's what I learned from one of the various threads on this forum.
    What I do is I use the Perspective view in the Viewport to frame the scene how I want (tilted & whatever).

    Then I use Create -> New Camera -> Copy Active View

    That sets up a new Camera based on whatever view is in my Viewport... I've effectively "saved" that view in my Viewport, allowing me to continue to move my Perspective around in order to adjust my scene. It allows me to preserve whatever view I think will become my final window for rendering, and it also lets me have that Perspective view to do fine tuning.

    I use the drop-down in the Viewport to flip between the Perspective view & my new Camera whenever I need to adjust my scene.

    It's really nice to have those multiple views in order to tweak things more quickly.

    (I also usually create a Primitive - Torus, and parent it to the new Camera. I tilt the Torus so it doesn't obscure my view, creating a halo around the Camera. I then change the Torus to become an Emitter. This emissive Torus throws an additional level of light directly onto my subject. I use it to highlight whatever is in front of my camera.
    Again, this is another thing I learned from the forums, more or less.)

    Other than that you can tilt a camera by selecting it in the scenes tab and then change its rotation (for these cases mostly the z-rotation) in the parameters tab. Best to have the view through your camera at that to see the differences.

  • LinwellyLinwelly Posts: 5,947
    edited December 1969

    Next step for my fourth-son WIP. The guys got more grip on their weapons and the ground and the leaves got real bumpmaps.
    Repositioned the leaves as well and tried with size and different colours for specularity, ambient and diffuse to give them some individuality. I like the light better this way ay well.

    fourth-son3.jpg
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  • The Blurst of TimesThe Blurst of Times Posts: 2,410
    edited May 2015

    Ok... here's my first go. I don't know if I even like it because the theme has been a bit of a challenge for me to pin down. I had some lightsaber ideas, but there's already a lot of swords/fighting action in the contest & I didn't want to set it up as a sword competition.

    Anyway, inspired by things like Blade Runner & Ex Machina, I wanted to put together a scene where a man's creation (for his own prurient interests) exceeds his intent/her original programming.

    The whole creation idea (and original programming (sin?)) is fascinating to me.

    This is a simple scene, though. The fact that it somewhat requires this amount of verbal setup isn't lost on me. I have a whole list of things I don't like about the image already, aside from the fact that there's still a lot of graininess, but I'll let it go for now.

    EDIT: The very interesting thing to me was that the Default light setup in the scene (Dexsoft-Games' Sci-Fi Passage) seems to work without tweaking in Iray. The Photometric lights seem to have disappeared in 4.8 Beta... which means I won't have to re-rig all the scenes? I wasn't paying any attention to the patch notes.

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    Post edited by The Blurst of Times on
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