Sept 2015 New User Contest (WIP-THREAD)

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  • LinwellyLinwelly Posts: 5,944

    Long time lurker, first time competition enter-rer (?). Watched the Youtube video. It was very helpful.

    Welcome JayJay, you have made a very good start, the DOF is focused exactly your human and make him the center of you attention. A bit confusing is that your starlit sky is clear as well. I believe that you use the Expanded Godrays - Celestial Bodies for that? I remember that they seem to keep in focus no matter what. Maybe if you tone down your DOF a bit or move your range backwards so that those rocks in front are out of focus but the mountains in the back stay rather unblurred.

    hope that helps

  • LinwellyLinwelly Posts: 5,944
    icecrmn said:

    my first wip is done.It didn't look as dark in the viewport in Studio, but it does in the Windows photo viewer.So I opened it in GIMP and messed around with the "Dynamic Range Extender" to get the postworked image.

    I have to admit I like the darker one better, the effect of the lights come out much better in my opinion. Maybe you can figure out a way to put the woman in better light from you glowing globes.

    Other question, are you sure that your focus point is at her face level? I'm not sure but it seem to me that its off by a bit

     

  • GunGun Posts: 52
    isidorn said:

    Hey everyone ^^

    I've finnaly done customizing my scene and I wanna hear your opinions on it :P 

    If you have any idea/s on how I can improve it, i'll be glad to hear it. 

     

    It took a while before I realized those shadows were men following/hunting her and not just shadows of vegetation. Imo they blend in too much with the overall landscape shadows and those are a bit too much too. More than half the picture is just a large black field. If it was possible to distinguish the followers a bit more I would think it would improve a lot.

    That's just my opinion as a viewer of the image. Take it for what you will. :)

    Hi, i think your rendered a bit dark, it's hard to realize what have in there. Beside, I want to ask, how you ocan create a sun light that?, I want to make some render with the sun like that, but dont know how to do.:D

     

  • GunGun Posts: 52
    icecrmn said:

    my first wip is done.It didn't look as dark in the viewport in Studio, but it does in the Windows photo viewer.So I opened it in GIMP and messed around with the "Dynamic Range Extender" to get the postworked image.

    Man, you always have a good render. I think after finish complete rendered it's look greate ( of course depend on how you use light). one thing i confuse about, is the ball on the girl hand flying? or she is a magician?

  • GunGun Posts: 52
    isidorn said:
    Gun said:

    hi guys, thanks you for every advice, yall gave me, and this is my  final draft that I render with Dof. Just take a look, and see do I miss anything else? ( light, pose, or shadow.....)

    Thanks for everything guys :D

    As a DAZ newbie I have no advice about the technical stuff. I just have to ask, those elves, they are of the tiny kind of elves and not the regular human sized fantasy elves? (silly english language using the same word for two different things) I didn't realize that until I now saw the ball behind the female. Would be interesting with the story behind the scene as right now it honestly seems mostly confusing.

    I'm considering myself a storyteller and usually try to tell a story with every scene I make, so I kind of assume everyone else is doing that too. But I know it's not always easy to get the story through. Just because something is obvious to myself doesn't mean it is for others. I think that's something that's worth to keep in mind. A picture says more than a thousand words, but it can say different things depending on how it's presented.

    hi isidorn, thanks for your advice. the story is about, 2 tiny elves lost in the  human world, and they try to find the way home, but they stuck at the beach where every one play volleyball. The male elf, try stop the ball don't crush his friend ( actually, he try to become hero :D), and tell his friend runaway. The female elf run as fast as possible with guilty + fear and sad on hr face. Well, that the general story, I didn't think about detail yet :D

  • LinwellyLinwelly Posts: 5,944

    Hey everyone ^^

    I've finnaly done customizing my scene and I wanna hear your opinions on it :P 

    If you have any idea/s on how I can improve it, i'll be glad to hear it. 

     

    Very nice idea, but yes i agree with isidorn about the darkness and the fact that those followers are hardly noticable. And like JayJay you have the situation that you have a focused area in front with your Lady Spellcaster and the backdrop mountain.

  • IceCrMnIceCrMn Posts: 2,129
    Linwelly said:
    icecrmn said:

    my first wip is done.It didn't look as dark in the viewport in Studio, but it does in the Windows photo viewer.So I opened it in GIMP and messed around with the "Dynamic Range Extender" to get the postworked image.

    I have to admit I like the darker one better, the effect of the lights come out much better in my opinion. Maybe you can figure out a way to put the woman in better light from you glowing globes.

    Other question, are you sure that your focus point is at her face level? I'm not sure but it seem to me that its off by a bit

     

    hmmm,,thats a good question,,let's see what I can do about that :)

    I was using the 3rds guide and put the top right crosshair on her left eye.

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  • IceCrMnIceCrMn Posts: 2,129
    Gun said:
    icecrmn said:

    my first wip is done.It didn't look as dark in the viewport in Studio, but it does in the Windows photo viewer.So I opened it in GIMP and messed around with the "Dynamic Range Extender" to get the postworked image.

    Man, you always have a good render. I think after finish complete rendered it's look greate ( of course depend on how you use light). one thing i confuse about, is the ball on the girl hand flying? or she is a magician?

    Thank you,,yes she is my elf character I use a lot :) ,,this is her growing up as a young elf playing with magic in her room.(Elves grow to be great ages 800 years old or more.She is a very young 45 years old here.)She pulled the curtains and turned out all the lights to make glowing orbs.

  • LinwellyLinwelly Posts: 5,944
    icecrmn said:
    Linwelly said:
    icecrmn said:

    my first wip is done.It didn't look as dark in the viewport in Studio, but it does in the Windows photo viewer.So I opened it in GIMP and messed around with the "Dynamic Range Extender" to get the postworked image.

    I have to admit I like the darker one better, the effect of the lights come out much better in my opinion. Maybe you can figure out a way to put the woman in better light from you glowing globes.

    Other question, are you sure that your focus point is at her face level? I'm not sure but it seem to me that its off by a bit

     

    hmmm,,thats a good question,,let's see what I can do about that :)

    I was using the 3rds guide and put the top right crosshair on her left eye.

    sorry I was't clear about that, I didn't mean the cross of the thirds grid but the crosshair of the DOF center of focus (green and red). I know it can be a hassle when the firgure you are focusing on sits on the third grid and the crosshair of the DOF hovers in the middle of the render plane. Try to duplicate your current camera and shift it sideways so your lady is hit by the blue line, to control the DOF focus

  • isidornisidorn Posts: 1,601
    Gun said:
    isidorn said:
    Gun said:

    hi guys, thanks you for every advice, yall gave me, and this is my  final draft that I render with Dof. Just take a look, and see do I miss anything else? ( light, pose, or shadow.....)

    Thanks for everything guys :D

    As a DAZ newbie I have no advice about the technical stuff. I just have to ask, those elves, they are of the tiny kind of elves and not the regular human sized fantasy elves? (silly english language using the same word for two different things) I didn't realize that until I now saw the ball behind the female. Would be interesting with the story behind the scene as right now it honestly seems mostly confusing.

    I'm considering myself a storyteller and usually try to tell a story with every scene I make, so I kind of assume everyone else is doing that too. But I know it's not always easy to get the story through. Just because something is obvious to myself doesn't mean it is for others. I think that's something that's worth to keep in mind. A picture says more than a thousand words, but it can say different things depending on how it's presented.

    hi isidorn, thanks for your advice. the story is about, 2 tiny elves lost in the  human world, and they try to find the way home, but they stuck at the beach where every one play volleyball. The male elf, try stop the ball don't crush his friend ( actually, he try to become hero :D), and tell his friend runaway. The female elf run as fast as possible with guilty + fear and sad on hr face. Well, that the general story, I didn't think about detail yet :D

    Thanks for sharing the story! The picture makes perfect sense now.  :)

  • IceCrMnIceCrMn Posts: 2,129

    here is a screenshot of the preview window.I changed the camera angle a bit to put the blue line through her midsection.This left her eyes both on the top line if the thirds guide.

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  • icecrmn said:
    Linwelly said:
    icecrmn said:

    my first wip is done.It didn't look as dark in the viewport in Studio, but it does in the Windows photo viewer.So I opened it in GIMP and messed around with the "Dynamic Range Extender" to get the postworked image.

    I have to admit I like the darker one better, the effect of the lights come out much better in my opinion. Maybe you can figure out a way to put the woman in better light from you glowing globes.

    Other question, are you sure that your focus point is at her face level? I'm not sure but it seem to me that its off by a bit

     

    hmmm,,thats a good question,,let's see what I can do about that :)

    I was using the 3rds guide and put the top right crosshair on her left eye.

    Since the tools in Iray allow you to do alot of what is typically done in post i suggest just keep bumping the Film ISO value in the tone map settings instead of artificially increasing the light in post. Since Iray handles actual light calculations you get a much cleaner light increase using that as well as the saturation levels etc.

     

    Daniel

  • KA1KA1 Posts: 1,012

    It had to be DOF this month!! Mind you, at least I have been experimenting with it recently as my effort for the August 26th PC+ competition entry shows. Definitely be on this wip thread more this month though for feedback - some really nice renders coming along thus far! Gonna be a fun month with all you lovely folks :)

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  • IceCrMnIceCrMn Posts: 2,129

    I just found out that I can grab the little trackball in the middle of the DOF focus and drag it around the scene,,this just got a lot easier :)

  • KittiKitti Posts: 77

    This isn't anywhere near done but I wanted to get some thoughts and opinions as I seem to have backed myself into a corner.

    I originally planned on the gas drums exploding but now that it's time to put it into action I'm coming up short. Does anyone have any ideas for products, techniques, or tutorials?

    I do have a hair picked out for her it just takes foever to render and I still have a long ways to go; adjust clothing/prop textures, fix her lips and teeth, add an antagonist to get blown up and of course matching lighting for the explosion.

    Any thoughts & suggestions would be greatly appreciated - thank you!

     

    Kittisiubhan.png
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  • KA1 said:

    It had to be DOF this month!! Mind you, at least I have been experimenting with it recently as my effort for the August 26th PC+ competition entry shows. Definitely be on this wip thread more this month though for feedback - some really nice renders coming along thus far! Gonna be a fun month with all you lovely folks :)

    I like your female character - nice pose. She could use a little adjustment on the grip of the sword. 

    In terms of DoF (I'm new at this, so everything with a grain of salt):

    I'm not sure I like the "target of her affection" smiley out of focus so much in the foreground - something seems a little off.

    One thing struck me, the flowers in the upper right corner are perfectly in focus - on the same plane as your main actor most likely. Just caught my eye and drew it in that direction - probably not what you want. Not really sure how you handle that kind of thing especially when your camera isn't "head-on", so some elements might be on a diagonal where they cross your in-focus plain. Almost like you need a spherical f-stop rather than the planar one. 

    You're right - this is going to be a very instructional month.

  • IceCrMnIceCrMn Posts: 2,129

    ok,,I got this one cooking.

    Here's a scrennshot and a grab of the viewport draw.

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  • KA1KA1 Posts: 1,012
    Kitti said:

    This isn't anywhere near done but I wanted to get some thoughts and opinions as I seem to have backed myself into a corner.

    I originally planned on the gas drums exploding but now that it's time to put it into action I'm coming up short. Does anyone have any ideas for products, techniques, or tutorials?

    I do have a hair picked out for her it just takes foever to render and I still have a long ways to go; adjust clothing/prop textures, fix her lips and teeth, add an antagonist to get blown up and of course matching lighting for the explosion.

    Any thoughts & suggestions would be greatly appreciated - thank you!

     

    Hi Kitti, have you looked at the Jepe products? Jepe's Flames II would likely work for exploding the barrels and the products though designed for 3Delight work really well in iRay too! (With some creative emissive magic)
  • LinwellyLinwelly Posts: 5,944
    Kitti said:

    This isn't anywhere near done but I wanted to get some thoughts and opinions as I seem to have backed myself into a corner.

    I originally planned on the gas drums exploding but now that it's time to put it into action I'm coming up short. Does anyone have any ideas for products, techniques, or tutorials?

    I do have a hair picked out for her it just takes foever to render and I still have a long ways to go; adjust clothing/prop textures, fix her lips and teeth, add an antagonist to get blown up and of course matching lighting for the explosion.

    Any thoughts & suggestions would be greatly appreciated - thank you!

     

    ther is an explosives prop free over at share cg, look for Chris's Explosion Effects, I believe its a Poser prop but works fine ind DS. I would suggest to aim the gun directly at one barrel and add an muzzle flare to the gun as well, like she shot one to expleode already and might do the next one.

  • GunGun Posts: 52
    icecrmn said:

    ok,,I got this one cooking.

    Here's a scrennshot and a grab of the viewport draw.

    great, how can you make the balls shine like that icermn. Are you use point light, or linear light?

  • D.RobinsonD.Robinson Posts: 283
    edited September 2015
    Gun said:
    icecrmn said:

    ok,,I got this one cooking.

    Here's a scrennshot and a grab of the viewport draw.

    great, how can you make the balls shine like that icermn. Are you use point light, or linear light?

    Its an Iray render so the spheres are just primatives with the Iray emission shader applied they work as mesh lights. Sorry didnt mean to answer for Ice but i was here and figured i would answer.

    Post edited by D.Robinson on
  • IceCrMnIceCrMn Posts: 2,129
    edited September 2015
    Gun said:
    icecrmn said:

    ok,,I got this one cooking.

    Here's a scrennshot and a grab of the viewport draw.

    great, how can you make the balls shine like that icermn. Are you use point light, or linear light?

    Its an Iray render so the spheres are just primatives with the Iray emission shader applied they work as mesh lights. Sorry didnt mean to answer for Ice but i was here and figured i would answer.

    No problem  :)

     

    yes, thats how I did it.I made 1 sphere and parented it to her hand.Then replaced the surface with the iray emissive shader.Then I made an instance node of 6 more that I spread out on the floor.With this setup , any change I make to the parent orb in her hand also changes the ones on the floor.If I wanted to make different colors and light intensities, I would have had to make single orbs for each.

    Post edited by IceCrMn on
  • GunGun Posts: 52

    where i can find iray emissive shader?, is it in render setting?

  • IceCrMnIceCrMn Posts: 2,129

    They should all be in the content library under Daz Studio Format>Shaders Presets>Iray>Daz Uber

    You can also open a catagorized list righ on the "Surface" pan.But it won't have all your shaders.

    On the "Surface" pane there are 3 small tabs at the top "Presets" "Editor" and "Baker"

    The "editor" tab is where you can make changes to them, and you've probably seen this one a lot.

    The "Presets" tab has a smart content type menu.Click it then you can open the Shaders>Iray sub-menu and you get a catagorized list of shaders.

    The "Baker" tab is for making your own shaders.I don't know how to use this one yet.I think it's for 3DL only, I'm not sure.

  • fixmypcmikefixmypcmike Posts: 19,583

    Content Library > DAZ Studio Formats > [content fodler name] > Shader Presers > Iray > DAZ Uber

    It's in the"Default Lights and Shaders for DAZ Studio"

  • GunGun Posts: 52

    thanks you Fix, icermn

  • GunGun Posts: 52
    edited September 2015

    oh man, maybe I feel a little selfish, but I love this picture after rendered. I think this is the best rendering, i ever have. Hope everyone can give me more advice to improve my skill :D.

    The wing : I use a free dragon in my daz library, and I reduce a little opacity and channge color to light green

    light: I only use distant light, and i reduce temperature, intensity, luminous ( I never expect I will turn out what i really want :D)

    The last thing I want to say with you guys is I really appreiate the Newuser content event. Through this event, I learned a lot of things, and feel more closer to my dream :D

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    Post edited by Gun on
  • isidornisidorn Posts: 1,601

    Gun, it's great to be able to feel good about one's work. :) And I totally agree that this is a great place to learn. I learned a lot in the august competetion and I expect to learn a lot this month too when I finally decide what kind of picture I want to make.

    I have one little nit-picky thing about your render. On the head of the staff there's on each side two red little things that hangs in strings. As the staff is positioned now they "hang" horisontally, unaffected by gravity. On a magic staff that might still be ok though. But I think it would add realism to the picture if you could change them to hang down, in a more natural way. That would of course require them to be adjustable and I have no idea if they are. So if they aren't then just forget this. :) (Unless you can do some postwork tweaking)

    Tiny details like that are funny in the way that we might not even notice them when they are correct, but if they're wrong we tend to spot them quickly.

  • Linwelly said:

    Long time lurker, first time competition enter-rer (?). Watched the Youtube video. It was very helpful.

    Welcome JayJay, you have made a very good start, the DOF is focused exactly your human and make him the center of you attention. A bit confusing is that your starlit sky is clear as well. I believe that you use the Expanded Godrays - Celestial Bodies for that? I remember that they seem to keep in focus no matter what. Maybe if you tone down your DOF a bit or move your range backwards so that those rocks in front are out of focus but the mountains in the back stay rather unblurred.

    hope that helps

    Thanks Linwelly, the starlit sky is not the Expanded Godrays - Celestial Bodies, but a random sky that I grabbed off a google search. Unfortunately it isn't blurry like the mountains so I'm not sure how I can fix it without going to PS. Any ideas?

  • Gun said:
    isidorn said:

    Hey everyone ^^

    I've finnaly done customizing my scene and I wanna hear your opinions on it :P 

    If you have any idea/s on how I can improve it, i'll be glad to hear it. 

     

    It took a while before I realized those shadows were men following/hunting her and not just shadows of vegetation. Imo they blend in too much with the overall landscape shadows and those are a bit too much too. More than half the picture is just a large black field. If it was possible to distinguish the followers a bit more I would think it would improve a lot.

    That's just my opinion as a viewer of the image. Take it for what you will. :)

    Hi, i think your rendered a bit dark, it's hard to realize what have in there. Beside, I want to ask, how you ocan create a sun light that?, I want to make some render with the sun like that, but dont know how to do.:D

     

    Hey ^^ 

    I've achieved the sun using "Rons Bokeh" effects

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