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I like the expressions on thier faces. Especially the victor's.
I am looking forward to seeing this with a background.
My first thought regarding an arcade style background is would it be too busy and take away from the main subjects? It might work with some DOF applied.
Here is the first test render of my idea, and I need some help!
I want to add a motion blur, but unless I'm going totally blind, it dosen't appear that you can do that with iray. We use to be able to do it with 3delight, but I don't want to use that engine because then I would have to fuss with lights and that's my weakest and least favorite thing to do. I can do it with some postwork in photoshop, but I was wondering if anyway had found a way to get motion blur to work in Iray. (I did see the Motion Blur for Iray product by draagonstorm, but I didn't like how choppy the promos where and it's a bit pricey for me to buy and "hope" it will do what I want it to do.)
ANY feedback, comments or ideas are welcome. This is still in the concept stage for me, so I'm open to changing or adjusting just about anything.
~ Novbre
Even if I'm just making some changes to the render settings or changes to a pose, I save as a new file using the same naming convention as I use for the final renders that get posted here.
I like the start that you have on this. Made me think of my late uncle when I saw it.
Wow, so many really cool images.
Novbre~Love the leaves flying up and the riders head and body giving a sense of motion, maybe add a woodland creature hitch-hiking, you know a beaver or squirrel. Great start btw. and don't listen to me....ever. ;)
Kismet~ Great idea! I wish I would of thought of that one. Maybe add a blackeye or a couple bruises?
Noswen~Very cool concept but the water and all those crazy surfaces would kill my computer so I'm staying away from that beast, sorry.
Shinji~Well you've got the movie I want to see made. How did you create the magic effect the gal is doing btw? Now is she blocking the shots aimed at her or is the guy in big trouble? Nothing to add it looks great to me as it is after the changes you already made.
Tangled~I like the atmosphere, the smoke and the hotty. The only change I would make is to give her a rifle or maybe a rocket launcher. I don't think a pistol is gonna do it. As they said in "Jaws".(We need a bigger boat.)
wanderer~Love the recoil,;). I wish I had some Zombie gangsters now. The image keeps getting better.
Now for Selina and Seegsons. I completely agree with you both on cropping it. I may give these guys permanent tans trying to cast a shadow on that wall though. I have a mental image of a group of silhouettes from a Nuclear blast after I'm done with my lighting experiments but wth I'm here to learn.
Ps~"Nothing goes over my head my reflexes are too fast"
Well this did "or a subtle vignette in post." I have no idea what you mean by this. I don't want to ask my wife because she will probably laugh at me. Your probably laughing at me now, but what do you mean by this? Yeah I looked up vignette, it's not a word I commonly use but I still don't quite get it. I'm not to proud to ask.
@Night678winG
Another idea similar to the DoF would be to add the arcade background and add a bokeh efffect like this:
@Novbre - First, thank you for the kind comments and suggestions. Did you see the second version I did? Do you feel it's improved at all? That dress gave me fits trying to keep it covering her extreme pose. The foot is there, just not as high up as the front of the dress. It's planted firmly on the door. I'll see what I can do to address it however. Maybe the white dress will not return in future renders. If I can improve the morphs of the dress to better fit the position of her foot, I may just make her leg where it sticks through invisible. Now, for Iray, yeah, nope. I don't know. I haven't found a way of blurring (other than the resource you mentioned) that doesn't involve postwork. Maybe someone else can chime in here? I do think you have a great start on your image. It looks fantastic so far.
@Atacit_23cd333971 - Glad you liked the improvement. Thank you for the kindness.
@seegsons - It was '92, but I don't recall arcades being all that different--other than perhaps being fewer in number. I do agree about the camera.
@Night678winG - I think the others have very sound ideas about the camera angle being good and maybe the arcade being too busy. I still like the idea, but if it's going to detract from the focus too much that's not good.
Everyone:
Please have a look at what I've attached. I thought perhaps this helped increase the claustrophobic feeling of the space by decreasing the negative space between the window, the lady, and the zombies.
So the current pose originated from a pose that came with the Killzombie Pistols Collection.
My reason for choosing it, in spite of the ridiculousness of doing it in real life? I knew I wanted her headed for the window, but I did not want her only to focus upon escape. I had intended for her to be more stoic, someone who's killed many zombies and is bored with it. But perhaps that is the wrong idea. After laying two golden spirals over her in scene, I really attempted to find a pose that would keep her in a decent spot for focus.
I also wanted the light from the sunset shining through the window--which is hard to distinguish due to other lights in scene, to wash one side of her face while the colder light in scene washed the other side (before I opted to have her firing her gun or opted to use a shade over the light). This prompted me not to turn her head entirely to the side to look directly at the zombies. Her eyes (as you may see in the attached image)e are now staring off due to an error in the pose control for having the eyes look at an object that resets the eyes every time I re-load the scene. Modified the pose to allow her to be prepared to pull herself up onto the top shelf and go through the window. I took care to have her interact with the boxes on the shelves. Oh, by the way, I want to be sure I give credit to the creator of the free rope prop that I used twice to help me create the hanging lamp - BionicRooster.
Anyway, I wanted her to shoot out the window, which shouldn't be hard since it isn't moving and just needs to break for her. I also wanted her to shoot the rear zombie and prepare to shoot the next one over the door. I'd like to get as many suggestions on improving her pose as possible before I begin the next iteration so I can rethink her pose carefully. Just know that if her left hand moves, the lighting on the girl--the highlights on her face and arm especially--and the other zombies will likely change as well. I'm just not sure how or how much.
So far I have some who don't like the two-fisted shooting in opposite directions, which I totally get and respect. I have some who'd like to see some tweaks to the pose to make it more natural. Some would like to see more emotion in her reaction and more urgency in her reaction to the events in scene. If I could get a few more to chime in on this, that would be great, to help push me in a direction. I added one last attached image of her eyes re-directed at the girl, again.
So, yeah, before I set about the next batch of improvements, I'd like to gather whatever more feedback I can on her pose, the muzzle-flashes, anything related to the lady that you think needs improving. And then I'll be quiet for a bit and be off working on it.
is there a bokeh lens in DAZ Studio? that would be nice
if not it needs post processing - not that dramatic though
@Wanderer
Whew! I found the foot! In the image you have above with the headlamp lighting I can see it now. In the rendered version the foot looked like the upper arm of the nearby zombie's forearm. Isn't perspective funny? I thought there was a zombie clawing its way up from behind the file cabinet, but it's the missing foot and the lower arm of the zombie behind her lol!
I don't know what version of Daz you are using, but an idea of how to fix the zombie girls dress would be to do a cloth simulation on it. It looks like a pretty simple dress, and the pose isn't really extreme, so looks like a good candidate for it. Maybe add a little more gravity to make it hang more like a ratty damp material. I've had some really good results adding the cloth simulation modifiers to non-dForce clothes, and while the exploding clothes issues you hear about does actually happen, at least for me, they are the exception, not the rule. I found this really great tutorial on how to use/add dForce to regular clothes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUYjiCXJ2Zk
@Novbre - Thanks. I'll definitely check it out. The issues I've had in attempting to do it on my own were either exploding clothes or the outfit simply falling apart. I'll watch that video and see if I can't do better.
Hello fellow Dazians.
After some experiments I changed quite a few things. I stay true to the idea of perspective diagonals, but I found an angle that enhanced the dynamic quite a bit. ;)
Next stop: Lighting.
Oh I like pose swap! It made a huge difference!
@HighElf - I think the angle is interesting. I'm torn about the position swap, but I think it might be an improvement. I'm not sure I like the current lighting. I do think it's getting better, and I'm looking forward to your next image.
I'm back with some of the feedback incorporated into my scene. I only ran it for an hour, to about 6%, just enough to see some of the obvious changes. I haven't done anything with her pose yet as I'm still hoping to hear more feedback before I do much with her.
@seegsons I was wondering if someone was going to call me on the date, I knew MK 1 made it's debut in the early 90's but I think Street Fighter started late eighties. At any rate, you are correct, if I'm going to recreate an arcade I should make it look vintage early 1990's, And thanks for the encouragement, I'm a bit attached to the camera angle as well, so I plan on keeping that part of the image intact :)
@Wanderer I hadn’t really considered cosplay vs. actual characters. I don’t know which idea I like better but they are both fun concepts. I like the idea of an arcade or game room. I may do a couple of different variations and see what kind of feedback I get. Thanks for the encouragement!
@Kismet2012 That is a good thought about the background potentially being too busy, I’ll keep that in mind moving forward.
@Novbre That’s a cool suggestion. I’ll see if it will work with the background I ultimately decide on. Thanks for the input! Also, I found the Dforce tutorial you shared with Wanderer very helpful.
@Wanderer of course you didn't like the current lighting. ;) It's currently only the base lighting of the environment plus some minor adjustemts to the HDR dome and the basic emissives. Without the the scene would be only black. XD
About the zombie fighting heroine. I don't know. The thirds didn't convince me here. Maybe some uphill angle and a centered character diamond would be more fitting. The Zombies below her and the window behind and over her. Maybe the picture can clariefy what I'm tinking about.
Unfortunately, motion blur is out of my skill set, so I don't have any solutions for your motion blur iray problem, I will be interested to see how you address the issue. I really like scene though, the leaves being kicked up by the bike are a very nice touch, I hope you keep those in future drafts.
Great camera changes, and it's fun to see the two characters swap places. I like both images equally, The render with the snake closer creates an ominious feeling as the viewer feels closer to the serpent, but the barbarian seems to be the aggressor. The render with the barbarian closer and the snake in the doorway creates a trapped feeling for the barbarian and he appears to be on the defensive. Both are great, it just depends on what effect you want to create. If I were pressed to choose a favorite I would go with the image with the snake with the doorway, I like the tension that scene creates.
Wanderer~ have you thought of trying a pose where she is aiming hard at the oncoming Zombies with a pissed off look on her face and shooting out the window with a bent arm, like an after thought. Sorta shooting behind herself. Maybe a couple bullet holes in the wall even. This pose looks very "heroish" for lack of a better word and most people would lose all composure and do crazy shit when pursued by a gang of Zombies and an awesome fist of doom! (No matter how cool they look.) You asked for feedback.
HighElf~I vote for the first pose! Give the barbarian more height on his leap, just above the snakes head and lose the leggings they make his legs get lost in the background. After that I would say your ready for the cover of a Conan book. Maybe throw in a couple human skeleton parts from those guys who couldn't jump very high, ;). If you go with the second one make the snake much bigger, like, " I'll need a bigger sword bigger." Just my 2 cents probably best to ignoe my ramblings...
@HighElf - Hey, just trying to offer constructive feedback. If you like, I'll reserve such comments in the future until I see your piece farther along. There is a range of skillsets that participate in these challenges, so please forgive me for assuming I should comment on the lighting. If you go back and look at the previous months, I think you'll find that I try to be helpful and that I've helped some people improve their images. I don't know why I would assume that you wanted or needed my input.
About your feedback, first of all, thank you. I actually did create a zombie cam. But, I lose the features of the posing I like, and I'm particularly fond of the zombie getting his face stepped on and the creepy kid highlighted above the door, partially in silhouette and partially in light. I spent a long time posing each zombie to work together that way. You may not be able to tell, but they aren't just all pushed together. There is actually only one or two instances of clipping out of sight of camera. I'm kind of proud of that, so I'm not doing a total reframe. I do appreciate your input, and taking time to draw me a picture of your concept was nice of you. I just don't see me going that direction.
@atacit_23cd333971 - Thank you for the feedback. Yeah, I was going for a stoic, bored of the apocalypse hero, but you aren't the only one to comment that way. Grim-faced barbarians are my favorite type of hero, but even that guy shows more expression than my Lorien. Did you prefer the fist over the head? If you don't mind, I'd like to know.
@Night678winG
Absolutely they will stay! When I originally thought of the idea, the leaves were actually the focal point, in that they were going to be both the action and the prop. The bike was an after thought lol. I bought it a while back ago and I don't know why. Almost everything I do is fantasy art, and I don't even particularly LIKE motorcycles, but there was just something about this one I had to buy, Glad I finally found a use for it!
@Novbre - I'm glad to hear you will keep them. It's fun sometimes to hear the story like this. It's easy to assume the bike was always the focus of the piece, but this explains a lot about why you've done such a great job with the leaves.
Uhm. My comment was never meant to be harsh or negative or smth. oO Sorry if I used some words wrong, so that this wasn't clear. English isn't my native language. Of course I appreciate any kind of constructive feedback. I thought, that it was clear how I construct this image. And that the statement :" Next stop: lighting" would show, that lighting wasn't done so far.
I like the basic lights neither, but they were a necessity to show the concept of the scene. Sorry, if that wasn't clear said by me. :(
Wow, the work you did with the fluttering papers really adds a sense of motion to the image. I bet that took some time. The lighting has evolved wonderfully as well, I like that shadow line on the wall cast from the exterior lighting over the shelving. The interior and exterior lighting are very evident without fighting with eachother. Great work on the hole in the window as well!
I completely get your heroines facial expression now that you mention a more stoic and jaded personality. I think I initially just tried to put myself into that situation and projected my feelings on how she would react. She has obviously been in this situation before and is confident she will pull through it unscathed. I just hope she has an extra ammo magazine or two, she may need it for that larger Zombie.
At this point I don't know what I would change, you basically already nailed everything I would have suggested.
@HighElf - Okay, I'm sorry I missed the comment on lighting being next. I'm just trying to respect everyone and not step on anyone. No worries. I shouldn't have been so quick to assume you were being harsh in your response. I'm trying to get used to all the new people, their expectations, and their personalities. Let's just move on then.
@Night678winG - Thank you so much for the input. I feel like it has really helped me. I'm actually going around and around in my head with thoughts on how to improve her now. If you (or anyone else) have any further thoughts, I'm all ears. I will probably wait until later in the weekend to have a go at her, so if someone comes in, reads this, and thinks, I know what I'd do, I'd love to hear about it. Feedback is welcome and highly sought after. I may not do all others suggest, but that doesn't mean I don't value what they have to say.
Correct. Don't think IRay can do that. Might look at January of this year tho. Member named "Noswen" was able to get really good blur via post work I think. Interesting enough his was a bike scene too!
@ everyone
Doing it a bit differently from now on since have been very fortunate or just plain lucky. NAE from here on out. Will offer tips or suggestions only if post requests. (Don’t want to sound like a smarty-pants know it all.) ; )
For my own stuff, if have any questions about how I do something or just want to comment-- feel free! Don't have a horse in the race any more if that makes sense.
So...
Opinions welcome on hospitaller knight I picked up during a recent sale. Problem might be how to pose him, add some action & maybe ditch the dead guy. Poses at store looked more Hollywood theatrics than how they really fought. (According to documentary on Discovery or History channel I think) Then again, if you have magic & monsters who cares right? Still, posing with shield & hilt of sword harder than I thought.
thanks for reading & hope you enjoy
--Bruce
NAE Hospitaller knight (G3M)
@Wanderer
One nit picky and one idea....
The nit picky first. The muzzle flash would light up her face (the zombie side). I only mention it because that side of her face is really dark because of the shadows, and it's a shame we can't see more of her face. The muzzle flash would give you a "legit" reason to bring more light to her face. And this just could be a personal bias so take it with a grain of salt, but her face is what (to me) gives her her humanity.
The idea... I love what you did with the flying paper! With the strong light from the lightbulb maybe you could make the paper more translucent. I could add some more airy-ness to the paper that could add to the sense of motion.
the positionswap is cinematically correct hero vs villain
I have something that I don't like in your render
the overcranked tilt angle (but, easy fix)
as lighting goes the wall-lamps are presumably burning oil (?) let them show it by making the lights in a warm orangy color tone and that your hero gets a bit outline from the front you could let the snake spit fire
This month is a lack of inspiration for me, but I see you other are much productive and there are really good entries her.
@Night678winG Very good PoV and posing. Yes there is no option for motion blure in Iray, so you have to do it in Gimp or PS. That would be a great effect on the leaves.
The only thing what interfere with, are the clouds. In the beginning I thought this are hills and you have placed the background upside down. *gg*
@HighElf I like both new entries much more than the first. It's interesting how a different camera angle changes the mood of a situation completey. Now it depends on you witch scene you like more.
I'm curious how the scene develops with new light.
@Wanderer I think in your picture there is momentary the most feeling of movement and interacting.
Even the first entrie had a wow effect on me. The falling papers are a good idea, but I think it's to much of them. Now it looks more that wind blows them away.
I liked the first one more and I would place the papers more in a way, that they are fall from the cabinet. ( one or two should still hang on him)
One thing I miss is a different color for the Area outside the window, I think that will even help to see the glass bursts.
@seegsons Funny concept.
Have you tried, to give the girl on the right side a more frustrated pose, Maybe she could hold her head with her left hand, because she can't believe that she was defeated.
@Noswen Also a great entry. Don't know why, but when I see your picture,
I have from the first moment the imagination that the women presents a water fee and the guy a wood fee who are fighting with each other. (Maybe that came through the background behind them.)
It would be funny, when you even increased this imagination with new shaders+textures on their weapons and clothes.
The only thing I don't like so much is the podest under the guy. That makes him look like a doll. In your case, I would go to the surface tab and switch the opacity for it to zero.
@Shinji Spontaneously the idea pops up my head, that you could give the runneron the left a new pose.
Why not show us whats happened? Let him put a new magazine in his weapon and put one ore two empty magazines on the floor.
It could also be interesting if you apply one lightsource in the forground above them, to seperate this area a little from the dark hall and the background. (Not sure about this, maybe this sucks..)
@Tynkere WB Bruce, I'm happy to see you are in again.
Great start, I love the light who falls in the room.
Yeah, posing is a thing that consumate hours in my works. I often get lost in placing fingers and bodyparts who nobody will look at, but I have the feel I must do that, to make it look right, and even than, when I load the scene after a while again, I still find things I don't like.
I think, what makes the pose a little odd is the sword himself. When I look at the handle, I have the feeling this is more a sort of two-hand sword.
I would let the victim stay in, that tells a lot of story. Maybe a arrow in his back, let us know, why the knight raises his shield.
Updated the scene with the last few suggestions. Not sure how well the muzzle flash of the new guy shooting at the GI can be seen, or how good the improvised ricochet is.
In any case, here's my (hopefully) final version.
Here's version H which I just saved after rendering as I tried to get some sleep last night. Knocked the controls to the door out of commishion, tried to get the camera back to where it was in version F only to have that a bit off still (Not sure how it got moved between versions F and G. Didn't catch it until after the fact.) Also moved the wires and the instance of them closer to the second shadowrunner to better use the light from the sparks to get some light on him, lit his hud up, and added a puddle of glowing gunk that's coming from whatever's burning off screen that he'd better watch out for if he tries to change position along with the wires.
@Daybird I'll have to see what I can do with you suggestion in a latter version, I'd already saved this version and was getting ready to post when I read it.
@ Daybird
Thanks for reply. Hit nail on the head as usual. ; ) Size of the sword-- don't know-- prop came with the armor. He's supposed to be street fighting and having to clear houses-- doesn't know who might be waiting with crossbow, or attack him from next room, so still alert. If viewer does get that though... Could just as easily have him relaxed, or change it completely. Also picked up a minotaur if you bought a featured artist sale. Haven't had time to play with him though.
No ideas this month? Hmmm... That's a toughie. Bank hiest to pay for a MacBook pro?
(If remember right, family first in December and a kitten instead of upgrade?)
Admire that kind of patience and determination to wait so long for renders! My machine would melt...
@ Shinji
First of all thanks since you're the first person who posted about it from April & I don't think you normally do the 'congrads' thing unless mistaken.
Anyway, new respect for what goes into these action scenes. Props & sets add up or that's a long time collecting them.
So this one's a stargate type thing? Cool tracers & spent caasings. Baddie is about to be roast baddie. Just curious, but what's the thing in the upper left. Not a critique, just don't know what it is.
Finally, can't have May without thanking very special people tomorrow. Happy Mothers Day!
nae. do I have to keep putting that on them?
--Bruce