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4.10 Environments

jniemiec86jniemiec86 Posts: 25
in Technical Help (nuts n bolts)
Hello everyone I have a bit of a boob question. I've been searching the forums for awhile now and can't seem to find a straight answer on this one thing. How can I get more environments for my creations. I came across the backdrop options but that's not really what I'm looking for (I think at least). I'm wanting to put my character in front of a lake view or forest view ect... I found photos online and imported those and made some adjustments but they just don't flow well together. Can someone recommend a good mixed environment pack from the shop that I can purchase or a program I can get that I can make my own environments in.

Comments

  • Sven DullahSven Dullah Posts: 7,621
    edited June 2019

    The by far easiest and most cost effective way would be to use HDRIs, that way you get a nice backdrop with integrated realistic lighting. Google HDRI Haven, there you'll find an extensive collection of high quality HDRIs for free.

    Post edited by Sven Dullah on
  • FSMCDesignsFSMCDesigns Posts: 12,780

    When you go to the shop, search the categories in the thing blue bar. Places and Things - Nature and all the outdoor environments will show up. keep in mind that big outdoor landscapes are much harder on system resources due to the amonut of foliage and space.

  • jniemiec86jniemiec86 Posts: 25

    Sven, Thanks very much for the information. I will look into it in more depth but maybe you could answer something about these really quick. Do these flow with your figure designs well or is it more of a "background". Basically if i wanted to have one of my characters leaning against a tree, how realistic will it look with the use of these? From a first glance they look great for using as backgrounds so I will definitely be using them in the future but for this particular scene im wanting to add a fence for this character to be resting against(with a lake view behind them). 

    Michael, Thanks very much for the information. I have been using the search function mostly and completely overlooked that part of the shop. It looks like I might be able to find what im looking for in here and just have to do some digging. Also, looking at your images, you have some fantastic work in there. I have a long ways to go before I can do anything like what you have in some of these photos. The hair hanging in certain ways and the pixels are really interesting. I do most of my rendering via a i4 CPU and I dont have a GPU. Having longer render times doesn't really bother me since I do most of my designs and renders from my spare computer but the quality of the images I would really like to improve on. Any recommendations below 1000 dollars? New to 3D graphing so not really sure whats a waste of money and whats over the top for personal use. I attached one of my recent renders (credit to morning star wings for the wing designs and ktarya for clothing) to give you a general idea of how they are coming out now. Again nothing compared to yours and others im sure but would like to improve on it some and make it the skin and lips stand out more like you have done in the camouflage photo or sitting black. Any advice on that as well would be great.

    Thanks everyone for the advice. 

    -James 

     

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  • Sven DullahSven Dullah Posts: 7,621
    edited June 2019
    jniemiec86 said:

    Sven, Thanks very much for the information. I will look into it in more depth but maybe you could answer something about these really quick. Do these flow with your figure designs well or is it more of a "background". Basically if i wanted to have one of my characters leaning against a tree, how realistic will it look with the use of these? From a first glance they look great for using as backgrounds so I will definitely be using them in the future but for this particular scene im wanting to add a fence for this character to be resting against(with a lake view behind them).

    Ok, HDRIs provide the background and the light, but for a character interacting with something like a fence or tree, you need actual geometry. 

    This is a 3DL render using HDRI lighting, the tree nearest to the camera is a prop, the rest of them are part of the HDRI;) So yeah, you could have a character leaning against or climbing that tree:)

    Post edited by Sven Dullah on
  • jniemiec86jniemiec86 Posts: 25

    Yes, that looks great by the way. So really what I'm looking for within my animations are going to be props. I noticed the environments that came preloaded with my DAZ studio download had walls and other misc things loaded into them. So when I loaded a scene (like the one I posted, it had the pillars within it that I could alter in some way) I thought those were all part of environment packages but instead I need to look for props that are compatible with genesis 8 figures or what not. Am I understanding that correctly?

  • FishtalesFishtales Posts: 6,162
    Sven Dullah said:

     

    Ok, HDRIs provide the background and the light, but for a character interacting with something like a fence or tree, you need actual geometry. 

     

     

    You can use the Iray Matte feature to fake it. I did it for the image in this post.

    https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/comment/2827886/#Comment_2827886

    There are a couple more using it littered through my thread too :)

  • Sven DullahSven Dullah Posts: 7,621
    edited June 2019
    jniemiec86 said:

    Yes, that looks great by the way. So really what I'm looking for within my animations are going to be props. I noticed the environments that came preloaded with my DAZ studio download had walls and other misc things loaded into them. So when I loaded a scene (like the one I posted, it had the pillars within it that I could alter in some way) I thought those were all part of environment packages but instead I need to look for props that are compatible with genesis 8 figures or what not. Am I understanding that correctly?

    Well...environmental stuff doesn't have to be compatible, all the props and environments that are DS compatible are (more or less) the right scale for the DAZ human figures (although some environments come with poses for a specific generation). Many of them can be kitbashed (meaning you can use props from various products together), but some of them are just a single prop, for example a room with some furniture, all sharing the same mesh. So you need to read the "what's included" in the product description carefully.

    Handheld props, like weapons, on the other hand are made with a specific figure in mind. Sure you can use a shield made for G8 on an older generation figure, but positioning it may need some tweaking.

    So read the description before buying:) And if things go wrong you can ask here for help or ask DAZ for a refund, no biggie.

    Fishtales said:
    Sven Dullah said:

     

    Ok, HDRIs provide the background and the light, but for a character interacting with something like a fence or tree, you need actual geometry. 

     

     

    You can use the Iray Matte feature to fake it. I did it for the image in this post.

    https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/comment/2827886/#Comment_2827886

    There are a couple more using it littered through my thread too :)

    Yup that is sometimes possible. Faking a character to lean against a flat surface is pretty straight forward. But with things like trees and more complex shapes, maybe not so muchlaugh

    Post edited by Sven Dullah on
  • FishtalesFishtales Posts: 6,162

     

    Sven Dullah said:

    Yup that is sometimes possible. Faking a character to lean against a flat surface is pretty straight forward. But with things like trees and more complex shapes, maybe not so muchlaugh

    For trees use a cylinder or rocks a sphere. I used a cylinder to get the ground shadow to look as if it rolled over the branch on the ground in this image and two planes to catch the shadow on the left bush and the extended shadow of the deer beyond the branch.

    https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/comment/3931421/#Comment_3931421

    This one uses a plane as a mirror to catch the faery reflection on the ice.

    https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/comment/3963006/#Comment_3963006

    I believe I used a cylinder to catch the huntress shadow on the tree, not openly visible but it is there.

    https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/comment/3973726/#Comment_3973726

    I used a few on this one to get the squirrel behind the branch, the crow standing on the branch and leaning on the tree and the shadow under the squirrels.

    https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/comment/3282516/#Comment_3282516

     

  • algovincianalgovincian Posts: 2,636

    @Fishtales and @Sven Dullah have given some good info regarding HDRIs. To add to their advice, I would suggest trying the w/Ground options for HDRIs in Iray. The warping of the environment sphere in this mode allows you to do much more with DOF.

    Also, with careful composition and placement, it's possible to create the illusion of figures interacting with the environment. The following image was rendered using an HDRI I created on a trail in the woods near where I live. I tried to position/pose the figures to make them look like they were actually on the trail (especially the hand on the ground and the skeleton). 

    The last thing you might incorporate is some post processing of the entire image after the figures have been rendered in the environment. This can really help tie everything together and helps make the figures look like they belong.

    Hope this helps.

    - Greg

  • jniemiec86jniemiec86 Posts: 25

    Thank you everyone for all the great advice. I'll surely be tinkering around the next few days with all these ideas in order to create the environment I'm looking for. 

  • jniemiec86jniemiec86 Posts: 25

    Hello Everyone, 

    Not sure if this is technically posting different things in a thread but its sort of based on the same thing I mentioned above so figured id give it a shot. So after attempting to look into all the above options I ran into a couple issues. The first is the HDRI images. Again they arent flowing right with my character like that are in some of the above images you guys posted. Is there an instructional video someone can recommend in order to incorporate these properly? Ive added a screen shot of the current project I'm working on to give you guys a general idea of what I mean. The second part is mainly because I couldn't find a way to "simulate" my character sitting on the couch. When I couldn't figure this out I jumped into Hexagon and started building a lounge chair to then send over to daz to use within my design. The issue I'm having here is any time I try to add color into my design Hexagon force closes and doesn't add the color. Does anyone know how to fix this or where I can take my images and add the wanted color. Again images of hexagon model attached so you can see what I have done so far. 

     

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  • jniemiec86jniemiec86 Posts: 25

    I think I might have fixed the hexagon issue. I ungrouped items like the legs that I had grouped together and it stopped crashing on me and I was able to get it painted the way I wanted thankfully. Here is my finished product as of now. I would like to find out how to smooth out the edges but so far its coming along nicely for my skill level

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