December Contest Thread "Holiday Renders" (WIP Thread)
frank0314
Posts: 14,056
New User's Contest - December 2014
Sponsored by DAZ 3D and ARTCollaborations ARTCollaborations
Are you new to the 3D World? Are you at the beginning stages of learning 3D rendering? Have you been around for a little bit but feel you could benefit from some feedback or instruction? Have you been around awhile and would like to help other members start their creative journey? Well then come and join the fun as we host our newest contest...
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"Holiday Inspired Render Contest"
This contest is a general render contest. Try putting to use all the things you've learned over the months and create an image of your favorite holiday.
I will be checking in as will the rest of the Community Volunteers to try and help with anything you all may need
For a list of the current contest rules, please see this thread : Contest Rules
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Closing Date: December 31st 2014
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Comments
I ran in to some issues with my first render you see here, I couldn't correct the missing textures no matter what I did and was forced to scrap the pick. Will it be okay for me to make a different picture instead?
My new render is a mix and match of my two favorite holidays, Halloween and Christmas, will it be okay to submit this one instead. I can have a wip up for you later today. Thanks, Michele :)
Sweet! I'm doing a Halloween one. :)
I have been working on my render in Daz studio 4.7 pro, and my image is a Halloween party of a fantasy theme. I want to ask if it would be acceptable for me to submit my wip in a much larger pixel format? Than the contest has stated. As long as it fit's the size format in the final posting.
:) My reason for asking is that it is a large scene and the smaller size lose's a lot of detail. Which could make it harder to see defects of the wip that may need critiquing. I have been doing this for about six months now. Looking back at my deviant art page and have come a long way. But I know I need critique on my technique. I have learned a lot about maps, displacement and have even managed to figure out how to mix and match these things with out crashing my system. I've learned how to change skin tone for fantasy renders of dark elves and even made a few cool accidental discoveries in playing them.
:cheese: I love working in Daz and I do it most days while my kids are at school, I plan on making a career of modeling and even making movies with my husband who is just finishing up his Film degree. So it is very important to me to receive constructive critique on my work.
Now i am by no means finished with this I still have a lot of props and a few more creatures to place with in my scene, and I have decided to make a second scene on a smaller scale of a different Halloween party as well in the crypt possibly just the grave yard, depending on which ever I feel more inspired by. :-)
Welcome to Punkin Chunkin'!
As far as I remember, it was mentioned in a previous contest, that the max. pixel size 800x800 was carried over from the old forum contest and the consensus was, this is no longer appropriate. The contest rules will be updated soon. ;-)
I keep my entrys at max. height of 800 pixels. At a ratio 16:10 my image would have 1280x800 pixels.
As far as I remember, it was mentioned in a previous contest, that the max. pixel size 800x800 was carried over from the old forum contest and the consensus was, this is no longer appropriate. The contest rules will be updated soon. ;-)
I keep my entrys at max. height of 800 pixels. At a ratio 16:10 my image would have 1280x800 pixels.
Thank you :) this was very helpful. I'm gonna try out your suggestion. I've been confused by what the ratio was supposed to do for the image in final render now I have an idea of what it dose. Thank you :cheese:
I tired out your suggestion with the ratio and pixel's and it worked like a charm! Happy dance from me over here. lol
:) Also here is an updated render, which I have some questions about. As you can see here three of my figures have lost their skin and two of the models have lost there eye's leaving stark white glowing in it's place. I have had this happen before when I was playing with the surface of my models skin and spent a long time trying to figure out what went wrong, but this is the first time it has happened after spot renders that previously showed me all was applied properly. I have managed to fix this problem by re-applying the desired skin, or shader's and managed to correct it. But I'd really like to know what cause's this to happen so I might fix it more easily.
Not sure, but I think the white glowing skin has something to do with the Default DAZ Studio or the Subsurface Shaders. Make sure you have the latest version of the Default Lights and Shaders and the Subsurface Shader Base installed. You will find those in your Product Library under DAZ Studio 4.7 Pro.
The ratio 16:10 is a common Monitor resolution. Try diffrent numbers to figure out whats best for your scene. The ratio of an image can make big difference.
If you haven´t already, you can take a look at Szarks Composition Tutorial: http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/12654/#181702
He explains such things way better than I could. :-)
I will definitely check my updates, I know the program updated recently,but I will check anyways to see if that helps. :-)
Thank you again for all your help. I really appreciate it. :-)
I we to post our two selections in this forum? And it can be on any holiday?
Well yes, although we did expect to get some Seasonal renders, be it Christmas, Hanukkah, Solstice, Yule, Saturnalia, Lohri, Bodhi, Eid or any other I have missed.
And yes you post here for feedback as you progress through your render, and then when you are happy with it you post it to the entries thread here http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/46943/
I'm thinking of a dystopian nativity story...probably means I need help with more than just rendering ;-)
Other than the characters, the poses, the lighting, the shaders and the camera settings, I think I'm making progress. Any and all input welcomed.
That white glowing skin effect has to do with a bug with Age Of Armour's subs-surface/skin effects, which certain models use as default. Not quite sure of the details, but it happened to me, once, with the interior of Dragon 3's mouth and has happened since then with some human skins. Happens completely at random.
It apparently fixes very easily, but you need to restart Daz Studio (I restart the computer, as a whole, just to be on the safe side).
Unfortunately, it means the render you made with it is useless, but you can then do another.
Since it's that time of the year, I decided to enter with just simply : Christmas
Software used is Bryce.
The resolution is 800x396 hope this is fine !
Nice idea, but particles can be a bit hit and miss in Bryce, and adbc is still quite a new user with the software. We can possibly think of another way to help him with Falling snow if he wishes to add some.
Maybe a volumetric mat on a cube could work. I will experiment later
OK I had a play, and yes you can simulate snow falling by using a volume mate, on a sphere which is better than a cube, This is done using the "Integrated volumetric snow" mat from the Pro materials "SFX" in Bryce
@Atticus Bones : I agree that snowflakes would be nice, particles ? I vaguely remember a tutorial about that.
@ chohole : Indeed that material works perfectly on a sphere, I tested it on a blank Bryce scene, just have to try it on the
original scene.
I have another small problem, the original resolution was 943 x 467, I had to downsize it with paint shop pro since the resolution (according to the rules) cannot be higher that 800 x 600, I kept the aspect ratio when doing that.
I probably change the resolution in Bryce and try to find out what the new aspect ratio would be and start from there.
Thanks for the suggestion, I'll work on it.
I reworked the image with Bryce and added snow, I had almost the same effect as chohole but since the sky is quite vibrant, the snow got too dense and I did not like it.
I used Paint shop pro to add the snow, and that is the result.
That looks good, the bit of added snow does make the difference.
Another way to do it is with the Square primitive and use a JPG of snow flakes on it.
Here's my Holiday picture. I call it "Happy Daz Christmas"
Thank you :) this was very helpful. I'm gonna try out your suggestion. I've been confused by what the ratio was supposed to do for the image in final render now I have an idea of what it dose. Thank you :cheese:
I tired out your suggestion with the ratio and pixel's and it worked like a charm! Happy dance from me over here. lol
:) Also here is an updated render, which I have some questions about. As you can see here three of my figures have lost their skin and two of the models have lost there eye's leaving stark white glowing in it's place. I have had this happen before when I was playing with the surface of my models skin and spent a long time trying to figure out what went wrong, but this is the first time it has happened after spot renders that previously showed me all was applied properly. I have managed to fix this problem by re-applying the desired skin, or shader's and managed to correct it. But I'd really like to know what cause's this to happen so I might fix it more easily.
Hi gwydyons,
You have a nice start with your scene. You have good ambient light. We can see what you are trying to protray, which is a good thing. I think what I would do if it was my picture would be to start with the areas that I want the viewer to focus on by creating more focused lighting that shines on specific areas and maybe let some areas go into darkness. I would also introduce some shadow work and some point lights for the sconces. I would work on setting up a 3 light rig for each of the groups and darken up where the monster is just a bit. Maybe put a spot on him as well. Once I had done that then I would lower the ambient some. I think I would play with the colors of the lights as well, making the scones yellow, maybe adding some green to the focus group rigs and such. I would also consider the colors I used within the groups. Like maybe using a red that started with the guy on the column, then some red on the creature floating through the gate then some red with the couple that are next to the gate and so on and so forth until I got all the way over to the couple on the right. This would give my viewer's eye a way to travel from left to right or right to left and see all of my picture.
I hope this helps you. Looking forward to seeing your next version.
smurph9,
You have a lovely start. Your Joe and Mary may be a bit to clean for their clothes but that can be easily fixed. So what kind of donkey are you going to use? If I were working on this picture, which is a wonderful idea, I think I would pull the camera closer to the characters. The story is so centered around worry and fear during this part of the story that I would concentrate on poses and expressions. I really like the inn keeper and his girl. There is a nice interaction going on there. I think something like that would look good with the young couple as well, showing their love, worry, and fear of the situation. Maybe having Joe have his arm around her shoulders and having him looking back at the inn keeper with a look of "What the firetruck man!". I like the expression on Mary's face but I think I would have her looking down at the baby just a little bit. There is interesting lighting going on around Mary. It seems that there is a brightness about her. I might try and make the surroundings just a bit darker to enhance the look and maybe allow not so much light to have to hit her and wash out her detail. I think it would be fun to see if I could get some rim lighting around her hair and shoulders.
As always my comments are just suggestions. Looking forward to seeing your next version
adbc,
I do like the addition of the snow to the image. The composition is very interesting and the touch of red is a nice control. I think that if I were working on this image I would scale up the building just a bit more. I would do this because as it stands now there is not enough real estate between where Santa is and the castle. So the castle seems to be too small to my eye. After doing that then the mountain on the left may have to be a bit bigger to counter weight the building. I would also introduce that pretty purple/blue color of the building in at least one more place. Maybe a present in Santa's bag and then some where in the canyons to the left of Santa. I would do this so that my eye would not be pulled to the building. If I did not like that then I would consider changing the color of the building to more the orange that is in the sky. Either way I would want my viewer to see Santa and his sleigh and reindeer and keep them as their focus. I might add a spot light on Santa as well. Don't know if that will work but I would try it and see. Might be cool to see if a three spot rig could give me some additional rim light on him.
Just for fun here is a link to some free overlays. I tried them on you image and they turned out looking pretty cool. So all I did was copy pasted the over-lay as a layer to your image. Made sure it was above your image and then went in and re-sized the layer by selecting the Pick tool, grabbing one of the corners and reducing it's size to fit your render dimension. Then I selected the layer type as Dodge and walla I had me some snow. This link is thanks to mmalbert at RedEyeCat Blog. http://insightdesigns.co.uk/blog/2011/12/20/free-gift-falling-snow-overlays-12-days-of-christmas-day-8/
As always my comments are just suggestions. Looking forward to seeing your next version.
So jekingwilliams, what do you want to do with your image? Do you like it or do you want some help on something? It looks like a Lux render. How can we help you?
@ chohole : thanks for your suggestion but that snow within Bryce gave me an headache since the flakes on the left and right looked more like flat eggs, whatever I did, the density was also too much and looked like a haze that in fact masked the sky colours and I really did not like it, it was simply awful.
@Dolly girl : what you propose me to do makes sense, I noted it on a piece of paper and have a try, although to apply all those changes
will probably take time but I might be lucky and succeed, who knows. Besides I'm here to learn and I learned heaps so far thanks
to everyone giving me good tips.
This my adapted version of Christmas.
Don't forget to transfer it to the entries only thread if you are happy that it is finished.
Thank-you. These suggestions are great, and I'll try to incorporate them once I get through my pc upgrade tonight (I hit the performance wall rendering this, so had to spend some quality time on Amazon). I have a few more things to add, but will definitely focus more on the emotion and expression.
smurph9,
You have a lovely start. Your Joe and Mary may be a bit to clean for their clothes but that can be easily fixed. So what kind of donkey are you going to use? If I were working on this picture, which is a wonderful idea, I think I would pull the camera closer to the characters. The story is so centered around worry and fear during this part of the story that I would concentrate on poses and expressions. I really like the inn keeper and his girl. There is a nice interaction going on there. I think something like that would look good with the young couple as well, showing their love, worry, and fear of the situation. Maybe having Joe have his arm around her shoulders and having him looking back at the inn keeper with a look of "What the firetruck man!". I like the expression on Mary's face but I think I would have her looking down at the baby just a little bit. There is interesting lighting going on around Mary. It seems that there is a brightness about her. I might try and make the surroundings just a bit darker to enhance the look and maybe allow not so much light to have to hit her and wash out her detail. I think it would be fun to see if I could get some rim lighting around her hair and shoulders.
As always my comments are just suggestions. Looking forward to seeing your next version
Title: Santa Was Here
DAZ Pro 4.7
As always, still working on the lighting.
Lovely render adbc. I love seeing a Bryce render entered into the contest.
Wow every ones got some really nice renders happening.
Hi Kismet,
Love the composition of this piece. Having the windows on either side of the tree helps to pull your eye to it and then to see such a sweet puppy, sleeping under the tree (with no damage as of yet!). I like that you set the scene with the tree to the side. It adds interest to your piece.
I think if I were working on this image that I would put some pillows and maybe a throw on the sofa. Maybe even a plate of half eaten cookies, although with that puppy over there I don't know. I think I would enlarge the bells just a little bit to help balance out the wreath on the right. I might even leave them alone and add a wreath behind them. I would see if I could find a little shelf that the socks could hang off of. As for the lighting I think I would leave the ambient lighting the way it is but I would play with the uber area light shader to see if I could get some of the light strings to emit light and provide the additional illumination. I thought szark's tutorial was the most helpful and it is here: http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/14536/. Finally after I had gotten the lights to work I would play around with Adam's render presets to remove the graininess from the image. You can find Adam's presets here: http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/16085/
My comments are just suggestions. Looking forward to seeing your next version.