Forwards to the distant past

richardandtracy

I'm not sure how the promos of the G9 Semi bald hair (https://www.daz3d.com/semibald-hair-and-moustache-for-genesis-9) struck you, but I felt they were harking back to the days of Poser 4 and its npr rendering. Must admit I am surprised that iRay can be made to look like this.

Maybe I can show why with a comparison: Poser 4 'Complex Lights', SKU 1199.

 

And...

There is 20 or more years between, but the images look quite similar in style and rendering colours to me. More detail in the skin texture, but extremely reminiscent. In some ways that latest promo feels like a major blast from the past.

Am I the only one who thinks this?

Regards,

Richard.

myotherworld

no your not on your own here.

not much has changed at all really.

some of my stuff is 15-20 years old and is still better than the new stuff coming out.

caravelle

richardandtracy said:

I'm not sure how the promos of the G9 Semi bald hair (https://www.daz3d.com/semibald-hair-and-moustache-for-genesis-9) struck you, but I felt they were harking back to the days of Poser 4 and its npr rendering. Must admit I am surprised that iRay can be made to look like this.

Maybe I can show why with a comparison: Poser 4 'Complex Lights', SKU 1199.

There is 20 or more years between, but the images look quite similar in style and rendering colours to me. More detail in the skin texture, but extremely reminiscent. In some ways that latest promo feels like a major blast from the past.

Am I the only one who thinks this?

Regards,

Richard.

Basically, of course, a lot has changed and improved since the beginning; no one will seriously deny that. But you're right: recently I've also noticed that some promos look very 'retro'. 

Maybe it's a fashion. There are also 'fashions' in promos, such as the strabismus in many, mostly female Genesis 8 characters. At present, the female G9 figures tend to squint their eyes, which in my opinion gives them an unpleasantly devious expression. Let's see what comes next...

richardandtracy

I must admit that the 'retro' look bothers me a lot, because it eradicates from view or notice the advances and improvements made in the last 20 years. In doing so, it risks DS and it's content being treated as either a backward toy or as irrelevant. Neither of which are valid and do everyone (PA's, freebie creators and users) a disservice. Regards, Richard.

PerttiA

richardandtracy said:

I must admit that the 'retro' look bothers me a lot, because it eradicates from view or notice the advances and improvements made in the last 20 years. In doing so, it risks DS and it's content being treated as either a backward toy or as irrelevant. Neither of which are valid and do everyone (PA's, freebie creators and users) a disservice. Regards, Richard.

One of the reasons I don't shop that much at Renderosity, is that the promos for environments and props etc. (meant for DS) look too much like the ones I remember from 12+ years ago (in Poser), which was one of the reasons I took a 6+ year break from 3D

richardandtracy

The second promo was from this week, at the DAZ store, for a G9 character.

csaa

richardandtracy said:

... but I felt they were harking back to the days of Poser 4 and its npr rendering. Must admit I am surprised that iRay can be made to look like this.

richardandtracy,

As an aside, I started out a few years ago with Daz working on photo realistic renders. Then I caught the NPR bug and have been exploring this exclusively, albeit with a bit of Blender throw in. Hope my work doesn't fall into the 'anachronism' category of NPR.  If anything -- and anything goes once you detach from a photorealistic look for a stylized one -- I try to aim for a cel shaded finish.

Cheers!