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Comments
Updated Version....
I think I like the first version better.....
There is definitely something to say about this version. The dramatic angle adds to the piece. The depth of field shrouds the background in mystery, and gives more reason for her to have a concerned look. I love the little glowy thing in her hand and especially the luminous green eyes on the cat.
The only thing I would change is to tone down the lighting on her chest and face where she seems to be a little overexposed.
Really love the colors in this one!
Picked up Sugar for V4 in the recent V4 sale. Some minor changes to the shaders and a render in the monstrous Library Iray Addon....
"Monstrous" as in...?
(I'm drooling over the nice render btw)
Memory intensive, lots of emissive surfaces, long render times. It's a great set, but it makes me wish I had a couple of Titans to render it with.
Thanks for the comment on the render!
Stunning work, Jack! Sugar is a great outfit! I didn't know they made it in V4 version. I've been eyeing it for a couple of months but had only seen the A3 version and was wondering if there was a way to get it to work on V4. Now that I know that they have a V4 version I'm definitely going to add it to my wish list and keep an eye out for a sale for it. I love that outfit!
The render you did with it is outstanding! What a great setting! The lighting is gorgeous! What setting/environment is that?
Outstanding! I love that you used your previous render as the painting on the wall. Super cool!
Really nice render, TJ! I just picked up this outfit, too, but haven't tried it out yet. You made is look outstanding. I managed to pick up the Library, too. I managed to miss it when Jack had it in Fast Grab when the Iray add-on came out, but his store is in today's sale so I finally managed to grab it. I can only imagine what it's going to be like on my system with CPU only! I do love what you did with it.
It's The Library, with The Library Iray Addon, by Jack Tomalin. His stuff goes on sale on a somewhat regular basis, so you might be able to pick it up on the cheap. The lighting is one of the HDRI's from the iRadiance - Light Probe HDR Lighting for Iray, the emissive lights from the Library set, and a single emissive plane for fill lighting. I also updated the Sugar outfit shaders with some free gem and pearl shaders from AllenArt off of sharecg and MEC4D's metal shaders.
Thanks for the comments on the render!
Thanks! It was fun doing that, and I liked the effect.
You know, I totally missed that! I had to go back and look. Such an ingenious artist, is TabascoJack!
In working with some of the recent sets I've acquired, I've struggled a bit with camera placement. Given the tight confines of Platea and Balnaea, it's difficult to get a shot that shows enough of the set without dropping the focal length of the camera a lot. And that raises some other issues around distortion on the edge of the render.
Luckily, there is a solution:
The Iray Section Plane.
The section plane is like a knife that cuts off everything on the +Y side of the plane. The downside is that it's an infinite plane, so it can be more like a blunt instrument then a scalpel, but in the right circumstances it works really well.
Here's what it looks like in practice:
If you use the Iray Preview mode in your viewport, here's a neat way to make use of it:
1) Create a camera. Zero out all the X, Y, Z translation and rotation parameters
2) Got to Create->New Iray Section Plane Node
3) Highlight the Section Plane Node, go to parameters. Set X Rotate to 90. Set Z Translate to -100.
4) Set the parent of the Section Plane to the Camera you created in Step 1.
You now have a vertical plane in front of camera that slices through everything. Set the camera where you might want it (even if it's outside your building). By selecting the Section Plane, and sliding it's Z Translate parameter, you can move the plane forward and backward in relation to the camera to cut off walls and other things that get in the way. You need to be in Iray preview mode becuase it won't have any effect in the other modes.
As I mentioned, the downside is that it's a blunt instrument. If there's light coming in from behind, there's no longer walls to stop it. It may take out other things that you might still want to be in the picture. But it can be useful in certain situations. Just discovered that in the Section Plane parameters, there is a field named "Clip Lights". If set to On, light from behind the plane won't pass through the plane.
Here's what the render looks like using that section plane:
Here's what it looks like with the section plane and "Clip Lights" set to On.
And here's what the render would look like if I didn't use the plane, had to move the camera inside the hallway, and lower the focal length:
Wow that is a most useful tip indeed!
Picked up Stonemason's "Streets of the Mediterannean". It reminds me of one of my favorite places in the world, the Amalfi coast.
Made this - but I'm not thrilled with it. I need to figure out where to go with it. Any ideas?
The Iray Section plane is great to know about. Thanks for posting!
My only thoughts are heavier (more contrast) shadows, maybe a slight angle to the steps and curve (since they are almost perfectly horizontal, they don't lead your eye into or around the image), or maybe angle the motorbike towards the left so it completes the arc down the handrail and across to the figure by the door.
My only thought is it seems a bit empty? Maybe a couple of figures in the distance by the top of the steps? Not sure. I like it but I see what you mean that its just missing.... something. I hate that lol.
Decided to try a new camera angle and new lighting. Had to make use of my new friend, the Iray Section Plane, to get the shot through the doorway and wall.
Conversation in the Piazza
Daz Studio 4.9, Iray, Photoshop
This is MUCH more interesting!
Love the new camera angle! It looks great like this. I love the cat in the background! The only thing I see that looks a little off from this angle is the eyes on the girl on the bike. Is she suppose to be looking at the other girl for the conversation? Because it looks like she's looking over her shoulder. I have noticed sometimes, though, that even when the figures are looking where they should be the camera doesn't seem to show that well. I have that problem a lot.
Now it's really telling a story! good change
Her eyes are supposed to be focused on the other girl's head. I may need to adjust her head angle to make it more clear.
Slight head and eye modification.
I think the reflection of the light in her eyes looks like sclera, which makes the eyes appear to be focused somewhere else.
I love the over the shoulder perspective, it puts the viewer in the scene as more a part of the scene rather than looking in from afar. The girl on the scooter, is she meant to be looking over her shoulder? It still looks a bit like she's looking behind her rather than at the girl talking (though that might be your intention? Like she's rolling her eyes at her?).
The scene does look really cool! I'd love to see you add in the other cat again. Seeing the two cats in the previous view was great! Maybe have her rubbing against the boot of the girl on the scooter? Just a thought!
Lovely image, Jack!
Thanks!
If I shift the camera to be where the standing girl's head is located, the other girl is looking straight at her. In fact, I created a NULL, named it "Eye Focus", and set the moped girl's eyes to focus on the NULL. The eye focus is actually now over standing girl's (I really ought to give them names) right shoulder, and it still looks like she's looking behind the left shoulder....
I have that problem a lot too. I, vaguely, remember reading an article or a post on focusing the eyes with the camera and it had the advice of focusing in a spot near the camera and I can't remember exactly what it said. I'll have to see if I can track that down. Basically, you don't have the figure focus where you think it should be, but you have it focus on a spot near the camera. Then it looks like the eyes are focused where you want it. What has worked for me in a similar setup is to have the girl's eyes focus on the other shoulder closer to where the camera is instead of on the girl. Give that a try. Put your null near the camera and slightly to the left and see how that works. I'll see if I can track down that article because it had pictures and everything and explained it much better than I just did.
@Knittingmommy posted a couple of renders of her works in Blender, which inspired me to go back and take a look at it again. Found an easy tutorial, which I only had to stop and rewind about 20-30 times as it went faster than my poor brain could follow. That said, it was actually a very good tutorial, in which the author actually gave detailed instructions. This was in contrast to many others I've seen which have no audio at all and just expect you to be able to follow along as they press keys in silence. When I got done with it, I looked at the author's other videos, and discovered that it looks like it's the same guy who did the tutorials that Knittingmommy had just referenced. I had just googled blender jewelry tutorial, and ended up in the right place.
Anyway, here's the result, exported to Daz and rendered w/Iray and MEC4D's and Khory's shaders.
Nice, TJ! Yes, I saw that tutorial and it's on the agenda. I'm slowly working through all of those tutorials. I got very frustrated with a lot of tutorials like you mention where there is no sound and they just start clicking and showing you what to do with no guidance. I really like the teaching style of Tutor4u the best. He is perfect for how I learn how to do things. Tutor4u is very concise, short lessons with every movement explained making it easy to follow along. I have to admit that I usually have to stop and rewind lots, too. Especially if I messed up and have to go back several steps and catch up again.
That's it. As soon as the laptop comes back to the shop I'm giving these a go.
You really should!! It's been fun so far.