Any comment on how I could improve my render? (see Post 24)
Render is good, but I personally think that meybe your camera setting needs tweaking. Can you do a screen shot of your camera screen so we can see what you have it set at.
Is this what you wanted Chohole? I'm very new to Bryce so still learning where everything is.
It's your FOV & scale setting that is distorting the scene. I did this quickly with a cube, and a ground plane, to show you how your setting is distorting things.
This thread is intented for you to show your work as you go, and for you to get feedback and advice from others. This is were we want you to show your possible submissions for the contest and to the members of the forums. Feel free to post your work and ask for advice and tips as you go. Feel free to ask for advice on anything, not just DOF. Need help with your lights? Feel free to ask. Many people will be popping in during the month to help you as you go along.
To get things started and help you as you go this month we have provided these links to get you started. Pick the ones for your favorite software and you shuold be ready to try DOF in no time.
"We would like to thank Jack Tomalin who has graciously decided to sponsor this months contest" He will be awarding a special prize to the winner of this months "DOF "contest. To view some of Jack Tomalin's items please see his store front here Jack Tomalin DAZ Store
To give you some Idea what DOF can do, here are some images that use DOF. We have provided one from each of the featured programs.
What? No love for Carrara? Carrara has a built in DOF function as well. ;-)
Carrara's DOF function on the surface looks and acts almost exactly like it did in Raydream Studio, so I'm sure it's a more primitive implementation of DOF than newer software. There's no mention of f-stops or any of that. There are lens settings but they're under the Camera's settings.
In the DOF control panel, there's a thumbnail of your scene from your render camera, options for DOF quality, whether or not you want the DOF rendered or applied as a post render effect, a field to enter values for distance from the object you're focusing on (or maybe it's focal length. Camera jargon is not my forte), and a field and slider where you can enter blur intensity- or you could click the little red plus sign and click on the object in the the scene thumbnail that you wish to focus on.
Now, I'm not even going to try and beat Cripeman's tutorial, but I do have a little tip: If the thumbnail and window is to small, you can drag out the lower right corner of the window and recenter the view and the thumbnail will enlarge accordingly.
This picture took 47 minutes to render at 2048x1536 (over a network with two other computers) with Skylight which allows you to use HDRIs and other IBLs. In this case Carrara's realistic sky and a sunlight were the sources of illumination. AA settings were good with object accuracy set to .5 pixels and shadow accuracy set to 2 pixels. The sunlight used raytraced soft shadows.
The reason I'm throwing out these numbers is because it took over 30 minutes to apply the DOF. That's in addition to the render time of 47 minutes, which is the reason I mentioned layer masks and depth passes in my previous post. I spent maybe five minutes adding the DOF using postwork. Maybe I'll render the image again and apply the DOF using postwork to see how close I can get it.
Okay with help from others we now have a Carrara Tutorial added to the list of Tut's. I would like to thank Frank for the help as well as all those that were involved. I'm sorry we did not have one before but I could not find one and those I asked could not eather. That has now been corrected. Thank you all for putting up with the oversite this long.
That looks very interesting. I would like to see it after it has cooked (as we Reality people say) for awhile longer. I don't think I could say anything to improve it. Just let it cook and let's see it again.
That looks very interesting. I would like to see it after it has cooked (as we Reality people say) for awhile longer. I don't think I could say anything to improve it. Just let it cook and let's see it again.
OkyDoky, I will put it back on when I go to sleep tonight and see what it looks like in the morning.
I don't like the position of the Sun in this one or maybe its the camera.
Anyway, thought I might post it for some feedback to see if you think I am on the right track.
The DoF is still a bit noisy as I am rendering with Reality/Lux.
I debated about the sun position for a while, I may still change it. The camera angle is staying though, as I want a human level camera to emphasize the size of the ATAT. I may add other elements to the scene as I go along as well to flesh out the environment a bit.
Your render is off to a promising start, however I think the blur intensity is too much. It makes it look more like a miniature. Is there a way to dial it back bit to make it more subtle?
The other minor quibble would be the bear's shader, it looks flat and painted on. I don't have experience with Reality, is this look caused because the render calculations aren't complete? Will subsequent passes or whatever fix this issue? Whatever the issue, it's a DOF challenge and not a shader challenge, so if it's a PITA to fix or change, I'd concentrate on the challenge first and foremost. Good luck!
I worked out what was wrong with the first one, trying to add a bit more light to the scene I increased the sky intensity instead of the sun washing out all the soft shadows in the trees. %-P
Yes your trees do look much better now. I can now tell that your DOF is set just a tad off, your bears features are not in focus. Where does your forward DOF plain fall when viewed from the side?
Ah Ha! That explains things much better. Did you download the DS PDF tutorial from ShareCG? Your DOF is set up is off. I highly recommend the DS DOF PDF. It is very esy to follow and full of good examples.
BIG EDIT: Okay I see now that you changed the Deapth of field also. I think if you just pull your forward plain a little in front of the bear, it looks like its just past his nose a bit, you will get what you want. Try some Spot renders in DS before you send to Reality to save time. I always do.
I haven't got around to that yet. I bought a new machine last Thursday and haven't transferred all my bookmarks and passwords from the old one, still busy trying to install my content in a way that it is easy to find.
The scene I am using Forest I bought when it was first released and it would not load on my old machine, so when it loaded effortlessly on the new one I started playing and everything else went out the window.
Thanks for your advice and sorry for not getting my priorities right.
I haven't got around to that yet. I bought a new machine last Thursday and haven't transferred all my bookmarks and passwords from the old one, still busy trying to install my content in a way that it is easy to find.
The scene I am using Forest I bought when it was first released and it would not load on my old machine, so when it loaded effortlessly on the new one I started playing and everything else went out the window.
Thanks for your advice and sorry for not getting my priorities right.
Hey, your priorities are whatever makes you feel good and have fun. I was just suggesting, not saying it had to be done. It has not been all that long sence I up graded my PC, I know how much fun it is to play with the new one. I still have GB's of content to install. I think I lost more passwords than not in my move. I wish you much fun with the new PC.
I have the FOREST also. Any machince than can handle it is a good one. And remember I'm only suggesting things, nothing I or anyone else says is written in stone. This is just for FUN, if I'm making it work tell me to shut-up and leave you alone. That goes for everyone.
I like how the Magic user is the focus. I think if you work at it just a bit you can get the background to be a little more out of focus, that would really pull my eyes to her.
I'm trying to follow maclean's tut. Got to the first illustration "Studio Interface". Nothing on my workspace resembles the illustration. I don't have any little squares with a + in the upper right corner. I realize that there must have been some changes since Studio 1.0.1.0.1, but I already feel completely inept to participate.
I like how the Magic user is the focus. I think if you work at it just a bit you can get the background to be a little more out of focus, that would really pull my eyes to her.
Thanks Jaderail,
Have now reduced both the f/stop and focal distance of the camera, need to be careful otherwise the primary figure will start to appear out of focus.
I'm trying to follow maclean's tut. Got to the first illustration "Studio Interface". Nothing on my workspace resembles the illustration. I don't have any little squares with a + in the upper right corner. I realize that there must have been some changes since Studio 1.0.1.0.1, but I already feel completely inept to participate.
Anne the maclean Tut it is more of an over all tutorial that only covers DOF briefly. The best part's of it are really the lighting that is still pretty much the same from DS to DS. I suggest the DS DOF PDF from ShareCG. You can open it and leave it open in the background and try the tips as you go by switching back and forth from it to DS.
Very interresting challenge here. Played a bit with DOF in DS 4.5 and I found out that you can change pixel samples up to 64 (at least with RC3). I'm putting a NAE here as I don't think I'm a new user anymore. rendered with pixel samples at 8 and shading rate at 1. Rendertime is 2 min. Comments are welcome
And I think that people should read Docs about photography to understand DOF. I found some very interresting like here and here
The real challenge would be to render with a beautifull bokeh like it could be seen in some photography. Don't know if it's possible in DAZ's software but I'll try to set up a scene with that
Comments
Render is good, but I personally think that meybe your camera setting needs tweaking. Can you do a screen shot of your camera screen so we can see what you have it set at.
Is this what you wanted Chohole? I'm very new to Bryce so still learning where everything is.
No what we need to look at is here
Ah sorry about that. Hope this is right.
I really don't have a clue as to what all the settings mean.
It's your FOV & scale setting that is distorting the scene. I did this quickly with a cube, and a ground plane, to show you how your setting is distorting things.
What? No love for Carrara? Carrara has a built in DOF function as well. ;-)
Here is a video I found on youtube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gliniNqq8_k
Carrara's DOF function on the surface looks and acts almost exactly like it did in Raydream Studio, so I'm sure it's a more primitive implementation of DOF than newer software. There's no mention of f-stops or any of that. There are lens settings but they're under the Camera's settings.
In the DOF control panel, there's a thumbnail of your scene from your render camera, options for DOF quality, whether or not you want the DOF rendered or applied as a post render effect, a field to enter values for distance from the object you're focusing on (or maybe it's focal length. Camera jargon is not my forte), and a field and slider where you can enter blur intensity- or you could click the little red plus sign and click on the object in the the scene thumbnail that you wish to focus on.
Now, I'm not even going to try and beat Cripeman's tutorial, but I do have a little tip: If the thumbnail and window is to small, you can drag out the lower right corner of the window and recenter the view and the thumbnail will enlarge accordingly.
This picture took 47 minutes to render at 2048x1536 (over a network with two other computers) with Skylight which allows you to use HDRIs and other IBLs. In this case Carrara's realistic sky and a sunlight were the sources of illumination. AA settings were good with object accuracy set to .5 pixels and shadow accuracy set to 2 pixels. The sunlight used raytraced soft shadows.
The reason I'm throwing out these numbers is because it took over 30 minutes to apply the DOF. That's in addition to the render time of 47 minutes, which is the reason I mentioned layer masks and depth passes in my previous post. I spent maybe five minutes adding the DOF using postwork. Maybe I'll render the image again and apply the DOF using postwork to see how close I can get it.
Okay with help from others we now have a Carrara Tutorial added to the list of Tut's. I would like to thank Frank for the help as well as all those that were involved. I'm sorry we did not have one before but I could not find one and those I asked could not eather. That has now been corrected. Thank you all for putting up with the oversite this long.
I don't like the position of the Sun in this one or maybe its the camera.
Anyway, thought I might post it for some feedback to see if you think I am on the right track.
The DoF is still a bit noisy as I am rendering with Reality/Lux.
That looks very interesting. I would like to see it after it has cooked (as we Reality people say) for awhile longer. I don't think I could say anything to improve it. Just let it cook and let's see it again.
OkyDoky, I will put it back on when I go to sleep tonight and see what it looks like in the morning.
Thanks for the feedback ;-)
I debated about the sun position for a while, I may still change it. The camera angle is staying though, as I want a human level camera to emphasize the size of the ATAT. I may add other elements to the scene as I go along as well to flesh out the environment a bit.
Your render is off to a promising start, however I think the blur intensity is too much. It makes it look more like a miniature. Is there a way to dial it back bit to make it more subtle?
The other minor quibble would be the bear's shader, it looks flat and painted on. I don't have experience with Reality, is this look caused because the render calculations aren't complete? Will subsequent passes or whatever fix this issue? Whatever the issue, it's a DOF challenge and not a shader challenge, so if it's a PITA to fix or change, I'd concentrate on the challenge first and foremost. Good luck!
Changed the camera settings as Chohole said and re-rendered.
That's much better, don't you agree. well done.
I have to agree, that's much better.
Here it is after a few more hours.
I worked out what was wrong with the first one, trying to add a bit more light to the scene I increased the sky intensity instead of the sun washing out all the soft shadows in the trees. %-P
Yes your trees do look much better now. I can now tell that your DOF is set just a tad off, your bears features are not in focus. Where does your forward DOF plain fall when viewed from the side?
Oops!! :cheese:
Was wondering why the eyes didn't seem right.
Thank you for pointing that out, I should recheck everything before I hit render.
I'm still a little lost from that angle, can you show the full cameras FOV for me?
Sorry! Hows this.
Ah Ha! That explains things much better. Did you download the DS PDF tutorial from ShareCG? Your DOF is set up is off. I highly recommend the DS DOF PDF. It is very esy to follow and full of good examples.
BIG EDIT: Okay I see now that you changed the Deapth of field also. I think if you just pull your forward plain a little in front of the bear, it looks like its just past his nose a bit, you will get what you want. Try some Spot renders in DS before you send to Reality to save time. I always do.
Last post Updated. Correct info now, I need to LOOK much harder before I speak.
I haven't got around to that yet. I bought a new machine last Thursday and haven't transferred all my bookmarks and passwords from the old one, still busy trying to install my content in a way that it is easy to find.
The scene I am using Forest I bought when it was first released and it would not load on my old machine, so when it loaded effortlessly on the new one I started playing and everything else went out the window.
Thanks for your advice and sorry for not getting my priorities right.
I have the FOREST also. Any machince than can handle it is a good one. And remember I'm only suggesting things, nothing I or anyone else says is written in stone. This is just for FUN, if I'm making it work tell me to shut-up and leave you alone. That goes for everyone.
Here is my initial WIP, as usual any comments are welcome.
I like how the Magic user is the focus. I think if you work at it just a bit you can get the background to be a little more out of focus, that would really pull my eyes to her.
Okay, first problem:
I'm trying to follow maclean's tut. Got to the first illustration "Studio Interface". Nothing on my workspace resembles the illustration. I don't have any little squares with a + in the upper right corner. I realize that there must have been some changes since Studio 1.0.1.0.1, but I already feel completely inept to participate.
Thanks Jaderail,
Have now reduced both the f/stop and focal distance of the camera, need to be careful otherwise the primary figure will start to appear out of focus.
This was rendered in Daz Studio 4.0.3.47
Looking really good so far. Maybe a bit more blur in the background, but that could be personal preference.
Hi all
Very interresting challenge here. Played a bit with DOF in DS 4.5 and I found out that you can change pixel samples up to 64 (at least with RC3). I'm putting a NAE here as I don't think I'm a new user anymore. rendered with pixel samples at 8 and shading rate at 1. Rendertime is 2 min. Comments are welcome
For DS4 DOF controls you can read the guide here
And I think that people should read Docs about photography to understand DOF. I found some very interresting like here and here
The real challenge would be to render with a beautifull bokeh like it could be seen in some photography. Don't know if it's possible in DAZ's software but I'll try to set up a scene with that