Digital Art Zone

My own thread???!!!

Geez, all I wanted to do was post my render. Or are you telling me to get my crappy render out of here? Just kidding, I've read these forums enough to know that you are a nice guy, always trying to help. I guess I never considered having my own thread, I hardly ever render anything worth posting, and barely know how to post at all. But, I do plan to dive into CG again this winter so maybe it's not such a bad idea.

Alright, thanks Jaderail.

Jaderail - 13 November 2012 04:10 PM

Yes, looking Real good now. I still think you should Spot light the Dancer like the Guys at the table. Then It will really pop the scene from good to VERY good if not Great.

I did add a spotlight but on top of her head. So after switching the position and tweaking the intensity a bit this is the final result. Ilena out.

I think your missing what we are all saying. Light HER (the Dancer) up From the front. Show HER. I know in your mind she is supposed to be dancing in the Dark. That works for you because you have that image in your mind. For other people (me) I say put light on HER so it looks like She is the Main figure to every person who see's the image. Remember, we only have the Image to SEE, not the idea that you hold in your head. Make the Dancer stand out from the Background. Right now my eyes are drawn to the figures to the Right at the table because they are Lit. If you Light the Dancer and leave everything else the Same. You will get the Same idea. She is dancing alone to the music. But then POW the first thing my eyes will go to Is the Dancing woman. That will make this One powerful image. I know that's not the Idea you see or have in your mind, but to me that is all that is needed to take what you have done and make every person who see this see the IDEA you have in a very powerful way.

In that last render I did switch the spotlight up front and got pretty much same result. Those guys may stand out because of points lights so added a new detail and another point light. You must be getting pretty sick of seeing my image aren't you? Just kidding. Those around me are surely getting sick of it though.

Jaderail - 08 November 2012 09:17 AM

Content does not have one bit to do with if your a New User.

True, but if all you have is the default content included with DS, it gets old after a while. There's not much motivation to continue building a scene over and over with the same limited content. I'm using DS3 so the default content is a woman on a beach with a volley ball.

But that changed with the PA sale. With most of the things I bought averaging around $5, I couldn't believe I spent over $300 in a single month. And I didn't even finish visiting all the PA stores before the sale ended.

Ilena52 - 14 November 2012 07:50 AM

You must be getting pretty sick of seeing my image aren't you? Just kidding. Those around me are surely getting sick of it though.

Don't worry, I'll be posting and reposting mine pretty soon.

From one of your previous post, the woman on the left can be seen playing a string instrument. She seems to be lost in the dark now (at least to me since I have a CRT monitor, not as bright as the new flat screen monitors.) If you can find a way to brighten the musical instrument, it would back up the actions of the dancer.

Ilena52 - 14 November 2012 07:50 AM

In that last render I did switch the spotlight up front and got pretty much same result. Those guys may stand out because of points lights so added a new detail and another point light. You must be getting pretty sick of seeing my image aren't you? Just kidding. Those around me are surely getting sick of it though.

Ilena52,
You have a lovely story going on in your picture. I took a copy of your render and pulled it into Paint Shop Pro (PSP) and did the one step photo fix. This just lightens up the picture. If you do this you can tell right off when you need more lighting because you will "like" the picture better. If you get the "I don't like what it did to my picture" response then the lighting is good. When I did this to your render that was when I saw your whole story. So if I was going to work on this picture I would put three spots on the dancer two in front of her and one behind her. Higher then her and looking down. I would increase the intensity of the light on the right side of the picture so that we see Micheal ogling the dancer and 2 spots on the girl with the lyre. I would also introduce another person or animal in the area around the musician. I would do this to balance out the right side with the left side. By doing this I would be creating a set of three scenes with lots of interaction between the three main characters, thus telling the story better.

Something that really hit me as I try to learn how to light a scene was when I was watching one of Perta-3D's tutorials and he said that we must remember that our eyes are better at seeing things then cameras. So even on the brightest sunny day a film producer will use lights to help his cameras see better. So we must remember that cameras need more light then we do.

I have attached a copy of your original picture and the other pictue is one where I took a PSP brush and lightened the areas where I would concentrate the light on.

As always this is just a suggestion. Ideas to toy with and play with. Remember to save often.

Lonnie

This is my very first go at using Carrara and it has taken most of the day to get this far.

The scene is Howie Farkes Country Lane Hedgerow and the car is petipets Grand Prix Car 1926.

I want to add a character to the scene either driving or standing beside the car and change the shaders a bit so it is going to take a while to finish as I have to learn how to do all these things. Really looking forward to getting into it again tomorrow.

Any tips tricks or advice are most welcome.

Good start bluemoon...since you are trying to a do realistic image may I suggest getting some slughtly blurred reflection on the chrome and body work oh and some not so blurred refelection on the glass.

But you may be intending to postwork this image so forget what I said above.

Szark - 17 November 2012 07:55 AM

Good start bluemoon...since you are trying to a do realistic image may I suggest getting some slughtly blurred reflection on the chrome and body work oh and some not so blurred refelection on the glass.

But you may be intending to postwork this image so forget what I said above.

Thanks for the quick reply Szark, Thats my plan for tomorrow or is it later on today (1am Sunday here). I want to work an the surfaces to make the paint and metal shinier and the rubber and fabric less shiny.

HI bluemoon

Nice pic.

In carrara, you could add a little bit of Reflection to the body paint,. which will make it look better.
I'd also reduce the Highlight and Shininess values on the wheels to make them less plastic shiny.

One thing which may speed thing up for you is ,.
Hiding all the objects for "country lane",. and adding a Plane primitive with a Shadow catcher shader,. where the car and figure will be.

Hiding complex objects or replicators will allow you to work faster and move the camera around more easily,.

Carrara has a special "Shadow catcher" shader, which you can apply to the Plane,. and it'll catch the shadows of the car, in the image, but allow any background to be seen through it,.
this is used when you're compositing an image in a photo editor or video editor, and it makes the process faster and easier.

Example:
You would render out an image of the Country lane,.(without the car and figure) then hide or delete all of that scene, to leave the car and figure, which will render faster without all the trees and plants,.. then combine both images.

Hope that makes sense.

If you need any help in the shader room, or anywhere else, ...just let me know,.

this example is using a photo as a backdrop image, and a shadow catcher shader on a plane, to catch the shadows from the pick up truck.

Thanks 3DAGE, I hope to get close to the same sort of reflections as on the vehicle in your image

Just worked out how to hide things in the scene and had a look at the Shader Room. I am having a guess that the highlight colour is the specular. Will have a play around and post the result/questions later on today.

gorgeous image Bluemoon, you have done far better with Carrara than I ever have, bravo. I think 3Dage's suggestions are right on the money. Excited to see how this turns out

Thanks LycanthropeX, I have found some tutorials to help me along at Carrara Lounge Tutorials on YouTube. There is one on using the Shadow Catcher 3DAGE mentioned which I will look at later, at the moment I am working through the tutes to fix Poser content shaders for Carrara.

Having a bit of trouble getting the metal and glass looking how I want but overall happy with the progress.