Digital Art Zone

Hello!

I am looking for backgrounds to add to my renders (in post processing). Sometimes a single color or a sky is simply not enough.
Mostly for outdoor scenes, or scenes with open windows or doors. I would like to add a mountain view, rocks, sea, a wood,...

All I can find are wallpapers and images which are real world pictures. But these look very odd with a rendered scene.
Does anyone know where to get background images that look good with rendered scenes?

The Millennium Environment has plenty of add-on backgrounds - various locales

http://www.daz3d.com/shop/catalogsearch/result/?q=Millennium+Environment&x=11&y=9

DAZ the store, normally doesn’t carry all that many backgrounds.  Your best bet to shop for backgrounds are Renderosity and RuntimeDNA.  I’ve gotten tons of backgrounds from them.

I use rendo a lot for backgrounds. I agree that I don’t find ‘real world’ pictures have the look I want for renders in 3d.

My favorites at rendo are Winter Landscapes, West of the Moon/East of the Moon, and several regular cloud sets. I put them on my wishlist and wait for the sales.

I do wish Daz carried more backdrops, since their return policy is more agreeable than other stores, and sometimes with small pictures of backgrounds they can look quite different larger

I have bought some dud texture sets too. I don’t like ones that look dated- like the trees or such, do not match the quality of the model. Some of the sets for sale are expensive and have that dated look.

Also, finding them can be a challenge. I’m still looking for some good city scenes.

HoboBo has LOTS of free backgrounds and texture images over at sharecg.com

http://www.sharecg.com/pf/full_uploads.php?pf_user_name=hobobo&PSID=0c8016595f342358e3ce650bc368f2c2

Similar the Millennium environment/multiplane cyclorama, is RuntimeDNA’s Infinity Cove…. It’s a plane, a morphing ground with water (that you can turn on or off) or just use the background, or use the pictures from the background without the plane) and it has matching ground textures.  Best of all, most of them are on sale right now at Runtime DNA…. it’s their annual November Sale—Everything older than a year is 50%, 60%, or 70% off!  I love how easy it is to use them and there wasn’t that much support or add ons for the multiplane millennium environment here, sadly. 

http://www.runtimedna.com/IC3/

Wonderful set.

they have other more complex sets too like terradome but i like Infinity Cove (Infinity cove 2 and Infinity cove 3 products work just fine on each other) best for its ease of use.

Good luck! A great background is often what makes the characters glow.

Thank you all for your answers and suggestions. I´m sure I will find something good.

belovedalia - 13 November 2012 11:25 PM

Similar the Millennium environment/multiplane cyclorama, is RuntimeDNA’s Infinity Cove…. It’s a plane, a morphing ground with water (that you can turn on or off) or just use the background, or use the pictures from the background without the plane) and it has matching ground textures.  Best of all, most of them are on sale right now at Runtime DNA…. it’s their annual November Sale—Everything older than a year is 50%, 60%, or 70% off!  I love how easy it is to use them and there wasn’t that much support or add ons for the multiplane millennium environment here, sadly. 

http://www.runtimedna.com/IC3/

Wonderful set.

they have other more complex sets too like terradome but i like Infinity Cove (Infinity cove 2 and Infinity cove 3 products work just fine on each other) best for its ease of use.

Good luck! A great background is often what makes the characters glow.

Infinity Cove sounds interesting (especially when it is now on sale). But does it work OK in DAZ Studio, or is it rather for Poser?

XoechZ - 13 November 2012 09:09 PM

All I can find are wallpapers and images which are real world pictures. But these look very odd with a rendered scene.  Does anyone know where to get background images that look good with rendered scenes?

Undoubtedly not what you’re looking for, but to get a background landscape jpg that’s just what you’re looking for you might consider making it in Bryce and then using the render in DAZStudio (or Poser).  That’s what I did to make the free skies in my sunshine/skysphere tutorial.

Bryce is currently free, comes with starter content useful for quick ramp-up, and has an extremely helpful community of users.

Hm, yes, I also thought about Bryce. As it´s free I think it´s worth trying. Thanks.

Proxima Shining - 14 November 2012 08:50 AM

Infinity Cove sounds interesting (especially when it is now on sale). But does it work OK in DAZ Studio, or is it rather for Poser?

It should work in DAZ Studio.  It’s basically just a prop with a “ground” and a semicircular background, mapped to take images well.  I think the newest version has morph injections so you can make hills and stuff in the ground, but DS should be able to handle that. 

One thing to be careful about: there are three versions of the Infinity Cove.  I think only 2 and 3 are still in the store.  They do not share textures, so if you buy add-ons, make sure they are for the version you have.

Also, the $5 texture packs are probably Real Deals, and will periodically go on sale for $2.50 if you can wait.

For the IC, like most any primarily Poser product, you’ll need to play with the surface settings to get things the way you want them.

And for most of these type things (MpC, IC and so on), they tend to look their best when using a bit of ‘depth of field’ on the camera.