Digital Art Zone

After several years of just fiddling with DAZ Studio and Poser I think it’s about time to hit that ‘Render’ button for real, and see what other people think.

But first, the two pictures I’ve already uploaded elsewhere because I thought they were good pictures (not perfect, just good).

Constructive criticism is always very welcome.

So here’s the first of the two - “Terracotta Samurai” (uploaded to ShareCG and Renderosity)

No postwork except composition (i.e. adding background and titles). Rendered in Poser 6 using:
- “Michael 3” by DAZ
- “M3 Normans Outfit” by Lourdes at ShareCG
- Katana from “Katana set for M3” by Arki at RuntimeDNA
- “Samurai Helmet for Poser” by Daramski at ShareCG
- Mail textures from my “Tileable Mail Textures 3-6 (Kusari)” at ShareCG
(The Norman Kite Shield is a prop I’m working on - there’s currently no back or straps to it!)
(The rising sun texture for the shield, and the terracotta textures for the clothing and helmet are ones I created specifically for this render)

And the second (the source for my current avatar - “Siam Sunset” (uploaded to Renderosity)

No postwork. Rendered in Poser 6 using:
- M3 (DAZ)
- Vietcong Tuong and Vietcong Hong morphs and textures for M3 (Vanishing Point)
- M3 Norman Outfit pants (Lourdes)
- V4.2 with Morphs++ (DAZ)
- Kaileena for PBIV for V4 - texture and outfit (Pretty3D)
- Fantasy Warrior Hair (Pretty3D)
- Morphing ground prop (Porsimo)
- Dha and Chedi (my own freebies)
(The shields and helmet are freebies I’m still trying to get right!)

And now one I’ve just done today - “Yaak” (uploaded to DeviantArt, Renderosity, and ShareCG)

No postwork except composition (i.e. adding background and titles). Rendered in DAZ Studio 3 Advanced using:
- The FREAK (from DAZ3D)
- Shackles and loincloth (from DAZ3D)
- Sword and shield (my own freebies)

3dcheapskate - 17 November 2012 07:32 AM

And now one I’ve just done today - “Yaak” (uploaded to DeviantArt, Renderosity, and ShareCG)

No postwork except composition (i.e. adding background and titles). Rendered in DAZ Studio 3 Advanced using:
- The FREAK (from DAZ3D)
- Shackles and loincloth (from DAZ3D)
- Sword and shield (my own freebies)

like this one

ยักษ์โกรธ ‘Yak Grot’ (Angry Giant)

‘Single Combat’

Trying to inject a little action into the renders now but something’s not quite right I think?  My yak seems to be floating rather than leaping…

DAZ Studio 3 again, using some Mytilus and Pretty3D stuff from Renderosity (‘Action Poses’  building and Fantasy Warrior Hair)

‘Skulking Yak’
Just found a render that I’d somehow accidentally saved while working on ideas for the previous image. I quite like it.

“A Small Request”

My first attempt at a comic-strip style…

...and a little teaser for a simple addition that’ll make my ‘PropGoto+’ script useable with other props.

I like it.. web comics are always fun

Here Miss, Let Me Help You…

I think this one should definitely be part of a sequence… (thanks Ivy, you inspired me!)

This is a crop from the original render, which I did to fit my desktop at 1366x768, but I’m not sure whether the crop improves it?  Reduced version of the uncropped image below the main image.

I’m no expert, but I think my lighting is improving? Four infinite lights here, all with AO on at default settings, only one with shadows (raytraced with a moderate blur radius)
- Two at the same position upper right front, one to cast shadows, the other without (so the shadows aren’t too dark - I find this is a nice way to control shadows, balancing the intensity between these two).
- One lower left front, no shadows, to give some light to the un-illuminated areas, and another upper left front to do the same.

[size=1]Poser 9 render (no postwork - although the guy’s shoulders really could do with some).
- Behemoth, F202 Dollie (including hair and bikini) all freebies picked up over the past few years.
- I used the V3 remap of F202 Dollie and used the V3RR texture (picked up here at DAZ when V3RR was free)
- Background is one of the tropical textures for the DAZ multiplane cyclorama, picked up in a 99¢ sale here at DAZ by my PC alter-ego (I got the DAZ environments and most of their textures like that)
- Water jar, lid, and scoop are un-UV-mapped models I made and forgot about. Just applied some simple procedural textures (clay for the clay pot, turbulence for the wooden lid, and granite(!) for the coconut scoop). I think I’ll tidy those up and release them as a freebie.[/size

Here Miss, Let Me Help You… (Part 2)

Ancient Warrior

Figure is M3 (with a mixture of Vanishing Point’s Viet Cong character morphs and textures plus some material room fiddling). Sword, shield and helmet are my own (first two are released freebies, helmet’s a WIP). He’s overlaid on one of my photos (Prasat Hin Phanom Rung in Thailand). I’m really pleased with the way the shield looks - well worth the time and effort I put into it! The mesh and UV-mapping of the helmet’s chinstrap need a lot more work - as I said, it’s a WIP But the sword - hmmm…. there’s something wrong with the textures on the released model. I’ll need to look into that.

I’m playing with DIY environment maps and IBL light probes at the moment - just posted some test environment/light probe images in the Freepozitory here.To create each environment map/light probe pair I create a simple world in Terragen Classic and render six 90° FOV images (up/down, left/right, back/front), arrange them into a vertical cross cubemap in GIMP, and convert the cubemap to an equirectangular map (for environments) and an angular map (for light probes) in HDRShop. Easy, and with totally free software.

I’m using the environment maps/light probes from post #5 and 6 in these Poser 6 renders. The lat/long map is applied to my own environment sphere, and also as a reflection map for the shiny ball. The angular map is used for a Diffuse IBL light, no AO. I’ve also got a second light for sun shadows. The light intenstities are roughly 50% each for diffuse IBL and infinte light, adjusted to suit each image.

It’s obvious that the resolution for the environment map that I mapped onto the inside of an environment sphere needs to be better a better quality JPG and/or a higher resolution image.