Digital Art Zone

JoeMamma2000 - 27 November 2012 03:59 PM

araneldon - 27 November 2012 12:52 PM

So now suggesting that A is not better than B is tantamount to hating A.

That’s some mighty interesting logic

Didn’t someone recently say that “Most people here can take criticism just fine…....” ?

Oh, wait…

I guess it all hinges on your definition of “better”...?

A single program, easier setup, no intermediate files, and a faster render…. YES that would be *my* definition of better.

But I didn’t actually say Carrara was “better” I just said “try doing that in DS or Poser….” Really, this is not controversial.

Here’s one I still consider a WIP. Haven’t had much Carrara time lately.

evilproducer - 29 November 2012 11:29 AM

Here’s one I still consider a WIP. Haven’t had much Carrara time lately.

Very nice. This is one of the render types I hope to do some day but haven’t figured out how to put in a planet, nebula or stars yet! Well, I figure the planet is probably a large sphere with a texture/shader on it. That’s 1.

It looks awesome, I particularly like the lights on the ship which if you’ve read my other thread you know is something I’ve been playing with.

Riggswolfe - 29 November 2012 01:31 PM

evilproducer - 29 November 2012 11:29 AM

Here’s one I still consider a WIP. Haven’t had much Carrara time lately.

Very nice. This is one of the render types I hope to do some day but haven’t figured out how to put in a planet, nebula or stars yet! Well, I figure the planet is probably a large sphere with a texture/shader on it. That’s 1.

It looks awesome, I particularly like the lights on the ship which if you’ve read my other thread you know is something I’ve been playing with.

Thanks! The planet is actually three spheres. One with the surface texture (which was from the link below), the second with a cloud map (again from link bekow) and the third is a sphere with alpha enabled at 98% and with a light blue in the glow channel with the 3D aura applied. The ring of asteroids is a simple torus. I made some asteroids in the Meta ball modeler and used a surface replicator to replicate them onto the torus.

The star field is a hi-res version of the Tycho Star map. I originally got it from NASA’s site, but I can’t find the bookmark. You might be able to search for it. If not, PM me and may be able to help you out.

This link may be of some use to you, it’s a bunch of earth maps that you can use to build your own Earth shaders:
http://www.oera.net/How2/TextureMaps2.htm

Very cool evilproducer. I still don’t know how to actually add the star field in. In Daz I’d either set it as a backdrop through the edit menu or stick it on a large plane behind the objects I’m rendering depending on the situation. I assume Cararra has a similar ability.

Oops! Sorry! I mean to post a screen shot. If you select scene from the Instances panel you should see Effects above it. From there you can select any number of scene effects/options.

The Background will wrap all the way around the scene. You can use images, but if they aren’t spherical, you’ll get a line where Carrara joins them. You can tile images. This is also where you would use an HDRI if you want. Whatever you use for a Background will be reflected in any object that has reflection.

A note about HDRIs and the scene’s Background: If you want the light effect of an HDRI then you need to have Skylight enabled in the render room. If you want to use an HDRI, but not have it show up, use the Backdrop option to hide it, or use the Rennder Alpha Channel option in the Render Room. Don’t use the Pre-multiplied Alpha or it will show up. The Skylight will use whatever you have in the Backgound channel as a light source. Color, image map, HDRI, etc. The HDRI will be more dynamic. Skylight will also use the Realistic Sky which is under Atmosphere to generate lighting as well.

The Backdrop will only fill the window. To avoid distortion with the Backdrop, make sure that whatever image you use is the same aspect ratio as the final render. Images or colors or whatever in the Backdrop will not reflect in your scene objects. As mentioned above, you can use the Backdrop to mask out the Background, but if you use an image in the Backdrop in conjunction with a Realistic Sky under Atmosphere, the Backdrop will appear behind the atmosphere. Great for sci-fi scenes where you want a planet behind clouds and haze poking above the horizon.

You have no idea how useful this post is to me! I just copied the whole thing down, stuck it in a document and added it to a folder I have for Cararra information I’m gathering. Thank you so much!

I should have also added that you can display your backdrop in the Assembly Room by using the Interactive Renderer. With a Map (or whatever you want) chosen as the backdrop, click on the little circle with up arrow icon at the top of the Assembly Room’s window and it will open a dialogue where you can set many of the display options (will have no effect on render settings in the render room at all.) Check the Show Backdrop box, and when you click the Okay button and exit the dialogue it will display the backdrop in the frame.

I Should also add that if the assembly room is acting sluggish, you can lower the Texture Map size or disable transparency. If you’re having trouble with light positioning, you can choose to use the scene lights, etc. Scene lights really only works well with standard lights like Spot, Bulb, Distant, etc. Doesn’t work well with (in my experience) Anything Glows or the shape lights. Again, this will only effect the display- Not the final render. These settings are scene specific, so if you create another scene they will return to their defaults.

Thanks for this. It’s been added to the document I made with your tips about doing backgrounds.

JoeMamma2000 - 27 November 2012 03:59 PM

araneldon - 27 November 2012 12:52 PM

So now suggesting that A is not better than B is tantamount to hating A.

That’s some mighty interesting logic

Didn’t someone recently say that “Most people here can take criticism just fine…....” ?

Oh, wait…

I said “most people” which isn’t synonymous with “everyone”. English isn’t my native language; what’s your excuse?

Hi Everybody,
This is my first time posting here. I’ve had Carrara for a while, but haven’t used it all that much so I’m trying to learn more. Here’s one using that great Country Lane 2 set, then postworking the heck out of it. Honestly, the postwork is a result of me not being not being happy with the lighting of the character and not knowing how to get what I want. Thanks for looking!

dievans - 01 December 2012 12:28 PM

Hi Everybody,
This is my first time posting here. I’ve had Carrara for a while, but haven’t used it all that much so I’m trying to learn more. Here’s one using that great Country Lane 2 set, then postworking the heck out of it. Honestly, the postwork is a result of me not being not being happy with the lighting of the character and not knowing how to get what I want. Thanks for looking!

That looks AMAZING! Great results whatever the method!

dievans - 01 December 2012 12:28 PM

Hi Everybody,
This is my first time posting here. I’ve had Carrara for a while, but haven’t used it all that much so I’m trying to learn more. Here’s one using that great Country Lane 2 set, then postworking the heck out of it. Honestly, the postwork is a result of me not being not being happy with the lighting of the character and not knowing how to get what I want. Thanks for looking!

Very nice!
What method did you use to create the impressionistic style? Did you go over it by hand? It looks much better than what you might get from a Photoshop filter.

Thanks Holly and Dean! I used a little program for the Mac called Autopainter Express. There are only four settings (I used Benson), and it’s stupid easy to use. Seriously, it’s the closest thing to having a ‘Make Art’ button I’ve ever seen. The results are quite nice though.

Very nice effect and a great job. What was it you didn’t like about the lighting?