Any tips on how to make a character portrait like this (Final Fantasy-like)?

Richard John S

I've been trying all night, but I just can't seem to get the same results as SE's Final Fantasy XV character portraits. Is there any specific character models I should buy or any particular lights I should? Are there any iray setting I should adjust? Below is an example of what I'm trying to do. I love the overall style of this.

EDIT: I am using iray.

KA1

Character models will be subjective to your own vision and also depend on the generation you want to use. There is a character designed with Chinese mmorpg influence which might be good to add to your morph pool if you are using G3F (I'll ad the character link in a mo) Lighting gas a lot of options in store, I've always found http://www.daz3d.com/inaneglory-s-photo-studio-point-and-shoot-iray very useful so worth a look there. Edit - http://www.daz3d.com/hp-avari-with-spells-for-izabella-7

Richard John S

Thank you for the help, KA1, I'll take a look at those.

Tobor

Much of this is in the lighting. You might want to take a look at the recent Colm Jackson Iray light packages, such as Pro Studio HDR. There aren't any actual "lights" in this package; it's all done with HDR images that include light sources. This tends to produce more realistic results, while also offering a great deal of variation. Pretty easy to use. 

You don't mention which renderer you are using, but given your example, it would be more easily reproduced in Iray. But if you're using 3Delight, be aware lighting setups are different between the two.

Redz

+1 on Colm Jackson's recent Iray sets. The high-key set, with its render-ready presets might suit well for this render style. 

Richard John S

Sorry guys, I forgot to mention the render. I am using iray. Thanks for the tips. Also, does the high key lights render somewhat fast, similar to other photometric light libraries? I tried mesh lights once and i couldn't use them because they just rendered so slowely. I've been using HDRI images and photometric light.

Tobor

Of all the light sources in Iray, HDRi's tend to render the fastest, *all things considered*. There can still be things that make a slower render, such as deep shadows caused by rim lighting. This is the nature of how Iray works when calculating pixel convergence.

One thing about this particular set from Colm is that the HDR images are "plain," meaning they are composed of grayscape backgrounds with high brightness areas for the light. As such, they won't produce interesting or colorful reflections in things like the chrome on a car. As a lighting solution mainly created for human subjects, this isn't a big negative, but I thought I'd mention it. It all depends on what you're rendering.

Richard John S

Well, I purchased the lights, but they seem to run very slow. :( I did two tests, one with the hi-key lights and one with my own custom HDRI mixed with shadow study lights. They were both rendered for five minutes before I stopped. How long does it usally take you guys to do a render using the h-key lights? The clearer image is the one with the custom HDRI and shadow study lights.

Tobor

Your custom HDRi makes for the less realistic but more interesting render (IMO), but these are really two very different lighting styles. The high key version shows more highlighting and detail, so it will naturally take longer. Just her eyes alone have more detail in the high-key version. The lips have more complex highlighting, etc.

For a more accurate test, render the base model only (no hair oir clothes, especially something with bright highlights). 

 

Richard John S

I agree, the H-key does look better and smoother, and in the eyes as well. I guess I'm just gonna have to be a little more patient. They are good lights, I did another test with M6 with only shorts. I wish I had a proper motherboard so I could get another GTX 970 in there.

Well, I purchased the lights, but they seem to run very slow. :( I did two tests, one with the hi-key lights and one with my own custom HDRI mixed with shadow play lights. They were both rendered for five minutes before I stopped. How long does it usally take you guys to do a render using the h-key lights?

Tobor said:

Your custom HDRi makes for the less realistic but more interesting render (IMO), but these are really two very different lighting styles. The high key version shows more highlighting and detail, so it will naturally take longer. Just her eyes alone have more detail in the high-key version. The lips have more complex highlighting, etc.

For a more accurate test, render the base model only (no hair oir clothes, especially something with bright highlights). 

 

 

nicstt

Rendering is resource intensive; if you move away from HDRI then times can get long even on what many consider a powerful computer. To give idea of what I mean: a powerful games computer - when used for rendering - is only ever adequate. Lots of cores are requred. Depending on rendering medium, that is either via graphics card or CPU cores, and invariably both, as more CPU cores are needed to support more graphics cards.

Thor

Richard John S said:

I've been trying all night, but I just can't seem to get the same results as SE's Final Fantasy XV character portraits. Is there any specific character models I should buy or any particular lights I should?

For character models, I would think that Aiko would be the obvious choice for FF type stuff.