Movie Set Theme Survey [COMMERCIAL-ISH™]
Collective3d
Posts: 446
in The Commons
Spurring off a discussion in another thread, and referencing back to a longer thread I ran a while back, I am curious what sort of "theme" is most useful to the average forum denizen. So I decided to create a straw poll to help me decide which of the thousand or so partially completed sets I'll go to work on next. You can cast your vote at the following link, and you can choose multiple different answers. Thanks to everyone who participates!
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Voted! More movie sets are always great. I'm rendering a wide variety of things, especially for two entirely different book series (covers, promos, website stuff, etc.) Both are modern, one is rural, the other urban fantasy and fantasy. And I can't resist a good historical or sci-fi set either, LOL.
Good deal so far. I am seeing that folks appear to value interior and exterior sets equally, and that most seem to like turn of the century to modern stuff the best.
Keep those votes coming!
Voted! Love your stuff!
Thanks! Although, this isn't a butt-kissing contest
I appreciate the vote! Everybody benefits if I know what to focus on!
Well there is actually a wide variety of architectures that could be considered turn of the century. In the state where I live it is common to see old limestone fences like is on that TV show 'Last of the Summer Wine' but I think that sort of set might of been made already in the DAZ Store and those are probably really much older in origin than turn of the century. In my state the only date from 1800 onwards and mostly after 1840. Maybe beach towns in Florida because of the tourism boom with railways or Maine or lots and lots of places you see turn of the century styles still yet. No sure how many early 1900th photos are available of backwater places like Florida then though. It will be interesting to see what you windup making.
When you're talking about American turn of the century to WWII style architecture, you're primarily looking at Victorian, Queen Anne revival, American Arts and Crafts, and the like. Cape Cods, Victorians with turrets, foursquares ("prairie boxes"), California Bungalows, and an odd assortment of other styles co-opted by the Arts and Crafts movement, like various colonial designs. You also have cross-gabled houses, cape colonials, etc. Interiors tend to be either very formal (Queen Anne or Victorian) or very plain and workman-like (arts and crafts). Plain flat baseboards, possibly chair rails with or without wainscot, picture rails, possibly crown moldings. Bare wood floors, sometimes hardwood, sometimes pine. Hand-turned posts. Slate roofs, wood clapboard or scalloped shingle siding. Arts and crafts style uses built-in shelves, cabinets, and benches a lot (see Modern Home Deluxe and Movie Sets Haunted Interior).
A lot of late 19th Century to WWII architecture is still around, even private residences. The house I live in now is just about 100 years old and it's in a regular suburb among 1950s tract houses. The Arts and Crafts style is also going through a bit of a revival right now, in place of the McMansion style houses of the early 2000s. A lot of the home renovation shows are also focusing on rehabilitating these old kit houses (although usually knocking down the interior walls to create more open, modern floorplans, which I think is a disgrace).
So yeah, I'm kind of interested in seeing what I wind up making, too :)
I'm always looking out for complimentary interior/exterior sets. It can be very hard with such differing PA styles to keep a cohesive look going.
I live in a 150 year old farm house as a kid for a while & they are fun to live in although in need of rebuilding, rewiring, and replumbing with modern technology for safety reasons. We used a coal stove to heat the kitchen, lol, well to heat about a 5 foot around around the coal stove is all really when it got really cold.
Anyway, I really like the Art Deco and South Beach interior styles that are in the DAZ Store and would like to see an exterior set done of South Miami Beach with all that neon. But I think that must be 1950s, at least the neon signage.
Oh well, there are always future products with so many interesting places.
The Art Deco/Noir style kind of falls into the cracks between genres, but it's an interesting idea. It makes me think of Michael Mann movies with all the neon at night and the camera open an extra stop so everything is really vibrant and glowing.
Honestly, what I would like to see is "slices of life" from other countries.
Most of the exterior content from the shop is very USA specific, with the occasional UK and Japanese/Chinese style. It starts with small things, like your plain street set with road markings. You often can tell simply by the type of sidewalk that is used, in what region of the world you are. Traffic direction is different depending on where you are.
House styles vary quite a lot. Here in Europe, when you cross the borders, the housing styles are vastly different in each country. Industrial areas look different, depending on the country you want to portray.
The same goes for electrical stuff, like plugs and sockets. There are reasons why you need conversion kits, but if a house/room/appliance has a plug or sockets, chances are it is US/UK style with three nodes. It would break continuity if I had these plucks&sockets in a story that is set in Germany, for example, so I either have to hide the detail, or kitbash around it.
Of course, I understand that I'm most likely a minority, and most people probably don't really care for such things, or what is sold suits their settings.
True, but everyone appreciates a little smooch every once in a while.
I'm just trying to butter you up to make your stuff with 3Delight mats. I'm starting to fully pass on Iray-only items and I'd hate to miss out on your products! *wink-wink-nudge-nudge*
All the Portrait Vignettes are Iray/3Delight. There are, I think, about 7 new ones in the hopper right now waiting for release.
!!!! Yowzers! Better clear up my credit card! haha
Yeah, I've been busy, lol.
I'd love to see more American Foursquares.They are an iconic part of the Midwest. I live in one that's over a hundred years old. The plot of my first novel takes place around an American Foursquare that is hit by a tornado and rebuilt. I'd still love to render those scenes some day, but haven't found the right model. There are a few 3D farmhouses on the market, mostly older sets which can be reshaded, but it would be nice to see some newer ones. I don't know how well they sell though.
I would also love to see a new model for a gothic style house. I'm looking for an old mansion along the lines of "The Addams Family" for a project next year. I have the haunted houses from here and Rendo, which might work. More options are always welcome!
I have requested more than a few times for a PA to make a modern day Japanese Fishing village , with a working dock. where the fishermen sell their stuff they bring in off their boats. I have a few Karate girl adventure storys I would love to make But kit bashing such a set has not really given me what I needed . So if anyone ever made a Japanese fishing village. it would be a Instant Buy from me..:
Thank you Collective3d for asking us what our desires needs for a model set . it very refreshing and appreciated.
I do have a full interior-exterior foursquare available at a different vendor, but in my opinion it's not very good, and I don't own the rights to it, so I can't really re-do it with new textures and shaders. I recycled the facade of that house, with some changes, into the Haunted Exterior here at Daz.
The Addams Family house is a straight up Queen Anne Victorian, I believe (I'd have to double check it). I have been planning for a while to do a house like the one in that Edward Hopper painting, the one that the house in Psycho is based on, but have never gotten around to it.
I've seen you mention this before, primarily in one of my other similar threads, and it's something I'd really love to do, but I'm afraid the market for it would be too narrow for the amount of time it would take to build. I could be wrong. But my own style tends to lend itself primarily to American architecture of the 20th century. I don't even know if I could do justice to a Japanese village.
Collective3D, I may have the farmhouse you're talking about. I remember it being a pretty good set. I bought a bunch of stuff a year ago when I first started in 3D and had no idea what I was doing. I was trying to make the house look older by retexturing but was struggling because I was so new at everything . Time to try again now that I've learned my way around everything better. I'll take a look at your haunted exterior. I don't think I have that one.
I'd love to know if you end up doing a Queen Victoria. I could definitely use it. Architecture is a huge theme in my Midwest series, which centers around a family that rebuilds and restores homes. In the next book, they're taking on an infamous old (Addams Family type) mansion with plenty of problems and a dark history. It's going to be fun. Hoping to find a suitable one to put in the background of the book cover and for the promos. I'd prefer to do it in 3D instead of using stock photos because you get so much more mileage out of 3D. I love the versatility. Release date for that book is some time this spring but that may get pushed back as everything is taking an eternity right now.
Midwest you're going to find a TON of American Arts and Crafts houses... Foursquares, cross-gabled farmhouses, things like that.
Here's the Edward Hopper "House By the Railroad" that I've been inspired by for quite a while without really getting off my ass long enough to actually make it.
I so second that!
I understand where you are comig from. it is a rather specialized Item. So I would not know if a Japanese fishing village is something or anything like that would sell or not either in the store . But unforunetly its something i have a real need for using in my animation series.and can not seem to build or kit bas together well enough for my needs..Well maybe someday one may show up in the store. I apprecaite the reply
Off topic but we have to come up with a new expression for the late 19th to early 20th century. "Turn of the century" seems old hat now that we're almost 17 years into a completely different century from those two!
Yeah, us old folks still haven't gotten used to living in the Jetsons. The Waltons is more our speed.
Love it! Yes, that's what I'm looking for, and can certainly use the others you mentioned as well. I love architecture and try to find excuses to sneak it into my writing (and renders!) LOL.
Quite a few of those style houses like that in downtown Lexington, Kentucky and most have been renovated by now. For a while, you couldn't give those houses away.
A lot of the downtown areas west of the Appalachians and east of the Rockies are filled with bungalows from that era. Say, 1900 to 1945, with a lot of them built in the 20s. And a helping of oddballs like that one in the Hopper painting. Rural areas, especially on the plains, you'll find a lot of old Foursquares like this one. Then more bungalows, usually built with a lot of rock and timber, on the west coast, especially nothern California, Oregon, and Washington.
By the late 40s and early 50s you were starting to see smaller prefab ranches and bungalows built in tracts, with clapboard or brick, and really not much difference from house to house.
G'Night Johnboy... G'night Elizabeth...
*cue the harmonica...*
Here is my 100 year old farmhouse- my "Not-So-Little-House-on-the-Prairie," built in 1916. I think it was an altered Sears and Roebuck kit. It has 5 bedrooms instead of the standard four. The woodwork is identical to the American Foursquare kits sold around that time. It took a while to find one in good condition on some land for a good price. This one needs some love because of age but is in terrific shape. It sits on a stone foundation and 5 acres. Enough to play and do the hobby farm thing. The chicken coop was built from an old design to match the house and the detached garage. Nearby is an old brick oven that was part of some kind of summer kitchen at one time. The little people below were not included. I had to "render" them myself!
I now have coffee on my keyboard... thanks.
LOL Sorry, I can't help it. I write comedy!