Just started, have some newbiew questions on the render I made. :)
Hi All,
Here is the render I made recently. I'm just trying to get the hang on setting properties, managing cameras, lights, rendering, etc. Could you please give me some feedback, and answer some questions for me?
Thanks!
Q: Does any newbie mistakes jump out at you? Anything I didn't think about?
Q: Is there an unusual amount of grainyness in my image? I kinda felt there is, but I'm not sure. If so, how should I fix it?
Q: How's the lighting? I used a 3 distant lights setup.
Q: Is there any skin or clothes material I should consider using? I just used the model as is, without applying any materials.
Q: The render took about 2.5 minutes. I've read others saying that some renders took hours. This makes me think there are key steps that I probably missed. Is there anything I missed that might increase the quality of this image?
Q: maybe related to the last question, can I get a higher resolution? The current image is 3840 x 2160. If I zoom into the eye, I lose a lot of detail. Do I need to increase the resolution, or maybe set something to get more detail out of the same resolution?
edited to adjust image display size
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Comments
The composition could do with work - there's a lot of empty space to the sides but it's cropped very tight top and bottom. You can use different proportions in the Editor tab of Render Settings, assuming you aren't using the Active Viewport preset, by turning off the Constrain Proportions button (or just pick a different preset from the list). The tonal range is also a bit limited - possibly a reflection of the Tone Mapping settings, possibly the lighting, or a mix of both. You need to decide what mood you want to convey, and what the focus of the image is meant to be.
2.5 minutes sounds like a decent time. Its a single, clothed character outdoors, so it should render quickly. If it was multiple characters with clothes plus body armor or animals with fur, or inddors, there would be a lot more stuff for light rays to bounce off of and render time would go up.
The ground near her feet is showing a reflection which is a bit distracting. If you go to the surfaces tab, you can select that surface and turn glossiness down. As far as the image quality, you could crank up the resolution, but I don't think it will make a huge difference. You'll get the best bang for your buck by changing the lighting to match the mood you're trying to convey; like using soft blurry lighting for sentimental type scenes, or harsh, sharp lighting to make a character seem more intimidating. Oops, I just realized I'm stepping on Richard's comment about lighting, but it is important. Anyway, it looks like you're off to a good start.
I agree with Richard on composition and the focus of the image. I would add some props or scenery around the figure, give her something to do and something to interact with. Think about the camera angle as well. If you use a lower angle you could include the sky and some distant scenery
2.5 minutes would be very fast for an Iray render on my computer and you have much less grainyness than I usually manage. Iray speed is very dependent on your graphics card, mine is a GTX 1050 Ti which isn't very powerful. If you have a better graphics card then it will render a lot faster.
For lights I tend to use spotlights more than distant lights, I start with a main light and a fill light and add other fill lights if I think they are needed, When I'm rendering in 3Delight I usually use an ambient light but you don't need these in Iray, and I don't thing they work in Iray anyway. In 3Delight I usually ony set the main light to cast shadows, You don't have this option in Iray but you can use the light geometry to soften the shadows.
Most recent figures and clothes come with very good materials. You can get other materials for most clothes and skin textures for the figures, just use the ones you think look the best. Remember you don't have to use the morphs and materials from the same character as long as they both fit the same Genesis base figure.
Q: Does any newbie mistakes jump out at you? Anything I didn't think about?
I think Richard's comments about the composition cover a lot. It's not "awful" by any means. I've seen much more primative first renders. But the large green space on either side of her makes her look a little isolated. A more verical aspect ratio would help or if you want to have that wide shape, add some plants or boxes or something to fill in the space and not make it feel so empty.
Also her pose is okay. It's balanced and all, but could be a bit more dynamic and interesting.
Q: Is there an unusual amount of grainyness in my image? I kinda felt there is, but I'm not sure. If so, how should I fix it?
Not that I can see really. It's not unusual for an Iray image. See some comments below about lighting which may help with Iray quality as well. You can increase the render quality slider in your render settings which makes Iray be more picky about what "converged" really means. That will also help. For final renders, I often use a setting of 3. I haven't seen very much value going higher than that.
Q: How's the lighting? I used a 3 distant lights setup.
I love the 3 light setup for portait style renders. What I think yours is missing though is more contrast. I will typically use a 100% intensity for my main light and only use about 30-40% for the fill lights. The play of light and shadow works better that way.
Also, Iray quality tends to be better when there is more direct light on your subjects. In your case with an outdoors scene like this is probalby isn't as much of an issue though.
Finally, as Richard suggests the tonal range could be better. If you're comfortable using a 2D program for post work, you can eliminate some of the constraints that Studio puts on the render by default. Personally, I typically go to the Tone mapping and zero out the "Crush Blacks" and "Burn Highlights" settings and change the Gama to 1.0. This will typically create an image that seems too dark, but it has more of a range between the brightest highlights and darkest shadows. Then I use GIMP to adjust the final exposure more to my liking.
Q: Is there any skin or clothes material I should consider using? I just used the model as is, without applying any materials.
I would focus first on understanding composition and lighting. You can have the best made character and textures, but if they aren't presented well, the final image still won't be as good as it could be.
Q: The render took about 2.5 minutes. I've read others saying that some renders took hours. This makes me think there are key steps that I probably missed. Is there anything I missed that might increase the quality of this image?
Actually that sounds about right for an image like this. The multilple hour renders you hear about are often interior scenes that use a lot of indirect light. That's what adds so much time to Iray renders. With a single figure on basically an open plane, that seems appropriate.
Q: maybe related to the last question, can I get a higher resolution? The current image is 3840 x 2160. If I zoom into the eye, I lose a lot of detail. Do I need to increase the resolution, or maybe set something to get more detail out of the same resolution?
Consider the way that people will be viewing this, however. For instance I've found that a LOT of my images are actually viewed on smart phones these days. A 4K resolution would be lost on them. It's okay to create an image with the appropriate resolution for how you expect it to be viewed even if zoomed in it isn't very sharp. If you really want an up close image of her face, make another camera that focuses there and render a second image for it. Trying to make one image/resolution work for all scenarios is more work than you need to do.
Speaking of resolution, one thing that I'm in the habit of for final images it to render larger than I want my final image to be. Let's say I want something that is 1600 x 900 to work as a desktop wallpaper on my computer. I'll render it at 2400 x 1350 and then use GIMP or another tool to shrink it to the final image. The reason I do this is that the process of downsampling the image will often blur / remove some of those irritating noisy spots on an Iray render.
In Summary
You're off to a good start and asking for help and advice is a great way to grow!
Hi All,
Thank you everyone for your responses! I really appreciate the time you spent to give me such detailed responses. They gave me a lot to think on and I'm still experimenting a lot with render settings (went with portrait frame), lights, stage layout, poses, etc.
Also, I'm really impressed with the community here. It's really friendly, and people are really helpful, too. Not only did I get the answers I needed, I also got a better understanding of why that's the answer.
Because of all the support I received here and elsewhere, I decided to really commit to Daz, and signed up for Platinum Club. I also got the Gia 8 pro bundle, because the model really appealed to me. I think this will be most of what I'll need for a while. It came out to like $200, but that's still less than a new camera, so a good investment for a new hobby, I think. :)
Thanks, again! Cheers!