!! Carrara Challenge 44 - Any Element, Not Just the 5th WIP Thread

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  • HeadwaxHeadwax Posts: 9,921
    edited January 2019

    Bummer on the computer Dart - somethings are meant to try us and hopefully makes us better humans ;) 

    Gotta say... I've really been hit with dark thoughts/moods since it started acting up/crashing. I hope I end up becoming a better human after all of this! 

     

    Really terrific to see you back.

    Thanks. It feels really good to be here too! This place is Home to me! ;)

    Fantastic paintings! BTW, I use Aura with Spherical cam, and it works every time - but it doesn't pass through transparency shaders (like if there's aura on a lamp behind a lens, the aura won't work unless the lens is made invisible)

    ah yes last year was sh't for us, but after all a while you just take the crap in your stride and get on with life -

    easier said than done though

    put glow on a fountain and addede aura for this one

    combines depth pass coverage pass material diffus pass on top of a shadow pass - the material diffuse pass is handy for getting back lost textures while postworking

    postwork in photodonut and fortosketcher and layers use overlay parameter quite frequently to get pencil textures

     

     

     

     

    wizardscloseupt_Shadow.jpg
    3000 x 2250 - 6M
    Post edited by Headwax on
  • Bunyip02Bunyip02 Posts: 7,531

    @diomede your mermaid reminded me of the mertail for V3... so time for a kitbash.. smiley

    for fun..

     NaOH + HCl in solution

     

    Classic !!!

  • Bunyip02Bunyip02 Posts: 7,531

    tried other files

    is it about size of file
    maybe jpg will work?

     

    Frost Giant looks great !

  • Bunyip02Bunyip02 Posts: 7,531

    it' size and type from memory

     

    here's a detail from a larger work 'Skeleton Rampage" 

    using foutain and splats with fog rendered onto them and fires

     

     

     

    My pet dog would love all of those bones, nice render !!!

  • Bunyip02Bunyip02 Posts: 7,531
    Vyusur said:

    Some more inspiration

    with English subtitles

    Love the humour !!!

  • Bunyip02Bunyip02 Posts: 7,531

    I had a WIP going last night but, alas... darned computer died in the middle. I fear it may not be able to commit anymore :(

    Bu##er, hope you get that new rig of yours up and running !!!

  • Bunyip02Bunyip02 Posts: 7,531

    same forest , has a cloud primitif for the fog plus cloud renders transmapped onto splats and fountians make some vegetation , if you look carefully there's highlights around some riocks at the waters edge isolated by using a reflection pass - if any questions be glad to explain how; second lot is spherical render -  I see glow aura doesnt work on spherical render

     

     

     

     

     

    Love the third one !!!

  • Bunyip02Bunyip02 Posts: 7,531

    Thanks, Andrew.  Been working to get better at UVs.  Here, I've used the 3D Paint tool in Carrara to paint the tail and I've inserted the ocean primitive with a replicator (grid, not surface) and set the replicator to seamless.

    Looking great, hope you are making progress !!

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,106

    Cool fricken images everyone... Wow! I still haven't been able to investigate this whole thread yet.

    Yo Bunyip02_Carrara, Really (REALLY) nice entries! I love them ALL! Very nice work, my friend! yes

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,106

    Cool, Mystarra!

  • MistaraMistara Posts: 38,675

    Cool, Mystarra!

    tysmiley

  • HeadwaxHeadwax Posts: 9,921

    thank you Bunyip 02 :)

  • HeadwaxHeadwax Posts: 9,921
    edited January 2019

    this one uses three fogs - gives interesting patterns with the swirl parameter - 

     

    twowizards.jpg
    3000 x 2250 - 4M
    Post edited by Headwax on
  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,106
    edited January 2019

    Very cool, HW!

    I'm still trying. Get so far, Save. Work for a little longer... CRASH! But I have that last save, so I persevere. 

    Will get some WIP screenies here soon.

    Using Multi Pass:

    Vector Normals - will be used for subtle displacement of parts of the image in Howler

    Specular - Will be used to enhance/edit the highlight values

    Diffuse - for adding, subtracting, or otherwise editing the color values of certain portions of the image in Howler

    Depth - for isolation masks in Howler

    Shadows - alter hues and values of shadows

    Ambient Occlusion - a final mask edit to the image using Howler

    Main image in Main buffer of Howler with all multi pass in stored image elements on screen, which will be used as Swap images. Filter > Combine with Swap in various ways, using the multi pass information to drive or be the edits. It's really cool.

    Post edited by Dartanbeck on
  • HeadwaxHeadwax Posts: 9,921

    Very cool, HW!

     

    Using Multi Pass:

    Vector Normals - will be used for subtle displacement of parts of the image in Howler

     

    Ambient Occlusion - a final mask edit to the image using Howler

    Main image in Main buffer of Howler with all multi pass in stored image elements on screen, which will be used as Swap images. Filter > Combine with Swap in various ways, using the multi pass information to drive or be the edits. It's really cool.

    thanks Dart

    very interesting your workflow - these bits I left in sound like I need to add them to mine own workflow

     

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,106

    I've been discovering a lot of fun and very effective postwork processes in my absence! :)

  • Bunyip02Bunyip02 Posts: 7,531

    Cool fricken images everyone... Wow! I still haven't been able to investigate this whole thread yet.

    Yo Bunyip02_Carrara, Really (REALLY) nice entries! I love them ALL! Very nice work, my friend! yes

    Thanks Dart

  • Bunyip02Bunyip02 Posts: 7,531

    this one uses three fogs - gives interesting patterns with the swirl parameter - 

     

    That wizard sure gets around - nice render btw !!!

  • HeadwaxHeadwax Posts: 9,921

    Ha ha thanks :)

    Here we continue the 'Adventures of Bruce the Wizard"  - couple of fogs in this one

    Image may contain: one or more people, people standing and outdoor

  • DiomedeDiomede Posts: 15,026

    Thanks for the comments on mine, everyone.  I've missed quite a lot in a short period of time.  I really appreciate the very specific tips and tricks, Dart.  Ambient occlusion, eh?  Looking forward to how you apply the multipass.  It would be fantastic if you could get something in.  I may be using a little Howler in one of my WIPs as well.  On a side note, we have discovered some of the issues causing our building's intermittant WiFi.  There is a lot of construction around us, so we are told to expect things to get worse before they get better - but we are assured that when they get better, it will be supercalifragilisticespialidocious!!!!!!    I hope the good times are not "Daz soon" away.

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,106

    I like to use multipass rendering to help with getting quicker and more accurate selecting of specific parts of the image too. Like Object Index, etc., but Ambient Oclusion pass can be a benefit in this regard as well aside from its more obvious usability as evilproducer points out in a Tasty Occlusion Sammich 

    Specular is a fun one, especially if we're going for "wet", because it can help to really accentuate highlights if they're not blown out in the original render. I've never tried "Shadows" yet, but in the one I'm working on for this, the shadow pass looks realy cool. I'm glad I included it! 

    Time for work - hopefully my PC will hold together for a bit when I get home to work on this.

    Just to be clear: it's okay to composite? With my PC dying so constantly, I've been working on parts of this project as separate 'scenes' to keep the resources (and crashes) to a minimum - to stitch together in the end. Is that allowed? It's okay if it's not. If not, then I'll just still try and include it as a WIP thing here

  • DiomedeDiomede Posts: 15,026

    I like to use multipass rendering to help with getting quicker and more accurate selecting of specific parts of the image too. Like Object Index, etc., but Ambient Oclusion pass can be a benefit in this regard as well aside from its more obvious usability as evilproducer points out in a Tasty Occlusion Sammich 

    Specular is a fun one, especially if we're going for "wet", because it can help to really accentuate highlights if they're not blown out in the original render. I've never tried "Shadows" yet, but in the one I'm working on for this, the shadow pass looks realy cool. I'm glad I included it! 

    Time for work - hopefully my PC will hold together for a bit when I get home to work on this.

    Just to be clear: it's okay to composite? With my PC dying so constantly, I've been working on parts of this project as separate 'scenes' to keep the resources (and crashes) to a minimum - to stitch together in the end. Is that allowed? It's okay if it's not. If not, then I'll just still try and include it as a WIP thing here

    Compositing is allowed.  Everything is allowed, as long as you include either (A) use of a multipass render in some way, or (B) use of {item from list of dropdown menu clouds, fire, etc} in your Carrara scene.  Everything is encouraged!  So, go ahead and make your backround in Howler, or a splat with a Daz Studio render, or a model with Hexagon, or UVMap your model in UVLayout, or sculpt some hair in ZBrush, or paint your model in Substance Painter, or take your Carrara renders into Photoshop for editing, or..., or...   Just at the end of the day, make sure that rendering a Carrara scene is part of your workflow, and discuss in the WIP thread with at least one post.  

     

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,106

    Awesome rules, Diomede!

    You know, I hope that this challenge gets folks (even if not entering the challenge) to try out those elemental primitives.

    I know that it can be easy to avoid things after reading posts of displeasure or disapproval of certain tools and functions. Some folks might prefer Volumetric Clouds over the Fog, Old V-clouds, or CLoud primitive for many reasons. But these other elements still have a place.

    I love the Fog primitive, for example, and it can be set up in many different way to do many different things. We can see it being really nicely used in some of HeadWax's images, and when you see that wispy undulation making it look kind of like cigarette smoke, that's that wonderful Chaos slider. Well, sounds like he's also using swirls, which can also provide a whole new multitude of changes to it.

    It's easy to accidentally get some not-so-great results from any of them, but they can also all be tweaked into amazing effects!

    ...and Multi pass is something that I've left alone for years without actually trying - but always wondering when I should start trying. The funny thing is that they don't require any additional user input aside from selecting them to be made. For animations these different passes can be incredibly powerful and useful in simplifying post work, additional vfx, etc., etc., in other software like AfterEffects, Fusion, HitFilm or whatever composite software one uses. Very neat stuff!

    Setting up Ambient Occlusion is pretty darned simple once we know how. Jeremy Birn describes it nicely in his book. Basically we need to use the Scene Ambient slider at higher levels than normal to 'feed' ambience into the occlusion, and set the radius (Indirect Lighting > Ambient Occlusion Only parameter) to be the height of the main subject. So if I'm rendering just the Dartanbeck character, I'd set the radius to 6.2', for example.

    That's good enough if we want to use simple AO, but if we set it up with better quality in the parameters just below that in the render room, the Ambient Occlusion multi pass option can make for beautiful black and white imagery all on its own without any further editing - even though the most common use is to combine it with the beauty pass (main render) in various ways for further interesting results, like an occlusion sandwich. I love the sketch-like appearance of the AO multi pass.

    Oh shoot... I'm babbling... and I have to go! LOL

  • HeadwaxHeadwax Posts: 9,921
    edited January 2019

    Good luck with the wifi Ted!

     

    hi dart, very interesting, I did some tests a few years ago about ambient occlusion radii and areas where objects join - will try and hunt it down

    out of interest - this video (ten years ago!!) shows animated fog ? 

     

    edit the results were pretty useless :)  https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/comment/395816/#Comment_395816 (ggod fun reading the old posts by JM2000 though!)

    this is interetsing and almost on topic http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/2007/12/albino-frogs-occlusion-shadows.html

    Post edited by Headwax on
  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,106

    I loved that explanation then and I love it now!

     

    just a few posts down, you'll see that I profess my true feelings toward you! LOL

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,106
    edited January 2019

    I'll post the individual passes to show this cool stuff. Results are fun!

    These are just unedited render passes, straight from Carrara

    So, this is the "Beauty pass" (straight render w AO)

    The Ambient Occlusion pass

    Depth pass (always seems to ignore antialiasing)

    Diffuse pass

    Normal Vector pass (always seems to ignore antialiasing)

    Shadows pass

    Specular pass

    Transparency pass

    Suprise01Jaws.jpg
    900 x 1200 - 136K
    Suprise01Jaws_AmbientOcclusion.jpg
    900 x 1200 - 103K
    Suprise01Jaws_Depth.jpg
    900 x 1200 - 81K
    Suprise01Jaws_Diffuse.jpg
    900 x 1200 - 70K
    Post edited by Dartanbeck on
  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,106
    edited January 2019

    What day is it? Okay, I still got a little time.

    Suprise01Jaws_Normal.jpg
    900 x 1200 - 95K
    Suprise01Jaws_Shadow.jpg
    900 x 1200 - 113K
    Suprise01Jaws_Specular.jpg
    900 x 1200 - 31K
    Suprise01Jaws_TransparencyRefraction.jpg
    900 x 1200 - 41K
    Post edited by Dartanbeck on
  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,106
    edited January 2019

    Before I even begin compositing, we should be able to see in our mind's eye how the vertex object saliva strings will benefit greatly from varying combinations of Diffuse, Normal, Specular, and Transparency passes. In the Beauty pass, they don't look like saliva at all, nor do they look wet and stringy... they just don't look like saliva at all!

    ...and while the saliva will benefit greatly from the Normal Vector pass, this pass will do nothing for the skin, which will look much better with some enhancements from AO, Diffuse, and Specular.

    AO, Specular, and Transparency will also help to make the teeth look more like teeth, while the depth pass will really only be useful for compositing this foreground image with the background, which I haven't shown yet due to this being a "Family" forum - much editing/erasing will be necessary first, on that one! LOL

    EDIT: I'll likely also use the shadows pass on the teeth as well. Forgot to mention that one ;)

    Post edited by Dartanbeck on
  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,106

    The creature is from Stonemason's "Creatures of the Deep", Fish #2

    Perspective give it the appearance of being much bigger than it actually is.

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,106

    I originally used metaballs in a particle emitter for the saliva, but it just didn't look the way I wanted it to. This is much closer, and since part of the challenge is to use multi pass, I felt that stopping here with the saliva effect in the main render was perfect

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