July, 2019 - Daz 3D New User Challenge - Portrait Rendering

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  • tomg said:
    tomg said:

    Hello everyone, almost new to posting on this forum, although I've been lurking from some time. Here is my submission, hope you'll like it :) 

    Bored in the Party

    Bored in the party

    Rendered in Daz Studio 4.11, Iray. No post, just tone mapped (rendered in canvas). Character is G8M+Growing Up+may morphs (face and body morphs packages). Skin is Luca + Altern8. 

    Going to get nit picky here but is the elbow touching the table?  It could be the camera angle but it looks like the elbow is floating slightly above the table top.

    I agree with dragoneyes002 that the addition of a couple of people in the background would help sell the party idea.  They do not have to be super detailed since you have such strong DOF applied.  Very effective use of the DOF.  It really brings the focus to the face of your character.

     

    Thanks @dragoneyes002 and @Kismet2012 for your feedback and suggestions!. I also thought it looked like his elbow is not touching the table, I've checked it earlier using the front view and looked fine to me; I initially thought it might be caused by the glass table....until I checked again today and yes, it looks like it's sliiightly hovering it. Will try to get around this on a second take.

    As per the crowd, challenge accepted :) will try to come up with something. Again, many thanks for you suggestion.- stay tuned! 

    the background peeps can be simply walking by or standing but far enough that the DOF makes them indistinguishable as more than people there

  • t0mgt0mg Posts: 48
    edited July 2019
    tomg said:
    tomg said:

    Hello everyone, almost new to posting on this forum, although I've been lurking from some time. Here is my submission, hope you'll like it :) 

    Bored in the Party

    Bored in the party

    Rendered in Daz Studio 4.11, Iray. No post, just tone mapped (rendered in canvas). Character is G8M+Growing Up+may morphs (face and body morphs packages). Skin is Luca + Altern8. 

    Going to get nit picky here but is the elbow touching the table?  It could be the camera angle but it looks like the elbow is floating slightly above the table top.

    I agree with dragoneyes002 that the addition of a couple of people in the background would help sell the party idea.  They do not have to be super detailed since you have such strong DOF applied.  Very effective use of the DOF.  It really brings the focus to the face of your character.

     

    Thanks @dragoneyes002 and @Kismet2012 for your feedback and suggestions!. I also thought it looked like his elbow is not touching the table, I've checked it earlier using the front view and looked fine to me; I initially thought it might be caused by the glass table....until I checked again today and yes, it looks like it's sliiightly hovering it. Will try to get around this on a second take.

    As per the crowd, challenge accepted :) will try to come up with something. Again, many thanks for you suggestion.- stay tuned! 

    the background peeps can be simply walking by or standing but far enough that the DOF makes them indistinguishable as more than people there

    OK, Here we go, Take 2:

    Now the party started yet I'm still bored

     

    Added some "crew" (g8m, g8f and a g7f), party "equipement", attempted to "mask" the hovering shoulder and added some extra "party lights" for a bit more party.

    G8J_Bored_TAKE2.jpg
    1060 x 1500 - 638K
    Post edited by Chohole on
  • Kismet2012Kismet2012 Posts: 4,252
    Coryllon said:
    Coryllon said:

    Not finished, but the is my second entry. I am kinda thinking no DoF on this... I went with an ultra-bright light in the front as though there was an open window and I'm using that to seperate her from the background, but I want the background as well to be something worth looking at. I modified multiple materials with different shaders to brng the outfit together and match her nail polish. 

    Did you add or change any of the shaders on the background?  All that stone has a shiny appearance to me like the stone was wet.  The use of a lighter colour background really helps your figure stand out in her dark outfit.  The blond hair really frames her face and draws the eye.

    Great start.

    I did not do anything to stone. it's worn, polished marble. I am working on I THINK the final for it now... The lipstick is giving me some trouble against the dark skin. She is forced to suffer for her beauty. :) 

    Dark skin is a challenge.  Looking forward to seeing the changes.

     

  • Kismet2012Kismet2012 Posts: 4,252
    tomg said:
    tomg said:
    tomg said:

    Hello everyone, almost new to posting on this forum, although I've been lurking from some time. Here is my submission, hope you'll like it :) 

    Bored in the Party

    Bored in the party

    Rendered in Daz Studio 4.11, Iray. No post, just tone mapped (rendered in canvas). Character is G8M+Growing Up+may morphs (face and body morphs packages). Skin is Luca + Altern8. 

    Going to get nit picky here but is the elbow touching the table?  It could be the camera angle but it looks like the elbow is floating slightly above the table top.

    I agree with dragoneyes002 that the addition of a couple of people in the background would help sell the party idea.  They do not have to be super detailed since you have such strong DOF applied.  Very effective use of the DOF.  It really brings the focus to the face of your character.

     

    Thanks @dragoneyes002 and @Kismet2012 for your feedback and suggestions!. I also thought it looked like his elbow is not touching the table, I've checked it earlier using the front view and looked fine to me; I initially thought it might be caused by the glass table....until I checked again today and yes, it looks like it's sliiightly hovering it. Will try to get around this on a second take.

    As per the crowd, challenge accepted :) will try to come up with something. Again, many thanks for you suggestion.- stay tuned! 

    the background peeps can be simply walking by or standing but far enough that the DOF makes them indistinguishable as more than people there

    OK, Here we go, Take 2:

    Now the party started yet I'm still bored

     

    Added some "crew" (g8m, g8f and a g7f), party "equipement", attempted to "mask" the hovering shoulder and added some extra "party lights" for a bit more party.

    Nicely done.  Now it does feel like a party.

  • CoryllonCoryllon Posts: 276
    Coryllon said:
    Coryllon said:

    Not finished, but the is my second entry. I am kinda thinking no DoF on this... I went with an ultra-bright light in the front as though there was an open window and I'm using that to seperate her from the background, but I want the background as well to be something worth looking at. I modified multiple materials with different shaders to brng the outfit together and match her nail polish. 

    Did you add or change any of the shaders on the background?  All that stone has a shiny appearance to me like the stone was wet.  The use of a lighter colour background really helps your figure stand out in her dark outfit.  The blond hair really frames her face and draws the eye.

    Great start.

    I did not do anything to stone. it's worn, polished marble. I am working on I THINK the final for it now... The lipstick is giving me some trouble against the dark skin. She is forced to suffer for her beauty. :) 

    Dark skin is a challenge.  Looking forward to seeing the changes.

     

    Yup I have sent my model back for new makeup 8 times so far and three new sets of contact lenses to bring out the natural purple. LOL. I am trying to use the lipstick as a transition color between the outfit and the eyes. I think I got it this time... it'll takw 36 hours before I'm sure though. 

  • richardandtracyrichardandtracy Posts: 4,979

    My third go at the Kala scene with very minor changes, mostly adjusting the DOF.  This may end up being the final version of this one.

    Rarely see a professional portrait photographer produce an image as striking as this. Superb.

    Richard

  • richardandtracyrichardandtracy Posts: 4,979
    edited July 2019

    Here’s the 2nd version of my first image. I adjusted the lamp so it’s not floating. Fixed her lip ring so it’s piercing through below the lip rather than directly on it. I narrowed and adjusted her positioning within the crop so her visible eye is on the thirds line on the left… also cropping off some of the excess portion of the background. Increased the cornea bulge so it has a rounder quality to it, rather than flat. Increased the hair volume so there is less of the floating loose wispy strands. And added DOF to the shot to increase focus on the subject along with darkening the cityscape portion of the background.

    Both this and the other image are superb. The angled windows look as if they are a modern re-interpretation of Gaudi, and are exactly the sort of thing a few post modern architects are playing with. Of the two images, I do prefer the one with the figure on the table for its general composition, but feel the one concentrating on the face is a better portrait. I feel the character comes over better in it.

    Regards,

    Richard.

    [Edited due to infuriating Android autocorrect, replacing the word I wanted with a spurious one]

    Post edited by richardandtracy on
  • GordigGordig Posts: 9,024

    I changed a few things (not least of which being the optical illusion that her right leg was coming out of her left hip) and did another render.

  • CoryllonCoryllon Posts: 276

    Ok so here we are after a really long render.

    Saranni(2).jpg
    2136 x 1990 - 3M
  • Kismet2012Kismet2012 Posts: 4,252
    Gordig said:

    I changed a few things (not least of which being the optical illusion that her right leg was coming out of her left hip) and did another render.

    Adding a wall and floor certainly anchors her.  I like the choice of wall colour.  If you are open to making more posing adjustments perhaps you could relax her left arm.  Adjust the shoulder so her arm is moved slightly away from her body.

  • Kismet2012Kismet2012 Posts: 4,252
    Coryllon said:

    Ok so here we are after a really long render.

    Nice job on the makeup.

  • CoryllonCoryllon Posts: 276

    TY

  • Coryllon said:

    Ok so here we are after a really long render.

    I think what I'll be suggesting may come off as pretty brutal since its a list of things.

    so here goes. first the hair totally subjective....not sure platinum blond works for this character. also you should expose her face at the very least on one side to allow for the facial features to be seen (something the eye is trying to do)  will help a lot with the make up and shapes because right now the hair is drowning the detail away. the eye gets lost in the random shapes of the bright hair further obscuring the face.

    the clothes should be a contrasting color to her dark skin the armor like pieces are so close they almost make her look deformed the pproblem is color tone and gloss are too similar making them blend together the eye doesn't distinguish them enough as we would in reality since we easily perceive differences between skin and cloth. tone on tone is not easy to get right especially in darker colors and in this case in medium/low lighting maybe just change part of the armor parts to gold or copper metal on a lighter leather.

    whats good is the latest skin color is a natural tone much better than earlier seems the gloss was also reduced making it more realistic. the background is crisp the pose is nice 

  • So here is my 1st contribution to the portrait contest.

    A close up of Elithe HD with a classic light set up.
    Espacially in close ups I like to use DOF.
    (No postwork)

     

    G8F_ElithiaHD_Portait_ClassicLights.jpg
    1669 x 2160 - 2M
  • And here is my 2nd contribution.

    Also a close up but with colored light set up.
    Again DOF and a slight touch of bloom.
    (No postwork)

    G8F_RanaHD_Portrait_ColoredLights.jpg
    1669 x 2160 - 1M
  • CoryllonCoryllon Posts: 276

    I think we can skip calling it armor... it doesn't protect anything. I may change the metalic portions of the outfit to match the boot caps... Not sure yet but if I do it has to be silver, because it's supposed to mimic mithral (mithril) which is high fashion. The hair is white as is all dark elves. As for the eye: I agree in principal, however there are limitations on the hair, having it posed any other way makes it clip through the figure and back out. it's the only hair that adeqately frames her face and most people that have seen it says it looks perfect, so I think that will have to stay as it is, I could try removing that section of hair entirely... I think it's possible with that model, not sure. Also on the eye, I wanted to go for a "natural" look for her, so her eye color is what it is and the idea is lure the viewer's eye to her face. which is why I am hesitating on altering the color the metal portions of the outfit. Gold and Copper won't fit and would blend more into the background.

    I do appreciate the good comments, Sometimes I find it makes a better render to take something non-perfect and bring out the best parts, it makes it seem more realistic versus "lab-created".

  • Got a pair for you guys to compare and contrast:

    Portrait with Cat Mk1(a&b)

    Portrait with Cat Mk1aPortrait with Cat Mk1b

    I think the left is broad lighting and the right short?

    • Changelog:
      • Adjusted the posing to better set her weight on her arm.
      • Replaced the HDRI with a manually placed meshlight.
      • Added a tiny push modifier to the pants to stop the clipping. (So annoying when it only shows up in the final render! At least the fix was easy.)
    • Problems:
      • I think the contrast has issues in both versions. In the left, the stones are way too bright, whereas in the right, her top is the brightest zone.
      • In the right, her clothes almost completely disappear into the background.
    • Potential fixes (some of these are mutually exclusive):
      • Change the stones and the top to stand out less.
      • Add a neutral background to contrast with the dark clothes.
      • Brighten the outerwear to stand out against a black background.
    19-07-Portrait-With-Cat-Mk1a.jpg
    1920 x 1440 - 708K
    19-07-Portrait-With-Cat-Mk1b.jpg
    1920 x 1440 - 604K
  • nichengnicheng Posts: 3

    Here is a portrait I did a couple of months ago just to experiment and see what I could do. Her name is Aki.

    akicouch.png
    1024 x 768 - 1M
  • richardandtracyrichardandtracy Posts: 4,979

    Got a pair for you guys to compare and contrast:

    Portrait with Cat Mk1(a&b)

    Portrait with Cat Mk1aPortrait with Cat Mk1b

    I think the left is broad lighting and the right short?

    • Changelog:
      • Adjusted the posing to better set her weight on her arm.
      • Replaced the HDRI with a manually placed meshlight.
      • Added a tiny push modifier to the pants to stop the clipping. (So annoying when it only shows up in the final render! At least the fix was easy.)
    • Problems:
      • I think the contrast has issues in both versions. In the left, the stones are way too bright, whereas in the right, her top is the brightest zone.
      • In the right, her clothes almost completely disappear into the background.
    • Potential fixes (some of these are mutually exclusive):
      • Change the stones and the top to stand out less.
      • Add a neutral background to contrast with the dark clothes.
      • Brighten the outerwear to stand out against a black background.

    I think your image may benefit from more than 1 light. Take a look at the Dreamlight tutorial linked to in the first post of this thread, it is very good explanation of 3 point lighting and how to get a much more rounded picture. I downloaded the tutorial (still free on Monday) and played with an image this afternoon using the info contained, and was surprised at how quickly I got a reasonable image. (Had to be quick as my Hernia repair has been playing me up today, and I couldn't sit in front of my PC for long.)

  • t0mgt0mg Posts: 48
    edited July 2019

    Got a pair for you guys to compare and contrast:

    Portrait with Cat Mk1(a&b)

    Portrait with Cat Mk1aPortrait with Cat Mk1b

    I think the left is broad lighting and the right short?

    • Changelog:
      • Adjusted the posing to better set her weight on her arm.
      • Replaced the HDRI with a manually placed meshlight.
      • Added a tiny push modifier to the pants to stop the clipping. (So annoying when it only shows up in the final render! At least the fix was easy.)
    • Problems:
      • I think the contrast has issues in both versions. In the left, the stones are way too bright, whereas in the right, her top is the brightest zone.
      • In the right, her clothes almost completely disappear into the background.
    • Potential fixes (some of these are mutually exclusive):
      • Change the stones and the top to stand out less.
      • Add a neutral background to contrast with the dark clothes.
      • Brighten the outerwear to stand out against a black background.

    I think your image may benefit from more than 1 light. Take a look at the Dreamlight tutorial linked to in the first post of this thread, it is very good explanation of 3 point lighting and how to get a much more rounded picture. I downloaded the tutorial (still free on Monday) and played with an image this afternoon using the info contained, and was surprised at how quickly I got a reasonable image. (Had to be quick as my Hernia repair has been playing me up today, and I couldn't sit in front of my PC for long.)

    Totally agree, that scene will benefit a lot with the classic 3 point lights.  I missed the tutorial, but I've found that once you get the basics, the entire concept is not too hard to grasp. What I've found useful is to use emissives instead of point/reflectors, so you have three emissive planes (create -> new primitve -> plane), then put one on the back and two on the front, spreaded at 120° each, setup the one on the back above your character, and the two in the front, at around the area of the face. Then, depending on what side you want to illuminate the most, you can use 1/2 of the lumens value on the opposite side, and the same in the back. Another tip I've found very useful is that, once you have your light setup in place, you can select all three emisive and create -> new group; that way, all three lights will be grouped and you can control the rotation of all three at the same time by just rotating the entire group, so you don't need to rotate them separately. You can also hide them, if you want.

    For example, this is from my submission above (yellow are the emissive planes).

     

    Hope this helps!! 

    3 point lights.png
    551 x 734 - 108K
    Post edited by t0mg on
  • dtrscbrutaldtrscbrutal Posts: 463

     When I first began to learn art, a portrait was usually someone awkwardly posed next to a mantle. I was never interested in creating those type of images, so this is fairly new to me. I am glad portraits are more loosely defined here.
    I knew I was going to use displacement and sub-d 3 all the things for this image so I lit it with just the hdri. I had to do a lot of adjustment to the background building to get the effect I wanted with the DOF ( distance and scale ). This is the first image I have ever done with the figure wearing glasses. The fiber-mesh brows presented some challenge with that but with some adjustment and some post-work I am happy with the result. 
     I rendered this in Daz Studio at 10x7k for about ninety minutes and used Gimp to reduce and do post-work.

     

    image

    Soldier.jpg
    3000 x 2077 - 4M
  • GordigGordig Posts: 9,024

    @rcbcgreenpanzer Honestly, I think the best thing you could do for this scene is to change the background. Even in the left image, where the clothing stands out more against the background, it's still blending in.

  • Coryllon said:

    I think we can skip calling it armor... it doesn't protect anything. I may change the metalic portions of the outfit to match the boot caps... Not sure yet but if I do it has to be silver, because it's supposed to mimic mithral (mithril) which is high fashion. The hair is white as is all dark elves. As for the eye: I agree in principal, however there are limitations on the hair, having it posed any other way makes it clip through the figure and back out. it's the only hair that adeqately frames her face and most people that have seen it says it looks perfect, so I think that will have to stay as it is, I could try removing that section of hair entirely... I think it's possible with that model, not sure. Also on the eye, I wanted to go for a "natural" look for her, so her eye color is what it is and the idea is lure the viewer's eye to her face. which is why I am hesitating on altering the color the metal portions of the outfit. Gold and Copper won't fit and would blend more into the background.

    I do appreciate the good comments, Sometimes I find it makes a better render to take something non-perfect and bring out the best parts, it makes it seem more realistic versus "lab-created".

    when I mention the eye I meant how our eyes as the viewers see something. not the render characters eye.

    the point i was making about her hair drapped over her face is that the human brain via its eyes is constantly trying to recognize forms it recognizes thats especially true of facial features IF you put a parka onto a character and sinch up the hood so only the nose shows you end up with the same problem the hood becomes the focus not the face

  • CoryllonCoryllon Posts: 276

    tried to change the color on the dress, it doesn't look right. I think skin-tone is the only way to go. I am doing another render with a few minor changes and if there's time I'll do a headshot perhaps and let the voters (you guys) decide which you like most :)

  • rcbcgreenpanzerrcbcgreenpanzer Posts: 99
    edited July 2019

    Here's another pair to compare and contrast!

    Portrait with Cat Mk2 (r&t)

    Portrait with Cat mk2 (Rembrandt version)Portrait with Cat mk2 (Three-light version)

    @richardandtracy_e725004c1a @tomg @Gordig: Thanks for the feedback. The previous iteration's lighting was kinda similar to @tomg's; an emissive primitive slaved to a ball in the model's head (already in use to get her eyes pointed at the camera) that I had rotated 51* left or right. The 3-Light version has three of them. I wasn't sure that that change would be necessary after I changed the clothes and background, so I also rendered one using the same Rembrandt setup.

    19-07-Portrait-With-Cat-Mk2r.jpg
    1920 x 1440 - 996K
    19-07-Portrait-With-Cat-Mk2t.jpg
    1920 x 1440 - 1002K
    Post edited by rcbcgreenpanzer on
  • WinterMoonWinterMoon Posts: 1,893

    Final version. Bleh.

  • CinusCinus Posts: 118

    My render of the Sahel character by bluejaunte.

     

  • GordigGordig Posts: 9,024

    The previous iteration's lighting was kinda similar to @tomg's; an emissive primitive slaved to a ball in the model's head (already in use to get her eyes pointed at the camera) that I had rotated 51* left or right. The 3-Light version has three of them. I wasn't sure that that change would be necessary after I changed the clothes and background, so I also rendered one using the same Rembrandt setup.

    I prefer the Rembrandt version, but either way it's a huge improvement. The way the light reflects on her hair in the new versions makes it look like it's molded together, like action figure hair. Fix that and I would say you're solid.

  • RurisRuris Posts: 123
    edited July 2019

    Trying to recreate the soft hazy light that is used in the Kanade 8 promo artwork. Might have overdone some part like shoulders, eyeballing (brightness) it is way harder than I thought. Could have used some mask and reduced the exposure in some areas.

    Any other suggestion?

    (cropped image as advised)

    Post edited by Ruris on
  • Kismet2012Kismet2012 Posts: 4,252

    So here is my 1st contribution to the portrait contest.

    A close up of Elithe HD with a classic light set up.
    Espacially in close ups I like to use DOF.
    (No postwork)

     

    I really like the addition of the green jewellery as a shot of colour in an otherwise monochromatic colour pallete.  Nice framing of her face.  My eyes are drawn directly to hers.

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