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

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Comments

  • dtrscbrutaldtrscbrutal Posts: 463

    There are so many great entries this month, some really incredible work has been done.
     I have not been online much to give feedback, but I just wanted to give everybody a collective thumbs up on their work!

  • no noseno nose Posts: 297

    Well I know i'm a bit late but here's my second entry, probs need to work on the background a little

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  • richardandtracyrichardandtracy Posts: 4,979

    Looks pretty good. No huge comments to make, just a couple of little ones maybe.

    Is her right eye pointing at the camera? Looks as if it might be a little off. The wings. With the tight crop you have, they don't seem to add much, just cause questions as they don't seem to relate to her costume or look. With a wider view more may become obvious. Or it may not. Left a bit unsure about them. Finally, is a stronger eye reflection possible? Might look better if it is, but not a disaster if not.

    Regards,

    Richard.

  • richardandtracyrichardandtracy Posts: 4,979

    There are so many great entries this month, some really incredible work has been done.
     I have not been online much to give feedback, but I just wanted to give everybody a collective thumbs up on their work!

    I do rather agree. The number of really good entries has far exceeded the number last year and the quality is remarkable. I suspect I speak  for a few of us when I say I have been inspired by the help & advice given to do something far beyond what I thought I'd be able to do. Thank you for all the comments and advice. Just hope I can keep looking at my images in the same constructively critical way in the future.

    Richard.

  • no noseno nose Posts: 297

    Looks pretty good. No huge comments to make, just a couple of little ones maybe.

    Is her right eye pointing at the camera? Looks as if it might be a little off. The wings. With the tight crop you have, they don't seem to add much, just cause questions as they don't seem to relate to her costume or look. With a wider view more may become obvious. Or it may not. Left a bit unsure about them. Finally, is a stronger eye reflection possible? Might look better if it is, but not a disaster if not.

    Regards,

    Richard.

    Thanks, I agree with the wings, I was hoping to do something fantasy-like with the wings and dress but I can live without them. I'm not an expert on messing with materials, so hopefully this level of reflection isn't to high / low

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  • Was watching some Youtube this afternoon, and was hit with a last minute idea.

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  • RurisRuris Posts: 123

    Well, one last update for the month. Starting to get a good feel of the workflow. Just want to verify with some more experienced user:

    a) as tje end results I want to achieve is the soft glowy feel that is used in most Kanade promo, the more layers I add for postwork, the more washout it become as you can see from earlier posting

    b) read around and figured that the gamma is way too whitish by default, so i turned it down

    c) now the original image is dark and rich, and the postwork makes it more washout, so everything balanced out in the end. I suppose this works better as opposed to start as more washout and trying to add back contrast (create information where there is none).

    Anyone shares the same approach?

  • Kismet2012Kismet2012 Posts: 4,252
    Ruris said:

    Well, one last update for the month. Starting to get a good feel of the workflow. Just want to verify with some more experienced user:

    a) as tje end results I want to achieve is the soft glowy feel that is used in most Kanade promo, the more layers I add for postwork, the more washout it become as you can see from earlier posting

    b) read around and figured that the gamma is way too whitish by default, so i turned it down

    c) now the original image is dark and rich, and the postwork makes it more washout, so everything balanced out in the end. I suppose this works better as opposed to start as more washout and trying to add back contrast (create information where there is none).

    Anyone shares the same approach?

    Nicely done.  It looks like you have found that soft light feel without losing definition.

    I find each individual image is unique.  What can work on one doesn't necessarily work on another.  That includes any postwork I may apply.  Some techniques seem to work on most images.but there is always that one image that has to be different.  wink

  • CoryllonCoryllon Posts: 276

    No Nose: The wings were a bit too cut off to be useful, could you have them back and get more of at least one of them in the shot? not saying it doesn't look awesome as it is now, but IF you wanted to keep them that might work. 

  • richardandtracyrichardandtracy Posts: 4,979

    NoNose, I do like that. Shows up the clouds a bit more, are they a little squished sideways? The image is, as Coryllon said, impressive. Had there been more time, it may have been worth experimenting with a landscape format and seeing if her right wing  could be made interesting with her body along the image vertical one third in from the right edge. Not sure there's enough time for such a drastic change now though.

    Ruris, Oh boy. It is really rather good.

    SI9th.. there be someone I wouldn't want to meet ever, whether on a dark night or in the bright sun.

     

  • no noseno nose Posts: 297
    edited July 2019

    NoNose, I do like that. Shows up the clouds a bit more, are they a little squished sideways? The image is, as Coryllon said, impressive. Had there been more time, it may have been worth experimenting with a landscape format and seeing if her right wing  could be made interesting with her body along the image vertical one third in from the right edge. Not sure there's enough time for such a drastic change now though.

     

    Thanks, I was trying to use the background image as an enviorment, which must be what caused this. Hopefully adding it in in post looks better. I'm not that great with landscaping though, so I don't really know what would have worked.

     

    Coryllon said:

    No Nose: The wings were a bit too cut off to be useful, could you have them back and get more of at least one of them in the shot? not saying it doesn't look awesome as it is now, but IF you wanted to keep them that might work. 

    yeah I tried, though I sadly wasn't able to get one in frame even with weird looking angles. Maybe if I greatly increased the width of the image but at that point it probs would probs me more of a wide shot then a portrait

    edit decided to go ahead and try anyways, it doesn't look to bad, but I feel like there's a bit of space that doesn't server much purpose.

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    Post edited by no nose on
  • CoryllonCoryllon Posts: 276

    not an entry, because I don't have time to fix anything that might come up, but here's a "Glamour Shot" for those of you who remember Glamour shots.  

    Saranni(2) - headshot.jpg
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  • Kismet2012Kismet2012 Posts: 4,252
    no nose said:

    NoNose, I do like that. Shows up the clouds a bit more, are they a little squished sideways? The image is, as Coryllon said, impressive. Had there been more time, it may have been worth experimenting with a landscape format and seeing if her right wing  could be made interesting with her body along the image vertical one third in from the right edge. Not sure there's enough time for such a drastic change now though.

     

    Thanks, I was trying to use the background image as an enviorment, which must be what caused this. Hopefully adding it in in post looks better. I'm not that great with landscaping though, so I don't really know what would have worked.

     

    Coryllon said:

    No Nose: The wings were a bit too cut off to be useful, could you have them back and get more of at least one of them in the shot? not saying it doesn't look awesome as it is now, but IF you wanted to keep them that might work. 

    yeah I tried, though I sadly wasn't able to get one in frame even with weird looking angles. Maybe if I greatly increased the width of the image but at that point it probs would probs me more of a wide shot then a portrait

    edit decided to go ahead and try anyways, it doesn't look to bad, but I feel like there's a bit of space that doesn't server much purpose.

    It's always good to experiment.  You just never know when you will hit on something amazing.  Though I have to admit most of the time it may not work out the way we hoped.

  • Kismet2012Kismet2012 Posts: 4,252
    Coryllon said:

    not an entry, because I don't have time to fix anything that might come up, but here's a "Glamour Shot" for those of you who remember Glamour shots.  

    Thanks for sharing @Coryllon.  It's great to see a close up of her face.

     

  • Kismet2012Kismet2012 Posts: 4,252

    @no nose  - when using an image as a background image in Environment you may have to adjust the size of the frame you are using.  I am not at my rendering computer so I cannot look it up but if I remember correctly you can adjust the size of the frame to match the image in Environment.  You click on the little icon of lines in the upper right hand corner.  I cannot remember the exact wording but it is "adjust size..." something or other.

    Really helpful I know.

    The other option, if your chosen background image is really large, is to either resize it to fit your chosen frame size or crop it to fit.  IE:  If the original image is 4,000 x 4,000 pixels and you want a portrait of 750 x 1,500 (pulling numbers out of my head here), then you could crop the original image to match the portrait size and you would not get the distortion.  Keep in mind though the save as a new name so you do not overwrite the original image.

     

  • CoryllonCoryllon Posts: 276

    @no nose: if you have time.. try turning the figure to a profile view and turn her head once again to face the camera, that will keep her in frame, accent her chest (which her top is trying to do anyway)m keep your attention on her AWESOME face with that amazing expressing I love, keep the wings more to the side which will allow you to condense the image a bit. 

    Try it, if you like it, keep it, if not, choose which you like more and keep that... it's your art, you should be the one that's the most proud. I can only offer suggestions :)

  • AZDigitalArtistAZDigitalArtist Posts: 773
    edited August 2019

    I'm having a difficult time rendering an entire scene on my poor desktop, so here is my rendered Harlequin, processed through Photoshop.  I have learned so much this past month!

    SheriEmerson-Harlequin.jpg
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    Post edited by AZDigitalArtist on
  • RurisRuris Posts: 123
    Ruris said:

    Well, one last update for the month. Starting to get a good feel of the workflow. Just want to verify with some more experienced user:

    a) as tje end results I want to achieve is the soft glowy feel that is used in most Kanade promo, the more layers I add for postwork, the more washout it become as you can see from earlier posting

    b) read around and figured that the gamma is way too whitish by default, so i turned it down

    c) now the original image is dark and rich, and the postwork makes it more washout, so everything balanced out in the end. I suppose this works better as opposed to start as more washout and trying to add back contrast (create information where there is none).

    Anyone shares the same approach?

     

    Nicely done.  It looks like you have found that soft light feel without losing definition.

    I find each individual image is unique.  What can work on one doesn't necessarily work on another.  That includes any postwork I may apply.  Some techniques seem to work on most images.but there is always that one image that has to be different.  wink

    Hi, Kismet, Richardandtracy,

    Thanks. Trying to adjust light balance and vibrance always give me some ocd with devices not giving standardized results. Laptop, monitor, phones all look different, things that you never really noticed until you get into the thick of it.

  • no noseno nose Posts: 297
    Coryllon said:

    @no nose: if you have time.. try turning the figure to a profile view and turn her head once again to face the camera, that will keep her in frame, accent her chest (which her top is trying to do anyway)m keep your attention on her AWESOME face with that amazing expressing I love, keep the wings more to the side which will allow you to condense the image a bit. 

    Try it, if you like it, keep it, if not, choose which you like more and keep that... it's your art, you should be the one that's the most proud. I can only offer suggestions :)

    Thanks, I have to admit this looks pretty good. Though I'm not to sure about the wings (even after spending way more time then I'd like to admit tweaking them)

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  • L'AdairL'Adair Posts: 9,479

    This challenge is now closed.

    Thanks to everyone for participating!

  • Sisyphus1977Sisyphus1977 Posts: 305
    edited August 2019

    I have to echo the prior comments regarding the entries this month.  They were all excellent and I learned much during the month.  Good luck to the judges on this one. 

    no nose, I have attached some images to go along with how I approach using images as backgrounds in my scenes and resizing them to make sure they work on the plane.  I am not sure it helps, it is just how I do it.

    My steps are:

    1. Create a new plane primative, I use a 2m size as a start and bring it in at the z positive axis so it is facing front

    2.  Drop the image picture onto the plane (surfaces parameter > base color, then browse for image) 

    3.  Resize the image plane based on the pixel size of the image.  In this case the picture was 1920 (w) x 1080 (h).  To do this I enter a formula into the X scale parameter on the parameter tab.  In this case the formula is 1920/1080*100.  You need the *100, as the X scale parameter is a percentage.  No matter the size of the image, I always scale on the X parameter even when the width is less than the height.

    4. Now the image is resized without any compression or stretching.  If the image needs any further scaling, I use the scale parameter to size it up or down as needed and still keeps the aspect ratio of the image.

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    Place Image on Plane.jpg
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    Resizing Plane.jpg
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    Resized Plane.jpg
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    Post edited by Sisyphus1977 on
  • no noseno nose Posts: 297

    I have to echo the prior comments regarding the entries this month.  They were all excellent and I learned much during the month.  Good luck to the judges on this one. 

    no nose, I have attached some images to go along with how I approach using images as backgrounds in my scenes and resizing them to make sure they work on the plane.  I am not sure it helps, it is just how I do it.

    My steps are:

    1. Create a new plane primative, I use a 2m size as a start and bring it in at the z positive axis so it is facing front

    2.  Drop the image picture onto the plane (surfaces parameter > base color, then browse for image) 

    3.  Resize the image plane based on the pixel size of the image.  In this case the picture was 1920 (w) x 1080 (h).  To do this I enter a formula into the X scale parameter on the parameter tab.  In this case the formula is 1920/1080*100.  You need the *100, as the X scale parameter is a percentage.  No matter the size of the image, I always scale on the X parameter even when the width is less than the height.

    4. Now the image is resized without any compression or stretching.  If the image needs any further scaling, I use the scale parameter to size it up or down as needed and still keeps the aspect ratio of the image.

    alright, i'll try to remember next time.

  • Last year this challenge only had 6 forum pages (I didn't even try to count how many entries).  Great participation which really helps with learning.

    Just plain amazing renders everyone!

  • Kismet2012Kismet2012 Posts: 4,252

    This may be too late for this challenge but I wanted to clarify how to load and adjust a background image through the Environment Tab.

    Click on Environment Tab.  If you do not have the Environment Tab you can find it in Window > Panes (Tabs) > Environment

    Click on "None" Drop Down

    Click on "Backdrop"

    Click on Drop down arrow under "Background"

    Click on "Browse"

    Navigate to file location of image to be used > Click on "open"

    Depending on your aspect ratio and the size of the image being used you may see distortion.  You can fix this by either adjusting and/or cropping the background image to the size you wish to use, ie:  a 4000 x 4000 image may be cropped or adjusted to a ratio of 1500 x 1200. 

    You can adjust the final render image ratio in DS.  Something I was trying to explain earlier in July but not very clearly.  To do this in the Environemnt Tab click on the icon in the upper right corner with the arrow and lines.

    Adjust Aspect Ratio to Backdrop will change the shape of your image, ie:  if you had a widescreen (16:9) it could be changed to a Display Wide (5:4) depending on the size and dimensions of the background image being used.

    Adjust Dimensions to Backdrop will change the size of the final rendered image, ie:  if you had it set at 1500 x 843 (widescreen) it could be changed to 3000 x 2400, again depending on the size and dimensions of the background image being used

     

     

     

     

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  • Sisyphus1977Sisyphus1977 Posts: 305
    edited August 2019

    This is really cool.  Thanks for this.  I have always been using plane primatives as a way to put a background image into my scene.  This method is great and is a good addition to using planes.  Look to see me use it in my future renders.

    Post edited by Sisyphus1977 on
  • dragoneyes002dragoneyes002 Posts: 205
    edited August 2019

    This is really cool.  Thanks for this.  I have always been using plane primatives as a way to put a background image into my scene.  This method is great and is a good addition to using planes.  Look to see me use it in my future renders.

    one thing which the backdrop pic is NOT good for is the pic follows the camera its a static background set to the cameras view which means your scene needs to be viewed at the same angle as the backdrop pic where as the plane option allows you more flexibility. another querk to the background is it is not viewed in reflective surfaces such as wall mirrors, it will not show the background pic but will show a plane with a pic on it (which you need to place in a way to avoid showing the edge of the plane.)

    Post edited by dragoneyes002 on
  • DAZ_ann0314DAZ_ann0314 Posts: 2,783

    July 2019

    Showcased Participants for the July Portrait Render Challenge


    Beauty Shot

    Given to the person who best portrayed a professional photography style model shot.

    The New User we felt best showed that this month was Visuimag

    The images have been resized to fit in the page. Click to enlarge.


    Wish I Had Thought of That
    Given to the person that created a unique image through the use of camera angles, props, and/or lighting.

    The New User we felt best showed that this month was dtrscbrutal

    The image has been resized to fit in the page. Click to enlarge.


    Story Time
    Given to the person who created a portrait image that told a story or evoked a strong feeling.

    The New Users we felt best showcased that this month were tomg

    This image has been resized to fit in the page. Click to enlarge.


    New User Welcome

    muddwoman and Galaxy
     

    This image has been resized to fit in the page. Click to enlarge.

     

    This image has been resized to fit in the page. Click to enlarge.

     

  • DAZ_ann0314DAZ_ann0314 Posts: 2,783

    Congratulations to all those showcased as well as all who participated! You all are making it very hard to choose who to showcase! Keep up the amazing work! smileyheart

  • Kismet2012Kismet2012 Posts: 4,252

    Everyone did such an amazing job.  The CV's had a very difficult time.  If we could have showcased 3 times as many people it still would have been a challenge.

     

    Keep up the great work. 

  • Congratulations to the winners. There were a remarkable number of superb entries.

    Regards,

    Richard.

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