Time for sharing, what I have no idea!

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Comments

  • PendraiaPendraia Posts: 3,591
    edited December 1969

    Szark said:
    Anyways glad to hear you're doing ok Pen.

    Thanks...: )

    I really like seeing what others are doing with the programs even if I don't seem to have time to play.

    Hugs

    Pen

  • SzarkSzark Posts: 10,634
    edited July 2012

    Jaderail said:
    Oh Yes, I never see my flaws unless someone else points them out.
    Ok looking at that pic a couple of days on I am not liking it now. Not enough contrast, Lighting is too white and bright. I am going to go back, adjusting the lighting. I don't think I need to move any of the spot lights just adjust the intensity of the Back, bounce and fill. Maybe drop the Occlusion colour to black. I happy with the posing,


    If you want I can try to help Jaderail though when it comes to other peoples work I find it hard to advise, not being 100% sure of myself. I would hate to lead people astray with the worng feedback. But I do comment from time to time if something really stands out to me.


    All I can say is that composition for me is, for most of the time, easy First thing I do is set my scene up. Sometimes I have an idea already and sometimes a scene will come with trolling my Runtimes to see what pops in to my empty head. I spend a lot of time with camera positions, locking one making a new one and trying another position and repeat. Then when I got a few cool camera angles I switch back and forth between them.


    Then I start on the Light and textures, I tend to do these two together.


    Doing it that way I am not getting lost, as soon as I deviate from this workflow my images suffer. But it is a personal thing what works for one may not work for another. :)

    Post edited by Szark on
  • JaderailJaderail Posts: 0
    edited July 2012

    Thanks for the offer Szark. Right now I'm in a render slump, just no desire to take the time needed at the present. My health has been kind of wonky so I'm not pushing myself. When I start a image I pretty much just work at it and work at it untill I've pushed myself way to far. I'll be back at it soon I'm sure, just not ready for it yet.

    Post edited by Jaderail on
  • HalcionHalcion Posts: 8
    edited December 1969

    Thank you for sharing your work with us Szark. I just sat down with a cup of coffee and enjoyed all of them. Great renders. :-)

  • SzarkSzark Posts: 10,634
    edited December 1969

    Thanks Halcion. Nice strong cup of coffee is it? :coolgrin:

  • SteveM17SteveM17 Posts: 971
    edited December 1969

    I've just gone through all these pictures and must say they are excellent. How long does it take to get such results with Daz? I'm sure I wouldn't have the patience!

  • SzarkSzark Posts: 10,634
    edited December 1969

    Thank you SteveM17.

    How long did it take me to learn do you mean? Come Spetember it will be three years since I started learning Daz Studio, Bryce and Carrara and mainly stuck with Daz Studio. But I do spend a lot of time doing so. The first image in the thread was about 3 months in. But I have been using Photoshop for some years prior so that helped with postwork.

  • SteveM17SteveM17 Posts: 971
    edited December 1969

    Well, what I meant was how long does it take you to set up all the elements of the picture before the final render. You know, positioning the figure, sorting out lights and shadows and camera angles, finding the right props and textures and so on? Judging by your good results, it must take ages!

  • SzarkSzark Posts: 10,634
    edited December 1969

    Arr got you. Yes it takes days before I even start to test render. But simple images like the last closeup portrait took me two days from start to finish....then another few hours to redo her [removed]which I haven't posted here but in my DA gallery) and another 24 hours to render.

    The old adage applies here as what you get out, is what you put in. But granted having a low powered computer does make it challenging. I am looking forward to upgrading.

  • SzarkSzark Posts: 10,634
    edited December 1969

    Waiting a day or two before posting an image is something I am going to remember.


    The first image I did of this on page 4 just has no soul. It is flat. Looking at it again makes me wonder why I bothered to post it.


    This has more life. But even then it is not 100% perfect.


    This time I played with Area and Uber Soft lighting. One Area plane and a Uber Soft Master. I even used the Blue Glow as an area light. Didn't work as I wanted it to though but fun to test out.

    PredFamS.jpg
    800 x 1089 - 521K
  • SzarkSzark Posts: 10,634
    edited July 2012

    This time using two spots one Uber and one standard. Standard light coloured purple tint and Uber a coloured homemade gel applied. Volumetric Camera used. Postwork: Colour curves adjusted, motion blur on parts using Masks made in Daz Studio 4.5 RC 2 with Surface Mask Creator. All done in Gimp 2.8 and it is the first time I have not used Photoshop Elements for 7 years. I am loving the new GIMP with its custom downloadable UI presets. I now feel comfortable with using it, now that I can see the functions a lot better. Plus it is way more powerful than my Photoshop Elements 6. Yep a convert after all this time.

    Anyways this is my first attempt at being a little more artistic.

    TaxiS.jpg
    800 x 1132 - 374K
    Post edited by Szark on
  • kylumikylumi Posts: 291
    edited December 1969

    That title is brilliant.............:lol:

    In your opinion which of the software do you prefer, and why?

    Carrara
    Bryce
    Vue

    You use them all so I am guessing you have a preference. ;-)

  • SzarkSzark Posts: 10,634
    edited December 1969

    Hey I didn't think there would be a test. LOL I will have to think of my response to that one kylumi.

  • ChoholeChohole Posts: 33,604
    edited December 1969

    Hehe good answer Szark.

    I wonder how I would answer a question like that.

    I suppose one of these days I should recreate my own thread, having encouraged you to do so, but didn't want to be accused of pinching one of the front page slots before we get the forum posts ordering correctly.

  • SzarkSzark Posts: 10,634
    edited December 1969

    I will answer kylumi's question but not an easy one to answer when you think how different there are from each other.

    Yes you should cho. You keep popping these images up seeing what great images you have made and you should share them, fly the Bryce flag and all that. :)

  • SzarkSzark Posts: 10,634
    edited December 1969

    Bryce – easy to use, a bit buggy and slow to render.
    Bryce can do some amazing stuff and as Horo said treat it like a game and explore. It is fun to use I must admit. Trying to compare Bryce to anything is like apples and oranges.


    Cararra 8 Pro – not as easy to use as Bryce but still fairly straight forward, too buggy for me to use and will not be paying for an upgrade so for me Carrara is no longer an option unless I go back to 7 Pro or 6 Pro. But as a full package goes not too bad at all.


    Vue - well I love Vue for many reasons. If making detailed landscapes etc is your bag then Vue is the way to go in my opinion. But you do need a powerful computer to get the best out of it.


    But consider the price differences between them all. For its price Bryce is one hell of a program if you are prepared to learn it.


    Vue was designed with Environments in mind and that is what it is good at. Bryce can do them but IMHO not as well compared to Vue. Carrara on the other hand is capable of giving some great results and with the added benefit of the modelling room which Vue and Bryce don’t have. Plus it has particles and physics.


    So it all depends what you want, what you want out of it and how much money you want to spend. Are you prepared to work had to learn etc etc.

  • Miss BMiss B Posts: 3,071
    edited December 1969

    Geeze, how did I miss this thread all this time??

    That said, I don't think I need to tell you what I think of your renders, as I've seen pretty much all of them over at Dreamlight. :-)

    Great work, and I look forward to seeing more in the future. ;-)

  • SzarkSzark Posts: 10,634
    edited December 1969

    Aew shucks, thanks Miss B. I am in the middle of a new test now. Testing Uber Surface 2 in making viens grey blue and making them apprear as though there are under the skin. I think I am getting close.

  • SzarkSzark Posts: 10,634
    edited July 2012

    Ok here is something I have been working for a couple of weeks. This is just a test, quick render using 3 Area lights and Uber Environment for a little fill. Nothing spacial just Occlusion with soft shadows.

    What I am testing is using the second layer blend mode in Uber Surface 2. Using the Displacement maps for the vien that came with M5 (Phillip texture), plugging them in the Mask layer and using a de-saturated blue/grey for the diffuse channel. I think it works ok. Given I didn't spend much time on this I think I could get better results with better displacement/mask maps. Morris and Jepe have some nice vien displacement maps in my runtime so I will test them out. I couldn't use them with this one as the UV's don't match. Given more time I would expect to be able to adjust them in GIMP to suit. :)

    fas.jpg
    800 x 1132 - 663K
    Post edited by Szark on
  • Miss BMiss B Posts: 3,071
    edited December 1969

    Well you did a good job, as they look pretty realistic. :)

  • SzarkSzark Posts: 10,634
    edited December 1969

    IIIIIII thank you. :) I think I will do another one but better in a couple of weeks. I have been cajoled into getting an image done within the week, I won't mention any names. :P

  • JaderailJaderail Posts: 0
    edited December 1969

    What you talking about Willis? But really you will need to share that viens trick when your ready. Looks very very good to me.

  • SzarkSzark Posts: 10,634
    edited December 1969

    Yep will do and I intended to share when I have it all working properly. I did think though of keeping it to myself as in the monkey never teaching the tiger to climb. :) But the thought only lasted for about 5 seconds. LOL

    I got the Willis reference. Man that is going back some years now.

  • JaderailJaderail Posts: 0
    edited December 1969

    I'm not any spring chicken Szark. I can pull older ones out of my hat but I'll keep them for another time. Still love those viens, great work so far.

  • frank0314frank0314 Posts: 13,188
    edited December 1969

    Those veins look really good. Wow.

  • SzarkSzark Posts: 10,634
    edited July 2012

    Thanks Frank. You should have seen my earlier tests. But those tests have given me some idea on what to test out after this.


    Jaderail yeah I got that. LOL

    Post edited by Szark on
  • Miss BMiss B Posts: 3,071
    edited December 1969

    Szark said:
    I have been cajoled into getting an image done within the week, I won't mention any names. :P

    Oh gee, I wonder who that could be? ~she says as she bats her eyelashes innocently~
  • SzarkSzark Posts: 10,634
    edited December 1969

    Hehehe :P

  • SzarkSzark Posts: 10,634
    edited December 1969

    Oh I wish I had a tablet. I have been promising myself one for near on 3 years. I can do a lot of fine work with a mouse but this latest task is becoming a task. LOL Anyways after more tests I am coming to the conclusion to get the best effect of blur/grey veins under the skin will take some fine work in GIMP/Photoshop. I know what is needed to get the job done. I am using ny own skickie out viens as my template. :) So I am off to get a tablet. :)

  • revenger681revenger681 Posts: 156
    edited December 1969

    These renders, especially the DAZ ones are truely inspiring! I hate rendering in DAZ because most of my skin and etc. come out shiny and plastic looking. I Do have Uber's lighting sets and etc though, So maybe I aught to get to studying them more! A Film student I knew during college once said "It's all about the lighting".

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