January 2016 New User 3D Art contest “Composition” (WIP Thread)

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Comments

  • IceDragonArtIceDragonArt Posts: 12,548

    And the sword in her right hand is bugging me to death. It looks bent but its not its the same sword as she has in her left hand.

  • FishtalesFishtales Posts: 6,038

    If you are talking about the piece that is pointing to the right towards her then that is the cross guard and not the sword blade.

  • TeofaTeofa Posts: 823
    edited January 2016

    And the sword in her right hand is bugging me to death. It looks bent but its not its the same sword as she has in her left hand.

    Hard to tell from the angle, but with her knuckles up it looks like she is holding the sword as if to stab with it.  You might just try reversing the sword.  Pointy end toward enemy, as the old drill sgts used to say.

    Check to see if the cowl is a separate mat zone you can set to transparent.

    Depending on the type of texturing you could modify the opacity texture to do the same.

    Post edited by Teofa on
  • IceDragonArtIceDragonArt Posts: 12,548
    edited January 2016

    And the sword in her right hand is bugging me to death. It looks bent but its not its the same sword as she has in her left hand.

    Never mind I took a closer look on a bigger screen and you are right.  Going to have to fiddle with though since its still visually bugging me,  Any thoughts on placement, do I need to move her?  And thoughts about lighting her face sublty? I don't want obvious that I am shining a light in her face but I would like it to be just a bit better lit. And Iray again, I am bound and determined to learn this now that I am starting to grasp it.  I really like the way it turns out when I get it semi right lol.

    Post edited by IceDragonArt on
  • TeofaTeofa Posts: 823
    edited January 2016

    And the sword in her right hand is bugging me to death. It looks bent but its not its the same sword as she has in her left hand.

    Never mind I took a closer look on a bigger screen and you are right.  Going to have to fiddle with though since its still visually bugging me,  Any thoughts on placement, do I need to move her?  And thoughts about lighting her face sublty? I don't want obvious that I am shining a light in her face but I would like it to be just a bit better lit. And Iray again, I am bound and determined to learn this now that I am starting to grasp it.  I really like the way it turns out when I get it semi right lol.

    You could leave the grip alone and bring the forearm forward bent to show that is the grip.  Fantasy, gaming and movies often use that grip as a defensive, parrying sword with the main hand doing the slash attacks.  Or reverse the sword and show the swinging motion you mentioned.  Its all up to you, I think the main thing is not to leave it ambiguious and try to show more of the blade to indicate what she is doing with it.  It is hard to research it because I don't think dual wield full swords has much actual historical context.  Rapier and parry blade would have more.  (most of the dual wield sword illustrations you find will be video games)

    On some faces I use a silly technique of mine I just call a chin light.. after a mod in skyrim I use called the same.  I parent a very low intensity spot pointed at the chin roughly that hilights the face and follows it through the pose process.  I'm sure the experten will chime in and point out better ways, but that has worked for me. It's just a light counter to the face shadowing caused by pose and other lighting shadows.

    As far as pose it seems to me that the main focus should be her face, and so would change the left hand sword out of the way in some manner.  Add some hair motion to add movement to her.  Perhaps some off balance torso as well.

    Post edited by Teofa on
  • IceDragonArtIceDragonArt Posts: 12,548
    Teofa said:

    And the sword in her right hand is bugging me to death. It looks bent but its not its the same sword as she has in her left hand.

    Never mind I took a closer look on a bigger screen and you are right.  Going to have to fiddle with though since its still visually bugging me,  Any thoughts on placement, do I need to move her?  And thoughts about lighting her face sublty? I don't want obvious that I am shining a light in her face but I would like it to be just a bit better lit. And Iray again, I am bound and determined to learn this now that I am starting to grasp it.  I really like the way it turns out when I get it semi right lol.

    You could leave the grip alone and bring the forearm forward bent to show that is the grip.  Fantasy, gaming and movies often use that grip as a defensive, parrying sword with the main hand doing the slash attacks.  Or reverse the sword and show the swinging motion you mentioned.  Its all up to you, I think the main thing is not to leave it ambiguious and try to show more of the blade to indicate what she is doing with it.  It is hard to research it because I don't think dual wield full swords has much actual historical context.  Rapier and parry blade would have more.  (most of the dual wield sword illustrations you find will be video games)

    On some faces I use a silly technique of mine I just call a chin light.. after a mod in skyrim I use called the same.  I parent a very low intensity spot pointed at the chin roughly that hilights the face and follows it through the pose process.  I'm sure the experten will chime in and point out better ways, but that has worked for me. It's just a light counter to the face shadowing caused by pose and other lighting shadows.

    I will give that a try.  And will definitely work on the off hand sword pose thank you.  And yes, I am a gamer lol.  although since I have found daz its taken a very back seat.

  • TeofaTeofa Posts: 823
    edited January 2016
    Teofa said:

    And the sword in her right hand is bugging me to death. It looks bent but its not its the same sword as she has in her left hand.

    Never mind I took a closer look on a bigger screen and you are right.  Going to have to fiddle with though since its still visually bugging me,  Any thoughts on placement, do I need to move her?  And thoughts about lighting her face sublty? I don't want obvious that I am shining a light in her face but I would like it to be just a bit better lit. And Iray again, I am bound and determined to learn this now that I am starting to grasp it.  I really like the way it turns out when I get it semi right lol.

    You could leave the grip alone and bring the forearm forward bent to show that is the grip.  Fantasy, gaming and movies often use that grip as a defensive, parrying sword with the main hand doing the slash attacks.  Or reverse the sword and show the swinging motion you mentioned.  Its all up to you, I think the main thing is not to leave it ambiguious and try to show more of the blade to indicate what she is doing with it.  It is hard to research it because I don't think dual wield full swords has much actual historical context.  Rapier and parry blade would have more.  (most of the dual wield sword illustrations you find will be video games)

    On some faces I use a silly technique of mine I just call a chin light.. after a mod in skyrim I use called the same.  I parent a very low intensity spot pointed at the chin roughly that hilights the face and follows it through the pose process.  I'm sure the experten will chime in and point out better ways, but that has worked for me. It's just a light counter to the face shadowing caused by pose and other lighting shadows.

    I will give that a try.  And will definitely work on the off hand sword pose thank you.  And yes, I am a gamer lol.  although since I have found daz its taken a very back seat.

    Me too.  I found DAZ so I could bring my gamer girls into more than just screenshots :) (11 years EQ2).   Anyway, a rough approximation of what I was saying.  This is a very tweaked M5 pose done in a hurry.  Just a general tone, I'm sure you can do better.  Swords are from Porsimo's sword pack on sharecg, they suit my girl's smaller hands better.

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    Post edited by Teofa on
  • IceDragonArtIceDragonArt Posts: 12,548

    One of my favorite parts of gaming is character creation and choosing how they look etc lol.  So this, this is as close to heaven as I am liable to get before I die lol!  I have always wanted to play EQ but I usually play single player simply because I can't make the kind of time commitment some of those require to justify the fee.  (although I really really wish I did.  Maybe when I retire lol)

     

  • TeofaTeofa Posts: 823
    edited January 2016

    Ha Ha.  Well I also play my Skyrim with like 150 mods on it.  My son thinks I'm nuts.  "Why do you have like 10 saved games"  well.. each one is a different girl, duh.  I have such altitus.  I have like 23 characters in Guild Wars.

    He also thinks I'm nuts when I'm at the mirror doing "posing" things.

    Post edited by Teofa on
  • IceDragonArtIceDragonArt Posts: 12,548
    Teofa said:

    Ha Ha.  Well I also play my Skyrim with like 150 mods on it.  My son thinks I'm nuts.  "Why do you have like 10 saved games"  well.. each one is a different girl, duh.  I have such altitus.  I have like 23 characters in Guild Wars.

    He also thinks I'm nuts when I'm at the mirror doing "posing" things.

    That's so funny because I do the same thing! 3 or 4 different characters and games for each. Skyrim, Morrowwind even the early games like Baldurs gate and Might and Magic 6 and up.  But the whole fantasy genre has been a passion of mine and to be able to come here and learn how to put that into a piece of art is truly priceless.

  • I just don't know which one to go with now 

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  • IceDragonArtIceDragonArt Posts: 12,548

    I just don't know which one to go with now 

    I like two and three better than one.  The second gives more  of a slightly sinister or creepy feeling and the third one feels more like she is welcoming someone coming toward her.

  • I just don't know which one to go with now 

    I like two and three better than one.  The second gives more  of a slightly sinister or creepy feeling and the third one feels more like she is welcoming someone coming toward her.

    The second one is the third overlaid onto the first to brighten it a bit :) I am rendering it again with a different shader for the snake eyes which hopefully will work nicely

  • dracorndracorn Posts: 2,333
    edited January 2016

    The latest version. 

    Thanks Linwelly and evilded777 for the suggestion about the light angle - since I'm using 3Delight I have to eyeball the sunlight.  So I adjusted all my directional lighting to roughly the same angle.  Additionally, I added a little gold to the foreground lighting, and toned down the Advanced Ambient Light and gave it a greenish color to pull the mid level foliage and the tiger back from the foreground.  The background spotlight is tinted with blue to match the background photo. 

    Additionally... to my chagrin, a family member informed me that my tiger pose was flat and unconvincing - so I reposed him for drama.  You can see the outline of his side a little more, and I toned down the lighting so that he is being more sneaky. 

     

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    Post edited by dracorn on
  • I think I have it this time :)

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  • SaphirewildSaphirewild Posts: 6,647
    edited January 2016

    Here is a couple rough drafts of my WIP trying to get just the right shadows in the render, rendered in 3Delight no postwork yet.

    The first one has too dark of shadows using 96% shadow Intence in distance light (Raytraced (Software Only) ) Shadow softness 0% etc......

    The second one has too soft of shadows using 50% shadow intence in distance light (Raytraced (software only) ) shadow softness 20% etc......

    Can someone help me with a good setting for the shadows??

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    Winterwonderlandolaf4toosoftshadows.png
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    Post edited by Saphirewild on
  • IceDragonArtIceDragonArt Posts: 12,548
    dracorn said:

    The latest version. 

    Thanks Linwelly and evilded777 for the suggestion about the light angle - since I'm using 3Delight I have to eyeball the sunlight.  So I adjusted all my directional lighting to roughly the same angle.  Additionally, I added a little gold to the foreground lighting, and toned down the Advanced Ambient Light and gave it a greenish color to pull the mid level foliage and the tiger back from the foreground.  The background spotlight is tinted with blue to match the background photo. 

    Additionally... to my chagrin, a family member informed me that my tiger pose was flat and unconvincing - so I reposed him for drama.  You can see the outline of his side a little more, and I toned down the lighting so that he is being more sneaky. 

     

    Really like this one its coming together nicely!

  • IceDragonArtIceDragonArt Posts: 12,548

    I think I have it this time :)

    Just love those snakes.

  • IceDragonArtIceDragonArt Posts: 12,548

    Here is a couple rough drafts of my WIP trying to get just the right shadows in the render, rendered in 3Delight no postwork yet.

    The first one has too dark of shadows using 96% shadow Intence in distance light (Raytraced (Software Only) ) Shadow softness 0% etc......

    The second one has too soft of shadows using 50% shadow intence in distance light (Raytraced (software only) ) shadow softness 20% etc......

    Can someone help me with a good setting for the shadows??

    I would try somewhere in the middle of the two.  Also, I would turn his head a bit more so he is looking directly at the snowman guy.  Coming along nicely though!

  • SaphirewildSaphirewild Posts: 6,647

    Here is a couple rough drafts of my WIP trying to get just the right shadows in the render, rendered in 3Delight no postwork yet.

    The first one has too dark of shadows using 96% shadow Intence in distance light (Raytraced (Software Only) ) Shadow softness 0% etc......

    The second one has too soft of shadows using 50% shadow intence in distance light (Raytraced (software only) ) shadow softness 20% etc......

    Can someone help me with a good setting for the shadows??

    I would try somewhere in the middle of the two.  Also, I would turn his head a bit more so he is looking directly at the snowman guy.  Coming along nicely though!

    I just noticed that Micheal's head was not looking right at Olaf (Snowman guy) I was so worried about the lighting and shadows I forgot to check all the main things lolz.

  • IceDragonArtIceDragonArt Posts: 12,548

    Here is a couple rough drafts of my WIP trying to get just the right shadows in the render, rendered in 3Delight no postwork yet.

    The first one has too dark of shadows using 96% shadow Intence in distance light (Raytraced (Software Only) ) Shadow softness 0% etc......

    The second one has too soft of shadows using 50% shadow intence in distance light (Raytraced (software only) ) shadow softness 20% etc......

    Can someone help me with a good setting for the shadows??

    I would try somewhere in the middle of the two.  Also, I would turn his head a bit more so he is looking directly at the snowman guy.  Coming along nicely though!

    I just noticed that Micheal's head was not looking right at Olaf (Snowman guy) I was so worried about the lighting and shadows I forgot to check all the main things lolz.

    Lol that's why this is the work in progress thread!  And why we help each other

  • isidornisidorn Posts: 1,601

    Here is a couple rough drafts of my WIP trying to get just the right shadows in the render, rendered in 3Delight no postwork yet.

    The first one has too dark of shadows using 96% shadow Intence in distance light (Raytraced (Software Only) ) Shadow softness 0% etc......

    The second one has too soft of shadows using 50% shadow intence in distance light (Raytraced (software only) ) shadow softness 20% etc......

    Can someone help me with a good setting for the shadows??

    I would try somewhere in the middle of the two.  Also, I would turn his head a bit more so he is looking directly at the snowman guy.  Coming along nicely though!

    I just noticed that Micheal's head was not looking right at Olaf (Snowman guy) I was so worried about the lighting and shadows I forgot to check all the main things lolz.

    Some adjustment of camera angle or position of snowman would probably also be good. Right now it looks like the crow sits on the other bird (that btw looks really oversized, it's a common bird around here (but I don't know what it's called in english) that sits on the snowman.

  • SaphirewildSaphirewild Posts: 6,647
    isidorn said:

    Here is a couple rough drafts of my WIP trying to get just the right shadows in the render, rendered in 3Delight no postwork yet.

    The first one has too dark of shadows using 96% shadow Intence in distance light (Raytraced (Software Only) ) Shadow softness 0% etc......

    The second one has too soft of shadows using 50% shadow intence in distance light (Raytraced (software only) ) shadow softness 20% etc......

    Can someone help me with a good setting for the shadows??

    I would try somewhere in the middle of the two.  Also, I would turn his head a bit more so he is looking directly at the snowman guy.  Coming along nicely though!

    I just noticed that Micheal's head was not looking right at Olaf (Snowman guy) I was so worried about the lighting and shadows I forgot to check all the main things lolz.

    Some adjustment of camera angle or position of snowman would probably also be good. Right now it looks like the crow sits on the other bird (that btw looks really oversized, it's a common bird around here (but I don't know what it's called in english) that sits on the snowman.

    I sized it up a bit (The Swallow) cause it looked way too small on his head to me, and I think you may be right about the angle of the camera.

  • SaphirewildSaphirewild Posts: 6,647
    edited January 2016

    Here is 2 more angles of this WIP render I turned the shadow lighting up a bit to 75% and soft shadowing to 30%.

     

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    Post edited by Saphirewild on
  • TeofaTeofa Posts: 823

    @saphirewilds this is steadily getting better.  I don't know whats going on, but it appears your tree model has some errant polies.. base, limb intersects and all over the Crow's lower body.

  • LinwellyLinwelly Posts: 5,780
    dracorn said:

    The latest version. 

    Thanks Linwelly and evilded777 for the suggestion about the light angle - since I'm using 3Delight I have to eyeball the sunlight.  So I adjusted all my directional lighting to roughly the same angle.  Additionally, I added a little gold to the foreground lighting, and toned down the Advanced Ambient Light and gave it a greenish color to pull the mid level foliage and the tiger back from the foreground.  The background spotlight is tinted with blue to match the background photo. 

    Additionally... to my chagrin, a family member informed me that my tiger pose was flat and unconvincing - so I reposed him for drama.  You can see the outline of his side a little more, and I toned down the lighting so that he is being more sneaky. 

     

    Yes those changes helped with the light, very nice. and the new pose for the tiger makes a difference.

  • LinwellyLinwelly Posts: 5,780

    I think I have it this time :)

    The lights look a bit like a flashlight in this one. Was that your Intention?

  • SaphirewildSaphirewild Posts: 6,647
    Teofa said:

    @saphirewilds this is steadily getting better.  I don't know whats going on, but it appears your tree model has some errant polies.. base, limb intersects and all over the Crow's lower body.

    It is the snowy tress I got as a freebie they are as is I did nothing to them, I think they are supposed to be leaves that have been covered with Snow. Not really sure. maybe I will have to change them?

  • Here is 2 more angles of this WIP render I turned the shadow lighting up a bit to 75% and soft shadowing to 30%.

     

    Looking good so far, but you'll want to shift Micheal back somewhat, ether that or lower him some. (Maybe both?) His right foot is floating.

  • LinwellyLinwelly Posts: 5,780
    Teofa said:

    @saphirewilds this is steadily getting better.  I don't know whats going on, but it appears your tree model has some errant polies.. base, limb intersects and all over the Crow's lower body.

    It is the snowy tress I got as a freebie they are as is I did nothing to them, I think they are supposed to be leaves that have been covered with Snow. Not really sure. maybe I will have to change them?

    Saphire, you already got a lot of good advice, I would like to add some thought about the composition in your render. All your activities, people, animals are on the left hand side of your render. on the right side there is only the landscape (which looks very nice, no question) so you might try a different frame for your camera setting, like the portrait dimensions.

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