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OK, the first thing I did was make sure I changed the hammer's shader so that the alpha channel no longer used the map I just painted. To do so, I selected the hammer and entered the texture room. I selected the alpha channel in the shader tree (where the painted map currently resides) and chose none. The hammer is back to its default shder for the moment.
Now, to get some blood on the hammer face, I opened the shader tree and at the top level chose COMPLEX SHADER : MULTICHANNEL MIXER.
The hammer's default shader slides to source 1.
For source 2, I applied a red color gradient in the color channel.
For the blender, I used a texture map and chose the black/white map I had just painted on the hammer using the 3d paint tool. As a result, the hammer's default texture is applied where the map is black (source 1) and the red blood is applied where the map is white (source 2).
What could be a better setting for a vampire hunter than DM's dark shrine product offered here in the Daz store? I navigated in the content browser to the location of my DM dak shrine props and clicked and dragged the elements that I wanted to the instances tray (lower right). The building and other props I chose (floor, table, and candle) load at the zero zero zero position.
Thinking ahead to how I might want the lighting, I loaded the table and candle and moved them to a front corner of the room, using the manipulation tools in the upper left of the assemble room. I then selected both the table and candle (hold the shift key while left clicking to select multiple objects) and clicked EDIT : DUPLICATE from the top menu of the assemble room to create a second of each. Keeping the new version selected, I moved them to a back corner of the room.
Next, I wanted a (un)dead victim of the vampire hunter. This figure will be in an open coffin. I happen to own a tuxedo for M4, so I loaded up Michael 4 from the content browser DAZ PEOPLE folder. I then highligted the loaded M4 and used EDIT : GROUP to create a supergroup, which I named M4 Supergroup :>. This is a totally unnecessary step, but Ilike the double group setup because it makes it very easy to rescale an entire figure and its conformed clothing figures at the same time. I loaded the tuxedo to the M4 supergroup and used "fit to" to conform each clothing item of the tuxedo to M4. I moved the M4 supergroup slightly toward the camera because it loads at zero zero zero, which overlaps with the G2F figure already in the scene. Unnecessary, did it just so you could see the screen grab.
Our victom will be lying in a coffin, so I opened the M4 hierarchy in the instances tray (lower right) and navigated to the right shoulder. I used the rotate tool (upper left of assemble room) to bend the right arm to M4's side. I repeated for the left arm. I then selected the entire M4 supergroup and used the rotate tool so that M4 would be lying flat on his back at 90 degrees. If you hold the shift key while using the rotate tool, the object will rotate in 45 degree increments. I translated M4 over towards the left wall and down a little bit.
Just for fun, I selected the stake that comes with the vampyre hunter props pack (which I had loaded earlier) and moved it to M4's chest. Can use the 3D paint tool to add blood to the end of the stake and to M4's clothes using the same method that was used to paint blood on the front of the hammer.
The defeated vampyre should not be floating in the air! Even though I probably have a coffin prop buried somewhere in my content browser (get it? buried? lol), I will model a new coffin for this scene. The first question is whether to model a simple hexagon shaped coffin with a flat detachable top, or a fancier coffin with a top that swings like a door. Do you have to ask? M4 is wearing tuxedo. I made it a little fancy. There are many ways to model the coffin. The simplest would be to model the sides separately and arrange them together, but I am not going to do that. Instead, I am going to start with a grid and use the extrusion tool to help create some curvature to the sides.
I inserted a vertex object. Do so by choosing from the top menu INSERT : VERTEX OBJECT or clicking and dragging the hatched sphere icon from the top menu to the instances tray (lower right).
The vertex modeler opens. There are several ways to model the coffin. The follwing is not necessarily the best way, but it will work fine.
I started with a flat grid by using CONSTRUCT : INSERT 3D : GRID and choosing the z-axis and 4 by 4 in the uv space. The result is a square that has 3 plygons along each side (4 vertex points equals 3 polygons).
I then used from the top menu MODEL : ADD THICKNESS and chose a very small number so that the grid was now three dimensional
I then clicked on the top center polygon to select it.
I then used the scale tool (upper left menu) to increase the scale of the center polygon so that the top edges of the top face were narrow.
Holding the shift key, I clicked on the outer edges of the top face to select them all. If the center is also selected, just click on it again to deselect. Note that there is a selection paintbrush tool on the left side to make this easier if you prefer to use that.
This is a good start, but it might be easier to model the coffin around the M4 vampire. To do this, I used a great Carrara feature for vertex modeling in the assemble room. I clicked the hand icon in the upper left to return to the assemble room. My coffin-start is in the middle of the scene and is named "vertex object" in the instances tray (lower right). Making sure that the vertex coffin is selected, I then clicked the wrench in the upper left (not upper right) of the assemble menu to start modeling in the assemble room. The coffin changes color with the current selection still selected.
Your dedication and talent is invaluable to the Carrara community diomede. I wake up and (after feeding the cats here...) there is another entire tutorial!
My next step was to start the coffin sides by using the extrude tool to raise the selected edges.
I clicked on the extrude tool in the upper menu, made sure "link polygons" was checked in the properties tray (right side) and simultaneously held the control key and clicked and dragged the selection upwards. Holding control will extrude in a straight line perpendicular. Holding shift while extruding will extrude flat against the current shape (parallel). I sometimes prefer to just enter a very small number in the extrude properties tray and then use the arrow keys to move the result where I want. Lots of useful ways. Once I had the start of the wall, I clicked off of the model to deselect everything. Or, you can use EDIT : DESELECT ALL from the top menu.
OK, now I want to move the start of my coffin around the M4 vampire. Use the selection tools (left menu lower part) and the manipulation tools (left menu upper part) to move the walls around M4. Note that there are more selection tools in the properties tray (upper right), including "loop," "ring", and more. You can also use the upper right to tell Carrrara to only select full polygons, or only select lines, or only select vertex points. In any case, I got my start by using "select all" and then moving the current model to M4. I then selected just the front wall and moved it by his feet. I selected just the left wall and moved it beyond his right arm. I selected just the right wall and moved it outside his left arm. I selected just the farthest wall and moved it past his head.
Now confident that the coffin will "fit" my vampire, I ended the modeling in the assemble room session by clicking on the wrench in the upper left menu again. The coffin turns the default shader. Make sure the vertex object coffin is seleted in the lower right (instances tray). In the genera tab, choose a new name, such as coffin.
With the coffin selected, I entered the modeling room (wrench icon, this time upper right).
First, I want a slightly more fancy base for the coffin. To do this, I selected just the downward-facing polygons of the bottom surface. Making sure "link polygons" is selected, I extruded the face downward and outward slightly (clicked and dragged). I repeated a second time but this time down and more straight. I did it a third time but this time down and in slightly. The result is that the base now has an outward bulge.
I then deselected all in order to start a new phase. I selected just the top faces of the walls of the coffin. Holding the control key to keep the extrusion straight, I extruded upwards. I then made a top bulge similar to the bottom base by extruding three more times - once slightly outward, once slightly straight up, and once slightly inward. Just to check how I am doing, I clicked the hand icon to return to the assemble room.
The result is that M4 now lies in the lower box of a coffin. I have to decide if I want the lid merely flipped up, or if I want it broken and lying on the floor.
While deciding what to do about the lid, I noticed that the coffin extends too far forward and intersects the wall. Therefore, I selected both the coffin and the M4 supergroup (hold shift and click both) and moved them forward until clear of the near wall.
I then created shader domains and uvmapped the coffin.
I selected the coffin in the instances tray and entered the modeling room (wrench in upper right).
I decided to create separate shading domains for the coffin interior and the coffin exterior.
I selected the bottom interior polygon and then hit the plus sign in the upper right until I had selected the interior of the coffin. I then used the shader domain menu in the lower right to create a new shader domain and named it "interior" because I am that kind of creative!
I essentially repeated the same process for the outside and created a new shader domain called "exterior."
Now as it happens, there is a square of polygons under the lip that is neither part of the interior nor the exterior, so I selected both exterior and interior. I then used the SELECTION : INVERT options from the top menu and named the result (under the lip).
Now with the shading domains complete, it is time to do the uvmap. There are some presets that you could use. The coffin is pretty close to a box. You could go in uvmapping mode (in modeling room, top right, there are three "modes." Choose the mode furthest to the right). Your screen will split in two. Mine has the model with the ability to select (but not edit) on the left and the plane for the uvmap on the right. To try the preset, I selected all of the polygons and then in the "operations" tab, chose custom and box. There are three options for the box. Carrara can have each box face share the same space on the uvmap (1 box), or just have opposite sides share the same space (3 boxes) , or have each face have its own space on the uvmap (6 boxes). I chose to have each face have its own space on the uvmap.
The result is that the coffin polygon vertexes are gathered in 6 places on the uvmap corresponding to the 6 boxes in the preset. However, the coffin is actually a rectangle, not a square, so the uvs are slightly stretched in one direction. To see that, I tested the uvmapping by applying a checker shader.
I created a checker shader to check the uvmapping. To do so, I put a mixer in the color channel. For color 1, chose white. For color 2, chose blue. For the blender, I chose a pattern function, checkers, and increased the count to 30.
You can see that the uvmap is OK but a little stetched. You could start here and try to fix manually by selecting and moving the points on the uvmap, or accept as it is because its not that bad.
However, to do an even better job, Carrara can use seams and pins like a garment maker. Show that next.
I started the uvmapping over and used the seams/pins method, which is the farthest to the right in uvmapping mode. The idea is that 2D cloth will be stretched over a 3d object. Seams are places to cut the cloth. Pins are places to pin the cloth to the object. For the coffin, an example of its use would be to think of the bottom flat surface as lying on the ground and then cutting the vertical corners so that the sides would all swing sideways and lay flat on the ground like a cross. The interior could be done the same way. Naturally the inside cross and the outside cross could be cut separate. In addition, I used seams to cut out a couple of rectangles (like the underlip) that would make it more convenient.
When satisfied with my planned seams, I clicked "unfold" and Carrara turned my seamed "cloth" into tiny little islands along the bottom of the right hand screen. Using the zoom tool and the selection tools I moved the major islands away from the others where they could be more easily selected, scaled, and rotated. Whenever scaling, I held the shift key so that the proportions would not be changed. It is good practice to enlarge the "islands" to make use of most of the uvmap space.
Because I used the seams and preserved the proportions, notice that the rectangles are there instead of squares. As a result, when applying the checker shader, there is less distortion. The coffin looks like it is covered with square checkers instead of distorted rectangles. Yay!
Now that the bottom half of the coffin is uvmapped, I saved it to a separate custom object browser for future projects.
Now that the coffin lower piece is uvmapped, it was time to apply a shader. I selected the coffin and entered the texture room by clicking the paintbush in the upper right. I wanted a cloth shader for the interior. Click the drop down menu arrow next to interior on the right and choose create new shader. I clicked wizard and then chose a Fabric Factory shader availabe for carrara. I also wanted a wood type shader for the exterior. I clicked the color channel and selected texture map. I loaded a wood grain. I checked the tile box increased the number of tiles, and then copied to the bump channel.
See above the section on the shader domains for the aviator outfit cuffs to see how to give a unique name to these shaders and save them for use with other objects.
I sill had a floating coffin but that is easy to fix. Instead of modeling more stuff, I just inserted a primitive cube from the top menu. I scaled and translated it under the coffin. However, that is pretty boring so I used modifiers to give the cube some interesting features. Selecting the cube, I went to the top right of the properties tray and selected the modifiers tab. I clicked the plus button to create a modifier. I chose the bulge modifier. Numbers over 100 expand the object outwards and numbers under 100 expand the object inwards. I chose a number under 100 to give a curved base. The limits slider can be used to determine where the bulge starts and ends on the side of the object. Click the x, y, or z elements to determine which axes the obect is bulged. For a texture, I used the wizard to pick a blue marble preset.
OK, been having some funky computer stuff going on so I am going to post a later test render real quick and then post how I got there. I used some volumetric clouds. I used the Daz Lycanthrope. I had to edit the shader of the DM building prop. But here is a (not final but pretty far along) render.
The G2F character needed to be posed. I often start with a preset and then use the rotate tool on individual bones to refine. For this, I acquired a nice pose in the action pose set from daz. I highlighted the G2F figure within the supergroup. I then double clickd on the action pose file that I wanted to apply. Once in the approximate pose, I selected individual bones from within the figure hierarchy (from hip down) and used the rotate tool to get closer to what I wanted.
Next, I wanted to put the cross that comes with the Vampyre Bane set in the left hand. I had already loaded it at the beginning, so I just had to highlight the cross and use the manipulation tools to move it to the left hand and parent it there.
I then changed the shader for the cross. It comes with a texture map, which is fine. But for this, I decided to drag the brass shader that I used for the belt buckle to the cross.
The next thing I did was work on the lighting. Ultimately I want to have light coming from the two candles and streaning down from the upper window on the left. I also plan to have a little light from the camera. To get started, I inserted a bulb light. I reduced the scale of the bulb light and moved it to align with the candle flame on the left. I then reduced its brightness considerably and changed its color to a yellowish tinge. I duplicated the bulb and moved the duplicate off just slightly and gave it an orangish tinge. I then selected both bulb lights, duplicated them, and moved the duplicate pair back to the far candle flame.
I then eliminated some of the other lights in the scene. The scene starts with a distant light by default. I highlighted the distant light and set its brightness to zero in the propertis tray. Simlarly, scenes start with ambient light by default. I opened the scene tab and turned the ambient light to zero.
Next, I wanted to put in my spot light fron the outside looking in from the upper left window. I inserted a spot light and used the modifier "point at" to point at the neck and head of the G2F fingure. I gave this light a blue tinge and increased its brightness considerably. I also used the falloff controls to narrow the total light but also have a falloff from the center of the spotlight to its outer edge.
Then I paused to do a test render. It wasn't very good, but tht is why we do test renders. The bulb lights by the candles were combining to have too strong of an effect for my tastes. I then reduced the brghtness of the bulb lights and increased the brightness of the spot light. It was an improvement but not quite what I wanted yet.
Most of the big tasks have been done (except modeling the coffin lid and accessories which I am putting off). The only remaining big task will be inserting clouds, but I will clean up some shaders and other issues first. I like the current camera angle so in the upper left, I clicked on the camera and chose to save the position and called it test.
I then selected the candle on the front table and opened its texture room. The key is that I wanted to add a glow channel to the flame. It was simple because the flame had a texture map as its shader that I liked. I simply copied the flame texture map from the color channel and pasted it in the glow channel with a multiply operator so I could edit it later. I edited the master so it would affect both flames. I then did a test render with the glow channel for the flames. I liked how the flames looked but it did add too much light to the scene for my tastes, but I'll worry about that when I go back to the lighting in general.
Next I wanted to add some fog, because everyone knows that vampyre hunters are knee deep in fog and that any light coming in through a window has to light up some fog. The Hammer films always did it that way, anyway. (EDIT: SPEAKING OF HAMMER FILMS, TCM HAS A CHRISTOPHER LEE MARATHON THIS WEEKEND) There are several ways to try to get this effect, but I decided to try to use the volumetric clouds. From the top menu, insert a volumetric cloud, or clck and drag a cloud to the instances tray. There are two types of cloud, so don't use the old kind. Use the volumetric cloud. The cloud editor will open. For now, I simply accepted the default and returned to the assemble room because the clouds come in way way way too big. The cloud comes in as a box which seems empty. First, I reduced the scale by a factor of 10 in each of the x y z slots. I then reduced the entire cloud scale even more. I backed the camera up so the cloud could be seen in relation to the building. The control point for the cloud (called the hot point) starts in the bottom right corner, which is annoying. The properties tray has a function in the upper right that says HP -> OBJ. Use this to reset the hot point to the center of the object (cloud). Then move the cloud so that it is centered on the building.
By itself, this one cloud really does not have much of an effect. I duplicated the clouds a couple of times and rotated and shifted the extra clouds slightly off from the original.