September 2017 – DAZ 3D New User Challenge – Focus/DOF

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Comments

  • My darn c: drive was getting so full I had to go and move some of my resorces over to an external drive that I have. Re-identified the directories that I moved afterwords and loaded up to last version of what I'm working on this month to make sure things were working well. Looks good so far, everything loaded up correctly from what I saw.

  • HighElfHighElf Posts: 365
    edited September 2017

    So another approach to the theme. The policeman now only serves as a part of a frame, together with one of the doors.

    I tried to focus more on the play with the numbers. The numbers now represents their distance to the center of the DoF. Also I started to flesh the actual crime somewhat out, in line with the degression in the DoF.

    Zahlen-Krimi_05.jpg
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    Post edited by HighElf on
  • Kismet2012Kismet2012 Posts: 4,252

    Here's version e. Only change is giving the rightmost lady on the upper level some primitive cybernetic eyes. I mean some old-chrome eyes.  You can see them a glow if you look.

    I have been looking at your image trying to figure out what is off about it.  I think it is the floor.  It looks a little too "clean".  Can you add some grunge, dirt or debris of some kind?  A random piece of paper?  Something?

  • Kismet2012Kismet2012 Posts: 4,252
    HighElf said:

    So another approach to the theme. The policeman now only serves as a part of a frame, together with one of the doors.

    I tried to focus more on the play with the numbers. The numbers now represents their distance to the center of the DoF. Also I started to flesh the actual crime somewhat out, in line with the degression in the DoF.

    This is a much more interesting angle.  The focus is very clearly on the "figure" and crime scene numbers.  You no longer have the Policeman competing with the crime scene numbers as the focus of the image.

     

  • daybirddaybird Posts: 654

    Here's version e. Only change is giving the rightmost lady on the upper level some primitive cybernetic eyes. I mean some old-chrome eyes.  You can see them a glow if you look.

    I still have my problems with your light. There are so many shining lamps, that my eyes say tom me... the scene must be brighter!

  • daybirddaybird Posts: 654
    HighElf said:

    So another approach to the theme. The policeman now only serves as a part of a frame, together with one of the doors.

    I tried to focus more on the play with the numbers. The numbers now represents their distance to the center of the DoF. Also I started to flesh the actual crime somewhat out, in line with the degression in the DoF.

    This is a much more interesting angle.  The focus is very clearly on the "figure" and crime scene numbers.  You no longer have the Policeman competing with the crime scene numbers as the focus of the image.

     

    I agree with Kismet2012. This angle is much better.yes
    I also think you can widen the DoF, so that the policeman is a little better to recognize.

  • daybird said:

    Here's version e. Only change is giving the rightmost lady on the upper level some primitive cybernetic eyes. I mean some old-chrome eyes.  You can see them a glow if you look.

    I still have my problems with your light. There are so many shining lamps, that my eyes say tom me... the scene must be brighter!

    Shadowrun doesn't do bright.

  • Here's version e. Only change is giving the rightmost lady on the upper level some primitive cybernetic eyes. I mean some old-chrome eyes.  You can see them a glow if you look.

    I have been looking at your image trying to figure out what is off about it.  I think it is the floor.  It looks a little too "clean".  Can you add some grunge, dirt or debris of some kind?  A random piece of paper?  Something?

    How about some smoldering scraps of paper scattered on the upper level, still somewhat settling to the floor?

    Here's version f.

    sept2017f.png
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  • Kismet2012Kismet2012 Posts: 4,252

    Here's version e. Only change is giving the rightmost lady on the upper level some primitive cybernetic eyes. I mean some old-chrome eyes.  You can see them a glow if you look.

    I have been looking at your image trying to figure out what is off about it.  I think it is the floor.  It looks a little too "clean".  Can you add some grunge, dirt or debris of some kind?  A random piece of paper?  Something?

    How about some smoldering scraps of paper scattered on the upper level, still somewhat settling to the floor?

    Here's version f.

    That certainly suggests something epic has just happened or is still going on.

  • ChameoChameo Posts: 306
    HighElf said:

    So another approach to the theme. The policeman now only serves as a part of a frame, together with one of the doors.

    I tried to focus more on the play with the numbers. The numbers now represents their distance to the center of the DoF. Also I started to flesh the actual crime somewhat out, in line with the degression in the DoF.

    I agree with others that this angle makes for a much more interesting "story". It's been instructive following along to see what folks suggest and how your render changes as a result. And yeah, I think it would benefit from having the police officer and flashlight a little more in focus. It's an interesting subject, and your attention to detail is impressive. (I never would have thought about how many litres of blood...)

  • HighElfHighElf Posts: 365

    You can say, up to four litres of blood are plausible in the abdominal area, when it got injured. Yes more is realistic, but it looks ridicolous, when shown on a picture or in a lesson for paramedics. ;) If you want to know how it looks on a flat ground, just use beetroot juice with mixed in cocoa powder. It's what we are using to show off blood.  (Off topic tip:If you are looking for fresh helloween guts, make the guts out of pizza dough.)

    Currently, I try to set a broader f/stop value, but as soon as the policeman becomes more visible, the DoF aspect in the picture becomes absence. I will try some different settings this weekend, but currently the policeman seems to be placed to much in the foreground.

  • ChameoChameo Posts: 306

    Here's version e. Only change is giving the rightmost lady on the upper level some primitive cybernetic eyes. I mean some old-chrome eyes.  You can see them a glow if you look.

    I have been looking at your image trying to figure out what is off about it.  I think it is the floor.  It looks a little too "clean".  Can you add some grunge, dirt or debris of some kind?  A random piece of paper?  Something?

    How about some smoldering scraps of paper scattered on the upper level, still somewhat settling to the floor?

    Here's version f.

    That certainly suggests something epic has just happened or is still going on.

    This is coming together nicely, but it still feels too sterile. With all those smoldering bits of paoper on the floor, maybe some smoke lingering in the air to give it a little life? It would also help make the low, yellowish light feel more realistic.

  • ChameoChameo Posts: 306
    edited September 2017

    I've been working along on my own render and learning from suggestions and advice given to others. While I've been using DAZ Studio for quite some time, I'm only now starting to delve into really learning how to get the most out of it. I have no 3D, art or photography experience at all, and my art teachers in school just washed their hands of me. This is the first time I've played with DOF and tone mapping within the studio. These are several renders as I played with different settings, camera angles and finally changed the background to get the dark sky I wanted.

    The first render with no DOF and just the base idea:

     

    Added a few more people, backed the cityscape waaaaaay back, started playing with DOF and adjusting the settings,cursed the trees for throwing odd shadows...

     

    Changed the color of the firelight and ditched all scene lighting but the firelight (which is made with 7 distant lights), fine-tuned the posing on a few figures...

     

    Swapped out the HDRI map for one with a more interesting sky, reset all the render settings to default and started nudging them until I got the light and colors that I wanted. The camera in this one is focused on the flames with a fairly narrow focus. I know the dancer's hair needs a slight adjustment where it seems to go through her shoulder, and there's that annoying poke-through on the bearded gent's cargo shorts that I can't seem to get rid of. Not quite happy with it yet and would be happy for any critique or suggestions.

    city limits blue.png
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    citydance.png
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    citydance-2.png
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    citydance-dof-stop-32.png
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    Post edited by Chameo on
  • HighElfHighElf Posts: 365

    So here is the current scene, witwo different f/stop values, to expand the DoF.

    the first is on f/stop 11

    the second on f/stop 16

    Zahlen-Krimi_06_WIP.jpg
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    Zahlen-Krimi_07_WIP.jpg
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  • daybirddaybird Posts: 654
    HighElf said:

    So here is the current scene, witwo different f/stop values, to expand the DoF.

    the first is on f/stop 11

    the second on f/stop 16

    The second!

  • daybirddaybird Posts: 654

     

    Chameo said:

    Swapped out the HDRI map for one with a more interesting sky, reset all the render settings to default and started nudging them until I got the light and colors that I wanted. The camera in this one is focused on the flames with a fairly narrow focus. I know the dancer's hair needs a slight adjustment where it seems to go through her shoulder, and there's that annoying poke-through on the bearded gent's cargo shorts that I can't seem to get rid of. Not quite happy with it yet and would be happy for any critique or suggestions.

    I love the last one, go on with it.

    I think you render in 3Delight, so I would try to put a Pointlight in the fire to simulate the light from the flames on the people.

    I also would change the camera angle a little to bring the horizon in a row with on of the lines of third, but maybe one of the other can give you better advices, because I'm self a beginner.

  • Kismet2012Kismet2012 Posts: 4,252
    Chameo said:

    I've been working along on my own render and learning from suggestions and advice given to others. While I've been using DAZ Studio for quite some time, I'm only now starting to delve into really learning how to get the most out of it. I have no 3D, art or photography experience at all, and my art teachers in school just washed their hands of me. This is the first time I've played with DOF and tone mapping within the studio. These are several renders as I played with different settings, camera angles and finally changed the background to get the dark sky I wanted.

    The first render with no DOF and just the base idea:

     

    Added a few more people, backed the cityscape waaaaaay back, started playing with DOF and adjusting the settings,cursed the trees for throwing odd shadows...

     

    Changed the color of the firelight and ditched all scene lighting but the firelight (which is made with 7 distant lights), fine-tuned the posing on a few figures...

     

    Swapped out the HDRI map for one with a more interesting sky, reset all the render settings to default and started nudging them until I got the light and colors that I wanted. The camera in this one is focused on the flames with a fairly narrow focus. I know the dancer's hair needs a slight adjustment where it seems to go through her shoulder, and there's that annoying poke-through on the bearded gent's cargo shorts that I can't seem to get rid of. Not quite happy with it yet and would be happy for any critique or suggestions.

    I am not a guitar player so I could be wrong the but guitar seems a bit far away from the player's body.  Even while in a sitting position.

    You can try hiding the thigh on the guy with the cargo shorts.  Hopefully it won't give you a blank area below the shorts where his shin should be.

    The bend in the wrist of the Dancing Girl's right hand is a little extreme.  I would back that off quite a bit.

    The trunk on your tree looks square.  It isn't as noticeable in the last image due to the DOF and the tree being near the edge of the image but in the others it is a glaring thing that draws my eye.

    I like the fact that you showed your progress in this series of images.  Thank you for sharing those.

     

  • Kismet2012Kismet2012 Posts: 4,252
    HighElf said:

    So here is the current scene, witwo different f/stop values, to expand the DoF.

    the first is on f/stop 11

    the second on f/stop 16

    From a DOF perspective the 2nd image has the Police Officer in slightly more focus but the lighting seems to be darker in the 2nd version compared to the first.

  • Here's version g. Tried to add some smoke coming off of some of the papers.

    sept2017g.png
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  • daybirddaybird Posts: 654

    Here's version g. Tried to add some smoke coming off of some of the papers.

    Oh..it seems that this run was a disaster, but now the scene begins to tell a story. (The glow effect looks really cool)
    You should the team get into action and let them fire their weapons. 

    Maybe the red cyber-eyes from the woman are a little to bright.

  • daybirddaybird Posts: 654
    edited September 2017

    Hahaha guy, come on, don't be so panic. The tale about the werewolf in this forest, is only a fairytale.

     

    After I bought the skinchanger in the sale I could not resist and have to put him in a scene.

    Wolfnight.png
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    Post edited by daybird on
  • ChameoChameo Posts: 306
    HighElf said:

    So here is the current scene, witwo different f/stop values, to expand the DoF.

    the first is on f/stop 11

    the second on f/stop 16

    The second is a little too dark for my taste. I get a feel for the entire scene in the first one - enough focus on the investigator to figure out what I'm looking at, enough scene to start telling the story in my mind. One of the questions that pops up in my mind is - whose point of view are we looking at the scene through? Is there a second investigator looking over their partner's shoulder into the room? What is that person looking at? What is the story you want your viewer to read in your image? Am I asking too many irrelevant questions? :D

  • ChameoChameo Posts: 306
    edited September 2017
    daybird said:

    I love the last one, go on with it.

    I think you render in 3Delight, so I would try to put a Pointlight in the fire to simulate the light from the flames on the people.

    I also would change the camera angle a little to bring the horizon in a row with on of the lines of third, but maybe one of the other can give you better advices, because I'm self a beginner.

    Thanks! It's an iRay render, and the campfire loads with 8 separate distant lights aligned with the flames. I played with those a good bit, since they were far too orange-red for my tastes. I've got an updated render going with quite a few changes, including spotlights added to cast the "firelight" where I want it.

     

    I am not a guitar player so I could be wrong the but guitar seems a bit far away from the player's body.  Even while in a sitting position.

    You can try hiding the thigh on the guy with the cargo shorts.  Hopefully it won't give you a blank area below the shorts where his shin should be.

    The bend in the wrist of the Dancing Girl's right hand is a little extreme.  I would back that off quite a bit.

    The trunk on your tree looks square.  It isn't as noticeable in the last image due to the DOF and the tree being near the edge of the image but in the others it is a glaring thing that draws my eye.

    I like the fact that you showed your progress in this series of images.  Thank you for sharing those.

     

    You're right - the guitar was too far from the body. I'd been working from a different angle and got the hands posed just right on the frets and the body and got lazy because I didn't want to have to repose the whole darn thing. Since you mentioned it, though, I made myself do it and learned a WHOLE lot about making incremental adjustments to poses. It wasn't anywhere near as bad as I thought it would be. Thanks for the push on that! Also thanks for the tip on the cargo shorts guy - there is a tiny sliver of transparency where the shorts end, but with the lighting and the DOF, I -think- it just looks like some shadow. And the tree - gah! the square trunk was giving me fits! I would have just switched it out for another tree, but the branch was -exactly- what I wanted.

    Here's where I'm at now, after adding a moon, a couple of spotlights and fine-tuning the poses, thanks to Kismet2012's prompting. I've got another render going with the DOF set a little wider in the camera settings - I think I want the group of friends in a little sharper focus. I also think I want the moon a little brighter - thinking of playing with some emission. Any hints for that?

    city limits with moon.png
    1800 x 1200 - 2M
    Post edited by Chameo on
  • ChameoChameo Posts: 306

    Here's version g. Tried to add some smoke coming off of some of the papers.

    Oh, I like the smoke on this a lot! This is really coming together.

  • HighElfHighElf Posts: 365
    The darkness is part of the f/Stop changes. I keep the values in the focus and the Tone Mapping the same. So I get a similar Effects as in an actual Photo. The Story will become somewhat clearer aß so in aß I known which Details are needed to ne included. Like the bounces Next to the Knife.
  • ChameoChameo Posts: 306
    daybird said:

    Hahaha guy, come on, don't be so panic. The tale about the werewolf in this forest, is only a fairytale.

     

    After I bought the skinchanger in the sale I could not resist and have to put him in a scene.

    He's a perfect fit in this scene. I may have to go find him - somehow, people always think there should be a werewolf skulking around the edges of my renders :D

  • ricswikaricswika Posts: 132
    edited September 2017
    • title: Zombi in the Face
    • made with: Daz Studio, Iray, Ultimate Zombie for G3F, Creepy Forest
    • no post work

    zombie3 closeup.jpg
    3088 x 1543 - 944K
    Post edited by ricswika on
  • ricswikaricswika Posts: 132
    edited September 2017
    Chameo said:
    daybird said:

    I love the last one, go on with it.

    I think you render in 3Delight, so I would try to put a Pointlight in the fire to simulate the light from the flames on the people.

    I also would change the camera angle a little to bring the horizon in a row with on of the lines of third, but maybe one of the other can give you better advices, because I'm self a beginner.

    Thanks! It's an iRay render, and the campfire loads with 8 separate distant lights aligned with the flames. I played with those a good bit, since they were far too orange-red for my tastes. I've got an updated render going with quite a few changes, including spotlights added to cast the "firelight" where I want it.

     

    I am not a guitar player so I could be wrong the but guitar seems a bit far away from the player's body.  Even while in a sitting position.

    You can try hiding the thigh on the guy with the cargo shorts.  Hopefully it won't give you a blank area below the shorts where his shin should be.

    The bend in the wrist of the Dancing Girl's right hand is a little extreme.  I would back that off quite a bit.

    The trunk on your tree looks square.  It isn't as noticeable in the last image due to the DOF and the tree being near the edge of the image but in the others it is a glaring thing that draws my eye.

    I like the fact that you showed your progress in this series of images.  Thank you for sharing those.

     

    You're right - the guitar was too far from the body. I'd been working from a different angle and got the hands posed just right on the frets and the body and got lazy because I didn't want to have to repose the whole darn thing. Since you mentioned it, though, I made myself do it and learned a WHOLE lot about making incremental adjustments to poses. It wasn't anywhere near as bad as I thought it would be. Thanks for the push on that! Also thanks for the tip on the cargo shorts guy - there is a tiny sliver of transparency where the shorts end, but with the lighting and the DOF, I -think- it just looks like some shadow. And the tree - gah! the square trunk was giving me fits! I would have just switched it out for another tree, but the branch was -exactly- what I wanted.

    Here's where I'm at now, after adding a moon, a couple of spotlights and fine-tuning the poses, thanks to Kismet2012's prompting. I've got another render going with the DOF set a little wider in the camera settings - I think I want the group of friends in a little sharper focus. I also think I want the moon a little brighter - thinking of playing with some emission. Any hints for that?

    I like the posing and figures a lot. The woman clapping with her head to the side really sells it. The city might be a tiny bit too bright and the moon too large. Otherwise nice.

    Post edited by ricswika on
  • ChameoChameo Posts: 306
    ricswika said:
    • title: Zombi in the Face
    • made with: Daz Studio, Iray, Ultimate Zombie for G3F, Creepy Forest
    • no post work

    Nice one - Mr. Zombie is startlingly clear against just the right amount of blur in the background.

  • ChameoChameo Posts: 306
    edited September 2017

    I think I may be happy with where this one is at now... though I'm thinking it needs a water plane between the ground and the city limits and something in that big, empty space in the middle..

    city limits with big blue moon.png
    1800 x 1200 - 2M
    Post edited by Chameo on
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