April 2018 - Daz 3D New User Challenge - Open Render Challenge
DAZ_ann0314
Posts: 2,849
New User's Challenge - April 2018
Sponsored by DAZ 3D
Are you new to the 3D World? Are you at the beginning stages of learning 3D rendering? Have you been around for a little bit but feel you could benefit from some feedback or instruction? Have you been around awhile and would like to help other members start their creative journey? Well then come and join the fun as we host our newest render challenge.
"Open Render Challenge"
This challenge is a general render challenge with no real focus. You can concentrate on using the skills learned in the past few challenges, create and focus on something new or that you've wanted to try out and try to combine and push the skills previously learned into new directions.
If you would like to review the previous topics and information you can find the topics/threads here:
Composition
Lighting
Posing
I will be checking in as will the rest of the Community Volunteers to try and help with anything you all may need.
For a list of the current challenge rules, please see this thread: Challenge Rules
Closing Date: April 30th, 2018
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Comments
I'm going to try and do something for this month and not let Crossout take up so much of my time like I did last month. There's something being rendered as I type this so we'll see how things go.
Here we are with the start of my idea for this month.
@Shinji Ikari 9th:
I like this idea. Especially the two different light colors. :)
Here is my concept for this month.
To do list (for now):
- lighting
- experiment with DoF
- finding better working clothes
Fun start on both accounts
Cant wait to see what your finished images look like 
Glad that you like it Highelf. The blue glow on the wall was from this set. You have a good start going on yours as well.
This is my image for April. I have attached a copy of the photo that I have based my image on. I have tried to copy the pose in the photo. At the moment I feel that the man's right forearm is too dark so I need to alter the lighting to change this. Also I may change the camera position as I feel the pale wall is distracting.
Version b up. Gave him a reason to be spraying n' praying. Plan to go about using DoF to focus on the soldier if I get a chance.
@sueya Nice start that you have on yours.
Looks like you guys all have a nice start.
@DAZ_ann0314 - Nice to meet you. Thanks for helping us this month.
@Shinji - (my slight tendancy toward OCD drives me mad every time I cannot do your name like the others) That's an interesting scene. I like the action and the lighting/colors are cool.
@HighElf - Also a very interesting choice. Looking forward to what you do with this.
@Sueya - A very lively picture you've chosen, and I think you're off to a good start. A darker, less reflective color on that wall may help, too. Keep going!
Here is my latest test render of my scene for this month. I've got some choices to make about different elements. I left the golden spiral in the scene that I'm using to help with composition. I got the golden spiral from Jaderail's freebie set of composition rules over at ShareCG. It's nice that he's still helping the community of learning artists. The frame of the image is in the golden rectangle also. Note: I will remove the spiral for future versions of this render. The lady's pose is not mine, but came from a set. The cyborgs were posed by me, however. I retextured the machines in red and gold as a counter to the lady's blue and gold. I intended there to be more balance between shine and grunge, colors, and action in this scene. Please, if anyone has feedback on how to improve, I'm all eyes and ears. Not sure if I'll do a second scene yet or not. Again, it seems very dark. I'm considering attempting some lunar godrays.
@sueya: It looks far more relaxing than the original. I like the atmosphere.
@wanderer: At the fist glance it looks good. But I find the golden spiral distracting. Can you upload the picture without the spiral?
And here my WiP with the lighting. I'm using the SunSky only here. And pose the sun manually instead of using the time dials.
@HighElf - Of course, this is just to show how I used it. I like the play of light and shadow in your update. Yeah, I switch between time/date and manual depending on what I'm trying to achieve. I think this is a cool shot, but I wonder if another tool would work better here. If that's a soldering iron, it seems like it would be hard to use at her perspective. But maybe people really do whatever she's doing with that tool. I don't really know--it just pops up in my head as a question when I see it because I'm already curious about what she's doing.
We seem to be missing some folks. I'm really hoping they come back this month You know who you are! One week in already.
@Wanderer - I guess I am one of the missing people. LOL. I'm in this month. I know I want to work more on lighting and cameras, but not exactly sure of my plans. I think it might be a good idea to do another pose reference as well. I paid combined tribute to Metropolis and the Wizard of Oz in another 3D program, so it might be fun to do something similar in Daz Studio. It is premature, but I am uploading my references, Please, these are just references. I didn't render them, nor am I committing to a B&W render.
@Shinji Ikari 9th - great start, This is already better than I could do. I enjoyed the version with the addition of the enemy more. Your suggestion about DOF is probably the correct thing, but I wonder if you might lose some of the detail in the stars outside the window, depending on how it is achieved. I wonder if a motion blur for the enemy might be preferred. I suspect my suggestions may be counterproductive so don't take it too seriously.
@HighElf - Love the camera angle and the lighting overall. The position of the sun sky does a much better job of focus. The original seemed a little scattered and the second resolves it nicely. Here is a very minor suggestion in an attempt to think of something constructive, I wonder if you could scruff up the yellow paint a little more. Even more dirt and scratches might reinforce the need for maintenance and reduce the way the yellow draws the eye.
@Sueya - I think you did an excellent job of matching the poses. This is going to be another great one for you. Not much to add to your own suggestions, but one constructive idea is to check the position of the light relative to the reflective back wall. There seems to be a circular spot, which I assume is the light. Nothing crucial, but you might think about whether you want it there.
@Wanderer - I like how you are using the tools to help with composition. That is another of my weaknesses that I need to work on. My constructive thought is the same as yours, which is addressing the overall darkness. Rather than adding light to the whole scene, I wonder if you can focus it on the blue character, perhaps with light seeming to emanate from what looks like glow from the red characters. Your god-rays idea is probably better, though. Plenty of time to experiment.
Again, I'm really not ready yet, but here are some of the reference images I've been looking at. I will probably be paying tribute to the scene in Metropolis in which Maria and the robot are converted by the scientific chair. .
Here's version c, in witch I tried to use some DoF.
@Shinji - I like it a lot better. Looking pretty good.
@Diomede - Thanks for the advice. I might come back and take it. Here is my next iteration - which pretty much ended up the opposite of what you suggested. However, I like it so I'm going to keep it even if I move on from this version to something better. For that reason, I stuck my name on it. I'm not sure what I like about it, but I do like it. I like your references a lot. That's really cool stuff. Please tell me if you think I still need to switch to more character central lighting.
Now, does anyone else (besides me) like it? If my instincts are not shared by others, I don't mind changing it because it is so early. Please give feedback if you don't mind. I'd still like to improve.
I did modify her pose a bit.
@wanderer: Oh let me tell you. I've used a smoldering iron in a lot of "unsafe" ways. XD Liquid soldering tin is only one reason for using this hot bastard carefully. And what is shown here, is definitly not the proper way to use it. I like the look of that tool, for this shot. That is the only reason why I've chosen it instead of wrench, for example.
I really like the composition of your pic. :) But maybe you could adjust the red lighting, on the right side. It distracts somewhat from the action. The blue lighting around her eyes is also looking somewhat off. Is it meant to be some kind of display?
@Shinji Ikari 9th: Hell yeah, that is more my speed. I really like the DoF here, even if you have lost the details in the stars.
@HighElf - lol... that's fine... just curious. I get what you're talking about. As for her eyes, that's a good question... That's the emissives of her eyes against the inside of her visor. I'm fairly certain the artist who made her didn't intend for her to fall into the hands of someone who'd push her in such unskilled ways. Guess I'll just tinker with her a bit more.
Version d up. Fixed the rifle so it was back in the soldiers hand, added a string of casings falling from said rifle, and made the sign above the keypad into steel.
Fantastic updates, folks. Really like the progress.
I'm still assembling assets. I've modeled a simple chair. The electric cords were a little more difficult. I want the cords to be able to bend and rotate. I used the bridge to Hexagon to model the chair to fit a sitting G8F figure. I used Carrara to model the electric cords. I rigged the electric cords in Studio and saved as a support asset. If you want to see the process, I will post more detail in my Art Studio thread. For here, I'll just post a test render of the chair and the cords. I slapped some Iray shader presets on the chair and cords. The G8F and the blue background are here for no reason at all.
Don't flirt with an Amazon...
This work was not planned, I just downloaded the nice freebie Amazon Bundle from squarepeg3d and only wanted look, if all work properly.
The bundle comes without shaders and so I started to play around with the shaders I own.
Then I tried the poses in the bundle, altered one, a little and finally, before I really realised, I spend more than 3 hours in that short look in of that bundle and was middle in a scene.
Now, after the rendering, I realise some things, that I must look for.
There is a strange structure on her fist.
The light on her is to bright and in the left upper corner to dark.
In the beginning, this was an outside scene and the light was better balanced, but I think, it fits better in a tavern scene.
Still not pleased with the background, but I thought, this is a good time to post a first testrender and collect some criticism and suggestions for improvement.
Dublicate post, please erase.
I really like the perspective of this image.
I tend to agree the light on the Amazon is a little too bright but I like the contrasting shadow in the upper left corner. If this tavern is lighted by the fire you would have dark corners where the light wouldn't quite reach.
Sometime just playing around you end up with some of the best images.
The G8F and the background may not end up in your final image but they do provide perspective. I really like G8F's pose. It is kind of flirty and an interesting contrast to the menace provided by the chair.
Great work on the chair. It is great to see someone using Carrara as well as Daz Studio.
I am looking forward to the final image that matches your movie reference.
I am no expert on combat but the pose on the guy firing the gun looks a little off to me. Is he falling backwards? I feel like his head should be up just a bit. His chin looks to be too far into his chest. But again I could be wrong on that point.
Great progress so far.
I am going to disagree with Wanderer. I like the red lighting but find the overall blue hue a bit much and I miss the clouds you had in the roof opening. Maybe something between your first image and this one?
I really like the lighting you have here. There is light on your main subject and some shadows to provide to help define the space.
I won't comment on the advisability of soldering over one's head. I will leave that to individual's with more experience than myself.
Perhaps there should be more "clutter" on the floor? Tool, debris, old parts?
As Wanderer already suggested darkening the wall colour, if you can, would cut down on the distraction.
The couple look like they are performing a nice, relaxing yoga or some form of martial art exercise.
Nice start.
Thank you for the feedback, @Kismet2012. As usual, I'm still struggling with how Daz Studio handles emmissives and light. I've added most of the other elements that I will need for the setting such as a 5-pointed star, but once again am struggling with light. For the circles of light that descend on the chair, I modeled a torus prop before I figured out that Studio comes with a torus. Doh! Anyway, I applied an Iray shader preset to a torus that I thought would make it an emissive. However, when I turn off all the other lights, the torus does not cast any light on the test cube, nor does it glow in the scene. Lighting continues to be one of my biggest hurdles with Studio. Outcomes don't seem to match what I think should happen when I think I have chosen the correct presets. I have attached screenshots of the shader presets (all in that pane) that I applied to the torus and the resulting lighting failure.
Aaargh.
How do I make my torus glow and cast light?
First off all, add an Iray Base shader on the Prop you wan't to be emissive.
Choose the prob in the scene tab and than open the surface tab and choose the same prob there.
ONLY than you can add an new shader.
Now go back to your content and search the Iray base shader. Double click on him to apply him on the prop.
Go back to the surface tab and search the prop there. When you have all done right, in the upper left side should stand Iray Uber.
Scroll down to emissive. change the black color. (any other color than black is emissive.
With luminance, temperature and luminance unit you can choose how strong and bright the prob should be.
With the default setting you must choose high values (over 10000-100000) to see a significant light
You can also change the value in luminance unit to kcd/m^2 than the values can be set between 100-10000
High Elf had a good idea with setting goals. So...
This month, I'd like to learn more about how to work with water in DS, and also optimize before rendering.
1.) How do you make ripples around the fish?
2.) Besides lowering SubD, setting textures to 'base' & deleting everything that's not in the picture, how do you free up more V-Ram?
"A Day at the Park"
version 1
thanks for reading
--Bruce
---
Edit: weeding out old imgur files. PM missing links.
From an old forum post by Richard H. To add ripples you can do the following. I did in this image: https://www.daz3d.com/gallery/#images/497451/ You can see some subtle ripples around where she is standing in the water.
From the forum entry:
"It's pretty simple - in the DForm pane (Window>Panes(Tabs)>DForm) click Edit Spline. In the dialogue click the Add radio button and then click on the line to add control points, then click the Move radio button and drag the points up and down to make a wave."
https://www.daz3d.com/forums/viewthread/3111/
Looks like a lot of really good work being done this month. OMG, once again, I go away a few days and I have so much to catch up on. I'll try to be brief:
@Diomede - I think that chair is really cool. Nice start. Wish I had been here to offer info, but @daybird got it.
@daybird - I love the action and angle. I agree with your self-assessment of the lighting. I think you've got a good start.
@Tynkere - That's a cool start you've got and good idea as well on the goals. I struggle a lot last month with optimization, so I feel like I have a few things to offer. I'm sure I'm not that knowledgable, so if I'm wrong or miss something, feel free to chime in. I don't mind and I'd rather learn now through proper guidance than later through crash and burn. Okay, optimizing and freeing up VRAM.
1. Consider using the Iray Section Plane nodes. You can pop them in yourself, or you can download a really cool freebie from Snow Sultan. He has a tutorial on it, but basically, if you make 3 panels, group them just behind your cam, parent them to your cam properly, everything on the other side of them gets cut from the rendering of the scene. NOW, the downside is that light passes through and does not interact with these objects as it normally would, so you have to use some care. (There is a download link under his video for the prop he made.)
2. Any part of people or figures hidden by clothing, armor, whatever, can be hidden from the render and will free some memory. So, with the thing in camera so you can see the effect and if something will show, you go over to the scene tab and click the little eye next to the body part you want to hide. If you hide it and it changes nothing visible in the scene, go ahead and hide it for render time. You can save a ton of room by using lower poly clothes over high poly figures this way.
3. You could consider getting the Scene Optimizer tool from @V3Digitimes. I use this. It will tell you how far away from the camera each item is, and give you the option of reducing the resolution of items all at once or individually or not at all on a per item basis. It also will allow you to quickly turn off subdivision and maps for items in scene, and can help you free memory by hiding instances in preview or in render, which is good for testing. Alternatively, you could use Photoshop, PaintShopPro, or Gimp to lower the resolution of textures yourself.
And that last point brings me to
4. Instancing. If you have items that you want to repeat and that won't be too obvious with repetition, consider using instancing. You can use the default instancing available in Daz Studio or the more powerful scripted instancing available in Ultrascatter Advanced Instancing by @HowieFarkes, which I've used a lot.
There is an iray memory assistant available in the store, which I have, but I cannot recommend as it isn't accurate in my experience. There's also a thread here on the forums you can check about it. I wrote a lot about these tips in my art studio thread, but I know most don't bother to read it. I hope it helps whomever might care to know.
Edit: Oops. Forgot you use 3DL. Well, I can't help there. Sorry. But maybe someone else will find this useful. Some of these options may still be helpful, but I don't really know.