Carrara Challenge #40 NOIR WIP - A warm welcome to our PA sponsor, Fenric

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Comments

  • MistaraMistara Posts: 38,675

    i just looked at the entry thread,

    it says gel render black and white only  dohhhhhh

    mu thing doesnt qualify

  • evilproducerevilproducer Posts: 9,050
    edited June 2018
    Mistara said:

    i just looked at the entry thread,

    it says gel render black and white only  dohhhhhh

    mu thing doesnt qualify

    Yeah, I'm kind of screwed too. The only one that I have worked on with a gel is the one below. I could go full black and white, but I'm not sure I want to.

    Post edited by evilproducer on
  • DiomedeDiomede Posts: 15,173
    edited June 2018

    EP and Misty - I believe that you can use a gel in any category.  For example, EP's wonderful image seems to fit the Portrait/Pinup category (2).  You can use color in that category.  We'll wait on @UnifiedBrain for an offiical ruling, but I am confident that neiher of you is screwed by the gel business, although you may not be able to enter in category 1.

    Post edited by Diomede on
  • evilproducerevilproducer Posts: 9,050
    Diomede said:

    EP and Misty - I believe that you can use a gel in any category.  For example, EP's wonderful image seems to fit the Portrait/Pinup category (2).  You can use color in that category.  We'll wait on @UnifiedBrain for an offiical ruling, but I am confident that neiher of you is screwed by the gel business, although you may not be able to enter in category 1.

    Right, except that if you want more than two entries one must be in category 1. I'm working on a third entry that uses modeled blinds to create the shadows.

  • 3DAGE3DAGE Posts: 3,311

    EP :)  I made a morphing set of blinds  Open/close up/down,.

    just scale to fit you window.

    https://www.dropbox.com/s/635f0hli58b607h/VeniceBlinds .zip?dl=0

  • UnifiedBrainUnifiedBrain Posts: 3,588
    Mistara said:

    i just looked at the entry thread,

    it says gel render black and white only  dohhhhhh

    mu thing doesnt qualify

     

     

    Yeah, I'm kind of screwed too. The only one that I have worked on with a gel is the one below. I could go full black and white, but I'm not sure I want to.

     

    OK, please listen up.  I just changed the rule.

    Category 1 is still B&W only, with the Carrara light gel effect.

    However, as long as one of your renders uses the light gel effect, you can enter up to three renders.

    The spirit of the rule was to encourage more folks here to use the light gel effect.  As long as that part is being satisfied, the rest is less important. smiley

    But please be clear, Category 1 is still Category 1.  If your image has color in it, it is not Category 1.

    I know that artistic sensibilities can vary according to the way your render develops, , but my hope is still to see more Category 1 noir renders, in glorious black and white.

     

  • evilproducerevilproducer Posts: 9,050
    3DAGE said:

    EP :)  I made a morphing set of blinds  Open/close up/down,.

    just scale to fit you window.

    https://www.dropbox.com/s/635f0hli58b607h/VeniceBlinds .zip?dl=0

    Thank you. I had found one on ShareCG the other day, but only the slats have morphs. I'll take a look at yours!

  • evilproducerevilproducer Posts: 9,050
    Mistara said:

    i just looked at the entry thread,

    it says gel render black and white only  dohhhhhh

    mu thing doesnt qualify

     

     

    Yeah, I'm kind of screwed too. The only one that I have worked on with a gel is the one below. I could go full black and white, but I'm not sure I want to.

     

    OK, please listen up.  I just changed the rule.

    Category 1 is still B&W only, with the Carrara light gel effect.

    However, as long as one of your renders uses the light gel effect, you can enter up to three renders.

    The spirit of the rule was to encourage more folks here to use the light gel effect.  As long as that part is being satisfied, the rest is less important. smiley

    But please be clear, Category 1 is still Category 1.  If your image has color in it, it is not Category 1.

    I know that artistic sensibilities can vary according to the way your render develops, , but my hope is still to see more Category 1 noir renders, in glorious black and white.

     

    That's cool. I do have a black and white render, or maybe two, but they don't have a light gel.

  • UnifiedBrainUnifiedBrain Posts: 3,588

    That's cool. I do have a black and white render, or maybe two, but they don't have a light gel.

    And you are welcome to enter them!  You can even enter three renders in the same category.  But sorry, no light gel, no Category 1. frown

     

  • evilproducerevilproducer Posts: 9,050

    Not a problem.

  • MistaraMistara Posts: 38,675

    wip3

    tee heee this flow force on hair

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  • UnifiedBrainUnifiedBrain Posts: 3,588
    edited June 2018

    Just finished updating the Art Studio thread.

    Great renders so far, folks!

     

     

    Diomede said:

    Portrait category - how about the femme fatale's ex husband?    - not an entry

    Wanted to try some caustics with the glass, liquid, and ice cubes.  G2M with Air Defender turtleneck and jacket.  

    Hair modeled in the dynamic hair modeler on a custom hair cap.   Cigarette and other props modeled in the vertex modeler.

    B&W is a result of the GMIC film filter, using the Kodak TMax 3200 preset.  

    Some postwork in Photoshop elements to reduce brightness and increase contrast, which I guess could also have been done with GMIC filters.

    My cable TV and internet service is knocked out, so I have to go out to get internet access until it gets fixed.  Holiday here in the States so no luck scheduling an appointment.

    Worst customer service, ever!  They actually hung up on me.  No, I was not ranting or otherwise rude when it happened.

    Diomede, why is this not going to be an entry?  Looks like a terrific tough guy to me.

     

     

     

    The Lookout

     

     

    Big doin's at Rick's tonight.  A meeting of the bosses.

    Rendered in Carrara with no postwork (except sig).

    That looks great. Nice lighting on the man's face as he lights his cancer stick.

    Thanks EP.  So, you like my original version the best?  Very interesting.

    I also like your original version the best!

     

    Thanks for the bridge, btw!

    Post edited by UnifiedBrain on
  • MistaraMistara Posts: 38,675

    is there b&w tools in the fenric plugins?  i havent learned them yet

  • evilproducerevilproducer Posts: 9,050
    edited June 2018

    UnifiedBrain posted some reference images for inspiration at the beginning of this challenge. They were all great, but one Noir pinup caught my eye. It was dramatic and sexy, and made you wonder about the backstory. I loved the lighting in both the color and black and white version of the image, and I wanted to see if I could achieve that, and pay homage to that image, but with some added details. I have a low AA and resolution image as an example. I will post my scene set-up in another post. There is no postwork.

    UnifiedBrain's reference image:

     

    My take on the scene:
     

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    Post edited by evilproducer on
  • MistaraMistara Posts: 38,675

    she looks dangeroussmiley

    i'm thinking of trying a veronica lake homagee,

  • evilproducerevilproducer Posts: 9,050
    edited June 2018

    So here are some key elements in my latest scene.


    I wanted to try and come up with an image that was as minimally postworked as possible as my last two did rely on it to get the Noir look I wanted. I experimented a lot. I settled on a light cone and soft shadows for the key light.

     I added a rim light behind and to the left of the model linked so that it only illuminated the model, her hair, and her clothes. I kept the shadows hard for that light.

     

    I also needed a fill light with a high falloff and short range. I used soft shadows on that light as well. I tried a shape light, bit for some reason I was getting an abberant shadow, so switched to a spot light.



    I wanted atmosphere and a light bloom. I also wanted shadows from the blinds on the window. As I mentioned above, I added a light cone to the key light and adjusted it. Also, under the Scene Effects tab, I added a glare. I extended the glare radius and lowered the intensity. I also decided to use GI to help light the scene.



    For the GI to work, I needed things like walls, floors, ceilings, etc. for the light to reflect off of. I built a wall with a window in the VM, and then duplicated it to make a room. I added a floor from another model, and blinds I found on ShareCG (sorry Andy, my wall with window was built to match the blinds I already had before your generous offer).



    I also did a lot of shader work to make the skin and eyes pop. I mentioned this in another post, but I have the Reby Sky Elite shaders, and there are two maps that look as if they are supposed to help either Poser or Studio generate subsurface scattering. Carrara can't use maps in the SS channel, so I added a multiplier to the translucency channel and placed the maps there. I did have to adjust the map strength a bit. Overall, I think it works quite well.
     


    I think this will be my final on this. I did have to do a little postowork on this because the areola was visible over the corset top and I didn't want to be in violation of the TOS. Basically I used a clone tool to paint over them. I did nothing with levels or layer passes.


     

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    Post edited by evilproducer on
  • DiomedeDiomede Posts: 15,173
    edited June 2018

    Don't know if everyone is familiar with the film Sweet Smell of Success, but here is a portrait of Sydney Falco's pawn.   

    Circular gradient gel, and GMIC film B&W filter. For the filter, I adjusted brightness and contrast, settings attached - otherwise, no postwork.

    Not an entry.

     

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  • DiomedeDiomede Posts: 15,173
    edited June 2018

    @Misty - Veronica Lake hair is tremendous, and she did a lot of Noir.  There are some good hair available, or will you create your own?  If you have Pretty3D's Jessica Rabbit bundle, I think a good Lake hair is there.  I will always remember her for I Married a Witch and Sullivan's Travels - neither is noir.

    @EvilProducer - you are on a roll. Fantastic image.  If I can be picky, it seems a bit bright. EDIT don't think it is brightness -think it is contrast.

    Thank you, UB, HeadWax, and others who have commented on the ex husband image.  The guy I had in my head was a former American baseball player named Pete Rose who is a pretty shady character, but now that Headwax mentions it, he does look like one of the actors in Guns of Navarrone.

    Post edited by Diomede on
  • StezzaStezza Posts: 8,069
    edited June 2018

    exceptional stuff ... really awesome to see the progress of the images..

    I think I'll settle on this one being my Cat one entry for the challenge..
    Used Gen2 with some basic morphs.. attacked his teeth to get a bigger gap in the modeling room, used light gels by DT and Carrara hair for the moe

    Aviator

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  • evilproducerevilproducer Posts: 9,050
    Diomede said:

    @Misty - Veronica Lake hair is tremendous, and she did a lot of Noir.  There are some good hair available, or will you create your own?  If you have Pretty3D's Jessica Rabbit bundle, I think a good Lake hair is there.  I will always remember her for I Married a Witch and Sullivan's Travels - neither is noir.

    @EvilProducer - you are on a roll. Fantastic image.  If I can be picky, it seems a bit bright. EDIT don't think it is brightness -think it is contrast.

    Thank you, UB, HeadWax, and others who have commented on the ex husband image.  The guy I had in my head was a former American baseball player named Pete Rose who is a pretty shady character, but now that Headwax mentions it, he does look like one of the actors in Guns of Navarrone.

    Hi Diomede. Thanks. As to the brightness/contrast, that was actually the look I was going for.

  • evilproducerevilproducer Posts: 9,050

    @Diomede: Why not an entry? Both of the things I have seen look great.

    @Stezza: Awesome character! What did the gels do?

  • StezzaStezza Posts: 8,069
    edited June 2018

    thanks EP ... the gels cast the whitish spots over the jacket & lesser on his face... yes

    Post edited by Stezza on
  • evilproducerevilproducer Posts: 9,050
    edited June 2018

    Very subtle!

    Whah! No pants?!? Total Pooh Bear? My illusions are crushed. Next you'll tell me the anchor men and women on the news are nekkid below the waist!

     

     

    Post edited by evilproducer on
  • StezzaStezza Posts: 8,069
    edited June 2018

    That's me cool

     

    just use whats needed.... laugh

    you should of seen what was going on under your bridge!

    Post edited by Stezza on
  • VyusurVyusur Posts: 2,235
    edited June 2018

    My second effort fits to the second category - portrait/pinup. Couldn't resist rendering David 5 in any appropriate role. G'MIC BW. No gels, no postwork.

    “Jalouzebra”

     

     

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  • DiomedeDiomede Posts: 15,173

    Veronika, that is fantastic  Love the way the camera, light, and haze interact. We were in danger of going through this forum page without a fedora.  Glad you took care of that.  yes

    Stezza - put some pants on, for crying out loud.  I have to go to coffee shops for internet until the tech folks stop screwing up.  

  • VyusurVyusur Posts: 2,235

    Ted, thank you ever so much!

  • evilproducerevilproducer Posts: 9,050

    @Vyusur: Very nice work. It's good to see a pinup from the female perpective.

  • VyusurVyusur Posts: 2,235

    @Evilproducer, thank you very much! BTW, I like all your girls in this challenge. Especially the bridge one. What is the nice vintage blond hair on her?

  • evilproducerevilproducer Posts: 9,050

    @Vyusur, it is Portia Hair for V3, V4, etc. There is also a Portia Hair 2, that is for the Genesis figures. I don't have that one. I did a lot of shader work on it. Mostly adjusting highlight and shininess and adding translucency.

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