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So the saying goes, a picture tells a thousand words.
For anyone who writes, a thousand words goes by fast, and you have to make the most of it.
I'll try to process my thoughts without considering what you wrote... because the thought process is interesting as part of the story, but shouldn't be considered as part of the image.
The piece seems to be about a giant green guy. I am not sure why the skeleton is there, other than to water the plants on the stone guy's head. Yes, death, but death is strangely giving life (water) this time, so I don't get that.
Without the backstory, the lament is hard to pick out for the woman because I get confused by the huge head and the skeleton set up. I'd rather see the aged lover than a skeleton-as-death, but that would be literal and not so surreal.
There's too much story to work with the hyper focused demand on your image dimensions, i guess. Even with surrealism, the theme needs to be crystal, and this one kind of sprawls. You only have a thousand words. The image might not be overcrowded, but the ideas seem constrained because of the tight focus on the stone head, and the amount of digging it takes to get to the siren.
Thank you for the valuable feedback. It is very important that the image stand alone without the explanation, because as artists we don't stand next to every viewer and tell them the story, and we only get one 2-d plane to make the whole story visible. Although sometimes, what starts as one 2-d image can make the artist want to go backwards and forwards from the place, and perhaps turn it into an animation instead of putting more story into that one plane? Or perhaps work with the scale of the figures, their arrangement in the plane, the camera angles, or perhaps adding a bit of shipwreck flotsam and jetsam around the base... this is just the second version of this piece, and I am up for messing around and trying different things to find the one that works best. It can be hard not to feel married to the composition, but the first, or even second, version might not be the best possible way to tell the story. Asking the artist to be willing to move everything around strips them of their ego investment in the piece, it is one of the hardest pieces of advice to give, so I appreciate it!
And FWIW no matter what else may come my way today, I am giving myself an "A" for the day for it being the first time ever using the phrase "flotsam and jetsam" in a sentence. It's like part of my SOUL was waiting to do so all my life, it was something incomplete about me, as if I have been waiting a lifetime for this day, this moment, this chance...
:-P
Now that's some creativity and dedication!
@Fiona - Thanks :) I don't have much time at home, so I need to do all my experimenting and learning from work (shhhhhh)
Adjusted the sky color a bit. Started over a couple times so I'm not sure if I went grey enough or not.
Fiona said
Our humour tends to often be understated, sometimes sarcastic, often self deprecating, and includes irony and some some subtle word play. People who "don't get it" often blame us and think that we are looking down on them, but we aren't, because we take the mickey out of ourselves as well as those around us. It is often a dry sense of humour, which maybe doesn't help if you truly "don't get it"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8k2AbqTBxao
My render with the light setting for the UberEnvironment set to somewhere btwn high and ultrahigh, and a shading rate of "1" took 4 hours. I am working on a 64 bit laptop and rendering usually takes 90+ percent of my available memory. This is why I have become a fan of the spot render. The only thing about spot rendering is that the individual areas can look right, but then you put it all together and are still surprised! A final render at shader setting .5 usually takes 15 hours. I try to set it up before I sleep and pray it doesn't crash mid-render or melt my hard drive or something!
Where is that post with the different render settings? I know it was posted again last month and I can't find it!
Our humour tends to often be understated, sometimes sarcastic, often self deprecating, and includes irony and some some subtle word play. People who "don't get it" often blame us and think that we are looking down on them, but we aren't, because we take the mickey out of ourselves as well as those around us. It is often a dry sense of humour, which maybe doesn't help if you truly "don't get it"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8k2AbqTBxao
And please take notice of the green socks hes wearing during all those words :coolhmm:
Our humour tends to often be understated, sometimes sarcastic, often self deprecating, and includes irony and some some subtle word play. People who "don't get it" often blame us and think that we are looking down on them, but we aren't, because we take the mickey out of ourselves as well as those around us. It is often a dry sense of humour, which maybe doesn't help if you truly "don't get it"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8k2AbqTBxao
That is an awesome video, thank you so much!
I think there is a whole subset of American culture that thinks being compared to anything British is a compliment of the highest proportions. This is a point of view typical of first generation college educated suburbanites of the lower middle class who aspire to be above their humble cultural beginnings. I admittedly fall squarely in the middle of this stereotype. I think we want it both ways... we want the dignity and the sense of everything being in its appropriate and proper place that our estranged mother tried to teach us; part of us wants to come back to her good graces and finally get her approval that we have done well with ourselves. And yet we also want to be a bunch of swashbuckling, independent, do it our own way rogues when the mood strikes us. As much as I appreciate my friends across the pond and in some ways envy them, and can be a student of their culture and history, I will never ever have a true European point of view. Any Brit would be able to pick me out as an American at the first interaction, even if I studied theater and learned one of the dialects of British English as well as a native, and even if I looked the role. I think part of it is that there is something about being American that is an indelible mark. We are optimistic, our whole sense of self expression flamboyent compared to British subtlety and reticence to comment or "put themselves out there". I think the expression "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt" is typical of the whole stereotype of the British culture, where as Americans are much more willing to say the wrong thing and hope for forgiveness. This is reflected in the things we find funny.
LOL had to go look at it again, very cool.
I am liking not only the base sky color, but also the pinks in the clouds; the sky is being mirrored by the colors of the road to create a very nice symmetry. I am not sure you have reached the perfect color but I think it is now a good grey! Now I would play with whether lighter of darker is best.
I have empathy for a folders full of full renders... my first month in this contest, I did not know there was a such thing as spot render, and so I was doing a full render for each change. Linwelly made a comment "thank goodness for spot render" and I was all "huh?". So clueless. I am still in many ways! It was painfully time consuming to make all those full renders and created a stack if files an inch thick that to this day are cluttering up my render folder. (I really should delete 90% of them, but they tell such a story of change from first to last!) As for what yuo do from work... two clicks to change a color setting and then putting it aside to render in the background while you are working isn't half as naughty as the folks who spend all day texting, in my book! Just don't get caught either way. ;-)
My render with the light setting for the UberEnvironment set to somewhere btwn high and ultrahigh, and a shading rate of "1" took 4 hours. I am working on a 64 bit laptop and rendering usually takes 90+ percent of my available memory. This is why I have become a fan of the spot render. The only thing about spot rendering is that the individual areas can look right, but then you put it all together and are still surprised! A final render at shader setting .5 usually takes 15 hours. I try to set it up before I sleep and pray it doesn't crash mid-render or melt my hard drive or something!
Where is that post with the different render settings? I know it was posted again last month and I can't find it!
The link is in the first post of this thread: http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/16085/
My render with the light setting for the UberEnvironment set to somewhere btwn high and ultrahigh, and a shading rate of "1" took 4 hours. I am working on a 64 bit laptop and rendering usually takes 90+ percent of my available memory. This is why I have become a fan of the spot render. The only thing about spot rendering is that the individual areas can look right, but then you put it all together and are still surprised! A final render at shader setting .5 usually takes 15 hours. I try to set it up before I sleep and pray it doesn't crash mid-render or melt my hard drive or something!
Where is that post with the different render settings? I know it was posted again last month and I can't find it!
The link is in the first post of this thread: http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/16085/
I simply have copied those settings into a sticky note on my desktop, and yes I found that uberenvironment can drive your render time into the absurd, that why I keep on trying to avpid it as much as possible
I like what you've added. Nice job getting Starbux into it.
The criticism about what you added is that the two characters have not been reconsidered with the new additions/changes, which are mostly off to the sides.
The jerky bag is great. You need to keep it. You also should incorporate it into the scene a lot better than shunting it of to the side. For example, what of the bag were in the center, between the two figures? And what if the guy were to lay hands on it?
It's funny, but scene could use a kicker. It doesn't need to be the expected, but I guess I wasn't more between the two figures on the log.
Love the sunglasses. Very bro.Thanks. I like the idea of the bag beside the Sasquatch. I don't think he is willing to share. Still working on fine tuning the details and decided to go with a widescreen view. Here Is my latest version.
Ok I haven't said anything to your renders yet, but as I couldn't add something to what the others already had said, but now I will add my twopence. As I see your render you have aimed for a grey cludy sky? On the rocks behind there still is some sunlight (which I actually like) but it doesn't fit the sky now. I thinks its rather difficult to show sun on clouds as the render is but mybe there is a free picture with a stormy but sunlit sky you could use as a backdrop.
Other than that I like this very much
The link is in the first post of this thread: http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/16085/
I simply have copied those settings into a sticky note on my desktop, and yes I found that uberenvironment can drive your render time into the absurd, that why I keep on trying to avpid it as much as possible
You can turn them into a Custom Script which will appear along the top Menu Bar.
To do this (if I remember correctly :roll: ) first find the scripts in your Content Library
> then right click on each individual script - one at a time
> Create Custom Action should appear as an option in the list that appears
> do this with all the various Render Settings, ie: draft, proof, average, etc.
Now along your Menu Bar should appear "Scripts" ( assuming it wasn't there already ). Please note that this only applies to 3Delight Renders.
Now all you have to do is pick the appropriate setting. I use this and Jaderail's Golden Rules on every render.
I will provide screen shots for anyone who needs it when I get home from work.
I like the little spots of light as well, but I might be able to get them to match with a semi-transparent plane above, just out of camera view to lessen them up a bit...
That's great, it reminds me of District 9 (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1136608/)
Well hat was a chore trying to position a primitive plane so it was off screen and positioned "just so" so that it would block the light from the sunny spots on the rocks.
But I managed to get it :)
I simply have copied those settings into a sticky note on my desktop, and yes I found that uberenvironment can drive your render time into the absurd, that why I keep on trying to avpid it as much as possible
You can turn them into a Custom Script which will appear along the top Menu Bar.
To do this (if I remember correctly :roll: ) first find the scripts in your Content Library
> then right click on each individual script - one at a time
> Create Custom Action should appear as an option in the list that appears
> do this with all the various Render Settings, ie: draft, proof, average, etc.
Now along your Menu Bar should appear "Scripts" ( assuming it wasn't there already ). Please note that this only applies to 3Delight Renders.
Now all you have to do is pick the appropriate setting. I use this and Jaderail's Golden Rules on every render.
I will provide screen shots for anyone who needs it when I get home from work.
I replaced the Saber-tooth Tiger with the DAZ Big Cat Battle Armour for the DAZ Big Cat Panther. I could not get the Saber-tooth Tiger to work. It might have been his size along with wearing the Battle Armour but I just could not get him posed and positioned.
I would consider something less than absolute black on your new kitty Kismet. Compared to the rest of the colors it is going to be a problem to light.
Kismet, I think someone should create a new thread for your tutorial on how to create the light settings and sticky it in the new user section; it is the single most helpful thing I found when just beginning a couple months ago. Thank you for sharing how to turn it into presets with buttons and whatnot, pretty fancy!
I think Teofa is onto something about the dark kitty color. Unfortunately now he is reading as practically a silhouette, or a dark cutout. I do like his pose, though, and the change makes the interaction between the guy and the girl very much easier to understand. The cat is now the link between the two which I believe was your intent all along.
I can't help but look at all your columns and think what an awesome environment that would be for some low light casting long, intense shadows. I think it would help the story, too, and create some drama and tension.
All in all it is coming along. One thing I love about seeing your work every month is how much effort you put into refining an image until it is the best it can possibly be. It is a very inspiring quality.
I agree completely Teofa. But he was new and I really wanted to use him. :down: I guess I will just have to create another render to feature him in. I have already changed the coat colour to that of a Leopard. I will post a new image after some additional adjustments.
@ fiona: Thank you very much for the kind words. Everyone's images benefit so much from the input of everyone else. There are so many neat features in DS and so much to learn when you are new it is overwhelming. Adam's presets are a such a great tool they need to be shared. He put a lot of effort into creating them then giving them away for free. He has a great many freebies. You should check out his website if you haven't already.
Very interesting render...I like the poses and reflections. Iray emissive shader can definitely create some cool results. I look forward to seeing more!
The flare looks great, and the overall lighting is getting better too. Are there more surfaces to which you could apply the UberArea shader, maybe panels in the corridor or something? The foreground in particular is still really dark...
Nice improvements so far.
Rendering the latest version as I type this up. However, I don't think I'll be posting until I'm back home from work.
This is shaping up to be a really good render, and a funny one! It totally looks like it should be in a commercial for beef jerky! :lol:
My only criticism at this point is that somehow between your earlier versions and the more recent ones, the Sasquatch's skin is looking more washed-out (as others mentioned). Whether this is due to lighting changes or materials settings I'm not sure, but either way I prefer the richer, deeper look of his furry skin in your earlier drafts.
This is shaping up to be a really good render, and a funny one! It totally looks like it should be in a commercial for beef jerky! :lol:
My only criticism at this point is that somehow between your earlier versions and the more recent ones, the Sasquatch's skin is looking more washed-out (as others mentioned). Whether this is due to lighting changes or materials settings I'm not sure, but either way I prefer the richer, deeper look of his furry skin in your earlier drafts.Thanks. Yeah, commercial is exactly what I thought once I added the Jerky bag. I guess that's a good thing, commercial quality and all. Still working with the lighting and as you say, the look of the
Sasquatch is not quite there, but overall pretty happy with the rest.
I couldn't wait until next month's challenge to use the gift Elli gave out from last month's challenge.
So here we have the driver of the chasing vehicle from my other render in another encounter.
"Contract"
*edit*
I want to perhaps darken it up a little maybe, and probably DOF. I think I need to run it through longer in Iray as well.
Thanks to all for their input and helpful tips, I've managed finally to complete my 3rd version of my scene "Barn with Horses|, and here it is.
I've added additional lights, played with render setting and finally it happened to take only around 20 minutes to complete the render :)
I've also tried to add shades to it but tried many ways and failed.
Do you mean shaders? What exactly do you want to do?