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Thanks for the feedback. Very helpful!
Here's a quick render after a couple changes.
I dialed in his arms. I gave him something to hold onto (a beer bottle), which also allows for spills onto the floor (unless that is urine). I wish the wet spots were more reflective, though. They're not doing much of anything. I'll have to see what's going on, or maybe hit them with additional light if I keep the spots. (I'd add more spots, but I wanted to see what they did).
I also wanted the beer bottle there because it says where his mind was at (Party time!) prior to running away.
To add to the "party time" feeling, I swapped out his shorts for a fuzzy towel, and gave him flip flops.
I'd like to dirty up the corridor some more. I threw an apple on the ground as a first step, amongst other things. I have boxes and things I can add. I want to make it look more frat house, less clean.
I pumped up the light emitters from the robot's pupils.
I like this story, and the adaptions really pay of.
Here are some thoughts, I would like to see a bit more of the ladybot coming after him, right now I had to guess a bit about what exacly came after him.
With the beer belly he's got I would soften ths stomach. It looks a bit strange with the sixpack on top of the belly.
for cluttering up the place did you get this freebie back at the time? http://www.daz3d.com/trader-dl
There are those boxes and stuff that would fit in the corridor other than that theres a thing called make a mess http://www.daz3d.com/make-a-mess where you can throw around clothes. Maybee theres something similar as a freebie.
Hi all, I will have to say, as always there is some fantastic stuff going on with everyone's works. The competition is as stiff as always and an extreme challenge for me. Well here is one of my ideas for this month. It is of course a Bryce and Daz combo.
No title yet on this as I am still working on it and trying to come up with something better maybe. Comments, suggestions and questions are always welcome.
Here comes with more light, after reviewing the scene earlier, decided to add light to brighten it a bit.
Thanks for the tips and observations. I do target archery and the best archers seem almost motionless and casual but that is reality and this is a fantasy scene so a bit more involved makes sense. I changed the view slightly, zoomed in a bit and did the entire scene a bit darker. My daughter thinks it is an improvement over the original and though she is a total cartoon zealot she is my muse so her opinion is important. I also agree on it being better. Let me know what you think and any other ideas.
chaos213
Hi, chaos, first chance I got to get in. I like that you've closed in on the scene more. Your scene is fighting with such a similar palette on everything. I can see the forest creatures having colors that blend in. Try using ways to silhouette them, light them so they can be a bit brighter...little things to distinguish them from the backgound.
Your action is taking place against a busy background with similar colors but you do have the god rays and dof helping the background. Try letting one or more characters break the horizon to give them stronger silhouettes. I also lengthened the arc of action to give it better definition. Think about hurling the one that is hit back with a bit more force so it's caught in mid-action. As always, these are suggestions. It's a great idea and I like the render and poses.
You've come a long way from your first images. :)
Try DOF to blur the background elements to better define your foreground elements. Here's a tutorial on how it works.
You've got tangents on the hills and architecture in the background. Break them by lowering the horizon a bit.
Be careful with painting blood. Here are some tutorials:
http://conceptcookie.deviantart.com/art/Painting-Blood-Step-by-Step-408006854
http://www.photoshoplady.com/photoshop-tutorial/making-realistic-wound-and-blood-in-photoshop/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLQZ9qXB6IE
Good job!
Welcome!
Many of the people in this thread have steadily improved from contest to contest, so don't let the contest scare you, please. This is about learning and helping you improve. We all start somewhere and an artist can only improve till the end of their days. I've been at it since 1973 and I still have much to learn even with being considered a professional artist lo these far too many years. :)
Your idea is well on its way. Hopefully you add an environment. That will help the image be grounded into a scene. Please remember that comments will be made to suggest changes that could improve your image. I hope you have fun with the contest. If you come away learning and improving, that's a win-win in any book!
Chris, thanks for the tips. I thought of adding a glow around the popo character by creating a new geometry shell but after making the shell couldn't figure out how to make it only glow around the edge of the character? I found some forum entries on the topic but either they were vague or I am thick because I didn't understand how to change the new shell to just an outline. Is there a guide or step by step explanation of the process? My understanding is you create a new geo shell, expand or (push?) it then apply a different mat or something? There really is a lot to learn in Daz Studio. I understand your action line but in my mind I had shifted the ranger to the left goblin because the right one was no longer a threat but the image does sort of leave more focus on the right goblin then I intended. Maybe moving it back just a bit would help. I work on that while I wait with baited breath for some kind soul to shed some light on the glowing outline thing.
chaos213
Hi Chris (love the last name)! Thank you so much for the warm welcome. I do plan on adding an environment, at the very least a battlefield of some sort. But one step at a time.
I'm happy to report I've now got horsie custom mats! Whoo hoo!!! The image I've attached is just a quick and dirty translation to make sure I had his head where it should be and the eyeballs weren't where his hooves should be. lol! I've got more detail work to do on the fur and hooves. Pretty happy with the horse's eyes, but I do want to give his fur a bit more pop so when I do add that background he doesn't just fade right into it.
And hey, I agree learning and improving is a win, win. I didn't know how to do custom mats in DAZ - now I do. Yay! I'm doing the Snoopy dance over here - such a little thing, but I'll take my victories where I can get them. ;)
Thank you again! And thank you to everyone who helped me on tracking down the info I needed to do these mats. Let's see what I can do with the armor and rider - as well as working on a background. Methinks I'd better get my behind in gear and get this done.
Thank you all again!
Cheers,
Kathryn
I placed some initial attempts at clutter into the scene. Some of it is converted to Iray shaders (including light emitters), but not all of it. I like the glowing bits on the boxes (because iBoxes in the future need to have touch screen interfaces or something).
I also moved the end of the corridor closer to the camera so that the robot is more visible, but now I think the image is a bit unbalanced & needs something on the right. Or the camera needs to be in a different spot/angle.
I haven't repositioned the robot much, and she needs to be moved around. I think I will put more clothing on her since it's so difficult to pose her without robotic nudity, especially since she's closer to the camera now.
The six pack on the man's belly was also bothering me, but I didn't have a dial to solve it (or so I thought). Michael 6 is rather muscular as a base. So for this one, I gave him some M4 underwear so that the shirt covers the belly.
I think I found a setting that will help solve the man's six pack, though (a Full Body morph). I think I like the boxers better than the towel (which was looking rather skirt-like). I want to give the towel another go, however, so I'll try a couple things before committing to the boxer shorts.
Hello, I've never tried this before - so I hope I do it correctly. Here is my image.
This is quiet some action, and i do feel a bit pity for the guy lying there on his back.
What irritates me is the lack of the floor, posewize it would make sense if the guy lying trys to be a bit more protctive with his left arm.
And there is something about their skins that looks strange.
Good work!
Hi ewcaman, nice take on the topic. I like the scene but I don't feel drawn into the action very much, I'm just a bystander, like observin through a window.
Just an idea, maybe you add the manager of the office in the middle of that paper vortex, maybe being the cause for the hubbub. and try to draw into the scene with your camera.
Very first test render. Yes, I have a LOT more to do, but I wanted to get an overall idea of my scene and lighting before I really start tweaking my mats. I'm definitely going to have to bump up my lighting. It's nice and natural - I like gloomy, for this scene, it really sets the tone, but what I have now is way too dark, then I want to add a bit of blur to the background so that will help sharpen the focal point. I think I can zoom a tad closer without cutting of the horse's hooves and his sword.
As they say the devil's in the details, so I want to add stuff like dust or dirt being kicked up from the horse's hooves. I need to adjust my angle a little more so he's looking dead at the camera. In the background I'd like to have smoke and glow from fires - as if the rest of the army is behind him but then there's that fog of war thing Right now the background is entirely too clear.
I'm not sure about the trebuchet, I like the big hulking thing just to put everything in perspective but it might detract from my subject. Of course the fog of war might help in that respect. I thought about having it in the process of launching but again, I don't want it to detract from my subject.
My goal is to have the viewer say - so this is the last thing a medieval infantry man sees right before he gets his skull cleaved open. lol!
I hope this one looks better :-)
Some more work done on this one, thanks for the ideas and aspects to think about.
I'm not sure if I like the left guy really being pushed off his feet, to me it seems to much but I tend to be too shy when it comes to expressions and exagerations.
I guess I will leave it at that and look at a later point again.
You have chosen an intersting place for your battle. I like the concept with the differently coloured spheres (or planets?) behind the figures.
That line the cuts your render in two halves is distracting, I think and as much as I understand to keep the upper left one more in the dark, I would like to see more of her to grasp the render.
Maybe you need to rethink the planets a little as well. The angeld girl seems to be half standing on her sphere, you could try to make them a little more transparent, that they are there more in a metaphorical sense.
There is some kind of shiny line in your render that for now doesn't have a meaning to me. Do you want it to show the movement of their weapons? Then you would need to relate it more direktly.
I hope that helps you some.
That's really nice, Linwelly! I really like it. I think the expressions are just fine, but remember I know nothing. lol! I do know what I like though, and that's really cool!
Cheers,
Kathryn
I wish I could see more of the kitten's face. Maybe it's a combination of lighting and distance.
The yawning cat looks good. If you could add some stretch to the toes, that might be nice as well.
I like the red laser dot, and I think it helps contribute to the story.
Ok... *putting on my nitpicking hat*
The demoness is cutting at what? I can't tell why she's chopping down at that point because there's nothing under her sword except another sword. (Chopping at a blade is generally not good.)
I like the figure on the left. She's looking very fierce. I wish she were looking up a bit more.
I don't really understand the figure on the right or what she is doing.
It looks like the angel on the right is pushing off of the planet with her right foot. Is that intended?
I also think the horizontal line through the work is somewhat distracting since I don't know what that is. I like the outer space theme of the background, but it kind of confuses me with the two figures and the two planets in the corners. I feel like you want to say something with those, but I don't quite understand what you are saying.
I like that the two combatants are the ones who have the most color in the scene. It's a very interesting choice of coloration.
I'm not sure I like the car. The position is odd, but that mirror on the right side of the car is a problem. The opacity of the glass on the car is also strange to me.
The streetlight could be resized. It seems a bit short.
The man running away is positioned well. His face looks good. I think this is a Daz Studio 4.7 render (or, at least, it is with the default 3delight)? He could use a bit more light, I think.
The armored figure in the center... like I said, his coloring and lighting look good. I think his feet could be set up with more contact with the ground. The toes are high on the right foot, and the whole left foot could be a lot more parallel with the ground. I also don't fully understand what the hands are doing. The upper torso & hands seem a bit unnatural. Imagine yourself in that position, kneeling behind a car in order to have some cover. How would your hands, legs, and feet look?
The flying demon is probably the most well realized. The transparency in the wings and the way the flame looks is quite good. I think the wing positioning could be more in a "glide" mode. I think the wings could be more curved for lift. The face looks good, though. The arms are fine.
Hope that was helpful!
The horse is quite nice, especially the eye. Very nice job recoloring the horse.
Between the woad on the rider & the fleurs de lis on the horse, I'm a tad confused.
One thing I was going to say about the horse in the earlier piece was that the tail wasn't dramatic enough. I can understand if the tail is braided/bound in order to avoid entanglement in a battle, but if you do show the tail, make it dramatic and big and flowing.
I think a good way to have a viewer imagine an infantryman is to place an infantryman into the scene. Maybe French infantry (so that the horseman has taken the horse from a French knight, perhaps).
The trebuchet? I don't like it as is. It needs rocks, it needs men. It needs to look as though it is being worked. The grass is green around it. Maybe the background needs something, but the trebuchet isn't it.
I think the scene could be more focused. It looks like a very empty scene. Draw the camera closer to the ends of the horse so that you can imply a larger battle or something.
The rider himself looks quite good. I like the face. The sword and arm are maybe too much in front for horseback (the swing will be all arm from there, and not much from the hips & body). The man's feet... are they in the stirrups?
Hello Blurst! Thank you so much for the wonderful feedback! Very helpful! First, let me address some of your questions.
The tail - yeah - typically medieval war mounts had their tails docked (ow! poor horsie!) so I ended up getting rid of it. But you're right, if I decide to put the tail back in there, it does need to be long and flowing to help sell the movement of the horse.
With the rider and the fleur de lis - you have it right when you suggested at the end that he grabbed the horse - that's the reason why I don't have his feet in the stirrups.
French infantryman . . . hrrrmmmm . . . I'll have to see what I can do with that - maybe a dead one not too far away - so it's kinda like that old cult classic movie Flesh & Blood . . . NEXT!!!
The trebuchet :( rats! I had high hopes for it. I've just spent most of the evening working on the lighting for it. I wanted it dark - hinted at. I was planning to to put pavilions and the like around it. In truth I have a very specific story with this one. In fact I hope to use it on a novel cover in some way. I'm an author so everything has a story! lol!
But the story is that it's not long after sunset. Medieval armies didn't fight at night, but the Scots and Welsh did a lot of raiding at night when the English were camped outside during Longshanks's wars. Because both English and Scottish nobles typically held titles and land in both England, Scotland, and France, I wasn't overly concerned with the fleur dis lis. Big siege engines take a long time to assemble and are placed well back in the camp. Longshanks's trebuchet, War Wolf, was documented at being 300-400 feet long and took five months to assemble during the siege of Stirling Castle. Right before he finished it, the Scots in the castle tried to surrender to him but he refused them and sent them back in - the rumor was that he just wanted to see what the engine could do. lol! But I digress, sorry about that.
What I just finished doing was placing lights where I wanted torches and camp fires. I tried pulling in some pavilion meshes but the program didn't like 'em and kept crashing on me. But the idea was to have that background gloomy and not very easy to see but because of the torches you can tell that hulking shadow in the background is a trebuchet.
I had to re-color the horse. I made him lighter so he wouldn't blend into the background so much. I also changed the position of the rider's sword arm to hopefully help get it better in frame and to demonstrate more movement.
I'm going to post this render just so you can see what I've been doing. And I'll see what I can do to rethink the trebuchet.
Oh one thing I do want to ask, my gut is telling me to zoom in a little more, but I don't want to cut off the sword or the horse's hooves. I'm pretty much as close as I can get to the subject without cropping something. What do y'all think?
Thanks again for the help!
Cheers,
Kathryn
If you want the viewer to focus more on horse and rider, you may take a look at this tutorial: http://flipmode3d.com/depth-of-field-daz-studio/
And there is Flowergirls short and simple explanation on how to create a more natural grassy ground:
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/43288/P105/#646115
Here's another version. I put some clothes on the robot, but now it's harder to tell she's a robot. The clothes allowed me to reposition her, though.
Other than that, I think I'll let the image speak for itself.
edit: far from finished, and I know what I want to do next... but it's also a good time to pause for a moment.
It's great to be able to get such useful feedback. I'm really enjoying this opportunity. I've recomposed and edited some areas. Please let me know what you think,,, and thank you.
I love this theme, Blurst. I want to say - Run, Redneck, run! (I live in southeast Texas. My husband's screen name - Watchthisholdmybeer - if you get my point). But I have to admit that now I'm confused. I really like the image you posted right before this one because the girl - like you said you could tell she was a robot - was coming through that door and nothing was gonna stop her. That was a lot more menacing to me because, Joe Dirt, here is running but you know he doesn't have a prayer. IMHO, this one loses that with the girl standing at the door. But that's just me and as you know, I'm total noob so take it with a grain of salt.
I did want to mention that it was the girl's arms that really showed me she was a robot - maybe something sleeveless with the clothing change?
No matter what - it's a really cool image! I like it!
Thank you very much for posting this! I gave it a shot and I think it helped.
I have an idea that I want to try for the trebuchet before I give up and dump it completely. I'll rough it out and post it later to see what y'all think. but here's what I have so far.
Well, one idea for the trebuchet is to set it on fire. That explains why it might be unmanned. It also adds drama, plus a light source.
Of course, having the materials to make fire in your render is another issue.
Okay, Blurst, now you're scaring me. lol! That's exactly what I was thinking.. GMTA! Now this is just a quick attempt. It's just to tell me what sort of mess I would be in for and how much work I'm looking at.
I think I can get it to work - regarding the fire - Photoshop CC 2014 now has the ability to render a 3d fire, but I've got lots of stuff to do before that.
I need to move the trebuchet back and make it a tad smaller - where the flames can add the light source as you mention, Blurst, rather than vie for dominance with the horse and rider. That will also help the depth of field.
Lights, lights and more lights, I gotta adjust source, color, direction, I'm guessing a spotlight would probably work the best for the flames, if strategically placed at various points.
I'm thinking to changing his sword to a torch as well.
I managed to get some ground mist in there that coming back to bite me - gotta get rid of that.
Watch I'm going to end up changing the horse's color yet again to provide contrast. lol!
The funny thing is this scene is now one that is straight out of one of my novels. lol! Well, they say go with what you know. Speaking of which if I don't get my butt in gear, and get my current novel off to my editor in the next 8 days, I'm going to be in hot water.
Thanks again for all the help, Blurst, and everyone!
Cheers,
Kathryn
Took me forever to think of something to try and do for this month, but here we go.