Carrara Challenge #22: “Wild, Wild West” - WIP Thread

Headwax

chickenman said:

Here is a render from a different angle to try to work on the composition.

 

it looks good, the composition

if you want to bring the stalker chap out from the background try rendering a depth pass, paste it over your image, then use the Parameter 'screen' on the layer , alternatively just paint some light dust behind the character and that will seperate him from the wagon a little

you can isolate the character in ps or simialr by using and object index pass as the selection map (or a cover render pass sometimes does the same job)

you can also render out a seperate shadow pass and soft blur it to get softer shadows where necessary

 

 

chickenman

MDO2010 said:

chickenman said:

Here is a bit more of the image as I have tinkered with it sofar.

 

 

Hi Chickenman,

This image is really coming along fantastically so far.  I hope you don't mind me offering a small critique?  

The composition seems a little off - all of the lines in the image are pointing toward the far figure so that's where my eye goes first, but the Chickenman who is the largest and closest figure in the scene is off to one side and looking toward the corner of the image makes me want to look off to the left; his gaze and the lines of the building behind him draw attention out of the image.  The tension between the two is not very pleasing compositionally.  I think that you should make the Chickenman character very clearly the focus by moving him much closer to the camera, putting him on one of the thirds lines and maybe turning him slightly toward the camera, and then shifting the other center characer a little bit to one side so he is not right in the "sights" of all the lines in the image.  Moving that back character a little to one side also breaks up the way the rock formations are echoing/precisely matching his shape, which is a little distracting. Then you have the gaze of the chicken man and his size and nearness drawing you into the image, then you follow the lines and brightness back toward the other character.  This also has the advantage of establishing a clearly broken up foreground, middle-distance and background in the image. There are many things you could do with this, but something like that would be my suggestion.

I drew on your image a little in Photoshop to show what I mean; the first attachment shows what I mean about the lines, the second one I just shifted the two main characters a little to give you a better idea of what I an getting at.  This is just my opinion obviously so take it or leave it as you please. 

Mark

 

Here is an image more in line with what you were talking about.

 

 

chickenman

MDO2010 said:

chickenman said:

Here is a bit more of the image as I have tinkered with it sofar.

 

 

Hi Chickenman,

This image is really coming along fantastically so far.  I hope you don't mind me offering a small critique?  

The composition seems a little off - all of the lines in the image are pointing toward the far figure so that's where my eye goes first, but the Chickenman who is the largest and closest figure in the scene is off to one side and looking toward the corner of the image makes me want to look off to the left; his gaze and the lines of the building behind him draw attention out of the image.  The tension between the two is not very pleasing compositionally.  I think that you should make the Chickenman character very clearly the focus by moving him much closer to the camera, putting him on one of the thirds lines and maybe turning him slightly toward the camera, and then shifting the other center characer a little bit to one side so he is not right in the "sights" of all the lines in the image.  Moving that back character a little to one side also breaks up the way the rock formations are echoing/precisely matching his shape, which is a little distracting. Then you have the gaze of the chicken man and his size and nearness drawing you into the image, then you follow the lines and brightness back toward the other character.  This also has the advantage of establishing a clearly broken up foreground, middle-distance and background in the image. There are many things you could do with this, but something like that would be my suggestion.

I drew on your image a little in Photoshop to show what I mean; the first attachment shows what I mean about the lines, the second one I just shifted the two main characters a little to give you a better idea of what I an getting at.  This is just my opinion obviously so take it or leave it as you please. 

Mark

 

Here is an image more in line with what you were talking about.

 

MarkIsSleepy

Nice - I think that's a lot better, but that might just be my taste.  I like that you are showing more of the building on the right too.  The whole image really sells the idea that there's more of the town behind the camera that we just can't see.

Also, I meant to compliment you on all the other people and action going on in the scene - that's something I always have a hard time doing - I carefully setup my main character(s) and then lose patience with the supporting cast.

Headwax

looks much better chickenman, nice work.!

chickenman

Thanks for the help with composition all.

 

I noticed the hovering hosrse and have to fix that and add some more stuff i think.

The file is getting rather large when loaded into carrara now at 6 GB with all the gen 2 caracters.

bigh

chickenman said:

Thanks for the help with composition all.

 

I noticed the hovering hosrse and have to fix that and add some more stuff i think.

The file is getting rather large when loaded into carrara now at 6 GB with all the gen 2 caracters.

the bath house is off too

Headwax

just do it in post :)

chickenman

I don't do post work yet. got to get the basic skills down before I move on to something else.

What I render is what I put up.

Headwax

fair enough, but post work is my friend :)

 

chickenman

I know but I will eventually get there I did download the Fusion program from black magic but have not installed it yet. 

Dartanbeck

 

chickenman said:

I know but I will eventually get there I did download the Fusion program from black magic but have not installed it yet. 

There are much simpler approaches to post work ;)

Headwax

I like the clone tool :)

actually when I need a new element in a scne  I often just go and render another object with an alpha channel ad stick it on a new layer in ps, add a little drop shadow, tweak the contratss and lighting and shadow - presto

 

I was lucky, a long time ago I assumed that post work is of equall importance as the intial scene setup and tried to learn it in parrallel ,

I think I have saved very much time but not having to re render things over and over

alos using the vertex plane mask trick has saved me many hours - thanks who ever write that article in C3de about the dice and masking (@TimPayne ) http://carraracafe.com/c3de/c3de-03/

Dartanbeck

head wax said:

I like the clone tool :)

actually when I need a new element in a scne  I often just go and render another object with an alpha channel ad stick it on a new layer in ps, add a little drop shadow, tweak the contratss and lighting and shadow - presto

 

I was lucky, a long time ago I assumed that post work is of equall importance as the intial scene setup and tried to learn it in parrallel ,

I think I have saved very much time but not having to re render things over and over

alos using the vertex plane mask trick has saved me many hours - thanks who ever write that article in C3de about the dice and masking (@TimPayne ) http://carraracafe.com/c3de/c3de-03/

When you say "clone tool" are you talking about Fusion?

I've just looked into it - seems that I have before, but it must have been during that time when I had no time whatsoever. Just downloaded it, but I have to make sure to get it on my work station. It's refreshing to see that its GPU enhancements take advantage of OpenCL, so I don't have to have an nVidia card to use it (I think?)

Also, it looks like (unless I'm reading this wrong) that it can use EXR information to help fill out the 3d space within it? Wow. LuxRender can save directly to OpenEXR

Anyways, this looks like one powerful tool! Can't wait to check it out. It'll still be a while before I can actually install and play with it - so I have to remember to do that!

evilproducer

head wax said:

yes it is bad, I spend 40 bucks and get a bill for 75 bucks.... lucky I like baked beans ;) (75 cents for 150 grams)

Ha! We buy our stuff in ounces! Grams are for wusses or drug dealers! LOL!

Dartanbeck

evilproducer said:

Ha! We buy our stuff in ounces! Grams are for wusses or drug dealers! LOL!

Not me. I just buy the whole can. Love my baked beans! ;)

Headwax

Dartanbeck said:

head wax said:

I like the clone tool :)

actually when I need a new element in a scne  I often just go and render another object with an alpha channel ad stick it on a new layer in ps, add a little drop shadow, tweak the contratss and lighting and shadow - presto

 

I was lucky, a long time ago I assumed that post work is of equall importance as the intial scene setup and tried to learn it in parrallel ,

I think I have saved very much time but not having to re render things over and over

alos using the vertex plane mask trick has saved me many hours - thanks who ever write that article in C3de about the dice and masking (@TimPayne ) http://carraracafe.com/c3de/c3de-03/

When you say "clone tool" are you talking about Fusion?

I've just looked into it - seems that I have before, but it must have been during that time when I had no time whatsoever. Just downloaded it, but I have to make sure to get it on my work station. It's refreshing to see that its GPU enhancements take advantage of OpenCL, so I don't have to have an nVidia card to use it (I think?)

Also, it looks like (unless I'm reading this wrong) that it can use EXR information to help fill out the 3d space within it? Wow. LuxRender can save directly to OpenEXR

Anyways, this looks like one powerful tool! Can't wait to check it out. It'll still be a while before I can actually install and play with it - so I have to remember to do that!

sorry Dart just clone tool in photoshop , my favourite tool :)

 

Headwax

Dartanbeck said:

evilproducer said:

Ha! We buy our stuff in ounces! Grams are for wusses or drug dealers! LOL!

Not me. I just buy the whole can. Love my baked beans! ;)

and luckily baked beans was eaten a lot in the wild west, according to Mel Brooks ;) so we are back on topic - accidently, sorry about that :)

ps Evil, when you are a poor country like Oz, it is necessary to buy things in grams ;)

 

Dartanbeck

head wax said:

Dartanbeck said:

head wax said:

sorry Dart just clone tool in photoshop , my favourite tool :)

 

This is a WIP thread and we're discussing postwork... we ARE on topic! ;)

Anyways, I think that the Howler version of this is one of mine, too. Basically I lasso anything I want, even multiple selection, edit the selection via blurs, grows, glows, emboss... whatever, then go to Brush > Use Selected as Brush and then Store and Manage Brush. Now I have a new brush that can be scaled and changed in many, many other ways before and between using it. Love it!

Wow. chickenman. Fusion. Whoa.

Have you checked out the video tutorials on their site? The Introduction to 3D Space is something else - even though I'm only getting videos 2 and 3 to work, but that Eric... okay, yeah... he's really good and really knows what he's doing. But just the way his mind works is really awesome. Great way to showcase how a person might jump in a just create within Fusion. I'm seeing this working with my Carrara/Howler workflow beautifully. Thanks for mentioning that you have it. Now we both have it and neither have it installed! LOL I hope to remedy that on my end ASAP. This can not only save me time, but possibly even make some for me as well... Cool!

chickenman

I also have howler but neet to learn to use it so must watch some youtube for it..

Here is the render from last night.

 

Dartanbeck

Nice!

Mistara

started modelling deputy badge.  stuck already.  was hoping to duplicate with symmetry + autoweld.
but it isn't working for me.  
i thought the secret was to move the drawing plane, but doesn't seem to be the needed step.

gahhhhhh what's the secret to duplicate with symmetry??????

  
thanks.

well, steps so far ... kept notes as i progressed-
1) finally figured out had to select front camera to see the image. (global tab, backdrop)
2) changed grid to .2in
3) keepin it super simple, chose poly line, curve tool too complicated for me right now.

4) **hold the alt + right mouse button to drag camera up/down, left/right

5) gonna outline half, see if i can mirror second half.
6) duplicate with symmetry isn't working for me.

7)  woesssss, reset working box moved image away from the plane. 

 

Mistara

is this too much detail?  

8) adding a circle, then hope to cut it in half. then pull verts to make the star part of the badge.
    8a) dragging box corner makes the circle scale in 2 dimensions

9) connected poly line to circle, to line up the verts exactly, rounded x value under model, selection tab

Mistara

doing the star part separate, need to reset setup the image reference.

10) chose polyline again.

11)  need to join up these bad boys, symmetry. add thinkness. not sure exactly how to do that ...

 

>.<

Diomede

Using duplicate with symmetry. To move the working box, use CTRL/CMD with left-click, depending if on Windows or Mac.

I inserted a vertex object and constructed a 3x3 cube just to have something to duplicate. I moved a couple of points around. I then deleted a side and made sure the inner edge points were all at x=0. I like to have the center of the object at x=0. Not sure it is necessary.

I made sure the zy plane was selected in the little box icon so that I would be duplicating across the x-axis.

To move the working plane, use [Control, left-click] for windows or [command, left-click] for Mac and select a point on the inner edge of the mesh.

Select all of the mesh that you wish to duplicate. Go to the Edit menu along the top and choose duplicate with symmetry and make sure to use the x-axis and that your tolerance choice is appropriate and if appropriate use weld result.

Remember to go to top menu and reset the working box under the view menu.

 

(EDIT: the other 2 screen shots are not uploading for some reason.  I will add them later).  EDit 2 - finally added the second two screen shots.

Dartanbeck

I usually just model with symetry "on" rather than dup w/sym, but that's me. But just looking at it, it just looks (again, to me) to be easier to just model the whole thing instead of doing it by half. 

Anyways, have you tried "Undo" and then duplicating along a different axis than what you've originally tried? Sometimes it's not the axis you'd think. Try another one, see if it gives you some fruit! ;)

MarkIsSleepy

head wax said:

Dartanbeck said:

head wax said:

I like the clone tool :)

 

...snip...

sorry Dart just clone tool in photoshop , my favourite tool :)

 

All hail the clone stamp! For Christmas I made a calendar for my mom using photos she took on her last vacation; she got to the last one and was like "Wait, weren't there about three or four people in this photo originally?"  I thought they were ruining the beauty of the photo so I clone stamped them out! 

MarkIsSleepy

I've been trying to work on my second entry and have been having a series of glorious failures - nothing seems to be working quite how I want it to.  The best of the bunch is below. The cowboy and horse were just temporary stand-ins so I could block out the composition, but it really was not going the way I wanted, so I'm going to abandon this one too I think.  It does illustrate one of my favorite things about Carrara though - the long highway is made up of just one vehicle and one section of the GIS Skyway in a couple replicators.  I just had to set up one and in a couple clicks had a whole highway with 200 vehicles at varying sizes and distances apart across four lanes of traffic in two directions (you can't really see that at this test render size, but they're there.)

I think I have one more good idea that I will try out this weekend; today I sketched out some ideas for a fully robotic cowboy that I think I can model and have some ideas on how I can convert Predatron's LoRez Horse into a robo-horse with a new texture and some greebles.

Headwax

MDO2010  great idea the robot horse. Interested in how you use greebles (yes I like to clone people out - makes me feel good ;) )

MistyMist  loving the badge so far. I'm lazy I would do an alpha map on a plane to fake it.

Or I would make  diplacement map in the shape of the badge, export the displaced object, bring it back into carrara, chop off the uneeded verticies, then  texture it with your badhe image...... told you I was lazy

Dartanbeck

MDO2010 said:

It does illustrate one of my favorite things about Carrara though - the long highway is made up of just one vehicle and one section of the GIS Skyway in a couple replicators.  

So funny! That's exactly (except without a vehicle) what I did in this image, but hid it to keep that part mostly secret right  now! LOL   It really goes on for a long way behind the Demonecornuto

Funny thing is... I've abandoned this one too! ;)