Carrara Challenge #24: “Under the Sea” or "Out of the Box" - WIP Thread

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  • wgdjohnwgdjohn Posts: 2,634
    edited April 2016

    Well I'm finally today off to a crude start.  Finally designed a sea floor looking scene in Landcape editor... changing shaders a bit to get a sand bottom, for Grass, and not the normal mountain colors for Land... didn't need to touch Snow at all. Playing with Fog and Primovol Fog combined to simulate water without luck so far. Done for the day... got other things needing to be done. Added a blue color for the sky/distant water... needs work... may go a different direction entirely.

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  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,332

    Nice terrain piece!

    Do you agree that it was a fun experience to create, once the toolset becomes a little more clear?

  • wgdjohnwgdjohn Posts: 2,634

    Alot more fun now that I know what to fool around with.  First thing I did was save your instructions/pics to a text file.  Might save them to an html file so I don't need to log into DAZ... hope that's OK.

  • wgdjohnwgdjohn Posts: 2,634
    edited April 2016

    Dart, I've your underwater environment kit in my wishlist but can't buy anything at the moment so am attempting to get an underwater look on my own... it's not as easy as I suspected... it's been awhile since I've been scuba diving in the ocean/gulf so this is based on memory and not photos which I need to look for.  I've a few ideas to make my render below a bit more realistic before adding any life just yet.

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  • 3DAGE3DAGE Posts: 3,311

    HI John

    in your scene,. if you go to the SCENE / Atmosphere,. and choose "Distance Fog"  then you'll have options for th distance and the colour,. make it blue,. test render and ajdust as needed.

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,332

    ...and Underwater Realms takes that idea a little deeper by instead using the realistic sky's haze control with an animated Ocean primive set up high above to interact with the scene's lights. There are other enhancements too. GKDantas did a silent video tutorial regarding volumetric lighting, which demonstrates the power of using light cone effects, which can also have a color applied to. So there are many fun ways in Carrara to represent an underwater scene. 

    Speaking of water, for those whom might be interested in making fish bowl-style images, do remember that Carrara "Refraction" channel in the Texture room uses depth to determine how the refraction is treated.

    Long story short, to represent proper refraction of glass, we need to have thickness on the glass. So if you're using a single plane, duplicating that and moving it slightly away from the first will have the effect of that distance thick of glass. If you've modeled a fish bowl, make sure to "Add Thickness".

  • wgdjohnwgdjohn Posts: 2,634
    edited April 2016

    Thanks 3DAGE, I'd tried that before and have now added it back again. It is Blue but very dark.. the fog(s) settings I have overshadow/brighten up it's darkness. Then I move/scaled and changed some settings for Fog and Primoval Fog around to get more what I'm going for. It's too bad there are only 2 settings for Distant Fog... which is the background behind the hill. More pleased with the render below even though it could still use some more work. Latest render and settings for "Amospher/Distant Fog", Fog and Primoval Fog are below. When looking at the render it must be viewed straight on... my monitor is tilted and it looks much darker. Got to get on to adding the sea life/creatures now.

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  • wgdjohnwgdjohn Posts: 2,634

    Dart, I've made a huge image of bubbles to possibly put in front of the camera or a few places in the scene if I have time to play with it.

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,332
    wgdjohn said:

    Dart, I've made a huge image of bubbles to possibly put in front of the camera or a few places in the scene if I have time to play with it.

    Cool!

    I'm still not sure whether I like your previous render or the latest... we'll see once you get some stuff in there!

    How did you make your bubbles?

  • HeadwaxHeadwax Posts: 9,969

    stezza wroteth Yep, perfect effects as well as Ron's brushes... Thanks for the comments..

     

    thanks where do I sign up for your tuts?

  • HeadwaxHeadwax Posts: 9,969
    wgdjohn said:

    Well I'm finally today off to a crude start.  Finally designed a sea floor looking scene in Landcape editor... changing shaders a bit to get a sand bottom, for Grass, and not the normal mountain colors for Land... didn't need to touch Snow at all. Playing with Fog and Primovol Fog combined to simulate water without luck so far. Done for the day... got other things needing to be done. Added a blue color for the sky/distant water... needs work... may go a different direction entirely.

    that would make a great painting you know

     

  • HeadwaxHeadwax Posts: 9,969
    edited April 2016

     thanks for the kind comments on the graphic novel look Dart and Diomede

     

    Post edited by Headwax on
  • DiomedeDiomede Posts: 15,135
    edited April 2016

    I think my malehd2 obj has been possessed by Oedipus!  Somehow, the mesh for the eyes has been lost.  I'm not too worried about it.  I have enough saved step versions to sort it out. This WIP is actually about the terrain and the castle obj.  Eventually looking to do a book cover style image but the lack of eyes put me in a silly mood.  For this wip

    - inserted the default terrain.  added a plateau filter and adjusted the settings to get the cliff setup I wanted.  Then added a noise filter and turned the settng way down.

    - adjusted the terrain shader, mostly by focusing on the grass areas by mixing a Flink grass tile with a custom green gradient.

    - made two more copies of the terrain.  added a more severe noise filter to one copy and made its shader a mixture of rocky terrain shaders.  Moved the rocky terrain sideways and scaled slightly to make steep slopes

    - for the second copy, it flattened it severely, and widened it to make the beach, changed the shader to a mixture of simple desert and rocky desert.

    - the castle shader adjustments were most severe on the roof objects because they were started from scratch, but also added minor changes the towers and walls (mostly tiling and bump).

    - the ocean is just 2 infinite planes with mixed water shaders

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  • wgdjohnwgdjohn Posts: 2,634
    wgdjohn said:

    Dart, I've made a huge image of bubbles to possibly put in front of the camera or a few places in the scene if I have time to play with it.

    Cool!

    I'm still not sure whether I like your previous render or the latest... we'll see once you get some stuff in there!

    How did you make your bubbles?

    Like the overall brightness of previous, 2nd, render especially the overall color and lighter sand. Last render I tried to get the further part of the hill to a sense of depth by shrouding it in the sea distance with Fog settings/scaling... may have overdone it a bit.  The furthest background needs to be darker also to bump it back up a bit.  I may revert back to that file and start making tinier changes.

    For the bubbles I used PaintShop Pro X8 "Effects/Texture Effects/Bubbles" saving the image out as .pspimage and a .png with transparent background.  PSPro X did not have this effect... don't know what ver introduced it.  Bubbles effect has min/max/qty/randomize and a few other features... not found any control of how they are located so the sizes are mixed... there's always cut and paste later.

  • wgdjohnwgdjohn Posts: 2,634
    head wax said:
    wgdjohn said:

    Well I'm finally today off to a crude start.  Finally designed a sea floor looking scene in Landcape editor... changing shaders a bit to get a sand bottom, for Grass, and not the normal mountain colors for Land... didn't need to touch Snow at all. Playing with Fog and Primovol Fog combined to simulate water without luck so far. Done for the day... got other things needing to be done. Added a blue color for the sky/distant water... needs work... may go a different direction entirely.

    that would make a great painting you know

    Thanks... I'm flattered [blush],  I designed it for a possible island surrounded by sea... hmm a few palm trees and who knows what else.

  • wgdjohnwgdjohn Posts: 2,634

    Diomede,  very good work on the skin. Like your Landcape also.

  • PhilWPhilW Posts: 5,145

    Diomede - that landscape looks really cool!

  • DiomedeDiomede Posts: 15,135

    Thanks for the encouragement, wgdjohn and PhilW.  The ability to edit terrains is one of my favorite features of Carrara.  It still needs some details added, especially a path to the castle gates, but I am pleased with the initial environment.  On another note, I was able to find the mesh for the poor fellow's eyes.  I copied and pasted them from a previous version into the most recent mesh, so I think I can preserve the skin's uvmapping.  Hopefully, I will also be able to paste a second copy of the mesh to create an outer lens for reflection.  I will likely step away from this project for a while and then return with a fresh look.  In the meantime, I have some thoughts on the second theme, which I will add in my next post.

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  • DiomedeDiomede Posts: 15,135
    edited April 2016

    Underwater theme?  I used to live in San Marcos, Tx.  So what, you ask?  San Marcos is in the Texas hill country, and used to have an amusement park built around the source of a river that emerged from the aquafir that underlies the Great Plains.  The amusement park had a theater with glass walls looking into the spring lake.  People sat in the theater and watched college students dressed as mermaids and Indian braves put on an underwater melodrama.  There were oxygen tubes strategically placed in the underwater foliage.  People drove from hundreds of miles to see these mermaid shows, and of course to see Ralph the Swimming Pig.  You might think that there is nothing special about Ralph because all pigs can swim, but kids loved it anyway.

     

    While I try to think of how to do an appropriate tribute to Aquarena Springs, surf these links and gaze at these attachments in awe!

    https://vimeo.com/59413914

    http://www.collectorsweekly.com/articles/the-real-mermaids-of-san-marcos-texas/

    http://www.aquarenaandralph.com/

     

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  • DUDUDUDU Posts: 1,945
    edited April 2016

    I love your job Diomède, because you search to bring out the best from Carrara !

    PS: It seems that WGDJohn want to follow this way too, really cool !...

    Post edited by DUDU on
  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,332

    That place looks like a blast! I'd love to check that out some day ;)

    I agree with the others on your terrain. Realy nice job on that! Glad to see your ManFace2 guy got his eyes back!

  • wgdjohnwgdjohn Posts: 2,634
    edited April 2016

    Ahoy! ... Found out that I have more sea creatures that I knew or even DS or Carrara are able to find. Off to find out why today. Yesterday I searched DAZ, Renderosity and SharCG for some the sea fauna - (Brain Coral and other Corals), various sponges - tiny to large and sea fans. Creatures that Carrara does not have a good collection of is various shelled creatures - starfish, sandollar, counch and many others that do not come to mind at the moment. Also today I'm off to the modeler to see what I can start to come up with... some sould be very easy while others will take more time. Hmm wonder if I can have some that I do added to Carrara's content.  Oops... I've gone and given others some ideas for their renders... that's fine, Ill be just as satisfied in seeing other's work/conceptions.

    Does anyone know where I might find more examples of "formulas other than in Carrara"?  I've a modest programming background as well as a few reference books. Problem is I've always overlooked this feature since it appeared to be hard to understand, however... the manual for Carrara explains the feature very well to get started. Now where did I leave that code snippet to create a nautilis... Oh gosh I've just gotta go play.

    [Edit]  I found Gardens of Poseidon - Super Bundle   which has some of the things I mentions earler for Sea Fauna. Sadly it's PC+ free so a few of it's items will have to wait for a future purchase probably next month or so.

    Post edited by wgdjohn on
  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,332
    edited April 2016
    wgdjohn said:

    Does anyone know where I might find more examples of "formulas other than in Carrara"?  I've a modest programming background as well as a few reference books. Problem is I've always overlooked this feature since it appeared to be hard to understand, however... the manual for Carrara explains the feature very well to get started. Now where did I leave that code snippet to create a nautilis... Oh gosh I've just gotta go play.

    Formulas in Carrara Thread

    EDIT: On page 2, Brad C delves into Seashells

    LOL! Shortly thereafter I offer an totally unrelated video of my Big Brother and his Kewl Robotic Truck! (Freaking Genius = He!)

    that's him... that guy when the video starts... that's my big brother!

    Post edited by Dartanbeck on
  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,332

    Don't check the link that I offer in my first post in that thread... there are others shortly after that are most beneficial for the formula enthusiast!

    Here's another: formula modeler - help with first baby step - a sphere

  • DiomedeDiomede Posts: 15,135
    edited April 2016

    For some great formula samples, make sure to try out the examples on this site.   http://gianp.free.fr/carrara/indexcarrara.html   It is in French so try out that translation program, if necessary.  Just cut and paste the formula into the Carrara formula box in the properties tray and remember to click "parse."  I have introduced parameters p1 and p2 to several of these and saved them to my object browser.  Then it is easy to adjust by using the p1 and p2 sliders.  Can be great for flower petals, for example.  Also for an adjustable torus, helix, etc.

    And remember to try the formula shaders in addition to the models.

     

    And thanks for the kind words, Dudu

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  • DiomedeDiomede Posts: 15,135

    Way to go, Dart's brother.  Very kewl, indeed. 

    .

    wgdjohn said:

     

    LOL! Shortly thereafter I offer an totally unrelated video of my Big Brother and his Kewl Robotic Truck! (Freaking Genius = He!)

    that's him... that guy when the video starts... that's my big brother!

     

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,332
    diomede said:

    For some great formula samples, make sure to try out the examples on this site.   http://gianp.free.fr/carrara/indexcarrara.html   It is in French so try out that translation program, if necessary.  Just cut and paste the formula into the Carrara formula box in the properties tray and remember to click "parse."  I have inroduced parameters p1 and p2 to several of these and saved them to my object browser.  Then it is easy to adjust by using the p1 and p2 sliders.  Can be great for flower petals, for example.  Also for an adjustable torus, helix, etc.

    And remember to try the formula shaders in addition to the models.

     

    And thanks for the kind words, Dudu

    Very nice explanation. Kewl!

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,332
    diomede said:

    Way to go, Dart's brother.  Very kewl, indeed. 

    Yeah... he's quite the awesome fella! He's an excellent Bass (guitar) player too!

  • wgdjohnwgdjohn Posts: 2,634
    edited April 2016

    Dart, Thanks the second link does look more interesting... tagged each for reading later.  Also watched you're Brother's video... kewl Brother/work.

    Diomede,  Very informative/helpful link. I know Spanish and understand very little French, barely enough to figure out what is what. Better grab all the forumlas for objects and texture formulas when I need a break.

    see my edit... I found a few things being looked for earlier but can't buy them at the moment.

    Post edited by wgdjohn on
  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,332
    wgdjohn said:

    I found Gardens of Poseidon - Super Bundle   which has some of the things I mentions earler for Sea Fauna. Sadly it's PC+ free so a few of it's items will have to wait for a future purchase probably next month or so.

    He let me use that set for my Underwater Realms promo renders - I bought it. Excellent set! I have some chapters that will be delving the depths, but those scenes won't come into the render shelf for a while yet. Orestes Graphics has quite a few really, Really cool products that I just love!

    wgdjohn said:

    I know Spanish and understand very little French, barely enough to figure out what is what. Better grab all the forumlas for objects and texture formulas when I need a break.

    That French site is an excellent one, which was why I linked to that thread. There are others, but that one is awesome, and the translation turns out quite well. But that whole thread (second link about Seashells is in that thread) is a worthy scan of anyone wanting to look into doing Formulae in Carrara. Perhaps even wake it up with some new posts, if more discussion is necessary ;)

    Man... I babble too much! LOL

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