Wallpaper Wips

[Phawx]

Damn, I saw your first post Monk and apparently I missed like 8 pages somehow. Really awesome Job! For some reason it has a "Lionhead" meets "Rare" feel to me. Kind of like what Fable 3 and Kameo would be mashed together.

Really excellent Job, man. Could I suggest a protagonist running away from an array of exploding things that explode conveniently after the protagonist passes? ...with a timer in the background?

 

[Monk]

Damn, I saw your first post Monk and apparently I missed like 8 pages somehow. Really awesome Job! For some reason it has a "Lionhead" meets "Rare" feel to me. Kind of like what Fable 3 and Kameo would be mashed together.

Really excellent Job, man. Could I suggest a protagonist running away from an array of exploding things that explode conveniently after the protagonist passes? ...with a timer in the background?

Cool!

I quite like the image that idea brings to mind - I get a cross between "Die Hardest Of All" and "Arnie/Predator go BOOM!" but my problem isn't lack of ideas at present, it's time to put them together and hone them to a point where I'm happy enough to abandon them... and it's the honing that takes the time, really. For example, it was quick enough for me to put these sketches together, but it'll likely take me days to hone them. From existing (previously mentioned) ideas that I haven't shown an image for before....


Doom Homage:

A more oriental, warrior-ish image:

Dragon 3:

and many, MANY more... hopefully showing some slightly different styles along the way. Oh - and more T&A, obviously

Plus of course, for some of them I have more modelling to do - I need to make some improvements to the Pandora 3D model, and various odds and sods like the "New Mad Scientist" magazine that just need putting together to round out scenes that are more-or-less in my head already, just looking for some pixels to inhabit.

 

[Phawx]

@Monk

Well as long as more T&A is involved, all is right in the world. Hope you are doing well.

I will await more awesomeness.















And T&A

 

[wardred]

I'm rendering a very simple scene - an octopus tutorial from biorust, and #$(*#$&)* adding raytraced shadows is crippling my poor laptop. Monk, how long does it take to render your WIPs? What are the specs on your machine?

Edit: Using Blender, though I don't know how much of a diff. that makes.

 

[Monk]

I'm rendering a very simple scene - an octopus tutorial from biorust, and #$(*#$&)* adding raytraced shadows is crippling my poor laptop. Monk, how long does it take to render your WIPs? What are the specs on your machine?

It takes forever.

Let me see - the last "JarBrain" image I rendered at double resolution to fairly high quality. I didn't update this thread with a copy because the result was close enough to my last post that no-one would notice, but I did update the first post with a new copy reszied down to 800 * 480.

Now then - that image contains ambient occlusion (expensive) raytracing (expensive), transparency (expensive) and a lot of reflective surface (the jar, inner and outer glass surface and we can see all the way through - expensive!).

The PC it renderd on is this one right here that I use every day, not my "proper" 3D PC. this PC has only:
Core 2 Dueo 6600 CPU (2 cores at 2.4GHz)
3GB RAM
Win XP Pro SR3
GeForce 8600 GT video card

The software I'm using on this PC to render with is DAZ Studio 3 Advanced (which is probably a pay-for higher version than the version you get for free, but I honestly didn't pay much attention except to ensure I didn't install anything that hasn't been released yet). Also using some 3rd party plugins for Studio which I KNOW cost money (because it hurts me to part with much!) but the shaders they supply have really helpd some of my images (mostly girlie ones) shine that bit brighter.

It took this PC just about 24 hours to render the image at double resolution, the previous render having taken around 6 hours.

This is why I prefer to:

1. Use software that will render across the network, spreading the load.
2. Work on multiple images at once, so one can be rendering on one PC while I work on another image.
3. Use a fster PC when possible!
4. Produce WIPs for the forum in case people going "Oooh" and "ahhh" or "yuck" will help drive me towards images that will be appreciated more.


At the same time - the last 3 images I posted here took less than 40 minutes combined to render on my (slower) notebook upstairs, including loading the scenes up to render (over wireless network! ARGH! Slow!). During development I tend to turn down various settings - which is why some WIP images look grainy (the WIPs I don't post look even granier, and take more experience for me to realise how they will look when rendered "properly").

I look forward to doing more with my main 3D PC, if I ge tthe chance - especially if I get to tinker with Vue

 

[wardred]

Ouch, well I certainly appreciate the work. Reminds me of doing ray-tracing with PovRay way back in the day and practically watching the thing draw a pixel at a time. I'm going to have to find a quick way - and I'm sure Blender has one - of turning all these goodies on and off, and maybe do "static" shadows of some sort, rather than ray traced ones, if there is such a thing. (Just so I can see where the shadows actually end up.)

Thanks for your comments, and the time and effort on your images.

 

[Monk]

Here, for example, is a render uisng fairly high quality settings when I was doing some comparisons between different shader settings for skin:

This rendered MUCH more quickly than the final render, and you can hopefully see why - as I hope that none of that grain got into my final render! It really pays to lower render settings and/or lighting quality during WIPs, but beware of posting stuff that's too crude, as if you're not in an artists forum at the time you may end up having to explain why it's so grainy/compressed/dark/whatever. Technological limitations are a PITA but also remember this - people have to sleep, computers don't. I leave a lot of renders going overnight (sadly, I don't have one ready to set running tonight as I spent much of the day with my son, playing Worms or Heretic or watching DVDs or doing computer-based homework and so on).

I'm up WAY too late tonight because I was a bit jazzed and wanted to do some work on a 3D gift box for the "All I Want For Christmas" imnage, and I got wrapped up in this thread instead! Oops! Oh well - a lot of the gift box is done, I mostly need to tinker with the scaling and paint some wrapping paper with the Pandora logo - not too much to do tomorrow, then work on the scene itself a bit more.

 

[Monk]

Ouch, well I certainly appreciate the work. Reminds me of doing ray-tracing with PovRay way back in the day and practically watching the thing draw a pixel at a time. I'm going to have to find a quick way - and I'm sure Blender has one - of turning all these goodies on and off, and maybe do "static" shadows of some sort, rather than ray traced ones, if there is such a thing. (Just so I can see where the shadows actually end up.)

Thanks for your comments, and the time and effort on your images.

No worries - and I imagine if you turn ray tracing off you will get depth-mapped shadows. Not as accurate, but can be faster.

I well remember POV-Ray - I dipped my toes into that pool a few times, even producing some of my earliest models and animations with it. Ahhh... those were the days! In some ways. In others, I do NOT miss using a 386DX for rendering, nor the weeks and months spent waiting for an animation to finish rendering (when every frame takes 24 hours and you only have one PC to do the rendering... yikes!).

The amount of time I'm putting in is more or less directly proportional to the degree to which I'd appreciate feedback from ED as to whether he actually wants to put any of these on the Pandora - I'd be gutted to put all this (and more!) effort in only for him to decide he doesn't like my style! LOL (that's a nervous kind of LOL though!).

Ta,

 

[wardred]

The amount of time I'm putting in is more or less directly propertional to the degree to which I'd appreciate feedback from ED as to whether he actually wants to put any of these on the Pandora - I'd be gutted to put all this (and more!) effort in only for him to decide he doesn't like my style! LOL (that's a nervous kind of LOL though!).

Even if ED doesn't put one of them on the official Pandora image - Hopefully he does if it keeps you motivated! - I don't think you have to worry about it ending up on a bunch of Pandoras. I'm sure many from the forums will download the work of you and whoever else we personally happen to enjoy.

Cheers, and happy rendering!

Edit: and yeah, I can tell a huge diff between the grainy render and the ones you've previously posted.

 

[Monk]

No worries, I have several images to go before I even have to stop and pause and think "What else would I REALLY like to do?". For example, I haven't even tried to enumerate the dragon images that I wouldn't mind attempting...

...or the number of "girlie" images (many with a significant amount of clothing).

Oh, and to give you a better idea of render times my end, THIS image:

took about 6 minutes just to render. The final image I posted is obviosuly rendered at higher quality, but also at double size AND I render it in two passes (with different skin shader settings) and mix the results in post to get the result I like (using multiple renders and compositing them can really save time over render, tweak, render, tweak, render...) plus doing a little painting by hand to touch up a small area of her top that I don't like much in this render (the topless image requires even more postwork!).

Now... I should probably try and creep off to bed and hope the Mrs didn't notice I was gone! :gulp

 

[amf66]

Before this I never knew how long it took to render things like this! Keep up the good work!

 

[Monk]

It probably helps that I'm officially off sick (even got a sick note from the hospital! Mostly to see what one looks like) so I can concentrate a bit more than I usually can on hobby stuff, with fewer distractions (aka customers) to deal with.

This weekend is render-light because I'm being a bit more "family man" oriented, but I am at least trying to tweak Dragon 1 to make it SLIGHTLY lighter/more visible (don't want to make it so light as to ruin it though!) as a background process. I want to see if I can brighten "Night At The Museum" too, again without ruining the effect if possible but making it perhaps a little easier to see on such a small screen.

I'm feeling kinda positive about the last 3 WIP images too - I may have to have some as sketch styles as well as the much slower 3D renders (My son, my wife and myself all especially like the "Doom Homage" in that style, even withbout a monster!).

Ta,

 

[Monk]

Well, while some "Brighter" renders of "Night At The Aquarium" render, here's some updates:

A more polished "Dragon 3". I was so taken with the sketch that I decided to try and keep that feel (it's computationally cheap, too, though it takes more "by hand" work).

And a slightly brightened "Dragon 1":
Dragon1BLampLight.png

Dragon 1 is, quite deliberately, not easy to make out detail - but it seemed that the previous version may have been just a bit TOO dark. Well, this is a brighter slightly more polished version which I hope mor people can enjoy

It's certainly more visible on this desktop PC

Having said that, I'll render a much brigeter copy now and should be able to composit the two images (brighter and MUCH brighter) to produce almost any level of brightness, provided it doesn't become so clear that I have to make the image any better

 

[Monk]

In an attempt to brighten the "Night At The aquarium" image, I have set 3 computers rendering slightly different versions which, again, I'll be able to composit to produce slightly differernt versions without re-rendering over and over again... and the first of those renders is in, thanks to my main quad-core 3D PC being back on-line and up to speed enough to do network render farm work. So here's the first composit - with the point light of the fish's lure doubled in intensity:

I have still brighter rendering, plus of course some with the global/general lighting raised. This isn't meant to be QUITE as hard to see as with Dragon 1, but the dark edges were intended to make it really easy/clear to see whatever users have on their desktops, focussing the detail roughly in the middle of the screen. We'll see how it goes! Please feel free to give comments about the darkness levels of Dragon and NATA, originally, as they are now, and as they may become...

Ta

 

[wardred]

For the brightening and darkening....I kinda liked the previous version of the aquarium. You can definitely see more here, but I think that one works well dark as any fish with headlamps is in an incredibly dark and murky area. With the phosphorescent bits of the fish, I saw immediately what it was. Maybe something between that one and this one?

On the dragon, still too dark imo. Unless you know you're looking for it, it almost looks like smudges on a black LCD screen. I think I see the effect you're going for, and I don't have any suggestions on how to light it, but it needs to be a smidgen more visible so somebody who doesn't know it's there is prompted to stare at it for a bit before going aha! Right now I'm not certain if we have the staring at it bit.

Maybe just a claw or wing in the light, or the slightest touch of red near its nostrils and/or mouth? Or slightly brightened smoke emanating from mouth or nostrils?

Edit: Or, if you want a LOT of work, maybe a dark cavern with the edges of the rock just slightly brighter then the dragon, disappearing into utter darkness where it's at. That'll give us something to look at, and if we look closely it's not an empty cavern at all...

No, no hints at all...

 

[mali]

I agree on the newer aquarium being too bright. The older version did it very well IMO. Highlighting stuff while the unimportant is in total darkness is a good general style. To make it reasonable looking it has to be darker in the lit areas too, else it seems off a bit.

 

[wardred]

I think the trick with the night at the aquarium is getting the foreground and "water" right. I like the lighting on the previous fish - I think that' perfect. But the background distracts from the fish, and the water is actually brighter than the background. I think I'd like to make out the shapes of the coral, but to have them about as dark and murky as the fish in the previous picture. Not sure what I'd do with the water. Probably not pitch black, but a little darker than what it is so the stuff that's dimly light is where the eye focuses.

While I'm at it, with the jar brain thing, the white reflects up to the lower surface kind of obscuring it a bit. I'd make the table surface a bit darker and less reflective, if possible, leaving poor jar brain in the dark fluid, but making it more obviously the center piece, with the reflection of the Pandora's screen directly between it's eyes.

Even if you don't do anything with these renders, I enjoy them all immensely, and I'll probably use the magazine cover as a background for one of my desktops.

Edit: I'm a B sci-fi / horror movie junkie and that cover works perfectly to give me my fix.

Edit 2: Sometime soon I'm going to have one post with 10 edits on it. Always one more thought after I hit post. Signs of a
disorganized mind. :-b

Edit 3: I like your Doom homage as it is. The drawn look gives it a look and feel of your own, and reminds me of something I saw earlier about a homage to the sci-fi corridor.

 

[Monk]

For the brightening and darkening....I kinda liked the previous version of the aquarium. You can definitely see more here, but I think that one works well dark as any fish with headlamps is in an incredibly dark and murky area. With the phosphorescent bits of the fish, I saw immediately what it was. Maybe something between that one and this one?

this would be why I am rendering a range of images to composit, so I can blend the lights quickly and easily to produce different levels

On the dragon, still too dark imo. Unless you know you're looking for it, it almost looks like smudges on a black LCD screen. I think I see the effect you're going for, and I don't have any suggestions on how to light it, but it needs to be a smidgen more visible so somebody who doesn't know it's there is prompted to stare at it for a bit before going aha! Right now I'm not certain if we have the staring at it bit.

As with the aquarium, I'm rendering a range - though it's a simpler range, with the current render being the "dark" version and the next render (still ongoing, at 47% complete as I type) being the proposed "light" end I should be able to slide between the extremes in under a second

The water itself is, of course, completely invisible as there isn't any in the scene... but I think I get what you mean, and I've had a "doh" moment as I should have colour matched that to start with! though it'd make the scene darker... and I've had a specific request to try and brighten those two scenes. I prefer the newer slightly brighter Dargon 1, but the recent Aquarium image is one part of a multi-way blend - and it's a bright one!

One of the others - also brighter than the original - has finished rendering. Load this one and the previous one as layers in teh same image, and adjust the opacity of the top layer and you'll see how quickly and easily one can adjust the brightness of some fo teh lighting to a fairly accurate degree without re-rendering hundreds of test images:

Of course, these two images are not the perfect combination if only because they adjust different lights, but the essence is there.

Ta

 

[Monk]

Oops. Apologies. I'm behind on my pain meds (don't take them too often, don't take them without eating, don't take them too far apart, don't yadda yadda) and I THINK I just asked for specific crit feedback and then snapped like one of those whiny little dogs when I got it! Ouch!

Humble apologies, the meds should kick in soon but by then I hope to be asleep. When I get up, with luck I'll have a range of interesting renders to play compositing with.

JarBrain - at this point in time, with each render of JarBrain tying this PC up for 24 hours, it's unlikely that JarBrain is going to see much tinkering with unless I have a specific break in time to use up for some reason (unlikely as this is the only PC with DS 3 Advanced on it, at present).

 

[wardred]

Didn't see any snapping, just responses to my comments.

I haven't messed much with composting, though I kinda get how it works from your explanations - basically merging the two images, or using parts of 1 of the renders in the other. I like the above image of aquarium. I think this latest version melds most the suggestions for it nicely.

No worries on poor jar brain. It works as it is, and you only have so many computing resources to use at one time. If you do get the chance to tweak it, I'd be interested to see the results.

1 other thought I had on Jar Brain and forgot to mention. Thought control is all of the magazine text you can really see when scaled to fit the table. That can imply either that the jar brain is controlling the Pandora, or that there's something controlling the jar brain. I love the full sized magazine heading just as it is, but you can't see that clearly when it's scaled and lying on the table. Maybe have something in there about telekinesis? Again, that's only if/when you have time, and if it can be done elegantly. If not, it works the way it is.

Cheers,
Hope you feel better in the morning,
Thanks again for all the effort you put into these.