Art for games

[Bruno]

I've got new art up, and I'm working on the Creature Project again.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jerril/5210212266/

Succubus this time. Mark will be terribly disappointed in my depiction, I'm sure ;)

[Ze'Manel Cunha]

Originally Posted by Bruno

I've got new art up, and I'm working on the Creature Project again.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jerril/5210212266/

Succubus this time. Mark will be terribly disappointed in my depiction, I'm sure ;)

Nice, you're definitely getting better!

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by Bruno

Succubus this time. Mark will be terribly disappointed in my depiction, I'm sure ;)

I vastly prefer your images to Mark's honestly. De Gustibus non disputatum est and all that.

[Mark Skarr]

Originally Posted by Bruno

I've got new art up, and I'm working on the Creature Project again.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jerril/5210212266/

Succubus this time. Mark will be terribly disappointed in my depiction, I'm sure ;)

Bruno, that is awesome. I guess I'm going to have to get Reality.

One minor thing: something appears to be wrong with her left horn. Right where it joins the head. I could be wrong, but it looks . . . odd.

I'm never disappointed. I'm the Forum Pervert, so I couldn't post a succubus . . . at least, not and live. Kromm and RPK know where I live . . ..

[Johnny Angel]

How good should your computer be to use DAZ? I am considering downloading it.


edit: nevermind, I found the requirements on the website

[Bruno]

Originally Posted by Mark Skarr

Bruno, that is awesome. I guess I'm going to have to get Reality.

Be prepared for loooooong render times. LUX basically doesn't have a "quick but good enough" setting. But the things you can do with light in it are AMAZING.

I tend to hand edit my LUX files before rendering to use LUX features that Reality 1.01 can't access yet. If you want to do anything fancy with light emitting surfaces (like emitting light only in a pattern based on a masking graphic), or blended material types or whatever, you currently have to hand edit. This looks like it will be a lot less necessary with Reality 1.2 (expected to release in January, free update to 1.01 users).

It's also not necessary for a lot of scenes - I'm just a technical sort of artist really, and I like playing around with features. And being a programmer for my day job makes hand-editing the files "more of the usual". ;)

Originally Posted by Mark Skarr

One minor thing: something appears to be wrong with her left horn. Right where it joins the head. I could be wrong, but it looks . . . odd.

She's got a twist of hair wrapped around the base of each horn, that might be throwing you off. I picked a dark hair colour and the direction the light is pointing in doesn't highlight the hair much unfortunately.

Originally Posted by Mark Skarr

I'm never disappointed. I'm the Forum Pervert, so I couldn't post a succubus . . . at least, not and live. Kromm and RPK know where I live . . ..

TBH, I had to tread a delicate line myself. Balancing my usual desire for reasonably realistic body shape vs "Well, if there ever WAS a time for impossible boobs, this is it", and I sort of struggled to find a suitably revealing outfit that wasn't too revealing. I know the old monster manuals loved to show nipples, but they were also slightly impressionistic in style. I figured I shouldn't show anything that would get Janet Jackson in trouble if I was striving for photorealism and able to post it to the forums here.

And then there's the whole "half the free pose kits on the net appear to be based on internet porn... and/or are for use in creating more internet porn..." thing.


I'm working on a new version based on some suggestions (thanks Kuroshima!) with a proper dungeony environment, a glowing summoning circle, etc. Unfortunately it looks like it's going to take 3-4 days to render. Fortunately LUX lets you stop and resume rendering at will, but still don't expect it before next week :)

[Mark Skarr]

Originally Posted by Bruno

Be prepared for loooooong render times. LUX basically doesn't have a "quick but good enough" setting. But the things you can do with light in it are AMAZING.

I've been seeing that in the help files. Fortunately, I've now got a high-end gaming PC. Also, from what I'm seeing, LUX can do network rendering, so I can slave some of my extra PCs to helping out.

Originally Posted by Bruno

I tend to hand edit my LUX files before rendering to use LUX features that Reality 1.01 can't access yet. If you want to do anything fancy with light emitting surfaces (like emitting light only in a pattern based on a masking graphic), or blended material types or whatever, you currently have to hand edit. This looks like it will be a lot less necessary with Reality 1.2 (expected to release in January, free update to 1.01 users).

Excellent. I'll have to get some advice from you when I start using it (probably later this week). And, I have to say, seeing how "easily" LUX/Reality does water, I'm really looking forward to it.

Originally Posted by Bruno

It's also not necessary for a lot of scenes - I'm just a technical sort of artist really, and I like playing around with features. And being a programmer for my day job makes hand-editing the files "more of the usual". ;)

Ah. I figured I'd stick to the 3Delight engine to make sure everything is where I wanted it, then go into LUX to do a final rendering.

Originally Posted by Bruno

She's got a twist of hair wrapped around the base of each horn, that might be throwing you off. I picked a dark hair colour and the direction the light is pointing in doesn't highlight the hair much unfortunately.

Aha, that could be it. Looking at it now, I can see it, but, before, it looked odd.

Originally Posted by Bruno

TBH, I had to tread a delicate line myself. Balancing my usual desire for reasonably realistic body shape vs "Well, if there ever WAS a time for impossible boobs, this is it", and I sort of struggled to find a suitably revealing outfit that wasn't too revealing. I know the old monster manuals loved to show nipples, but they were also slightly impressionistic in style. I figured I shouldn't show anything that would get Janet Jackson in trouble if I was striving for photorealism and able to post it to the forums here.

Yeah. Before I post anything questionable, I ask myself: "If Jack Thompson saw this, would he have a hissy fit or a heart attack?" Hissy fit is okay, heart attack is not. I've got a couple that straddle the line and that I haven't posted, just in case. If I'm really not sure, I'll ask Kromm.

Originally Posted by Bruno

And then there's the whole "half the free pose kits on the net appear to be based on internet porn... and/or are for use in creating more internet porn..." thing.

The internet is for porn!

Originally Posted by Bruno

I'm working on a new version based on some suggestions (thanks Kuroshima!) with a proper dungeony environment, a glowing summoning circle, etc. Unfortunately it looks like it's going to take 3-4 days to render. Fortunately LUX lets you stop and resume rendering at will, but still don't expect it before next week :)

I'm hoping that my i7 will keep my render times "reasonable."

If I can have an object emit light via LUX, I'll be a happy pervert.

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by Bruno

Succubus this time. Mark will be terribly disappointed in my depiction, I'm sure ;)

Nice image, though I have some nits if you want to hear them:

• The highlight on the horn matches up exactly with the position of the circlet (or whatever brow piece that is), which looks a bit odd.
• Speaking of the circlet, does it go through the horns? Is it perhaps attached to the horns in a way we can't see?
• The tail is a bit too shiny, it looks plastic. A texture more like the wings maybe?

[Mark Skarr]

Originally Posted by Bruno

Be prepared for loooooong render times. LUX basically doesn't have a "quick but good enough" setting. But the things you can do with light in it are AMAZING.

I am sooooo glad I waited to get Reality 1.0 . . . it just went on 50% sale over at Daz!

[Bruno]

While working on the new scene, I did a new render of the succubus. Shows the hair twists around her horns better, and doesn't have the oopsie I made on her wing tips ...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jerril/5211185767/

Originally Posted by Anthony

Nice image, though I have some nits if you want to hear them:

• The highlight on the horn matches up exactly with the position of the circlet (or whatever brow piece that is), which looks a bit odd.

That's a reflection of the chain you're seeing in the horn surface ;)

It's sort of a horn necklace decoration thingy. No real name for it that I know of because humans don't have horns to put decorations on. Someones probably done it with a cow for parades before, but I don't know the term. So I'm calling it a horn necklace. :)

Originally Posted by Anthony

• Speaking of the circlet, does it go through the horns? Is it perhaps attached to the horns in a way we can't see?

The initial picture didn't show the hair properly - she's got twists of hair wrapped around the base of the horns, and the horn necklace chain runs through that to wrap around the horn bases under the hair. Doesn't go around her head. The new picture clarifies the hair situation, which in turn helps clarify where the chain goes.

Originally Posted by Anthony

• The tail is a bit too shiny, it looks plastic. A texture more like the wings maybe?

It's, interestingly, the same material as her torso (as are the wings) but it doesn't have a specular map on it like the wings and torso do. Which was an oopsie. You've got a good eye.

Originally Posted by Mark Skarr

I've been seeing that in the help files. Fortunately, I've now got a high-end gaming PC. Also, from what I'm seeing, LUX can do network rendering, so I can slave some of my extra PCs to helping out.

That will help on both cases, but at the moment your video card itself will be of minimal assistance. If you dink around with the beta builds of LUX (and hand editing your scene files ;) you can get some acceleration off your video card, but currently only in the mode that only works for scenes lit with the sunlight lamp. I tried it with this scene and it went to pieces and sobbed in the corner. Very quickly. But yeah. Didn't work at all. They're working on that, in a disorganized FOSS way ;)

Originally Posted by Mark Skarr

Excellent. I'll have to get some advice from you when I start using it (probably later this week). And, I have to say, seeing how "easily" LUX/Reality does water, I'm really looking forward to it.

It makes water pretty without even trying hard. It's awesome.

Originally Posted by Mark Skarr

Ah. I figured I'd stick to the 3Delight engine to make sure everything is where I wanted it, then go into LUX to do a final rendering.

That works, but beware that light bounces in LUX, so any lighting that looks fine in 3DLight will probably be too much in LUX, unless your character is floating in empty space.

Originally Posted by Mark Skarr

I'm hoping that my i7 will keep my render times "reasonable."

Helpful, very much so. I have an old AMD 64 dual core at about 1.5 ghz/core. The succubus took 12 hrs to render. The more GRUNT you can throw at it, the better. Fancy brains and operations not so much, trace more rays more faster. The network rendering is a godsend although right now I have to steal time off my husbands PC overnight. I'm buying myself a new tower in the after-Christmas sales (Boxing Day is a lot like Canadian Black Friday) and then I'll have my very own hexacore and my old tower will be a render slave.

Originally Posted by Mark Skarr

If I can have an object emit light via LUX, I'll be a happy pervert.

Yep. Real light, what shines on things and then bounces off onto other things. The more polygons involved, the more lightsources as far as the math goes, and thus longer render times, just FYI.

Originally Posted by Mark Skarr

I am sooooo glad I waited to get Reality 1.0 . . . it just went on 50% sale over at Daz!

Congrats! Grab it fast, that sale wont last more than a few days.