February Show Off Thread

[Llola Lane]

I think the post-worked one is better. though not a great fan of the brightly-lit central section of either

Oh.. That is why I'm not good at postwork.... I added the yellow glow to the center trying to give it a more 3dish look like the volumetrics one.  I don't know where to ad what and how much.  My brain only has a limited capacity of creativity... lol

[Llola Lane]

<--waaaaaaaaves to lil Bugga Boooo... Too cute Kathryn.  Thanks for making me smile.  :)

[Llola Lane]

Alien Worlds - Pedestal Arcology
This image shows how well Bryce does volumetrics. Note how parts of the scene get hazier with greater distance. The thickness, height, and other factors can be tweeaked in the Sky Lab the haze to create any thickness in the volumetric haze and fog settings. Yes this one also has a volumetric infinite Cloud Slab, which is why the render took nearly 9 hours to complete at a resolution of 3200 x 1800 px.(This version has been reduced in size to accommodate this PFD Thread.) If I hade went for the 4000 x 2250 maximum size for a 16-9 aspect ratio, the render time would have been nearly 16 or more hours.
Now to the story here:
In the Inter-Galactic Alliance we find worlds with very high populations; basically, overpopulated worlds. The solution to overpopulation, without killing off a lot of beings, is to come up with ways to accommodate the increasing population.
One way to do that would be to create very large structures that are entire cities, and are able to house a few million inhabitants. These structures are called Arcologies. This world's inhabitants did that, but their population kept increasing at an ever faster rate, making it neccessary to build more around the main structure. This one in particular is the home of 10,000,000, and the surrounding area can support 50,000,000 more.
The Pedestal Arcology is 5 miles wide and 2.5 miles in height. It is a great distance from the camera, and yet its surrounding under-builds are much wider.
It is a good thing that the world has joined the IGA, because very soon, without interstellar travel capabilities, their world would not be able to sustain them any longer. Now they have access to the technologies of countless other member worlds, that are willing to share their advanced knowledge.


The base model of this scene is the PedestalCityPlatform. It is made to accommodate city blocks, like Dystopia City Blocks, Greeble City Blocks, and city models like those created by Hermineo Nieves. I will be offering this model for use in Bryce 7.1 Pro, and you will be able to put materials on it in that application, even though it has yet to be UV mapped. This is another awesome capability  that Bryce has. If you make a model and import it into Bryce, even if it has not been UV mapped, it will still let textures show on the surfaces of the model. If your model has material zones, Bryce will recognize those as separate objects, and apply the texture to only the material zones you have selected. This way you can create a model with several material zones, that you can texture differently to create a really good looking model in your scene. What's more is that you can save the model to your Objects Library with the materials you applied. So when you wish to use the model, it will already have the textures you want applied.
There are other awesome features in Bryce that make it still relevant to this day. Too many to mention here, that's for sure.

This... is what I was sort of trying to accomplish with my city in the clouds Agent... I've got Bryce and every time I open it... I cringe... Not had the time or patience to keep at it.  I can see I need to devote more time with it :)  I promise I will try... :)

btw... I know volumetrics is not new... I've been following a thread about it in the Daz forums... I just wanted to try it for myself.  I also have Carrara... but have not opened it in ages.  I need more hours in the day and a better brain to figure these programs out (like Wings)... sighs

[Kathryn]

One of my prizes from Dreamslayer Artworks Dec. contest.. Airwen Fae from Sabby..

[Llola Lane]

One of my prizes from Dreamslayer Artworks Dec. contest.. Airwen Fae from Sabby..

Oh that's wonderful Kathryn.. don'cha just want those shoes???  lol

[Aelin]

When I find the time and I need a background I found nowhere, I play with Flowscape to do something. It has fog, and not a static one but a true moving one! Even some dead branches or stones can be placed naturally on the slides.
The only limitation I find to that program is we have to use a squared ground and model from.
I never tried to do that, because I certainly not have an enough powerful comp. But the importation of figures, or any object, is possible in Flowscape.
With Flowscape, no render time. You make your scene, and you click like for a camera to take a photo.

But Agent is right about Bryce (where I was always so bad to do forests  even with the 2D part), it's a good program.
And you never used Carrara Agent, but you wonder why Daz stopped to develop Bryce? I always assumed it was to sell their Carrara.

Llola, it's perhaps possible for your to see how a scene in Bryce is built thanks to a freebie. It's a sea cave, that you can find on Deviantart or on Rendo.
https://www.thefantasiesattic.net/attic/index.php?topic=12660.0
From what I remember, the creator made it starting from box. When I discovered it, I played with and put scenes in the FA gallery; we had to remove images on several years with the new host, so it's no longer online, and I can't move because of a cat in my lap to reach the flash drive 

If I'm able to find again a site with Wings3d tutos, I'll be back to add the link on PFD. I think it was a French site, but I can still help to translate in special topics. There were easy tutos, like how making a simple dice, or a barrel.
Like I said another time, we have tutos on FA   https://www.thefantasiesattic.net/attic/index.php?board=61.0  but those with attached files have lost their files. Yet to start well in Wings3D I followed a series of videos to create some 'dock'

[Agent0013]

The best Wings3D Tutorials to me are those made by the same man that did them for Bryce, David Brinnen. He's a British man, but his tutorials are very easy to follow, because as he talks he is doing what he's talking about in a way that lets you see how it is done. He knows a lot about Bryce, but to get started and grow comfortable with Wings3D, try following some of his tutorials on that subject. He does not know as much as I do, but that's because I get into an app and get comfy with it, I go exploring in it. It is why I know about a lot of its more advanced features, like the Boolean Test tool, and the more recent addition, Greebles. I fully expect that one to gain more abilities in future builds of the app.
Find a simple project tutorial by David Brinnen, that shows how to make a particular model that has a fair amount of complexity. He tells you exactly which tools to use and how to use them; even which mouse button to use for an operation. The operations are actually quite simple to learn, also. Try to curb your impatience with a project, so that you can turn out some truly awesome models. If you have questions, I am available with answers, if I know the subject, and If I do not, we can learn together. One more thing, my friends: Don't get disheartened because something did not work right, or you are not satisfied with your results. You don't learn if you don't make mistakes in the beginning. Those teach us what not to do.

[Aelin]

I'll wait until the next stable version is online. But I'm curious, what's do Greebles?
And yes, I love to have Booleans in W3D since the 2.2.4 version! It happens the program crash, but at least I know I made a mistake somewhere, and it leaves us decide to save or not the job - not like most of programs which simply close.
I generally followed "wings3dchannel" or "Micheus Viera". There is also somebody called vscorpian or something like that.

I'm going to post in that section
https://www.pfdlives.com/pfd/index.php?board=155.0
In place to copy paste tutos we have on FA (and still not all of them), I'm going to put links in topics on PFD. Questions in PFD topics are more than welcome if you don't have an account on FA, or don't want to connect there.

[Llola Lane]

Thanks Agent and Aelin for all the advice and linkies.... Now I just need the time :)  I will keep yas posted.  I want to make more stuff for the Gift pages come November and December.  (fingers crossed)  :)

[Agent0013]

Aelin, Greebles are those extra details in a science fiction ship that look like they do something, but you never learn what they do. That said, in the latest test build Greebles has appeared on the faces mode menu. What it does for now is make a model look like it has hull plating, if you do it right. It does not pay to use it on more that a few polygons at a time, because it can add too much geometry in just one use. I had to experiment with it to get it to only crash Wings3D when I forget a step in my process. The results though are quite nice, when a model comes together successfully. I fully expect that Wings3D will continue their development along that line, and eventually make new and exciting things possible.

[Agent0013]

To give you a visual of what Greebles are, I'm posting a sampling of two texture images that can be used together on a surface in DAZ Studio.  The color one should be used in the Diffuse channel under Surfaces Tab, Surfaces Editor. Just click the small box in the Diffuse Color Channel, follow the prompts to navigate to the image you wish to use for your surface, select it, and confirm your choice. The Heightmap is the same Greebles, but with no color. You can use it as a bump map, displacement map, or both by loading them into those channels the same way as the color map. As these images are arranged to be seamless, tiling will work quite well, to create a nice patterned look. Imagine a dress textured with these textures.

[DanaTA]

Hello everyone! Long time since I've been in here. Nephew gave me a fire HD10 for Christmas, so I'm using that. Lots of nice images in here, Keep up the good work everybody!


Dana

[Llola Lane]

<--waaaaaaaaaaaaves to Dana.... Glad to see you are still about.  Merry Christmas and Happy New Year... oh... and Happy Valentines too.  ;)  Hope you can visit again soon.  Stay well... Llola hugzzzzzzzzzzz

[Kathryn]

Hello Dana, welcome back.  Here's an image I made using 2 products I got today on sale at Rendo, they are DM's Fairy Lights and the wings are Fairy Tales.  Both were 50% off.

[Llola Lane]

Hello Dana, welcome back.  Here's an image I made using 2 products I got today on sale at Rendo, they are DM's Fairy Lights and the wings are Fairy Tales.  Both were 50% off.

Good deal Kathryn... you are wonderful to use what you bought in some artwork... I'm soooooo behind using all that I bought for the sale at Daz a few months ago.  :(

[SimonJM]

I know it's March now, but ... apart from DAZ primitves, G8F and the lighting (DAZ lights on car and the HDRI for overall lighting), all never used by me before (though the boots may have been). Main thing was the volumetric (VDB) clouds used as ground mist.

[Llola Lane]

March thread started here.... https://www.pfdlives.com/pfd/index.php?topic=8556.new#new

Commence posting ... No theme... Let's just have fun!

[Llola Lane]

I know it's March now, but ... apart from DAZ primitves, G8F and the lighting (DAZ lights on car and the HDRI for overall lighting), all never used by me before (though the boots may have been). Main thing was the volumetric (VDB) clouds used as ground mist.

Oh I love that Simon...could you please start us off with a March posting here... https://www.pfdlives.com/pfd/index.php?topic=8556.new#new ???  Thanks oodlezzzz