Only one image today, because it's been rendering all day! As promised yesterday, let's repeat the process and see about the starlight, or moonlight, Iray project, but using a Genesis 8 character rather than the old Michael 4. The beauty of the Michael 4 figure is that it renders so fast -- this would have taken about 45 minutes. Then again, you wouldn't have a figure that rendered with this kind of integrity. Flip back to yesterday's moonlight shot and compare. Sure, that's a heck of a nice render too, but this one is a knockout. Moonlight, starlight ... got it.
For those of you who're rinkering with Iray right now, and ready to give up (I know, it's a bear) ... the trick is, it's done half with an environment lighting (ie., an image used for IBL lighting) and half with a single spotlight. And this seems to work every time, so -- happy, happy.
More tomorrow, I guess. There just isn't any more time today to do anything ... this was a looong render. Well worth it, though, right? Right.
What I used here...
Genesis 8 male
Michael 8 skinmap
Custom body morph
Custom face morph
Elan hair for G8
Legendary Swords prop
Ivy props from the Reparation set
Pedestal and planter from the Mirador set
Backdrop, blurred to be out of focus
One very blue IBL environment image
One orange (!) spotlight
DOF and big virtual aperture on the camera, to match the backdrop blur
Shake and bake. Set that to cook and come back in six hours. One becomes very adept at thumb twiddling. My kingdom for a faster computer! Anyway -- good results are their own reward. I like this. I also like the character ... will use him again soon!
And so to bed ... yawn.
