A wood elf at dawn, in Iray ... hmm. I won't say I'm super happy with this one: Iray did some very strange things (or was it Studio??), and it took a lot of painting to rescue it, even after something upwards of six hours rendering. The fact is -- I can't render this! It was nowhere near rendered after six hours; another six wouldn't have finished it, but my computer was running hot (too hot?) and it was time to call quits on this project. We're starting to climb back up into the hot weather now; there's a limit to what I can, or will, ask of the system in summer. So --
This, again, was a high-poly figure + hair, but a low-poly costume, set and props. I was pretty sure it would render, but -- nope. Whats different between this one and the last one, which did render? Well, purely as an experiment, I put the vegetation into this image rather than rendering it separately as a top layer. Even though the tree props are low-poly, this made the difference between getting a finished render before my system "choked," and, uh, not! It would have been nice to render the vegetation as part of the same picture; it looks more integrated if it can be done that way. However --
I'd have to say I'm actually more pleased with the result of rendering the vegetation separately (above), than I am with the overall render of the Genesis figure in today's picture (detail, below) -- and I realize I'm comparing apples and oranges! Still, take a closeup look for yourself, you decide:
So?? You were hoping for something absolutely photographic, and we got about halfway there before the hardware "choked," and it was time to get Photoshop going, and start painting. Okay, it's a nice image, but not quite what I'd wanted! Worth six hours of rendering? I think so. I'm also delighted with the way DM's Elven Shed renders: the set looks a treat in Iray -- it was from Renderosity many years ago, and I tracked it down in case you like the look of it: you can still get it:
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| DM's Elven Shed. Catalog image. See this. |
Tootling around the internet on my laptop while I twiddle the thumbs, waiting for things to render on the desktop, I can't help stumbling over some amazing stuff. There's a page showcasing Zbrush "portraits," and you really need to shoot over there and take a look. I'll borrow a couple of images here, in the hopes I can interest you in going to look at the rest -- no, the site isn't done by a mate of my mine; I'm just hellaciously impressed. There's a collection of thirty on the page, but I've chosen Bruce Lee (in Fist of Fury), Russell Crowe in Gladiator, and Stan Lee (no relation to the aforementioned Bruce):
Isn't that utterly amazing? Here's the page -- see the rest! And from that page, they linked me on to another (on the Webneel site), where a Russian portrait artist by the name of Igor Kazarin is featured. Kazarin is not a 3D artist; he works in traditional media ... looks like oils or acrylics, perhaps a combination of both. Again, I'm gobsmacked. There's fifteen celebrity portraits on the page, but I've chosen Harrison Ford (circa 1984) and Jackie Chan (circa 2005) to grab your attention:
Here's the link ... remember the name of Igor Kazarin. I'm very impressed. I vacillate between figuring the Zbrush work is more amazing, or the traditional oil painting. In the end, I couldn't make up my mind ... I leave it to you!
I'll be back with more art soon, but the plan is to back off a couple of steps, return to simpler things and see if I can figure a work-around for the problem of my computer "choking" before it finishes a render. Before anyone says anything, yes, the trouble is my graphics card, I know, I know. Am hanging on for a whole new computer!
