Katweek #3 - New Light Set in DS3 (Patreon)

So this was done on my computer in Daz Studio 3.  I noted a lot of the comments about 'realism' of the IRAY renders so I decided to have a mess about with DS3 to see whether I could create a similar effect.  Daz 3/3Delight has light called UberEnvironment2 which is great but just verryyyyy slowwww.  Anyhow I put together a new custom light set using the Indirect Lighting function on UE2, with a couple of well placed, weak distant lights.  This plus some tweaks to Kat's shaders creates a soft, light box effect.

I knew that the resulting render was going to be slow (previews without hair were taking 11 minutes) but I never expected this render above to take 23 hours.  But it did.  This is my 23 hour light set.  I won't be doing many of these, but if you like it I might try it on some of the other girls.  The thing is, this PC is powerful enough to have DS3 rendering in the backgrround just using whatever processing power is spare.  I can have PUBG or Elite Dangerous going at the same time with no noticeable effect!

Anyhow I get the point that people would like to see more of the the 'realism' style renders from DS4, and I will probably install it soon while I am posting a photo set or something, when I have a run of days where I can waste the time on getting set up.

All I would counsel people about 'realism' is, though, if you make your lighting photo realistic, it can show up your models' weaknesses and they end up looking like plastic dolls. 3D characters' proportions are not identical to real girls. For example, you might give them big eyes and big tits and you can get away with these things when your renders look like nice colour drawings. But when you do photo quality renders of a model that doesn't look like a realistic girl, there can be something eerie and unsettling about it and the lighting shows up the flaws of your model - flaws that you accept and like in 'art' but not in a 'photo'. I personally believe that if you want photo quality Amanda, Ciara and Kat then the best thing I can do is find the right human model and commission the right photographer. 3D Art is encroaching on the domain of photography and this is driven by what is technically possible rather than whether it's necessarily a good thing. Manga isn't realistic but it still looks cute, hey?

Think of it like this - in Star Wars Rogue One they replicated Peter Cushing by CGI instead of using a real actor.  The result was a pretty impressive achievement but mildly unsettling.  It worked because the character himself was unsettling anyway(!)  But I found the CGI Leia at the end to be downright creepy.  

So, I intend to explore this avenue further just to see what I can produce, but the more I think about it, what's held me back from technical advancement is that I actually LIKE how my girls look now and I am comfortable with my slightly dated looking output.  It's all make believe anyway, right?

That ended up being more than I expected to type.

I have to make an unforeseen trip for a few days now, so the rest of Katweek may have to wait until the weekend.  I will see whether I can post remotely but it's likely I will wait until I get back.