Remastering skills (BTS #4) (Patreon)

Sorry that this BTS post was late. To maintain consistency, this post will be available to Tier 2 and other tiers as if I had posted it on-time last Monday.

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I have learned a ton about rendering since I started. You'll notice with the Day 1 Remaster that the images look much better, some even more than Day 2. This was for several reasons. First, the render settings in Daz are a little obtuse to understand what each one does. Second, more recent releases of Nvidia's studio driver have increased performance for rendering since I started. Third, I have vastly better understanding of what affects character models such as skin creases, SubD levels, and tools for things like eye alignment. Oh, and as always, I've learned more about lighting and scene composition (it never ends).

I think the following pics exemplify the differences perfectly:

Ah memories... The first scene with Ehrlynn was the second set of renders I started in mid August. Everything before then was me watching tutorials, creating the character models, building the sets, and setting up lighting.

The above image was primarily dragged down by too much reliance on spot lights causing a massive hot spot on her thigh. This snowballed as I tried to get Photoshop to fix it, which it attempted to by adjusting the exposure, highlights, and color. Yep, that yellowish tint is PS's Camera Raw trying to fix the glare.

Not only has the color and lighting been improved, but this time around I used up the empty space. Note how her wing splays out into the formerly vacant part of the frame. Along with the tail, this better indicates movement instead of a static pose. The glare on her leg is no longer brighter than the Sun. Finally, her nipples are prominently visible which implies she isn't wearing a bra. While minor, that detail is important because what use is a bra to a transforming succubus who can simply instruct her breasts to raise up? I love including little details like that because they help reinforce the narrative.

This whole scene takes place on one side of the table, but I previously left the chair and bowl in the shot because I didn't yet account for the transformation scene.

One of the most difficult challenges of working in the 3d rendering is planning ahead. Sometimes you have to work a scene backwards from the end to ensure the above doesn't happen. I had already rendered out the previous scene before I begun on the transformation. That chair was in the way, and it was a large enough object that it couldn't suddenly disappear without notice.

Besides the chair being moved to the other side of the table, there are other details of note. Mainly, the lighting has changed the most compared to the original version. I cut off the interior lights in this side of the room to better show off the glow emanating from Ehrlynn, provide more contrast to the regular indoor lights on the left side, and try to make it seem as if there is a EMP affecting the nearby lights.

The electrical bolt better illustrated that there was some otherworldly interaction occurring between the two characters. And, lastly, Ehrlynn's left arm is no longer clipping through her hair.

Hopefully I conveyed the importance of details leading to more than the sum of their parts. My PC didn't change at all since I've started, the improvements you see above are accomplished through experimentation and learning. But not everything I try works out...

That damned old subway, how I hate thee. You're probably wondering what in the hell are those streaks in the upper right? They were my attempt at using God Rays, so named because they are the shafts of light typically seen piercing through clouds. The light asset had dust particles in them for interior use, but I never figured out what I did wrong to make it look like a paintbrush slapped gray paint over the corner of the image. It didn't matter in the end, I scrapped the entire station as it was eating too much of my time trying to fix it up.

It would take too long to explain all the issues with this subway asset. Suffice to say, it was a bad purchase indicative of the modern way digital good are sold nowadays. There are hardly any demos, trial periods, or anything remotely like there used to be. Had I the chance to try this subway station out versus the one I ended up using, I could have saved myself hours of hassle. It may show up again, but likely only as a dark and abandoned station and probably only the shown section so I don't have to light the gigantic continuous track area.

If there are any suggestions for a BTS post, then please comment your idea down below. I pick whatever pops into my head first, but if you want me to focus on something specific than I can delve in depth to whatever topic you all desire.