Documentation Center artzone:pub:tutorials:production

"Clarity For Realism"

2011-11-01T17:42:37+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

"Clarity For Realism"

Author: brookekroeger

Tools Needed

Poser
JASC Paint Shop Pro

Introduction

Products used in this tutorial…

JASC Paint Shop Pro 9
Curious Labs Poser 6
Victoria 3 By DAZ3D
Character is “Trystyn” by Shaybear found at Renderosity.

Welcome friends.

I have been asked how I achieve such good results in very close up renders. In an effort to teach a bit about doing portraits I decided to do some Poser Tutorials for Paint Shop Pro. So many tuts I found on the net we're based in Adobe Photoshop, and you can achieve much of the same effects with JASC, and it is much more user friendly in my opinion.

I would call this a moderate skill level. You need a basic understanding of Poser and JASC PSP.

The first thing I notice about this image is it appears to be a bit dull. We need to brighten her face and give her a healthy glow.

Step 1 - Selecting Areas to Clarify

Once we have the face selected we need to use the clarify tool. This is in the enhance photo dropdown area.

Select clarify from the list there. Make sure your area is still selected or “blinking” as shown in preview.

Step 2 - Clarify Screen Settings

Here I selected “5” but the amount will be up to what is best for your image.

If you have both “eye buttons” selected you can see the effect on your picture to better preview the results. Next we are going to really improve our image by “softening”.

Step 3 - Softening Our Image

Once thing I really want to tell you is keep your tip very small.

The bigger the tip, the more noticeable it is that you have “fixed” the image.

We want our images to look like a photo and have the same level of clarity all around it.

Step 4 - Seeing Our Results

I cannot emphasize enough how important this step is to making your art more believable.

Those tiny little rough edges are dead giveaways that this is a “poser”.

And once you get use to doing this, they are so easy to remove!

Step 5 - The Finished Project

Here you see just part of my finished project. She now looks bright and vibrant. I would never say you “can't tell” it is a poser. But by doing these small things you can improve your realism by so much, you just might have them guessing! This is the first of a new series I will be doing on postwork. I hope we can meet again in the ones coming soon!

God Bless…..Brooke

www.brookekroegerdesigns.com

2D to "3D" with help of displacement maps

2011-11-01T17:42:37+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

2D to "3D" with help of displacement maps

Author: ironsun

Tools Needed

Photoshop

Introduction

Drawing cloth in post production is good way to create unique clothing. This tutorial teaches you how to turn flat 2D cloth to look like it is rendered in 3D.

I used Photoshop CS to make this tutorial but I think that most of the lower versions can be used also.

Step 1 - Drawing the cloth

Draw some cloth as you like on new layer. If you don't know how to do this, take a look around in Tutorial Arcana to find some really good instructions.

When you have finished, make sure that the cloth is in grayscale. Use either Ctrl+Shift+U to desaturate cloth layer or Ctrl+U to bring up Hue/Saturation menu and pull saturation switch to far left position.

After that press the leftmost little button in the History palette to create new document of current state.

Step 2 - Making the displace map

Hide all layers except the cloth and background layers. Fill in the background with solid black, flatten the whole picture and save it as something like mywork_displace.PSD. You can close this document for now.

Step 3 - Add some texture - The fun part

Back to the main main picture. Hide the cloth layer and create new layer below it. Choose paintbucket and use the pattern fill to give a texture to the whole layer. You can use any texture that you want but usually small patterned textures look better. You can find neat textures from www.grsites.com/textures

Take Filter- > Distort- > Displace. Leave settings as they are, press OK and find the file that you created in last step. Click open and texture transforms little bit.

Ctrl+left click on invisible cloth layer and press Ctrl+I to invert the selection. Delete the surplus texture and you're done for this step.

Step 4 - The Illusion of 3D

The cloth looks pretty dull for now but no worries! Turn cloth layer back to visible and change layer's blending mode to Overlay.

Wow! Just like 3D cloth with folds and stuff. You can play with different blending modes to get some cool effects. Linear light looks like shiny silk and color burn reminds me of old velvet ;)

That was it! If you have any comments or suggestions feel free to e-mail me!

ironsunn@hotmail.com

A guide to post processing your images in Zenliner 2

2011-11-01T17:42:37+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

A guide to post processing your images in Zenliner 2

Author: JosephineAu

Tools Needed

Poser
Or DAZ Studio
ZenLiner 2

Introduction

Post processing with ZenLiner can produce some amazing results.

Step 1: Render

Here I have rendered a simple image using DAZ3D's David

Open the program and click on “Files”

Choose a folder from the drop down menu

Choose an image to work with and hit “click to use”

Step 2: The work document will now load.

There are many choices. For the purpose of this tutorial we initially will use Row 1/Column1

There are two ways to do this. You can either let the program take its course or you can use the step mode and interrupt the process at any of the steps involved to preserve the image at that point.

Step 3: On the second page you can get some really weird effects.

Here I have used Row 1/Column 3

Step 4: Finally let's do some blending

For this I am going over to page 2 Row1/Column2

Step 5: Now I click on blending

If you want to blend with the original to recapture a little of the detail, move the slider until you find a result you like and then click on 'apply'. Then click on 'close' and you will be returned to the second page.

Step 6: Here you can save or continue blending

Now you can save the result if you want and/or do further refining. I am going to do a little more.

Return to the 1st page. I am going to further process the image above with

Row 7/Column4 and here is the final result.

Step 7: Examples

Top Row: Examples using the image of David.

Second row: 1st and 2nd use Michael 3 and the third is Sixus' Robogoth.

You can find more examples in my Artzone gallery:

http://artzone.daz3D.com/index.php?mode=photo_album&act=view&pho_id=50795&p_id=343

http://artzone.daz3D.com/index.php?mode=photo_album&act=view&pho_id=50799&p_id=343

http://artzone.daz3D.com/index.php?mode=photo_album&act=view&pho_id=50797&p_id=343

http://artzone.daz3D.com/index.php?mode=photo_album&act=view&pho_id=50925&p_id=343

The possibilities for post processing your DAZ Studio and/or Poser renders are limited only by your imagination.

Add that Shadow

2011-11-01T17:42:37+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Add that Shadow

Author: DvlCat

Tools Needed

Adobe Photoshop

Introduction

Many individuals new to rendering characters with Curious Lab's Poser have the same question: 'What happened to the shadow at my character's feet?' This tutorial answers that question and suggests a post-rendering solution to add that missing ground shadow.

Step 1 - A Simple Answer

The ground shadow displayed at the feet of a Poser character is meant to give you a sense of the character's position relative to the ground plain. The shadow is not 'real, ' will not appear in Poser renders, and can be turned off at any time.

To disable the ground shadow in Poser 4, Poser 4 Pro, and Poser 5, simply un-check Display/Ground Shadows on the Poser menu bar.

Given that Poser will not render this positioning aid, there are two ways to add a ground shadow.

1. By careful positioning of your lights, the use of the Cast Shadows option for select lights, and checking the Cast Shadows rendering option.

2. Or by post-rendering your ground shadow in a high-end painting program.

In this tutorial we will explore this second strategy.

Step 2 - Post-rendering a Ground Shadow

Let's begin with a nearly completed image of Pamela, a character based on DAZ's Victoria 2. All post-rendering touch up of Pamela's joints, hair, and clothing folds is complete.

The original Poser 4 Pro rendering was saved as a TIF file, which includes an 'alpha channel.' An alpha channel is an outline of the character that you rendered. You can save your images in this format by selecting File/Export/Image' from the Poser menu bar and then choosing TIFF (TIF) from the Save As Type drop-down on the Save As menu.

The problem with this image is that Pamela seems to be floating in mid-air. A ground shadow would make this image feel solid. Let's add that shadow!

Step 3 - Working in Photoshop Layers

I heavily utilize Photoshop layers in my post-rendering work. I rarely make changes to the original image. Instead, I copy sections of the image to layers placed overtop the original. It is on these layers that I make changes, blending downward afterward.

The quickest way to create a new layer is to click the Layers Icon at the bottom of the Layers Window.

Double clicking on the newly created layer, in the Layers Window, allows you to title the layer and make other changes.

I also prefer to float my original image overtop a white 'background.' You can precisely duplicate any existing layer by dragging it onto the Layers Icon.

Step 4 - Marching Ants in Black

1. Create a new layer overtop the layer containing your otherwise finished image. Let's call this new layer the 'Shadow' layer.

2. With the Shadow layer selected, load your Poser alpha channel – that is to say your character's outline. This is done in Photoshop by pressing Select/Load Selection', choosing Alpha 1 from the Channel drop-down on the Load Selection menu, and clicking OK. Now you will see 'marching ants' surround your character.

3. Select Edit and use the Fill command, set at 100% opacity, to fill the character outline in black.

Step 5 - Squish Squash

4. With the black outline still selected on the Shadow layer choose Edit/Transform/Distort. This will draw a solid rectangle with handles around the outline.

Click and drag the top center handle of this rectangle downward toward your character's feet. This will flatten the inky-black 'shadow' on the 'ground.' As you flatten the shadow you must make a judgment call. How much should you flatten the shadow? This depends on the camera angle used to create the image.

You must also decide in what direction the shadow falls. Directly below, to the left, to the right, or behind your character? Decide this using the placement of the highlights and shadows in your image. Then, using the top center handle, skew the ground shadow away from the dominant light source.

Also, don't hesitate to reposition the entire shadow relative to your character. You can do this by clicking on and dragging the shadow, while it is still selected, or using Photoshop's Move Tool afterward.

Hint: Move back from your monitor and hold a thin plastic rod (e.g., a swizzle stick or straw) between one eye and your image. Rotate the rod in all three dimensions so that it points along the same line as your image's dominant light source. Finally, without rotating the rod, position it so that one end passes through the top of your character's head and the other end marks where the top of the shadow falls on the imaginary ground plain.

Step 6 - Seeing Fuzzy, Seeing Clear

Once satisfied with the overall location and shape of the shadow, let's soften its edges. The degree to which the shadow's edges are softened is yet another judgment call and depends on how direct or diffuse the primary light source appears to be.

5. Select Filter/Blur/Gaussian Blur' to bring up the Gaussian Blur menu. Experiment with the blur radius until you are satisfied with the results. Don't worry about the shadow's inky appearance.

6. Up until this point the shadow has covered your character's feet and ankles. Let's fix this problem. On the Shadow layer load the alpha channel just as you did earlier. Now select Edit/Clear to remove the unwanted portion of the shadow.

Step 7 - Touching Up

7. This is a good time to touch up the shadow since now you can clearly judge how it will appear when finished. I recommend duplicating the Shadow layer and touching up with a combination of your airbrush and eraser. Sometimes working on multiply layers is helpful.

Don't worry about the airbrush spilling onto your character. This is cleaned up again using the alpha channel.

Step 8 - Fading Away

Once you are satisfied with everything else, let's adjust the intensity of the shadow.

8. Beginning with you uppermost touch-up layer, merge each shadow layer that you intend to use downward until only one is left. This is done by selecting Layer/Merge Down one layer at a time.

9. Now that all the shadow layers are merged into one, adjust the layer's opacity in the Layers Window. I prefer an opacity setting of anywhere from 6-8% up to 20% when using light backgrounds.

And the final result

Step 9 - In Conclusion

Ground shadows make an image feel solid – particularly when the image's subject is place against a seamless background. Often, the more subtle the shadow the more effective the effect. The technique describe above is an alternative to rendering or post-render airbrushing such shadows.

As with any technique, you must make a series of artist judgment calls throughout the process. These include deciding in what direction the shadow should fall, how much to flatten the shadow, shadow color, and how intense to make the shadow. These decisions give the shadow flair and add to the personality of the image.

Enjoy!

Adding 3D shine to jewels and metals

2011-11-01T17:42:37+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Adding 3D shine to jewels and metals

Author: SaraC

Tools Needed

Paint Shop Pro
Photoshop (or similarly capable paint program)

Introduction

When your shiny things lack that extra dimension, add a beveled shine in postwork to make them really stand out.

This tutorial uses Paint Shop Pro 7, but Photoshop has similar capabilities.

Step 1 - Outline the area

Above is the render I'm starting with. The arrows show the two areas we're going to be working on.

This is V3 in her morphing fantasy dress, with a lovely High Fantasy Bundle texture. But the blue jewel is looking flat and her sword could use some shine.

We'll start with the jewel on her dress. Using the point-to-point selection tool (or rectangle/ellipse if the shape is regular) and a feather of about 2, outline the area you want to make 3D:

Step 2 - Apply inner bevel

Go to Effects / 3D Effects / Inner Bevel.

In the Inner Bevel dialog box (above), change the parameters until you get the effect you want. If you click the down arrow next to the eye, the changes will automatically update on your image.

I've chosen a bluish-grey Highlight colour, a medium-level Shininess and a high Intensity value. The Depth and Elevation settings will also alter the 3D appearance of the jewel.

Match the Light Angle with the dominant lighting of your scene.

Click OK when you're done, and right-click to deselect the area. Here's the finished jewel:

Step 3 - Continue with other areas

Now for the sword. Outline as before, with a small feather value.

In the Inner Bevel dialog box, alter the parameters to get the effect you want. Again, match the Light Angle.

Step 4 - Another example

The final image is shown at the top of the page. Above is another image where I highlighted the sword in 3D to make it stand out. The original sword is shown for comparison below.

Adding a rainbow to your renders

2011-11-01T17:42:37+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Adding a rainbow to your renders

Author: Naniette

Tools Needed

Photoshop
Rendered image or picture

Introduction

In this tutorial I will explain how to add a good looking rainbow to a render or picture. I will be using Photoshop, but it can be done in similar programs. The image used in this tutorial can be found in this site: PDPhoto.Org

Let's begin!

Step 1: The Rainbow

Open your rendered image or picture, I will use this one:

Create a new layer and name it Rainbow. Go to Layer - New Layer (Shift+Ctrl+N)

Next choose the gradient tool (G) set it to radial gradient, and leave the default settings.

Click on the arrow next to our gradient to expand the window, then click on the small arrow to the left, from the popup list choose Special Effects, when asked if you want to replace the current gradients choose OK. From the gradient presets choose the one named Russell's Rainbow.

With the gradient tool active, click and drag over your image to create a gradient:

It doesn't have to be perfect, we can rotate it as needed. This is how mine looks after a vertical flip.

To rotate it go to Edit > Transform > Rotate or press Ctrl+T for free transform.

Now we have our rainbow, let's make it fit better into our image.

Step 2: Making it Fit

Choose the eraser brush (E) and using a soft round brush, erase all the parts of your rainbow that you don't need. Brush size will depend on your image. If you have objects in your image (like the trees in this image) that should not be behind the rainbow, here's one way to fix this, choose the Lasso tool (L) and draw a selection around the object, copy it and paste it into a new layer. (I recommend hiding the rainbow layer before doing this, that way you can get a better look at what you are selecting)

Go to your layers palette, if it is not open press F7, drag this layer on top of the rainbow layer.

Delete all parts that block the rainbow. For example, all the parts of the sky that were copied with the trees.

Make your rainbow layer visible, on your layers palette, set layer mode to screen and lower the opacity. I lowered mine to 36% but this can vary depending on what you want for your image.

You should have something like this:

Step 3: Reflections

As you can see from the image above, something is missing' the rainbow doesn't have any reflection, we need to fix this!

Duplicate your rainbow layer, go to Layer > Duplicate Layer, or right click on the layer in your layers palette. Now we have to flip this layer vertically, go to Edit > Transform > Flip Vertical.

Choose the Move tool (V) and drag your duplicated rainbow, until it is in the correct place.

Now we have the same problem as before, our rainbow is covering the trees, repeat the process done in Step 2, select the area, copy it and paste in a new layer, move that layer on top of this one and delete all unnecessary parts.

If your reflection is too strong, lower the opacity of that layer.

Here is my final image.

Note: The image has been resized for this tutorial.

Step 4: Conclusion

Thank you for reading this tutorial, I hope you had fun reading it, I sure did when creating it! if you have any comments feel free to contact me.

If you want to view the final image full size follow this link.

Aged Photo Effect

2011-11-01T17:42:37+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Aged Photo Effect

Author: Naniette

Tools Needed

Rendered image or photograph
Photoshop or similar program

Introduction

In this tutorial I will explain how to give a rendered image or photograph an aged look. I will be using Adobe Photoshop, but most paint programs can be used to follow this tutorial. Anyway… let's begin!

Step 1: Preparing our Image

Open your rendered image or photo.

Now we need to get rid of the color in our image, for this we will need to desaturate our image. Go to Image – Adjustments – Desaturate. (Or press Shift+Ctrl+U)

You will end up with a black and white image:

Let's move on to Step 2.

Step 2: Adding Noise

Now we will add some noise to our image, go to Filter – Noise – Add Noise'

I used the following settings, but this may vary depending on your image size:

Note: If you use a setting higher than 10 make sure Monochromatic is checked unless you want to get a lot of colored dots! It is not really noticeable in lower settings, but the results are different if it is unchecked, try both options and choose the one that you like best.

Step 3: Texture

Let's give our image the texture of an old photo, for this we will do the following: go to Filter > Texture > Grain

Let's look at the settings I used:

The grain type will define how the 'lines' appear on your image, I chose horizontal for mine after looking at some aged photos to see what they look like, but you may choose another depending on the effect you want for your picture.

I ended up with this:

Step 4: The Aged Look

Duplicate your layer, we will be adding dust and scratches, go to Filter > Noise > Dust and Scratches

I used the following settings:

You may notice that the effect is a bit too much, to fix that just lower the opacity of the layer. I lowered mine to 62%.

Add a new layer on top of all others, and fill it with the color of your choice, this is what I have used:

Now lower the opacity until you can see your picture, I lowered mine to 28% and I ended up with this:

Not bad, let's move on to Step 5!

Step 5: Torn Edges

If you want you can give your picture torn edges, before you do this you may want to save your image in PSD format, to preserve your layers, that way you may go back to change something if you want.

Flatten your image. Go to layers > flatten image.

We will now resize our canvas go to Image > Canvas Size or press Alt+Ctrl+C

I used the following settings:

You can make these values higher if you want to have wider borders around your picture.

Using the magic wand tool (W) choose the border, and go to Filters > Distort > Ocean Ripple

I used the following settings:

You can choose higher or smaller values, try changing these to see what looks best for your image!

This is what my image looks like now:

Step 6: Finishing Touches

If you look at a real aged photo you may notice that there are color variations around the image, some parts have faded while others have not, we can create that effect by using the burn tool.

Choose the burn tool

Choose shadows for the range and exposure 50%, I used a soft round brush, size will vary depending on your image.

Using the burn tool, burn the areas you wish to make darker. This is what my image looks after burning some areas:

Note: The image has been resized for tutorial purposes if you want to see the full-size picture you can view it in my Artzone gallery.

Step 7: Conclusion

I have experimented with this and there are many different ways to do this, unfortunately I can't cover them all in one tutorial, you can experiment yourself to see what new great results you can get!

Thank you for reading this tutorial, if you have any comments feel free to contact me!

An Illustrated Look for Your Renders

2011-11-01T17:42:37+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

An Illustrated Look for Your Renders

Author:

FlyByNight

Tools Needed

* Paint Shop Pro or Photoshop

* Xero

Support Files

* Illustrated_Examples.zip

* Illustrated_Examples2.zip

Introduction

Give your renders an illustrated hand-drawn look using filters.

Step 1 - The Filters

Download and install Xero's Filters Sets 1 and 2. They can be found here: http://morepunkinstuff.tripod.com/filters/Xero/xero1.html

Step 2 - The Layer Palette

Open your graphics program and any image you'd like to try these effects on. It can be one you've already finished. It's always fun to see the difference the filters can make. Go to your layers palette, promote the layer if you need to, and duplicate the original image then turn off the original image layer. I do that just in case I want to do something different and need to start again. Now duplicate the copy, turn the layer mode to soft light and duplicate once more. You should have four layers as shown in the example.

Step 3 - Applying the Filters

On the first layer, [top layer], apply the Illustrator filter. I've used the standard setting but you can adjust the slider until you get an effect that you like then click OK. Apply the Lithograph filter to the second layer, [middle layer], again adjusting the slider and clicking OK. You can see that great effect immediately.

Step 4 - More Illustration and Color

If you would like an even more illustrated, cartoon effect, apply the Lithograph once again on the third layer, [bottom layer]. You will get a total effect like the one you see in the Lithograph preview window. This step is optional.

Step 5 - Adding a Background

If you are adding a background to your renders you can use all of the above steps to achieve the same results.

Step 6 - Artifacts

If you are happy with the effects, merge your layers visible. Occasionally the Lithograph filter will cause pixel artifacts that can be fixed after merging, zooming in and using a softening brush. I usually add my signature on another layer after using the filters because sometimes, depending on the type of signature that you use, it can get lost somewhat within the effects. But you might also like the effect so try it and see how it looks to you. You can also change the Illustrator layer mode to achieve different looks. Try changing it to Screen to brighten an image, Multiply or Overlay to darken. Most of all, just have fun and experiment!!!

Step 7 - The Finish

Here is a small version of the completed image with a background.

Another Hair Painting Tutorial

2011-11-01T17:42:37+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Another Hair Painting Tutorial

Author: Valea

Tools Needed

Any character available and Poser or D/S
Any layer capable paint program and a graphics tablet (or mouse)

Introduction

Alright, I've been asked to do a tutorial about my hair painting technique and now I have finally managed to make it available to everyone. But please let me say a few things before we start.

This tutorial is about the way I am doing the hair in my images. It is a way that is working for me, but might not be the best way for everyone else.

I have read many tutorials of great artists but wasn't able to make their technique my own ' and so this is something quite important to keep in mind ' read as many tutorials as you can and try to find the elements in them that will work best for you, experiment with them and don't ever give up. Finding your own way of painting things is much easier than trying to copy someone else's style entirely. And believe me - my first hair painting attempts were absolutely terrible. I still don't think that I'm too good at it at all.

So, what do we need? It would be very helpful if you have any graphics tablet available. I'm using a small Wacom Volito for my images and that's enough for me. Then, of course ' a graphics program that will support layers and your graphics tablet . It is quite important that the program will support the pen pressure and I am also using a brush setting that should have a similar name to 'fading' and that will fade the lines at their ends (well, it just helps to get finer hair strands) Just experiment with the settings to see, what will be the best for you. I don't know if it is possible to get good results with a mouse, as I've never tried that but I think that a tablet is strongly recommended.

Ok, enough babbling for now ' let's start!

Step 1 - The Main Shape

Well, what you see here is the main shape of the hair. I'm always starting this way and have finished a large portion of the main postwork before – you can do it this way or do the postwork later but I prefer to have it ready, so the hair won't get blurred afterwards.

So add a new layer over the background layer of your image and start painting the main shape of the hair with a smooth brush. Try to keep the lines flowing and avoid making them look blocky, as the hair is always flowing and full of movement, at least when it is long enough to flow.

Remember the pen pressure? You can see its importance right here, as it will make the hair look more natural than a simple, blocky line that is straight from the beginning to the end. The size of your brush depends on your image size – this one here is a larger portrait, so I was using a brush size of 25 – 35 pixels, maybe even larger.

I have also used a darker shade of grey for the shape that is to be colored later, as it is easier for me than using a color right from the start. I'm always messing it up when I use color. *g*

Step 2 - The first Strokes

So, are you satisfied with your main shape, yes? Great, let's move on to the next step. Add a new layer over the other layers – name it or not, I usually don't give my hair layers names, as I merge them quite often and don't have more than 3 or 5 of them open at the same time – that's still quite easy to keep track of.

Then go and get your smooth 2 pixel brush – well, I know that's hard but believe me, it will get even harder. And again – remember the pen pressure!

Alright, now we'll choose a lighter shade of gray and start painting strokes on the new layer. Keep them flowing and take care of the top of the head, as this is an area that is easily forgotten but very important to make your special haircut look natural!

It is desirable to think about the directions in which the hair will be flowing, when doing so, as this will help a lot – strokes that are going into strange directions may look a little false in the end and it is a pain to get rid of them. But you don't have to be too careful at all.

Ok, finished with the lines? Then go and choose an even lighter shade of gray and do the same once more. You can do this on a new layer but if you're not sure about the result, just add a new one and paint on it!

Step 3 - The Eraser

Does everything look alright? Great, so let's move on to the next step. Select the layer with your main shape and look at the hair ends. They should be looking quite blocky with the strokes of the 2 pixel brush going over it. So get your favorite eraser and take a bit of the main shape away at the hair ends, so that you will see the finer strokes and not the large blocks.

Step 4 - Color

Finished? Ok, now we'll merge the layers of the hair but NOT the background! So there will be only one hair layer left over your image of the poor, bald character. Now it's time to color the hair. Go to the hue / saturation option and use it on your hair layer, until the color looks fine to you. I have chosen black hair in this case and that may not be the wisest choice to show this option. While you might be having a nice blond, brown, or red hair color now, I am left with a very dark grey that is not nice to work with at all.

Step 5 - The 1 Pixel Brush

So what I have to do now, is add a new layer, grab my lovely, smooth 1 pixel brush *cough* and start painting with a lighter shade of gray. Again, a lot of strokes are needed here and it isn't fun at all with this small brush. But any larger brush will just look awful, so I'll have to shut up and paint.

If you've chosen another hair color, just pick your eyedropper and select the color from your hair shape, then look for a nice, lighter shade of the main color and well' just do the same.

Step 6 - Here we go...

And when you're finished with it? An even lighter color and the same procedure with different tones of your color over and over until it looks good! Avoid pure white as a highlight color as it might look false on your hair and a little too hard.

It is not easy to decide now, how much work on the hair will be needed. Don't overuse different colors on your hair, but don't stop too soon. Even if the hair might look finished, it is no bad idea to go on with it, as it might look even better afterwards.

Step 7 - Make it shine

Ok, but the hair looks dull, doesn't it? Time for some highlights and a little thought about light and darkness. Merge your hair layers again and then add a new one and set it to overlay. Choose pure white as a color, pick a large (I've used the 100 pixel brush in my image), smooth brush – and start painting (or rather dotting, to be honest) highlights into the areas where the light will be visible on the hair. Looks a little too bright when you're finished, doesn't it? Apply the Gaussian blur over the white dots and lower the opacity of your layer a little, as needed. It should look a lot better now.

A little bit of your burn tool could be great also – use it on the shady areas, it will make your hair look a lot more real. But however – don't overuse this tool, as it might ruin the whole image very, very fast.

Oh and something important - don't merge this certain layer with the other hair layers or you will experience a not so very nice surprise. Keep it over the other layers until you merge the finished hair with the background.

Step 8 - Details!

Done? Then let's have a look. It won't hurt to add details and so have a look at the upper part of the head and add small strokes from your 1 pixel brush to the area where the hair starts. Some fine strands of hair and single brushstrokes will look good also and add to the realism, so have a look at your hair shape and add them, go out of the main shape and paint over it with fine strokes that will look lively and flowing. We don't want to keep a blocky shape, do we?

Add some more highlights, where you think that they are needed, paint some single strokes into the face, look at the hair ends and add some more until they look good or use a darker color to add contrast.

This is a stage where I can't help you a lot anymore and where your hair painting is left to your own imagination. I've shown you the basics, so go on and have a look if they will work for you.

The burn tool, some more highlighting, shading – whatever will make your hair look good and alive will be right.

Just don't forget to add some shadows below your hair layer, when you're done and keep in mind that you can use hue / saturation whenever you don't like the color anymore or if it gets too light. And remember – setting the contrast a little lower might also help your hair to look good.

Step 9 - Finished

Well' that's all I have to say. Have a look if it will work for you and don't hesitate to ask me, if you want to know some more details or have any other questions.

Cheers,

Michelle

Artistic Framing

2011-11-01T17:42:37+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Artistic Framing

Author: Dee Dee

Tools Needed

Paintshop Pro 8

Introduction

A pretty simple tutorial to give your images a neat look:)

Step 1 - Getting Started

Bring your finished image into Paint Shop Pro 8. Do any painting postwork to your image that you like. If you are painting hair you might want to wait til after the next step to do that part. The next step tends to lose the details in hair.

If you have more than one layer merge them together before you go further.

Step 2 - Softening

In your top menu go to: Adjust > Softness > Soft Focus

Here you can play with the settings and use what you like. Alot of the time I use Soft Portrait. It all depends on how much softness and glow you want in your image.

After this step you can paint your hair if you have not done so.

Step 3 - Masking

Now go to:

Layers > Load/Save Mask > Load Mask From Disk

It may tell you The Target must be promoted to a full Layer. Click OK.

Your Mask window will then pop up. In that box you can choose what ever mask you like.

I use Mask003 with these settings:

Create Mask from:

Source luminance

Orientation:

Fit to layer

Options:

Hide all mask

Nothing else should be checked. Once all that is set click Load.

As you can see below your mask has been applied. You can leave this the way it is or sometimes I don't like how much of the picture it takes out so I select the Group Layer and duplicate it.

Then I merge the visable layers:

Layers > Merge > Merge Visable

Step 4 - Coloring

Add a new layer to your image and drag it to the bottom. Now pick any color you want and flood fill that layer.

I then add noise to the flooded layer:

Adjust > Add/Remove Noise > Add Noise

You can add as much or as little as you like. I used 8% with the Uniform and Monochrome boxes checked.

Merge visible Layers.

Step 5 - Framing

Now for the finishing touch. We have to add the frame:

Image > Picture Frame

I used The frame called Corners Tape. With these settings:

Transparency Color: nothing checked

Orientation: Frame outside of the Image

With that done you are now ready to add any text to it if you want. I suggest you do that on a separate layer.

Lastly merge all layers of your image and save :)

Basic Postwork

2011-11-01T17:42:38+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Basic Postwork

Author: Angelhariel

Tools Needed

Photoshop CS

Introduction

Postwork can helps making a good image since you may not find the makeup you like, or a background which does not fit in poser. This tutorial covers the base postwork on a portrait, like the makeup, the skin, the background and the lighting.

Step 1 - Skin

Open your render in Photoshop. I used Maxime, a V3 character with my morphs and Blackeyes.

Most of these items can be available for free at Renderosity ( Paris hair ), DAZ ( Victoria 3 ) and Aery Soul (Painted skin mat and actionscript)

I begin my tutorial in Photoshop, if you need help in poser rendering, www.aerysoul.com 's forum has a very good tut about lights.

Take this basic render. With a soft brush, set on soft light, brush the whole head. (I used C89B66 golden color). Change blending layer to screen and 76% opacity.

Use burning and dodging tool to make highlights and play on shadows on areas like her neck or her eyes to give her a golden-skin look.

This is what you got

Step 2 - makeup

Ok. make up time ^^.

Select your character's mouth. You can either use the magnetic lasso or the magic wand. With your selection on, copy the mouth on a new layer ( right click on the layer, layer by copy ).

Then , use the hue and saturation tab to choose the lipstick color you'd like her to wear ( Ctrl + U )

I chose a pale rose.

If you want to add her some gloss, you can use the dodge and burn tool. Use the burn tool between the lips and the dodge tool in some points of her mouth. If you want to, you can use an artistic filter of your choice ( such as Paint Daubs ) and set the layer to 45% opacity.

This is what you get

There is an easier and faster way to get a glossy effect : Just use the plastic wrap filter and set the layer to 45% opacity and overlay (or screen) blending mode

Step 3 - Background

Put your background picture below your poser pic. Then, add a layer mask to your poser image

a white layer will appear next to your layer. Use black color to erase everything around your character until you get this

use smudge tool to paint hair strands (tick on “painting with smudge” option and choose your hair color) And you get this

. I made the blue reflection on her head by setting my brush to overlay and opacity to 50%.

If you want to add her eyes make up, paint over her eyes on a new layer, add some Gaussian blur, burn one side so as to get a soft gradation and set the layer blending options to multiply.

And you get this!!!

You can be happy with your render. If you aren't, or if your background color and your poser pic don't match, you can use lighting.

Step 4 - Lighting

Use lighting filter. (Filters/render/lighting)

I find this filter very useful. You can use it to match background and picture's light source or create another one, for instance for cabaret scenes.

You get this underwater scene.

Or the previous image

^^ Viola!

I hope this tutorial helped and that I was clear enough for you to understand. If there's something, you'd like to ask, just e-mail me, I'll answer asap.

thanks =^-^=

Beginner's Tutorial for creating Black and White studio-style photographs

2011-11-01T17:42:38+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Beginner's Tutorial for creating Black and White studio-style photographs

Author: philebus

Tools Needed

Poser or DAZ Studio
Paint Program that supports Photoshop plug-ins

Introduction

This will give you a start in turning your Poser/DAZ Studio renders into black and white studio photographs in any paint program that can run Photoshop plug-ins. The full sized picture that was created for this tutorial is too big to show here, if you want to see the full picture head this way: My Renderosity Gallery

Step 1 - Get Plugged In!

Before you get started you are going to want a plug-in called Virtual Photographer. There's not much to this one that can't be done within your paint program but if you want to save yourself a lot of time messing about, then you want this. Best of all, its free! Go get it here:

www.opticvervelabs.com/defult.asp

Step 2 - Setting Up

The first thing to remember for these images is to keep them simple - bold details work best! In selecting your textures, remember that you want lots of contrasts - this is black and white, contrast and light–those are what its all about! Be cautious of reflection maps, more detailed ones just don't look right after your post-work. If you're going to use them, make sure they are simple ones. I have also found that with colour pictures, I can get near photo realism with a simple texture that is very well lit - but for black and white, go for detailed, photo realistic textures, 8 times in 10 they will give you better results.

I've used Stephanie Petite (this is a must own model) with some face morphs and the Kente Clothing. I've then added a pose by Firebirdz (from the new SP Sensua 9 - this pack also contains some of the best sitting poses you'll find anywhere!) and worked on the dress to match it. When positioning clothes and adding textures, have in mind what will be seen in the picture, don't waste time or resources - her right foot will be hidden from view in the final render, so I won't worry about it here.

If you are trying for photo realism, then your choice of hair is important. Generally, something system intensive will be best! I like Grace Lion Hair for this but have recently discovered Curlz for Girlz, which is sold here at DAZ - it is heavy going and my computer struggles but it looks great for black and white and also for natural media finishes such as watercolour.

Step 3 - Props

The right choice of props can add a lot to a picture - if nothing else, it gives you something to base a pose around. The Props I've uses here are the Primal Drums, no longer available, as they matched the pose without my having to make any changes (I was feeling lazy!). Remember to move the camera about to place them exactly, they may look right from the camera position you want for your photo but if they are too far forward or back then the shadows cast will give away the mistake in your render.

Step 4 - Background and Lighting

I've mentioned keeping things simple and the cyclorama portrait background is spot on. The textures are perfect for this, mottled shades creating plenty of tones and contrasts. But a wall or corner is easy enough to create and texture and the sharp angles can create subtle shadows.

I leave the cyclorama till last for a reason. Having a slow computer, I make use of the bounding box option for moving the scene around and the cyclorama's box encompasses everything within the scene, obscuring from view all unless the camera is placed within the box.

Studio lights just take too much time and experiment to do yourself and there are so many available at reasonable prices that its just daft not to buy them. For colour work I would say “render times be damned!” and use one of the DAZ complex globals. However, in black and white, you can get away with less lighting. There are some simpler lights in the DAZ sets but when choosing them, keep in mind the shadows you may want. For this picture, I've used the BVH Pro Studio lights that come with his products (I recommend the Feathered Serpent).

Step 5 - Add Textures

Its now time to start adding those textures. I've already mentioned the need for detailed quality and that can't be stressed enough! I've used skin type 5 from the International Beauty Bundle (I won't stop plugging this product, it is an essential purchase, the morphs - I've used some here - are a must and for five texture sets of this quality you are walking away with a bargain. Period!), don't neglect make-up options for black and white, you aren't getting the colours but you are getting extra tones. For the clothing, I've used Songs of Africa but either of the texture sets sold at DAZ would do the job.

Consider the textures of your props as carefully as the rest of the scene, a difference in quality will make an uncomfortable contrast. Also, remember that bump maps DO make a difference - look at the two drums, the larger one has a bump map, the smaller one doesn't. The difference speaks for itself. If your product doesn't have a bump map, consider making one - just open the texture, convert to grey scale, make it negative, then up the contrast.

At this stage, take a good look for any poke through. If its small enough to touch up with a clone brush leave it!

Step 6 - Set Up Your Camera

Now you want to consider the size and shape of your picture. I don't like to have a figure too central. I've first altered the size of my window and then, instead of moving the figures (sometimes you want to do this, to line up with a different part of the background and/or for more interesting shadows), I've moved the cyclorama to the left. Remember to alter your camera's focal length, I make mine about 95mm.

OK, now you're almost ready to render. The important rule for this is render big. Bigger than you need, even if will only be seen on the net! I rendered this at 2606×1800. I sometimes do bigger. On my inferior computer (Pentium II 350 with 128RAM Windows 98) this took about half an hour - just right for a cup of tea. If I was using hair, then of course this would take a lot longer! Chances are, you've a better machine than this, so no tea for you!

Now save the render in your preferred format and open it in your favourite paint program. I'm using Paint Shop Pro 8.10 for this but nothing I say depends on that.

Step 7 - First Steps

For any finish, be it photograph or watercolour, you need to prepare your picture a little bit before going ahead. This usually just means altering the brightness and/or contrast and if this is the case, then Virtual Photographer (which I'll refer to as VP) provides a quick fix. Start the plug-in and look at the panel on the right “Photographic Style.” Check the On/Off box, then the Effect box and on the drop down menu to the right of this, select Wash and then hit the Process button.

Step 8 - Getting Black and White

Start VP again and take a look at the presets. There is a nice variety for you to explore here and you can create your own without difficulty - but the language here is the photographer's and not of Paint Program's. Remember that and you'll have not trouble at all. For this, I've chosen “Classic” from the black and white options. Before processing the option, I've also altered the Film Speed (the bottom left hand box) to 800 ASA, this will add some grain to the picture. You may not always want to do this and the amount of grain you want may also vary with the size the picture will be viewed at. This is just trial and error so have a play.

Step 9 - Last Touches

The picture isn't quite right, I still need to alter the contrast. I could have altered the preset to do this in one go but every picture is a little different and so I prefer to do this after the filter has done its job. I've set the brightness to 5 and contrast to 25.

Step 10 - Making the Crop

Now its time for the Crop tool. This ia another good reason to render large - you will almost always want to crop the image. There are no hard and fast rules but try not to crop to close to the figures. As it stands, the picture will print at about 7 to 8 inches wide, depending on dpi and the print quality you want. For viewing on the internet, I resized to 1150×780 and it's now that you can see the finish properly.

Books of Postwork 6: Realms of the Dragon

2011-11-01T17:42:38+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Books of Postwork 6: Realms of the Dragon

Author: Kirisute

Tools Needed

Poser
Paint package

Support Files

book6.zip

Introduction

A guide to creating awesome images by amalgamating Poser renders and Terragen renders into one image!

Includes hints and tip on setting up lighting in poser as well as the main figures to be rendered! postwork for the final merging of the two images and guides on special effects postwork as well!

*NOTE*

this is a PDF tutorial you need to download Support File 1 to read the tutorial!

Step 1 -

NOTE

This is a PDF tutorial!Please download Support file 1 to view this tutorial!

Cartoon-like/Painted Backgrounds

2011-11-01T17:42:38+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Cartoon-like/Painted Backgrounds

Author: serpentis

Tools Needed

Photoshop or Paint Shop Pro (or equivalant) and photographs

Introduction

This is just one of the ways you can make easy backgrounds for your painted or cartoon-like images. Of course, this isn't perfect and probably isn't even one of the easiest ways. ;) It's just the way that I do things.

Step 1 - Let's start

Open your background image in Photoshop. I chose an outdoor, foresty-type image. Of course this will work with varying outcomes with almost any background image you choose.

Step 2 - Let's duplicate

Duplicate the background layer.

On the duplicate layer, go to Filter/Stylize/Find Edges. There are no options to set, this just find's the edges for us.

Change the duplicate layer's blend mode to overlay.

Step 3 - Brightness and saturation

Now we want to desaturate the duplicate layer. The colors just aren't right for what we're going for.

Image/Adjust/Desaturate

Next, go to Image/Adjust/Brightness and Contrast. These are just the settings I used, yours may be different depending on the look you're going for.

Step 4 - Opaque or Not Opaque...

The image still looks a bit harsh, so I changed the layers Opacity to 80%. This helps soften the duplicate layer's effects a bit.

Step 5 - Another Layer

Now duplicate the original background layer again and do Filter/Blur/Gaussian Blur set to about 4.4 (will vary depending on your image size and detail.)

Set the layer opacity to 70%

Step 6 - Stroked...

Still on the last duplicated layer, let's go to Filter/Brush Strokes/Angled Strokes. This adds a slightly more painted effect.

Step 7 - Fiiiiinally...

Finally, and optionally, you may wish to change the color balance of one of the layers. I chose mine on the same layer we've been working on, for other images you may chose to do the original background layer.

I like to use the Color Balance (Image/Adjust/Color Balance) it gives me more control.

And this is what the final image looks like all together.

Cloth Painting Technique

2011-11-01T17:42:38+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Cloth Painting Technique

Author: Anonymous

Tools Needed

Poser 4
Photoshop

Step 1 - Painting Cloth

I will not bother you with the creation of the figure and background, but will stay on the cloth subject. The texture used here is “Carly”.

With this image I started the cloth-creation.

Step 2 - Pen Tool

Using the pen tool. I selected the body part that had to be worked on.

Step 3 - Working Path

I then saved this selected area as a working path (window > show path > double-click to save).

Step 4 - Adjust Levels

I selected the path and area.

Next I chose sImage > adjust > auto levels, which gave the white effect.

You can also do this by adjusting the colors and contrast.

Step 5 - Smudge

Next step is easy when you are familiar with hair-painting.

Use the smudge tool (little pointing hand button), and start pulling the white across the selected area.

Step 6 - Highlight

When you are done with pulling the ripples, start highlighting and darkening the area with the dodge and burn tool.

Step 7 - Dodge/Burn

Work on the pulling and dodge/burn till you are satisfied with the result.

Step 8 - Pull Away

Then choose the smudge tool again and start pulling the cloth away from the figure on the background.

Step 9 - Done

And voila, the cloth is done!

Note: in this image I didn't use a new layer to start out with.

I started doing that later.

The layer method has a better result but the above worked okay on this image.

I hope that this tutorial helps you on your way to create natural-looking clothes.

Color Me Brilliant

2011-11-01T17:42:38+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Color Me Brilliant

Author: brookekroeger

Tools Needed

Poser
JASC Paint Shop Pro

Introduction

Poser Postwork Tutorial #2

“Color Me Brilliant”

By Brooke Kroeger Designs'

Using JASC Paint Shop Pro 9

Products used in this tutorial…

JASC Paint Shop Pro 9

Curious Labs Poser 6

Victoria 3 by DAZ3D

Character is “Margot” by Rhiannon found at Renderosity.

Sapphire Fox Hair By Quarker Found At DAZ3D.

Hello again, so glad you could find a minute to spare to play with me a bit and learn about graphics. I am creating these new tuts for “postwork” for poser renders, but you do not have to use them just for that. They are good basic techniques that could be useful for any image. That said….let's begin!

Here is my untouched photo, shrunk down a bit. This one actually rendered well, and is a “usable” image with little cleaning up, but of course… what fun is that? Her clothes are a bit big, the left shoulder is sticking up and her hair is growing into her arm. I fixed those things, but they will not be in this one. Let's save that for another learning tutorial to come!

Today I want to show you how to give your renders “jazz” “spunk” “sparkle” and the “ooooohhhhhh” factor. I was thinking of these things when I named this one. “Color Me Brilliant”…..lol….not that the title fits me! First we are going to work on the “color” part. So many characters we make or purchase have so many wonderful makeup choices and eye shades. But there will always be one or two that when it is all said and done, you wish you could just change _________?

Step 1 - Eye color

Well sometimes you can!

Let's talk about those pretty eyes for a bit. An easy thing to quickly change is the eye color. See, eyes have black centers. Black is not affected by colorization. Thus, as long as you do not select too far over into the white area, you can change the eyes dramatically with simply changing the hue and saturation once selected with the freehand selection function set to a feather of 12.

To select more than one thing, hold down your shift key as you select them. Once you have them both “blinking” like the image above, then we simply click….. ADJUST > HUE AND SATURATION > COLORIZE the following screen will pop up, and you can play with your settings. As long as you have both “eye buttons” on this screen clicked you will be able to preview the changes in your image in the big program screen.

(See Next Screen)

Step 2 - Colorizing Screen

In the screen shot I have selected blue as my color.

I did this just by moving the hue and saturation numbers.

Step 3 - Look at the Colors!

But as you see above, you can choose several different colors and get great effects. Pretty much as long as you stay in the darker jewel tones, this will work with any of them. What fun…..

Step 4 - Adjust the bright

We'll this next part is a bit more trial and error and some images it is a no-go. But you can also apply this effect to your lip and nail images. I especially use the brightness/contrast function on those. It is found here…. ADJUST > BRIGHTNESS/CONTRAST > BRIGHTNESS/CONTRAST

Step 5 - Adding Some P-Zazz!

Now, let's add some dazzle and glitz to our image!

One of the best tools built into Paint Shop Pro is one that most users do not ever or rarely find. It is the point-tipped sharpening brush. So many think the only way to sharpen is to select an area or the whole image and click “Adjust > Sharpness > Sharpen” But wait! I do not want it all to be sharpened. It can turn grainy and too harsh. Hey guys…. it does not have to be that way!!! See the preview below and see where I clicked on a round circle brush that looks like an “O” and says “sharpen” See below to where on the side of your screen to find this. It is highlighted with a red box. Okay, now I have your wheels turning…. This render the pretty jewels in the outfit and the silver trim turned dull and hazy. This can happen, and you can fix it! See the areas where I highlighted my mouse movements in red…. Select a small tip, medium hardness, 75% density and low opacity. You just want to slowly bring back the sparkle. Just lightly brush over all the areas that could use a bit of punch and enjoy the great results.

Step 6 - Finishing Touches, Oh Wow!!

See, this is easy!!

Now, don't forget to go VERY LIGHTLY around the color of the eyes and lips. I do this to every art piece I do. It adds instant life, IMO.

We'll if you know me, you know I love jewels. This outfit has them in the centers, but of course…. I added quite a few too. I open the jewel tubes separate, and then select the one to use. Then copy it, to paste as a new layer in my render piece. Of course you will most likely need to re-size this jewel, and once you do, it might lose some of that sparkle. Use your Sharpen Brush Tool!!!! If I teach you anything today, I want you to be comfortable with this handy trick.

Step 7 - The Finished Project

Here you can see them side by side and see the differences. I added rubies to her necklace and shirt. I also added a soft glow to her skin, which I will be covering in the next tutorial “Born Beautiful.”

In the end I still thought her lips we're too light and I brushed a bit more color on them.

Please copy and paste the link below to view the finished piece at Renderosity http://www.renderosity.com/viewed.ez?galleryid=1011740&Start=19&Sectionid=1&filter_genre_id=0&WhatsNew=Yes.

But all in all, I think she glows…and your's will too! There are several other tutorials by me to be found on my website…I welcome you to see if there is something else I can help you with. God Bless and Thank You For Joining Me….

~Brooke~

http://www.brookekroegerdesigns.com/

Please do not claim any part of this tutorial as your own, add to your website or use previews with other tutorials.

Do not tube from my work.

Colorizing Eyes

2011-11-01T17:42:38+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Colorizing Eyes

Author: mizgriz

Tools Needed

* Adobe Photoshop

Introduction

Ever wanted to give your renders really bright, vibrant eyes? Now you can.

Step 1: Preparing the Eye

Open up your image.

The first thing you're going to do is to duplicate the layer your image is on. Then, select the burn tool.

We're going to darken the eye a little bit. You're going to do this in straight lines, starting at the pupil and brushing out to the edge of the iris.

It will look something like this:

Step 2: Colorizing the eye

Now that your eye is prepared, erase the pupil.

It should take one or two clicks, and it should look like this when you finish:

Next, go to Image > Adjustments > Variations, where a menu similar to this

will pop up. This menu is where you can play around with different settings and get your eye to be exactly the color you want. I picked blue. Pick your color. You'll notice that your entire image has turned whichever color you wanted your eye to be. Start erasing everything in the image except for the iris of the eye.

I recommend using an eraser with soft edges.

Your eye should be quite striking now.

Step 3: Finishing Touches

Now, take the burn tool and just go around the outside edges of the iris.

This is to give your eye a bit more definition. After that, select the dodge tool and lighten the inside of the eye.

Now, this is where you can play with the color in your eye a little bit if you want to. Press Ctrl+U on your keyboard to open up the Hue/Saturation menu. Make sure that “colorize” is checked and start playing with the settings. For example, in my eye, settings like this:

gave me a pretty aquamarine-ish eye, and settings like this:

gave me a creepy red eye.

If you like your eye the way it is, though, you don't have to change anything.

Step 4: The end!

Do whatever postwork tickles your fancy…and ta-da!

You now have a striking eye.

Compositing Rendered Stills Over Photographs

2011-11-01T17:42:38+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Compositing Rendered Stills Over Photographs

Author: RSchrand

Support Files

Downloadables.zip

Introduction

One of the really fun things to do with a rendered Poser model is to composite it onto an existing image, such as a photograph. We've all seen the creative ways users have done this'from placing Victoria (2/3) and/or Michael into a living room or an overlook, to having a sultry vixen wrapping her arms around the artist. If it's just for fun, the little details that make the scene realistic can be overlooked. But if you want the viewer to wonder if you went to the trouble of finding a living, breathing Victoria/Michael look-alike, then there are many details that have to be taken into account before the rendering process occurs.

This tutorial will follow my progress in utilizing the Gobbles character as he/she/it is used as a mascot for a local gaming store (which is why you see a logo t-shirt on the creature). The first part deals with building a still image; but future tutorials will look at how Gobbles will be incorporated into a television commercial we are producing.

Step 1 - Know Your Source File

Before you begin setting up your Poser file, you want to get to know your source image (the photograph in which your character will be placed) intimately. Let's use Figure 1 above for an example.

This shot was taken with a digital camera using its built in flash as well as the store's fluorescent lighting. We are going to want to place Gobbles so he is standing on the table – he is a little cuss, y'know – so he looks like he's interrupting the intense gaming taking place.

The first thing is to determine the overall lighting by looking closely at the shadows in the image. Figure 2 shows a rough estimation of this. Two fluorescent lights fill the overall area with light. The camera lens was at table height, so the flash was lighting the scene from underneath, softening and often removing shadows the fluorescents created.

Now let's look at the shadows that are still in the image. The two most prominent are on the guy's face (background left) and on the forearm (front left). We can see that the lighting we create should create a shadow that mostly faces downward, but is canted slightly to create a shadow on the screen left portion of the character (or on its right side, if you prefer).

The nice thing about this image is that I set it up to emulate the base lighting in Poser. Yes, you could say that's cheating, but I am a firm believer of doing things in such a way as to make my work go faster, which then allows me to take on more projects and, ultimately, make more money! The complicated lighting set-ups come in another tutorial. All we want to do here is get you to look carefully at the scene in which you're going to place your character(s) so you can create the most realistic composite possible.

Step 2 - Build the Pose

If you have the Gobbles character, build a pose like you see in Figure 4. Don't worry about the t-shirt texture—that's copyrighted and you can't use it! (Just kidding.) This is a still from the animation I created that will be used in the television commercial for the store—the non-composited version of which you can see by clicking here.

Note: You will need QuickTime to view this video.

If you don't have the Gobbles character, use any model you want.

Because I made sure to emulate the base lighting in Poser for the photograph, you don't have to mess with the lighting at all.

Render the file as a Photoshop, PICT, or TIF document—not as a JPEG. Even though JPEG makes smaller files, it's a 'lossy' format; you'll lose color information that can really mess you up if you want to take your file to a professional printer.

Step 3 - The Base Composite

Once the file is rendered, open Photoshop (or your image manipulation program of choice) and prepare to have some fun. From this point, I'll be discussing Photoshop 7, so some of the controls in other packages might have different names. Please refer to your program's manual if you can't find the same controls.

Open both the Poser image and the gaming image (which you can download by clicking here).

With the Poser image active, use the Magic Wand tool to select the background color.
Go to Select > Similar to have Photoshop select the rest of the same color in the file. All instances of the background color should be selected.
Go to Select > Inverse or use Cmd/Ctrl + Shift + I to invert the selection. This will make the character the selected element and not the background.
Drag the Poser character with the Move tool onto the gamers.tif image file and position him similar to what you see in Figure 5 above.

Gobbles (or your Poser figure) is located on a separate layer so you can easily manipulate it. At this point you have made the base composite, but there is still some work to do.

Step 4 - Adding a Shadow

While good ol' Gobbles (or whomever) is now a part of the image, he doesn't look like part of the image—yet. You're missing some important elements, the most glaring of which is a shadow on the board/table. The way I create shadows is probably different from many of you; I'd bet good money (up to 5-cents, big spender that I am!) that most of you use the Layer Styles controls to make your drop shadows. That isn't going to work for this—at least not easily and efficiently. To make the 'ground' shadow, do the following:

Duplicate the Gobbles layer (which should be Layer 2 in the Layers window).
With the bottom-most Gobbles layer active (Figure 6 above), go to Edit > Fill. Select Black as the Fill Color and make sure Preserve Transparency is checked (Figure 7 below). Then click OK. This fills the Gobbles image, but keeps the transparent areas around it.

Now go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur and set the blur to 8. Click OK.
Choose Edit > Transform > Distort and distort the shadow layer so it looks like you see in Figure 8. I have left the bounding box visible so you can better recreate the ground shadow.

In the Layers window, change the layer's opacity to 30%

Step 5 - Adding a Shadow (contd)

If you think the blur's edges are too sharp, feel free to go back to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur and add to the softness until your happy with it. But your file should look like you see in Figure 9 above with the Blur setting of 8 (previous step).

You probably noticed that I manipulated the shadow area so it goes a little bit behind the character. That goes against the light source, but works perfectly when the shadow's opacity is reduced; extreme edges often disappear during the opacity change and, in this case, gives the appearance of its being underneath Gobbles, retaining the semblance of reality to the scene.

Another thing you can add to the shadow layer is a little bit of Noise. Give it a try. Go to Filter > Noise > Add Noise. Keep the amount low – no more than a setting of 7 – and see how that interacts with the scene.

Step 6 - The Final Touch

There is one more thing to do to Gobbles before he's ready for final positioning.

Question: Why does a computer-generated composite ALWAYS look like a computer-generated composite?

Answer: Because the edges are too sharp.

We really don't see sharp edges. We see the end of one object and the beginning of another object, but there's some softness to the edges because of the bounce of light and the blending of colors from one shape to another. Look closely at any photography or at anything in your office or house. Look very closely. There's a very slight softness to the edges of most everything you look at. So how do you emulate that in your images?

Use the Magic Wand tool and select the transparency in the top-most Gobbles layer. Then use Select > Similar to select the rest of the transparency.
Go to Select > Modify > Expand, and expand the selected area by 2 pixels. This will expand the 'marching ants' into Gobbles slightly.
Now go to Select > Feather and set this to 1. The trick is to feather the edges no more than 1/2 the pixels of Expand.
Hit the Delete key on your keyboard.

You have now softened the edges of your character, making it appear more like it's a part of your photograph. (Figure 10 above)

Step 7 - Closing Comments

That's it—for the most part. You could leave the character in the foreground, even though the foreground is out of focus. It's not totally realistic that way, but sometimes you can cheat. A cursory look at the image feels fairly realistic. But if someone looked closely, they would see this problem. So you might want to move Gobbles/your character to another location, and either cut out portions of him to blend into the scene, or copy and past elements from the picture onto another layer to complete the picture. You can see what I mean in Figure 11 (above).

With some practice, you can train your eye to see the smaller details that many people often overlook. This will ultimately set your work above the rest that's being displayed out there. And by looking at the small details, your value as an artist will increase dramatically.

Create a mask for your model

2011-11-01T17:42:38+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Create a mask for your model

Author: Carole

Tools Needed

Photoshop

Introduction

You need a mask for your character, and want it to be personalized and perfectly fitting your model ? With this tutorial you will learn how to paint quickly a simple mask.

Step 1 - Drawing the mask

After drawing the shape of the mask, select, copy and paste it on a new transparent document.

Step 2 - Give contrast to the mask

Select the shape of the eyes and erase them.

Go into “Image”, “Adjustments” and select “Grayscale”.

Play with Brightness/Contrast, choose about +50 for Contrast.

Flatten the first layer with the layer beneath (Ctrl+E)

(You should have a transparent background and a layer with the mask).

Step 3 - Making the mask more real

Copy and paste the mask on your model.

To give an impression of relief, add a drop shadow effect.

Go into “Layer”, “Layer properties”, and choose the drop shadow option.

Choose a 70% opacity.

Now you should have a mask fitting perfectly your model !

I choose the Phantom of the Opera as an example, because it's quite easy, but you can draw any shape you like for your mask, using this simple technique.

Enjoy !

Create a Modern Noir Oil Painting With Virtual Painter 4

2011-11-01T17:42:38+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Create a Modern Noir Oil Painting With Virtual Painter 4

Author: philebus

Tools Needed

Virtual Painter 4
Paint Program such as Photoshop or Paint Shop Pro

Support Files

Virtual_Painter_Settings.zip

Introduction

This is a simple tutorial to help you create a modern noir oil painting from your Poser/DAZ Studio renders.

You will need a paint program that supports layers and photoshop plug-ins (I'm using Paint Shop Pro 8).

You will also need the plug-in Virtual Painter 4, this is sold at http://www.JASC.com for about '20. What you get for your money is about 12 filters designed to simulate natural media - its very effective, a lot cheaper than Painter 9 and will even run on my low spec computer.

The support file contains the settings you will need for VP4 to achieve the results seen here.

Step 1 - Setting the scene

There are a few rules you need to follow to pull of this effect. The first is to keep everything simple and bold. The smaller your detail, the less painted your picture is going to look! So, patterned textures should be large and simple and all figures need to be in the fore-ground. On the plus side, you can safely reduce the size of the textures you are using - this method is about colours and shadows.

I've used V3 with Awful Soul's Mox Pearl outfit. There is a chair from Deco Redux but the rest are just squares from Poser's own props, sized and coloured without texture maps.

Step 2 - Lighting the scene

Next rule: No global lights! You want lots of shadow.

I've been using just two light sources, one low intensity source to provide some ambient light, and one intense source to provide the shadows.

For the ambient light here, I've just used an infinate light at a very low intensity - low enough not to need to turn off its shadows. If you are rendering a completely enclosed scene, you will have to use a spot.

For the main source, I've again used an infinate, this time at a high intensity. If you're shining through a window, the a spot light is probably better. If you want to use a lamp then employ a glow ball (there are some free ones at Renderosity, as well as a python script to create them).

Now, resize the window to get the image you want to render. There are points of poke through on the skirt and the boots dip a little into the floor - I'm not worried about these as they will be obscurred by shadow once rendered.

Step 3 - Rendering

When it comes to rendering, you will need to render quite large. My images average 2500 by 1500 - this is large enough to look good in print at a reasonable size!

Step 4 - Starting postwork

First tidy up the image where needed. On my image there was a line of green on the right wall to paint over.

Now, create a duplicate layer and make sure this is selected. Start up Virtual Painter, select the Gothic Oil filter and load the settings from the support file.

Step 5 - Oil Paint

The Gothic oil effect, siplifies and intensifies the colours and details in the picture, now you need to create the finer brush strokes.

With the duplicate layer still selected, start up Virtual Painter again and this time select the Oil Painting filter and again, load the settings I've supplied.

Step 6 - Final Step

The last stage is to change the blend mode of your top layer. There are two settings you can use and the best will vary with your pictures. Try overlay first, this can work very well with the boldest images but more usually Hard Light will work best. This will restore your details whilst keeping the brush strokes.

Now you just need to crop your image. At this size it should print well at 200-250 dpi. For display on the web, reduce down by at least 60%.

And that's it - I hope you enjoy having a go!

Create an angelic aura

2011-11-01T17:42:38+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Create an angelic aura

Author: Carole

Tools Needed

Photoshop

Introduction

You want to add some ethereal look to your character, but don't know how to do, read this tutorial, and you will be able to turn your character into an angel !

Step 1 - Add Gaussian blur

Create the background of your choice, copy and past your figure on another layer.

Duplicate the layer with your character.

Apply a Gaussian blur (about 10 pixels)

Step 2 - Add some light

On the same layer (the copy) you will apply a Linear Dodge, that will add some brightness.

Step 3 - More aura

You may add some brightness, go into Layers options, and add some “Outer glow”

That's all !

your character looks like a real angel !

Create an Easy Under Water Atmosphere

2011-11-01T17:42:39+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Create an Easy Under Water Atmosphere

Author: cowham

Tools Needed

* Adobe Photoshop

* Basic Photoshop Skills (brushes etc)

* Tools

* And layers)

Introduction

Easily turn a flat underwater render into an underwater realm, by casting shadows and lights.

Step 1: Cast Shadows

Open your tool box, and layer box (Window Menu, Tools and Layers). I recommend saving your image at the end of each step.

Our starting image:

Make a new layer. Using a black round brush paint vine type plant shapes.

Go to the Filter Menu, Distort, and choose Wave. Play with the sliders, or hit the randomize box to get an effect you like. Keep in mind that the shadow shapes of plants should follow the wave of an ocean current.

Go to the Filter Menu again, and choose Blur, Gaussian Blur. Move the slider to blur the vines, but not too much or they won't look like plant shadows.

Our blurred vines:

Step 2: Cast Lights

Make a new layer. Using white round brush paint here and there to create patches of light.

Using the Gaussian Filter again, blur the white lights.

In the upper right corner of the layers box, lower the opacity slider of the shadow and light layers.

Step 3: Color Cast

Change foreground color to bright blue, and the background color to black. Make a new layer. Go to the Filter Menu, Render and choose Clouds.

Go to the Filter Menu again, Render, and choose Difference Clouds. Run this filter 3 or 4 more times.

Next to the opacity slider there is a box that says normal. Click on it and choose Screen from the list.

Make a new layer. Choose bright teal as the foreground color. Repeat the filters, and set the layer mode to screen.

Now lower both layers opacity level. (I used 66% for the blue layer, and 54% for the teal layer.)

Step 4: Create Depth

Select each of the color layers and using a feathered eraser, remove color from places. Keep in mind that water has a wavy current and lights and shadows should follow this path.

Since this step is harder to illustrate, I have added the two cloud layers, with the parts I erased. The general goal is to improve depth and remove some of the milkiness from the image.

Erase some spots from the light layer as well.

Step 5: Final Touchups

We need to add a few final highlights and shadows. To do this we are going to use the burn/dodge tool with a feathered brush. The more a tool is used over an area the brighter/darker that area becomes.

Keep in mind that underwater places are shimmery, so shadows and lights are going to fall next to each other. These adjustments should also be subtle. If you make a mistake you can Undo (Ctrl-Z) or step backwards (ALT-Ctrl-Z) which is a multiple level undo.

Select the bottom (image) layer.

Burn shadows randomly in the background, and also in places under the chin, arms and in the hair. I also burned some of the green vine type seaweed to give it some added depth.

Dodge highlights in the background next to shadows, and in places on the body light would reflect.

Our finished image:

Feel free to experiment by adding additional shadow and light layers. (Dark blues, teals, and purples for shadows - light pastel shades for lights)

Try using purples, reds, and oranges for the cloud layers.

Under water realms are alive and ever changing, so the possibilities are endless.

Create Professional Colored Monochrome Images

2011-11-01T17:42:39+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Create Professional Colored Monochrome Images

Author: thedanman

Tools Needed

Any paint program supporting layers and transparencies (Shown using Ulead Photoimpact)

Introduction

One of the simplest tricks of photographers to create visually stunning images is to throw a picture into grayscale and leaving certain objects in color. This simple trick can save you hours of needless masking, let alone hundreds of dollars in masking plugins - producing amazing professional grade images in a mere matter of minutes!

Step 1 - Duplicating Your Image

Start with any image, whether it be photographic or rendered. This main image is of my sister-in-law.

Use your paint program to create a grayscale copy of the original colored image.

Step 2 - Superimposing

Super impose the grayscale copy of the original on top of the original colored picture. Do not merge these two layers together and make sure that the grayscale photo is on top.

Step 3 - Configuring Your Eraser

Instead of masking, we'll be erasing the grayscale layer just enough to allow the colored layer to show through. This requires you to configure your eraser tool to have no transparency, and a nice large-valued soft edge. This will blend your two layers together when you begin erasing.

Once you have configured your eraser brush, start erasing the portions of the picture that you would like to color.

Step 4 - Final Image

This image was created in under 5 minutes using this simple yet effective technique. Go ahead and give it a try!

Creating fog

2011-11-01T17:42:39+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Creating fog

Author: Corinne

Tools Needed

Photoshop

Introduction

In this tutorial I will teach the Photoshop beginners an easy way to create fog.

The tutorial has been written by using Photoshop 7, some differences may appear with the tools used if you use a previous version.

Step 1 - starting

An advice : work on a large file. My example has been done on a 1000×1000 pixels wide file, and has been cropped to 500×500. If you already have a rendered scene in your mind, make the dimensions fit to it.

Open your render and create a new layer over it. Fill it with white.

Step 2 - create the structure

We're going to create fake clouds using a Photoshop filter.

Got to Filter > Render > Difference Clouds.

You should have something looking like this :

You can give this texture more contrast. Go to Image > Adjustments > Brightness/contrast and drop up the contrast setting.

Step 3 - merging

Now lower the opacity of the fog layer to 60% (this value can depend on the effect you want).

Pick your Erase tool with a large smooth round brush (I took a 300 px) and carefully erase a bit of the texture, in various places, especially on the top, depending on how your scene is built.

It looks a bit gray. This could be useful for smog scenes, but for this one I wanted a natural fog.

Step 4 - adjusting

To adjust the color of your fo layer, go to Layer > New adjustment layer > Hue saturation.

Make sure the option “Associating to layer” is checked.

I did a nice frosty fog on this image using the following settings (make sure the Redefine option is checked) :

You can play with these settings how much you want / need.

Step 5 - final

Here's how it looks :

Creating Hazy Ghosts

2011-11-01T17:42:39+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Creating Hazy Ghosts

Author: Que Arres

Tools Needed

DAZ Studio or similar program
Photoshop

Introduction

This is a simple method for making hazy, translucent ghosts out of your renders in Photoshop.

Step 1 - Creating the Base

First, we set up the scene. Here, we want to have our huntress attacking a seemingly harmless ghost. To make the effect, we have to render this twice: once for the background image without the ghost, and once for the ghost by herself. The ghost render should be in *PNG format, so that the background is transparent.

Now, we open up Photoshop

Step 2 - Making the Ghost Faded and Transparent

In Photoshop, open the render of the ghost and the background image. Copy the background image and paste it into the ghost file; this keeps the ghost in the same place you intended it to be. Drag the ghost layer so that is on top of the background layer. Make sure this layer is selected (layer 0 for me) and select Image > Adjustments > Hue/Saturation from the toolbar. Set the Saturation to -50.

This makes our ghost look, well, faded. Next, go to the layer Blending Options and set the Opacity to 50% (or lower, for a more “hazy” ghost) and the blending mode to Screen.

You should be able to see the background image behind her now.

Step 3 - Making the Ghost Hazy

Use the Outer Glow option and make it a gray blue (or whatever color you want your ghost to glow). Adjust the opacity of the glow to 25% and the size of the glow to 100 pixels. You can tweak these to your liking, but I find that these settings work well for me.

Next, magic wand select the area outside the figure. Invert selection. Set the selection to Border (I used 10 pixels), then apply a Gaussian Blur (I used 5.0 pixels) to that area only. This is what the image looks like so far.

A little too translucent, you say? Don't worry; we're not finished yet!

Step 4 - Final Touches

Select the Eraser tool. Set the opacity to 10% and slowly erase the bottom of the figure, erasing further down with each swipe. This creates a sort of gradient transparency, fading out at the feet.

To make your ghost stand out more, simply copy the layer (I have two copies in my picture).

That's it! Here's the final image:

Creating Silhouettes

2011-11-01T17:42:39+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Creating Silhouettes

Author: Ilenora

Tools Needed

* Rendering program that can save transparent PNG or TIFF

* Photoshop

Introduction

A silhouette is the outline of a figure, usually a black shape of someone such as the shadow. If you want to render a black silhouette, it has to be on a lighter background. But not anymore! This tutorial will show you how to create smooth, black silhouettes on a black background but still have the form clearly visible. Created by Ilenora.

Step 1 - Create the image

First, open up Poser or a similar rendering program.

Create your scene as you would for any other image, using figures, clothes, hair and so on. You only don't need to worry about textures or lights, as you're going to create a silhouette. Make sure you have everything as you want it - the poses, morphs, and camera angles.

Step 2 - Making it black

Now, go to the Materials room (or the Surface's tab if you're using DAZ Studio).

Change all settings to black. Make sure if you have any transmaps on the hair or other such things that you don't take it off. If you don't have the transmaps on it will end up as a blocky silhouette.

Don't worry if you can't see the figures anymore - they're all still there

Step 3 - Render the scene

Before you render, make sure the background and the figures are completely BLACK.

Now render your scene. Make sure you save it as a PNG or TIFF, otherwise it won't work. It needs to have a transparent background.

Step 4 - Making the Silhouette

Now open Photoshop. Open up your newly saved image. It should show up as a nice, black silhouette on a transparent background. Great job, but now comes the fun part :)

Name the layer “Figure”. Now make a new layer by clicking Shft+Ctrl+N, clicking the little icon in the layers pallet that looks like a piece of paper with a fold in the corner, or by going up to the “Layers” menu and clicking Layer…

Place the layer under your Figure layer. Now fill that layer completely with black. You end up with black again. Nice, isn't it? ;)

Make sure you have the Figure layer selected. Now click the little “F” in the layers pallet. Select “Outer Glow” from the drop-down list. POP! Suddenly you can see your figure's outline! Neat, huh? You have a nifty glow around your Silhouette.

Play with the setting until you have something you like. The picture shows what I used.

Step 5 - Finishing Touches

Now crop off what you don't want, and maybe add a few things to the background for the finishing touches.

You now have a beautiful Silhouette!

I hope you found this tutorial helpful :) If you have any questions, feel free to email me: FaeryNisbet@dodo.com.au

Made by Ilenora :)

Depth of Field in Post-Production

2011-11-01T17:42:39+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Depth of Field in Post-Production

Author: thudfactor

Tools Needed

Poser
Photoshop 7

Introduction

Poser 5 and other rendering programs now feature a “depth of field” rendering option which makes some items appear out of focus depending on how far they are from the camera. Not only does depth-of-field give your illustration more realism, it adds to the illusion of depth and helps guide the viewer's eyes to the focal point of your image.

But this depth of field effect can be unpredictable and it requires significant memory, computing resources, and time. For simple scenes, it's much easier (and faster!) to handle depth-of-field in post-production.

We'll be rendering the final image in layers, then merging those layers in Photoshop to turn the rather flat-looking image on the left into the image on the right.

Step 1 - Composition

This effect works best when the elements of your illustration exist in roughly parallel planes. In this composition, that's the case. The woman is in the foreground, the wall in the background.

Also note that in the foreground and middle ground at least, the elements of each plane are roughly the same distance away from the camera. The woman is perhaps six feet away, the wall about sixteen feet away.

Step 2 - Rendering

In Poser, set your camera angle and lights the way you want them. Then, make everything but the foreground visible and render that to a file. Then turn the foreground invisible and the middle ground visible and render that to another file with the same dimensions. It is absolutely vital that you do not move the camera or change the lights in between renders.

Above are separate renders of the wall and the woman.

Step 3 - Compositing

Load Photoshop and open both your foreground and background renders. Copy the foreground and paste it into a new layer on top of the background.

Then go to the “channels” pallet of your foreground file and look for a channel called “Alpha 1.” This should be an inverted silhouette of your foreground. Select all, copy, and then paste this into a new channel in your composted file (the one with both foreground and background layers). Name this channel “silhouette” (or something else you will remember).

Make sure the foreground layer is selected. Then go to the “Select” menu and choose “Load Selection.” Choose channel “silhouette” and make sure the “Invert” box is checked. Now you should have marching ants all around the white area of your foreground. Hit the backspace button to erase this.

There may be a white fringe around your figure afterwards; don't worry, we'll take care of that in the next step.

Step 4 - The Blur

Select your background layer, then choose Blur - > Gaussian Blur from the Filter menu. You can experiment with this value; the higher the number, the more out-of-focus the background will be. After a certain point, though, the background becomes so muddy the effect is lost.

To fix the halo around the foreground (and soften the unnaturally sharp edge of the figure in the process) start by making sure you have the foreground layer selected. Then control-click (option-click on Macs) the foreground layer in the layers pallet. This loads the transparency mask of the layer as a selection outline, essentially selecting your foreground.

From the Select menu, choose Modify - > Contract. Select a value that pulls the marching ants in to just a little bit inside the figure's shape. For a small image like this, I used a value of three. If you are rendering at high resolutions, however, you might go much higher. Then choose Select - > > Inverse. Now choose Filter- > Blur- > Gaussian Blur. Use a very small number for this. I used .5. This will blur the outline just a little bit, both getting rid of the fringe and softening the figure edges, giving it just a little more photographic realism.

Step 5 - Finishing Touches

To add a bit more realism, we'll add a little bit of an atmospheric effect and a slight shadow on the wall. Not only do shapes get more blurry with distance, they also turn a little lighter in color and lose some color saturation. So click on the background layer in the layers pallet and click the new adjustment layer button. Select “hue and saturation.” Pull the lightness slider slightly to the right, and the saturation slider slightly to the left.

To make the shadow, make a duplicate of the foreground layer and name it “shadow.” Lock the transparent pixels by clicking the first button in the layers pallet next to the word “Lock.” Fill the layer with black. Then unlock the transparent pixels. (You should have a black silhouette again). Choose Filter- > Blur- > Gaussian Blur and select an outrageously high number so that the shape of the silhouette is almost obliterated. The further away your figure is from the background, the larger this number should be. Put this layer under your foreground, then move it to where the shadow would naturally fall given your light conditions and how far away from the background your foreground is. I pulled my shadow almost straight down about halfway. To lighten the shadow effect, change the opacity. You can see below how this causes your foreground to pop out. Done delicately, you can do this without ruining the believability of your image.

Step 6 - Going further

As long as you keep the basic rule in mind – everything needs to be in its own plane – you can create very deep images. The further away something is, the more it gets blurred.

Below is a tourist standing in front of arches, with mountains in the distance. The arches are slightly blurred, and the mountains get blurred quite a bit.

Depth of focus works the other way as well – items in the extreme foreground can be as much out of focus as items in the extreme background, if your focus is on the middle distance. Working this out inside the renderer can be very time consuming, but if you plan ahead you can get the effect much more cheaply in your image editing program.

Digital Painting from Poser Renders

2011-11-01T17:42:39+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Digital Painting from Poser Renders

Author: momodot

Tools Needed

* Poser and an image editing program such as Photoshop.

Introduction

The essence of making a digital painting from a photo or Poser render is to separate the contours, color, and values of an image in order to manipulate and abstract them; then creative brush strokes are used to make the image more “painterly”. These methods work best with images where the most important element is over 300 pixels to a side but here is a render where I have scaled up a figure with a 40 pixel wide face, created the drawing layer which was somewhat thick and lacking in detail, and used a small brush with black and white to refine the detail and create drawing-like strokes. For the beginner it is best to work with a render of something like a face that is 300 or 400 pixels wide.

Step 1: Setting-up

Open your render in Photoshop and create the following layers:

Duplicate “background” layer, re-name “drawing”, set to 100% opacity “normal”.
Select background layer and create a new blank layer above it. Name this layer “color” and set 70% opacity “overlay”.
Select background layer and create a new blank layer above it. Name this layer “paint” and set 100% opacity “normal”.
Select background layer and create a duplicate layer above it. Name this layer “cut-out” and set 100% opacity “luminosity”.

Step 2: "Drawing"

We will begin on the uppermost layer by extracting the contours of the scene; otherwise known as creating a drawing…

Image/Adjustments/De-saturate the “drawing” layer and run the Filter/Texture/Grain.
Apply Filter/Stylize/Diffuse/Anisotropic. You may want to adjust the levels at this point.
Set layer method to “darken”.

Step 3: Simplify

We will use the Photoshop Artistic/Cutout filter to abstract the image before starting to paint. Play with the sliders but try to get big flat areas, it may look best if the planes of color don't stay in the lines. You might want to play with the smudge tool on this layer.

Step 4: "Painting"

Now go to the paint layer and create a nice brush, I would choose a mid-sized spatter brush with the settings shown in the image here, and begin painting.

A nice effect is obtained by clicking the “alt” key to pick up color from the layer below (this can be done without switching layers) and if you have your color picker set to Hue/Saturation/Brightness it is easy to make small changes to the sampled color.

When you have something you like you can start to paint more broadly with colors from the picker swatches and use the smudge tool set to 'use all layer' if you like.

If you feel you are losing important shading from your original render go back to the background layer and make a duplicate. Drag this to the top of the layers and apply Filter/Stylize/Diffuse/Anisotropic. Now turn down the opacity until you have just the amount of the original render that you want to re-establish.

Step 5: Glaze

On your “glaze” layer you can change your colors by applying color washes over it. This can change the mood and give a sense of depth to the image. Remember you can adjust the opacity of the brush while you are working by using the number keys.

Step 6: Flatten

Go to each layer and erase anything you don't like, smudge any shapes or edges that don't look right and add any paint that might be needed. Flatten your painting.

Step 7: Texture

You can add brush texture by

Making a duplicate of your file, de-saturating it, saving it to your desktop as a .PSD file.
Going back to your flattened painting and duplicating the background layer.
Applying the Filter/Textures/Texture filter to the new layer selecting the .PSD from the desktop as the texture and using a relief setting of maybe 20 or more depending on the scale of your image.
You can run the filter again to increase the texture and you can change the opacity of the textured layer to reduce it. A soft eraser brush can be used on the texture layer to remove texture selectively; important in places where it just looks wrong or seems to be pressed down into the images rather than embossed in it. The healing brush can fix bad transitions between smooth and raised or depressed texture.
Flatten the image.

Step 8: Touch-up

Create a new empty layer above the texture layer and do any last minute fixes and touch up with the paint brush. Flatten the image. Run Filter/Sharpen/Sharpen and then use the fade command on it to get it just right, nice and subtle, fading to “darken” method might be appropriate. Run Filter/texture/Texturizer with the burlap texture scaled down as far as it will go then use the fade command at about 50%.

Step 9: Results

Hopefully you have something nice but expect the process to take some practice.

Above are several “paintings” from the same render.

Step 10: Make Art

REMEMBER TO SAVE EARLY AND SAVE OFTEN!

Digital Rain

2011-11-01T17:42:39+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Digital Rain

Author: serpentis

Tools Needed

Photoshop (or similar) and an image or photograph

Introduction

Adding rain digitally can increase the drama in a photograph or 3D image and sometimes it can even make your image look more realistic. Often when photographing in the rain, the rain doesn't appear in the photograph and we all know how impossible it is to get good rain in a 3D program. This is just the way that I create rain in post work.

What You Need:

Poser 4/Poser 4 Pro Pack/Poser 5 (optional)

Bryce, Terragen, other world creator (optional)

Photoshop/Paint Shop Pro/Equivalent photo editor with layers

Your photograph or digital image

This tutorial (well that's just a DUH isn't it!?)

Used in this tutorial:

Photoshop

Image created in Terragen

Most preview images have been shrunk down to around 500px. Some may have larger preview images that open in a new window. Those images with larger previews will have (click for larger preview) under the image.

If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to e-mail me or contact me at any of the sites I frequent (3D Commune, Renderosity, Poser Pros and DeviantArt), username: serpentis.

Step 1 - Getting Started

Open your image in Photoshop or Paint Shop Pro. We're going to use the default (black and white) foreground and background color (D). The image I'm using was created in Terragen, of course your image may be a photograph or created in Poser or Bryce or…well you get the idea. ;)

Step 2 - Clones everywhere

Duplicate the layer Background layer (either Background or Layer 0) (Ctrl+J) so that there are 2 layers. Make sure your layer is named Layer 1 so you can easily follow along with the rest of the tutorial.

Step 3 - Gettin on the Grain

On layer Layer 1, we're going to be applying a Grain filter (Filter/Texture/Grain). Set the Intensity to 55 and the Contrast to 50. Grain Type Stippled.

Step 4 - Adding Motion

Now go to Filter/Blur/Motion Blur. The Angle is going to be the direction that you want the rain to “fall” in and the Distance will be the “speed” of the rain (in other words how much it's raining, like just regular rain or fast downpour.)

Step 5 -

Duplicate the background layer again (Ctrl+J) and name it Layer 2. Drag it above Layer 1. We're going to use a Layer Mask (Layer/Add Layer Mask/Reveal All) to create the “rain” effect.

Step 6 - Applying an Image

With the top layer selected, go to Image/Apply Image and apply the following settings:

Blending: Normal

Opacity: 100%

Mask: Checked

Mask Layer: Layer 1

Mask Channel: Gray

Invert: Checked

Step 7 - Blending

Change the blend mode of Layer 1 to Overlay.

Step 8 -

Create a new layer (Shift-Ctrl+N) and drag it to the top of the list. Name the new layer Layer 3, if it's not already and flood the new layer with white. Apply the Grain filter (Filter/Texture/Grain) again with the same setting as in step 03.

This is what your image should look like (or similar):

Step 9 - Motion again

With Layer 3 selected, apply another Motion Blur (Filter/Blur/Motion Blur). Use the same Angle you used in step 4 but set the Distance to double (approximately) what you used before.

You'll notice that you lose a lot of the lighter colors so you may want to do a Curves (Ctrl+M) adjustment. These are just the settings I used and thought would look good. Your results may vary depending on what look you're going for.

Step 10 - The Final Steps

Set the blending mode for Layer 3 to Linear Dodge and the layer opacity to 45%.

Of course, you may choose to use different opacities or different layer blends depending on your personal preferences. Play, play, PLAY! That can't be stressed enough, most of these settings were figured out by just playing around with stuff inside of Photoshop. :)

Step 11 - Finito

Displacement Map Tattoos

2011-11-01T17:42:39+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Displacement Map Tattoos

Author: Que Arres

Tools Needed

DAZ Studio or similar
Photoshop 7 or later

Introduction

If you've ever tried to edit a skin texture to give your figure a tattoo, you've probably realized how difficult it is, especially when you're trying to align seams to match up properly. This tutorial gives you a way to “cheat” using the Displace filter in Photoshop.

Step 1 - Prepare Your Image

First, you need a figure who wants a tattoo. Set up your scene normally and render the image. Also render an image with a plain black background. For the image I used, it is the same, so I only had to render it once. Next, find a tattoo you want to give your figure or draw your own. This was the one I used:

Step 2 - Set Up The Tattoo

Set up the tattoo where you want it to appear on the figure. I decided to change the color of mine so it could be seen well. Set this layer to Multiply, and adjust the opacity to your liking.

Now for the displacement map.

Step 3 - Creating The Displacement Map

This is probably the most involved step, so pay attention. Open up the render with the black background. Go to Image > Adjustments > Desaturate (or Shft+Ctrl+U). Next, go to Image > Adjustments > Brightness/Contrast. Set the values thusly:

Lastly, go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur. Depending on the size of your render, you may need to blur it more or less, but this is the setting I used:

This done, save your image as Displacement.PSD. It is important that it is saved in this format.

Close out of this file and go back to your original picture (the one with the tattoo layer).

Step 4 - Displacing The Tattoo

Now for the fun part. Make sure your tattoo layer is selected. Go to Filter > Distort > Displace. Set the values thusly:

You will then be prompted for the displacement map. Open the file you just created (Displacement.PSD) and apply. This is the result:

Notice how the tattoo now curves around the figures arm? This is what we want. No texture editing required!

Step 5 - Finishing Touches

Finish up your image by erasing the excess tattoo, such as the areas that go off her arm or on her outfit. Merge the layers and you're done!

Here's another example where I used this technique:

I hope you find this tutorial useful!

Step 6 - One Last Thing...

If you use this technique often, you may want to create an Action for the steps for creating the displacement map. It'll make the process go much faster.

That's all for now .

Dramatic lights SFX in postwork

2011-11-01T17:42:39+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Dramatic lights SFX in postwork

Author: SaraC

Tools Needed

Paint Shop Pro
Photoshop

Introduction

Create simple and dramatic postworked lighting effects using basic tools in Paint Shop Pro.

Step 1 - Duplicate the layer

The final image we're aiming for is shown above. It's titled ONE SHOT and uses Steph Petite, SanctumArt's RDL7 set from DAZ, and an image of the Horsehead nebula for the background. For a comparison of the original and final image, see Step 8.

This tutorial adds the visible spotlight to the girl, as well as the lights shining up from the holes in the floor.

I'm using Paint Shop Pro7. Other versions of Paint Shop Pro and Photoshop have similar capabilities.

Before you start, duplicate the layer (Layers / Duplicate) and work on the top layer only. This is important because later we'll need to re-use part of the original image underneath.

Step 2 - Set darkness level

Go to Effects / Illumination effects / Lights.

This dialog box enables you to set up to five lights on your scene. If you have any previous settings, get rid of them by moving all the white dots over to one side and turn them off by unchecking the 'On' box. Use the zoom buttons between the image boxes to zoom out if you can't find the dots. Sometimes they wander!

First we need to set the Darkness level. I'm using a mid value of 35 since the image is already quite dark.

Step 3 - Set the first light

Now for the lights. You work in the image on the left, while the image on the right gives an instant preview. Each time you click the eye, your main image also updates. If you click the down-arrow beside the eye, it locks it so that the main image will automatically update each time you make a change.

To set the first light over the girl, drag one of the lights onto the image in the left box and zoom in. Check the 'On' box. Watch the preview on the right as you adjust the position of the light and the following parameters:

- Drag the crosshairs on either side to make the cone size narrower or wider.

- Drag the circled crosshair (longer or shorter) to change the focus of the light. Although I've positioned the white dot on the image, the focus is long enough that the origin of the light is off the picture, which is what I want.

- Click on the color to bring up the color palette. I want a dramatic light so I've used a pale colour.

- Adjust the intensity of the light by typing a number into the Intensity box or using the up/down arrows for fine-tuning. Again I've used a high number for a dramatic light.

Step 4 - Set a floor light

If you click OK now, you won't be able to set more lights. You have to set them all in one go.

Drag a second white dot over the floor at the lower right and adjust its shape and colour. For this light I'm using a narrower cone and longer focus.

Step 5 - Zoom of floor light

Note that the narrow cone I've chosen has given a pointed base to the light cone, which is narrower than the hole it's emerging from. I've positioned the light below the level it should be. The light below the red arrow is going to be removed later.

Step 6 - Set the other lights

Here I've set the other two lights. As with the first light, I've placed the pointed base of the second light cone lower than it should be so it looks like it's emerging from the full width of the hole.

The third light is slightly further back in the image and overlaps the second one, so I've used a lower intensity of 10. Otherwise the lights add together where they overlap, and are too strong.

Once you have all the lights set, click OK.

Step 7 - Fix the light cone bases

Time to fix the bases of the cones. Make sure your top layer is selected.

Using the freehand selection tool with a feather of 2, select an area that includes the parts you want removed.

Hit delete. The top layer is removed and the orignal layer now shows through in the selected area. Right-click to deselect. Merge the layers (Layers / Merge / Merge All).

Step 8 - Final image

Here are the original and final image side by side.

Step 9 - Another example

Here's another example of using dramatic lights as special effects on your image. This image is called SO FAR AWAY.

Dreamy Photo

2011-11-01T17:42:39+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Dreamy Photo

Author: LunaL

Tools Needed

Photoshop 7.0

Step 1 - Duplicate

Let's give this girl natural skin color. First, duplicate the layer.

Step 2 - Hue/Saturation

Hit Ctrl+U to open the Hue/Saturation box.

Tick “Colorize” and play around with the color until you get the skin color you want. In my case, yellowish instead of blue and purple.

Step 3 - Gaussian Blur

Make sure you get the colors right because it's the colors that we will be focusing on. After that, go to Filter > Blur >

Gaussian Blur and blur it to taste.

Step 4 - Blend mode

Done? Good. After that, simply change the Blend mode into “Overlay”

My image ended up like this >

Step 5 - "Lightness"

Just optional touch-ups in case the final picture is too dark.

Hit Ctrl+U and adjust the “Lightness” bar until you get a good color on the skin. Play around with the “Hue” bar too if you still got the color a bit wrong.

Step 6 - Merge

Now merge your two layers together..

And you're done!

Easy 3-D Embellishments from Clipart

2011-11-01T17:42:39+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Easy 3-D Embellishments from Clipart

Author: cowham

Tools Needed

* Adobe Photoshop 7 or higher

Introduction

Make 3-D art from 2-D black and white clipart, easily using Adobe Photoshop 7 or higher. Use as embellishments, your own resource kit, web design… the sky is the limit. (Be sure to check the clip art copy right info before you sell anything)

Step 1: Trim the Background

Our Clip Art Image (this is a shape that comes with photo shop)

Any black and white clip art will do.

Use the selection wand from the tool box and click on the white background image.

Now press the Delete (or DEL) key on your keyboard.

This step is not required, but helpful if done first.

Step 2: Separate Black and White

Next we need to separate the black from the white. There are several ways to do this, I find this to be the easiest way.

From the SELECT menu choose COLOR RANGE.

In the new pop up box click on the area you want to add texture too (I choose the white part).

Then in your Layers box, make a new layer. (The icon that looks like a little post it note)

You can open the Layers box, or any other tool from the WINDOW menu.

Step 3: Painting the Selection

Using the Paint tool from the tool box, click inside your selection to paint the area white.

The image doesn't appear to change much, but it does…

Look at your Layers box again.

Click on the little eye next to Layer 1, and that layer is turned off.

This is what our new layer looks like.

Step 4: Adding Texture

From the WINDOW menu, choose styles.

A new tool box pops up, with little colored squares in it.

Notice on the top right corner there is a little circle with an arrow in it. Click on it will bring up a new menu with lots of options. Near the bottom are more style sets you can switch to. In the middle you can reset to the default sets or load more. There are tons of free ones on the internet.

Click on a colored box to apply the style to your selection.

Our layer 2 has also changed. Double clicking the layer will bring up the style control box. There are lots of buttons and knobs to play with, feel free to experiment with them.

Our image on a black background.

Step 5: More Examples

Some more examples using the standard styles.

Please take note that some styles may not appear to do anything when you click them. This is because we used white as our paint color. Some styles will appear differently on black, white, and grey.

Easy Glow Effect

2011-11-01T17:42:39+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Easy Glow Effect

Author: cowham

Tools Needed

* Adobe Photoshop

Introduction

Make a glowing background effect in Adobe Photoshop.

Step 1: Load Image

First load your render or image that you want to use. (This effect works well for text too!) Your image must be on its own transparent layer.

Saving from poser (with no background like cyclorama) to a PNG format will either save it as we need it, or save the background with the image part transparent.

If it saves the image as transparent, save the render again as a PSD file. Load both in Photoshop and select the background of the PNG with the wand selection tool. Go to the Select Menu, and Save Selection.

Now switch to the other render file (Window Menu, Documents - all open files will be in a list at the bottom), and delete the background (by pushing the delete key). If you somehow lose your selection, go to the Select Menu, and Load Selection (choosing whatever you named it in the drop down list).

If you want to keep your background, go to the Select Menu and choose Inverse. Now go to the Edit Menu and choose Copy. Then go to the Edit Menu again and say Paste, it will paste the image into a new layer.

We will need to make a new layer. Go to the Window Menu and choose Layers to open the Layers Box. Click on the post it note icon in the right bottom corner.

Step 2: Select the Image

We need to make our new layer black (or whatever color you want, dark works best). First click on the new layer. Click on the two small squares at the bottom of the Tool Box (to open the Tool Box go to Window Menu, Tools). This will reset the two big boxes to black and white. Click on the black big box, and then on the paint bucket tool and click somewhere on the image.

Now click and hold on the new layer we painted black and drag it UNDER the image layer in the Layers Box. Clicking and dragging will move layers up and down the list. This is IMPORTANT. Layers on the top of the list are seen first, and layers at the bottom of the list are seen last.

Click on the image layer again. Now in the Tool Box just below the black and white boxes there are two squares with circles in them. Click on the right one.

This turns quick mask on. The background image should turn red. Choose the paintbrush tool and paint around the outside of the image.

Paint over any hair wisps, it doesn't have to be perfect, if you paint a little over the image it won't matter too much.

Please note that if you use a feathered brush all sorts of strange things will happen. When you choose the brush tool, in the upper left corner of the screen there is a drop down box next to the word Brush: Choose one that does not fade out towards the edge. Earlier versions of Photoshop will have to open the Brush Box from the Window Menu to change brushes.

When you are done, click on the left button to turn quick mask off.

Step 3: Add the Glow

This is what our image looks like now, with the selection.

If you are using text and want the X-Files glow save the selection (see Step 1). You only need to do this step once with a feather of 5 or so pixels (with a green color).

Make a new layer. It must be the first one under the image. Now go to the Select Menu and choose Feather. I used ten pixels. Depending on the size of your image you may want to choose more pixels (Generally somewhere between five and twenty).

Do this again. (And no, using 20 pixels once will not give you the same effect.) Click on the upper color box (it should be black) and choose a dark-ish color you like. I used a grey-ish teal color. Choose the paint bucket, and click inside the selection.

Repeat the two Feathers, and choose a lighter color this time. Make a new Layer and paint bucket inside the selection. This layer must be under the first one.

Repeat the two Feathers, and make a new layer. Now choose a light almost white color and paint bucket again inside the selection. This layer must be under the previous layers.

This is the Layer Order I used:

You can have any number of layers or color combinations, but I have found three works best.

If you are using text and want the X-files glow, load your selection (Select Menu, Load Selection - and choose whatever you named it in the drop down box). In a new layer ABOVE all of the other layers paint the selection green (also try black or white).

Step 4: Bonus Step

Make a new layer and add (copy/paste) your background. Refer to my Easy Starry Night Sky tutorial to make stars like these. This layer must be below the glow layers. Also note, that this step does not look right on a plain black layer.

Now go to the Filter Menu, Choose Render, and Lens Flare. Now you have to guess where to put the flare, somewhere in the middle of the head will do. (If you don't get it right the first time hit Ctrl-Z to undo or Edit Menu, and Undo.) The last option 105mm Prime is a white colored flare. (The other two are reddish colors) Make this flare big by dragging the slider at the top to the right.

Our final image:

Some sample Text:

Easy Wispy Fog Effect

2011-11-01T17:42:39+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Easy Wispy Fog Effect

Author: cowham

Tools Needed

* Adobe Photoshop

Introduction

Make easy wispy fog in Adobe Photoshop, using only basic filters and layers.

Step 1: Setup Fog

The first thing you need to do is open your render, or background image. (File Menu, Open)

I used a Cyclorama (Heart of the Forest) background render.

Open your Layers Box, (Window Menu, Layers) and make a new layer by clicking on the post it note icon in the bottom right corner.

Also in your Tool Box (Window Menu, Tools), near the bottom, make sure the colors in the two big boxes are black and white. (Clicking on the small boxes to the left will reset them to black and white)

Step 2: Make Fog

Go the Filter Menu, Render, and choose Clouds.

Go to the Filter Menu again, Render and choose Difference Clouds. Run this filter 6 or 7 times. This will make the fog wispy.

Step 3: Alter Fog

Now it's time to alter the fog. Go the Filter Menu, choose Blur, and then Motion Blur. Feel free to move the little slider to change the amount of blur. More motion equals wispy fog. Less motion equals chunky fog.

Now in the upper left corner of the Layers Box, click on the little arrow to the right of the Normal box and choose Screen from the drop down list.

Also, click on the Opacity slider and make the layer more transparent if you wish.

Our altered fog image:

Step 4: Additional Examples

This one only used the Clouds Filter (not with the Difference Clouds)

I used a light blue color instead of white.

I used purple and black to make the fog, which is only on the far background by the clouds and mountains. I used the eraser tool to erase the unwanted fog. You can also select an area and run the filters inside the selection. (Make sure you de-select before running the motion blur)

The blue and purple fogs combined.

I used a light pink and a dark navy blue for the clouds filter.

Enhancing a Portrait Style Render

2011-11-01T17:42:39+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Enhancing a Portrait Style Render

Author: momodot

Tools Needed

* Any version of Poser and an image editor similar to Photoshop.

Introduction

Given that photo based textures and ready-made content are used extensively in Poser work the novice Poser artist should not be afraid to use ~post-work' to enhance their renders after the fact to make them the best images they can. Maybe the first thing a Poser user should learn is to smudge away the joint creases and other flaws nearly inevitable in a render. This tutorial will consider methods derived from traditional photography as they can be applied to a Poser render for further enhancement of the image. Photoshop will be used here but the concepts should apply in work with other image editors.

Step 1: Tips for Render Composition

Here is a basic render. I have used James Casual and the Modern Mansion found on the standard Poser install. I think about how my figures has placed its weight on the ground and how the weight is shifted within the figure as this influences the figures posture even as seen in a head and shoulders render. Notice the asymmetry of the shoulders that adds visual interest here. I also place my scene elements to make interesting shapes in my background and so as not to seem to intersect the figure inadvertently in any awkward places. I think about how the background interacts with the shapes of the figure; see here how the horizontal and diagonal lines in the background meet the figure's ears for instance, creating nice shapes and not seeming to pierce the ear opening. Also see how the areas of light and dark in the background interact with the figure; the sky through the window shows the curves of the head and the areas of light and dark found on either side of the figure are intended to create interest and relate to the light and shadow on the face. Choosing the height at which to place the camera is as important as any other issue of framing as the angle of view controls the shapes in the composition as well as the mood.

I have turned the shadow feature off on my lights that are set to 'infinite' so that the scene itself will not cast shadows where they are not wanted; I use the infinite lights set to a low intensity to create the ambient lights set in a scene. These lights are to make sure everything gets a minimal level of lighting so they are visible and to act as a 'fill-light' to show detail in the shadows. Unless I am representing sunlight with an infinite light I use spot lights to create the primary highlights and shadows , this is because the spots can be arrange inside the scene space so that shadows from things such as walls, ceiling and props can be controlled. I think hard about what light sources might be realistic in a scene, I place spot lights and point lights where I think actual light sources might be located in a real world scene; lamps, camera flash, reflection. Once I have done this I can play with lights placed for artist expression which may or may not represent accurate light sources. Always do test renders with shadows to see that the shadows don't obscure anything inadvertently and that they make pleasant shapes on the shapes and planes in a scene.

Step 2: Creating a Quick Mask

This is a nice way to make a selection mask for the eyes. The eyes can of course be selected by hand with the lasso tool in Photoshop but I find this method easiest. This method works best if the render dimensions are identical to the preview dimensions. The dimensions should certainly have the same aspect ratio. I have gone to the Preview Mode selector and chosen 'Element' style. I have set each eye of the figure to silhouette preview mode and chosen for the foreground color a bright shade of blue not found in the scene… any color not found elsewhere in the scene is suitable. I choose 'anti-alias' from the render menu and export the image with an appropriate name so I can match it to the Render file, I add to the name the suffix 'mask' to distinguish it from the render file.

Step 3: Applying the Quick Mask

I open my render, it is safest to save it under a new name first thing so if I make mistakes or change my mind the original render is not ruined. Also to create a duplicate 'background layer' in this file so that the original render is below your working layers.

Open the quick mask image, make sure it is the same dimensions as your render, and select all, copy, got to the open render window and paste. The images should be aligned properly. You can check by lowering the opacity of the new layer. Now use the Magic Wand selection tool to select the blue eye area. Delete the mask layer and the selection should be intact on the duplicate background area. Cut and paste this selection and you should have a floating layer with only the eyes on it.

Step 4: Light and Shadow on the Eyes

Use the burn tool set to a soft small tip and an intermediate opacity to burn the upper area of the eye where a shadow from the lids might fall on it. As you have isolated the eyes to their own layer what you do will not affect the eyelids or any of the rest of the face.

Now dodge the lower part of the iris. In the image here you will see the eyes of the original eyes inset above the now modified eyes for comparison. Remember you can do this dodging and burning zoomed in on the eyes for better control but if you zoom in too close you will not see the effect properly.

Since these modified eyes are on their own layer you can use the layer opacity slide to control how much of the modification you want to appear in the final image. Once you have the effect you want merge the layer down to the duplicate background layer.

Step 5: Faking Depth of Field

Here we want to simulate the effect of depth of focus from photography. What this means is that a certain distance from the camera (virtual camera in this case) is in focus while things closer and further than that distance are more blurry to greater or lesser degree. Poser 6 Firefly render can simulate depth of field but the render times are long and any detail lost to the blurring cannot be recovered. In post-work we have control over the focus, the amount of focus overall, and can choose to do expressive rather than realist focus. We apply Gaussian Blur to this new layer rather than using the standard blur filter. The blur can be quite strong as the layer opacity can be changed after to make the effect more subtle.

Make a mask by clicking the mask button on the layer pallet while the blur layer is selected. Choose the paint brush and select a large soft brush tip. Select black and white for your foreground and background colors. Make sure your mask is selected by clicking on its icon in on the layer palette and paint black where you want to reveal the original sharp render. If you make a mistake you can paint the mask back with white. Think of black on the mask blocking the blurred layer and white on the mask as transparent letting the blur through. You can use the opacity setting on the brush tool for greater control. Remember that everything a certain distance should be in focus, this means the floor, clothes, props, etc. Merge down the blur layer when you are done.

Step 6: Fixing the Edges

Choose the blur tool set to an intermediate opacity and the 'darken' method. Trace the edges where the figure overlaps the background, and edges in the background that are too harsh, and even where the figure overlaps its self such as the jaw line over the neck or the nostril area. You can use the 'Fade' command in Photoshop to lessen the effect.

Step 7: Contrast and Grain

We are nearly done! Use the levels tool from the image menu to adjust the tonal range of your image to suit you. I often find Poser renders dark and muddy so I move the midtone point a bit to the left to brighten the images and then adjust the shadow pointer to maintain strong darks.

Create a new copy of the duplicate background you have been working on and apply the sharpen filter to it. You can then use the eraser on this layer where the sharpening has caused unpleasant edge artifacts; usually in details areas such as the eyes. Merge the sharpen layer down. Where there are artifacts from sharpening such as light pixel fringes along dark edges you can often obtain a nice correction by using the blur tool set to the 'darken' method.

Noise can give a realistic look to a render but any JPEGs you save from the image will take more memory. Grain tricks the eye into imagining there is more detail in the image and hides texture problems like the overly smooth sweater in this image. Make a duplicate layer, add noise, set the opacity to the desired effect and merge down.

Step 8: Dodge and Burn

The reason for dodging and burning on a new layer are two-fold. First for reversibility, but more importantly because the dodge and burn tools can effect color saturation and distort colors in an unpleasant way. By working on a duplicate layer set to the 'Luminosity' method only the brightness of the image will be affected. Begin by dodging what is already light and you believe would be struck by light in the scene and then burn where the shadows need strengthening such as on the neck under the chin and jaw. You can experiment with expressive use of dodge and burn as well, the lights and darks can be used to emphasize certain areas as visual focal points in the composition. Merge the layer down.

Step 9: Fade All

Since the work has all been on or above the original duplicate layer you can now adjust its opacity to let the original render through to greater or lesser degree. Merge the layer down.

Step 10: The Finale

You may want to reduce the saturation of the image as Poser renders can have colors that are un-realistically vivid. I have adjusted the levels one last time because I want a light atmospheric look.

Enhancing Your Portraits

2011-11-01T17:42:39+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Enhancing Your Portraits

Author: SlwMtionDaylite

Tools Needed

Poser
Photoshop CS

Introduction

For a while, I've had people asking me to write a tutorial on how I create my portrait series. In this tutorial are the basic techniques I took when creating my image, “Queen.” I used Poser 6 and Photoshop CS (there are filters I am not sure are available in the older versions) for this image.

Step 1 - Lighting

The most important thing, particularly for this image, is lighting. And I highly recommend getting rid of the default lighting. Almost nothing good can come from it.

Usually, I'm lazy when it comes to lighting and usually end up using preset lighting. Not that there's anything wrong with that, mind you. There are some awesome light sets out there. But regardless, I choose my lighting. And sometimes,

for me, that can take a good long while depending… Sometimes, I'll find a light set that is almost perfect for the image and then set about tweaking it to fit.

Step 2 - Rendering

After I get everything set just right, I begin rendering. As I have mentioned before, I can be very lazy (and impatient), so unless I'm rendering an image that has P5/P6 only apps, I use the basic P4

renderer and avoid Firefly.

I also render big, just in case I decide to make something a print.

Step 3 - Postwork

After bringing the image into PSCS, I begin postworking.

The first step(s) are ones I use on almost every single one of my images:

1. duplicate the background image

4 times

2. Set layer modes (top to bottom):

1. Mode: Color Opacity: 100%

2. Mode: Overlay Opacity: 20%

3. Mode: Softlight Opacity: 20%

4. Mode Normal Opacity: 100%

3. Link all the duplicated layers together and merge.

4. Select Image/Adjustments/Curves and use a curve similar to this image.

Step 4 - Duplicate and Set to Soft Light

Next, duplicate the layer you've just flattened and set it to Soft Light.

Then, bring up the curves window again and input

a curve similar to this image

Step 5 - Diffuse Glow

You then take that layer and (after making sure your background and foreground colors are set to default), go to Filter/Distort/Diffuse Glow.

For this particular image I used the following settings:

Step 6 - Brighten Eyes

Something I almost always find myself doing is brightening up the eyes.

To do this, I duplicate the original background layer, bring it up top, select the lasso tool, and select only the eyes. Then I select the inverse of my selection and press delete to get rid of the unnecessary.

Next, I set the layer to ColorDodge (or LinearDodge) and get out my eraser to erase any remaining unneeded parts.

Step 7 - Touch up

Now, I'm almost finished, except for final touchups.

In the last step, you may have noticed her glowing nostrils and the unrealistic lighting between her neck and collar. Of course, this is an easy fix. Simply create a new layer, and with a small brush, paint in the areas with black (adjusting opacity as you see fit).

Step 8 - Final Results

And here is the final result.

Step 9 - More Examples

Here are a few more examples of portraits of mine using the same method as I used here.

Ethereal effect and edges

2011-11-01T17:42:39+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Ethereal effect and edges

Author: Naniette

Tools Needed

* Paint Shop Pro or other Paint Program

* A rendered image or picture

Introduction

On this tutorial I will explain how to add an ethereal effect and edges to your renders, plus how to create glowing text. I will be using Corel Paint Shop Pro but it can be easily adapted to other paint programs.

Step 1: The Effect

To create effects similar to the image above do the following:

Open your image, duplicate the layer and name it BlurLayer, to duplicate go to Layer – Duplicate or right click on the layer in your layers palette, if your layers palette is not visible pres F8 to open it.

Note: If you want to add this effect to your character only and not the background, render your character separately, and put him/her in a new layer on top of the background picture.

With the new layer selected, go to Adjust – Blur – Gaussian Blur, I have used a value of 10, this may vary depending on image size, and your image should look somewhat like this:

Really blurred huh? Don't worry that is what we wanted. Now let's change our layer mode, on your layers palette, look for the word normal, click on it and you will get a popup menu like this one:

Choose screen as the layer mode, as you can see the image is already looking 'dreamy' but the effect may be too bright, so unless you are looking for such a bright effect you should lower the opacity. I have set mine to 75%. But it's all about what works best for your image.

Step 2: Adjustments

You may need to adjust the brightness and contrast of the image, go to Adjust – Brightness and Contrast (Shift+B) and adjust them to your liking, I have adjusted brightness by 15 and contrast by 10, but again this depends on your image.

This is how it is looking so far:

Step 3: Layer modes

With some tweaking this can be used to create other effects. If your character is on a separate layer from the background, try lowering the opacity on the original layer to get a 'ghostly' image!

Changing layer modes can also get you some really interesting effects!

Step 4: The Border

Create a new layer and name it Border, using the selection tool (S), outline a box around your image.

Invert your selection, selection – invert (Ctrl+Shift+I). Select the color you want to fill the borders with, fill the selection.

Go to adjust – blur – Gaussian blur. The radius will depend on the size of your image and the effect you want, I used a radius of 20 and then lowered the opacity of the border layer. Make sure you deselect the border (Ctrl+D) since this will alter the results!.

Step 5: The final image

Here's the final result, compare the original and the final image: it has been resized but I think you can appreciate the effect rather well!

Step 6: It works with text too

This can also be used to create “glowing” text. Here's how to do it:

Create a new image, let's make it 400×400 so we will have plenty of space, choose a text color, and write something. Duplicate that layer two times.

Choose the layer that is on top, and go to Adjust - Blur, when asked if you want to convert to a raster layer press OK, I used a radius of 5, but this will vary depending on the size of your text, set that layer to screen mode, and adjust the opacity if needed.

Choose the lower layer and change the text color to black or a dark gray, we will use this to create a drop shadow effect, move the text a bit down and to the side and you get this:

If you want your glow to be stronger, duplicate the blurred layer. The same goes for the drop shadow.

Step 7: Conclusion

Take this further! Try using different colors and layer modes to see what you can create. Thank you for reading this tutorial, if you have any comments feel free to contact me.

Fade to Black

2011-11-01T17:42:39+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Fade to Black

Author: Jenn A

Tools Needed

Adobe Photoshop 7

Introduction

Hi all…well I promised something on lighting so here it is…this is something very simple that everyone could do I discovered this after playing around in photoshop and I thought it was a really neat trick…thanks for taking a look…Jenn

Step 1 - Select Alpha Channel

If you saved your original poser render as a .tif or .PSD then you should have an alpha channel. To use the alpha channel you go to the channel tab and the last one should say Alpha. Then you hit Ctrl + click with you mouse…it's very important that you do this together.

Then when you go back to your layers tab everything except for the gray part of your poser image should be highlighted. Then you go to Edit- > Copy or Ctrl+C and the go to File- > New or Ctrl+N…select your image size and then go to Edit- > Paste or Ctrl+V. Now you should have this - >

Step 2 - Adding Background

I only wanted a simple black background but I assume this is possible with a more complicated background as well. It is very important that you position your character exactly where you want her and do all of your postwork (meaning adding hair, clothing, and other props). Since I want something very simple I just paint fill the background with black.

Then I use the select tool and select the layer with my character on it…a dotted lined ring should appear around the figure like so - >

Step 3 - Feather

Now comes the fun part…the wonderful feather tool…which I have just now discovered…lol and I've been using photoshop forever… :) Go to Select- > Feather and use the settings above you can definitely play around with this..the higher the setting the more of the figure that will be faded…the lower the setting the less that will be faded… between 20-50 is a good range to chose from. After doing that you will notice that your dotted ring has changed shape - >

The next thing you do is press Backspace…I usually do this twice but you could do this more or less…again just play with it until you like the results. Now you should have something like this - >

After that all you have to do is merge the layers and do all other postwork you want to do…check out the glow tutorial to receive similar results as the Intro image. I hope I explained this well and it is useful to you…if you have any questions feel free to email me, Jenai21@yahoo.com or you can IM me at Rendo my username is Jenai21.

Step 4 - After Glow Tutorial

Hi all…I just cropped and followed the glow tutorial…and this is the final result.

Fast caustic lights without the wait.

2011-11-01T17:42:39+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Fast caustic lights without the wait.

Author: Locke21

Tools Needed

* Photoshop

Introduction

For anyone who has ever done underwater render, they know the icing on the cake is the light that come from the surface and forms columns in the water. Most often created with volumetric light cones, they have two big drawbacks, they don't look very real, and they make for a huge leap in render times. Well I'm going to show you how to create realistic columns of underwater light in post that help you cut down your render times dramatically!

Step 1: Step One

The first step is to create your scene. For the purpose of speed, I've created a really simple one, just land, water, two light sources and a shark. The top light source uses a caustic gel to give that great light effect on the shark and the bottom, while the other light source is turned down and is lighting the belly of the shark. While you're in the water, any light that enters the water bounces off tiny particles and causes an under light on most objects.

Step 2: Step Two

You'll need an object mask of all objects in the scene, so select them all, click Object Mask in the Render side menu and render. This will be very important for creating a sense of scale and perspective later on.

Step 3: Step Three

Then you need to render your image. Just as an experiment, I rendered this image, then added three simple volume light columns and rendered again. The render time jumped from nine minutes and forty seconds to sixteen minutes! Just from three very simple lights! Can you imagine if I used a lot to try and get a sense of realism???

Step 4: Step Four

Ok, now that you have your renders, it's time to get to work. Open up both your render and the object mask. Copy the entire object mask and copy it into the Alpha channel of your render. Then, we begin to create the beam that will be the basis for our columns of light. It's real easy. Just take your brush and set a soft tip. The size will depend on the size of the caustics on the seabed, but we'll just use a simple 100 pixel brush. Also, smaller brush sizes are used to create columns further away. Then set the color to white.

Step 5: Step Five

First create a new layer for our light columns. For the columns to look right, they need to get bigger as they go down. To make our brush act like that, we'll use the Pen Tool to create a path along which our brush will move. Please pay close attention as to how the shadows fall in relation to the objects throwing them. The paths will have to move at the same general angle.

Step 6: Step Six

Now right click with the Pen Tool and choose Stroke Path. Choose the Brush tool and make sure the option Simulate Pressure is checked. Then choose Ok. You should get something very similar to what I have. Then take a nice big soft Eraser and erase the bottom of the beam. We only want the top cone-shaped part.

Step 7: Step Seven

Ok, you've noticed that the light beam ends up a bit short. So we have to use the Transform tools to re-scale it so that it reaches past the top of the picture, all the way to the bottom. A hint, use the Zoom Tool to Zoom out several picture sizes. That way you can have a working area larger that your picture.

Step 8: Step Eight

Ok, now here is where we create that great dapple effect. Take your Eraser tool, choose small, soft tips and set the opacity to about 10%. Click once at the top of the light column. Move your eraser to the bottom, hold down shift and click again. A small line will appear in the column. Do this over and over with different size tips till your happy with the effect. Just make sure to keep the lines as parallel as possible while making a fan shape.

Step 9: Step Nine

Now you have to make the light look right. To do that, change the layer style to Overlay and lower the opacity. The amount is up to you, but the general rule is the higher the opacity, the closer the columns are to you.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot. To deal with columns that go behind the objects in your scene, use the Select by Color option and the object mask. You can mask off the object, erase everything that is supposed to go behind it and it will increase the realism 100%.

For a full-sized example of this technique, head over to the Poser Pros gallery and look for a picture called Atlantis.

Happy Rendering!

Feathers and Flight

2011-11-01T17:42:39+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Feathers and Flight

Author: Firebirdz

Tools Needed

Photoshop
Mouse or Drawing Tablet (recommended)

Introduction

Many a Time, what is often overlooked after rendering birds is to make them more believable. Rendered feathers are usually static and unless they are highly detailed, require touchups on the feathers. Birds in flight will also look static without touchups on the wings. Here are some simple tips that can give that render a little something extra.

Step 1 - Duplicating the layer

In this render, the hummingbird hovers but the wings look “frozen” in time. With a little help from the standard photoshop filters, you can create a feeling of motion to the image.

I first made a duplicate layer in Photoshop and saved the file. Always work with the duplicate layer so that you can go back to the original if you want to restart. Remember to save snapshots along the way in your History palette.

Step 2 - Making your selection

Using the Lasso Tool or any other appropriate selection tool, select the parts of the wings and tail that would be moving the most during flight.

Step 3 - Applying the Filter

In the File Menu, Select Filter > Blur > Motion Blur.

Adjust the Angle in which the wings would be moving and the desired distance. This would help create the illusion of flight. The higher the distance, the blurrer the selected area. Here, I gave it a setting of 4.

Step 4 - Adjusting the Motion BLur

Adjust the distance setting until you are satisfied with the result.

Step 5 - Working on the Feathers

For larger birds, or closeups of small birds, you can enhance the look of the feathers by “brushing” them. Let's start with the DAZ Eagle.

Step 6 - Brushing the Feathers

Start with the Smudge brush with the following settings: one pixel brush, Mode set to Normal and Strength set to 98%. I also made sure that shape dynamics and other dynamics were also selected (see image below - here I used Photoshop 7 but the function is also available in Photoshop 6).

Proceed to use brush strokes going inwards so as to create gaps between the feathers.

From time to time, brush in the opposite direction (outwards) so bits of feather are pulled out so as to create some irregularity.

Do not overdo this step or there won't be any feather left!

Step 7 - Adding Motion

I then made a selection of the wings and tail and applied the motion blur filter to them to create the illusion of motion. See the steps outlined above. This will prevent the image from being too static.

Here is the result.

Fire Effect

2011-11-01T17:42:39+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Fire Effect

Author: LunaL

Tools Needed

Photoshop

Step 1 - Clouds

Open a new file, I used 400×400, press D to reset your colors.

Goto Filter > Render > Clouds,

then Filter > Render > Difference clouds

keep pressing Ctrl+F until you get something that's sort of like fire such as:

Step 2 - Brush

Then use the brush tool with the color black to go over parts at the top to make it look like the fire ends somewhere and doesn't just take up the whole image such as:

Step 3 - Liquefy

Then go to Filter > Liquefy

using a size 15 brush, with 50-60 density, 100 brush pressure to sharpen the ends and curve them to a more fire like effect.

Step 4 - Gradient Map

Then go to Image > Adjustments > Gradient Map

Change the colors to this

Step 5 - Add to an image

and there you have it, a fire like effect, simply… it's all down to the difference clouds really…

Let's try to use it on a render.

I used this image:

Have your image and fireback next to each other.

Hold down your left mouse button and drag your fire onto the other image.

Now set your top layer mode to Screen.

My image came out looking like this.

Flitter Princess Postwork

2011-11-01T17:42:39+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Flitter Princess Postwork

Author: faeriegurl

Introduction

This tutorial is entirely image-based. Look at the images below and enjoy the tutorial.

Step 1 - Beginning...

Beginning…

Step 2 - Continuing...

Continuing…

…

Step 3 - Almost there...

Almost there…

…

Step 4 - Finishing up.

Finishing up.

…

Fog-Bound Photos

2011-11-01T17:42:39+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Fog-Bound Photos

Author: Locke21

Tools Needed

The Gimp
Photoshop
PhotoPlus5.5
Any image editor that can do layers.

Introduction

Have you ever wanted a picture to have a foggy atmosphere, but don't have the money for expensive programs that create them? No problem, all you need is a image editor capable of transparent layers. I'm using The Gimp, but Photoshop, or PhotoPlus5.5 would work just as well.

Step 1 - Step One

Using the program of your choice, open the picture that you would like to have fogged up.

Step 2 - Step Two

Next, create a transparent layer and then flood fill it white. Then use the toggle switch to shut off the bottom picture.

Step 3 - Step Three

Now you need to add some noise. Each program does this in a slightly different way, but the results are pretty much the same. Whatever program you use, set the noise factor to around 40%.

Step 4 - Step Four

Now is where you have to decide what kind of fog you want. Thick as pea soup or floating around in big puffs. Either way, you achive this effect by blurring the noise. Here is where you will spend most of your time. Every program has a different way of blurring pictures. The Gimp has a great effect called plasma, which breaks the noise up into clumps. However, you must adapt to the programs you have, so it may take some time before you find the effect you like.

Step 5 - Step Five

In the final step, you simply have to set the transparency of the fog layer to somewhere between 20 to 40 percent,

merge it with the picture,

and then save and enjoy your new fog-bound photo.

Freckled face

2011-11-01T17:42:39+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Freckled face

Author: dorkati

Tools Needed

Corel Photo-Paint or other paint program

Introduction

If you don't want to see always perfect models, you need to some naturalistic feeling. Make some freckles on your character's face.

I have Corel Photo-Paint so I use that in this tutorial, but I think the method is same in any other paint program.

Step 1 - Settings

First of all, open a texture in your paint program. I used my own P4 texture. Choose a darker color than the skin base. (see below)

Select the airbrush. Size 4 if you use for P4, but if your texture is in high-resolution, you can use larger size.

Select soft edges. Open your brush settings docker from window menu (in Corel) and adjust this settings, like on picture below.

Use large spread setting for realistic freckles. You can increase density if you click on orbits.

Step 2 - Painting

If you finished with settings, make 2 line with your mouse (like me) or your pen. From nose to cheek bones. Once to the left, than to the right. On nose will be more freckles, like on real faces. Draw a line to brow and put some flecks sparsely.

It is terrible. Now you need to some refinements. Choose Gaussian blur. Setting is 2 or 3. Or what you want. Try more settings. You can see the different below.

Maybe it would be better if the freckles would be pale. If you want this, set the transparency form 100% to 70%.

Step 3 - Check your work in Poser

Make savings with different settings and check your work often in Poser. Below you can see the results with different settings.

Choose which you like and use it :)

If you have any questions, feel free to e-mail me.

fairyfan@freestart.hu

From Renders to Layers

2011-11-01T17:42:40+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

From Renders to Layers

Author: White_Star

Tools Needed

DAZ Studio
Photoshop

Introduction

Sometimes the creativity that goes into an image is limited by the amount of computer memory (RAM) available to render the image.

In this tutorial I will outline a process whereby a scene in DAZ Studio can be broken into smaller parts, rendered separately (along with mask rendering), and loaded into Photoshop to reconstruct the complex scene. All without sacrificing those creative ideas at the hand of limited memory!

Step 1 - PLAN INDIVIDUAL RENDERS

Having designed a scene, complete with all required figures and objects in DAZ Studio, save the file (eg. Complete.daz), and start looking for objects that can be saved as groups for separate renders (hereafter referred to as 'subrenders'). In deciding which objects should be grouped together you will need to consider such memory consuming factors as the size of the object or its mesh, the level of texturing that the object may need (including any requirements within the surfaces tab), and whether shadows are used or not. Combining a number of high memory objects, or textured objects is not going to improve your render time or your computer's capability of completing the subrender.

You will also need to consider where shadows would fall in the scene (if using them) and most importantly, the organization of objects obscuring or overlapping other objects. (It would be meaningless to group objects together from the foreground with objects in the background on the same subrender as a great deal of editing would need to be done on fore and background renders in Photoshop to allow for the midground objects).

Step 2 - SAVE THE SUBGROUPS

To set up the first subgroup of objects, you will need to delete all objects from the Scene Pane except for those that are required within the first subgroup (for the first subrender). Be sure not to delete any cameras or lights that will be used within these individual subgroups.

Once this is accomplished, this should be saved using the render number and the scene contents as part of the filename for ready reference within other programs (eg. Sub1vic.daz would be the first subrender featuring Victoria). For this tutorial, I am choosing Victoria as she is the closest figure/object to the camera. The reason for this will become obvious later on.

Once saved, press Ctrl+Z (Undo) repeatedly to bring back all previously deleted objects to the original scene again. Objects that are not required for the second subgroup now need to be deleted, with the remaining objects being saved (eg. Sub2*.daz).

This process should be repeated for as many times as there are groups of objects to subrender.

Step 3 - RENDER TIME!

Before completing any rendering, it is often wise to clear the current scene totally by opening the File menu and selecting the New option, as the history of previously deleted objects will still consume memory that may affect the success of your rendering.

Load sub1vic.daz again, select the desired Render Settings and click Render. Save the image as sub1vicJPG.

Step 4 - CREATING A DAZ STUDIO MASK RENDER

In order to easily select and position Victoria later in Photoshop, we now need to create a Mask Render of sub1vic.daz.

Do this by selecting each light in turn, and in the Parameters Pane turn Illumination to Off.

When completed, this will cause all objects to appear as black silhouettes – perfect for our mask rendering.

For that extra 'mask' look, click the Viewport Options (to the left of the Viewport selection dropdown) and select Background Color. Set this to White and click OK.

Render your mask using the same settings as the sub1vic.daz original subrender, and save this as sub1vicmaskJPG.

Step 5 - COMPLETE RENDERS (ORIGINAL AND MASK) FOR ALL SUBGROUPS

Steps Three and Four need to be followed for all subrenders (masks included) before moving into Photoshop.

Step 6 - CREATING A MASK IN PHOTOSHOP

Load sub1vicJPG and sub1vicmaskJPG into Photoshop.

Select the sub1vicJPG window and in the Layers pane right click on the Background layer, select the 'Duplicate Layer'' option, name the layer Victoria, and click OK. Now click the Eye on the Background layer to cancel its visibility.

By doing this we ensure that we will later be able to see the characteristic checker pattern that indicates transparency in Photoshop.

Now we are going to use the sub1vicmask image within an Alpha Channel in order to accurately select Victoria from the solid color surroundings of the sub1vic image.

Select All of sub1vicmask in Photoshop (Ctrl+A) and press (Ctrl+C) to copy this to the clipboard.

With the original sub1vic window active, go to the Window menu and click Show Channels option. At the bottom of the Channels tab, click the 'Create new channel' button.

When Alpha 1 appears (black screen), press Ctrl+V to Paste the sub1vicmask image into the channel.

Click the RGB channel at the top, and return to the Layers tab for the final stage (to the left of the Channels tab).

Step 7 - USING ALPHA CHANNEL SELECTION

STEP SEVEN: USING ALPHA CHANNEL SELECTION

We are now going to remove the solid color from around Victoria so that she will reside on a transparent film that will allow the display of other layers (the other subrenders) behind her. (Hence, choosing the closest object to the camera for this tutorial).

Click on the Select menu, then the Load Selection' option. The Load Selection window appears, displaying the document name (sub1vicJPG) and a Channel selection dropdown beneath this. Set the Channel dropdown to Alpha 1, and click OK.

Pressing the Delete key will erase all image information surrounding our mask selection of Victoria (all the area surrounding Victoria which was white in the Alpha channel mask).

The first subrender is now reconstructed in the desired position from our original DAZ Studio scene. This process (steps 6 and 7) needs to be repeated for all other subrenders. Each successive subrender will become a layer, just like the sub1vic one has, with layers higher up in the Layer tab being displayed in the image window behind those layers at the bottom of the Layer tab.

Step 8 - FINAL NOTES

In Photoshop, the layer order can be altered by dragging a layer up or down, while duplicating layers and use of the eraser, can result in the sometimes necessary separation of parts of the same objects across a number of layers to correctly represent the original image (as displayed in DAZ Studio).

Another point to note, is that once selected, the black and white areas of the Alpha channel mask can be inverted by pressing Ctrl+I. With such objects now white, this will allow the object area itself to be deleted leaving a transparent hole in the selected layer. An alternative to switching the black and white areas within the Alpha channel mask, would be simply to use the Select menu's Inverse option (Shift+Ctrl+I).

Finally, feathering may need to be used depending on how your mask allows edges to be displayed alongside other objects. If there is a fine white line appearing around an object after its surrounding area has been deleted through the above process, undoing and applying a feather of 0.2 pixels will eliminate this hard edge giving a more natural appearance. Select menu – Feather (ALT+Ctrl+D).

This process seems a lot of work but is not too time consuming and can often be the difference between a great image that makes it into the 3D world and those that never get rendered due to memory limitations.

Happy rendering!

Fur Filter Hair

2011-11-01T17:42:40+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Fur Filter Hair

Author: Amber

Tools Needed

Poser
Photoshop
Eye Candy 4000

Introduction

Learn how to make hair in Photoshop with no drawing skill required!

Step 1 - Make it bald!

First thing you want to do is make your render in Poser. Make your person bald!

Step 2 - New Layer

Next, open your image in Photoshop. Start a new layer on your image: Layer > New > Layer.

Step 3 - Choose Your Color

Now you need to choose what color hair your character is going to have. Our character (Staci) is going to have blonde hair. So we need to choose two colors; one for the foreground and one for the background. Choose a darker shade for the foreground and a lighter shade for the background. This goes for any color you choose to make her hair.

Step 4 - How Big Is Your Brush?

Now choose your brush size. Since my image isn't very big I'm going to use a brush size 17 (airbrush). Choose whatever brush size you feel will best fit the image you're working on.

Step 5 - Now For The Hair...More Or Less...

Now start drawing your hair. We're going to pretend that there is a breeze blowing her hair back. Using your dark foreground color paint the hair on her head. Don't worry about making it look like anything other than a big smudge…the fancy stuff comes later!

Step 6 - And Now For The Light...

Now switch your foreground and background colors and choose a smaller brush (I used airbrush 9) and add a few highlights. Don't cover all of the dark. Now go to Blur > Gaussian Blur > and set it to 4.7 The blur is very important. This prevents stark lines from showing up later.

Step 7 - Oh Now The Fun Begins!

Now it's time to use the fur filter. Go to Filter > Eye Candy 4000 > Fur and use these settings. You can of course change them to fit your own personal image. Be sure your lighting in the fur filter matches the lighting in your image! The lower the curl size the more wavy the hair will be!

Step 8 - Make It Look Natural

Now we need to do some touch-ups so it looks like the hair is actually attached to her head and not just sitting on it.

Using your dodge and burn tool add some highlights, especially around her scalp. Dodge makes light highlights, burn makes dark ones. I'll use a small airbrush size 5. Try to be sure to follow the contours of the hair. Use your smudge tool around her hairline to push it up a bit and make it not so even.

Step 9 - All Done!

And that's it. Try experimenting with different colors, image sizes, lighting and brush sizes and see what you can come up with!

Giving some depth to a flat render

2011-11-01T17:42:40+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Giving some depth to a flat render

Author: sharong

Tools Needed

Photoshop

Introduction

This tutorial will help you add a little depth and vibrance to a slightly flat render, which could use a little more shading and highlights (And, if you're like me, and can't draw to save your life, you might appreciate the fact that all this is done without using the Brush tool even once!).

Step 1 - Preparing Your Layers

1. Open your image in Photoshop.

2. On the Layer palette, right click your image, select Duplicate Layer, and name your layer “Color”. Duplicate your layer again, and name it “Contrasts” (make sure your Contrasts layer is the topmost one, and Color is the middle layer).

Step 2 - The "Contrasts" Layer

1. On the Layer palette, switch to the Contrasts layer.

2. On the Image menu, select Adjustments > Desaturate to make your image black and white.

3. On the Image menu, select Adjustments > Brightness/Contrast. Set the contrast to about +40 (according to the what works best for the existing contrasts in your image), so that you achieve a high level of contrast between the darks and the lights.

Step 3 - The "Color" Layer

1. On the Filter menu, select Artistic > Watercolor.

2. Use a rather high Brush Detail setting, and a low Shadow Intensity, so the areas around the small important areas are expanded a bit, but are not lost entirely.

3. On the Filter menu, select Blur > Gaussian.

4. Select a 2-3 pixel radius, to ensure that most of the general outlines remain (according to the size of the image, obviously)

5. Now comes the fun part… On the Image menu, select Adjustments > Color Balance and enhance your Red or Blue values (to enhance your skin tones, select a high amont of red, while to enhance your shadows, you might want to select a high amount of blue)

Step 4 - Bringing It All Together

So we now have 3 layers: our less-than-perfect original render, our blurred re-colored layer, and the contrasted black and white copy of the original.

1. Make the Contrasts layer invisible, and switch to the Color layer.

2. Select Hard Light as a blending mode for the Color layer, and play with its opacity a bit, until you're satisfied.

3. Switch to the Contrasts layer, and make it visible again.

4. Select Overlay as its blending mode, and again - play with the opacity levels a bit until you'reach the desired light-shadow ratio.

And voila!

Step 5 - Bonus Round: Color Settings and Moods

like i said in step 3, selecting different colors can help bring out different aspects of your image. For example - here we have the Color layer with different color balance settings: a lot of blue, and a lot of red:

One image - two moods, using the SAME blending settings for both the Color and the Contrasts layers:

Glow Tutorial

2011-11-01T17:42:40+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Glow Tutorial

Author: Jenn A

Tools Needed

Photoshop 7

Introduction

Hi all…well a few people have asked about the glow effect I use on my images so I decided to try my hand at a tutorial…so bear with me this is my first time if something is unclear just email me at Jenai21@yahoo.com.

Okay I guess glow tutorial is something of a misnomer. This is more like the making of Broken, an image where I used glow. So most of these steps can be skipped if all you want is the glow then just use the soft edge glow action shown in the tutorial. The higher the layer opacity the more intense the glow. Also the trick is to play around with things, do what you think is best for your image. I play around with things a lot, specifically layer modes and opacities. Just remember that nothing is written in stone and most importantly save your work before starting this, so if it doesn't work, you can still salvage your artwork.

Step 1 - Variations

I use Adobe Photoshop 7 and the effect that I use to create a soft look is specifically for Photoshop. (However, it should be usable with any paint program that supports similar features - you'll have to experiment to find the equivalent commands and filters)

The above image is what I started off with. From here I'm just going to play with variations. Image- > Adjustments- > Variations

For Midtones I generally click on More Yellow and then More Red and I then go to Shadows and click on More Blue. This is the result of Variations

Right now it looks like crap but don't lose hope will still have work to do.

Step 2 - Color Balance

The next thing we do is go to color balance. The above image is the result of color balance.

When you play around with color balance it's really a matter of personal taste. Generally in Midtones I play around with Yellow (ex.=46), Magenta (ex.=-20), and Red(ex.=24) and in Shadows I play around with Blue (ex.=26), Green (ex.=14), and Cyan (ex.=-28)

Step 3 - Soft Edge Glow

The next thing I do is go to Action- > Image Effects- > Soft Edge Glow and click play as shown above. This action comes with Photoshop. If it's not already loaded just go to the little arrow at the side of the box and load Image Effects which is in you Presets- > Photoshop Actions Folder. After the action is played you should have a new layer, turn the opacity of this layer down until you are satisfied. I usually go down to about 50%. Then you duplicate the layer and change that layer style. I used Screen with opacity about 30% and this is the end result

The next thing I do is take a snapshot

and then merge everything and duplicate the layer.

Step 4 - Colorize

I then go to Filter- > Blur- > Gaussian Blur with a radius of 6, as shown above. Then I change the layer style/mode to overlay and go to Image- > Adjustments- > Hue/Saturation or Ctrl+U and I select colorize

Then I lower the opacity to about 45% and then I merge visible.

Step 5 - Depth

Okay this is the final thing. I duplicate the layer again. Then I chose 2 colors. The foreground color that is representative of the skintone, generally a goldish or reddish color and for the background color I usually use a color that dominates the image….in this case black.

I then go to Filter- > Sketch- > Halftone Pattern and use these settings

I then change the layer mode to overlay and bring the opacity down to about 12-20%. Then I merge visible and save and that is how I get my glow. Now all I have to do is play around with lighting but that is maybe for another tutorial…Thanks for taking a look and I hope I explained this well…Jenn

Step 6 - Final Image

This is the final image but again if all you want is the glow just do step 3. This is also available in a clearer html format I can send you the zip if you want just email me and feel free to check out my Rendo Gallery.

Glowing Skin

2011-11-01T17:42:40+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Glowing Skin

Author: mizgriz

Tools Needed

Graphic editing program with a Gaussian blur effect and layers

Introduction

Glowing skin is an absolutely lovely effect to add to any render. This tutorial is going to teach you how to create renders with a “glow” effect. And all you need is a graphic editing program with layers and a Gaussian blur effect. Let's get started.

Step 1 - Prepping

First, you need to have saved your render as a JPG. Go into your graphic editing program and open up your render. Now choose the magic wand tool and select the “subtractive” option. Select all the black areas. It should look something like this:

Next, go to the Edit menu. Choose “Copy”. Then choose “Paste as New Document”. Make sure that when you paste your render into the new document that you have the “No Background” or equivalent option selected. We want to make sure that the render is on its own layer.

If you have done this successfully, you'll have a copy of your render to work with that looks like this:

Now, make a new layer and name it “background”. Move it to the back, and, making sure “background” is the layer you just made is selected, choose the fill bucket tool and a color. Fill in the background layer with that color. As you can see, I've chosen black, however, any color will do. After you complete this step, your image should look something like this:

All right. We're done prepping the image. Let's move on!

Step 2 - Getting your glow on

First, duplicate the layer the copy of your render is on. Go to your filters/effects menu. Select “Gaussian Blur” and give it a radius of 10.

It should look something like this:

Then, look at the layer blending mode options and set the layer blending mode to Screen with opacity 60%.

Looking good, eh? We aren't quite done yet. Duplicate the layer that had the Gaussian blur applied to it. Change the blend mode to Overlay with opacity 100%.

It will look quite a bit like that image, but if you don't like that effect, play with it! Here's the same image with the Overlay layer's opacity at 60% and the Screen layer's opacity at 100%:

Step 3 - Closing

Well, I hope that this tutorial was both simple and informative.

Now go out there and make yourself some pretty glowy pictures!

Halftone Effect

2011-11-01T17:42:40+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Halftone Effect

Author: LunaL

Step 1 - Grayscale

When you have opened the image that you want to add the half tone effect to the first step is to make it black and with to be able to use the halftone screen option of Photoshop.

To make your image black and white, go to IMAGE > MODE > GRAYSCALE.

If you're asked to discard color, click OK.

Step 2 - Bitmark

For the second step go to Image > Mode > Bitmap.

You will first get a window asking what method you want to use, select Halftone screen and press OK.

You will get another window where you can set some options for halftone screen, I used a frequency of 400 and set the shape to Ellipse.

You will end up with something like this >

Step 3 - Saving

Only problem when you're done, you cannot save as a jpg file. You can of course save it as a gif.

I just hit *screen shot*and opened the picture in another paint program.

Cut it out and saved is as a jpg there.

Step 4 - More Examples

How to make a picture older

2011-11-01T17:42:40+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

How to make a picture older

Author: Carole

Tools Needed

Photoshop
Alien Xenofex 2 (optional)

Introduction

You will learn how to turn an image into an old photo.

Step 1 - From color to black and white

First go into “Images”, “Mode” and select “Grayscale”.

Now your image is black and white.

You will have to choose a sepia tone to give it an old look.

Step 2 - From black and white to sepia

Go into “Image” again, “Mode” and select “Duotone”

You can choose “Quadrichromie” (4 colors) if you like, or less to fit your taste.

In my example there are 4 colors ; black, and 3 other quite similiar but with different tone.

Choose your own tones to find the right atmosphere.

Step 3 - Brightness and contrast

You can play with “Brightness/Contrast” as on my example. Once you've done with brightness/contrast, flatten your layers.

Step 4 - Add a film grain

Go into Filters, choose “Artistic” and select “Film grain”

Follow my example, or play with different settings.

That's it !

Your picture turned into and old photo from the last century ! :)

Step 5 - The final touch with Alien Xenofex 2 (optional)

Now, if you own Alien Xenofex 2 (you may get a demo here : http://www.alienskin.com/downloads/getmail1.asp)

you may add the final touch to your picture.

Go into Alien Xenofex 2, and select “Crumple”, try several settings until you get what you want.

Finally you should have a very old and crumpled photo.

Enjoy !

How to Make black and white or One Color Images

2011-11-01T17:42:40+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

How to Make black and white or One Color Images

Author: anelia

Tools Needed

Adobe Photoshop

Introduction

If you have ever wondered how to make your renders look good in the black and white gamma, just follow this simple steps. You need no special skills to do that. All you need is to use some of the Adobe Photoshop Filters.

Step 1 - Making the render black and white

Ok, let's begin. First open some render. I used a simple close-up render of Victoria 3. The figure, which you're going to make black and white should be in a separate layer. If your image is flat and you can see only 'Background' in the Layers, simply duplicate it. If you don't know how to do this, just click the right button of the mouse on your 'Background' layer and choose 'Duplicate layer' from the menu. Ok, now select the layer with your figure that you want to make black and white and go to Filter- > Sketch- > Conte Crayon. It opens a new window with a preview.

The foreground color should be black and the background - white. You can of course change them, it depends on what look you want to achieve. Now, if you want your image to look smooth, set the Scaling to 50% and the Relief to 0. The important in this step is the Foreground and Background Level. I used Foreground Level 10 and Background Level 11. You can experiment with them, it depends on the look that you want for your figure. Ok, after you're done with the Foreground and Background Levels simply click the OK button. You should have something like that

Step 2 - Making the black and white image looks smoother

You already have a black and white image of your figure. But it somehow doesn't look smooth enough. Ok, to make it look better just go to Filter- > Distort- > Diffuse Glow.

We will give the image a slight glowing, which will make it look smoother.Now, you have the dialog window opened.

It's very important to set the Graininess to 0. This way the image looks smooth. Experiment with the Glow Amount and the Clear Amount. I used 3 for Glow and 20 for Clear but of course it depends on your wish. After you're done with the parameters simply click OK. Now your image should look brighter and smoother, right? If you think you're not satisfied with the result, click Undo and try another parameters for the Glow and Clear Amount.

Step 3 - Making One Color Image.

You're already done with the Black and White image. This last step is optional.

Ok, if you want a great one color image just duplicate your layer with the ready black and white figure.

You should have your duplicated layer selected. Now go to Styles

I used Photographic Effects. Choose some of them, for example Overlay with Gold, as I did and see the result. Your duplicated layer is colored in yellow.

If you want to put it behind the black and white figure, just drag the duplicated layer below the black and white layer. You're done!

You can duplicate the black and white layer as much as you want and try more and more effects on it. I tried Purple, Yellow, Orange and Blue. All others look great too. Everything depends on your taste and wish.

I hope you found this simple tutorial useful.

Ice Queen

2011-11-01T17:42:40+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Ice Queen

Author: LunaL

Tools Needed

Photoshop 7

Step 1 - Levels

Press Ctrl+l and change the levels like so, make the image a little more vivid:

Step 2 - Gaussian blur

Duplicate the layer, set the layer mode to overlay.

Then add a filter > blur > Gaussian blur: 1.5.

Then press Ctrl+u and make it blue:

Step 3 - Duplicate

Duplicate the bottom layer and move it to the top.

Step 4 - Lens Flare

Press Ctrl+Shift+u then add a filter > render > lens flare:

My image ended up like this

Step 5 - Layer Modes

set the top layer mode to multiply, the middle to screen. It should give some depth from top to bottom.

Merge all layers…

Step 6 - Icy

Now let's make her a little bit icy.

Press Ctrl+U, use these settings.

Step 7 - Rotate

Now you'll need to do a edit > transform > rotate 90 CW.

Do a filter > stylize wind > use a wind setting, and from the left or right depending on how you rotated your girl, just make sure that the wind is blowing DOWN her face when you rotate the image back.

Rotate the image back to normal:

Image Focusing

2011-11-01T17:42:40+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Image Focusing

Author: Anagnos

Tools Needed

Photoshop

Introduction

Here you are going to take an image and bring the focus of the image towards the object in the middle.

Step 1 - Gaussian Blur

Apply a Gaussian Blur to the image, to get rid of any rough edges. This can be accessed under: Filter|Blur|Gaussian Blur. Use the settings seen in this image.

Step 2 - Diffuse Glow

This will cause the lit areas of the image to glow. It will help bring focus to the area intended by making it brighter. This can be accessed under: Filer|Distort|Diffuse Glow. Use the settings seen in this image.

Step 3 - Select Focus Area

Select the area you want to focus on, using the elliptical marquee tool (the tool is circled in this image).

Step 4 - Invert Selection

Press Ctrl+Shift-I, or go to Select|Inverse to select everything not currently selected.

Step 5 - Radial Blur

Apply a radial blur to the selection. This will blur everything else in the image out of focus. Use the settings seen in this image. You can access this filter under: Filter|Blur|Radial Blur. Make sure you are on zoom not spin.

Step 6 - Finished!

Now you are done! Here is the final image.

Infusing Magic into Models

2011-11-01T17:42:40+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Infusing Magic into Models

Author: AntonKisiel

Tools Needed

Poser
Photoshop
UV Mapper

Introduction

The idea is fairly simple: Transmap an outer layer to expose a glowing layer underneath.

Step 1 - Begin

1.Load the torus and export it as an obj

2.Cylidrically map the torus in UV Mapper giving it a material called “Outer” and save it

3.Change the Material to Inner and save another torus.

4.Load the first and second torus in Poser fitting Inner inside of Outer.

5.Save out both torus as one obj and reimport into Poser

6.Make a transmap like the one shown where the trans part is black against white and apply it to the “Outer” material.

7.Make the “Inner” Material a gold ambient color.

Step 2 - Results

See how good that looks…

Kirisute: render glitches and harsh edges

2011-11-01T17:42:40+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Kirisute: render glitches and harsh edges

Author: Kirisute

Tools Needed

Photoshop
Adobe reader

Support Files

book2.zip

Introduction

A quick and easy guide through the techniques I use to resolve those annoying clothing and figure glitches that Poser can sometimes throw up, no matter how hard you try to pose them! Includes:

Using the “clone” tool in photoshop

and other techniques to erase render glitches and harsh edges.

Step 1 - Kirisute

NOTE! This tutorial is contained entirely inside the zipped up PDF file found in the “support file” section above. Please click on the support file 1 to read this tutorial.

Kirisute FireLight

2011-11-01T17:42:40+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Kirisute FireLight

Author: Kirisute

Tools Needed

Poser
Photoshop
Adobe reader

Support Files

Firelight.zip

Introduction

NOTE this is a PDF tutorial! PLease download support file 1 for the tutorial file! NOTE

A 30+ page tutorial on the creation of a single piece of artwork. FireLight by yourr truly! This booklet guides you through every step of the artwork, from placing the figure in poser, through lighting and rendering, editing out glithces in the final render and adding superb special effects to the final image. Also full of helpful hints for both beginners and advanced artists alike.

Step 1 - Kirisute

NOTE! This tutorial is contained entirely inside the zipped up PDF file found in the “support file” section above. Please click on the support file 1 to read this tutorial.

Kirisutes Books of Postwork: 7 Painting Hair

2011-11-01T17:42:40+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Kirisutes Books of Postwork: 7 Painting Hair

Author: Kirisute

Tools Needed

Poser
Photoshop

Support Files

book7hair.zip

Introduction

This next book in my Books of Postwork range gives a complete guide through painting hair in postwork. From the initial render taken into photoshop, right through creating special hair painting brushes and each stage of painting the hair there after…with clear hints and tips and tool guides throughout!

NOTE

This is a pdf tutorial! Please download support file 1 to read the tutorial

Step 1 -

NOTE

this is a PDF tutorial!!

Please download support file 1 to read the tutorial!

Layer Effects

2011-11-01T17:42:40+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Layer Effects

Author: Malva

Introduction

This step-by-step 'layer effects tutoral' will show you how to add that 'special something' to your poser renders.

Step 1 - Simple Darken

Open your poser render and go to Color- Adjust - Brightness and Contrast. The settings are:

Brightness: 41

Contrast: 22

Now duplicate the layer (Layers - Duplicate) and Set Blend Mode to darken.

Paste the image and go to Effects - Blur - Gaussian Blur 8.70.

Step 2 - simple screen

The same as “Simple Darken”, but set Blend Mode to Screen (duh!).

tip: You might want to increase Contrast or lower Opacity, specially if you're working with a dark image/background.

Step 3 - Magenta Glow

Go to Colors - Adjust - Brightness and Contrast (same settings as “Simple Darken”: Brightness: 41 and Contrast: 22).

Now copy the image and apply Gaussian Blur (also same settings).

Create a new layer, set Blend Mode to Screen, Opacity to 60. Select the Flood Fill tool and apply the gradient preset Ultraviolet (make sure “invert gradient” is checked).

Create another layer (Blend Mode: Soft Light) and paste the image you copied a few steps ago.

Step 4 - Sat Magenta

Set your backgroung color to #F87ABE and duplicate the layer.

Apply Gaussian Blur (8.70) and go to Adjust Contrast (always the same settings).

Change Blend Mode to Screen and add a new layer (Blend Mode: Saturation).

Select the Flood Fill tool and apply preset “Gradient #3 Fading Background”.

Step 5 - Snow White

First of all, copy the image. Than go to Colors - Adjust - Levels. The settings are:

Channel: RGB

Imput: 0 - 1, 69 - 168

Output: 0 - 255

Now create a new layer, paste the image you copied, adjust contrast (22) and brightness (41) and set Blend Mode to Overlay.

Step 6 - Simple Overlay

Copy the image, adjust contrast (22) and brightness (41), apply Gaussian Blur (8.70) and create a new layer.

Set Blend Mode to Overlay, Opacity to 80 and paste.

Step 7 - Simple Hard Light

Start by adjusting Brightness and Contrast (same settings), than duplicate the layer, adjust Brightness and Contrast again, apply Gaussian Blur (8.70) and set Blend Mode to Hard Light.

Step 8 - Examples

When you're working with layers and Blend Modes, the results will can vary a lot.

So these settings I described might not work well with all images – specially with dark images.

Don't be afraid to experiment with other blend modes or lighting settings - you will eventually come up with something great.

Good luck

Lil Dress

2011-11-01T17:42:40+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Lil Dress

Author: DTigerWoman

Tools Needed

Photoshop

Introduction

Easily draw a fancy silk dress using only the basic photoshop brushes!

Step 1 - Lasso Tool

Open the image you'd like to paint a dress on.

Use the “Lasso Tool” and select the area around the character you want the dress to cover.

Next duplicate the layer by clicking “Layer” “Duplicate”

Step 2 - Auto Level Adjustment

Now invert your selection by clicking “Select” “Inverse”.

Hit the delete key on your keyboard to clear out everything on your second layer except the selected area.

Now click “Select” “Deselect”.

Next click “Image” “Adjustments” “Auto Levels”

Next click “Image” “Adjustments” “Brightness/Contrast” and lower the Brightness so you get good shadow definition.

Step 3 - Color

Next colorize your dress by clicking “Image” “Adjustments” “Hue/Saturation”.

Make sure you have “Colorize” Checked. Use the sliders to pick a color that best matches your image. Avoid the lightness slider.

Step 4 - Clean Up

If you want to clean up any jaggy edges or edges that go outside your character's body now would be the time to do that.

Once you've cleaned up the jaggies duplicate the dress layer.

Step 5 - Smudging for folds

Now comes the fun part.

Select a soft brush.

The size of the brush will depend on how big your image is. My image isn't that large so I used a size 5 Soft Round Brush.

You may want to zoom in so you can easily see where you are going.

Next start smudging from edge to center and from center to edge. Arrows shown in the image below indicate the path I took for smudging.

Step 6 - Clean Up

To clean up any areas outside of the dress where you may have smudged follow these steps:

- make your original dress layer active “the that isn't smudged now”.

- use the magic wand and select the area “outside” the original dress.

- switch back to your smudged dress layer and hit the delete key on your keyboard.

This should clear up any smudging that appears outside the dress area ;o)

Once you have cleared up any outside smudging and the dress is the way you like it merge the two dress layers.

Next duplicate your dress layer. At this point I changed the layer blending to multiply but your results may be different. Try some of the blending options and use the one that looks the best to you.

Step 7 - Trim

Next you can add a little trim to your dress. I used a very dark red on this image. You can easily use the dropper tool to grab a color from your dress.

Draw your trim around the bottom of the dress and around the edge of the arm area.

If your trim is a lighter color than the dress you'll need to use the burn tool and darken areas of the trim where the dress is dark to make it blend in.

Step 8 - Good Job!

The last thing I did to this image was a little soft focus but this is totally up to you. I hope you enjoyed this tutorial and learned a little something about painting a dress onto your characters!

Make Your Render Into An Art Print!

2011-11-01T17:42:40+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Make Your Render Into An Art Print!

Author: Amber

Tools Needed

Adobe Photoshop
Paint Shop Pro

Introduction

This tutorial will teach you how to make your renders look like art prints. This was done using Photoshop but Paint Shop Pro will work just as easily!

Step 1 - Choose your image area!

Open your render in photoshop.

Using your selection tool choose the area that you want to use in your art print, if you're using the entire thing then you can skip this part. Go to Cut > Copy > New > OK > Paste.

Step 2 - How Big Will It Be?

Go to Image > Size and determine the size of your image. The reason for doing this is so we can decide how big we want the area around our print to be.

Step 3 - Make The Background!

We want the area around our print to be about 20 pixels larger on the sides and top and about 60 pixels larger on the bottom so open a new image using whatever color background you choose, I'm going to use black.

Step 4 - Move Your Print!

Go back to your cut out art print and go to Select > All > Cut > Copy. Then Paste the image into your new background image.

Using your move tool and arrow keys line the art print area up on the background image where you want it taking care to leave the same amount on the sides as you do the top.

Step 5 - Adding Text!

Make a new layer and get ready to add your text, the best thing to put here is the name of the image. Choose a funky font not a handwriting one. Make a new layer for every line of text you do so you can move them around where you want them to go.

Step 6 - Stop Or Keep Going?

You can stop here or add an extra highlight to your image. Go back to the layer that has your art print on it and choose a color from the image, I'm choosing dark red. Using your selection tool select the outside of the image and go to Select > Inverse > Modify > Contract > 2 (or 1 for a smaller outline). Hold down your shift key and select the outside of the image again using your selection tool. Go to Select > Inverse and flood fill the selected area with your chosen color.

And that's it, enjoy!

Making a ghost image

2011-11-01T17:42:40+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Making a ghost image

Author: LunaL

Tools Needed

Poser
Paintshop pro 7

Introduction

Quick and easy way to make a ghost like image..perfect for your halloween pictures…

Step 1 - select, copy and past..

Let`s make a ghost.

First find a picture of the character that you want to use.

Use your lasso-tool and select your figure.

Copy and past on as a new image.

Step 2 - copy onto new background

Copy your image again..and past on as a new layer on your background.

Step 3 - layer palette

Now find your “Layer Palette”and change the tranparency.

I used these settings..you can do as you please…

If you want you can put some more ghost in..

This is how my image turned out…

Step 4 - more examples..

Here is a couple of more examples:

Step 5 - aged effect

One more cool effect is to make your image look aged.

Follow these steps:

I used these settings:

Making a realistic candle flame in The Gimp

2011-11-01T17:42:40+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Making a realistic candle flame in The Gimp

Author: Locke21

Tools Needed

The Gimp
Studio
Poser

Introduction

Do you like spooky, candle-lit pictures, but don't have a candle flame? Well here is how to make one with The Gimp.

Step 1 - Step One

Create a picture with the candle, and then place a point light just above it. Arrange the color and shadow levels to your likeing and then save it. You should already have a background, but I'll just paint mine black in the next step so everything will be easy to see.

Step 2 - Step two

Open your picture with Gimp and create a new layer. This is where the magic happens.

Step 3 - Step three

If you will look at the sides of the Picture Window, you will note rulers, and as your cursor moves over the picture, lines show you the position of the cursor tip. Place it where you want the candle flame and remember the X, Y coordinates. Its best to pick a point just above the candle top, to give the illusion of a burning wick.

Step 4 - Step four

Now go to the “Filters” menu, scroll to “Light Effects” and choose “SuperNova.” Using the coordinates you got before, place the supernova at the correct spot. Now is the time to choose a color for the flame that you would like, usually a deep yellow or very light orange works the best. While it depends on the size of your picture, set the “Radius” and “Spokes at around 10. Once you have it the way you like, click “Ok.”

Step 5 - Step five

Now we make the dot of light a candle flame. This is done by using the smudge tool. Set the opacity at about 50 and choose the smallest “Fuzzy Brush” that you have. Slowly work the top one-third of the light dot up into a wavery point.

Step 6 - Step six

Now its simply a matter of merging the layers, flattening the image and saving. Congratulations, you just made a candle flame that will impress everyone!

Making a Vampire Without Vampire Morphs or Textures

2011-11-01T17:42:40+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Making a Vampire Without Vampire Morphs or Textures

Author: Anagnos

Tools Needed

Photoshop

Introduction

Here is our final image.

Step 1 - Source Image

Here is our source image.

Step 2 - Pointy Teeth

Using the smudge tool, with a brush size of around 13, make a quick flick with the mouse up or down on each tooth you want to become pointy.

Step 3 - Pale Face

Use the Diffuse Glow filter (under Filter|Distort|Diffuse Glow) with the following settings to make the vampire's face pale.

Step 4 - Gaussian Blur

Use the Gaussian Blur filter, with a radius of 1.1 pixels, to smooth out any rough edges. You can find the blur under Filter|Blur|Gaussian Blur.

Step 5 - Bloody Teeth Part 1

Make a new layer. Using a brush size of around 4 and a dark red color, make a small line on each pointy tooth with the brush tool. Then make a series of short vertical lines under the vampire's mouth.

Step 6 - Bloody Teeth Part 2

Now use the smudge tool with the same settings as before, and smudge the blood on each tooth with a circular motion until it looks right. Feel free to add more red if you dilute the color too much. Next smudge the blood under the mouth. Then make short stabbing motions from the edge of the smudge of blood to the outside.

Step 7 - Finishing Touch

Change the magenta-green slider (Found under Image|Adjustments|Color Balance) to -23 and you are done!

Making realistic lipstick texture

2011-11-01T17:42:40+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Making realistic lipstick texture

Author: Ravenhair

Tools Needed

Poser Pro
Adobe Photoshop

Support Files

lipsticktutorial.zip

Introduction

Hi, this tutorial will help you create realistic lipstick textures for Vicky, you will be amazed with the results and also able to apply them on several Vicky 3 characters that you create on your own. The image below shows the same lipstick texture created while preparing this tutorial.

Now, let's get started!

Step 1 -

Open Adobe Photoshop and then open Vicky 3 Head Texture Template file and the Vicky 3 lips preset.

Step 2 -

Select the Marquee tool and then click on the lips and select Free Transformation. Then reduce the size until you see it matches. (I think most of you are familiar with this last one).

Step 3 -

Set the opacity back to 100 and reselect the lips following the same procedure as explained on Step 2.

Step 4 -

After you have reselected the lips, go to Filter > Textures > Texturizer and select Sandstone, setting the Scaling at 50% and the Relief to 1

Step 5 -

Now we are ready for the fun part.

Choose the Dodge tool, a non solid brush, that one that I chose comes with Adobe Photoshop itself, set it to work on the Highlights and 50% opacity.

Now just apply strokes, DO NOT apply it continuously, just use small strokes until you achieve the desired volume and shines.

Step 6 -

Now you are ready to apply some color, but first, go to Image > Adjust > Desaturate, is better to start from a black and white one, is like recording a movie using a brand new tape.

Go to Image > Adjust > Hue/Saturation, and make sure that the colorize box is checked, and play with the dials until you achieve the desired color, for this one, I chose that red.

Step 7 -

At this point, you are welcome to remove the background layer (Vicky 3 Head Texture) and stay with the lips alone, once you'remove the layer, go to Select > Invert and add some color, I personally chose one similar to skintones, use the paint bucket, and you are all set, save the file as JPG and load it whenever you need to apply lips to a new Vicky 3 head texture by just applying it as a new layer, and then using the smart eraser tool to get rid of the beige looking background.

Step 8 -

The images below are some samples using the same lips texture as the image above, I just used the hue/saturation feature to change colors.

Note that there are no skin textures applied, except the lips, eyes, and the transparency map.

I hope this tutorial helps you all, enjoy!

Making your render into a rainy image

2011-11-01T17:42:40+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Making your render into a rainy image

Author: LunaL

Tools Needed

Paintshop pro 7

Introduction

Some easy steps to give your image a rainy look using tubes

Step 1 - Tube selecting

Now, let us improve our picture by giving it some rain.

Just find you psp tubes file.The raintubes comes with this software, so you don`t

need to download it from anyware.

I set my scale to 30.Don`t want the raindrops to be to big.

And this is my finished product.I have given it a little border to finish it off.

No More Squished Previews

2011-11-01T17:42:40+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

No More Squished Previews

Author: endamist

Tools Needed

Paint shop pro 7 or higher
A finished full size image

Introduction

This tutorial was made to help you prepare your images for submission to sites that require preview images of a specific size. In this Tutorial we are going to select only a portion of our original image to use as a preview image of a specific size, and we are not going to squish our image to make it fit. DAZ gallery submission requires a preview image of 200×260 so that is the size that we are going to make our preview image here. You will need paint shop pro 7 or higher. It may also work with other paint programs as well.

Step 1 - Find the selection tool

You will need to open your finished image. I decided to use a sample image of V3 wearing the V3 tunic and a texture that I made.

You will need to use the selection tool which you can find on your tool bar. It appears as a dotted square.

Step 2 - Making the selection

Now that you have the selection tool you need to use it to select a portion of the image to use as a preview.

You can choose any area you like best but for this tutorial I'm going to select an area that includes the face of the character.

To do this you will need to move your mouse over the image to a point that you wish to start your selection. Once there hold down the left mouse button and drag the mouse to select your area. While you continue to hold down the mouse button look at the bottom left of the Paint Shop Pro window. Here is where you will see the current position of your cursor and the selections size.

The first two numbers tell you where you started your selection, the second set tells you where your cursor is now and the last set tells you the size your selection is.

Continue to hold down the left mouse button and move the mouse until your selection size reads 200×260. It might take a little practice keeping steady on a single point once you have it, but as soon as you are satisfied that you have the size you want, you can let go of the button.

Now you have an area selected with a flashing dotted line around it that should be 200×260 if you didn't move when you let go of the mouse button.

You will not be able to see the size of your selection in the lower left once you let go of the button.

Step 3 - Cropping

Now you need to crop the image to your selection. On the menu bar click on image. In the drop down menu that appears you will find crop to selection. You can also simply use Shift+R to crop your image.

Once you have your image cropped you can check its size by looking at the bottom right portion of the Paint Shop Pro window. There it will tell you the image size, number of colors and file size. Your image should read 200x260x16 Million and how many Kbytes the file consists of. My sample image below reads the size of image I used to provide you with an example. If your image size is incorrect simply hit the undo key on your menu bar twice and repeat step 2 until it is correct.

Step 4 - Save your new preview image

Now you can save your new preview image but be careful not to save it with the same name as your original image or you will overwrite it.

On the menu bar at the top of the window click file and chose Save as from the drop-down menu. Now you can chose a different name from your original image. Select the proper file type and click Save. You now have a preview without resorting to squishing in order to have the correct size.

Thank you for reading my simple tutorial.

Old Photo

2011-11-01T17:42:40+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Old Photo

Author: mizgriz

Tools Needed

Adobe Photoshop or similar program

Introduction

Ever needed to make a finished render look like an old photo? Ever wanted a cool effect for your Old West renders? This tutorial will show you how to transform your finished render into an old, crumpled up photo, perfect for Old West “Wanted” posters and times when you just want something different.

Step 1 - Preparation

The first thing you should do is open the postworked, finished render you'd like to use this effect on. I've chosen to use this one.

First, duplicate the layer with your finished, postworked render on it. This is so that you can start over in case you make a serious mistake. Double-click it. This will open up the Blending Options menu. Check the “Stroke” option and use the following settings:

Size: 24

Position: Inside

Blend Mode: Normal

Opacity: 100%.

Fill Type: Color

Color: White

You should now have a white border running along the edges of your image, like this:

Now, desaturate the layer. You can do this by going to Image > Adjustments > Desaturate or by simply pressing Ctrl + Shift + U. Your image will now be in black and white.

Step 2 - Creating the effect, part 1

After you've desaturated the layer, adjust the levels using these settings:

Once the levels have been adjusted, apply a gradient map to the desaturated layer. The gradient I used was a very dark grayish-brown (#0C0C0C) going to white. Use these settings:

Your image will now look something like this:

Now, create a new layer. Name this layer “sepia tone” and fill it with a sepia color. (I used #d28741). Set the blend mode to Soft Light, and set the opacity to anywhere around 75-85%.

Your render will now look like this:

Step 3 - Creating the effect, part 2 (adding texture)

We are now going to add texture to the image, in order to create the grainy effect of the photo. Make sure your desaturated layer is selected and go to Filters > Texture > Grain.

Use the following settings:

Intensity: 8

Contrast: 4

Grain Type: Vertical.

Afterwards, create a new layer. This new layer should be above the desaturated layer and below the sepia layer. Call this one “grain 2” or “noise layer”, as this layer is going to simulate the noise that appears on older photos. Fill it with white.

Go back to Filters > Textures > Grain. This time, use the following settings:

Intensity: 31

Contrast: 100

Grain type: Regular

Desaturate the layer. Then set the blend mode to “Darken” and the opacity to about 70%.

Your image will now look similar to this:

Step 4 - Creating the effect, part 3 (crumpled paper effect)

The next and final step will be to make the image look like it's been crumpled. First, make sure that you have the black to white gradient selected.

Now, create a new layer (name it gradient) and, use the gradient tool randomly until you get something that looks similar to this:

Go to Filter > Stylize > Emboss. Use the following settings:

Angle: 0

Height: 9

Amount: 45%.

The layer will now look like this:

We'll need to adjust the brightness and contrast on the crumpled paper layer next. Go to Image > Adjustments > Brightness and Contrast. Set the brightness to 25 and the contrast to 75. Afterward, set the blend mode on the crumpled paper layer to Multiply and the opacity to about 55-70%.

Congratulations! You now have an old, crumpled photo:

Painted Canvas

2011-11-01T17:42:40+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Painted Canvas

Author: LunaL

Tools Needed

Photoshop 7

Step 1 - Gaussian blur

Photoshop has all the tools to turn any picture into a painting within minutes.

No special tools are required, just a few simple filters and blending modes.

Let's start with the filters. First, make the image blurry: filter > blur > Gaussian blur > 2, 4

Step 2 - paint daubs

Then apply the filter > artistic > paint daubs

with these values:

brush size=8, sharpness=7 and brush type=simple

Step 3 - duplicate layer

Make a copy of the layer by choosing layer > duplicate layer from the menu

Step 4 - paint doubts 2

Now apply the same filter > paint doubts with other settings: brush size=25.

Step 5 - blending mode

Set the blending mode of this layer to 'soft light' and the opacity at 50%.

Step 6 - canvas

To make this into a canvas > Filter > Texture > Texturizer. On both layers. The original image and the copy.

Now play around, till you are happy. I used these settings > (copy layer)

Scaling 189

Relief 6.

On original image(bottom layer) >

Step 7 - merge

Merge the layers together…

And..you're done with you painted artwork.

Painting realistic hair using default brushes

2011-11-01T17:42:41+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Painting realistic hair using default brushes

Author: digi_dreamer

Tools Needed

Photoshop
A render

Introduction

In this tutorial I will walk you through the process I use to create realistic looking hair using only the default photoshop brushes.

Some people (myself included lol) can't get used to using preset hair brushes to create realistic looking hair. Myself, I end up with a straggly mess!

Anyone who has a basic knowledge of how the Photoshop tools work can follow this tutorial. I strongly suggest using a graphic tablet to paint hair!

Step 1 - Painting the base

Open your render in Photoshop, make any adjustments you want to make the character itself, personally I like to leave the hair til last. For the purpose of this tutorial I'm just going to leave her the way she is.

Set up a palette, create a new image (only needs to be around 100×100) and paint your darkest shade first, for this I will be making a redhead, but my base colour is almost black. I paint a blob of my chosen colours in the order I will use them to refer to when painting the hair. I usually only require 3-4 colours, but it helps to add a couple of extra ones just in case).

Select your darkest colour, go to your character image. New layer!!

Select the airbrush, opacity 100% and paint the base of the hair onto the scalp, don't worry about being too precise yet, you're basically just creating the skullcap.

Step 2 - Shaping the hair

You may want to do each step on a new layer until you get used to painting hair, I certainly used to as I could change any part later that I wasn't happy with.

Now to shape the hair. Select the smudge brush, mode to darken, strength to around 82 for short hair, 95 for long hair, you do the math for in between lol. Size depends on your image, just play around til you find a size you're comfortable with.

Now brush the hair out from the skullcap in the direction you want the hair to flow, sweeping strokes out to the length you desire.

Now to create a hairline. Select the smudge tool, use a small speckle brush, and set the mode to normal, strength around 47 works well. Gently brush against the hairline in the areas it will be visible.

Step 3 - Texturing the hair

At this point you may decide there are areas you don't like etc. Erase them now as, if you leave it, it's a lot harder to rectify later in the process!

Now we start adding texture to the hair.

Still using the smudge tool, mode to 'Darken' and strength around the same as you used for the body of the hair (82 – 95). Speckle brush again, draw out the wispy areas of hair, it's a good idea to look at some pics of the general style you want, for my purposes, there will be some 'tussle' to the hair. Try to think about what's happening in your image, is there wind? If so which direction is it going in (clothing is a good indication) make sure the wisps account for this.

Step 4 - Creating strands

Now we start on individual hair strands, giving depth to the hair.

Use your palette to choose the next shade up. Select the airbrush tool. I use around 26% opacity for this stage. Again size depends on your image, and may require some 'undo's' before you find what your happy with!

Now start painting individual strands. Use long strokes, and keep in with the direction of your hair. Try not to go mad painting strands, you can add to them, it's harder to undo them!

Step 5 - Adding depth

Alright, we've got something that's starting to look like hair!

Go back to your palette and select the next shade up. Using the same brush set the opacity a little lower and paint in some more strands. This will add more depth to the hair. Again don't go crazy, take it slow and keep looking at the hair as a whole.

Step 6 - Highlights 1

Now either set the brush to screen, or go to your next shade up and paint sparingly some highlights. For my image, the hair would have sparing highlights throughout the hair, but for most hair colours you just need a few around the face and a couple through the body of the hair.

Step 7 - Highlights 2

That's it for the painting in colours, now we touch it up with other tools!

Use your dodge tool, exposure set to around 36, and mode to highlights, brush in some highlights, again look at where light is coming in on your image, and try to focus them there. This also gives the hair some shine

Step 8 - Finishing touches

Now use the burn tool, same exposure, and brush down the entire length of the hair in sections. Do this a couple of times'and you're done!

That wasn't so hard now was it?! Lol. At this point you can merge your hair layers, and colourize, or adjust the hue and saturation to achieve a different colour, or just tweak the one you have.

Thanks for following along, and I hope you learned something new today!

Painting Ribbons

2011-11-01T17:42:41+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Painting Ribbons

Author: Corinne

Introduction

In this tutorial I will teach the Photoshop beginners an easy way to paint ribbons.

The tutorial has been written by using Photoshop 7, some differences may appear with the tools used if you use a previous version.

Step 1 - Sketching

An advice : work on a large render. The more large it is, the more having smooth ribbons will be easy.

Start by sketching out your ribbons on a new layer with a smooth brush.

Pay attention to have smooth ribbons, not too jagged, otherwise you will have more correcting work afterwards.

The color isn't important now, you can easily modify it afterwards.

Step 2 - Correcting

Carefully erase the parts of your ribbons that goes out of your character with a small smooth brush. Don't hesitate to zoom in to be the more picky you can.

Step 3 - Giving depth

This is the most important step. You will have to add shadows and lights on the ribbons in order to give them some depth. You will have to pay a lot of attention to the lighting of your scene / character.

Start by putting your layer's opacity to 70% so you can see the shadow zones on your character. Take the burning tool with a soft medium sized brush and add shadows on the ribbons. Try to make them fit to the character's shadows.

To give some more brilliance to your ribbons, use the dodge tool, with a small sized smooth brush and proceed in the same way as for the burning tool.

Painting simple drapery

2011-11-01T17:42:41+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Painting simple drapery

Author: Corinne

Tools Needed

A painting program (like Photoshop)

Introduction

Hello !

In this tutorial Photoshop users will be taught how to paint some simple drapery onto characters.

The tutorial has been written by using Photoshop 7, some differences may appear with the tools if you have a lower version.

Step 1 - Sketching the drape

Sketch the drape by outlining where you'd like for it to go with a sharp brush. Fill the zone in with your painting pot and paint over the eventual holes to have an uniform mass.

There is no need to bother with the shape details now.

Step 2 - Painting the first shadows

Select the sharpening tool and use the following settings : Medium tones. Select a big smooth brush.

We are going to sketch the first shadows. I

used a 65 wide brush.

The opacity of your brush will change if you have a light or dark color. I used 50% for this dark blue, and I would drop the percentage in case I worked on a lighter color.

Always start from the top to the bottom, or from the left to the right (if you use the right hand) and create curves with a smooth and quick gesture for a maximum of fluidity. While doing this, try to imagine the curves of real drapery.

Never start painting in the inner part of your drape, always start from the outer and end in the outer.

Step 3 - Adding detail to the shadows

Take a smaller smooth brush (always with the sharpen tool). Do smaller curves, as in part 2.

Doing this correctly is only a question of feeling. You will probably need to repeat part 2 and 3 a few times before having something that will satisfy you.

Step 4 - Adding volume to the drape

Look, your drape already has a bit of volume. To enhance this, take the (not the sharpen tool, the other) and take the same parameters as your sharpen tool in part 2.

Also make curves, but do this where you haven't already done some with the sharpen tool.

Your drape should now have it's definitive form.

Step 5 - Correcting and adjusting

Correct the borders of your shape with the erase tool, with a smooth brush. Try to give your drapery a shape that matches your shadows.

Also shadow the borders of the shape, depending on the lights you used

for your composition.

Step 6 - Adding power and changing colors

Now duplicate the layer and pass the layer that is at the top in (incrustation) mode. Here you have a drapery that has a lot more volume !

If the color or contrast doesn't satisfy you, you can change it with the image settings (teinte luminosit' et saturation and contrast and luminosity).

Step 7 - Incrustating a motive

If you want to incrustate a motive in your drapery, choose a light tile and establich it as motive by going to Edition > Use as motive.

Select the your drape layer, create a new layer and fill with the motive by going to Edition > fill > and choose the motive.

Once done, pass the layer in (incrsutation) mode.

Painting simple drapery II

2011-11-01T17:42:41+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Painting simple drapery II

Author: Corinne

Tools Needed

Photoshop 7

Introduction

Hello !

In this tutorial I will teach the Photoshop beginners a second way to paint some simple drapery to cloth on your characters or scenes.

(the first one is located here). The first step is quite the same.

The tutorial has been written by using Photoshop 7, some differences may appear with the tools if you have a lower version.

Step 1 - Sketching the drapery

Create a new layer and sketch the drape outline with a sharp brush. Fill the zone in with your painting pot and paint over the eventual holes to have an uniform mass.

There's no need to bother for the shape details now. Also, don't bother if your drape goes over bodies or details you would like to show on the first plan of the image, we will erase these afterwards.

Step 2 - Darkening the borders

To create the drapery, we will be working with the smudge tool (finger).

To work with this tool, we first have to have some darker zones on our drape layer.

Select the burning tool and choose the following settings : Medium tones, with a big smooth brush and a medium exposure (I used 60%).

With this brush, darken the whole outline of your drapery (or other, depending on the shadows and lights of your scene).

Step 3 - Using the smudge tool

First make sure your drape layer is selected and has its selection active (hit Ctrl and click on the layer in the palette).

Select then the smudge tool : Mode normal - and high intensity (you can go until 99%).

Make sure you start IN the painted part of the drape and sketch some shadows by starting from the top (inner) to the bottom (you can end on the outer side, it's better because it looks more natural then).

After you've done in once on the whole length, switch mode to darken and redo it.

You can also sketch some shadows from the bottom to the top, if you have parts of your drapery that should be shadowed. To do this, lower the intensity : you will get smaller shadows. Do it only where you feel it's necessary.

Step 4 - Detailing and correcting

Now take the burning tool with the same settings as in step II.

Darken the borders, and also some shadows you feel are better to be darker.

Correct the borders of your shape with the erase tool, with a smooth brush. Try to give your drapery a shape that matches your shadows. Also darken the borders of the shape, depending on the lights you used for your composition.

To erase the drapery that goes onto your character, set the opacity of your drapery layer to 80% or less, so you can see through it, and erase carefully with a small erase tool brush.

Step 5 - Finishing

It's done now !

If you want to change the colors of your drapery, go to Image > Settings > Hue and Saturation.

Make sure the Redefine option is checked and play with the settings.

Postwork in the absence of Photoshop: Fur

2011-11-01T17:42:41+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Postwork in the absence of Photoshop: Fur

Author: Kemp Sparky

Tools Needed

* Paint Program

Introduction

If you are like me, then you don't have any expensive paint programs like Photoshop or Paintshop Pro. Instead, you've got either a free program gleaned off of the internet or a program that came with your computer, neither of which have any of the brush or filter capabilities that the ever popular (500 dollar) programs have. For awhile, because of the limitations of my paint program, I gave up on doing close-ups of furred animals, due to their tendency to render looking more like a plastic child's toy than a real animal. Since then, however, I have learned a few faithful techniques to achieve lifelike, painted fur, and all you need is a paint program with a soft brush (I use Microsoft Digital Image Standard Editor).

Step 1 - Prepping the Render

First off, you'll need to correct any problems like poke through, texture seams, etc. In mine, I needed to close the stretched cheek of the cat, I did this by copying and pasting some of the fur from the cat's cheek over the area and painting new shadows over the new fur to help blend it in. I also lowered the angle of the upper jaw to match the extreme angle of the cat's open lower jaw, by copying the area, rotating it, and painting the shadows to blend it. (Fig. 1) Make whatever preparations apply to your render.

Step 2 - Variating Smooth Edges

This step may not be necessary depending on the kind of animal you are painting. Domestic, groomed horses may be completely smooth, whereas a wild horse may not be. I recommend looking at photos of the animal or a similar animal for reference as to how the fur lays on the animal before beginning. Start with a light color, the lightest color you will be using in whichever particular area you are painting. Make short strokes going in the direction of the fur growth along the edges, be sure you release the stroke before making the next so that your fur doesn't end up looking as though it's looped (Fig. 2). Once you have a solid base, grab other colors from the fur and paint over it, this time in a darker color, then go over it again with another lighter color, then darker, then lighter again, and keep painting these layers until you have your desired result (Fig. 3).

Step 3 - Large Tufts

I wanted my cat to have a bristling tuft of hair at his shoulders. I started by putting my guide hairs in place. Guide hairs are what you use to shape the tuft.(Fig. 4) After putting your guide hairs in place, you will need to fill in the area at the base of the guide hairs with the same color, to blend the new hair into the texture of the model. After filling it in, using the same color, paint fur sparsely over the image, leading the lay of the fur toward the tuft, to maintain the fur's continuity. (Fig. 5) Once this is done, you can vary the colors between darker and lighter hues to better blend with the surrounding fur and enhance its realism.

Step 4 - Ears or Other Contoured Areas

When painting contoured areas, you have to remain conscious of the direction of the hair growth, and the depth and color of the shadows. For this example, we will look at the cat's ear. The first thing you want to do is to paint guide hairs around the rim of the ear, marking the direction in which the hair will be painted, using a light color (Fig. 6). Once you have the guide hairs in place, fill in the area with fine hairs, keeping mindful of shadows and highlights according to the shape of the ear and light source. After you've finished the rim of the ear, begin painting the inside of the ear, make sure that you retain the shadow depth and blend it up to the rim (Fig. 7).

Step 5 - Final Notes

You can use similar techniques as those used in steps 2 and 4 to blend ill-matched patches of fur (such as those around seams, or the ear or cheek fur of the millennium big cat), or re-paint unattractive parts of the model, such as the jaw of the cat in my demonstrative image.

Play with these techniques to develop a method that works for you.

Postwork made Easy

2011-11-01T17:42:41+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Postwork made Easy

Author: mizgriz

Tools Needed

* Adobe Photoshop

Step 1: Preparing the image.

The first thing you're going to want to do when you get into Photoshop is open up your render. I'll be using this image:

Now, in your image, there's going to be a few places where the seams on the texture don't quite mesh or where the texture looks plastic-y. I've circled a few of those places in this image:

With your clone brush, press alt and click your mouse to select an area near the one you'll be touching up, then paint over it, like this:

Continue cleaning up those places. Now, there's a few more around my render's mouth:

So I'll be cleaning those up, too.

Step 2: Get your glow on.

So we have our image, all prepped and ready to roll. Go to Filters > Distort > Diffuse Glow. Use the settings in the image:

This is what will happen with your render:

Pretty, huh? It isn't quite what we want, though. So we're going to fade the diffuse glow. To do that, go to Edit > Fade Diffuse Glow.

A menu like the one in the picture should come up. Use the same settings- Opacity 75%, Mode: Luminosity.

Ta-da!

Step 3: And now for something completely (not) different...

Looking pretty good so far, eh? Now we're going to do something very similar to what we just did. First, look at your paint colors. You'll need to set the background color to white and the foreground color to a very dark brown, like in the picture.

After that, go to Image > Adjustments > Gradient Map. A menu like this one should appear:

Use those exact settings and click okay. Your image will look like this:

That would be all well and good if we wanted a sepia-toned image. But we don't. So we're going to go to Edit > Fade Gradient Map. Use the settings in the picture:

And your image will be in color once more:

Step 4: Hue and Saturate

Now we're going to play around with Hue, Saturation, and Lightness. Go to Image > Adjustments > Hue/Saturation. Now this is where we can have fun. You can use Hue/Saturation to really capture the mood of a render..for instance, if I want something brighter and more cheerful, like this:

I'd use Hue/Saturation settings like this:

And if I wanted to set a softer, more delicate tone, like in this picture:

I'd use Hue/Saturation settings like this:

Go ahead and play with the Hue/Saturation menu, find a look you like, and proceed to the next step.

Step 5: About blend modes...

First, duplicate the layer your render is on. (It should be “Background”.) To do that, right-click the layer and a menu will pop up. Choose “Duplicate Layer” and name it whatever you want.

Now that you have your layer duplicated, change the opacity on it to about 30-35% and change the blend mode to overlay.

This is what your image will look like:

But don't stop there–play with the blend modes and find a look you like! Here's my render with the blend mode on the duplicated layer set to Color Burn:

And here's that same image with the duplicated layer's blend mode set to Linear Light:

Step 6: Blur

The first thing you'll want to do is find places where the lines look hard, and out of place.

We'll be using the blur tool to soften those lines and make it blend better. Select the blur tool, set the amount to 100%, and carefully go over the places you want to soften–in the case of my image, that's around the lips:

And the nose:

You can also use the blur tool to blend the edges of your render with the background, like I did here:

Step 7: Finishing touches

So everything looks good so far, right? There are just a couple more things we need to do. See those places where the shadows don't quite mesh?

We're going to use the Burn Tool to fix those. Select the burn tool, and make sure it's set to Burn Midtones. Clean up anywhere the shadows don't mesh.

And that's all there is to it!

Postwork Techniques

2011-11-01T17:42:41+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Postwork Techniques

Author: Ilenora

Tools Needed

* Photoshop 7.0 and basic knowledge of the program

* Tablet (optional)

Introduction

Sometimes images, after being rendered, end up with odd joints, skin poking through the clothes, and are very often flat and lifeless looking. With this tutorial I'll show how to remove faults, change colors and add highlight or shine to objects, and overall add life and beauty to the image!

Step 1 - Starting

Open up your render in a graphics program. I'm using Photoshop 7.0 for this tutorial.

Now take a look at your image. What faults can you see?

On my image here, there are several. The shadows look all grainy, there's some skin poking through the bottom of her dress, her shoulder also has an odd joint. Her skin looks dull and lifeless.

Make sure the Layers pallet and Tools bar are open before starting. If you're worried about messing something up, duplicate the layer before working on it. It's also good to save your file as you work on it in case you need to go back.

Step 2 - Shaping

I normally start with the skin, and in this case it needs a lot of work. Fixing the joint will come first.

The shoulder on my girl looks a little strangely shaped, so to fix it you use the Liquify Tool in Photoshop. Duplicate the image layer. Select the shoulder area with the Rectangular Marquee Tool, located on the Tools bar and select “Filter” > “Liquify”. Then just fiddle with it until it looks right. Remember to change brush sizes and pressure when you need to.

This method can be used with any other part of the image. If the shape of something isn't pleasing, just Liquify it. I often do this to ankles when they're bent down too much and have bulges, and it's good for making ears look pointed like an elf.

Step 3 - Joint Fixing

Zoom up to the shoulder so you can easily work.

Select the Clone Stamp tool and select an area close to the joint. Smooth the joint out until it looks like it does in the top image.

Select the Burn tool next. Note that I use the Dodge and Burn tools often, as to me it's easier that way, but you can paint with the Brush tool if you wish.

Use these settings for the Burn tool:

Pen Pressure: On

Hardness: 0

Spacing: 20

Range: Midtones

Exposure: 7-15 (raise it for lighter images)

Start drawing a long line up from the base of the shoulder joint (2nd image). Make it curve in slightly, and switch the Range to Highlights if the line looks too saturated.

If you have a bit of lighter skin on the outside of the line as I have, select the Clone tool and just add a bit of darker skin over it.

Step 4 - Smoothing the Skin

Next, using the Lasso tool (located under the Rectangular Marquee tool), select the parts of the face to blur. Make sure you don't select the hair, nose, eyes, mouth or eyebrows. Don't select anything too close to the edge of the skin if you have a transparent image like mine, as it tends to blur the edges so much that they go semi-transparent. It's also best to do the ears by hand with the Smudge tool, if they show.

Right click and Feather the selection with a Radius of 2.

Go to “Filters” > “Blur” > “Gaussian Blur”. I used a Radius of 3.5, but it depends on how smooth you want the skin as to how much blur you use (1st image).

De-select the skin and choose the Smudge tool. Zoom up close to the face and smudge along to edges or any small spots where you couldn't blur, such as along the eyelid and around the mouth (2nd image).

Continue this process with the rest of the skin until it's completely smooth. Change the Radius of the blur or do it a second time if you need the skin to be more smooth. If you're having trouble with the transparency, try “Lock Transparent Pixels” in the Layers pallet.

This process should also fix up any grainy or hard shadows.

Step 5 - Adding Highlights

Now that the skin's all smooth, it would be good to have a bit of brightness in it to give it some life.

Select the Dodge tool, which is in the drop-down box with the Burn tool.

This next step is really a matter of taste and what mood you want to convey with the image. This is what I did for this certain image -

Using a large soft brush, change the Dodge tool settings to Highlights and an Exposure of around 5. Using a setting that's too high will cause the skin to glare.

Start brushing over the cheeks, nose and chin (1st image). Change the size of the brush for smaller places. Focus on the skin - the lips and eyes can be left for now.

Continue along with the rest of the body, changing brush size and Exposure as you go (2nd image).

If you have a strong light-source, make sure to brush along where the general highlights would fall.

Step 6 - The Face and Hair

Next comes the face.

All you'really need to do here is add a few highlights and shadows. On my image, the reflection in her eyes doesn't look bright enough. So I grab the Dodge tool, change the brush to a very small size (around 3 PX, but it depends on the size of your image) with the Range on Highlights and an Exposure of around 10, and gently brush over the highlight in the eyes (1st image). It's good to zoom up close to the face for this step.

After you're finished, to add a bit of life to the eyes, change the brush to an even smaller size and put the Exposure up to about 15-17.

Dodge along the inside of the iris, making sure to Dodge more in the direction of the light-source and keeping the opposite side slightly darker (2nd image).

If you like to can also brighten up the lips a bit like you did with the eyes. If you want to have more glossy lips, Dodge only in a small area along the top and bottom lip.

Depending on your lighting, you may want to get the Burn tool and make the shadows along the side of the nose (away from the light-source) darker and more prominent. I did this along the ear also to make the shape stand out a little more.

For the hair, get the Dodge tool again and change it to a large soft brush. Brush along the general highlights of the hair. Change the brush to a much smaller size and brush along individual strands to add a bit of realism (3rd image). Depending on the type of hair you have and your personal taste, you can also get the Burn tool on high Exposure and a very small brush size and define some of the darker strands a bit more too.

Step 7 - The Clothes

The clothes on my figure only have a very small poke-through, but you can use this same technique on most poke-throughs.

Get the Clone tool, on 100% opacity and about 50 Hardness, and just brush over any skin you see that's poking through the clothes (1st image). If the shadows and highlights don't match, you can either use the Dodge and Burn tools to smooth them out or the Smudge tool.

If you want to add more depth to the clothes, you can get the Burn tool, using a relatively large and soft brush, and burn along the edges, keeping in mind the light-source. Use the Dodge tool in the same way to add highlights. On my image I added some shadows along the edge of the belt to make it stand out more (2nd image).

I want the studs on the armband of my girl to stand out a little more too. To do this, get the Burn tool and set the Exposure up to around 30-40. Draw a dark line around the edge of the white (3rd image).

Then get the Dodge tool at the same Exposure as the Burn, and highlight the white stud in the direction of the light-source. Get the burn tool again and dab a little bit on the opposite side to give it some depth.

Step 8 - Changing Eye Color

Now pink eyes don't really match all the blues and greens in my image. So here's a simple trick on how to change them -

Get the Eyedropper tool a choose a color in your image that you want to change the eyes to. I'm choosing a greenish color from the clothes (#46605B). Now get the Brush tool with these settings:

Mode: Color

Opacity: 60-80

Pen Pressure: On (optional)

Hardness: 100

Spacing: 0

Brush along the iris until you've covered all the color (1st image). Next choose a more saturated and brighter color (I chose #2846A8) and a smaller brush size. Color the very inner edge of the iris, around the pupil.

Now choose various brown and green colors and blotch them along the iris, varying the opacity of the brush (2nd image).

If you want a more colorful eye, get the Sponge tool and set it to Saturate, flow around 50, and brush all over the iris. To get a really colorful eye, choose the color you want to be most dominant, get the Brush tool and lower the opacity to around 40 and brush over the entire iris and pupil.

Step 9 - The Staff

The staff in my image looks a little flat, with some odd black blotches down the bottom. To fix these, I'll use the techniques I have explained above.

To fix the blotches, get the Clone tool and brush over them (1st image).

To give the wood a bit more depth, get the Burn tool and brush along the edges, then Dodge along the centre (2nd image).

Step 10 - Color and Background

Choose a background now, if you didn't render the image on one. It doesn't matter if the colors don't match with your image. That can be fixed later.

If your figure has a black outline around it, as mine does, then just do this simple trick to remove it -

Select the layer with the figure on it (Ctrl+click) then right click and Select Inverse. Feather it with a radius of about 0.5, depending on how much black you have. Press delete two or three times.

You may notice that some of the strands in the hair have disappeared or, like on mine, the glow from the staff is almost invisible. To fix this, simply go to your history bar and set the source for the History brush to the step just before you pressed delete. Now select your History brush, on full opacity, and brush over the areas that disappeared (1st image).

The girl doesn't blend very well with the colors of the background. This can be fixed with some tone and color adjusting.

Duplicate the layer with the figure on it. Go up to “Image” > “Adjustments” > “Color Balance” (2nd image). Fiddle with the sliders until you're satisfied.

For my image, I used these settings:

Midtones:

-23

+12

Shadows:

-7

-5

Highlights:

-13

Change the layer mode to Color. If you want to blend the figure more with the background, go to the original layer and add a Drop Shadow layer effect. Change the settings until they're the same as in the image (3rd image).

Step 11 - Enhancing

Remember to save your file.

If you've finished making all the adjustments, flatten the layers by going to “Layer” > “Flatter Image”.

Duplicate the Background layer. Set the layer mode to Soft Light. Depending on personal taste, you can lower the opacity if it seems too dark. I set mine at 50%.

Add a Gaussian Blur of around 3-4. Duplicate the background layer again and set the mode to Screen. Lower the opacity to around 15-20%. Flatten layers again.

Duplicate the layer 2 times. Set the first layer to Lighten, and add a Gaussian Blur of about 5. Lower the opacity to around 40. Go to Brightness and Contrast and change the brightness to -25 and contrast to +20. Set the second layer to Soft Light and lower the opacity to about 20-40.

Flatten the image. Go to “Filters” > “Artistic” > “Paint Daubs”.

Settings:

Brush Type: Simple

Brush Size: 1

Sharpness: 1

If it's too sharp, go to “Edit” > “Fade Paint Daubs” and lower the slider.

Step 12 - Finished

Your image is now done!! Using these techniques will have given it a soft, painterly look with a heavenly atmosphere.

Play around. Change layer modes, add filters, smudge more, adjust contrast, brightness and color. You can make it look Gothic, fantasy, romantic, and so much more!

Here are some variations of the picture I have made, and a comparison of the old and new version, after postwork.

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial, and if you have any questions or comments feel free to email me :)

faerynisbet@netspace.net.au

Power Mobius Effect

2011-11-01T17:42:41+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Power Mobius Effect

Author: odeathoflife

Tools Needed

Poser
Image Editing Software

Introduction

You have seen this effect in a number of sources I am sure, the mixture of wireframe and rendered image. I am going to go through the step by step on how it can be archived.

You will need poser, as well as an image editing software that supports layers. I will be using Fireworks by Macromedia, but any will work (Corel PhotoPaint, Adobe Photoshop etc.)

Step 1 - WORKING IN POSER

The first thing that we have to do is pose the figure. So choose your figure ( I am using DAZ's Low Res Victoria ) and a suitable pose.

I find that using a pose with as few bends and twists is preferable to one that is a complex. But to each his own.

Ok so we have the pose and the character set up to the way we like, now go to the DOC STYLE menu and select Hidden Wire Frame.

We will export this in the next step.

Step 2 - EXPORTING WIREFRAME

OK, so now we will have to ANTI-ALIAS the document so there are no jaggies on the image.

Choose RENDER then ANTIALIAS DOCUMENT, this will remove the jagged edges in the image.

Now to export the image, so go to FILE then EXPORT and Finally IMAGE.

You will want to choose an image appropriate to your image application, I chose PNG because of the alpha channel and it is MACROMEDIA FIREWORKS native image format.

Save to a working folder.

We will render and save the image in the next step

Step 3 - RENDERING IMAGE

OK I added a texture to Victoria (I am using Arizona available in the Platinum Club).

I am choosing to RENDER TO A NEW WINDOW, but you must make sure to set the dimensions as the document windows.

So render by going to the RENDER then Choose RENDER :)

Save this image in your working folder as well.

Now we will have to close poser ( I know this can be difficult some times, I know it is for me) and open your image editing software.

Step 4 - IMPORT INTO IMAGE SOFTWARE

So we have our image software open, now open a new document the same size as your image ( I am doing this 500×500, but any aspect can be done)

Import both images into the document, and if it is not already, move the rendered image ON TOP of the wire frame image.

NOTE: There will be a Camera name on the upper corner of the wireframe image, just erase that before moving on to the next step.

Line up the images so they are directly on top of each other, and then move onto the next step.

Step 5 - CREATING THE EFFECT

Now comes the fun part!

Making sure that the rendered image is on top and selected as the active layer, choose the eraser tool, and set the edge to 100% Feathered, this will give a nice fade to the image.

Now erase the parts of the rendered image that you want to be wireframe. I erased the outermost edges all around the figure for this.

Now just export to a standard image format, and you are done.

Step 6 - FINSIHING UP

And this is my final result.

This is a great way for custom character creators to show their meshes along with the textures that they are using…or for technical diagrams where instead of a wire frame the fade can be of a transparent insides…the limit to what you can use this technique is your imagination.

Thanks for reading this and I hope that this was helpful.

Allan McCormick

aka odeathoflife

poser free stuff available @

www.members.shaw.ca/odeathoflife

ReLight, Multi-pass and Studio Light Pro : Add realism to your preferred models

2011-11-01T17:42:41+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

ReLight, Multi-pass and Studio Light Pro : Add realism to your preferred models

Author: myvirtuallady

Tools Needed

* DAZ Studio 1.7

* ReLight

* Studio Light Pro

* Fireworks or Photoshop

Introduction

Add realism to your figure using Studio Light Pro and improve your scene in postwork with ReLight. Take the advantages of Studio Light Pro lightings, multi-pass renders and postworks with ReLight. This tutorial uses DAZ 3D Models like Victoria 4.1, Domino for V4 and Radiant Jaguar Hair for example.

Step 1: Setup your scene to render

Open DAZ Studio and setup your scene first : Display the Viewport Option and select the Background Color…Select the color that will match your background at the postwork step. I choose this color more darker than the background I will apply further: dark blue for a blue background.

Load your figure and clothing, then apply your pose. In this tutorial I loaded Victoria 4.1 with standard resolution texture maps, Domino for V4 outfit, Radiant Jaguar Hair and fit all to Victoria 4.1.

In the Content Tab, open the Studio folder and select your favorite Studio Light PRO preset (normally inside Light subfolder): in this example I selected Pin-up B Low B preset, in the Pin-up subfolder, inside Presets of the Studio Light PRO folder. Now the scene is set up with realistic lighting for Victoria 4.1., ready to render with ReLight.

In the Content Tab, open the Script folder and inside its Utilities subfolder, select ReLight. The ReLight– Multipass Renderer window opens. Choose Specular, Diffuse and Ambient lights, give a generic name to your files and render your scene into the folder you like.

You obtain 3 render images : Ambient, Diffuse and Specular. These pictures are used for postwork.

Step 2: Import and organize your multipass render into Fireworks or Photoshop

Open your preferred 2D Graphic program and import the 3 render images as layer and rename them Ambient, Diffuse and Specular as needed.

Define the Blend Mode of the Diffuse and Specular layers as Screen!

Step 3: Modify the curves for the Diffuse layer

Select Adjust Color Filter in the Filter dropdown menu using the Property inspector, and choose Curves… The Curves window opens. Then drag the Curves to adjust the tonal range of the Diffuse layer and lighten your figure.

Step 4: Duplicate the Specular layer and adjust the levels of highlights

The result is pretty good but the scene lacks of highlights for the skin and some part of the clothing. At this point of postwork, I will play with the Specular layer to add more realism. Add your preferred background and turn off its visibility.

Duplicate the Specular layer and rename it Specular2. Then modify the highlights on both skin and the clothing to reproduce and simulate a little effect of radiosity : To do this, kept only the Specular2 and Ambient layers visible and turn off the visibility of the other layers. Select Adjust Color Filter in the Filter dropdown menu using the Property inspector, and choose Levels. The Levels window opens. Drag the white triangle to the left side to correct the Specular layer and kept a high concentration of highlights.

Like this, you can duplicate several times the Specular layer in order to play with each area independently if you want more highlights for the hair, or less for the clothing. When you duplicate your Specular layer, do not forget to define its Blend Mode as screen!

To match the color of your preferred background, select all the transparent area using the Magic Wand tool with a value of 10 for Tolerance and Anti-Alias for the Edge. Expand your selection marquee with a 1 pixel value to trim the highlights of the Specular2 layer.

Step 5: Final touch

Finally turn on the visibility of the Specular2, Diffuse, Ambient and even Specular layers. Here is the enhanced renders after postwork. Your figure looks like more realistic with highlights on cloth and shine onto the surface of the skin.

Once you have setup your Diffuse, Specular and Specular2 layers and obtained the good results, you can turn on the visibility of your preferred background. Comparison with postwork and without postwork.

Here is the enhanced render after postwork. Your figure looks like more realistic with highlights on cloth and shine onto the surface of the skin.

Et Voila !

Ripple and warp effects

2011-11-01T17:42:41+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Ripple and warp effects

Author: SaraC

Tools Needed

Paint Shop Pro
Photoshop

Introduction

Using simple layers in your favorite paint program, add ripples and warps to your image to create fantasy and sci-fi special effects. This tutorial is written for Paint Shop Pro 7, but Photoshop has similar capabilities. This final image below was created using Stephanie Petite, The Dress, and Dark Wall from DAZ.

Step 1 - Organise your layers

Before you start, turn the image into a layer. (Layers / Promote to layer)

Duplicate this layer (Layers / Duplicate) and rename the new layer “ripple”. Naming your layers avoids confusion later.

Step 2 - Create the ripple

Select the circle selection tool with a high feather value (I'm using 30). A high value means that the ripple will blend nicely into the image.

Outline the circle of the ripple, as above.

Open the ripple dialog box (Effects / Geometric Effects / Ripple) and set your parameters (see above). A fairly low amplitude and wavelength are suitable for my image because the entire ripple area is quite small.

When you're happy, click OK, then right-click to deselect the outline.

Step 3 - Remove unwanted areas

Lower the transparency of the “ripple” layer so you can see the hand underneath. The aim is to remove the distorted hand so the clean hand underneath shows through - so that the hand appears to be on top of the ripple, rather than part of the ripple.

Using the lasso tool with a feather of 3, outline the hand and other areas that are distorted by the ripple. Hit the delete key to remove the selection. The unchanged layer underneath now shows through.

Right-click to deselect the area.

Step 4 - Finishing touch

Adjust the transparency of the ripple layer until you're happy with the effect.

Layers / Merge All to flatten the image.

Another example is shown below. Here I've put a “warp” effect on the tentacles (Effects / Geometric Effects / Warp) to make it look like the creature is “warping” into realspace and thus distorting the corner of the room.

The warp effect distorted the girl so I had to cut around her after applying the effect to the top layer. It's usually a good idea to reduce the transparency of the top layer with the effect (here it's at 50%), with the clean layer underneath showing through, so that the distorted area is still recognizable.

“ALL CLEAR ON SUB-LEVEL B”

Roman Mosaic Effect

2011-11-01T17:42:41+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Roman Mosaic Effect

Author: mizgriz

Tools Needed

* Photoshop CS

Step 1: Paint Daubs

As we all know, mosaics aren't really all that photo realistic, so the first thing you'll want to do is make your render look like a painting.

First, open up the image you want to give the effect to. I'm using this one:

Go to Filters > Artistic > Paint Daubs.

The settings should be: Brush size 5, sharpness 7, and the brush type should be simple:

Your render will now look like a painting:

Step 2: Adding some texture

Next, we're going to add some texture, since we're going for the “aged, fading” effect. Go to Filters > Texturizer > Sandstone.

You'll want the scaling to be at 50%, relief to be at 4, and the lighting to be Top Left.

Your image will now look something like this:

Step 3: Changing the Contrast

Now we need to change the brightness and contrast of the image.

Go to Image > Adjustments > Brightness/Contrast

The brightness needs to be at +60, and the contrast at +54.

This is what will happen to your image:

Step 4: Mosaic Tiles

Go to Filters > Textures > Mosaic Tiles.

You'll want the tile size to be 8, grout width to be 1, and lighten grout set to 8.

This is what the image will look like:

Step 5: Finishing Up

We only have a little bit more left to do.

Duplicate the layer your render is on.

Select the new layer. Now go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur.

Set the blur radius to 3.0.

This is what will happen to your image.

Now, set the blend mode on the layer to Multiply, and…

Step 6: The end!

Ta da! You're done! Your image will look something like this:

Ruffling the Feathers

2011-11-01T17:42:41+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Ruffling the Feathers

Author: moonrancher

Tools Needed

Poser
Noggin

Support Files

Tutorial.zip

Introduction

Parrots are constantly grooming themselves, burying their beak

into their feathers. So usually they're not entirely smooth.

If you want realism, here's how you can groom your own bird. The trick

is to not overdo it, but to work on one or two areas until they work.

Usually having a small clump or two of feathers lifted will do the trick.

Step 1 - RENDER THE BIRDS AND IMPORT INTO PHOTOSHOP

Step 2 - SELECT A SMALL PATCH OF HEAD OR NECK FEATHERS

Use the magic wand tool. The tuft should be fairly small. Copy the patch

and paste it onto another layer. I use the shortcuts: Ctrl+C or CMD+C,

then Ctrl+V or CMD+V and Shift+Ctrl+D or Shift+CMD+D.

Step 3 - USE THE EYE CANDY FUR FILTER TO CREATE FEATHERS

Set the direction so the tuft looks like it is lifted at an angle from the other feathers.

Use the eyedropper to choose a color from the selected patch.

Step 4 - CHOOSE ANOTHER COLOR and REPEAT STEP 3

Vary the direction, density, length and the random seed as well as the feather colors

to get a natural look. I like to use three colors for good depth. You will need to

enter the fur filter each time you want to add another layer of feathers.

Step 5 - ERASE THE EVIDENCE USING A LOW OPACITY ERASER

If some of the feathers don't look quite right, start erasing with the eraser

setting at 10% to 30% to gradually get the feathers closer to the head to

blend into the original rendered surface.

Step 6 - MERGE THE RUFFLED FEATHER LAYER WITH THE IMAGE

That's all there is to it. Thanks, Noggin, for these wonderful birds!

Simple Postwork Tutorial

2011-11-01T17:42:41+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Simple Postwork Tutorial

Author: Broken Angel

Tools Needed

Photoshop or any graphics programm that can handle layers

Introduction

This is a step by step tutorial showing how to enhance renders rather simply in Photoshop (or any other programm that can handle layers), using layers and a few tricks I learned on the way.

Step 1 - Setting the stage

Set up your scene and render your image, then save it as TIF-file (saving as a TIF-file will preserve an alpha-channel in those cases where you don't use backdrops. I use a backdrop here, but I made it a habit to save any poser-render as TIF).

I'm using a render with Fatale's Doloree here, a portrait headshot, so we don't need to worry about any render glitches Poser tends to do to her knees and armpits.

Save your picture under a new working name, this makes sure you don't mess up your original render (been there, done that, screamed at the screen in frustration numerous times;))

Then duplicate the background layer.

Step 2 - Softening the edges a bit

Select the new layer, and press Ctrl, ALT, Shift and ['] together. This selects certain colors based on the brightness value in the layer. You should have a nice selection visible now. Inverse the selection and hit DELETE.

Remove the selection (Ctrl D) and go to FILTER - > BLUR - > GAUSSIAN BLUR. Use a setting of 5.

Step 3 - Some layer blending

Now we're doing some layer blending. Set the top layer (the one you've hopefully been working on all the time!) to OVERLAY.

Time to play with the opacity slider, I set mine to 80% here, it depends on how dark the image is after we set the layer to Overlay.

Side note: Ever wondered why there's a Fill slider and an Opacity slider? I'll tell you. :) The opacity slider has an effect on the whole layer, including any layer effects you've added. The fill slider effects only layer content, but does not affect the layer effects. Basically spoken you can apply a layer style like a bevel, then set the layer's fill opacity to 0% and any image content will vanish, but you still have the bevel effect visible. If you apply an effect like a bevel or drop shadow for exapmle to a layer, and then set the layer's opacity to 0%, both the layer's content and the layer's effects will become invisible. That's the simple explanation as far as I recall it.

Okay, now we have a nice, but somewhat bland image here, no? If you like your image this way, you might as well stop here. I usually go on and add a few extra steps.

Flatten your image.

Step 4 - Fun with adjustment layers

See that little black/white circle at the bottom of your layer palette? We going to use it to add a level layer, a curves layer and maybe a color adjustment layer to it. The nice thing with those adjustment layers is that you can make them invisible to see the effect they have on your image!

Click on that circle and choose Levels, then adjust each of the three sliders until you're satisfied with the brightness and darkness of your image.

Now click that circle again (make sure your levels layer is visible!) and add a curves layer. Experiment with the gradient shown there, just move the point/s a lil a time, if you overdo it, you'll get a funny looking image! Again, use what is good for your image, if curves don't add or even take away from your image, delete the layer safely again.

Step 5 - Color balance to add depth

Last but not least, something to experiment with is the color balance. Especially when you added parts and bits of your own to the image, color balance helps to adjust all colors in all parts of your image to be more coherent in the end. Click the little circle once more, adding a color balance layer to your stack of layers.

Now experiment around, you can change the shadow tones, the highlight tones, the midtones. Red or Blue values can enhance your skin tones if you select a high amont of red, while you might want to select a high amount of blue to enhance your shadows.

Here subtlety was the key.

By the way, did you notice that every adjustment layer comes in company of a layer mask? You can use the layer mask to make parts of the levels invisible, just by painting on the layer mask with a black brush (makes the layer you brush on disappear) or with a white brush (makes the invisible parts appear again).

Flatten your image, add your watermark, tag, trademark border or whatever you prefer and show it off to the world!

I certainly didn't invent the tricks shown here, I, too, got them from people who had more skill in postworking images than me (most of them still are more skilled than I'll ever be ;) ). I've been reading and still read a lot of tutorials I can find around the 'net, and almost all techniques taught in them can be adapted to postworking Poser renders.

Here's the final result:

Simulating, by degrees, severe time damage on photographs

2011-11-01T17:42:41+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Simulating, by degrees, severe time damage on photographs

Author: Troti

Tools Needed

Photoshop Elements 2 (other versions of photoshop will work)
And a scanner
For numeric work

Support Files

image_psd.zip

Introduction

Hi, everyone ! I'm very fond of tutorials, many times they offer you ways to enhance your picture. This time, I wanted to make a digital photograph in a very bad state as if I had found it in a corner of my attic. As the artificial look given by the software often disappointed me, I tried to use a median between real damage with inks on paper and computer compositing on photographs. The goal is to give density and matter to the digital picture.

Step 1 - choose a picture

Open your background image in Photoshop. Here is a picture of my garden. Of course this will work with almost any background image you choose, if you take care to have not very dark or very bright parts in your picture (it will reveal the artificial compositing).

Step 2 - to desaturate, the common way to age a picture

Duplicate the background layer. I always do this to protect my original. Then I can experiment different things on duplicated layers.

The first easy thing to do to age a photograph is to desaturate the colours :

Enhance / Adjust color / Hue / Saturation (Ctrl+U)

Saturation : - 40, the picture approaches a black and white version.

Lightness : + 10, the colours seem to have suffered from direct sunlight.

Hue : - 20, the colour balance turns to brown, like the picture is tinted with sepia ink.

Step 3 - manual work with real ink

There's a funny pleasure to playing with dirt ! In fact, the damage on your digital photograph will look real because they started from real paper. Take some sheets of paper (the size of your scanner glass will be good). The thickness of the paper doesn't matter as long as it will withstand our actions. For this example I develop these actions in three ways :

- making dirt with dust

- scratching paper with sandpaper

- creasing and uncreasing paper

For the two first ways the secret of success is to reveal the marks of the action by one or several washes of water tinted with black ink. Let the papers dry. For the last action, the relief of the paper will be enough to play with the light of the scanner.

With time you will increase your library of numeric scans from real damage (72 dpi or 300dpi, it depends on the destination of your pictures : screen or print)

Step 4 - add the damaged layers

We're back in Photoshop ! All we have to do at this moment is to copy some of the previous scans as different layers on top of the layers of step 2.

Step 5 - adjust different versions of the dust layer

I change the dust layer blend mode to multiply, but the effect doesn't look very effective because the spots of dust lack depth. In fact, I'm looking for an another effect : dust on negative which gives white spots on the developed print. To do this, follow these steps :

Image / Adjustments /Invert (Ctrl+I)

I change the dust layer blend mode to screen

Step 6 - add the scratches layer

Nothing complicated here, I change the scratch's layer blend mode to multiply

Step 7 - adjust the creased paper layer

I change the creased paper layer blend mode to multiply, but again the effect is not effective, the lines of the creased paper layer merge with those of the scratches layer. As at step 5, try these actions :

Image / Adjustments /Invert (Ctrl+I)

I change the creased paper layer blend mode to screen.

The effect looks better as if the light reveals the different depths of the creased paper.

I change the layer opacity to 74 % to soften the effect.

Step 8 - a blurred frame to finish the picture

I add a new layer between the scratches layer and the creased paper layer. I rename it blurred white frame. I draw in it a black square with the rectangle tool, on a white background near the borders of the picture. I simplify the shape and I blur it : filter /blur/ Gaussian blur with a radius of 10 pixels.

I change the blurred white frame layer blend mode to screen.

The work is finished, time hasdone its damage. Fortunately the picture is quiet clear. As you work with different layers you can enhance or soften each kind of damage by changing the layer visibility or its degree of opacity. Have fun. Marc

Skin and Wire: a winning combination

2011-11-01T17:42:41+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Skin and Wire: a winning combination

Author: Beady

Tools Needed

Any layer and mask supporting paint program

Introduction

Follow this tutorial and you'll be able to make those cool combined images where the underlying wire and polygon model blend smoothly into a fully textured render. Any painting program that supports layers and masks will enable you to blend the two versions of the model. I'll be using Macromedia Fireworks as that is the program that I use most.

Step 1 - Setting Up

Load your model into Poser. This can be any model that you like, I'll be using Stephanie Petite.

Pose the model and apply a texture if required then light it as you want. You might find for this sort of image that the more simple the set-up the better, but that's a matter for you. The important thing is that you get everything in position at the beginning.

Step 2 - Render

Do the render. Get the best quality that you can, with anti-alias and shadows on.

Here's my simple example

Step 3 - Save the Image

Make sure you save the image! I find it helps if I include the words 'skin' in the filename so I can identify which version I've produced. You can save the image as either jpg or tiff, but again go for the best quality that you can get.

Step 4 - Get wired

This is the simplest step. Do nothing to the image. Don't move it, don't change the camera angle. I'd be reluctant to even move a light. The only thing that you should do at this point is select the Hidden Line display (Ctrl+ 4) on a PC. This will give you the image with the polygons facing the camera visible.

Step 5 - Move It

Now we're going to make a (very) short movie. So short that you'll not notice any movement. Select Animation - Make Movie from the menu.

In the dialogue box that appears make the settings as shown in this image.

There are a few important things to notice here:

The Sequence Type is 'Image Files'
The Resolution is 'Full',
The next bit is most important, Quality is 'Current Display Settings'.
I would always use Antialiase to improve the image quality.
Notice the Time Span on the right of the box:
This is set to have zeroes in ALL of the boxes. As the first frame of the movie is numbered as zero, what this means is
that the movie will start and end on the first frame.

Click OK to make the movie and when asked save the image, preferably as the same type as your earlier render and in the same location.

If you save as type PNG the background will be completely transparent, this might be useful in some circumstances.

Notice that the image file will be called whatever you named it, plus a number _0001 will be added to the filename - if you forgot to set the number of frames to be zero, you'll get a lot of identical images, each with a sequential number added to the filename.

Step 6 - Post work it

We've now finished in Poser, so you can save and close. I'm working in

Fireworks as that gives me the better control over the next bit, Paint Shop Pro is also pretty good but not quite as easy in this area. I know Photoshop does this as well, but I've not got a copy.

Load your painting program and then load the skin image. Then load the wireframe image.

With both images visible, use the Selection arrow, that's the default arrow in Fireworks, and drag the wireframe image from its own window and drop it on top of the skin image. It should line up exactly as it did in its original window. If it didn't then make sure that it is as accurately placed as you can make it.

You will now have two objects in the same layer section of your layer palette, the wireframe image should be above the skin image. Make sure that the wireframe section is selected and click on the 'Add Mask' button in the layers palette .

A small mask symbol will appear alongside the image in the layers palette.

The yellow box around this indicates that it is selected.

Step 7 - Merge Them

Now select the Gradient Tool, this is the same tool as the fill tool or paint bucket in Fireworks, but if you click and hold on the button you can then select the Gradient version.

In the Properties palette choose 'Linear' from the available List and then click on the colour picker and from the pre-sets choose 'Black, White'.

What we are going to do now is to flood the mask area with a gradient that runs from full black to full white. The effect of these two colours is that black will be completely transparent and white will be completely opaque.

In Fireworks you can decide by clicking and dragging in a particular direction which end will be black and therefore transparent. Remember that Ctrl+Z will allow you to undo the flood if you didn't get it quite right so you can change the start and end points.

Step 8 - Final step

All that now remains is to save the image in PNG for Fireworks and to export the image in JPG for the web, or wherever.

Smooth Skin

2011-11-01T17:42:41+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Smooth Skin

Author: serpentis

Tools Needed

Photoshop

Introduction

Sometimes the skin we render in Poser just doesn't look “right.” Ya know what I mean? Well, there's a simple post work solution to that. :) Of course, this doesn't fix having bad textures to start with or other major flaws, but if there's too much of a shadow or blotchiness to your skin, this is how I take care of it.

What You Need:

Photoshop

Your Poser render (or photograph with bad skin)

Used in this tutorial:

Poser 4 Pro Pack

Victoria 3 by DAZ

Breonna by serpentis

Alicia Curls by RDNA

Alicia Stylez by serpentis

Jewelry from Freestuff at Renderosity

Photoshop

This image was written in Photoshop 7, but can translate to most Photoshop versions. I'm not sure if this way can be done in Paint Shop Pro or other similar photo editors.

If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to e-mail me or contact me at any of the sites I frequent (3D Commune, Renderosity, Poser Pros and DeviantArt), username: serpentis.

Step 1 -

Open your image in Photoshop. Duplicate the background layer (Ctrl+J).

Step 2 -

Invert (Ctrl+I) the layer copy and desaturate (Ctrl+Alt-U). Your image should look similar to this now:

Step 3 -

Add a layer mask to the duplicate layer. (Layer/Add Layer Mask/Reveal All)

Step 4 -

With the layer mask selected, go Image/Apply Image and use the following settings:

Source: filename

Layer: Background

Channel: RGB

Blending: Normal

Opacity: 100%

Invert: Unchecked

Mask: Unchecked

Step 5 -

Set the layer's blend mode to Soft Light.

Your image should look like this:

Step 6 -

To soften the image a bit more, I've added a Gaussian Blur to the duplicated layer. (Filter/Blur/Gaussian Blur)

Step 7 -

Now that we've lost a wee bit of depth, let's create a Curves Layer to bring some of those shadows back. Click on the background layer and then on the little Circle that's half black, half white at the bottom of the layer palette.

Step 8 -

You should have a fairly smooth looking image now and can finish it up however you'd like. If you want to tweak the image a bit more or add a border to it, go right ahead. :) I can't stress enough how important just playing around with Photoshop and your image is.

Stylish black and white postwork technique

2011-11-01T17:42:41+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Stylish black and white postwork technique

Author: Corinne

Tools Needed

Photoshop (7)

Introduction

This tutorial will teach you a simple postwork technique using Photoshop : making good looking black and white images.

Notes :

My Photoshop version is in french, but the elements are placed in the same way than in the english version, you just have to follow the screenshots.

This tutorial has been done with Photoshop 7. Some differences may appear with the tools if you're using lower versions.

Step 1 - TURNING COLORS INTO GREYSCALE

When your render is ready and that you've already done your basic postwork (hair, clothing, details enhancing, etc), go to Image > Mode > Grayscale. A dropbox will appear, click on OK. Your image will automatically turn into black and white.

Step 2 - SOFTENING THE IMAGE

We will now soften a little bit your image.

To do it, first make sure your have only one layer containing your whole image (no separate pieces). If not got to Layer > Flatten Image.

Then duplicate it and set the one on the top in overlay mode, and also set its opacity to a low value (I used 30%). The opacity value depends on the contrast of your initial image. You can play with this setting until you have something that you like.

Go on the second layer now : we're going to blur it. Go into Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur.

Make sure the Preview option is checked, so you can view the further changes directly on your image, in real size.

Then, change the radius, stay in low numbers. This one depends on the size of your image and the result you want to have (I've set the radius to 1.0).

Step 3 - PLAYING WITH LEVELS

This step is the most important one. We will go into the Levels menu : click on Ctrl + L.

In the menu, you will see a graphic with some curves. Right under it, there are three little arrrows (black, gray and white). By moving them, you get different results. For example, by dragging the white one to the left, you burn the image.

This is how it works : each arrow has an influence on a tone in the image. The black arrow is for the dark tones, the gray is for the middle tones, and the white is for the light tones. By moving them you can change their value, as indicated in the graphic.

When I do this kind of image, I play with the arrows until I get a result that I like. There are no written rules (on the top are my settings for this image).

Step 4 - DETAILING

Sometimes, with this technique, your image looses details. You can enhance this by using Filters > Sharpen > Unsharp Mask.

And then play with settings. I usually let the Treshold option on 0, put the Amount optionon a high value (here 198) and for the Radius a low value (here 1.1).

Step 5 - FINAL IMAGE

Stylized White-Out

2011-11-01T17:42:41+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Stylized White-Out

Author: serpentis

Introduction

Sometimes ordinary just isn't enough…for times like those, try using a stylized white-out effect.

What You Need:

Photoshop

Your photograph or Poser Render

Used in this tutorial:

Photoshop 7

Photograph by mexikids

This image was written in Photoshop 7, but can translate to most Photoshop versions. I'm not sure if this way can be5 done in Paint Shop Pro or other similar photo editors.

If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to e-mail me or contact me at any of the sites I frequent (3D Commune, Renderosity, Poser Pros and DeviantArt), username: serpentis.

Step 1 - Step 1

Open your image in Photoshop and duplicate the background layer.

Step 2 - Step 2

Apply a Gaussian Blur to the image (Filter/Blur/Gaussian Blur)

Step 3 - Step 3

Invert (Ctrl+I) Your image should look similar to this now:

Step 4 - Step 4

Add a layer mask (Layer/Add Layer Mask/Reveal All) to the layer.

Step 5 - Step 5

Go to Image/Apply Image to the current layer using the following settings:

Source: filename

Layer: Background

Channel: RGB

Invert: Uncheckmarked

Blending: Normal

Opacity: 100%

Step 6 - Step 6

Set the layer's blend mode to screen.

Step 7 - Step 7

Duplicate Layer 1 two (2) more times. (Ctrl+J)

Step 8 - Final Images

The final image:

And another sample of stylized white-out using this same technique:

Stylizing and contrasting an image

2011-11-01T17:42:41+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Stylizing and contrasting an image

Author: Carole

Tools Needed

Photoshop

Step 1 - Apply Gaussian blur

Copy and paste your figure in a new document with a background of your choice.

In my example, the background will be a cloudy sky.

Duplicate the layer with the figure, apply a Gaussian blur, about 10 pixels.

Step 2 - Darken the image

With blend mode, choose “darken”, 100%

Step 3 - Finishing

Go into Brightness/contrast and play with different settings.

You can add some more contrast to the background, select the background layer (with the cloudy sky) and play again with brightness/contrast.

Step 4 - Background

And here it is !

With a few adjustments in “brightness/contrast” you've got both background and figure with an original contrast !

Sugar skin

2011-11-01T17:42:41+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Sugar skin

Author: SaraC

Tools Needed

Paint Shop Pro 8
Photoshop

Introduction

I've named this magical postwork effect 'sugar skin' because it dusts the skin with a sugary effect. The perfect finish for your striking, high-contrast fantasy renders, portraits and pin-ups. This tutorial is for Paint Shop Pro, but Photoshop has all the same features.

Step 1 - Create overlay layer

Start by adding a new raster layer and name it 'whitepaint':

Set this layer to 'overlay'. If you can't see the Layers Palette, make it visible using View/Palettes/Layers:

Step 2 - Paint shine

Select the paintbrush tool and set it to 'fuzz soft' or some other soft brush:

Paint the areas of your image that you want to highlight. Generally, if you've used a decent set of lights for your render, you can just follow the existing highlighted areas. Change the size of the brush as necessary. The above image shows where I've started on the head.

And below is the image after I've finished painting the body. It looks like a mess just now, but not for much longer…

Step 3 - Blur and merge

Apply a Gaussian blur of about 7.00 (Adjust/Blur/Gaussian Blur). If your paint lines are thinner, user a smaller value. If you used a big brush, use a larger value.

Adjust the opacity. (Here I've used 90% but use a lower value if the image was darker to start with. The effect should be quite subtle.)

Merge the layers (Layers/Merge/Merge Down).

You can stop at this point, or continue with the next steps for a more dramatic effect.

Step 4 - Apply screen and adjust contrast

Duplicate the layer (Layers/Duplicate) and set the new layer to 'screen'.

Adjust the opacity. This time you'll want to bring it right down to 20% or lower.

Merge the layers (Layers/Merge/Merge Down).

The image is now looking a bit washed out, so reduce the brightness and increase contast by going to Adjust/Brightness and Contrast/Brightness/Contrast.

Here I've used values of -10 and 10, but you can fiddle until you get the effect you're after:

For this image, I worked on a PSD file with a transparent background, so the last step is to add in the background.

It's important to make the background match, since we've made the foreground figure so striking, so adjust the brightness/contrast of the background accordingly.

If you rendered your figure with background already included, you can of course apply highlights to the background itself at the same time as you deal with the foreground figure. I prefer to do them separately.

The final 'sugar skin' image is seen below and at the top of the tutorial.

Surreal Effect

2011-11-01T17:42:41+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Surreal Effect

Author: LunaL

Tools Needed

Photoshop 7

Step 1 - Diffuse Glow

First we applied a Diffuse Glow Filter (Filter > Distort > Diffuse Glow)

with the following settings:

Graininess: 5

Glow Amount: 8

Clear Amount: 11

Step 2 - Channel Mixer

Then we applied a New Channel Mixer Adjustment Layer

(Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Channel Mixer)

with the following settings:

click OK, and then

Step 3 - New Levels Adjustment

The output channel turns to gray, but do not worry about that.

Then we applied a New Levels Adjustment Layer

(Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Levels)

and pulled in the left slider or shortened the color level range.

Step 4 - Paint

This is trickiest step, first we created a new blank layer over the other layers.

Then we take a paintbrush with a low opacity and carefully painted the lips pink on the new blank layer.

Now merge all the layers together..and you're done!!

Swiping Other Characters

2011-11-01T17:42:41+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Swiping Other Characters

Author: Crescent

Tools Needed

A photo editing program

Introduction

Have a gorgeous outfit for one character, but want to use it on another? With a bit of ingenuity, you can do make those clothes appear to fit.

In this example, Victorella wants to go to the ball but she doesn\'t have the elegant dress that her step-sister Koshini has.

Step 1 - Why not be a conformist?

Sneaking a dress out of Koshini's closet, Victorella is dismayed to find that the dress doesn't fit - at all - when conformed.

Not to worry, Victorella, that dress will fit for your ball picture!

Step 2 - Aligning the dress

Unconform the dress.

Move the dress so that the dress' hip area is in line with Victoria's hips.

Step 3 - Be a good parent

Making sure that the dress is still selected, go to Figure: Set Parent Figure. Select the hip of Figure 1 (or whatever your character is named) and hit Okay.

Parenting the clothing to the other figure insures that if you move the character, the clothing will move as well. The reason you want to set the clothing parent to the other figure's hip is that the hip is the main part of a Poser figure. Scaling, etc., is determined by each body part's relationship to the hip.

Note - if you swipe conforming hair, parent it to the head instead of the hip. This will allow your character to nod its head without losing all its hair.

Scale the dress (and use any applicable morphs) so it fits the figure as best possible. In this case, I scaled the hips on the X and Z axis. I did not use the Y scale as it made the skirt too long while pushing up the blouse part. (Again, everything is determined by the hip, so if you change the YScale of the hip, it will move everything above the hip upward while simulatenously moving everything below the hip downward.)

Step 4 - Posing Pretty

As shown below, the results do not have to be perfect. You simply have to get it close enough for post work.

Pose your character. Yes, the dress will mostly fall off. (But it does follow the character if the pose moves the character.) If the pose you're using isn't saved in your library already, please save it now. You can always delete it later if you don't need it.

Select the dress and apply the pose to the dress. Depending on the clothing, it may match up perfectly, or you may need to tweak it. In this case, I needed to tweak it because the entire skirt is the hip. Also, I've found that Koshini's back is a little straighter than Victoria 3's back (V3 has more curves) so I tweaked the dress by bending it forward just a little bit at the chest and then nudged the Side-Side dial a bit for maxmum coverage.

We're getting closer, but there's more to be done.

We'll do 2 different cheats to get this finished up.

Step 5 - Cheat #1

Now, the dress should cover the entire abdomen and lower torso area, so I'm going to use Cheat #1 - turning body parts invisible.

Select the abdomen and go to Object: Properties and remove the checkmark for Visible. Do the same for the rest of the lower body that sticks out.

Well, we're almost there, but the dress is still a bit drafty.

Why don't we hide the offending body part here, too?

Uh, oh. It's part of the chest sticking through. Well, this is okay for a surrealistic work, I suppose …

Step 6 - Cheat #2

Now it's time to pull out Cheat #2: Snowcloning. (Coincidentally enough, Snow Sultan just uploaded his revised, in-depth tutorial on Snowcloning to the Tutorial Arcana.)

Render your picture as if this were the final, finished work with the chest invisible. Save it as a .tif file. I'm calling mine Victorella-a.tif.

Render your picture again with the same settings, but make the chest visible. Save it as a .tif file as well. This one will be Victorella-b.tif.

In your photoediting program, load up Victorella-a.tif.

Load Victorella-b.tif.

Import Victorella-b as a new layer on top of Victorella-a. Make sure that it lines up exactly with Victorella-a. (In Photoshop, you can hold down the Shift key and drag the layer to Victorella-a so it lines up perfectly.)

Use the erase function and erase out the areas where the chest pokes through the dress on the sides.

Add your signature, and any other postwork you want to your image.

(Special thanks to kendo2112 for the towel and SnowSultan for the Snowcloning technique!)

Tattered Edges Postwork

2011-11-01T17:42:42+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Tattered Edges Postwork

Author: cowham

Tools Needed

* Adobe Photoshop

* Basic understanding of Photoshop is helpful

Introduction

Create tattered edges for your clothing with postwork, using a few layers.

Step 1 - Getting Started

Open Photoshop, and load your saved render.

Open the layers box if it is not already open. (Windows menu, Layers) You can turn the layer visibility on or off by clicking on the eyeball icon next to a layer. Open your tool box as well.

My starting Image:

Step 2 - Set Up

Make a new layer by pushing the post it note in the bottom of the layers box. You can zoom in using the magnifying glass tool. Holding down the ALT key zooms out. Now select the paint brush tool. Depending on what version of Photoshop you are using the brushes toolbox will either be on the top right, or a box that you open from the Windows menu. Go to the brush tool box, and click on the little arrow in the top right corner. In the drop down list that opens select either natural brushes or natural brushes 2, and yes in the conformation box. Pick a brush that matches your image, you might have to try a few. Just make a new layer when you switch to a new brush in the event that you liked the last brush best. Use the eyeballs next to a layer to turn them on or off. Dragging a layer onto the trash can deletes that layer. (I used white as the brush color, but on some images black may look better)

Step 3 - Paint Tatters

With your new brush, and on your new layer paint over the areas that you want to look tattered or torn. Don't worry about staying inside the lines, we will fix that later. When you get a look you like, click on the box that says normal in the layers box. Choose overlay from the list. (Depending on your image a different mode may look better, feel free to try them all) Zoom in if you need to. (Ctrl-Z will undo the last action, and Ctrl-ALT-Z will undo several)

Choose the eraser tool, and go back to the brush box, and click on the little arrow again. This time choose reset brushes. This will load the default brush set. Choose a feathered brush (they fade out toward the edge). Erase (paint) over the unwanted stuff on your new layer.

Step 4 - Clone Background

Click on the bottom (render layer). Drag it onto the post it note icon to copy the layer. (In case we want to try again) Choose the rubber stamp tool, and using a feathered brush we are going to clone the background under our tatters. ALT-click on a source point near our tatters. Release the ALT key and paint under our tatters on the render layer. You may have to choose several source points, and brush sizes.

Now go to the tatter layer. Choose the eraser tool again, and a feathered brush. Next to the brush drop down box, is an opacity slider. Slide to around 50 % or so. Gently rub around the top of your tatters to blend them into the image.

Step 5 - Adding Folds

My dress has lots of folds as well, so we need to add those to the tatters. Make a new layer, and choose the brush tool. Choose black for the color and paint over shadow lines that are in the image. It doesn't have to be perfect, just in the ballpark. Switch to white, and paint (on the same layer) highlights as they flow down the dress. You may have to switch brush sizes a few times.

Go to the Filter menu, choose Blur, and then Gaussian Blur. Go somewhere between 1-3. Change the layer opacity to around 25% - 40%.

The tatter layer doesn't look very convincing yet, so we are going to adjust that layer some more. Select the layer, and adjust the layer opacity. Then go to the Image menu, Adjustments, and Hue/Saturation. Check both the colorize and preview boxes. Play with the sliders to change the tatter layer to best match your image.

Step 6 - A Little Tweaking

While the image looks good now, I think it could still use a more tweaking. Make a new layer and repeat the tatter layer steps with a different and bigger brush.

Select the fold layer. Change the layer mode to linear light (or one that looks good for your image). Lets zoom out and see how we are doing.

Not bad, but the fold doesn't quite blend in. Go to the Image menu, Adjustments, and then Brightness/Contrast. Check the preview box and move the sliders back and forth.

Repeat for the neckline and sleeves if you wish.

Step 7 - Bonus Step

But you wanted tatters on the inside of the dress too?

This is a little trickier. Make a new layer, and drag it to the top of the list. Zoom back in a little, and choose the render layer. Using the rubber stamp tool choose a source point on a large skin area (not the face). Now paint (with a tatter brush) on the new layer where you wanted skin tatters. You will need to go back and forth several times between the layers to choose new source points. Don't worry if you get a little of the dress painted in too. We can erase that out with a small feathered brush. Make any layer style/opacity changes, and edge erasing.

You can also create mud, and blood spatters using this technique.

Have Fun!

The Sentinal Tutorial

2011-11-01T17:42:42+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

The Sentinal Tutorial

Author: christophersean

Tools Needed

* DAZ Studio

* Particle Illusion

* Photoshop

* Color Washer

* Dreamsuite

Step 1: Cover

Step 2: Credits

Step 3: Overview Of DAZ Studio

Step 4: Camera Angles

Step 5: Model Placement

Step 6: Lighting Setup

Step 7: Overview of Particle Illusion

Step 8: Create Effect

Step 9: Create Effect

Step 10: Create Effect

Step 11: Create Effect

Step 12: Overview of Photoshop

Step 13: Auto Adjust/Warming Filter

Step 14: Color Tweak/Dream Filter

Step 15: Final Postwork/Render

Thick flowing hair

2011-11-01T17:42:42+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Thick flowing hair

Author: ironsun

Tools Needed

Photoshop

Introduction

Remember him? Our beloved Don the Cat Guy is waiting for the hair I promised to give him in tutorial about Morphing in Photoshop CS. Using tabled is recommended, but I think that this could also be done with mouse.

Step 1 - Planning

First let's plan what kind of hair we want to do. We'll be focusing on big chunks of hair so let's start with some general directions that the hair will flow.

Eek! Pink and light violet! Hair will NOT be like that but those are colors that really stand out of the background making planning easier than using darker colors. Pink chunks are hair and violet ones some decoration-to-be.

Step 2 - Styling base of the hair

Because I want Don to have chunky messed type of hair I have different method to make it than standard strand-to-strand technique used to draw silky hair. I've found one of the Photoshop's styles to be just what I needed.

In styles tab, press the little arrow in the upper right corner to popup menu with lots of different styles. Click Photographic Effects and choose append in the pop up window to append new styles last to styles tab.

The style what were looking for is called Inner Bevel Drop Shadow. It is between Purple tone and Luminosity styles. Create new layer and apply style to it. Before painting, change direction of shading and color of highlights to correspond lighting in your image. After that shadows and highlights will fall in right places.

Normally drawing hair will go to darkest to lightest tone, but because the nature of the style, begin with the lightest tone of the hair and draw general shape of the strands. It's OK to paint over the character because we're going to clean all up when finishing the pic.

Use hard rounded brush with opacity at 100% and change size of the it to make hair look more alive.

Step 3 - Tone and depth

When you've finished painting the base, create new layer and apply same style to it as in last one. If you've changed the default style, easiest way to add same style is to right click on base layer and select copy layer style and then right click on just created layer and select paste layer style.

Continue painting chunky hair and remember to create new layer for every new color to give hair some depth.

Here's what I've done so far. It's not the most perfect piece of hair but in next step it's going to get some more detail.

Step 4 - Detail, detail, detail

We were aiming at chunks of hair but not that chunky ;) With large soft rounded eraser opacity about 50% erase some ends of hair. I'll be concentrating on Don's hair above ear because it has almost no definition at all.

Next it would be good to save the pic with different name because next we're going to merge all hair layers and give them more shadows and highlights. If something goes horrendously wrong we have the original to start again :)

In newly saved file hide all layers except hair layers. Then press little arrow above layers' opacity slider and choose merge visible. Now you've just one hair layer. If needed, use burn and dodge to define shadows. This is also good step to check out that hair looks OK. In this step you can for example erase hair that is overlapping character too much, change color of the hair and add decoration.

Step 5 - The End

This is how the image looks right now. Don the Cat Guy has got his mane and now he can finally run in the woods and feel the wind in his hair… ;)

If you have any comment, questions or suggestions, please feel free to email me.

Transforming a 2D Image into a 3D Object

2011-11-01T17:42:42+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Transforming a 2D Image into a 3D Object

Author: Anonymous

Tools Needed

Bryce Photoshop

Introduction

You wil see how avariety of different tools and programs work toghether to make a 3D image. Michael Jed shares a few tricks and insights to make your work eye catching and more realistic.

Step 1 - Photoshop - Preparation

Select your object, by using tools such as the Lasso, Magic Wand, Eraser and/or other paint tools, and discard the background. For those of you familiar with them, the Quick Mask and Extract modes can be utilized. Similar results may be obtained with other paint programs such as Painter and PaintShopPro.

This can be a very time consuming process. Be patient and very accurate.

Your object should now appear, alone, on a transparent background.

Save your work periodically.

The final image will now be processed into two files: one containing a gray-scale image for applying to the Symmetrical Lattice and the color image, you have already saved, which will be used to apply a texture map.

Take your prepared image and save it again as a name that identifies it as your gray-scale. Under Image > Mode, select Grayscale. Then, under Image > Mode, select Brightness/Contrast and move the brightness scale till your blacks become a visible shade of gray.

Since black is at ground level in Bryce, anything that is black in your image will not be visible when the gray-scale is applied to the Symmetrical Lattice and your image will appear to have holes in it where you do not intend. Moving all the shades up a few notches, into gray, insures the entire image will show in the Symmetrical Lattice.

Now create a new layer filled with black and merge your gray image on top of the black layer. (If you merely flatten the image, the background, if in default, will be white and white registers as the highest point of your image and you do not want that.)

Step 2 - In Bryce

Create a new scene.

Create a Symmetrical Lattice and click on the “E” to edit it.

Click on the “grid” and change it to “1024 - Massive Resolution”.

Click on new terrain and then, with everything in default, click on Picture and load the grayscale image.

To attempt this technique, you may now load grayhummerJPG provided for this purpose.

If the middle image is not black, click on it to make it black. The B/W hummer should appear in the 1st and 3rd windows. Click Apply.

Your SymLat should appear in the shape of the hummingbird showing various elevations based on the grays in your image. Edit with any Bryce tools if you need to and then click the arrow to apply.

Placing the SymLat in Bryce:

Step 3 - Step 3 Placing the SymLat in Bryce

Your image now appears as a shaped SymLat in your scene window. It comes in face up and we will deal with that in a minute. For now, let's map it, so it doesn't resemble a terrain anymore.

Click the A to edit attributes. Make the Y depth 3. As this is really a 2D mapped image, there is no real need for much depth. Click the arrow to apply.

In the working window now, click on the M to add the texture map.

Step 4 - Step 4 Texture Source Editor

Click the Image Texture icon and then the Texture Source Editor.

Open your colored image. You may select the hummerJPG here. Apply the texture and go back out to the working window.

Click the A and edit the rotation values as follows:

X -90, Y -45 (these coordinates my need to be adjusted depending on the size and placement of your object)

Step 5 - Step 5 Linking Image to Camera

Once your object is placed so that it is straight on to you as possible, link the camera to your object. Then whenever you move the camera, the SymLat object will remain at exactly the same angle and distance from it. You can do this by clicking of the Link Icon and then clicking and holding down on the camera and dragging to the object you wish to link and releasing (in this instance, the object).

Step 6 - Step 6 Creating Your Scene

Add water, a city, trees, a whole scene, etc….and render…

In terms of the working image for this tutorial, the hummingbird, note the addition of plant life and a water plane. Our curious little hummer has found a flower he's never encountered before. The Attributes dialog box is included here to show you the final values of the hummingbird object in this image.

Step 7 - Step 7 Post-Rendering Your Image

In Photoshop:

With the final rendered image, zoom in and use the smudge tool to bland any blemishes and the image into the background.

When you have blended all the edges of the Symmetrical Latttice into the scene and cleaned up the picture to your satisfaction, play with adding perhaps a lens flare or other special F/X.

Turn an Image into an Old Photograph

2011-11-01T17:42:37+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Turn an Image into an Old Photograph

Author: cowham

Tools Needed

* Adobe Photoshop

Introduction

Easily turn a rendered image into an old photograph.

Step 1: Prepare Image

Open your image (File Menu, Open).

First we need to drop the color out of the image. Go to the Image Menu, Adjustments, and Desaturate.

Now we are going to add some color back. Most old photographs are sepia (brownish) toned, or a blue-ish purple due to the poor chemical processing.

Go to the Image Menu, Adjustments, and choose Color Balance.

Play with the sliders to get an effect you like.

Step 2: Add Grain

Almost all old photographs have some grain due to the poor quality materials availed at the time. You can use either or both of these filters to achieve grain. Too much of either filter can do unusual things.

Go to the Filter Menu, Artistic, and choose Film Grain.

Move the sliders to get an effect you like.

Now go the Filter Menu again, and choose Noise, Add Noise.

Play with the sliders to get an effect you like. Both Uniform and Gaussian work well for this effect.

Step 3: Distress Edges

Most old photographs have also been banged around, dropped, stuffed in drawers and generally abused. We can duplicate most of that abuse.

Go to the Select Menu, and choose All. This puts a dotted box around our image. Go back to the Select Menu, Modify, and choose Border. A box pops up asking for a size. I used 30 pixels, however depending on the size of your image you may need more or less. Now go to the Select Menu and choose Feather. In the new pop up box enter a size, I used 5 pixels. Again depending on the size of your image you may need to adjust (5-20 pixels is usually good).

Open the tool box (Window Menu, Tools). On the bottom there are two large boxes and two small boxes. Click on the two small boxes to reset the big boxes to black and white. Also click on the curved arrow to bring white to the top. Click on the brush tool as well.

In the upper left corner you will see the brush tool options. Click on the down arrow to open the brush size/shape list. Click on the arrow pointing to the right to open the command list. Choose Natural Brushes 2, and the brush that is 118. (Older versions can open the brushes tool box from the Window Menu)

If you need to you can change the size of a brush by moving the slider at the top of the list. Feel free to experiment with the other brush sets in the command list.

Now with our new brush we are going to click here and there within the dotted lines. You will notice that you are painting towards the center of the image past the dotted line. This is because we used feather. The bigger the feather, the more distance it paints inward. Without using feather we would get a harsh line that wouldn't look right for this effect.

Step 4: Distress Surface

At the bottom of the brushes list there are some water drop smudge looking brushes. I used a couple of these to add some stains to the image.

For the rest of the distress effects we are going to need to work with layers. Open the layers box (Window Menu, Layers). At the bottom right there is a post it note icon, click this to make a new layer. (To switch layers just click on the one you want to edit.)

Using the 118 brush, paint here and there all over the surface of the image.

At the top right of the layers box, there is an opacity box. Click on it and drag the slider to make the layer more transparent.

Our distressed image:

Step 5: Add Surface Dirt

All of the years of neglected abuse have left our old photograph dirty.

Make a new layer. On the tool box, click the curved arrow to bring black to the top. Paint here and there with the same brush (118), and remember a little dirt goes a long way.

Go to the opacity slider again, and fade the dirt layer.

Our finished image:

Using Displacement Maps in Postwork

2011-11-01T17:42:37+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Using Displacement Maps in Postwork

Author: Phoenix1966

Tools Needed

* Poser

* Photoshop

* Xero Filters

Step 1 - The Incomplete Image

I used Poser 6 and the great PC prop, Romany Charms, to create this image. However, there was an additional element I wanted to add: the shadow of someone watching the sleeping woman cast across her legs.

The problem I ran into was no matter how I posed M3 in the scene, I couldn't get the shadow I wanted so I realized it was simply something I was going to have to add in postwork (something I dread because I'm not very good at it).

Step 2 - Creating the Shadow

In Poser, I loaded a nude M3 (no need for textures or clothing since all I wanted was his shadow) and re-arranged the default lighting until I got a shadow I knew I could work with.

I then exported the image into Photoshop.

Step 3 - Working In Photoshop

Once inside Photoshop, I simply used the Magic Wand and Lasso tool to strip out everything except for the need shadow.

With that layer ready, I opened up the main image as well.

Step 4 - Choosing the "Right" channel

Opening the Channels box on the right (or wherever you keep the layers/channel palette), you will see several color options.

At this point, it's a bit of trial and error as you test which color channel offers the greatest contrast in the image.

Step 5 - Creating the Displacement Map, part 1

In the case of this image, the Blue channel offered the greatest contrast. So, highlighting the blue channel, I right-clicked on it and chose to “duplicate” the channel.

Step 6 - Creating the Displacement Map, part 2

Once I chose to Duplicate the channel, a new dialogue box opened up. In the destination box, the file was renamed “displacement”.

To this new file I also applied a Blur > Gaussian > .5 to it to soften the image a bit. Then I saved the newly created displacement map to a location I could easily find later.

Step 7 - Combining Layers

Now, I simply combined the shadow layer and the original image together, using the Edit > Transform > Scale tool to stretch and position the shadow to where I wanted it.

At this point, the shadow looks poor as it is too rigid and too opaque, but that will be fixed in the next step.

Step 8 - Using the Displacement Map, part 1

In the toolbar above, select Filter > Distort > Displace.

This will open up a new dialogue box within Photoshop.

Step 9 - Using the Displacement Map, part 2

In the Displacement box, keep the horizontal and vertical scale at 10.

Stretch to fit the displacement map and repeat edge pixels.

Step 10 - Using the Displacement Map, part 3

The dialogue will now prompt you for a displacement map, so simply point it to the one created a few steps back.

In this image, you can see how the map affected the shadow layer as it now seems to be more draped over the woman than it was before.

Step 11 - Blending

Right click on the shadow layer to open up the Blending Options.

Keep the blend mode set on Normal and simply slide the Opacity lever until the shadow matches as close as possible to the other shadows in the image.

Step 12 - Using Xero Filters

Using Xero's free filters, found here: http://www.xero-graphics.co.uk/downloads.htm, I did a little finishing work.

First, I utilized the Bad Dream filter to exaggerate and darken the colors a bit. I find that helps an image and adds depth to it if you're planning on making it Black and White.

Step 13 - Finishing Up

The last thing I did was use Xero's Grayscaler filter, adjusting contrast and brightness to taste.

It's finished and no one will ever know it had to be pieced together.

I hope this helps your understanding of displacement maps and their possible uses.

Watermark Signatures

2011-11-01T17:42:37+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Watermark Signatures

Author: elizabyte

Tools Needed

Photoshop
OR any graphic manipulation program that uses layers

Support Files

Introduction

Many people object to watermarked images, feeling it detracts from the artwork. This is a reasonable position, but there's no reason that a watermark signature necessarily has to be obtrusive.

By using layer styles (if you have Photoshop 5.5+) or simply adjusting the opacity and color of a layer (using any graphic manipulation program that uses layers and allows adjustment of that sort), you can create a distinctive and subtle signature watermark.

As for what to use, that's really up to you. My personal watermark signature is also my digital art logo, and it's constructed from a specialty font. I simply settled on the design I wanted to use, made the font black on white, then made a Photoshop brush out of it.

The possibilities are almost endless. You can use shapes, fonts, various kinds of symbols, even a hand-drawn signature which you convert to a brush or shape (so that you can easily re-apply it when you need it). If all else fails, you can simply type what you want on a text layer and use that.

Once you've settled on a design, you'll be ready to start experimenting with layer styles and opacity settings and so forth.

Step 1 - Simple Layer Effects

Probably the simplest thing as far as watermarking goes is to put your mark on a transparent layer in a color that's a bit darker or a bit lighter than the area you want to mark, and then simply adjust the opacity until you get a nice blend that is visible but not obtrusive.

You can also try experimenting with layer blend modes. Overlay, Screen, and Soft Light are all good candidates for blending a nice, smooth watermark, and in some cases, Multiply is also a good option. Don't be afraid to try different options (if you're worried about not being able to go back to a style you liked, duplicate the layer and make the original invisible, and tweak the copy).

Step 2 - Photoshop Layer styles

Layer styles are an excellent way to save your settings for future use, and the options are considerable. Set the Fill for the layer to 0% and you can have tremendous control over the look and feel of the watermark. Try using a Drop Shadow (adjust the size and depth, and possibly the opacity or color), Stroke (1 px, outside, low opacity), and possibly Color Overlay, again experimenting with the blend modes to see what effects you can get.

One look that I like is a “transparent” bevel (small size, low opacity, sometimes with a drop shadow for extra emphasis), or a simple light-colored Color Overlay set to Soft Light, with a stroke around the edges.

Sometimes I've even used a custom gradient to fill the watermark, usually with colors I pick from the image with the Dropper tool.

You can also sometimes employ an Outer Glow at a low opacity or special blend mode, to make the watermark stand out from the background very slightly.

The key here is to play and experiment. That can't be overstated enough. The only way to find out what will look good sometimes is to just tweak and adjust until you get something you like. And when you do, consider saving the style for future use.

Feel free to use, tweak, and experiment with the layer styles included with this tutorial (one zip is for Photoshop 6 and has fewer styles; the other is for Photoshop 7+). Change the colors, adjust the parameters, etc. Sometimes taking something apart is the easiest way to learn!

Watermark your images

2011-11-01T17:42:37+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Watermark your images

Author: Naniette

Tools Needed

* Paint program

* A picture

Support Files

*cat.zip

Introduction

In this tutorial you will learn how to add a watermark to your images. A watermark is useful to add your signature, logo or copyright to your images it can also be used for thumbnail or preview images that you do not want people to copy. In this tutorial I will use PSP, but this can be easily adapted to any other paint software, I have tried it in TheGimp, a freeware paint program and the final results are the same.

Step 1: The Watermark Image

First we need the logo or text we are going to watermark on our picture. Let's design a simple logo, start your paint program and create a new file, make it a 400×300 pixels to match our picture, you can use your own picture if you want and match it to its size. Make the background color white.

Choose the text tool, make it size 48, select black as the color for your text, and write anything you desire. Create a new layer, using the shape tool create a rectangle, make its fill color be white, and the border black, set the line thickness of the border to 14 px. You will get something like this.

For the purpose of this tutorial I have kept my image simple, but you can use your creativity to create anything you want.

Note: The watermark image MUST be black on white for this effect.

Save your watermark image when you are happy with it.

Ok let's continue.

Step 2: Adding the Watermark

Open the image that is going to be watermarked; I will use this one, the picture of a nice looking cat. I have included it with this tutorial.

Now go back to your watermark image, and merge all layers (flatten) if you haven't already done so, copy it and choose paste as new layer.

Next, with your watermark layer selected, go to filters – texture effects – emboss.

Now change your layer style to Soft Light.

And you will end up with this:

Here's an example using text only :

Step 3: Other Layer Modes

You may also use other layer modes to achieve different effects; the end result will depend on the colors in your image, so go ahead and experiment with these! Here are a few examples using other modes:

Hard Light

Overlay

Dodge

Step 4: Conclusion

Here I have explained the basics on how to get this done, you can use this effect with a more detailed logo or text to get different results, you could try skewing or rotating the image or text, you can also change the opacity settings for different results.

Experiment! Try different settings to see what you can achieve with this! I hope you find this useful, thank you for reading.

Wing 'em

2011-11-01T17:42:38+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Wing 'em

Author: DTigerWoman

Tools Needed

Paint Shop Pro 8

Introduction

Give your characters a pair of wings made from scratch using Vector shapes in Paint Shop Pro 8!

Step 1 - Getting Started

Start by creating an image about 500×400 with a transparent background.

Next make sure your background color and fill properties are set to black or some other dark color. This can easily be changed later.

Step 2 - Preset Shapes

Click on your preset shapes tool (shown below) and use the following settings:

Step 3 - The First Feather

Using the settings in Step 2 draw out your basic long thin oval.

Note: the example image shown here is smaller than yours due to cropping for the purpose of the preview.

Next click on the Pen Tool to turn on the Vector Nodes. This is where we begin shaping one feather.

Step 4 - Node Editing

Click the node on the left, hold down the mouse button and drag toward the top left.

Arrange the two middle nodes so that you have a nice shape. You can also arrange the node on the right to give it a point for the center of your wings.

Step 5 - Additional Feathers

Once you get a good shape for your first feather, click “Edit” “Copy”, “Edit” “Paste” “As New Vector Selection”. You now have two feathers.

Click on the Preset Shapes tool again so you have some control over your new feather. Move your new feather in place.

Rotate it so the points meet on the right of your first feather.

Step 6 - Repeating Step 5

Repeat Step 5 until you have enough feathers.

You may also rotate and resize additional feathers to spice them up a bit with more shape as shown here:

Step 7 - Vector Properties

Once your get the shape you are looking for on your left wing click on each vector feather in your layer palette by holding down the shift key. Right click on one of the vector feathers in the layer palette and select “Properties”.

On the properties window you may change the colors and properties to give your wings some color so you can make sure they are in place correctly. I selected a gradient with the sunburst properties for the circle effect as shown here.

Step 8 - Group and Mirror

With the feathers still selected right click on the layer palette and click “Group”. This will group the left side of your wing so it's easier to identify the two sides when you are finished ;o)

Next, with the entire group still selected click “Edit” “Copy” then “Edit” “Paste” “As A New Layer”.

Click “Image” “Mirror”. Now arrange the right wing into it's proper place.

Step 9 - Arranging Groups/Layers

On the layer with your right wing, click and hold down the mouse button while dragging the group to the first vector layer. This will place both groups on the same layer and will make your wings much easier to work with. You can delete the second vector layer now because it has nothing on it ;o)

Step 10 - Congrats!

Use the fantastic snow cloning tutorial along with feathering them out with the smudge brush to give your wings a beautiful look!

Working with Refraction Index

2011-11-01T17:42:38+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Working with Refraction Index

Author: Robin Wood

Introduction

Most 3D graphics applications have a place to specify Refraction Index. But what is Refraction Index, anyway? Why is it important? And how do you know what numbers should go into that field, anyway?

Step 1 - Bending the Light

Light travels through different substances at different speeds. Generally speaking, the denser the substance, the slower light moves. When light enters a substance at an angle, this change in velocity causes the ray to be deflected, or bent.

This bending is called Refraction. The amount that the substance bends light is its Refraction (or Refractive) Index or RI. (It's determined by using Snell's Law; that is, the sine of the Angle of Incidence (the angle at which light enters) over the sine of the Angle of Refraction (the angle it's bent to) equals the RI of the substance.)

Because the Refractive Index for a given substance at a given temperature and pressure is a constant, Refractive Indices are used in the real world to determine everything from the percentage of water in a sample of honey to the composition and purity of gemstones.

In our Virtual World, we use Refractive Indices to enhance the reality of our renders.

Step 2 - Refractive Indices

Refractive Indices for many substances are available on the web. (I've posted some of them myself. http://www.robinwood.com/Catalog/Technical/Gen3DTuts/Gen3DPages/RefractionIndexList.html ) You can just look them up, and plug them in.

Different programs employ them in different places; but most will allow you to put that number in somewhere. For instance, in Bryce you have to multiply the RI by 100, and then put the answer into the Refraction slot in the Materials Lab. For Lightwave, you open the Surface Editor, and type the number into the Refraction Index field in the Basic tab. In Cinema 4D, you open the Material Editor, check the Transparency box to activate the Transparency Dialog, and enter the RI into the Refraction field labeled n. Other programs use other methods.

Step 3 - Getting it Right

Knowing the correct Refractive Index adds realism to your renderings. For instance, one of these glasses has virtual water in it, and one has an 80% sugar solution. You can probably guess correctly which is water. Even though you may not know the RI of water, you've learned what looks “right” from a lifetime of experience.

For a lot of liquids, you can guess “close enough” to the correct RI by using something similar. For instance, if you know that the RI of water is 1.333 and the RI of an 80% sugar solution is 1.49, you could guess that the RI of a glass of Sweet Tea would be somewhere in between. And you'd be right. The higher you made the RI, the sweeter the tea would be.

If that's not good enough for you, you can't find the RI of the liquid you want on the web somewhere, and you like science experiments, you can figure it out for yourself. (You can just buy a refractometer, too; but the ones that will measure Index of Refraction (nD) aren't cheap. (The less expensive ones measure Brix, and you would have to convert it.))

Step 4 - Critical Angles

When rendering gemstones, there is more to it than that, because the “life” in a cut stone is dependent on the angle of the cuts and the Refractive Index of the stone.

If the angles of the facets are too low, light escapes before it reflects from the inside cuts. If they are too high, light bounces out of the sides of the stone, and you don't see the reflection.

The angle at which light can escape is called the “critical angle.” (Critical Angle = sin-1 (1/RI) where RI is the Refractive Index of the stone.)

For maximum sparkle, the angles of the stone need to be between the Critical Angle and the Angle of Reflection. If you do that math, you will see that the larger the RI, the larger the window you have between these two angles.

Step 5 - Bow Ties and Fish Eyes...

So, if you'really want to use a certain shape or cut of gem, and you find that you have “bow ties” (dark facets) or “fish eyes” (places in the center of the jewel where there are no reflections, ) a quick fix is to increase the RI. I know, it's not accurate; but sometimes it makes sense to sacrifice accuracy for esthetics.

(This model comes from 3Dlapidary, by the way.)

The model above is Quartz and has RI 1.544

The one below is Crystal and has RI 2.00

Step 6 - Minimum RI Needed...

You can figure out the minimum RI needed for a particular model by measuring the most accute angle in the pavilion (the bottom of the stone.) Assume that's the critical angle.

The Refraction Index will be 1 divided by the sine of that angle. So, pull out your Scientific Calculator, make sure you are working in degrees not radians, enter the angle, and tap the sin button. Enter that number into memory, clear, enter 1, hit the division key, recall the memory, and tap the equals button. That's the lowest RI that will give you life in that stone. Setting the RI in the program just a hair higher should assure success.

Step 7 - Other Applications...

The other place where I use Refractive Index in modeling is to determine the Glancing Angle of the Fast Fresnel Shader in Lightwave. The “glancing angle” is the angle from the camera where the fresnel effects (an increase in reflection and decrease in transparency) begin to take effect; so you can use this anywhere in your favorite program where you have a similar control.

For the most realistic effect, this should be set to the Brewster Angle for the material. (When light hits a surface at a particular angle, the reflected rays all have the same polarization. That's the Brewster Angle, and it varies depending on the RI of the surface. If you want to know what all that means, you can learn more here. Read the whole page to get a handle on polarization before you get to the Brewster Angle at the bottom.

Without going into a lot of math, the Brewster Angle for a material in air is just about the ArcTan of the Refraction Index. So, to figure it out, just use your Scientific Calculator, make sure you are working in degrees, enter the RI, and tap the ArcTan (tan -1) button.

As you can see from the Glass Fish, Fresnel Effects add a great deal to the realism, and Fake Fresnel using the Brewster Angle yields the same results as the Real Fresnel (calculated directly from the RI) but with the added benefit of more control over things like highlights. (the top fish has No Fresnel Effects, the one in the middle has Lightwave Real Fresnel, and the one just below has Lightwave Fast Fresnel

(Thanks, Arnie Cachelin, for pointing this out.)

By the way, if you ever wondered how they calculate the RI for things like gold, (which no light is going to penetrate) - they use the Brewster Angle!

And that's it! I hope you enjoyed this tutorial, and that it helps you render better stuff, in less time. Have Fun!

Kirisute Books of Postwork 5

2011-11-01T17:42:38+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Kirisute Books of Postwork 5

Author: Kirisute

Tools Needed

Poser
Photoshop
Adobe acrobat

Support Files

book5.zip

Introduction

KIrisutes Books of Postwork: Book 5: Start to Finish and everything in Between.

This tutorial is a complete guide to the creation of one of my most recent and well known images! From start to finish….sections include:

Setting up the render in Poser

Light set up

Placing figures and posing

Rendering

Full Postwork, from glitch repair through to whole image manipulation

Special Effects.

A must read for beginners and advanced artists alike.

Step 1 - Kirisutes Books of Postwork: 5

NOTE! This tutorial is contained entirely inside the zipped up PDF file found in the “support file” section above. Please click on the support file 1 to read this tutorial.

Anaglyphs from Poser Renders

2011-11-01T17:42:38+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Anaglyphs from Poser Renders

Author: Malva

Introduction

This easy-to-follow tutorial will show you how to use Anaglyph Maker to create True Stereo images from Poser renders.

Step 1 - download Anaglyph Maker

First of all, you'll need a program called Anaglyph Maker, available for free at StereoEye Software .

Don't worry, it's only 594KB.

Step 2 - render

Now that you have successfully downloaded and installed Anaglyph Maker, go to Poser and render your scene. Save the image as “left eye”.

Step 3 - another render

In the options menu below the preview window, select the Main Camera and drag it a bit to the right.

If you want precision, lower the DollyX value in 0, 02 units. For example, if it was 0, 040, change to 0, 020.

This value is for characters close to the camera. If your main subject is is further away, you may want to increase the difference between the right and the left eye images.

When you're done, save as “right eye” and open Anaglyph Maker.

Step 4 - Anaglyph Maker

As you can see, the program is very simple. After you've loaded both images, select the your 3D mode. If your glasses have a red lens on the left side, and a blue one on the right side, you should choose Color(Red-Cyan) or Red-Blue. Here I chose Red-Cyan.

Now click “Make 3D image”.

Step 5 - Final Adjustments

Depending on your render, you'll need to use the L and R buttons to shift the images a bit. Here I chose the elbow as the image focus and adjusted the 'layers' until they were almost a perfect match all along her arm.

Finally, click “Save 3D image”, select Save Method “Anaglyph or Interleave” and you're done.

Hairbrush in Corel Photo-Paint

2011-11-01T17:42:38+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Hairbrush in Corel Photo-Paint

Author: dorkati

Tools Needed

Corel Photo-Paint

Introduction

You can use hair in Poser when you make a picture. There are many hairstyles that you can buy. But, if you wish to make something unique, you will need some postwork. I'm using Corel Photo-Paint so I will show you how you can make your own hairbrushes.

Step 1 - Use the airbrush tool

Open Photo-Paint.

Make a new document and set the background to transparent (no background).

Work with separate layers.

For making the hair brushes use the airbrush tool.

1. Open the 'Brush flyout' , and click the 'Paint tool' .

2. Open the 'Paint tool' picker on the property bar, and click the 'Airbrush' tool.

3. Set the properties on the property bar.

The shape should be a feathered, 5 sized circle. Be sure to press the feather button so the shape will be smooth and more realistic.

Step 2 - Spots

Paint some dots like on the picture. They shouldn't be symmetrical, just helter-skelter with a little slope to left or right.

Create 6-9 spots per group.

Create as many spot-groups as hair-brushes that you wish to work with. Use separate layers for each spot-group.

If you don't want to make spots with hand, check the next part for another way to make spots.

Step 3 - Make many spots simultaneously

Use again the 'Airbrush' tool. Open the 'Brush Settings' docker from the menu bar – > Window– > Dockers– > Brush Settings.

In the 'Brush Settings' docker specify values for the attributes. You see:

- Nib properties,

- Stroke attributes,

- Dab attributes,

- Brush texture,

- Orbits,

- Color variation

- Pen setting

Check the picture for settings I used. The most important attributes I marked with '*'.

Nib properties:

*transparency - set 50 or less

rotate - set 70-80

soft edge - set 70-80

Stroke attributes:

*smoothing - set around 15

number of dabs - set 1

*spacing - set 90-100

( lets you specify the amount of space between dabs along the length of the brush stroke. A value of 1 produces a solid line. A higher value separates the dabs in the brush stroke)

*spread - set around 700

(lets you specify the distance between dabs along the width of the brush stroke. A higher value results in a thicker brush stroke)

Orbits (be sure to push down the orbits sign for selecting the orbits)

Number of orbits - set 1

Radius - set around 25

Rotation speed - set around 10

Grow speed - set around 15

You can play with settings and try many varioations for best results.

If you finished the settings, make a “line” with your airbrush. You will see many spots.

Select a spot-group (6-9 sposts) which you like, copy and paste as new object (layer). Repeat this with some of the other spot-groups. Use separate layers for different spot-groups.

Step 4 - Create a brush nib

You have as many layers with spot-groups as many hair-brushes you want to create.

1. Select a layer and create a mask from object. It will make a mask from spots. (Menu bar: Mask– > Create– > from object)

2. In the Brush Setting docker (it is working only if any paint tool is selected. Select airbrush tool again) go to the Nib Properties and click on little arrow on the Nib options button.

3. Click : create contents of a mask

4 Type a value in the Nib size box. (you can change this value when use the brush)

Repeat this with all of your spot-groups and save the different groups as different hair-brushes.

Later you can load these brushes from Airbrush presets.

Step 5 - Use your brush

You can load your custom airbrushes from Airbrush presets. Select Airbrush (like in tutorial's part 1) and choose your hair preset from the drop-down menu.

Select a custom color for painting.

Open the Brush Settings docker and you can change your brush's attributes.

Very important:

Set spacing to 1, it produces a solid line.

Now create a line. You see the results on this picture. (see above)

If you change the rotate settings, the result will be different. like this picture.

Set the fade out to 38 and the hairline will be more realistic. The setting is depend on your image's size. Try several settings for best result.

Step 6 - Hair brush for dodge and burn

If you wish you can to use your hairbrushes for dodge and burn.

Open the 'Brush flyout', select the 'Effect tool'.

On the property bar select dodge and burn from drop-down menu.

You can select your hairbrush as the brush's shape.

Use on painted hair. (check Kirisute's Hair Painting tutorial for how)

I hope this tutorial was helpful. If you have any question feel free to contact me

fairyfan@freestart.hu

Creating 3D Holograms

2011-11-01T17:42:38+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Creating 3D Holograms

Author: greenguy28

Tools Needed

Poser
Paint Shop Pro or Photoshop

Introduction

Using Poser and a photo-editing program, we can simply turn any element of a 3D scene into a holographic image. This is useful even in animations!

Step 1 - Set Up the Scene

Here I have already set up my scene in Poser. The finished image will be of Mike with a holographic Vicky on his wrist. Let's get to work!

Since Mike and Vicky will be rendered separately for the holographic effect, you can do one of two things: hide Mike's figure while rendering Vicky and vice-versa within the same file or, like I'm doing, save the file twice—-in one, delete everything but Vicky, and in the other, delete everything but Mike.

Step 2 - Render Non-Holographic Elements

I will now render Mike alone (in my file that does not have Vicky). I have adjusted the background color to what I wanted. Remember that for the hologram to show up, it is best set against a dark background.

Here is the render as it is now:

Step 3 - Adding Realism to Non-Holographic Scene

Remember now what a hologram is: it is nothing more than light giving the appearance of three dimensions. So usually a hologram will shed light on nearby objects. In Poser 6 or DAZStudio, a Point Light is best, but here in Poser 5, we must create the illusion that the hologram is emitting light in all directions. So I now add two spotlights, one pointing a Mike's wrist and one at Mike's chest and face. I chose a greenish-blue color for these lights since that is the color I will be making the hologram. Choose a color that is appropriate for your final hologram color. I also put the intensity of the lights at about 50% so that it is only a soft glow and not a strong light. We are only giving the suggestion of light.

Here is the render of that scene after the lights are added. Notice the nice glow they give.

Step 4 - Render Holographic Elements

Going to the other file, which has only Vicky, a few things must be set up before we can render. First, ALWAYS render the holographic elements on a black background, as that is the only way for the postworking to be successful. Also, remember to make the hologram well-lit so that it shows up, as only the light parts will show up in the final postworking. In order to achieve this, I chose to have the main light come from the same direction as the camera, so that everything that is visible will be well lit.

Here's the render of Vicky:

Step 5 - Postworking

This is my favorite part! In a photo-editing program (I'm using Paint Shop Pro, but Photoshop is just as good), open the render of both the holographic and non-holographic elements of the scene. Now, paste the image of the holographic elements (in this case, Vicky) as a layer on top of the non-holographic elements (Mike). At first, the image of Vicky is opaque and covers the entire image of Mike. But by going into the layer options, we can change the Blend Mode of the layer. Change the Blend Mode to 'Lighten.'

Now both Mike and Vicky are visible in the scene! The Blend Mode 'Lighten' uses the lightness in an image to determine its transparency. So a dark spot, like the black background, goes completely transparent since it is not 'lightening' the layer beneath at all. However, the lighter spots are 'lightening' the darker layer beneath and are thus visible. When the blended layer is on top of a light layer, it cannot 'lighten' it much, and thus does not show up very well.

Step 6 - Making the Hologram

Here is what the image looks like so far:

But now we want to give Vicky that authentic sci-fi hologram look. So I tinted her layer greenish-blue, using Paint Shop Pro's Colorize function. This gives a very nice color to Vicky's hologram.

Step 7 - Finishing Touches

I decided I wanted a little bit of glow in the image, which I put in by hand. Going back to before tinting the layer, I added some slight glow with the Dodge brush. Not a lot is needed; here, less is more. I re-tinted the layer so the glow would be green as well, and got this final image:

This technique can be used on a single image or frame-by-frame for animations, which I have found to be very successful. Just using a batch command, change the upper layer of each image to the Lighten Blend Mode and tint greenish; a very convincing and great-looking effect!

Demon Eyes: putting the red back in...

2011-11-01T17:42:38+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Demon Eyes: putting the red back in...

Author: serpentis

Tools Needed

Photoshop or Paint Shop Pro (or similar)

Support Files

c4_demontut.zip

Introduction

Everyone fights to get the red out…and here I am fighting to put some back in!

Some things are just so much easier since the invention of computers and photo manipulation software. Going from normal to demonic is one of them. So you want to take your Poser render (or photograph of your favorite grandma) and turn it from pretty to pretty demented…Read on my friend, it's not as hard as it looks!

What You Need:

A Poser render or photograph

A few textures (I used rust for mine)

Photoshop or Paint Shop Pro (or similar)

Used in this tutorial:

Personal digital photos

Files:

c4_demontut.zip

Most preview images have been shrunk down to around 500px. Most have larger images that accompany them (@1024×768) Please click on the thumbnail to view the full size image. All images open in a new window. To return to the tutorial at any time, please close the window that opens.

If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to e-mail me or contact me at any of the sites I frequent (3D Commune, Renderosity, Poser Pros and DeviantArt), username: serpentis.

Step 1 - And away we go...

Open all of your images in Photoshop. You'll want your original photo or Poser render and the texture(s) that you're going to use further on in this tutorial.

On your main image, mine is the eye, duplicate the main layer. You never want to work on the original layer in case you need to go back to the original for any reason.

Step 2 - Darken those eyes...

The first thing we want to do on the new layer is darken it. To do that go to Image/Adjust/Brightness and Contrast.

These are just the settings I used for my image, yours may be similar, but not identical. It is, however; a starting reference point. A lot of the steps in this tutorial are going to be based on personal preference and what you think looks good.

A preview of what my image now looks like. If you find your image isn't dark enough, adjust the brightness level until you're happy with the darkness.

Step 3 - Put the red back in...

Create a new layer. This will be the “color” layer to make the eyes (or other parts) demonic. In the color picker, pick a nice, dark, deep red color. I used #8F0D0D. You can use the same, or pick a shade that you prefer.

Now color in the eye(s). Don't worry about being precise, it can be fixed later. Set the red layer's layer blend to “color”:

Preview of how my eye looks:

Step 4 - Depth of perception...

Now use the Elliptical Marquee tool to create a perfect circle around the pupil of the eye. If you hold Alt + Shift, it will make a perfect circle, centered around where you start. If you get a little of the pupil in the selection it's no big deal. After you have your circle where you want it, go to Select/Modify/Border and input a border size. The border size will depend on how big your original image is. Most typical image sizes between 10 and 20 should work perfectly.

Now create another new layer and fill the selection with the same red you used to color the eye. Deselect the selection by pressing Ctrl + D. Blur the “ring” layer by going to Filter/Blur/Gaussian Blur. I used a setting of 4.4, again, depending on your image size and preferences, you may choose to use more or less.

This is how my eye looks, starting to look a bit more demonic:

Step 5 - Attack of the killer demons...

So we're NOT quite “demonic” yet. Go back to the original layer and create another duplicate. Set the duplicate layer's layer blend to “Soft Light.” You won't notice much of a difference, yet.

Now you'll want to change the color of the skin. Go to Image/Adjust/Hue and Saturation or Ctrl + U.

I went for a greenish tint to the skin, you can go with blue, red, yellow or sky blue pink if you prefer.

Step 6 - Get the bumps out

You'll notice in the preview image that a little of the red bled over the eyelash area. Just take a small, soft round brush and delete the red on the color layer to create a more even green skin tone.

Now, let's make it just a bit softer. On the recolored layer, go to Image/Blur/Gaussian Blur and use a setting of about 4.4. This just softens the image up slightly and adds a bit more depth. The changes are subtle at best, but see if you can notice the difference between the previous image and this one:

Step 7 -

Remember I said I used a rust texture in this image? This is where we're going to use it. Drag your texture image on top of all the layers. Set the layers blend mode to “Soft Light.” It'll be pretty subtle, just a few lines more than likely.

Notice the cracks by the right side of the eye. I want them a bit darker so I duplicated the rust texture layer and set that layer's blend mode to “Overlay” with an opacity of about 45. I also desaturated the duplicate rust layer by going to Image/Adjust/Desaturate.

You may need to erase parts of the Overlay layer because they turn something an odd color or turn the eyeball itself too dark so you can't see the color. All of that is personal prefrence and I will leave you to do what you will to finish your own image off.

Step 8 - Finito!

And finally, the moment you've all been waiting for. *insert applause here please* The finished product that I created from creating this tutorial. *grinz* Click on the image below for the full version @ 1024×768. (Please note, I did a bit more postwork and added some “frills” for my desktop version of the image.)

Step 9 - Variations of the theme

Easy Background Integration for Water Scenes

2011-11-01T17:42:38+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Easy Background Integration for Water Scenes

Author: Jenn A

Tools Needed

Adobe Photoshop 7
Flaming Pear Flood Filter
A background image

Introduction

Hey all…we all want to do those fabulous water scenes where you don't know where the poser part of the image starts…with the Flaming Pear Flood Filter this is completely possible…I hope you enjoy the same results as I do. As an aside it's always good to have great backgrounds. The background I used for this tutorial is by Linda White aka linwhite at Renderosity.

Step 1 - Arranging Your Scene

First you have to pick a background that suits your image. I saved my image as a PNG. as a PNG your image is already transparent so you don't have to extract the alpha channel but you can always save your poser image as a .PSD or .tif so that you can use the alpha channel. To use the alpha channel you go to the channel tab and the last one should say Alpha. Then you hit Ctrl + click with you mouse…it's very important that you do this together. Then when you go back to your layers tab everything except for the gray part of your poser image should be highlighted. Then you go to Edit- > Copy or Ctrl+C and the go to File- > New or Ctrl+N and then go to Edit- > Paste or Ctrl+V.

Step 2 - Putting Together Your Scene

Next just drag your background into your PNG poser image. Then switch layers so that your background is behind your poser image.

Step 3 - Flood Tool

Next adjust the position of your image until it looks right to you then go to Filter- > Flaming Pear- > Flood. Depending on your computer this may take a while to load. You can use the settings below but it is best to adjust it to your satisfaction. The Flood tool shows you a view of the layer you are working on so you always know what it will look like. A thing to remember about the settings is the higher the horizon the lower the water level. The lower the level the higher the water.

The final result should be something like this.

Step 4 - Postwork then Resize

You don't have to merge the layers if you don't want to…just do all the postwork you are going to do and then resize. (For info on how to get your image to look soft and colorful check out my Glow tutorial also in the tutorial arcana) My images are typically 2000*1500 to begin with and after I do postwork I generally resize to 1024*768 (desktop size). This image is 800*600 so that it won't take up your whole screen… :) Now wasn't that easy… :) after you'resize it should look seamless…like the image above…if it doesn't then it's time to break out the blur tool and just blur where the water and poser image connect

I hope this works for you and if you have any question feel free to email me, Jenai21@yahoo.com

Fireblast!

2011-11-01T17:42:38+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Fireblast!

Author: Hyperknux

Tools Needed

Bryce 3 or higher
Poser5
Photoshop or Fireworks MX
Any other program that has layers and the 'screen' blend mode.

Introduction

First off, you need to go to BryceTech's fire tutorial and download Clay's Fire. Here's a link: Clay's Fire

Now, if you have Bryce3, then you have to follow their instructions on how to create Clay's Fire, without downloading it. Read more on the BryceTech fire tut for more information.

Step 1 - Base picture and the atmosphear!

Okay, first thing to do now is to get your base picture. Mine is this…

Once you create your base image, then head on into Bryce to start creating your fire blast! If you've got clay's fire, then you can move on ahead, if not, go back to the intro to see how to get it.

First thing is setting the atmosphear to black. Go into the sky lab and click on the rightfacing arrow next to the small display window. Then select the black atmosphear. It should be at the bottom, or near it.

Hit the check mark and again to exit the sky lab and move on.

Step 2 - Creating the blast!

Ok, first off, create a primitive that you will be using. I used a cone then distorted it a bit, and I think that's the best thing for a fire blast, but if you want maybe a fire ball or a fire cube or something weird like that, then select the appropriate primitive.

Now, with the primitive selected, go into your material lab and again, click the rightfacing arrow near the display window. Go to the volume category, as it's the most fitting place for Clay's Fire. Click the import button, and browse for the clay's fire file you downloaded earlier. Finish importing, select clay's fire and then hit the check mark to exit the material lab.

Render the image, and save it! Here's what I got.

Step 3 - Blending the images!

Sorry no how-to pictures for this step, but it is simplistic.

Okay, go to your favorite picture editing program and open up your base image.

Then import your fireblast image on top of your base image. Most programs have it as File > Import, and that's probably the best way to go, but you can copy/paste it into your picture. In any case, make sure they are different layers!!

Okay, now take your fireblast layer, and change the blending mode to screen. Once on screen, move the layer around until it's in the right spot, and fits perfectly with your base image.

!Note! You may have to repeat steps 2 and this step to get your proportions and camera angles similar enough to look real.

This is what I got out of mine!

Using CGI to Create Your Online Art Gallery

2011-11-01T17:42:38+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Using CGI to Create Your Online Art Gallery

Author: greenbd

Tools Needed

Terminal emulator (optional)
Text editor
Graphics editor
FTP program
Web account

Support Files

GalleryTutorial.zip

Introduction

Have you ever wanted to display your work online in a format that people can easily browse through, but personalize it more than you can at places like Renderosity, while keeping it easy to update? Then this tutorial is your solution!

Step 1 - Preparing your graphics

Download the ZIP file I've provided, which contains all the basic files and directories you'll need for this project.

Save all the renders you want to show online as JPEGs in the folder called images, and save thumbnail versions of them in the folder called s (for 'small'). (If you have Photoshop 6 or 7, you can automate this process by selecting File > Automate > Web Photo Gallery.)

Step 2 - Preparing the web pages

You will need the following four files, which I've provided in the ZIP, to generate your gallery. Open them in your text editor.

index.htm (the “front page” of your gallery),
art.dat (the data file with information about your pictures),
gallerymaker.cgi (which generates the thumbnail display on index.htm), and
gallery.cgi (to display your pictures individually).

Step 3 - The front page

Feel free to jazz up index.htm however you like, but it will run fine with everything that's there now.

Step 4 - The datafile

This file, art.dat, is the crux of your gallery system. It is set up as a “flat-file database, ” i.e., a pipe-delimited data file that gallery.cgi and gallerymaker.cgi will be able to parse and interpret.

Figure out what information you want your galleries to use, and divide your file up by information category. For example, I include a file name (which I keep the same for the thumbnail and the full-size image, to save work), the pixel dimensions of the thumbnail and the full-size image, and some room for explanatory text. So the basic format would look something like this:

In practice, that might look something like this:

mike|75|75|600|480|King Michael|Portrait as a royal.

yummy|40|75|400|750|Tastes Like Chicken!|The Millennium Dragon meets his match.

It's VERY IMPORTANT that all the data for each picture stays on a single, separate line. If there are any line breaks except between the data for different pictures, the scripts will read the second half of the data for one file as information for a second picture.

Also note that I didn't include “JPG” in the file name section. That's because I wanted to save time and space by having the script just add it to all the file names automatically. If you use pictures in different file formats, edit the data file and scripts accordingly.

Step 5 - The front-page gallery generator

Now you're ready to tweak gallerymaker.cgi, which will display a table of all your thumbnail images on the front page, all linked to the full-size versions.

What goes on the first line of the file will depend on where the Perl compiler lives on your web server. It will usually be something such as /usr/local/bin/perl or /usr/bin/perl. To find out the proper path, log in to your site through Telnet or another command-line program, and type whereis perl at the prompt.

The next bit is the part of the script that's doing the most work. Make sure that whatever you enter in the datafile corresponds with the items in the list of scalars (variables preceded by a '$').

foreach $i (@lines) {

chomp($i);

($name, $tw, $th, $w, $h, $alt, $caption) = split (/|/, $i);

}

After every seventh thumbnail, if ( $pic % 7 == 0) starts a new row in the table. Feel free to play around with the specific names and numbers I've given to variables'“just make sure you stay internally consistent, and don't change any of the commands unless you know Perl reasonably well.

That's it!

Step 6 - The gallery image generator

The last file, gallery.cgi, is the most complex, but it's basically just another variation on gallerymaker.cgi. Here's the only part of it you'll need to tweak:

if ($next > 3){

$next = 1;

if ($prev<1){

$prev = 3;

}

Just change each '3' to the total number of images in your gallery. That way, the 'next' and 'previous' links will loop around to the front and back of your gallery, respectively, when you click 'next' on the last picture or 'previous' on the first.

Step 7 - Uploading your files

Now that you've finished editing all your gallery-generating files, upload them to your website along with your images and s folders. Open up index.htm in your web browser and see what you get!

Step 8 - Setting permissions

If the page gives you error messages, on the first viewing, don't despair. There's a good chance that your file permissions are improperly set. Make sure that the permissions on your CGI files are set so that you can read, write and execute them. Sometimes you can do this from within the FTP program.

Alternatively, you can go back into your command-line Telnet program, make sure you're in the same directory as your gallery pages are, and at the prompt, type chmod 755 *.cgi . This will set the permissions of all files ending in '.cgi' to 755, meaning that the server will give them permission to run.

Step 9 - Final check / troubleshooting

Reload index.htm in your web browser and try clicking through all your pictures to make sure everything's in order. If you've followed these instructions, it should work perfectly, but usually there will be a few kinks to work out. If there are any problems in the display, make sure that everything in your data file corresponds to the appropriate variable in the gallery-generating CGI files.

Step 10 - Concluding Notes

Once you've gotten it up and running, experiment! I've given you the information to make a bare-bones outline of a gallery, but play around with the HTML—and, if you're more adventurous, the CGI—to enhance it further, and bring it more in line with your personal tastes. To give you an idea of what can be done with it, check out my 3D art page. I'm sure you'll be able to come up with even more creative variations!

Using Gradient Masks

2011-11-01T17:42:38+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Using Gradient Masks

Author: thedanman

Tools Needed

Paint Application with Gradient Bucket Fill Tool

Introduction

Use gradient masks to quickly and professionally crop and mask pictures and objects for stunning web graphics and photo collages.

Step 1 - Set Up Gradient Brush

Use your paint program to create a two color gradient using black and white as you colors. Be sure to set transparency to some low value, and most importantly have your merge option as “inverse multiply”

Step 2 - Drag and Mask

Use the bucket tool to pull away from the object you are trying to mask.

The longer the strokes the less drastic the gradient, and vice versa - pulling the bucket tool further from the origin will allow you to smooth out your gradient.

Step 3 - Cut and Paste

Cut your cropped object out and overlay it to others or to your collage. Lay some text over it and ta da! Impressive Web graphics!

Tips to Improve Your 3D Renders

2011-11-01T17:42:38+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Tips to Improve Your 3D Renders

Author: OniDrEvil

Tools Needed

DAZ Studio
Image Editing Program

Tutorial Link

Description

In this two part series I examine a combination of DAZ Studio settings, and compositional techniques to help you take your renders to the next level of quality. With things like ambient lighting, deep shadow maps, reflections and scene stories, you might just discover DAZ Studio still has some surprises in store for you. These tutorials are hosted offsite and the links can be found above.

Sample Images

Stereoscopy: Mask method to see cross view stereo pair

2011-11-01T17:42:42+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Stereoscopy: Mask method to see cross view stereo pair

Tutorial by Allstereo

Introduction

The objective of this tutorial is to describe a method to view the cross view stereo pair of the DAZ site galleries. A stereo pair is the two images take by a stereoscopic camera or two images generate in 3D modelling by two virtual cameras.

This method was presented in an internet document by Jan Visser at the address http://slakje.jvnet.nl/3d/javimask.html . This tutorial simply illustrates the method with figures made in Poser. Yes, we can use Poser or DAZ Studio for teaching purpose.

Cross viewing implies that your right eye see the left image and your left eye see the right image of a stereo pairs. In a cross viewing stereo pair, the left image is actually the image takes by the right camera and the right one by the left camera. The stereo mask is a method to facilitate cross viewing.

In order to practice the present method, you will find at the end of the tutorial a cross view stereo pair with the letter N (Near) and F (Far). If you success with the method, you will see that the N letter is in front of the letter F. The figure should cover most of the height of the computer screen.

Step 1: Make the stereo mask (Fig. 1)

Take a rigid cardboard (a paper folder is OK) and cut, in the center, an opening of 2 inches (5 cm) width by 3.25 inches (8 cm) height.

                                      FIGURE 1

Step 2: Space setup (Fig. 2)

Place yourself at about 30 inches (75 cm) of the computer monitor and hold the mask at a distance of about 7 inches (17 cm) from your eyes.

                                        FIGURE 2

Step 3: Adjust the viewing (Fig. 3)

Close you left eye and move the mask left–right so that you will see only the left image with your right eye. Move the mask up-down to center vertically. Adjustments in the distance between you and the mask may be necessary.

Do the same for the other eye. Close the right one and displace the mask to see only the right image by your left eye. You will probably loss the previous adjustments for the left eye. Do your best to fill correctly the mask opening by closing successively each eye.

                                      FIGURE 3

Step 4: View the stereoscopic effect

Holding the mask at the best position achieves in step 3, open the two eyes. Some persons will immediately see the stereoscopic effect, other will see two images. If it is your case, relax and lets your brain fuses the two images.

Step 5: Try to remove the mask

If you have success in viewing the stereoscopic effect with the mask, it is possible to go further.

Observe an image with the mask and without losing your concentration on the image, move slowly the mask downward. Three images will appear but stay tune on the middle one. If you see always the stereoscopic effect, you are now a free stereoscopic viewer and can enjoy many cross-view stereoscopic images on the net including those generate by 3D-modelling.

Not able to see the stereoscopic image with the cross view mask, there is one final solution. It is the use of the parallel stereo pair to be view with a stereoscopic aid. In this case, the stereo pair should be parallel (The left image is the image takes by the left camera and the right image by the right camera). In a future tutorial, I will explain this method.

             THIS IS THE CROSS-VIEW STEREO PAIR TO PRACTICE THE METHOD
       (Move the slide bar of your browser at the rigth to see all the image)

Step 6: View a better image

Pre- & Post-Production

2011-11-01T17:42:42+00:00

This page exists within the Old ArtZone Wiki section of this site. Read the information presented on the linked page to better understand the significance of this fact.

Pre- & Post-Production

DAZ 3D encourages you to upload your tutorials here to the ArtZone Wiki so that they have a permanent home and are hosted on our servers. If you do upload your tutorials, please add them to the appropriate software category and create sub-pages/categories as needed. If, for some reason, you do not want to host your tutorials here, please add links to external tutorials in the appropriate categories as well.