go WOW when you see a picture? I have been trying forever to make great renders / pictures in Poser, and boost the amount of people that view my work, and comment. I get a decent amount of views, but hardly any comments what so ever. So tell me everyone. What is it that makes you go "wow" and want to see more of that person's work? I am not a rich person, and can't afford to buy every V2 / M2 product out there....so I end up having to use freestuff or buy an occasional outfit. As for my postwork. I do all of it myself, and I take hours, sometimes days with it to give it the right look. I paint all my hair by myself because I believe it adds more character than using the same hair everyone else uses, and it looks more real. I have seen so much hair that has the "plastic" look to it. I generally make my own faces, and my own poses as well. I might use someone else's pose as a base, but I modify it to give it the look I want. Same with the lights. The only thing I rarely make myself is the backgrounds, because I leave that up to the people who do it best. So if my doing 90% of the work myself isn't enough to wow people, then what does? Am I lacking creativity somewhere? Do I need to change how I do my postwork? Do I need different types of thumbnails that make people WANT to open the picture? Any advice you all could give me would be great. This isn't a "whine" by any means. This is a cry for help, and to help make my renders better. Thanks in advance.... Avengia

i know what you mean....i make 3D porn composites and takes a WHIILLLEE to postwork...i try to make em look as decent as possible with Adobe Photoshop....i get thousands of views but hardly any comments...but i keep makin and postin em anyway...so long as i know people keep coming back to see more then i'm happy with that.... but i did notice something with the themes i do.....people like certain porno themes better than the other....so that's probably why some people respond to some of my themes and not on other themes.... you might want to try making pics that focus on different themes...like fantasy action pics (you know, the buff soldier guys with M4 rifles blasting), sensual/sexy women pics, humor/comedy pics, gangsta pics (you know, the ones with graffiti and guys with Glocks and .45 Colts), and other themes....you might get different responses on each of these topics... but if you "specialize" and love a theme you already have then just continue making it man....just as long as you love making it thats pretty much it man...

Your "cry" has been heard and ... ;=]

Hi Avengia :o), I know how you feel. I kinda fell like you did about a year ago, but I never let that bother me. Please don't let that bother you. Just continue making great images. I've checked your gallery and I saw that you have a knack for painting your renders. I'd say you continue on painting your renders, but make sure you don't blend photographic backgrounds with your paintwork (unless of course you give the background a painted feel). As for getting attention, that's a hard one. There are so many uploads in the gallery now that once you've uploaded your image, it gets buried within a few hours. Biggert up there offer some suggestions, but my advice is to continue to do what you want to do and have fun with it. You use poser as a base and I've found out that great poses and great lighting really make or break an image. Since you are not into realistic images I would recomment you to use more dramatic lighting. Use more "dynamic" poses and pay a little more attention on facial expression. (I see a lot of good pics where the subject simple "stare" into space ~ I am guilty of that myself, hehe). Your "mother and child" pic is excellent of using proper facial expression. I use a mirror to pose or make facial expression and apply them to poser (I know it sounds funny, but it works). In postwork, besides painting, you can also enhance your work by using these techniques depending on your style of course: 1. blur and sharpen to add depth 2. adjust light and contrast 3. adjust saturations (saturate to bring out the colors, desature to mute the colors) 4. use the dodge and burn tool to accentuate or add highlites or add shadows 5. can't think of any right now, but I am sure there are more... All of the above could bring out the "WOW" factor out of your renders, but there's no guarantee. Don't get hung up on getting comments or views, the main thing is to HAVE FUN. :o) Keep on making art!!! JV

My most comments was for "Bite Me", but I guess that's because it was a hot subject at the time. Sometimes you get lucky and strike a chord with people. If they feel strongly about the subject you're portraying you will probably get more comments than otherwise. I don't produce pictures for an audience per se; I produce pictures that I want to make. If other people like them, that's cool. If not, at least I have produced something which has value to me.

First, don't put too much stock in what other people think. Some of the best artists here, IMO, don't get a lot of comments. Your postwork is lovely. I'm very jealous of the way you do hair. And I don't think you have to buy expensive textures or clothing to make good art. One thing you might want to work on is your composition. Principles of composition haven't changed in centuries, so you can pick up an old art book for really cheap, or borrow one from the library, and it will still be current. You've got a good eye, but I think many of your images would be more compelling if they were slightly less symmetrical. Composition theory will go on and on about the "golden ratio" and Fibonacci series and whatnot, but what it boils down to is that pictures frequently look more interesting if the subject is roughly one-third from the edge rather than right in the middle. Often, just the way you crop the image can make a big difference. Also, keep "negative space" in mind. Don't be afraid to leave empty space around your subject. Experiment! That's one thing I love about Poser. We can try angles that would be very difficult for painters or even photographers. And our models never complain. :-)

I'd say that a big "wow" factor (to me anyway) is the lighting. Just try this: render a face with a regular lighting. Then render the same thing, but with a different lighting, a more "dramatic" one, more shadows, more depth. It gives so much to a character and to an image. Sometimes when using Poser, you don't make an effort to make the figure look 3D, because you KNOW it's 3D. I've had people telling me my 2D work looks more 3D than my real 3D... and that's all because I didn't pay enough attention to the lighting. If you find it too difficult to handle (Poser lighting can be a real pain), go to RDNA and get some of their free lights... these can do miracles. :) And also - don't feel bad if people don't respond to something. I've had several images I simply loved, and got little comments on, and at the same time images that I was completely unsure about how good they were got a lot of comments.

man...for me if i get an idea inspired by something i gots tha make it...not for no audience but just for me man....like i was driving home yesterday...it was a rainy night California night....i was alone in my car with the heater on (kinda chily in CA now, i got my parka and mits on right now as um typing...then BAM!! i get this idea in my head: Setting: 1945, freezing night, on some unknown barren hill filled with despair, destruction, and death. Characters: 5 German soldiers in a trench manning 2 MG34 MPMG; they got on their overcoats; 3 American tank divisions with support infantry are rampaging towards that German defense position; the German guys know of certain death but still hold their ground; they begin to pray incoherently to God; the fog and black of night completely engulf these young men; a woman in white kinda like a ghost is above them hovering and staring straight at the advancing American divisions....parts visible from her are from the waist up; she occupies a large space in the background; she's dressed in this long, wavy, fluffy white gown...; on the American side is a bright sunny day; men with their M1 are hitching rides on the tanks; as they advance the blob of white light slowly increases... this is just something that just popped up in my head while driving....no apparent reason why this came up....but for sure i gotta turn this idea into a pic.... weird huh?

So, um, .......... where's the pic? I went lookin' but ............ ???

Dockiter, search on the user name, Avengia. There's some seriously good work to be found there.

Um, yup ... seen her pics ... they're purdy good. I wuz referrin' to ... " .......but for sure i gotta turn this idea into a pic...." by biggert 'k? So, where's the pic, big? ;=]

well....i need to make Wehrmacht uniforms....then i gotta find me an MG34.....maybe i'll have to take out the Americans in the pic cause too much work and not much materials to work with....it will be done though....COMING TO A THEATER NEAR YOU! in the mean time....check out my single non-porn pic in the gallery.... Ever wondered what Saddam's Ultimate WMD looks like? well....check it out.

Thanks so much guys.....all of this really helps, and I am trying desperately to take it all in. I just hope I can remember all of these pointers when I am creating.....lol. But you are right. 99% of the time I create a picture because it is what is in my head, and I HAVE to get it out. Like all of my latest Ranger series. I love the Lord of the Rings, and wanted to bring that feeling out on screen (my paper....lol). So, I did just that. And Geeps...can't wait to see that picture..it sounds intense!

....talkin to me? ;) ye.....i spend about 99.9% of my Poserite time makin pervy porno pics.....the remainder i spend makin non-porno pics like the topic i described above....

I just saw "Return of the King," so I really enjoyed your Legolas portraits. Are you entering anything in DAZ's "Tolkien Remembered" contest? You should!

Oh, didn't know there was a contest for that....lol. Guess I need to do some catching up!!

The easiest way to get 'Wows' is be a prolific marketeer in the store or a good texture creator, get a good following of beta-testers and you are off to the races!! On a more serious note, I have to remember with each post that I am doing this stuff for myself and because I enjoy it. If others don't have the time to comment or view, or just plain don't like what I do -- well then, I just go back to the gallery from time to time and admire my own work so it isn't just taking up space. I am the primary person that I have to please with my efforts, and each time I re-look at my work I can spot something that could have been improved.

What makes me go "wow" is seeing something I myself can't do but wish I could or seeing some technique I hadn't thought of or seen before. Doesn't so much matter what the subject matter is, just that it's something that I can then try to apply to my own stuff.

I tried to look through your gallery but I'm on a dial-up. It would take me all day to veiw them all. 400-500k for a 900x900 is a bit much. What I did see looked OK as already said. Your lights seem to be the same on most of the renders. So many of the skin textures look the same even if thier not. Bump your shadow maps up, this will help with depth. Geep has very good tutorials on lights. I might add that you paint hair and clothes better than I do. Try blending the background to match that style. Already said. Don't worry about comments, it will drive you crazy. Are you doing this for you or them? Relax, take your time. If you render, they will come. Mondoxjake - You forgot the News/letter groups. LOL.

You forgot the News/letter groups. LOL.<< Thanks for reminding me, beryld...I knew I would overlook something!!

Actually, I'm afraid you are approaching this from the wrong angle. All the discussion above is from a technical perspective. You can spend a week painting hair in postwork and still not have a "wow". Someone else can equally, get a stunning image using a stock Koz hair and a few lights. What counts is inspiration, imagination, creativity and a good eye, whether in Poser, photography, paints or charcoal. I don't have a simple recipe for any of those.

Phantast - basically, I agree with you. But the fact is, that it's hard to convey a message if you can't actually preform the technique. Sometimes you have an idea, and you try to create an image to convey the idea, but the final image lacks the "wow" factor - it's not because your idea wasn't good or interesting, it's because you couldn't make it technically good. (speaking from experience) Sometimes, even something as "simple" as trying a different camera angle can put the whole image in that "wow" place. :) Note: everytime I said "YOU" - it was just a figure of speach, no offense, I hope. :)

I go "wow" when I see a picture which shows me a different way of looking at things, or reveals some insight that I hadn't previously thought about, or gets my imagination working... But I don't know any artists that can produce wows consistently; and I know that those who are best at it aren't consciously aiming at getting wows anyway, just expressing what they feel. You seem to be focussing on the work that went into an image, and galling as it may be, your labours will not be appreciated by many. The experts will be able to judge what went into producing a particular image, but that's not enough to get a wow by itself. Some of my work that's had the best reactions has been stuff that I've casually tossed off without a second thought. As for the number of comments and views, try to forget about them. It isn't a contest. Trying to make art under those conditions would be like playing tennis with one eye on the scoreboard, to adapt someone else's quote.

I'm not sure which is sadder in any medium: a great idea let down by poor technique, or a technically perfect work lacking in any creative spark.

Yes, well phrased, Phantast. :)

talent always impresses me, detail, and realism..now if I just had some..;) People who's eyes actually track somewhere, realistic poses, imagination, humor, bright colors, suggestiveness (what you almost see can be as interesting as what you do see..;), grand vistas, intimiate settings, still lives(lifes?), nateur mortes (pardon my French..;), these are a few of my favorite things..
what gets noticed, in my recollection...ndty, bright colors, and risque titles..;)

"400-500k for a 900x900 is a bit much" OUCH! There's no reason for an image that size to be such a heavy file! If you're using Photoshop, try the "File: Save for Web" function. I normally save images around 60% and they're fine. With some rare ones, there's a bit of compression damage, and I increase the quality a little to compensate (you can see it as you're fidding with the settings). I'm not even on dialup, but I won't sludge through a gallery of images that are absurdly large. bonni

Oh, and just remember: You will get more views and comments if you call your picture ~Fairy Glen~ than if you call it Fairy Glen but don't ask me why!