Attached Link: http://www.renderosity.com/messages.ez?ForumID=107&Form.ShowMessage=2003850

Here's a quickie of the dragon in this scene, I totally re-posed her and adjusted some terrains, ended up disconnecting the tail so it would fit where I wanted it. Still doesn't look, "perfect." Thanks for all the input, previously, I'll probably render this bastard tonight on HI (12RPP), but any more suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Click the link to read the previous thread... Thanks for all your time, everyone...!

I believe you're keeping the original light shaft on the eggs so... ....eggs a little bigger, dragon a little bigger and you're there. I can SEE this in my mind from what you've worked out so far...brilliant stuff.

Yes i agree with Claymor. One thing though, add a bit more light on the dragon, not that much that you take the focus off the eggs. hope you get what i mean. Also i for one don't care if you post 1 or 100 more WIPs to do with this one or anyothers you do with dragons in them, as long as you are happy doing them that is the main thing :)

I love how dark the dragon is. Also like the detached tail. Still can't get my head around the various coloured lights, they just don't look convincing.

Why do I have this strange feeling that your render has only one pass, lol ? :P Seriously, this render is gonna be fantastic, love those eggs (and ham too):P So, what happens when you turn the main light on, does it turn into 200 hours render? BTW, post as many WIPs as you want, I like seeing your work !!! :D

Aye, Kemal, I plop rendered only the dragon. This is a 6+ hour render, for the non-volumetric scene, and the volume scene renders in just over 3 hours. I think that it's a faster render time because there is only 1 light in the volume scene, as opposed to 11 lights in the non-volume scene, some set to linear and the dragon lights set to squared. I make all the changes in the non-volume scene, then save that, then delete all the lights except the volumetric light (which isn't ON in this image, of course), and turn Volume Visible on from there and save it as a different file. I'll batch render the two right before I go to bed. IF I go to bed... Pogmahone - Aye, the crystal lights really didn't need to be up that high, I just wanted to know that they were working in the render above. I turned them all down to 1/3rd of their power, so they are merely faint glimmers that add some color to the crystals, but you're right they are only side-details, and shouldn't be bright at all... Thanks for all the great ideas, everyone, and for stopping by... Here's the latest render, but it's only at 100 DPI. I usually render for screen first and if it turns out good I'll render it for print later, at 300 DPI or beyond. I think the people need some lighting-work, they aren't very distinct.

there's people in the image? where are they, sorry but i can't make them out :/

Aye, there are three of them. One is a Warder figure I made, based on Mikey 2 and the Adventurer's pack and with Incarnadine's sword and sheath. One is an Aes Sedai figure, Steph this time with the DAZ robe. And one is an Aiel figure I made a long time ago, a woman holding a spear. They are hiding in the bottom right of the image, on a cliff... I TOLD you they needed some re-lighting!

The positions, re-scaling, all look great.

The specular effect on the different color crystals in the unfinished render were amazing. Can you set each of these to "No AA" in the attributes? Those glints vanished.

Will you be doing any post work? Reason I'm asking is the overall scene looks really dark. In the Image I did "Fables", it seemed to dark, so I lightened the base render, masked out every item & adjusted the scene accordingly. Lots more control & detail. If you're interested I can post some examples.

Another thought with postwork: you could also add glints to the crystals & still get the AA Pass.

Beautiful Work, Love this scene.

Message edited on: 11/16/2004 05:33

Here's the screenshot...

And here's a snap of the Task Menu, shows how much RAM this bugger uses up. Not my biggest file, but one of them. It takes a good ten minutes to save unless I delete the old project file first...

Aye, ICM, I'd thought to balance the color out a bit in post, aside from my regular necessaries such as KPT6 EQ, Flaming Pear Aetherize and Glitterator and Melancholytron... I understand what you mean about masking the crystals off, just select them, make sure nothing's in the way (volume slabs, stuff like that), render the mask, then use "Select by Color Range" in Photoshop (or the Wand), then "Save Selection" into the working image in Photoshop, then boom... From there just make adjustments or filters to just the crystals. Is that what you meant...? I'm off to check out Fables... Maybe it will inspire me this morning.

Shadow dragon, now you pointed out the people in the image i can see them. My girlfriend loves the castle image you have on your computer, she also said keep doing the dragon images. She loves dragons and wizards.

SDL: Actually theres a much easier way...Let me put together a small TUT. Working with selection masks & layers. BRB ICM

Not to worry about how many WIPs you post SDL.... The progress is looking fantastic. That's why people post WIPs is to get feedback... This is looking more and more fantastic. I have no suggestions.... the afore mentioned are good stuff. Keep on rendering....and posting WIPs. 8)

Open the Original BMP and Mask render. Select the white area in the Mask render, save selection. Switch to Original & load the selection. Copy and paste to a new layer. Handy Tip: You can select each layer object as if you were using the magic wand tool by Holding the CRTL/key Windows - CMD/key MAC, Left click on the layer in the layer menu.

In the top image you'll see a bunch of MASK files, and in the last image you can see how many different layers in the layer menu.

If you look at the finished piece, there is a bookshelf in the background, that's a completly different render. Rochr uses mutiple layers with different renders also, do a search for some of his WIP threads. I also create huge files to work with 2000pix and above. Makes the detail work alot easier and a better finished product. OK, I'll shut up now...Muhahaha

Post as many WIPs as you please SDL. I like seeing them.
I really like your composition and the details I can see so far SDL, but I do hope you can add a little more light strategically here and there. The image looks pretty dark on both my home monitor, and the one here at work.

@ICM- you can post as many "mini-tuts" as you want too!
Your examples here really helped to clarify how to use a mask render in PS. Thanks!

Aye, ICM, that's more or less what I was getting at... The "Save Selection" feature's pretty cool. Thanks for the ideas, especially about rendering huge and doing the detail-work at that size. Danamo - Aye, I'm at a friend's house right now, and on her 17" Gateway you can barely see the image at all. I use a 17" Viewsonic which is (in my opinion, of course, because I'm writing...) the greatest monitor ever. Can't stand LCD's, too much detail-loss. The image is much brighter on my monitor, perhaps I'll brighten it a bit further and email it to myself, then check it on this machine with the old Gateway monitor to see if it's bright enough...? Swade, Lunar, everyone, thanks for the interest and support...!