(Hope the topic isn't too explicit, if it is just delete the post and I apologize in advance.)

I'm creating a story based on a Transexual.  His name is Sydney.  (Not to be confused with the Sydney figure in Poser).  I've been aggressively using poser for the past week and a half and am hoping that the following render is considered "professional".  I am about to render 127 images that will match the quality of the following render.  My feelings won't be hurt if you tell me it sucks. I need to know flat out if its good or not since i'm being paid to do this.  So I'm looking for a no holds barred critique. 

Sydney is currently looking at himself in the mirror in his studio apartment. I'm shooting for realism but not to the degree where realism will overshadow fantasy.  He is supposed to be about 60% female and 40% male.   (The painting has been smeared since there was a sexually explicit image in the frame).   The big question is what could I do to make it better or could I leave it as is and still have it be considered professional?

Zanzo

Yhe image is ok ...but to be brutally honest -professional ? sorry ,I don't think you are there yet.

I'm sorry, but I'd have to agree with johnfields. Things that hit me as you might need to work on are:

1. the image is left side heavy. Everything is to the left side of the image except the painting and thermometer. you might think about either rearaning the room or changing the camera angle.

2. the lighting probably could be better...I suck at lighting so I can't sure. The one thing I notice is the angle of the shadow from the chair doesn't match the light in the image.

3. the dresser looks over exposed, like there is too much light in it.

4. The lamp texture might be more realistic.

I do like the table and chair textures. The knick nacks add a realistic touch.

Quote - Yhe image is ok ...but to be brutally honest -professional ? sorry ,I don't think you are there yet.

Be more brutally honest please.  What is missing?  Pick on everything.

Quote - I'm sorry, but I'd have to agree with johnfields. Things that hit me as you might need to work on are:

1. the image is left side heavy. Everything is to the left side of the image except the painting and thermometer. you might think about either rearaning the room or changing the camera angle.

2. the lighting probably could be better...I suck at lighting so I can't sure. The one thing I notice is the angle of the shadow from the chair doesn't match the light in the image.

3. the dresser looks over exposed, like there is too much light in it.

4. The lamp texture might be more realistic.

I do like the table and chair textures. The knick nacks add a realistic touch.

1. Fix the feng shui
2. Better lighting
3. Fix dresser
4. Fix lamp texture.

Anything else?  This is good info.  What about the model, clothing, skin texture? Does it need any work?

Composition wise:
Offset the camera a bit, too perfectly centered (rule of thirds)
Crop is too tight up around the head
Lighting on the figure doesn't seem to match the practical lighting of the room all that well - always a problem, and many people here just ignore it altogether, but if you want to try to fix it, use fewer cheater lights or try to align the cheater lights to other expected sources of light in the room eg. the lamp
Perspective distortion is a little strong, consider using a bigger focal length (80 or 100 perhaps)

For the character:
Nose is way too small even for a female, and if this is supposed to be a shemale, you probably want the nose a bit bigger still (male nose tends to be a bit larger).

The pose is good and the clothes is good. Skin texture seems off but I can't place it. I'm wondering if you have a light behind the camera that is too bright The skin also seems like maybe it's over exposed too.

It's about the lighting, methinks.  Too much of the spotlight type of look and feel.

(sorry, I am not a professional 3D CG artist, but I've seen enough pro work to know what's right up on top.)

What kind of 'professional' look are you wanting? Illustration? Comic strip? Animation?

About lighting - your shadowing is way too flat. Try turning Ambient Occlusion ON in your renderings. 3d made images without depth almost defeat the purpose of doing it in 3D.

I'm going to be brutally realistic here.... The image has good development potential, but it has quite ways to go before it's at a professional level (That of a trained artist in any medium)

Feel free to join us in the critique forum, where you can learn on your own and other people's critiques.

things to look at here...  Camera perspective - it's distorting image
Lighting and shadows (others commented on a fair amount here)
Textures - in general, there are several textures out of their realistic scale, for example: carpet, wall
Scene composition - your figure is competing for attention with vertical elements of the wall. Instead of focusing on the figure, the viewer starts wondering what's going on with the backgrouns... is that a wall, or a part of the hallway, hard to tell.
Figure position to the camera... I have a sneaky suspicion that the left hand gesture is part of the story here, but we don't see it. It almost looks like the actor is missing the left arm. This ambiguous character orientation to the camera should be avoided. (Again, it detracts from what the focus should be)
Coloring of the (Is it swimsuit?) does not compliment the skin tone.
Room decor seem a bit disjointed. Modern design office or waiting room armchairs chairs next to traditional furniture, next to a fridge, office carpet with Craftsman style baseboards???? I can't even begin to figure out what the room is supposed to be.  Is it a porn movie set? :tt2:

I like the face - it has a pretty decent expression, and a bit of a head tilt - this is good. Someone commented on a nose - it looks a post-plastic surgery nose. If that's the look you were going for, then you got it.

I don't mean to bite your head off here. I'm trying to give you an example of what kind of detail 'professionals' tend to spot when they are measuring up another professional's work, or someone submitting their artwork for professional level judging.

This would fall under a good amatuer attempt with good growth potential.

Hey guys I really appreciate you taking the time to critique this.  I've taken detail notes and am going to post a new screenshot here soon based on everyone's suggestions.    Conniekat to answer your question I'm going for a professional 3d comic feel.

I'm gonna correct the following.

1. Left hand side heavy. 
2. Lighting.  I'm going to cut back on the amount of shadows but kick up the ambient occlusion.  Also the extra lighting on the models face, body is a result of "mirror lights" that will be visible in the next scene.  He is standing in front of a mirror with lights mounted on the walls at the side.
3. Adding lamp texture
4. Toned down the dresser's highlights.
5. Offset the camera slightly.
6. Adjust the hair so it doesn't appear so tight.
7. Perspective adjustment on the camera.
8. Adjustment to the skin texture.
9. Adjustment to the wall & Carpet texture. Scaling them so they are smaller.  Changing the carpet texture to something more like a home than an office.
   10.  Left hand gesture will be viisble in the next scene.  But I tried my best to show a little elbow.
   In response to ConnieKat's reply.
   *"Room decor seem a bit disjointed. Modern design office or waiting room armchairs chairs next to traditional furniture, next to a fridge, office carpet with Craftsman style baseboards???? I can't even begin to figure out what the room is supposed to be.  Is it a porn movie set? "

lol.  Cheap studio apartment in a bad neighborhood / porn set.  More studio apartment than the latter but a hybrid of both is what I was shooting for. 

*"I don't mean to bite your head off here. I'm trying to give you an example of what kind of detail 'professionals' tend to spot when they are measuring up another professional's work, or someone submitting their artwork for professional level judging.

This would fall under a good amatuer attempt with good growth potential."*

Biting my head off? No way this information you are giving me is exactly what I was looking for.  I'm very happy that it is a good amatuer attempt at least :)

Once again guys I appreciate taking the time.

I'm gonna have another screenshot up in a little bit.

Oops, when I said "crop is too tight" I didn't mean the hair, I mean the composition (framing).  The top of the character's head is too tight against the edge of the frame, making the composition look cramped imo.  The hair actually looks quite fine to me, although imo most transvestites/transsexuals tend to go further out of their way to avoid "boyish" or "butch" looks, so some more girly looking hair may be a better choice.

For ongoing stuff you probably do want to place this in the Critique forum, as you'll get responses from a bigger cross section of people here rather than just the Poser fans.

Quote - Oops, when I said "crop is too tight" I didn't mean the hair, I mean the composition (framing).  The top of the character's head is too tight against the edge of the frame, making the composition look cramped imo.  The hair actually looks quite fine to me, although imo most transvestites/transsexuals tend to go further out of their way to avoid "boyish" or "butch" looks, so some more girly looking hair may be a better choice.

For ongoing stuff you probably do want to place this in the Critique forum, as you'll get responses from a bigger cross section of people here rather than just the Poser fans.

Oh i see hair against the framing. Got it.

I was worried about posting in the critique section for fear of being compared to other applications with a more powerful render.  I only have access to poser 7 for now.    But I can put my next render in there. 

What catches my eye about the room is the texture of the walls. It looks too coarse a surface for an interior wall, and the colour-patterning looks wrong.

(The 1st image is the original so you can easily compare.)

The only thing I didn't do was adjust the perspective/focal on the camera.  I've shrank these images down from 1024 x 768 to 640 x 480.  At 1024 x 768 I actually like the depth of field at 25mm for the focal.

1. I added more foliage.
2. For the lighting I turned off a few shadows and doubled the ambient occlusion.  I also turned down the intensity on the mirror lights.
3. Added the lamp texture.
4. Toned down the dresser's highlights.
5. Offset the camera slightly.
6. Adjusted the skin texture for more realism.
7. I tried a new carpet with the correct scale and I also tried a wooden floor. I'll probably stick with the wooden floor.  I also scaled down the wall texture.
8. I tried to show the left hand gesture more and in the mirror in the far back.
9. I changed the color on the underwear and top.
10. I tried to make them look more like an apartment than an office.

Be brutally honest again please.  I'm thinking about changing the wall texture, and of course I'll fix the light bulb in postwork and remove it.

Also AntoniaTigermentioned the wall color pattern looks wrong.  I actually did that on purpose to give it some flavor but if it looks bad I'll change it.

One last question.  Because of my limitation with time. If I present these images to someone who paid me for them, do you think it would be satisfactory? The people I'm working for have no concept of art or anything. They are just the average joe you know?  Do you think it could work commercially?   Please be honest!

ORIGINAL

CARPET, LIGHT CYAN GLOW

**
WOODEN FLOOR, LIGHT TAN WALLS**

Zanzo; A good book to hunt up is '(Digital)Lighting and Rendering, 2nd edition, by Jeremy Birn. Birn is a lighting technical director at Pixar, and the book covers concepts and cheats from an industry perspective (what works, not what may be physically correct). It's mostly application neutral, and when it isn't he tells you so. And there are lots of tricks you see in passing that really can help.Just as an example, the way that a table lamp tends to get rigged in CG. There is a point light placed in the shade, but only to provide backlighting -for- the shade. Then you place two spotlights in there as well, one aimed up, one down, and =these= provide the light cones you get from a shaded lamp. This way you have total control over the brightness and spread of the light cones from the shade, and the point light can be backed down to prevent washing out the detail on the shade itself. Shadows cover a multitude of sins, and learning how to place and finess them is always worth the effort. Edit: Having seen your newer versions (and the fact that the bulb is visible through the lampshade), you can see how that little lighting trick would be useful in situation....

Dale i'm definitely going to check out that book :) .. You know I actually did end up putting a point light within that lamp shade.  It's good to know my head is in the right place. However the 2 spotlights I didn't do and is a great idea. 

I'm going to modify the lamp shade texture so it is affected by the point light more inside.

The last images you posted definitely improve on the balance of the image IE: things are quished to one side.

However while you do have shadows in your image, the thing that strikes me is that there is no "depth": things seem to be floating on the walls and floor and table tops.

I think you need to use some ambient occlusion in order to get the stuff to look like it's sitting on or hanging against a surface . See this thread:

http://www.renderosity.com/mod/forumpro/showthread.php?message_id=3099295

I used it in my "Unforgiven II" image for the coffin dirt as well as for the coffin and things sitting on the floor in order to give some depth/shadow and make it look like they were actually casting some shadows where they were sitting.

http://www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/index.php?image_id=1548180

TBH you have only been using the program for less than 2 months and intensely for a couple weeks.  Poser has a large learning curve. Anyone can put stuff into it and render it out, but so far as "professional" quality, that only comes with time and  lots and lots of experience.

I strongly suggest that you work to learn lights as well as the material room.

Here is a link to a list of bookmarks related to the material room.  At the top are some very newbie type tutorials that cover what each node does.  And the rest is catagorized according to task.  Scroll through because there have been updates.

http://www.renderosity.com/mod/forumpro/showthread.php?thread_id=2722867

Here is an old bookmark relating to lighting tutorials and links about lighting. Some are Poser, some are post work.

http://market.renderosity.com/mod/forumpro/showthread.php?thread_id=2662390

The ones I strongly recommend are the following:

Olivier's Making of a pomo pic
Castle Poser Tutorials
Poser 6 IBL Ins and outs by Olivier
A little tutorial about lighting by Olivier
Tutorial: GEL MAPS by Olivier

Lighting is one of the most important aspects of an image and it can either make or break your image.

Here we go.

Acadia I'm definitely going to check out those links now!  Thanks very much :)  I'm doing the ambient occlusion node immediately on the floor surface.

(BTW I love your unforgiven II image!)

Quote - The people I'm working for have no concept of art or anything. They are just the average joe you know?  Do you think it could work commercially?   Please be honest!

Heh, the people with 'no concept of art or anything' are the scariest people you can do work for, since they usually have too high or too low an expectation from CG. ie they may be happy with a few cubes in a blank room or they may be expecting a 'Shrek' from you :p But i think you're getting to a reasonable level of quality with your latest tweaks.

Personally i like the cyan one as it has a much more interesting color theme then the others and the the cool backgrounds/lighting serve to enhance your pink/orange character. In the last one, everything is so orange that your character is getting lost. In any case, also get rid of that purple clock hand in the back. It's color is an instant magnet to the eye, and it quickly takes away the focus from your character.

Also one important thing to look for if youre creating work for others is to follow standard camera/shot framing as outlined here:

http://www.mediacollege.com/video/shots/

Since everyone regularly sees these kind of shots in film and TV, we kinda expect them in everything. In this case you should be going for a mid shot (ie waist to head) or a wide shot (foot to head) Your character right now is in the middle of the 2 shots and thus looks unbalanced/cramped.

Finally (like someone already pointed out) from composition point of view, you should never place anything in the dead middle of your frame like your character is now. Instead move him to the left. The idea is that there should always be more space in the portion where the character is looking then the back of their head. This way the eye gets more room to wander around and it makes your work look more inviting.

Quote - > Quote - The people I'm working for have no concept of art or anything. They are just the average joe you know?  Do you think it could work commercially?   Please be honest!

Heh, the people with 'no concept of art or anything' are the scariest people you can do work for, since they usually have too high or too low an expectation from CG. ie they may be happy with a few cubes in a blank room or they may be expecting a 'Shrek' from you :p But i think you're getting to a reasonable level of quality with your latest tweaks.

Personally i like the cyan one as it has a much more interesting color theme then the others and the the cool backgrounds/lighting serve to enhance your pink/orange character. In the last one, everything is so orange that your character is getting lost. In any case, also get rid of that purple clock hand in the back. It's color is an instant magnet to the eye, and it quickly takes away the focus from your character.

Also one important thing to look for if youre creating work for others is to follow standard camera/shot framing as outlined here:

http://www.mediacollege.com/video/shots/

Since everyone regularly sees these kind of shots in film and TV, we kinda expect them in everything. In this case you should be going for a mid shot (ie waist to head) or a wide shot (foot to head) Your character right now is in the middle of the 2 shots and thus looks unbalanced/cramped.

Finally (like someone already pointed out) from composition point of view, you should never place anything in the dead middle of your frame like your character is now. Instead move him to the left. The idea is that there should always be more space in the portion where the character is looking then the back of their head. This way the eye gets more room to wander around and it makes your work look more inviting.

That link you provided for the camera shots puts everything into perspective.  Big help.  I'm going to re-render this image with a bunch of tweaks from what you guys have just suggested.  I hope this thread helps out others in the future, there is a lot of good information in it.

whew  I was worried I was way too hard on you. I'm glad you took it constructively!

I like the parquet floor, but put an area rug on the ground to warm it up to the living room style. The floor is a bit too light..
Get rid of the modern looking wall clock (now that the good part of the room is looking more traditional). Maybe take the small plant and put it on top of the fridge, and the larger plant from the fridge could go againstthe back wall.  (Smaller space, smaller plant, larger space, larger plant)
I like the change in tonality of the room and the image in the last shot. It's going in the right diorection. Wall texture is still too coarse - even for meditrerranean plaster wall treatment. I'd make the wall half as coarse as it is now.

What is the character supposed to be doing? He seems a bit too close to the camera (especially if he's looking away from it). It's hard to make a suggestion on a better camera angle when I don't have the storyline. About the scene framing - Ghonma gave you some good advice - I second what he said! I'd experiment a little with some more radical changes in camera angles.
Change in the clothing color makes the character look more striking!

I'm looking forward to seeing the next iteration :)

Quote - I was worried about posting in the critique section for fear of being compared to other applications with a more powerful render.  I only have access to poser 7 for now.    But I can put my next render in there.  

Nah, most people in there are poser users, and most of the image effectiveness will depend on you, and not on the render engine.

Vast improvement in  a very short time! I am impressed! I am afraid that I have great difficulty in givu=ing  a good critique as all my training comes from a more traditional background. One thing that I ALWAYS do is to change the textures - I dont care for the way the usually come with a very few exceptions- I use the material room alot- I have a theater background so I tend to light the scenr like a set - Typically high right -high left and a back light ( in theater this is known as a chicken foot) Then I look to see if any of the objects in the room are casting light  or are reflecting light and add those lights. I can't really comment on the charecter as I know nothing about transexuals - I assume the breast are real? Breasts should hang from the body - think of the anatomy of breast tissue , maybe a different top would help this as the bandeau thing just looks wrong - His "package looks like a dance belt there is an anatomical structure under there- I would recommend trying this with a pair of jeans and a tee shirt to see if the charecter looks like a she-male - if it does with the clothing on then you can always lose clothing - i would adress the shin texture too - very pink orange and no freckles or spots - imperfections will help you pull this illusion off. Sorry I cant be of more help but this is kinda out of my range.- good luck

personally I think the scene is well-composed, but 127 images implies "graphic novel"/comix,
hence ya would need to post a storyboard for them to better advise ya on how to render all 127
scenes IMVHO.

I don't know why you need so much background "noise" when you want to focus on the character.  Look at most traditional portrait photos - the subject dominates the photo.  Just my 2 cents

Quote - Vast improvement in  a very short time! I am impressed! I am afraid that I have great difficulty in givu=ing  a good critique as all my training comes from a more traditional background. One thing that I ALWAYS do is to change the textures - I dont care for the way the usually come with a very few exceptions- I use the material room alot- I have a theater background so I tend to light the scenr like a set - Typically high right -high left and a back light ( in theater this is known as a chicken foot) Then I look to see if any of the objects in the room are casting light  or are reflecting light and add those lights. I can't really comment on the charecter as I know nothing about transexuals - I assume the breast are real? Breasts should hang from the body - think of the anatomy of breast tissue , maybe a different top would help this as the bandeau thing just looks wrong - His "package looks like a dance belt there is an anatomical structure under there- I would recommend trying this with a pair of jeans and a tee shirt to see if the charecter looks like a she-male - if it does with the clothing on then you can always lose clothing - i would adress the shin texture too - very pink orange and no freckles or spots - imperfections will help you pull this illusion off. Sorry I cant be of more help but this is kinda out of my range.- good luck

Thanks.  I'm glad it has improved.  I'll be experimenting with the textures more on the wall & his skin, I am shrinking the image down from 1024x768 to 640x480 so i'm wondering if some of the skin realism is lost, but I'm gonna try another skin combo. 

Also he has no breasts, it is just a wrap he wears.  It seems you are confused when you looked at his top. If that is the case then mission accomplished.  He is supposed to be confusing to look at . However, it is one thing to be confused but another to notice the geometry looking incorrect. If that is the case I'll definitely try to touch up on it.

Quote - I don't know why you need so much background "noise" when you want to focus on the character.  Look at most traditional portrait photos - the subject dominates the photo.  Just my 2 cents

This is one scene out of many.  The next scene involves a back shot with his mirror reflecting showing more of his body.  But I'll take that into consideration if it seems too busy.

Quote - whew  I was worried I was way too hard on you. I'm glad you took it constructively!

I'm a programmer by trade and only dabble in 3d. So I highly respect the knowledge and trained eye of the experts. It is incredible what you guys can see that the normal joe can't.  I'm just barely starting to really understand all the hidden things that goes on in a scene.

Quote - I like the parquet floor, but put an area rug on the ground to warm it up to the living room style. The floor is a bit too light..
Get rid of the modern looking wall clock (now that the good part of the room is looking more traditional). Maybe take the small plant and put it on top of the fridge, and the larger plant from the fridge could go againstthe back wall.  (Smaller space, smaller plant, larger space, larger plant)
I like the change in tonality of the room and the image in the last shot. It's going in the right diorection. Wall texture is still too coarse - even for meditrerranean plaster wall treatment. I'd make the wall half as coarse as it is now.

Gonna make these changes now.

Quote - What is the character supposed to be doing? He seems a bit too close to the camera (especially if he's looking away from it). It's hard to make a suggestion on a better camera angle when I don't have the storyline. About the scene framing - Ghonma gave you some good advice - I second what he said! I'd experiment a little with some more radical changes in camera angles.
Change in the clothing color makes the character look more striking!

I'm looking forward to seeing the next iteration :)

He is posing in front of a mirror.  The first scene was going to be hip to head with the camera focused directly at him (like it is now).  The second scene (different pose) involves a camera angle facing his back, hip to head with the mirror reflecting his front.  The third scene (different pose) involves a full body back shot, feet to head, with the mirror showing his front.  These three scenes make up the mirror scene.

(I urge you to view the larger image as well).

1. I had a few other people look at it. It seems that wall texture was just way too loud. So I changed it to a basic home style wallpaper.
2. I also re-did the lighting completely and removed that pink/orange color that the character was experiencing. Skin has more spots/freckles now. I re-did the lighting after reading some light tutorials  that were provided earlier in this thread.  I'm using 6 lights now instead of 10 previously.

• One Diffuse IBL w/image
• 4 Point Lights.
• 1 Cheater Point Light to Give shadows.

1. Stronger ambient occlusion on the walls and floor.  Not sure if it is too much or not.
   4.  I also re-arranged some stuff based on previous suggestions.
2. Placed the camera in a way where the character is more on the left.
3. Added a rug to the floor.
4. Made the clock look more traditional/old.

Either I really messed up and went two steps back or I improved. I'm hoping I improved. As always be brutally honest.   Trash it if you have to. I really need to know where I stand.  I'm not sure if it is too dark?

CLICK HERE FOR LARGE IMAGE

CLICK HERE FOR LARGE IMAGE

It's looking good! :)  Great improvements.  I particularly like the full body shot.

The elbow joint in the mirror reflectionneeds to be smoothed in post work in order to get rid of that awkward bend at the inner elbow.

The room looks too "sterile"  and the tables to empty.  The room needs more clutter. He is on his way to becoming a woman so why not have some cosmetics on the desk, or instead of the desk one of those dressing room vanities with the lights around it. Maybe some clothing draped carelessly on the furniture too? What about some vibrant coloured throw cushions on the furniture, maybe some statues on the tables and/or floor.  I also think that the full body image needs something on the wall to the figure's left.  Not a duplicate painting, but some object in order to break up that large space... which is why I was thinking of a vanity instead of a desk.

Quote - It's looking good! :)  Great improvements.  I particularly like the full body shot.

The elbow joint in the mirror reflectionneeds to be smoothed in post work in order to get rid of that awkward bend at the inner elbow.

The room looks too "sterile"  and the tables to empty.  The room needs more clutter. He is on his way to becoming a woman so why not have some cosmetics on the desk, or instead of the desk one of those dressing room vanities with the lights around it. Maybe some clothing draped carelessly on the furniture too? What about some vibrant coloured throw cushions on the furniture, maybe some statues on the tables and/or floor.  I also think that the full body image needs something on the wall to the figure's left.  Not a duplicate painting, but some object in order to break up that large space... which is why I was thinking of a vanity instead of a desk.

Hey thanks for those links earlier btw they helped a HUGE deal.

I agree the room needs some more stuff now.  I'm gonna be adding those finishing touches you recommended.  Thanks again.

Terrific lighting - almost looks real.  I especially like the tones around the jawline.

Big difference from the first to the last image!!!!