RE: Holly--Pin up project

Hi Holly,

Thanks for the update Holly. It looks like you have been very busy! I am glad you like some of my ideas from the last post. Apologies for the delay. I understand it is still work in progress, so sorry in advance if I comment on anything you already know about.

Camera moves complicate lighting on such a stylised project, for example rim lights are no longer such when you are looking from a different camera angle. From the front your image may look perfect but from behind the lighting could look ugly. You might want to light it so that it works from all angles. This is a tricky task, when you have something so specific to match to and I would not recommend getting into animating lights, as this would be quite advanced. I understand that you want to show off your model, but modelling and lighting to camera is also a skill (I don’t believe it will affect your mark). Why not concentrate on getting that right, and then after you have graduated you can render a turnaround for your reel.

I noticed you have made a few changes to the composition since the last post. I know I am not supposed to comment on the model, but the shape of the body affects the composition. By changing just a few things like the direction she is looking, the angles of the legs and the size of the skirt you have changed the balance of the shot. Previously when you drew a line through the centre of the action, it was more diagonal, which structured the image, and gave it direction.

In my opinion she now looks too central, there is a fine line when it comes to composition. Also I feel a bit uncomfortable with her facing camera and I think you have lost some of your voyeuristic qualities because of it. Her crossed legs do not look believable to me, so you might want to look at what you can do. I have tried sitting in this pose in the mirror, in order to get into that position I was not able to sit balanced on the chair, I had to role onto one bum cheek (sorry for this detail) Consequently your model looks a bit stiff and Barbie doll posed, when your reference has an impromptu natural feel. Try to think about ways you can get that feeling back.

For the skin tones, investigate further Subsurface scattering settings. You want the depth and the colours to be right, for realistic looking, or waxy looking skin. I have written some notes on your images, they are quite compressed, so painting over them has been a bit tricky. I am assuming that her right arm has a different shader on it, as it is much darker than the rest of the skin, but it needs to look the same. As you said on your modelling post, it would be interesting to try to incorporate an incidence multiplier on top of your SSS to darken down the edges, although this will probably need some experimentation. By lighting the skin quite front on, and using less fill light you may be able to get the same effect.

http://graphics.ucsd.edu/~henrik/papers/face_cloning/

http://http.developer.nvidia.com/GPUGems3/gpugems3_ch14.html

You mentioned putting a grain on the skin, but its going to be better for you to add a small bump or displacement to the skin, rather than doing it as a post process. It will break up the specular on the skin surface, so that it looks like the fine texture you are hoping for.

Currently the eyes are looking a bit empty, (this could be because the image is quite compressed) look at some reference to see how to put realistic specs in the eyes. On your fill lights you can turn off the specular, or you can light link the eyes with their own specular lights. The eyes are really important in getting a believable character so work to get them right. It’s also worth putting a tiny bit of SSS on them too.

Warm shadow means a warm fill light (when I speak of warm, I mean a warm colour like a red orange, although it only needs to be subtle to have an effect on your render), as that is normally what you see in the shadows. Generally fill light is a blue colour, because the sky is blue, that is the colour that gets reflected/bounced around, but you might get the look you are after with a slightly red fill light. You could render a shadow pass if you want, I am not sure what you mean when you say RGB shadow pass. Overall you want less fill light, and a hotter, warmer key light. I can’t really see your notes on the screen grab of your shot, as it is too compressed. I find it is easier to see what the lights are doing if you scale them up to match the size of your scene. Watch that your extra, more focussed spotlights, are not affecting other areas, light link it to that section of model if you have to.

I would look at rendering out an occlusion pass to use in comp (don’t just multiply it, invert it and use it to colour correct the shadows to a darker redder colour) to add soft looking shadows in the areas that should be dark like under the skirt, this should give a realistic, contact feel to the skirt, and in a few other places.

Hope this helps, feel free to ask any questions if there is anything you don’t understand, or want explaining in more depth. I think this project has got real potential as an inspired lighting project.

Good work and look forward to seeing more.

Tessa

PS I like the mouth open (I know you are thinking of closing it), and I have attached some salutes I think are more feminine and your could use for reference. I especially like the amount the hand is bent backwards.