Ray Tracing figs?

[ScottRadom]

Okay, so as part of another thread it sort of got on the topic of ray-tracing.

The dummies guide to ray-tracing (as far as I can make out) is that it\'s a computers way of calculating highlights off an object and display the most reflective parts into a new image?

Is that Correct?

....Could a program like that be used for complete idiots (ME!) to help learn where an model should get it\'s highlights and shading? I really struggle with this part of painting, and if I could pop an image into a computer and have it shoot out an image with all the highlights calculated for me I would probably shortcut around 5 years of learning.

Can SCIENCE do this for me? If not, could one of you kindly invent this sort of thing for me? By Christmas? For free?

Thanks, and I\'ll PM Amazon Warrior as she seemed to have her stuff dialed in on the subject matter, I just wanted to open this to the floor to see if this was possible.

-Scott

 

[Bigdennis52]

There are programs for animation that you can use to give you a decent idea

you can take a picture of an object, the program will calculate 3-50 object points from there it will render what it thinks the image is, and from there you can color / shade/ highlight as you see fit.

Newtek\'s Lightwave 3D is the best program for lighting rendering.

 

[ScottRadom]

Is that a free or readily available program? I wouldn\'t mid giving ti a shot but I can\'t justify spending big bucks on this idear.

Either way ...take THAT science! Who\'s your daddy now!

 

[sg2009]

ray-tracing is a graphic design term. basically ray-tracing is were u have an image and basically trace it with the pen tool or what ever to re create it.

if thats the ray tracing you mean ???

its the only ray-tracing i know

 

[Amazon warrior]

Unfortunately, while you could do that (or something similar) with POVray, it\'s really, really hard. Shed-loads of complicated maths. You\'d probably find it easier to just practice high-lighting! You can use it for examining the shading and highlights on simpler shapes (spheres, cubes, etc) without too much trouble, tho.

 

[ScottRadom]

DAMMMIT! I\'ll get you one day SCIENCE! One day I\'ll find science in the back alley and then we\'ll see \"Applied Physics\" in action!

Thanks for the answers guys. Should I hold out hope for the rendering stuff?

 

[RuneBrush]

Crikey are you psychic? I was thinking about something similar on the way back from a family event - I was in a \'liquid yellow\' car and thought it\'d be quite useful to be able to laser-scan a mini in and virtually change the material it\'s made of. However short of winning the lottery I can\'t see me having this ability.

That said one thing that I may play with is using a freebie 3d piece of software (such as Anim8or) to render objects in various materials to see how they reflect light. There are loads of downloadable 3d objects that could be played with.

pete

 

[DaN]

I remember finding a really handy flash site online that showed different lighting conditions of a person\'s face... The bookmark\'s on the other PC though - I\'ll try and find it later

 

[ScottRadom]

TY Amigo!

 

[DaN]

As promised: http://www.photoworkshop.com/static/lightcage/index.html

You could also try downloading DAZ3d (free version)

 

[ScottRadom]

Thanks! I\'ll have to download it later and give \'er a go. \'Cause I\'m heading downstairs with a bunch of buddies to play Rock Band 2 and drunk! We\'re gonna do our best to achieve Lvl 70 Drunk Bastards tonight!

Can\'t wait to unleash the vocal demons on the new AC/DC stuff!

Thanks again DaN!

 

[DaN]

Noone I know has RB yet - and I suck at GH!

Plus my friends only ever play bloody play Knights of Cydonia over... And over... And over... lol

You\'re welcome by the way

 

[Bigdennis52]

I think the best bet is to just perfect your craft. Time, patients, and drugs will help

 

[airhead]

Simple method:

Prime fig black

Grab white primer and spray from the direction of the light. If you use the standard halo of diffused light, then work it around from slightly off verticle.

For OSL, just spray the white primer from the light source.

 

[Starks333]

the primer thing is great, except that it misses

the basics are pretty simple:

light coming from directly above

brightest highlights are anythign perpendicular to light

anything on an angle towards light is the next brightest

anything parallel is your objects colour

anything going away from light is shadow

anything opposite to perpendicular is darkest shadow

you add more detail the more in depth you get, often when getting more precise it involves colour more than light, such as desaturation, hue, and so forth

contrast affects texture as well as proximity of light..less so on 28mm because the models are so small, so you are forced to slightly exaggerate the contrast on parts

but as for placement, that is really all you need to know, the rest is just practice


if you want a way to relate this shape, think of it as wearing a bracelet...if you slip your arm through it, the top of the bicep for example would be brightest at the very top of the round...and slowly get darker until it hits the sides which are the fleshy tone...and then as the bicep begins to round away from light you get soft shadows



oh and heres an example of the black then white technique:

 

[Einion]

Originally posted by ScottRadom
....Could a program like that be used for complete idiots (ME!) to help learn where an model should get it\'s highlights and shading?

Why don\'t you try the much simpler expedient of priming the mini and holding it under a lamp to look at where the light falls?

It\'s a good idea to always look around you during the day, study how things in the real world catch light; we strive to emulate this when we paint to some degree and the better your mental image of how things look is, the better your recreation of it will be when painting.

Einion

 

[Legacy Account]

Photograph the mini in a darkened room and use a torch to light from the direction you want your source lighting.

Simple!

 

[ScottRadom]

Thanks for all the tips and suggestions.

Here\'s where I am at. I start painting the fig and only recently am I trying to really do the shading/highlights properly. Trying to boost my game as it were. Chief struggling points for me are the mettalics, but generally it\'s all a little piss poor.

Oh, I get the theory, and have no problem deciding where the highlights go until I\'m at the workbench, actually doing it, then it all goes sideways.

Just need more practice to be sure, but in another thread the concept (or as I understood it, I was wrong) of taking a picture and running it through a program that might have simply sketched out for you all the proper highlighted areas might have been a great shortcut for me to get my skills up and running faster.

But I will look at ALL these ideas closely, and I still want to check out the link DaN provided as well.

Thanks to everyone, the help on this site is humbling!

 

[RuneBrush]

One thing that I\'m starting to do, is to take a few piccies of a showpiece model after I\'ve lit it up with a halogen light - that way I have a visual record of the shadow. That said I don\'t paint near my PC often (I suppose I could use my phone) and haven\'t even started any of the models I\'ve snapped

pete