Making characters for my sci-fi books

[Vidyut]

Downloaded MPFB2 god knows how long ago. Finally got the time to figure some of this out and play with a few characters. Still struggling with corrective shapekeys. Work in progress. For now trying to capture the characters.

[Ricardo2020]

Very good rendering. We really do need to make some nice particle hair styles for blending.

Getting the right shapes is hard. I have practiced moving morph sliders for quite a while now and it is HARD.

What is even harder is posing. I use helpers and IK rigging to make it not so terribly hard but it is still HARD.

Now, when a model is not a ken or barbie doll, things get even HARDER...

When I was rendering and modelling in MakeHuman before I got into Blender, I made about a thousand models of various races, genders and ages. Most were big beautiful women, many being the super size kind. I discovered that as the model was made bigger, it was harder to get things right.

Blender makes it much easier to get the shape, but we still need expressions. I am trying to figure out what has to be done to get there, but it is likely a code set beyond my skill level. Currently, all the top level people in the community are working on this and many other things which will enable some highly detailed renders and annimations.

Keep up the good work. I look forward to what you do next...

[joepal]

Some things I keep underestimating myself is how much difference and composition in a render makes. I keep changing the model again and again, and it still looks ugly, Then I move from the character to instead focus on the the light setup and the general composition of the image, and suddely things look dramatically better.

[Ricardo2020]

You are spot on, Joe.

It really does boil down to where the canera is and how the light shines, since the literal meaning of the word "photography" is "drawing with light".

Looking at a model in the pre render state without shaders or lights from the lense viewpoint will show a very underwhelming look at the model. It is good for posing, sculpting, and such, but only when the model is actually rendered do we get to see it for what it really is.

Using Cycles in Blender, I can simulate any lens and light setup. I can go for the flatness and bokeh of a portrait lens or the stretched perspective aand sharpness of the wide lens. I can put the light anywhere and it can be soft or hard with virtual gels giving different color casts.

The MPFB2 procedural skin shaders let me get real skin. I can powder it or have it sweaty or oily. I can even have water drops too, be they tears, rain, sweat, shower, etc. Now if we could get that going for the hair. This is the one major weakness in today's renders. The hair is not real. It looks plastic.

I do like the MH hair styles which have been made so far that do not use the particle method. In MakeHuman, they mostly look OK enough. But they all fall short in MPFB/Blender where the level of detail is much greater. And so, I am studying the particle method. I have much to learn...

I have found that when the camera is placed just so, one can get a render that is convincingly real if the light is placed so that the hair is not featured in a way that exposes the lack of detail. I can also use lens composition to flatter a model so that any visible flaws are hidden from view or put into shadow.

I am almost ready to show off some of my blends in the gallery. I just need a wee tad more practice since my standards are high...