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Welcome to 2019 with Sologeek!

🕑 Added 2019-01-02 18:42:21 +0000 UTC

Comments

Sologeek

Yep, let's see how it goes!

WolfWere

"Maybe I'm not there yet, but striving to" No need to strive, you already got there, in HT2! Why not re-use the lighting rig, re-use the set, as it's the same show. Don't blur the characters, even the ones in the background, and bingo, perfect renders. You already mastered the art. Looking forward to the new project :)

Sologeek

Exactly, I think same goes for DoF, lighting and effects: it's best when you don't even notice it. Maybe I'm not there yet, but striving to. And thanks for the story, let me work on it! 6-7 characters should be fine.

Sologeek

Well, I'm on it now!

WolfWere

How many characters can you comfortably render in a scene (at HT2 level characters). HT2 has 4 important characters, basically. Do you want to keep it at 4 or go higher?

WolfWere

Hehehe well, it's really nice spot light lighting in HT2, nice exposures. You really nailed it. If you don't notice the lighting, then it's good lighting, beausse the eye is not distracted by it, which means, we are drawn into the story / art. OK, let me send you a story. Basically the plot is similar, but I'll give you text and dialogue.

Sologeek

I could use some help with storytelling, will figure that out. Note that HT2 lighting is 100% spotlight!

WolfWere

and 5) stuff like HT3 is what at least some of us want, not the stuff you've been doing lately, which seems to be trying to copy a bad hollywood movie or something.

WolfWere

How is it more clear? It's an exact repetition of what I've been saying for months. 1) HT2 lighting is optimal 2) do not blur stuff 3) have nude groups with a nice story 4) more realism than HT2 is not necessarily better (minor point)

Sologeek

WolfWere, Haller Drael, thanks for the comments - now it is much more clear and constructive! Let me summarize all the feedback into the guidelines for this year:) I'll post it separately to avoid clutter so everyone can review and comment again.

WolfWere

Haller, I agree totally! For me, Solo's HT2 got the lighting absolutely perfect. No annoyances, just clear, beautiful rendering. If it aint broke, don't fix it. :) And the HT story is also perfect. Naked group, intimate and charming. No males. Suicide - perfect. I'm not keen on ugly violence / vengeance plots: those are in horror movies ad infinitum (Saw etc), so what's the point in copying something so over-done in movies / TV? For realism, IMHO HT2 characters realism are absolutely fine. Better than HT1. It's more than good enough, but in theory more realism is OK, if we keep the lighting the same as HT2, and do not blur anything and have a large group of nude characters in peril. Thanks for chipping in. Good to know that a lot of my feedback is not unreasonable. :)

WolfWere

"pretension" not deliberately, but the art seems a bit forced, trying too hard to be cool? Maybe I worded that badly :)

Haller Drael

I have to second that... I hope HT3 will arrive soon?

Haller Drael

I wish to address Wolf's comments so there is more than one opinion on the table, as feedback to you, Solo: 1) More characters in each set would be nice, even if it means sacrificing assets and lighting that otherwise would have been utilized. 2) I, too, am not a fan of spotlighting effects. 3) I have to agree that depth-of-field effects do not complement your art, but detract from it. 4) I must disagree with WolfWere about your pursuit of realism: I think it is admirable and beautiful--whatever your reasons for doing it, I think you're doing wonderfully with it!

Haller Drael

A little presumptuous to say Solo is indulging in pretension...

WolfWere

With all this pursuit of realism, or whatever, the charm, the fun, vanishes from the art. The art just becomes soulless and dead. It's a paradox that more realistic leads to soul-less but I'm seeing this in your work and that of other artists. The artists just end up chasing a false god of realism and pretentious art. Good for them, but for the fans, we just move on.

WolfWere

Thirdly - they try fancy depth-of-field effects. That works ok in movies where the scene changes and the eye gets drawn to the right place at the right time. But it's less successful in still art. For example the eye moves around the image and tries to focus on blurred stuff. Secondly often you want to SEE the blurred stuff, but you can't. That is annoying. REALLY annoying.

WolfWere

I'm not trying to beat you up, I'm a fan who is trying to give a bit of feedback. I'm seeing artists seem to get bogged down in creating fancy renders, that, yes, do have fancy elements, but that also suck. For a few reasons. Firstly they're using assets (characters, hair etc) and techniques (e.g. lighting) that slow down rendering, so they're forced to tell stories about 2 to 4 characters. But renders with more characters are really cool :) Secondly, the lighting is fancy spot lighting and I can't say it enough, it really sucks. It makes the characters look like they're made of plastic somehow. Thirdly...

Sologeek

What's your direction then?

WolfWere

Well yes. You're going in a direction that is called pretentious. I see it all the time. Artists trying to show off skilz but forgetting that no one cares about their skilz. Worse, they cannot see that the fancy new toys they are playing with actually makes their art worse. No soul. No heart.