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When I tried physical render it just took forever, and there was way too much noise for the wait. Also I found the standard renderer not only faster but gave a much softer look to it, but it seems you have not had these issues. Only thing I can think it was down to the fact I was producing long hair, not fur. Thanks, Dan

Love it, good to see some hair being used. Good job on such a low cage. How long does it take to render, love to see the rig, and some animation. Surprised you used physical render, iv had little success with that with hair. Dan

Great improvement, your coming on really well, keep going. Couple of things to note, males have a bigger Supercilliary arch see here The Zygomatic bone can go quite high on some people, but normally above ear hole. Once you have spent some more time on the ears this will help the placement. here The Temporal line needs more form. here When using anything other Zbrush I tend to put all the large forms into the base mesh, this way your not need any displacement maps, but what your doing now will help you learnt fasting by sculpting it more than modelling it into the topology. Keep going, your doing great. Dan

The Gizmo should have been added years ago, in fact it dose have one called the Gyro but only works on non editable objects, 2.5d. I think zbrush also needs multiple view ports now it has hard surface modelling. From memory 4r8 will have all that core has, and more. Dan

Yes it certainly has moved move since v1.9. and am using Vray 3.4 beta every day with little problems. I think once some areas get sorted, finalised, then the release will be very nice indeed. Just to add, having the Alsurface for SSS in Vray4C4D is a real treat for me, as Arnold had this over Vray regarding skin, now I have the speed of Vray, and what would seem to be a faster ALsurface in Vray than in Arnold, although I cant confirm this. Dan

Maybe that's what I should do, try something different. Always wanted to make a motor bike. Dan

That's cool. . Live to see it in studio lighting, setting. Really nice job on this Dan

Nothing, I was expecting it on the 14th, but no hint of it? Dan

Hi I can see you have worked on the anatomy more and this has characteristics of a female going by the eyes, eyebrows. The brows are a bit too much on the thick side and should taper off as they go further out. . The outer eye edge looks like it's been pushed too far back. . To get a nice mouth corner take into account the small mass of the nodes ethier side above the mouth corners. . Also the upper lips should protrude further out than lower lips. Soften up the jaw line a little. The eyes are about half way between the top of the head and chin, so you may want to take a look at that. We'll done, Good improvement, I can tell you worked very hard on this. Always if possible post front, side, 3/4 views. Iv done done some corrections on your image in photoshop, iv sent it via your PM. Dan

Thanks, its a subject that has had me interested in for years as a on looker to those who had the higher end tools many years ago. Its taken me a long time to afford C4D, and Vray, so now its my time to be behind the driver seat and give it a go. These things take time, and after working in C4D even for a short period of time I know I made the right choice, its artist friendly, and that means a great deal to me, wish Vray was more like C4D, but guess I can have it all ways. Im also getting some very nice hair rendering that I havent shown yet, so all in all by the time I do my first complete project in C4D I think im going to be happy with the results. Dan.

I can test C4D, MODO, Vray and provide times, and cropped comparisons. If anything else it will be good to see what differences can be got from the same render engine, different users. Dan

Yes indeed that's why I chose two of my own models for my own reference, and Miki II from Poser, but the Infinate realities head being used so much is what gives us a comparison. Digital Emily is the new one used now, but I don't want to spend too much time on someone else's model when I should be getting on with my own. Good fun idea, but for a proper comparison iv found an individuals ability, and knowledge of their renderer engine to be a huge factor in the outcome. Modo has loads of presets for materials, Vray comes with non, just base shaders. My understanding in Vray would make a bad comparison against MODO simply because I don't know it well enough, even although Vray can do better. The scene would have to be lit by GI, unless the lights can come with the scene in the same place for everyone. If the scene uses procedurals then that makes it even harder as its going to be bias towards the render engine in which it was set up. I think for a fun thing to get the community together it would be a good idea in its own sticky. As for me, iv got to do some anatomy stuff today for the learning thread I started, the Back is covered in this one. Dan

Hi. Vray, I wouldnt say is over complex but has a hard learning curve more due to the manual which is more of a overview than a learning aid. For me I had to get right into the beta as that had the features I needed which left me with a outdated manual, you can imaging having to learn from a Max manual and translate that into Vray, and when I hit a problem that was related to vray4c4d I was non the wiser if it was me, the beta or vray in general. Stefan has been quite prompt in offering support over at the "Offical Forum", but I have at times had a hard time understanding his sentence structure, so id need to spend a bit more time to translate it into something of clearer meaning. To be honest iv learnt more from playing, mistakes, and reading other peoples issues. Yea to sum it up id say its complex for a new user who is not technical minded, hard going for someone who needs a clear user guide, and dedicated training, and easy for a technician whos very techie. I wouldnt say Vray is for someone who likes to work with presets with hardly any tweaking to do. The graft isnt necessarily down to understanding the settings in theory, but getting a balance of a multitude of many settings that are sensitive enough to make or break a nice material. Dan

Hello all. Iv been busy as of late, one of which is learning Vray4C4D. while id like to actually work on a complete project im at that phase of learning C4D and Vray with smaller projects in order to get through the process in as least time as possible. With that said one of my interest is character portrate and animation and the rendering of realistic skin, seems like its taking forever to get what im after, but slowly but surly its fitting together. Here are a few examples of what im getting from Vray comparing 3 materials. 1:Fast SSS2 2:Skin Material 3:Alsurface (new) (Above) 1hr 27min no GI, high settings. Model: Infinite Realities (Above) 48min med settings same resolution Model: Infinite Realites actual size crop from above image. (Above/Below) Vray Skin mtl control map. Model: Miki II (Above/below) AlSurface test. Model: Skull 2009 by me/Zbrush/Hexagon croped Top skull 15min, bottom 21min croped (Above) Alsurface no Diffuse + normal map. Model: Woman Modo/Zbrush by me.

Thanks for your reply. How much is the floating licence, or stand alone? Could you give me a idea on what scale Syflex has been used commercialy, just to give me a idea just how good it is to have been choosen over other solutions? Dan

Looks like a very promising pluging. I have a few questions which im sure you have had a few times by now. 1: How does this compare to Marvelous Designer in terms of mesh density, and speed? 2: Can it be cached with a saved cache file? 3: Will there be a floating licence, cant see that option for Modo in the purchase options? Thanks, Dan

Just the continue stroke will make a big difference to me, think of the neat seamless stitching around garment edges. Dan

Look forward to your next one. Can I ask why you limit yourself to 2 hours, im only just getting into a flow by that time? Next time before polygon modeling, try getting a polygon sphere, extrude a simple neck. Sculpt just mass forms just as a practice. By doing this your train your eyes to see the basic forms a silhouettes from all angles. The idea is to give your eyes less information just big forms, and plane changes, this will help when modeling your next model. Get a 3d scan of a head like Infinate relalities ones found in your assets folder. Have it totaly black shaded with white background, look at the silloete from all angles more so front, side, and 3/4 and below looking up at the brows. Good luck. Dan

Great effort you put in there. The human head is not the easiest of things to do, in fact its very difficult without some knowledge of the skull and basic facial muscles. At a glance he kind of looks like the late Elvis singer, I think its the brows and the eyes. Dont worry about the hair just yet, work on the head overal shape, and proportions, and the ears which you have hidden lol, work on them ears, show them. Try to get the base mesh topology to hold most forms, then your sculpting will be easier. Here are a few things to look out for. 1: The widest point of the face is the cheek bones (Zygomatic bone/Arch) The Jaw (Mandable) looks to be widest, or at least even maybe from the front view. When looking at a 3/4 view the cheek bone should push out a little forming a nice contour as it recesses in to the corner of the outer eye. 2: At the point in which the eye brown changes direction is a point of the skull where there is a line that continues down the side of the skull, look up Temporal Ridge/Line on google, this is missing on your model. 3: At the top of the nose (Nasal bone) in recesses in between the two eye brows, this is often reffered to as the Keystone, and creates a downward plane change, your main part of the nose looks nice. 4: Have a google for Glabellea, Superciliary arch, add these for more realism. If you want me to do a draw over, or you need any help pm me or let me know. Iv been out of action for a while with my disks in my back, so am working off a tablet, hence not posting any of my own work, but im sure I could help in some way. Check out this thread, the area on the head may be of interest to you. http://www.c4dcafe.com/ipb/forums/topic/94001-anatomy-for-artist-a-introduction-to-the-core-basics-nudity/#comment-629248 Dan

Gone past 3.25, on 3.4 now. Dan

Vray seems to be comming on quite well now, and includes ALSurface shader for SSS which is being integrated, as many know this is Arnold's best skin shader out there only faster in Vray. . The Vray documents are not good, and that's not because they are not complete yet, but because they don't help the new user learn. . It's more of a "what is this function " rather than. "this is how to use it" I can see cycles being a big hit as it has all the right ingredients being the developer, sharable materials, been through the trials in blender, price, 3 render nodes, fast cpu, gpu, nodal system. Dan

Very nice render indeed. Dan

This is my first year with MAXON, iv got my upgrade, then paid for a MSA to cover r18, and am willing to give them a chance to r19. I do hope that Bodypaint is delivered within r18 cycle, and they do keep their communication open, otherwise I will stick with r18. I wouldn't have got C4D if it didn't already give me the missing tools I needed, so for me I'm not obligated to upgrade if each release gives me little to nothing that benefits me. After all I own MODO, ,and Zbrush so between both apps there is enough power to get anything done I need. To me communication is essential, and I hope they realise the impact it has when there is lack of it. I liked the days over at Luxology when Brad had regular contact with us, and the sneak previews, wish MAXON did that. Glad your still hanging around to share your knowledge. Dan

Totally understand. My first ever 3D software was Zbrush, v.1.5b from memory. It was less cluttered, and I had not known other software. I know Zbrush is highly customizable, and once you dock your main tools you are going to use, then its less intimidating. Of course C4D UI, and functionality is so nice compared. Dan

Yea thats what I thought, not bad price compared to the competition, plus it comes with 3 render nodes. At that price it leaves room for additional render nodes £60 ($77). I will be keeping my eye on this. Dan