In this tutorial, we focus on softening effects that we get from camera, lighting, and atmosphere. We achieve these effects partly in Daz Studio and partly in Photoshop. We will use the composition below to illustrate the different effects. The background is Sacelleum of Corlyk, the hair is Sapphire Hair, and the outfit is Novariens Holy for V4.

5 Ways to Create ‘Soft Lighting Effects’ in Daz Studio & Photoshop

1. Depth of Field

One of the easiest ways to soften our Daz Studio image is by adding depth of field effects. This is a camera effect that keeps objects that are in-focus sharp, and blurs everything else based on distance. For example, in the image below we have camera DOF turned on, with the F/Stop parameter set to 32. We set our camera focus point to be between our figure’s eyes. Notice that based on these settings, our figure is sharp whereas the background elements have been blurred-out.

Image with camera depth-of-field turned on. Notice that the figure is sharp whereas the background elements are blurred.

In the next image, we turn off depth-of-field to highlight the differences. Notice that the previous image is much softer because of the blurring effect, however, a lot of the background details (for example on the stone statue) is lost due to this blurring.

Fantasy art image with camera depth-of-field turned off.

One very simple way to properly set camera depth of field in Daz Studio, is to use the framing tool. This great tutorial from Flipmode describes how you can do this.

Note that to get more accurate DOF effects, I add a null point to my scene (Create > New Null), parent it to my figure’s head, and place it right between my figure’s eyes. I can then use this null point as my camera framing point.

2. Mesh Lighs

Another way to soften lighting is to use mesh lights instead of spotlights. Here is a quick and simple way of turning a Daz Studio spotlight into a mesh light.

In the image below, the fantasy girl to the left is illuminated with a point-spotlight, creating very sharp shadows on her body. In contrast, the fantasy girl to the right is illuminated with a mesh light, in the same position, creating softer shadows. The larger we make our mesh light, the softer our shadows will be.

Mesh lights (right) have a softening effect because it creates softer shadows.

If we want to create softer lighting with an IBL or Environment map, we blur our environment map image.

3. Volumetric Lights

A great way to create atmosphere and soften scene lighting is by using volumetric lights. In the real-world, there are dust particles in the air. When light hits those particles, you get scattering effects that can make the light-ray appear visible to us.

Volumetric lighting is a technique used in 3D computer graphics to add lighting effects to a rendered scene. It allows the viewer to see beams of light shining through the environment; seeing sunbeams streaming through an open window is an example of volumetric lighting, also known as crepuscular rays.
~~[Wikipedia]

Fallen Angel Fantasy Art with volumetric light rendered using AoA’s Atmospheric Effects Cameras for DAZ Studio. 3Delight render.

In 3Delight, I can get volumetric light effects by using Age of Armour’s Atmospheric Effects Cameras for DAZ Studio. The Volumetric Camera in this package allows me to select which lights to render atmospheric effects on. It is simple to use, fast, and I like the results that I get. The image above uses AoA’s camera to render the beam of light (from a spotlight) shining on the fallen angel. There is also a Fog Camera in the package that is useful for adding atmosphere to our images. Note that these AoA cameras only work in 3Delight.

In Daz Studio Iray, I get volumetric light effects by using AtmoCam for Iray by Marshian. Because Iray is a physically based renderer, we need to actually model our volume of air with scattering effects. Marshian’s package comes with a large volumetric prop that we use to encapsulate our scene, as well as a set of materials to get different scattering effects and colors. While this simplifies some of the volumetric-light setup for us, it is not as easy to use as AoA’s atmospheric cameras (in 3Delight only).

White Angel, Dark Tentacles, Fantasy Art. Rendered in Daz Studio Iray using Marshian’s AtmoCam for Iray.

Some things to keep in mind while setting up Marshian’s AtmoCam –

• The volumetric prop is only visible in wireframe view.
• To work properly, the volumetric prop needs to encapsulate the entire visible area. It also has to encapsulate all lights that we want to render with the volumetric effect.
• However, our render camera needs to be outside the volumetric prop.
• I find that the easiest way to properly adjust the prop is by using a Top Wireframe view (see below).

Some things to keep in mind while setting up Marshian’s AtmoCam.

We can also create our own volumetric prop and shader by following the procedure outlined here in the Daz Forum.

I usually include at least one volumetric light in my images to get atmosphere and softening effects. In the image below, the fantasy girl to the right has an added volumetric light shining on her face, which helps to soften the overall scene.

Right image has an added volumetric light which helps to soften our scene.

Physically based volumetric lights can be time intensive to render, so I usually stop it before full convergence. I can then remove much of the noise in Photoshop by doing Filter > Noise > Despeckle. I repeat this operation until I get the results that I want.

A cheaper but less accurate way to get light rays in Daz Studio is through the use of props, for example the Simple Godrays props for 3Delight or the Expanded Godrays Iray props for Iray. These will render faster, but because they are just props, the light and shadow patterns may not realistically match the objects in the scene.

Another way to add light rays or fog into our images is to do it in postwork, for example with Photoshop brushes. However, we will need to make sure that our added 2D light rays properly match with the 3D lighting in our scene, which can be a challenge.

This is why my preferred method for adding volumetric light effects in Daz Studio is to render it, either through AoA’s camera (3Delight) or Marshian’s AtmoCam (Iray). This will give us realistic light and shadows according to our scene.

My preferred method for adding light-ray effects in Iray is by using a volumetric prop, for example with AtmoCam for Iray.

4. Glow

I add glow to my images in Photoshop. This earlier tutorial gives a detailed explanation on how I add and control the level of glow in my Daz Studio images.

Right image has added glow effects in Photoshop, which helps to soften our scene lighting.

We can also get glow effects from the Daz Studio Iray renderer by turning on the Bloom Filter.

To do this,

How to turn on the Bloom Filter in Daz Studio Iray to get glow effects.

1. Go to Render Settings > Editor > Filtering.
2. Click on Bloom Filter Enable. This will open up more options for controlling the strength and area of bloom.

Unfortunately, bloom can be expensive to render, thereby making even minor adjustments time intensive and painful. This is why I add glow in Photoshop, where I can quickly and easily control the area and strength of bloom.

5. Soft Light & Gaussian Blur

Finally, we can create a soft and dreamy look in our images by using the Gaussian Blur filter in Photoshop.

How to soften our image using Soft Light and Gaussian Blur in Photoshop.

1. Create a composite snapshot of our current image by doing Ctrl+Shift+Alt+E in Photoshop. This will create a merged image of all our current visible layers.
2. Select our merged layer and change the blending mode to Soft Light.
3. Go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur. I usually set blur radius to 80 in the pop-up box. However, this will depend on image size and personal preference. Play around with this value until you find something you are happy with.
4. To further strengthen the softening effect of this layer, we can change our blending mode to Overlay.
5. Finally, we fine tune the strength of our softening effect by changing the opacity of our merged layer.

The image below shows the softening effect that we get from using Gaussian Blur in Photoshop. Note that the technique also increases the contrast of our image, making it appear darker and more saturated. Those are things that we will need to readjust for.

The image to the right has our merged layer blend mode set to Overlay, Gaussian Blur radius set to 50, and opacity set to 100%.

These soft lighting techniques are useful tools for enhancing our Daz Studio images. However, a softer image is not always better because when we soften, we also lose image details. How we choose to soften our image, in what areas, and by how much, will depend on our composition, the mood we are trying to capture, as well as personal style and taste.

Unicorn Princess Fantasy Art with very soft lighting effects.

This tutorial is the first in a series designed to highlight and showcase the powerful abilities of the the Nik Collection, which is a suite of 7 plug-ins that provide an impressive array of photo editing capabilities: from color correction, retouching and creative effects to image sharpening and a wide range of special effects.

While they used to retail for $500 (and worth every penny) the good folks at Google are making it available to everyone free of charge because that’s their way.

Grab a copy here and let’s get started!

How to Transform Your 3D Art into a Charcoal Sketch

1. Using Silver Efex Pro 2 (Nik Collection)

In this installment, we will be using Silver Efex Pro 2 to turn this render of Antfarm’s Walker HD (see below) into a fine art charcoal study. For the duration of this tutorial, Silver Efex Pro 2 will be referred to as SEP2. Brace yourselves; technique is coming…

Basic Daz Studio 3Delight render without any additional lights.

I’ve taken a basic 3DL render without any additional lights, but obviously you can do this with any image (even a photograph) that has the proper value range into the SEP2 suite and run Antique Plate II (preset 36) with the default settings. Since you want it to look like a sketch, you mostly want a high contrast image without much midtones (those values will be lost).

Therefore, if your results aren’t looking like the example, just undo the SEP2 filter and adjust the levels until you get a good balance of lights and darks (in Photoshop). Then restore the filter with Ctrl+F. Rinse, wash, repeat until you get the desired results. Alternatively, you may also adjust contrast and brightness from within the SEP2 interface.

Once you are happy with the results, Right click > Flatten Image.

Image after applying Antique Plate II (preset 36) from the SEP2 suite in Nik Collection tools.

2. Warming Filter and Increasing Contrast

Once you have a solid base, the edges are already fading out just like an unfinished sketch. Notice how the clouds have become abstracted, almost like a doodle and they’re getting lost in all the background noise which is starting to look like paper grain. You could almost stop here, but why not push it a bit further?

Warming layer filter settings in Photoshop.

Create an adjustment layer/photo filter (in Photoshop) and select the Warming Filter(85). Ensure that Preserve Luminosity is ticked, then run the density up to around 88% or so.

Image result after applying the warming adjustment layer described above.

This is way too orange, but have no fear, we’re going to fix that now.

Photoshop layer stack after these operations.

• Copy the SEP2 (background layer) via Ctrl+J.
• Desaturate with Ctrl+shift+U.
• Invert with Ctrl+I.

The end result is shown below. This will be your layer mask, so hit Ctrl+A to select all and then cut it with Ctrl+X

Our image mask after desaturating and inverting our background (original) image.

• Duplicate the Silver Efex Pro 2 (background layer) twice.
• Apply a layer mask to the first one (Layer > Layer Mask > Reveal All).
• Go to the channels tab and then paste the layer mask in the alpha channel with Ctrl+V. Note that visibility of the layer must be on before pasting, then turn it off after.
• Set the layer to Multiply to punch up the shadows.

That’s nice but I want some more color in there, so

Photoshop layer stack after operations to punch up our shadows and add in more color.

• Merge the photo filter onto the other background layer copy. (Right click > Merge Down).
• Set the layer to Linear Light.
• Then Right click > Create Clipping Mask. See how rich those dark values just got?

Our Photoshop layer tab after performing the operations described here.

Still looks a little drab, so let’s duplicate the photo filter layer and reset the mode to Normal, but drop the opacity down to 40%.

Our 3D-art image after adding in a warming filter and punching up the shadows in Photoshop.

3. Add Hatching

To make it look more like a sketch, let’s introduce some hatching. Save what you have so far and then flatten everything (Right click > Flatten Image). Launch SEP2 and use Wet Rocks (preset 23) to get this grainy looking result.

Image result after applying the Wet Rocks (preset 23) from SEP2, in the Nik Collection tool.

Photoshop layer stack after adding Angled Strokes operations.

• Ctrl+L and enter 15/.75/255 to adjust the value range.
• Set the layer to Overlay at 40% opacity.
• Do Filter > Brush Strokes > Angled Strokes. I used 50/15/3 but if you’re doing your own image, just try for something like the image below.

Adjust Filter > Gallery > Angled Strokes until we get something that looks like this. Settings will be different depending on your image.

If you want to add some color, now would be a good time to try Hue/Saturation or even just Alt+Ctrl+L. You can keep messing around with it, but I’m done…

Final result of transforming our 3D-art render into a charcoal sketch using Photoshop and the Nik Collection tools.

Summary

While the Nik Collection was developed for photographers, any Photoshop user can tell you that Photoshop isn’t just for photographs and neither is the Nik Collection In fact, since 3D-art renders are really just simulated photographs, we will enjoy a much higher degree of overlap with the intended purpose than someone using the Nik Collection on colored line-art, for example.

I’ve began this series with a technique of turning a render into a charcoal sketch to underscore the concept that the Nik Collection has a much wider gamut of applications than mere photo editing, so you need not restrict yourself to using these filters only in the ways in which they were intended.

There are applications for the Nik Collection that the developers never even dreamed of!

In future installments, we will be exploring many different uses for the Nik Collection; some will cover the features much like a manual, while others will take it to a completely different level. Please look forward to it!

This article and all of the images within were created by the very talented Alex Ledante. Copyright © Alex Ledante. Check out his gallery here.

In my final tutorial of this series, I will cover the postwork steps I generally use in Photoshop when working with skin.  As with using Octane, this isn’t a recipe, and some tweaking is required depending on the render I am working on.  That being said, I do routinely use these steps as a starting place with nearly all my renders.

They are also quite rudimentary – I only started learning Photoshop shortly after learning Daz Studio – so less than a year.  Therefore, this will be a tutorial mainly aimed at beginners.

Daz Studio Octane Postwork Tutorial for Beginners

Step by Step Photoshop Postwork Process

To start off with – you can download the original 4k render here.

You can also download the .duf file for the Daz scene. You will need to own Olympia 7 and Olympia 7 HD Add-On (if you don’t, go buy her, she’s fantastic).  I tweak my skin textures on almost every new render, so this scene includes a newer skin texture from the one included with the previous Octane skin tutorial.

Go ahead and open the original render file in Photoshop (if you use Gimp, almost all of the following can still be applied)

1. Duplicate the Background layer – right click layer > duplicate layer > OK

Duplicate the ‘background’ layer – right click layer > duplicate layer > OK
2. From the main menus select image > auto tone. Then repeat with image > auto colour.  Select Edit from the main menu and fade auto colour to 80%

After applying Image > Auto Tone and Image > Auto Color in Step 2.
3. Create a new fill/adjustment layer using the circular icon underneath the layers, and select colour balance. With the new window that opens choose the shadows tone and adjust the yellow/blue slider towards the blue by no more than 10.  Repeat by setting the midtones towards cyan by 10, and the hightlights towards yellow by 10.

In step 3, create a new Color Balance adjustment layer. Then set Color Balance adjustments according to the image on the right.
4. Create a new merged layer (shift+ctrl+alt+e) – this will copy all of the layers and merge them into a new layer, thus preserving the original layers if you need to return to them (this is called a non-destructive workflow). Your layers tab should now look like this:
   

   Our layer stack after creating a new merged layer (shift+ctrl+alt+e).

   With the newly created layer selected, select image > adjustments > brightness/contrast.  Set the brightness to -70 and the contrast to +70, then OK.  Now select image > adjustments > hue/saturation and set the saturation to -40.

   Select filter > blur > gaussian blur, and set the radius to 8.

   Finally select the blending mode (drop down menu at top of layer window) to screen, and set its opacity to 50%.


Setting the Blending Mode (drop down menu at top of layer window) to screen.
5. Create a new fill/adjustment layer like in step 3 but this time select a photo filter layer. Set the filter to cooling filter (lbb) and adjust the density to 10%

Our new Photo Filter adjustment layer settings.
6. The final step is to create a new merged layer (shift+ctrl+alt+e) like in step 4.  Perform a final auto-tone like in step 2.

Final result of our Photoshop postwork process to the right compared to our original Octane rendered image to the left.

Summary

I hope you have found this series of Octane tutorials useful, and they have encouraged you to try the octane demo.  Octane is a very different beast compared with iRay, and it can be a daunting prospect when you first open it up and see the node based system. 

However, you can get pretty good results by using the auto-convert texture tool or using pre-built shaders from the library. To get the most out of it though, you really need to overcome your fears and dive into the nodes – where with time you will be rewarded with a plethora of ways to enhance your renders.  And did I say, it is really, really fast!

This article and all of the images within were created by the very talented Brian Sains. Copyright © Brian Sains. Check out his gallery here.