![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
HD Frodo-- First Attempt
Mar. 10th, 2018 11:16 amThought I would try to chronicle my attempts to make an HD Frodo in iRay. iRay is an Invidia-based render engine which can create beautiful renders but which I barely use due to the heavy workload it places on my computer.
This was finished around 7 AM after an agonizingly long render time. I didn't bother with DOF or FX. It's the same model as my previous pic "The Letter," but with mostly new skinning. I also took the opportunity to re-sculpt his jaw, chin and the tip of his nose, and reduced the anime influence slightly for the close-up. I haven't yet figured out how to re-create Frodo's mysterious glow-- always the hardest part of him! His glow relies on skin translucency and subsurface scattering plus emission shaders, which work entirely differently in iRay. There were lots of artifacts in his eyes on this attempt, some of which I painted out-- but being very complex models, with working iris, pupil, and cornea, they're the only part of him I haven't yet re-skinned.
It's always been a source of great fascination to me that I have maintained a very precise image of Frodo in my mind from my first reading of LOTR. None of the other characters affect me that way, even Sam. In fact, where Sam is concerned, I don't really have much of an image at all, thus all those variations.
I recently mentioned, in a private post, being inspired by the work of a certain composer. One of the most mysterious aspects of that was being able to 'see' him through his music. I had never seen a photo of the actual person, but my corresponding writing and artwork turned out to describe him almost perfectly! It was both eerie and highly inspirational. I keep wondering if the Professor possessed the same power. If I ever looked through some of his old photos, might I recognize this Frodo-face which has never left me?
This was finished around 7 AM after an agonizingly long render time. I didn't bother with DOF or FX. It's the same model as my previous pic "The Letter," but with mostly new skinning. I also took the opportunity to re-sculpt his jaw, chin and the tip of his nose, and reduced the anime influence slightly for the close-up. I haven't yet figured out how to re-create Frodo's mysterious glow-- always the hardest part of him! His glow relies on skin translucency and subsurface scattering plus emission shaders, which work entirely differently in iRay. There were lots of artifacts in his eyes on this attempt, some of which I painted out-- but being very complex models, with working iris, pupil, and cornea, they're the only part of him I haven't yet re-skinned.
It's always been a source of great fascination to me that I have maintained a very precise image of Frodo in my mind from my first reading of LOTR. None of the other characters affect me that way, even Sam. In fact, where Sam is concerned, I don't really have much of an image at all, thus all those variations.
I recently mentioned, in a private post, being inspired by the work of a certain composer. One of the most mysterious aspects of that was being able to 'see' him through his music. I had never seen a photo of the actual person, but my corresponding writing and artwork turned out to describe him almost perfectly! It was both eerie and highly inspirational. I keep wondering if the Professor possessed the same power. If I ever looked through some of his old photos, might I recognize this Frodo-face which has never left me?