[Bubbaloo]

You will save a lot of time by using less hair segments. Start small, then work your way up to find the balance of speed and quality.

[Kevron]

Yes, I guess the short hair don´t need so much segments, but I´ll tweak the number of segments on the long hair also.
Havent had much time to work on this today, but here is a updated hair render with more specularity.

I like the darkness of the hair, but I am going to add another hair-system with some random strays of hair that has more specular propertied. And I also want to make the fur "older" looking. This dog is past his youth, so some discoloration and less saturated color should help.



Cheers!

[Kevron]

Two ref images which are great inspiration.

[Mihai]

I think you can make the hairs slightly thicker. It looks a bit too fine for dog hair.

[Kevron]

I think you are right Mihal, you know thinking just about shading and hair segments will sometimes blind you for the obvious changes. I reckon I could use a smaller hair number if I make them slightly thicker, so it's a win win situation

Thanks for your input!

[rusteberg]

one of the biggest misconceptions in cg is trying to mimic other cg examples. it's easy to get lost when focusing on this.

the dog you are working on has improved dramatically since you first introduced him here although he still seems vacant.

i still see him as a cg dog without any soul. you need to get to know him, understand where he came from, have conversations with him in order to get to know him better. the technical stuff comes later.

even though he is animated, he still seems lifeless. hopefully this helps.....

[Kevron]

Hi Rusteberg, you present some valid and good points. Its all to easy for me to get hung up in technical solutions, always focusing on optimizing and getting rid of unwanted artifacts. But I totally agree with your comment on the importance of knowing your character.

I reckon his eyes need special attention to communicate a living breathing soul, they are at the moment to bright, and don´t really convey anything other than the usual correctness of a white spec placed just above pupil.

I like that you give honest feedback, I´ll continue my work with the dog.

Regards,
Tor M

[Kevron]

Two updates, look development on the dog:



The dog being vacant is no problem, but lifeless is. He is about to take a dump, so this is the mindset right before nature calls.

And a simulation test for the old fur (220 frames, sl8 overnight render):



Regards,
Tor M

[Kevron]

Here is another update on the fur. I have worked on the whole body. Try to render out a sequence over the holidays.
Hope you like it




Regards,
Tor M

[Bubbaloo]

Fur looks great!

[Kevron]

Here is a new overnight render (sl8). A fully furred animal is quite hard to do. But slowly I am getting there. Still some popping (Hair behaves oddly and the dog´s skin is visible). Have done some work on the tail-fur, it is now more "dynamic" and does not hold its shape as rigid as it does in the video below.
Going over the Hair guides in the face now. Reworking the hair around the eyes.



It is a slap comp, so there are a lot of fixes that are not yet done. Just look at the fur, the rest is still very wip (shadows, dog behind car, city etc.)

Regards
Tor M

[Bubbaloo]

Looking good!

[Kevron]

Thanks Brian, appreciate your comment

[AndreD]

getting close to "wow", now

[Kevron]

A little update on the fur.
Rendered through the holiday break to about SL 14. I think the main body looks good, but there are still some problems with the fur in the face.
Its a shame that Maxwell yet don´t support motion blur for point cached animation. I guess an update will come since alembic is growing to be a new nice standard on managing animated mesh between application.




I´ll keep working on the face. Chime in if anything comes into mind.

Regards,
Tor M