Title. I've always played with the idea, but haven't thought about actually making one in a few years. I'm curious to find out if it'd work or if it'd flop.
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Comic Talk and General Discussion *
Thoughts on a 3D-rendered comic?
One of the most popular comic creators here does 3D rendered comic. Death Porn, Transneptunian?
Bunch of other artists here use it including the modest fellow who replied before me.
Go on Deviant art and much of the 3D rendered art there is for comics.
Do a quality comic and the audience will show up. Do porn it'll show up even faster. ^_^
In terms of being visually successful, it's always a question of good art direction. (Composition, color theory, cinematography, etc.)In the end, the medium doesn't matter. I have worked with 3D illustrators who have multi-kilobuck render farms that can churn out photorealistic renderings all day long, but if the images were badly composed and badly lit, they still looked boring.
bravo1102 wrote:Yeah, they'll show up but they won't stay long once they realize you're also trying to tell a story!
Do a quality comic and the audience will show up. Do porn it'll show up even faster. ^_^
Doing a 3D comic? It *can* be done, but I've rarely seen it done well. Like Fallopian said, the medium doesn't matter so much; it's if you know what you're doing with it. If you're relatively accomplished in traditional media, then you should be good at 3D, but if not, it may not be the ideal place to start. 3D is a good place to apply what you've learned elsewhere IMO; it's not a great learner's platform.
El Cid wrote:El Cids secret: Come for the porn, stay for the story!bravo1102 wrote:Yeah, they'll show up but they won't stay long once they realize you're also trying to tell a story!
Do a quality comic and the audience will show up. Do porn it'll show up even faster. ^_^
And for some media readers never show up, but it's probably my art director. Where is William Cameron Menzies when you need him?
I agree, 3D has a steep learning curve for the software so trying to pick up lay out and mise en scene etc. is very intimidating. A lot of successful 3D comic creators did other media first. A few were writers who had worked with artists so they had seen it done, but jumping in? Learn the basics first.
Or you'll be a failure like me.
I hate to add what amounts to little more than a verbose take on a simple "me, too," but I think 3D can be perfectly viable for storytelling. God knows we've come a long way since the `90's and "Batman: Digital Justice." We use it enough nowadays in live action film and straight animation. The games are getting more realistic (hell, I'd do comics based off of STO characters if I could figure out how to export the models and backgrounds and crap AND manipulate them in a viable fashion). But as has been said elsewhere, it depends on the visual quality, writing, graphic storytelling, or all three. Decades of indie and mainstream comics have shown that good writing can support weak art and vice versa, but both can't fail.
And when they synch, it's amazing.
I've been intrigued with the idea of going 3D for years. I can't count the number of times I've downloaded various open source proggies with that intention. One of the first things I did when I got a computer again was download Blender, Make Human, Gimp, Krita, and a few others. From a creator's standpoint, I really like the idea that once the models are built and rigged, and the sets designed, I'd be good. I'd have my actors and locations. I might lose readers, but I'd transition all of my stories to 3D if I had the skill. Story arcs themselves lose readers. And gain new ones.
But it's daunting as hell, the curve is steep, and it's difficult for this old dog to learn new tricks.
The audience will come if you have worthwhile material, no matter the stylistic approach. I've been doing comics online since 1997, and if there's one thing I've learned in over twenty years it's that there is an audience for everything.
Programs like Poser and Daz studio are very handy for 3D comics as you get base figures which are ready rigged. You can modify them and go from there. The biggest difficulty is getting started and building up enough assets to tell your story, regardless of whether you are modelling everything yourself or using premade assets.
Dunno, could be worse. You could choose to use real models and figures as opposed to 3D renders sort of like fumetti and you end up with something no one wants to look at.
It's not traditional, it's not 3D render, freaking dolls and models! Um nah, let's not read it. ;)
fallopiancrusader wrote:
@rainingbells: the learning curve with any professional grade 3D program like Blender will be very steep, so don't beat yourself up if it gets frustrating. I have been using 3D studio Max professionally for 20 years, and I'm still stumped by some parts of the program
Haha very much so, but there are also a lot of tutorials available to get started. I first tried 3D a few years back and initially planned to use it for back ground references, a short time later I decided to make a short story with it and from there I largely stopped doing hand drawn art. Mostly because I'm horribly inconsistent.
bravo1102 wrote:
Dunno, could be worse. You could choose to use real models and figures as opposed to 3D renders sort of like fumetti and you end up with something no one wants to look at.
It's not traditional, it's not 3D render, freaking dolls and models! Um nah, let's not read it. ;)
Out of curiosity, have you ever considered 3D Software? With your existing ability to render sets, poses, clothing, seems like you'd be a natural at it once you got past the admittedly big learning curve… But then I don't know much about the stuff, so it may be as hard on your hands as traditional art…
KimLuster wrote:bravo1102 wrote:
Dunno, could be worse. You could choose to use real models and figures as opposed to 3D renders sort of like fumetti and you end up with something no one wants to look at.
It's not traditional, it's not 3D render, freaking dolls and models! Um nah, let's not read it. ;)
Out of curiosity, have you ever considered 3D Software? With your existing ability to render sets, poses, clothing, seems like you'd be a natural at it once you got past the admittedly big learning curve… But then I don't know much about the stuff, so it may be as hard on your hands as traditional art…
Steep learning curve. I actually trained on the then-current software back in 2002 but it's a whole different world now. If anything I'd like to use rendered backgrounds with my figures. I keep getting told that the figures look better than a lot of the rendered figures in 3D programs.
I trained up on Lightwave # back in the early 2000's.
I learned 3D animation and how to construct and render objects. I took to it like a dream. Loved it! It was so natural to me. I LOVED to make characters and objects.
The big, big negative was render times though… also lighting and other effects.
You did not have any idea what your final image really looked like till you had a render. All the effects were invisible till then and lighting and shadows were minimal in your workspace view… All till that magical moment when the render was finally done.
That was a nightmare!!! It could take SO LONG! Do a tiny little change to fix or improve something, alter a pose slightly or choose a different camera angle and it can take hours for the finished product- for animation at least, But still renders would still take ages and ages with good complex lighting effects and if you had a lot of objects in the shot.
Does it still take so long?
Hardware improvements have given some relief to render times. The most important development has been with APIs that pass render calls to the GPU. Nvidia's CUDA is one example. Many high-end render farms now have graphics cards that are much more expensive than the rest of the machine. In terms of making composition easier,I think the real frontier that is opening up right now is real-time rendering. Blender's Eevee is one example. I am starting to compose 3D scenes in Unreal engine these days. Since that is a game engine, everything on screen is (more or less) the final render, which can get pretty close to photo-realistic.
What makes a comic look good? It's the art direction, how well the art fits the story, the quality of the art / typesetting, etc. The medium itself doesn't really matter. There are a lot of 2D artists these days that incorporate 3D models (especially when it comes to buildings) into their work.
The only time I don't like 3D comics is when the characters look like dolls with slightly different outfits and hair styles. Each character needs to feel alive with their own personality.
mishi_hime wrote:
What makes a comic look good? It's the art direction, how well the art fits the story, the quality of the art / typesetting, etc. The medium itself doesn't really matter. There are a lot of 2D artists these days that incorporate 3D models (especially when it comes to buildings) into their work.
The only time I don't like 3D comics is when the characters look like dolls with slightly different outfits and hair styles. Each character needs to feel alive with their own personality.
I'm told that there are a few who can even take dolls and make them look alive with their own personality.
It's what you do with the medium that matters, not the medium itself.
Fluke wrote:
I have never seen a 3d comic that didnt look like a 3d comic.
It's what is done with the medium, not the medium itself.
There are a few that really transcend that Poser 3d look and look like detailed line work or fully painted panels. Then there's the photo realism painting movement that purposely mimics photography or 3d rendered art.
Shrek impressed me as a vehicle for the animators art, but for a creators generally. It felt like playing tennis in a tin suit. Slow and cumbersome irrespective of super fast rendering, except where repetition is required like animating frames.
Its like it has democratized illustration but stolen meaning.
On the plus side all hand crafters are subversive revolutionaries now :)
edit:
Oh I see you are using 3d :) = Ya pussy
Fluke wrote:
Shrek impressed me as a vehicle for the animators art, but for a creators generally. It felt like playing tennis in a tin suit. Slow and cumbersome irrespective of super fast rendering, except where repetition is required like animating frames.
Its like it has democratized illustration but stolen meaning.
On the plus side all hand crafters are subversive revolutionaries now :)
edit:
Oh I see you are using 3d :) = Ya pussy
Not entirely by choice. I destroyed my wrist and elbow with a couple of injuries so drawing is not an option. I have tried and can't get past a handful of panels without requiring hours of ice and not being able to use my right hand for a few days.
And my readers tell me my work transcends the medium. They forget how I do it. And it's a lot more than 3d renders. Its actually fumetti. Photography of miniatures with some rendered backgrounds, and lots of digital manipulation from photoshop including some drawing. Some panels are composites of more than 20 different elements. I'm doing a freaking live action movie complete with costumes, properties, sets , scouting locations and shooting schedules and I wish I could still create things with a pen and a sweep of my wrist.
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