Thursday, October 10, 2013

Women and Brick Walls

---By Stefan

From concept to Flickr 90 minutes.  World tools: LUMIPro and AnyPose basic. Post shoot tools: NIK and Photoshop.  Skill: Medium to Advanced.

Every now and then I enjoy taking a RL photo that I like and then turn it into a SL shoot.


I had a grunge skybox but decided to find a new all texture.   A quick google image search found a decent texture that I ended up using.  BTW, if you tell google to only search for large images you'll find one that fits the bill as this image as 1600px x 1700px.

Here is the model in a preliminary pose with the prim set it place.  She's using the sitball wearing the ball lights and the projector.






The closet pose I could find was a female AO groundsit pose. 


However it didn't give an ideal placement.  I had several people tell me about the AnyPose system and thought I'd give it a try.  I purchased it during the shoot and learned it real time.

Here is where I am after working with anypose (on top of my current female AO animation) and some tweaking of both the windlight and projector lighting.


If you want to recall and use this Anypose, just enter this into local chat

/1001 recall 01001818181818181818182315171217202221211721231322101916241524071818 <-0 data-blogger-escaped-.180000="">

<0 data-blogger-escaped-.000000=""> 131071+0


26 shots later I think I picked one I liked.

 Little bit of cleanup and Black and White in Photoshop or Gimp done in under 5 minutes. You can always do more and that is personal preference.


That's it.  Start to finish was about 30 minutes of outfits and buying bracelets on marketplace.  30 minute setting up the shoot and about 30 minutes to learn the AnyPose, shoot and do the Photoshop.

Friday, October 4, 2013

Press Release LUMIPro Announces 3.3



LUMIPro promised you rainbows and after one of the longest and likely the most difficult beta programs for LUMIPro to date (10 beta releases to our testers) it is ready to go. So lets talk about what you will find in LUMIPro 3.3.




FROM THE DESK OF STEFAN:

One of the things that makes LUMIPro different than others is that LUMIPro is a living creation and is upgraded 3-4 times a year with new features and new capabilities. I'm excited to announce the 6th major release in the last 3 years .I've been thinking long and hard about whats next for LUMIPro. After recording a few of my own videos as well as talking with other customers, frankly I decided it was time to expand upon the use of color in lighting. This release is all about enhancing the color of lighting.

I studied several options for color pickers and got pretty much every color matching hud I could get my hands on. Talked with several people who use them for feedback.

Realizing that we're dealing with a very broad spectrum of people online from beginners to techies to RL photographers, I've been experimenting with a color user interface that made sense. After much discussion including discussing with a couple RL theatrical lighting friends, I decided to include several of the RL color gel catalogs as part of the user interface and a more simple RGB interface for the techies. I frankly like the color catalogs as there is 40+ years of picking these colors based on their success in real situations.


Check out the review at http://picsbypeep.com/2013/08/22/beta-testing-lumipro-with-color-picker/ .

There are a list of things that I cleaned up that have been bugging me personally as I used the LUMIPro in my own work, as well as customer feedback.

1. Rotation of the sit ball is now repetitive. just click and hold and it rotates


2. REM type checks and doesn't report errors with the talent TPs or logs out


3. No more derezzing the projectors or sitballs after 4 days. They announce and become visible. This was causing problems during set development that took longer than 4 days


4. The backup server deals with correct color names


5. Help->lighting details reports the correct model's colors, not just the owners colors.


6. Joystick (Navigator) steering the projector now has an icon vs transparent to address a viewer bug.

I was doing my first shoot with beta8 and wanted to re select the red ball and tweak the color and realized there was no way to tweak a color you always had to start again, so I reworked the hud to now allow the balls to report their current color so when you either change models or change balls the color picker restores the last used color.

I also added an information button that send you the the Lee Filter website so you can read about the RL filters.  Under RGB entry I also added the ability to enter a Lee Filter number and it will select that.



So, 100+ hours of coding , the LUMIPro team brings you your rainbows. As always follow the LUMIPro blog. LUMIPro. The manual is updated as well., this resource is the most comprehensive manual I've seen for a SL product and as always if you own the LUMIPro join the in world group for immediate help/solutions/tips/tricks or drop and note card to myself or Colleen Criss with any questions.


LUMIPro is a lighting system for Second Life .The 3.3 version added an entirely new color select method that utilizes the best lighting from RL and makes it available in Second Life.

Thursday, October 3, 2013

LUMIPro ~ From Raw to Rawr!



Most every avatar in Second Life loves to take photos. Some are happy with a nice snap shot and some what to make that photo a masterpiece! 

We study others, we form our own styles and we learn over time and we use every tool in our Second Life arsenal!

Windlights, Weavers Phototools, studios, wood cubes with a back ground and we spend a ton of lindens on poses and props. Then we spend hours setting a scene, getting the light we want, the look we want, the model dressed and posed to perfection. All of this IN Second Life before we even shoot. Then we take it out and we process it more often in expensive editing programs like Photoshop etc. 

My partner Toran always tells me "sh** in, sh** out" , so we took some time today to work on a small "reciepe" of sorts. A start to finish, brief and simple and effective way to use the LUMIPro that any beginner can do.


A lot of people don't take advantage of the full power of LUMIPro, with highlighting,  face shadowing for photos. The possibilities and control are endless.

We all love our windlights and they are great for setting the *mood* of a photo and we use them in every shot but the LUMIPro is to light your model after you set your ambiance with windlights, to really make the model pop .

So lets do one and keep it as simple as possible.




1st photo in default WL using SL shadows, resolutions for all photos 6016x3299. No processing , no LUMIpro.


2nd photo WL setting fluffy big clouds. No LUMIPro.


3rd photo WL setting fluffy big clouds with gama adjusted and SL shadows on.


4th photo WL setting fluffy big clouds with gama adjusted and SL shadows on
LUMIPro split light, Intensity 0.7, color set neutral adjusted with Lee filter slider adjusted on white.


5th photo depth and points tweaked in photoshop, finished product.

Painless ! and fast and your mileage and styles will all vary.

With LUMIPro Second Life IS your canvas, go shoot and show us how you LUMIPro!