affinity photo Completing my fanfiction composite - Creating a rain/storm Effect, adding a vehicle

[firstdefence]

The ultimate situation for having complete control over an images content, composition and lighting is to use 3D software but that is a steep learning curve. The effort you are putting into these fanart projects can be translated over to learning 3D apps like the venerable and free Blender app, once you have a grasp of Blender you can control all manner of things, like depth of field, add realistic fog, rain, lightning, props and lighting to name a few, you become unhindered by the 2D problems.

[SolidSnake2003]

16 hours ago, v_kyr said:

Then tryout some AI image generators (do a Google search after those), there are a bunch of those nowadays, even free to use ones. You have to prompt (describe exactly) what you want as a scene and those will then generate an image for you. - If an image is close of what you had in mind as a scene but isn't perfect, you can then modify and alter it to be more the way you had in mind.

Can you give me pointers on how to create a prompt? This is the best I could get out of typing this using OpenAI's custom stock tool:

Here is the prompt I used dark, thunderstorm;

The biggest thing I'm wanting is the boy to be wearing a yellow raincoat.

[v_kyr]

22 minutes ago, SolidSnake2003 said:

Can you give me pointers on how to create a prompt?

The net should be full of such advices, just do a Google search after that theme and read about the tricks and possibilities etc.

• ai right prompting
• https://www.taskade.com/generate/ai/ai-prompt
• https://aitextpromptgenerator.com/
• https://promptomania.com/
• https://www.heise.de/hintergrund/AI-designs-optimal-prompts-for-text-image-generators-7275381.html
• ... and so on ...

For the following german links feed them into/through Google Translate ...

• https://www.heise.de/hintergrund/Entwicklung-der-Promptkompetenz-ausprobieren-experimentieren-lernen-und-ueben-9210218.html
• https://www.heise.de/ratgeber/Sieben-Tipps-damit-Sie-souveraen-bei-KI-Themen-mitreden-koennen-9162581.html
• https://www.heise.de/ratgeber/KI-Bildgeneratoren-Fantastische-neue-Welten-9054222.html?seite=2
• ... and so on ...

I recall that also in the forum here somebody once showed a link to a helper site for that, so also do a forum search after that theme.

[SolidSnake2003]

4 hours ago, firstdefence said:

The ultimate situation for having complete control over an images content, composition and lighting is to use 3D software but that is a steep learning curve. The effort you are putting into these fanart projects can be translated over to learning 3D apps like the venerable and free Blender app, once you have a grasp of Blender you can control all manner of things, like depth of field, add realistic fog, rain, lightning, props and lighting to name a few, you become unhindered by the 2D problems.

To create a 3D world, I would have to create character/vehicle/house models right? Don't you have to draw to be able to create the different pieces of a model so the lights and shadows effect them the way it is supposed to?

[SolidSnake2003]

34 minutes ago, v_kyr said:

The net should be full of such advices, just do a Google search after that theme and read about the tricks and possibilities etc.

• ai right prompting
• https://www.taskade.com/generate/ai/ai-prompt
• https://aitextpromptgenerator.com/
• https://promptomania.com/
• https://www.heise.de/hintergrund/AI-designs-optimal-prompts-for-text-image-generators-7275381.html
• ... and so on ...

For the following german links feed them into/through Google Translate ...

• https://www.heise.de/hintergrund/Entwicklung-der-Promptkompetenz-ausprobieren-experimentieren-lernen-und-ueben-9210218.html
• https://www.heise.de/ratgeber/Sieben-Tipps-damit-Sie-souveraen-bei-KI-Themen-mitreden-koennen-9162581.html
• https://www.heise.de/ratgeber/KI-Bildgeneratoren-Fantastische-neue-Welten-9054222.html?seite=2
• ... and so on ...

I recall that also in the forum here somebody once showed a link to a helper site for that, so also do a forum search after that theme.

I've read stuff about creating prompts, but I still don't seem to understand how to create them. I know it says to be specific, but when I type something like "dark, thunderstorm, rain, paramedics wheeling dark blonde boy into ambulance" and it just shows random stuff that doesn't really match what I wrote other than wet road look

[v_kyr]

9 hours ago, SolidSnake2003 said:

I know it says to be specific

Tryout with (more) build sentenses, aka things like "a boy lying in an ambulance stretcher at evening during a thunderstorm" and things like that. - The whole is partly also prompt console and AI generator engine related, also in terms of the output quality of generated images here.

[firstdefence]

6 hours ago, SolidSnake2003 said:

To create a 3D world, I would have to create character/vehicle/house models right? Don't you have to draw to be able to create the different pieces of a model so the lights and shadows effect them the way it is supposed to?

You can collect models such as houses, vehicles people etc, or learn how to create models. I'm not saying it's easy but it's worth looking into long term and is certainly a good set of skills develop.

 

[SolidSnake2003]

19 hours ago, v_kyr said:

Tryout with (more) build sentenses, aka things like "a boy lying in an ambulance stretcher at evening during a thunderstorm" and things like that. - The whole is partly also prompt console and AI generator engine related, also in terms of the output quality of generated images here.

Thanks for the help @v_kyr, I've created a couple of different AI creations on Gencraft that worked wonders. Here is a preview of the composite with the inside of the ambulance added, a cop outside of the ambulance with a light:

 

11 hours ago, firstdefence said:

You can collect models such as houses, vehicles people etc, or learn how to create models. I'm not saying it's easy but it's worth looking into long term and is certainly a good set of skills develop.

 

Thanks for telling me about Blender @firstdefence, but unfortunately my PC doesn't meet the minimum requirements to run the program. I don't enough memory let alone a video card powerful enough.

[SolidSnake2003]

@v_kyr @firstdefence @carl123 I hope you all like the new preview of the composite.

[firstdefence]

7 hours ago, SolidSnake2003 said:

@v_kyr @firstdefence @carl123 I hope you all like the new preview of the composite.

To be honest, I'm really not sure what your end goal is, is this some sort of horror/gothic scary thing?

I can't make any sense of the image, what is it supposed to depict?

[SolidSnake2003]

9 minutes ago, firstdefence said:

To be honest, I'm really not sure what your end goal is, is this some sort of horror/gothic scary thing?

I can't make any sense of the image, what is it supposed to depict?

@firstdefence This is a composite to illustrate a fanfiction that is a horror story as Stephen King's IT is a horror story.

[SolidSnake2003]

19 hours ago, firstdefence said:

To be honest, I'm really not sure what your end goal is, is this some sort of horror/gothic scary thing?

I can't make any sense of the image, what is it supposed to depict?

The scene setup is that Georgie is being taken to the hospital after he is attacked by Pennywise/IT.

[SolidSnake2003]

@v_kyr What do you think of the various AI creations I added to this composite?

[v_kyr]

2 minutes ago, SolidSnake2003 said:

What do you think of the various AI creations I added to this composite?

The last one, with that police officer, looks ok so far. Though the driveway and the dog also do need some police man matching side light there.

[SolidSnake2003]

1 hour ago, v_kyr said:

The last one, with that police officer, looks ok so far. Though the driveway and the dog also do need some police man matching side light there.

@v_kyr I've started working on adding lights to the ambulance. I figure some of the lighting would fall on the police officer as well. Here is the preview of what I have done so far:

Hope you like @v_kyr @iconoclast and @carl123

[v_kyr]

As for the light, I was thinking of something like this, since lightnings usually have and do spread a very bright (bright white) and blinding light.

 

• chap02_denbrough-house_sample.afphoto

[SolidSnake2003]

25 minutes ago, v_kyr said:

As for the light, I was thinking of something like this, since lightnings usually have and do spread a very bright (bright white) and blinding light.

 

• chap02_denbrough-house_sample.afphoto

Thanks for the suggestion, I do like that look. The only thing is I don't know if the light would darken the light coming off of the ambulance and police officer's flashlight.

[v_kyr]

10 minutes ago, SolidSnake2003 said:

The only thing is I don't know if the light would darken the light coming off of the ambulance and police officer's flashlight.

Try it out, you can always apply multiple Lighting effects (add 1, add2, ..., point, spot,...), further you can also always add them step for step to an image (via a merge layer down to image), in order to keep an overall light scene and then add additional lighting sources this way.

For example I added one overall light from top left diagonal to the dog, which you wont see in the layers panel as I merged that already down to the image, then I've added two point lights which should be viewable in the layers panel under one lighting setup.

[iconoclast]

Quote

Thanks for the suggestion, I do like that look. The only thing is I don't know if the light would darken the light coming off of the ambulance and police officer's flashlight.

That's an important point: the balancing of lights. In reality, the lights inside the Ambulance would be weaker than the flashlights of the lightnings. So you will have to dim the lights and reflecting light that come from the weaker lights. If you want to print your images, you will have the problem that the white of the paper is the limit in lightness, while the monitor of your computer is a light source and can create much brighter white. But in analogue images, you can  use some tricks. One is to dim the weaker lights, another is to use colours to fake more lightness with a colour contrast. The classic case is to mix a tiny little bit of blue intor the white of the light. This will work even better if the background has a tinch of red or at least a warm colour.

I would use the lighting to emphasize the important parts of the scene anyway.

[SolidSnake2003]

@v_kyr @iconoclast Here is a new preview I have finished before heading off to bed, I have started adding the lightning part. I don't know the Lighting live filter, but here is what I have done using lighting tricks similar to a compositor using Photoshop:

Hope you all like it 

[iconoclast]

24 minutes ago, SolidSnake2003 said:

@v_kyr @iconoclast Here is a new preview I have finished before heading off to bed, I have started adding the lightning part. I don't know the Lighting live filter, but here is what I have done using lighting tricks similar to a compositor using Photoshop:

Hope you all like it 

It's a step into the right direction, I think, but there are still some things that irritate me. At first, before I forget it again, there are dark edges around the lightnings. Not the most important thing, but I already wanted to point on it some time ago and forgot it.

Than the grass in front of the house. It looks too much like daylight. I'm not sure how it look like, but I think I would try a more blueish tone.

And the house is lightened from the fontside, while the lightnings are behind it. Normally it would be dark at the front, and would throw a shadow on the area in front of the house. And the rule says: The brighter the light, the darker the shadow. And vice versa.

Concerning the Policeman: There may be a plausible light source somewhere, that lights him, but why doesn't it light the dog and the back of the ambulance too? And how would it affect the shadow under the ambulance?

It's not easy to solve those problems only by imagination, but for me it is somehow obvious that the lighting doesn't work correctly in this scene.

Sorry, that may be disheartening, but it's my point of view. As I already said, it's not easy.

Edit: One tip: Try a google search for images with scenes of thunderstorms at night. You will see, that the scenes are very dark, almost black. Only the sky is lighted. If there are also houses and other things visible, there must be a plausible Light source that is strong enough. another inspiration could possibly be movies with thunderstorms at night. They will have a Hollywood lighting. E.G. Tobe Hooper's "Poltergeist" contains a thunderstorm at night.

[v_kyr]

Now you have to fine adjust things further, the dogs back side it too dark/shadowed, give his back side some lighter areas. Further the shadows left and right from where the light of the lighning comes from are at there beginnings too dark, make those shadows to flow  like a gradient "lighter->dark->darker" from their inside to outside.

[v_kyr]

1 hour ago, SolidSnake2003 said:

I don't know the Lighting live filter

• https://affinity.help/photo2/English.lproj/index.html?page=pages/Filters/lighting_effects.html?title=Lighting effects

 

[SolidSnake2003]

How about instead of worrying about lightning, how about I keep to like how it is in terms of the movie itself. It's just a rainstorm, no thunder, no lightning:

 

[v_kyr]

4 hours ago, SolidSnake2003 said:

How about instead of worrying about lightning, how about I keep to like how it is in terms of the movie itself. It's just a rainstorm, no thunder, no lightning:
 

On 10/5/2023 at 3:01 PM, v_kyr said:

This is actually something that you have to decide for yourself, i.e. no one else can really tell you who is not involved in your project, its plot and sequence. ...