Waylon Widdle

Poolside (1 & 2) [Pre-composite]

Added 2025-06-05 07:10:51 +0000 UTC

Still not the end product, but you can see the changes from the overexposed render I cut short from last time to make the scene a bit more interesting. I tried something new and added some volumetric fog in the background with the intent of adding ripple distortion in post- for some sweltering mirage ripples in the background.

The cloth sim on the towel was tricky, and I would've liked an asset that looked less coarse, but that's Daz for ya, and I don't really have the time to model everything. 🙃

I've been focusing a bit on composition, and really liked the idea of perfectly centering the tiny in the downward-facing angle. Not sure if the pool floaty really comes across well out of depth of field, but it was a nice asset to balance the image with the visually heavy giant's body on the lower right. No caustic lighting in Iray, unfortunately, so no ripply lighting effects on the bottom of the pool, but in the final comp, I added more subtle ripple distortion to at least distort the tile as if it were underwater.

Overall, really happy with these, and can't wait for you to see the final touches!