Hi there
I’m glad to show my latest piece. Still exploring the rendering of nature and animals. This time, FROGS, dendrobates and coroboree more specifically.
All 3D aspects in Blender (modelling, sculpting, rigging etc…).Ps for painting the frogs texture maps and the final compositing. I just posted on YT a short video breakdown of this aspect :
Questions, comments and critics are very welcome.
Cheers
Edit: added slight Dof to refine BG integration, and slight colour corrections.
First of all, this is very beautiful and interesting. And as you said in your comment in other thread, this image has exactly what my works lack. Very interesting and funny. Good work!
As for critics, i would add some color variations in lighting, but that’s just me. And plant in the background is very beautiful!
Hi Blackrainbow,
Any good comment coming from you makes my day! Thx
Seriously amazing! The lighting is breathtaking and the story is wonderful. Keep up the good work!
Thx camero, glad you like it
This image is great! So much content in just the composition alone! I can imagine the sense of discovery and curiosity in the frogs, and the still frame almost feels animated. The materials and lighting as well are very beautiful, and you’ve done a magnificent job of aligning all elements to work together in telling a story. Great work, Fred!
Hi james
thx so much for your kind words. You are right in the sense that the whole composition lighting and pose is aimed at telling a story. This took me quite a great amount of time to set things up.
Glad you liked it
Great Work! 
What can I say, so many beautiful stuff here! Day by day more and more!
Woow
I love the concept and execution. It inspires me to be more imaginative with my stuff …
hi, this is one of the most beautiful renders I have seen, the attention to detail in the grass, moss & sundews are spot on.
The frogs however are not as convincing. *Awesome as they are.
There’s loads of references on poison dart frogs google images & in compare you have done an wonderful job, they just seem lacking a little in texture, the bleack on the bleack & yellow variety has a more tight bump/dimple texture & the blue variety has more shine & glimmer. Also they maybe need some environment mapping/texture? they seem not quite in the scene. The stomach would be darker & reflect the ground a little maybe & they seem not quite mucus, oily, wet.
Looking at references on google images, really you have done a superb job.
well done.
Hi meta-androcto and thx for your kind words. Really encouraging.
Your comments are really interesting about the frogs. I’ve checked hundreds of feferences for both the blue and yellow dart frogs to know how to set the shaders. I.m really conscious that it’s not perfect, but sometimes you have to know when to stop 
Indeed the yellow/black frogs have more bumpy details on the skin and I tried to incorporate this by sculpting it. Maybe it’s not that obvious though… As for the blue ones, you are also right about the mucus/wet aspect of real ones. On my frogs, I made a dual glossy shader. One is a classic gloss with a fresnel to make it look wet and an other is a gloss controlled by several musgrave textures and a bump to mimic the thick aspect of what you call mucus. Once again, I think I could have cranked up that last bump a bit more.
As for the lighting I used a main sun, an other one as a rim to make sharp glossy outlines here and there and a spot with high strength more precisely directed to the center of the scene. The fill lights come from a HDR forest scene to incorporate branch reflections on the glossy elements.
it,s awesome and real like the ground looks more real not to mention the grass and the light fx
HI,
here’s a “clay” render of the scene. In fact, just a modified version of the AO pass showcasing geometries and displacements.
lighting feels a bit odd maybe? the lighting is making the model stand out from the background, which is usually desirable, but to me it makes the fact that the background is 2D stick out more, and the scene feels less “integrated”. Wonderful piece either way, and I certainly couldn’t do better!
Hi specular. You’re right about the bg integration. Could have done the bg in blender but I grew lazy in the end…
Wow, picture featured on blender natioj! Thx Bart, you made my day
Hi! Here are simple studio shots of the models created for the scene.
The finer details on the skins are more obvious…as well as the flaws ;-(
The details and colors are amazing! Kudos.
Hi Dante thx for your kind words, it’s very encouraging!
