Perhaps before assuming my motivations [...]
I was wondering if it's was the case, nothing more.
you don't have a high end expensive machine to do the renders then they turn out pretty terribly and you spend far too much of your time doing them.
Everything is relative, especially when it come to the cost of something, but you don't really need an expensive computer to have good enough looking render. What is needed first is to know how to configure Daz. A well configured 10 years old computer can render in less than one hour something better than the best possible computer can do with a pure default configuration. Of course, it will take more time because the computer is old, but even there what will need the most time will be the scene building, not the rendering ; well, unless you follow the full out of the box route and just throw everything on the scene without more thinking.
As far as uncanny valley goes, when I was doing the art I actually did have the sense of something being off about it which was largely why I didn't like my own art. I had assumed at first that it was just because I wasn't skilled or had to do lower quality renders because of hardware limitations but the fact that other people were also put off by the models shows that my models were probably at least somewhat in the valley.
As far as I remember, you renders weren't exceptional, while still being on the average. But at no time you were on the uncanny valley, because at no time your renders looked near to something real ; what isn't a criticism, really few achieve to reach this level of quality, and I'm far to be one of them.
Oh, and also you're confirming what I was wondering. You saw few comments and they confirmed the bad opinion you had regarding the quality of your work. Would have some comments said that your CGs wasn't better, but also not worse, than the average, that it would probably have changed your perception of the reality.
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some further reading on the subject since you and no__name still apparently don't fully understand what it is.
Can't tell for
no__name , but I perfectly know what it mean. And I stand on my position, it's something that can't be reached on the scene. This simply because there's a prerequisite before you enter the uncanny valley, you need to reach human likeness. But it happen that it's something impossible for games, because they use 3D, not humanoid characters that are filmed ; it would cost a fortune to make such games.
It's wrote everywhere on the link you provided yourself. The uncanny valley describe the feeling we get when facing something that try to pass as a human, but isn't one. And 3D arts don't try to pass as human, they can't even pass as human ; they don't move, they don't talk, they don't react.
Whatever how good can be the artist behind the CG, we know from the start that we aren't seeing humans. And this sole knowledge is enough to keep the uncanny valley far away. This because it's the uncertainty that trigger it. We aren't sure anymore what we are facing, and it trigger a reaction that come from the deepest part of ourselves, a reaction that permit to all our ancestors to survive, and so to us to exist, distrust. We don't necessarily fear what we are facing, but we don't trust it, and our brain stay alert, because it have absolutely no idea of what can possibly happen.
It's also why a small, but obvious, mismatch is generally enough to prevent the uncanny valley effect. It remove the uncertainty. We know what we are facing, and therefore know (globally speaking of course) what can possibly happen. And, obviously, it's why the feeling is almost not perceptible when we are just looking at pictures of the humanoid. We can perhaps not be at ease, but not more than when looking at some disturbing image ; because it's all, there's something disturbing in what we see, but something that can't affect us.
Therefore, like I said above, whatever how good can be the CG of a game, they will never reach the uncanny valley. We know from the start that what we'll see isn't real, and it's just an image on a computer screen. We can think that it's horrible, but we will never feel that it's too real.
