Rendering and Post Production Process
Always render more and better service than is expected of you, no matter what your task may be.
Og Mandino.
Ingredients:
Lights and Color.
I use Sky Light and Fog Actors for ball renders and Spot Lights for wall renders. I always contrast my lights and is something that I really got used to. Just look at the color wheel and pick a color and look at the opposite side.
Duplicate the layer and place it above the current. Now blur the current layer and your edges will stand out more prominently or how I heard it "pop".
Camera and Render settings.
I always use ray tracing for soft shadows. I dont know what any parameters in Marmoset do, I just tick "Use Raytracing". For camera, playing around with the field of view slider can give unique fish-eye like effects. I dont use depth of field for this material as I thought it didnt fit the look.
Post Production. I bring the images to my phone and use "Ibis Paint X". I do my post on my phone, because I like that I can do it anywhere, like while I am eating or while I am in the bus for example. I layer a dirty lens mask, noise and vignette at this stage and color correct.
Posting to ArtStation. Its essential to have a catchy thumbnail. By default ArtStation thumbnail resolution is 400x400. I use one of my ball renders, layer the Zbrush logo above it and call it done. (and also layering lens, noise, vignette as per usual)