I was experimenting with a new way to render CG models: using a convolutional neural network (CNN) to provide a "beauty" pass rendering.
The idea was to use a CNN to transfer the style of an existing painting to the picture of a sculpture. To do this, I chose a painting of Beatrice Offor (Miss B.S., 1905) and used it as reference for an ad-hoc "cartoonish" sculpture. Then I configured the NN with Tensorflow and provided both a first rendering of the sculpture and the original Offor's painting to it. I find the result - not post-edited - decent.
The 3D model was sculpted, poly-painted and first rendered entirely in ZBrush.
My purpose was to start from a very basic rendering and enhance it with the power of the deep learning.