enchanted forest..::environment::..derwolpertinger

[derwolpertinger]

just the tree...

[derwolpertinger]

now the shrooms...

[derwolpertinger]

well, here it is.
btw, all the textures are procedural. worked a lot on them...


http://www.derwolpertinger.de/f10-2.jpg

[Dave Black]

Looks cool! It looks like you can hold your own.

Lighting needs some work, but it's quite nice at this point.

Can hardly see your little frog, maybe a close-up would be cool.

Crits would be:

Make your scene "pop" a bit more, as it seems a bit bland. The little trail of green dots should be more lumenecent(if they are what I think they are).

If you look at the pic of the shrooms(tho I really like them), the textures make me feel as tho if I we to touch them, they'd feel a bit like concrete...maybe give them a softer look. Don't know what package you are using, so I can't offer advice on how to do that.

All and all, tho, look'n great. Can't wait to see more.

:thumbsup:

[derwolpertinger]

thx for c&c! :)
i'm am using cinema 4d xl 7.
the lighting...-well this is still my biggest problem. i gotta lern this somehow. and now i'll try to change some points you mentioned and i'll make a close up of the little frog. :)

[ZrO-1]

I like the textures on your tree and mushrooms. I think you could make them look softer just with adjustments to the lighting. I really like your 'shrooms....but the modeling on your tree needs a lot of refining. One easy rule-of-thumb for making a tree is that the widest part of a tree will always be the part at ground level. And as you make the limbs on your tree, the base of the limb (where it attaches to the tree-trunk) should be no wider than the part of the trunk it attaches to.

If you look at your tree you'll see that it gets quite skinny in the middle then gets really thick and wide where the branches start. If you work on making all of the branch bases thinner that might be a good start.

[derwolpertinger]

here's a little froggy closeup:

http://www.derwolpertinger.de/f12.jpg

now i'll first have some work to do with the tree--->thx @ ZrO-1
but it'll be cool if someone would have some lighting tips for me.
:thumbsup:
and somehow the frog won't fit into the scene that good. i've tried a lot of colour and saturation changes. but... :( doesn't work. maybe i'll create a totally new texture for it.

[OrestesMantra]

I really like the dark,eerie atmosphere. Very spooky:thumbsup:

[ZrO-1]

Here's a couple of tips for your frog's texture:
1) Try adding just a tiny bit of translucency to the material. Frogs have thin skin and light penetrates into it pretty easily. Right now the skin looks too solid. It makes the frog look like it made of plastic. By adding a little translucency to the material it adds a softness and organic look to the skin. Start out with a very small amount (half of what you think it should be) and test render it. Then if it still looks plastic add a little more. Keep doing that untill it doesn't look like plastic anymore.
2) Add a good ammount of gloss to the surface of the material. If you don't have a gloss setting then make your specularity very small and tight and super intense and white. That will make the skin look wet and slimey.

Those two things should fix the frog's texture. I like the colors I think they look great. Unfortunetly I have no experiance with cinema 4D so I can't be more specific about the settings on the textures.

[derwolpertinger]

ok-worked on some textures-here's the frog with translucency
http://www.derwolpertinger.de/c+banjtest.jpg
now one with translucency and subsurface scattering quickly pasted into the scene.
http://www.derwolpertinger.de/f12-n1.jpg
but i think the frog still doesn't fit that good into the scene.
-->although i really like the green moss touch on the shrooms i think i have to get rid of it cause the frog and the shroom are just too different. cause the frogs environment is also a bit wet i'll have to adjust the shroom texture.
here's a test:
http://www.derwolpertinger.de/c-banjtest2.jpg
so what do you think about the changes and should i change the shroom textures?
btw. i like this closer camera view better than my first pic. so i'll keep workin' with this view. i'm also pretty satisfied with the lighting(wow - me and lightin! :)) but i think about creating a character who will be "riding" the frog. hmmm..hope i can finish him till the deadline. but i still got no idea what kind of character it should be-it's kinda tricky because of the films:
ANTS
A BUGS LIFE
so i don't wanna copy something but i think that these films include every single insect occuring on this planet. :((
anyway i gotta find some new stuff.......:hmm:
i'll try my best
greets derwolpertinger

[ZrO-1]

Boy, that frog turned out really great. I was going to say something about the eyes, but I saw in your last picture that you fixed the eyes. :thumbsup: I think you really nailed the frog. It looks fantastic.

As far as the 'shrooms.....I like both versions. I have seen 'shrooms that are dry and crusty like your first version and I have seen 'shrooms that are more glossy like your second version. Do you think you could try a version where you keep the glossy red and white texture on the 'shroom AND add ontop of it the dry crusty moss? That might do the trick of tieing the frog and enviroment together.

[diazgl]

first, great image you got there, and....crit!

-too much noise!
-everything looks so damn dry!
-the tree, too intense texture, and why grey?
-the tree modelling: what others said
-mushrooms: what others said
-I reckon you did the grass yourself, great job, but it still needs a lot of tweaking, i can see the poly's, and it looks more like dry hay..uhm?

[derwolpertinger]

ok-i worked on the shroom texture-i made it more glossy but the mosss on the top gotta stay dry. i tested it and it seemed to look shit when its as glossy as the shroom. i also worked on the grass texture. its more aive now i think. i tried to achieve a look like early in the morning when thre are some waterdrops on the grass. it's also translucent now.
now i really gotta start the character which is supposed to ride the frog. hope i can finish him. :)
c&c is like always desired.
http://www.derwolpertinger.de/f-wet2.jpg

[ZrO-1]

I think that looks awesome. I love it man :love:

[alaklij]

This is beautiful.

[derwolpertinger]

ok first of all-i still haven't started modelling the character! :annoyed:
meanwhile i decided to add some flowers to the environment.
here's a wip flower. some leaves will come for sure. may be i have to do some work on the textures too. i have to render the whole scene to see how the flower fits in there.
but back to the character. i thought about an oversized ant ridin' the frog. what do you think?
http://www.derwolpertinger.de/b1.jpg

[ZrO-1]

That flowering plant looks fantastic! Is that all modeled by hand? It really looks good. Could we get a closeup of the top blossom?

[derwolpertinger]

ok-i just finished that plant:
http://www.derwolpertinger.de/b2.jpg
@ zro-1: the flower is all modelled by hand-except the leaves(leave texture with alpha map on a distorted polygon object.
i have no time now but i'll try to show you a closeup tomorrow although it won't look that good viewed very close cause i modelled it for the background . some varying instances will be placed on the grass.
wow-i'm pretty late-gotta go now.
thx for all your c&c by the way!!!:thumbsup: :thumbsup:

[derwolpertinger]

damn-i'm not at home till tomorrow so i can't model and update!! :annoyed: :annoyed:
but don't worry i'll update tomorrow for sure. :) :)

[derwolpertinger]

so here's the closeup of the top blossom you wanted to see. but as i told you it does not look pretty good cause i just modeled it for the background! :)
anyway here it is:

[derwolpertinger]

http://www.derwolpertinger.de/b3close.jpg

[Scott Harris]

hey this is cool but it looks like your using a blinn or phong on that petal...why not try a lambert...most petals dont have spec, or such a harsh bump.
But it could look really cool after that.
Also i tell this to everyone...a void black background dosn't help anything look better. I think it would help the eye if you put a blured image behind it just for the tests

[derwolpertinger]

hey scott-thanks a lot for your tip to use another shading mode. i think it really did the trick.
so here's the updated flower:
http://www.derwolpertinger.de/b6.jpg
although, in the final image, the flowers will only be viewed from this distance:
http://www.derwolpertinger.de/b4.jpg
but also bad news: i think my computer can't handle another polygon in my scene. :annoyed: it's just too slow. maybe i will make a new scene only with the character and then do some compositing work in PS. we'll see....
now i'll start modelling the character!!!
:airguitar :airguitar

[ZrO-1]

The flower looks fantastic. You'll have to have at least one right up close on the edge of the picture. I think compositing is the right way to go if your system is bogging down too much.

[derwolpertinger]

so here's a flowery update! :)
unfortunately the render times increased rapidly to 9 hours for this image. :((
damn, gotta buy a new computer soon.

http://www.derwolpertinger.de/fb-01.jpg

[ZrO-1]

I love that latest pic. Very nice.

9 hours!!! Holy cr@p that's a long time.

[Kaos]

excellent, VERY excellent, but, it doesn't say "enchanted" to me....

and why is it 9 hours, a pic like this shouldn't take 9 hours... have you rediculously crap machine??? or is it due to the poly count, because you could lower the poly count on the foreground flowers by LOTS, they dof'ed out so much.........

:thumbsup: love it :thumbsup:

[derwolpertinger]

i have a 350 mhz G4-that's just too slow. i have tried to model all objects with a quite low poly count. but nevertheless the render times are so huge-i think it's to blame on the grass.
and yeah-i know that it's not enchanted in any way yet-that's my problem. ithink about a character riding the frog but i'm not quite sure if it fits into the whole scene. maybe i have another idea......
but it'll be cool if someone of you has an idea, too!:thumbsup:

[diazgl]

well, only suggestion I could make is start giving more focus on the tree!! We've barely seen that tree man, and it takes a whole lot of your scene, as far as i've seen!

[derwolpertinger]

i there's a little misunderstanding.:D i'll keep the vamera view/position like you see it in the last image i posted on this page. the image on the first page was just a test.:shrug:

[derwolpertinger]

forgot this:
it would still be very cool if anyone has an idea of how to make my scene a little bit enchanted. i have thought over it the last days but my head is full of work so didn't manage to get a proper idea. :annoyed:

[Kaos]

heh, you could have a joust.........

a guy on the frog, fighting a guy on a big black/green scarrab.......

with fairies in the stands shouting for their favourite jouster........

big bright pennants flapping lazily in the wind, king of the fairies sitting on his throne, with his queen alongside.... maybe a tear in her eye, because her hero just got cut..... so there is a half a lance stuck out of his armour with blood flowing daown his arm ???

well, you asked............ :p

[derwolpertinger]

wooh.......thx......pretty cool idea though.....:thumbsup:.........in case there were still 2 months till the deadline....:shrug:.....hmmmm........but may be i can realize this tear somehow :p

[Kaos]

or a guy on the frog, crying... his childhood love, lying broken and dead in the grass...........

[derwolpertinger]

so here's a quick sketch of the character that could be ridin' the frog.
what do you think?
http://www.derwolpertinger.de/char.jpg

[ZrO-1]

The character looks good...just be carefull how you color him otherwise everyone will say he looks like Yoda.

[derwolpertinger]

here we go again:
the head is almost already done:buttrock:: (for sure the seam is going to disappear soon) -->
http://www.derwolpertinger.de/char1.jpg

[derwolpertinger]

just playin' around at the moment and thought i'd share this render with you:
http://www.derwolpertinger.de/char2.jpg
i'll start modelling the body tomorrow.

[diazgl]

hmmmmm, i was thinking that perhaps a human character, perhaps something like the little price with a scarf or some long garment would give a more mystical feel it it.

[AJ]

or a guy on the frog, crying... his childhood love, lying broken and dead in the grass...........

roflmao!! :scream: That is the funniest post I've ever read... :D

Your character seems a little evil to be riding a little frog. But then I don't know how hard it is to tame a toad ;) I'd probably lose the horns - although they make him look mystical (and that's a good thing) they also make him look a little demonic (bad... unless that's what you were going after).

Coming along nicely! :D

[derwolpertinger]

yes i know that he looks a bit to evil. the horns will not be in the final i think. i have to play around a bit. the color is also not definetly.

[marcom]

impressed.

9 hours seems to be really long. raydiosity? did you use rendertags on the different objects? for ex. the blurred stuff doesn't need that much accurancy etc...

and.. i know, i bother everyone for wireframes... so could you please post one as well? ;)

marcom

[derwolpertinger]

@_marcom: no i didn't use radiosity. i guess that the grass polys are to blame for the high rendertimes.
please tell me what you think of these proportion tests. in case you like them i can finally start modelling the body.:buttrock:
btw - the character will be wearing some cloths made of leather and maybe some accessories. furthermore he will probably be sitting on the red shroom which is next to the shroom where the frog is placed upon.

[derwolpertinger]

strange-i can't link my images anymore. :annoyed:
hopefully just a temporary problem.

[derwolpertinger]

just wanna keep everything up to date:
http://www.derwolpertinger.de/char6.jpg
i gotta change some things, eg the legs, for sure cause it's still a wip ;)
also gotta say that it is my first whole character that i model. and i gotta say that it's pretty much fun modeling this guy!! ;) ;)

[derwolpertinger]

and another one:

[ZrO-1]

That's a really good start on your guy. Ony crit I have with him are his clothes. THey look like they're supposed to be leather...but they still need work. Try adding in deatils like the stitching and seams between the pieces of cloth.

[derwolpertinger]

sure!
i already had this in mind. :thumbsup:
while workin' on this guy i had a new idea. maybe it would be cool if - in the final image - some of these guys wearing weapons, like spears, are creeping and hiding behind the shrooms and are about to hunt the frog.
cause they're damn hungry--->the shrooms are poisonous.*gg*

[derwolpertinger]

so, i've modelled the feet and added the hand nails and some seams. also adjusted some faults. now i'll be adding more seams and details on the clothes.

[derwolpertinger]

back again! :)
so here's a little update-i've added some details.
but i 'm curious why almost nobody post an answer in this thread anymore!
is my work so bad or uninteresting?
well, just tell me if it is so plz. :buttrock:

[alaklij]

I would like to see your character integrated into your scene as you construct him. You can put him back into the DaVinci pose for rigging later. Also, re-adjust his forehead. The transition between the eyes and scalp is abrupt.

I like the clothes. You (We) can also see your color scheme better when you build it on your froggie.

(Honestly, I personally think you never needed a character, because your scene is pretty solid. Just need some funcky colors to make it more fantastic (enchanted)).

cheers

[derwolpertinger]

thx for your comment! :thumbsup:
you're right with his forehead. i'll adjust some things there now. then i' give that guy some bones and paste him into the scene. :lightbulb -->one idea that i had right now is to put a hat on his head. so what you think of it?
btw., i thought about these funky colours as well but had no idea how to realize them so that they would look good and not kitschy. anyway a lot of participants in this challenge realized the enchanted look this way so i'd rather find another way to do it! :)

[ZrO-1]

Your character is really coming along. He looks good. I too would like to see him on the frog.

As far as the replies, everyone's thread is getting less replies, not just yours. It seems to me that the posting frequency drops down in the last week of the challenge.

[diazgl]

look good man, i especially like the face. The cloths are nice, but the texture makes them look too solid, like cement. Personally i have no idea how to simulate cloth, but perhaps you have too much noise on the cloth.

[derwolpertinger]

damn, i had a lot of work to do the last days! :annoyed:
that's why there has not been an update yet. but now it's time! :)
i've worked a lot on the lighting and the colours. i like them better now-looks more enchanted. then i gave the character some bones and weight maps. that was kinda hard and took a while cause it's the just the second time i'm using bones at all. but finally it worked out pretty well. :buttrock:
now tell me what you think plz!:bounce:
http://www.derwolpertinger.de/fb-03.jpg

[ZrO-1]

That came out goregous bro!!!
You did a fantastic job with the new lighting. I love the new render. The pic looks really really great. :applause:

[MikaelPersson]

Excellent work. Fun to see something this small in scale, compared to everything else that´s so grand.

[derwolpertinger]

hmmmm.....just 2 comments on my final?:hmm:
cmon guys :bounce: :wavey:

[marcom]

cool, your picture looks good.
however i personnaly would scale the gnom down a little, because i think it would be nice to see more of the frogs back.

marcom

[Iguiniz.X.]

I really like your image but I had just some ideas/Sudgestions
your mushroom is really small to house a dwarf and a frog make it a bit bigger so there is more room for both.
have the dwarf more relax and put a single grass thing in his mouth to chew on. and but him relaxed 1aging on his back whatching the sky with his hands behind his head.
Well anyway I like it and these are only sugestions.

:applause: :wavey:

[AJ]

I agree with all of Iguiniz.X.'s comments - and although there's probably not time enough to change these things - it doesn't matter becuase the image you have at the moment has a very nice quality (especially the scene scale).

In fact... I'd like to see the frog on his back chewing a blade of grass! Now that would be cool! :D

[derwolpertinger]

first of all i gotta say thx for all your comments, critics and suggestions.:applause: :applause:
@inguiniz.x.--->really cool suggestions you got there. although the challenge is already over i think i will work on these when i find some time. i'll post the image in the gallery finished work section then. so you just gotta wait a little bit.......
i hope to cu all in the next challenge!! :wavey: :wavey:

[derwolpertinger]

i've just changed some things in my image due to several sugggestions few guys made.(btw. thx!!:) )and as long as it is not allowed to post here anymore, i've posted the new image in the gallery section.
:bounce: just click here to go the my thread! :bounce: (http://www.cgtalk.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=12581)

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