Grand Space Opera 3D Entry: James Kaufeldt

[flyingP]

http://w1.695.telia.com/~u69502813/gso/draft4-dimi.jpg

:D :D :applause: :applause:



and let me see tennis rackets for mosquitos, baseball bats for squirrels.......I'm afraid to ask what you use hockey sticks for :surprised

[Saschi0815]

It's very difficult to do a good choice... Then, I watch the 2 picture for a little time... to try to feel something... In first time, I prefer the first cause this feeling of great, amplified by the left and right towers... but maybe, the subject is too centered... and where is the viewer, we are in levitation, at few meters of the ground ? it's not clear...
@Lemog: No, not u aren't clear - look at your reply #473 - potatoes flying around here:bounce:
aarggh - I go home to mom now....fast:D

[DenialK]

http://www.explorata.net/smiley/spinning.gif

I vote #4!

[adel3d]

That is fascinating!:thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
Look forward to seeing more details!

[stevetwist]

#4 looks most promising to me. Like I mentioned earlier - ideally portrait is better, but in order to get destruction into the scene landscape is required - based on this, I think #4 is the best (although, #5 is funny - you weren't seriously considering putting speech bubbles on the final piece were you? LOL).

[ace4016]

I cant decide, 4 and 5 look like mirror images wiht the placement of the CPUs. 4 lets us see more but 5 gives more of a feeling of the grand size of the CPUs. decisions, decisions.....

[Saschi0815]

ohh, haven't seen the Version4-5...now i vote on 5, but with changing the place of the cpus in the back a little bit. They are too near from each other... The Foreground there is much cooler for me, the scale scales more ...:eek:

[JamesMK]

:banghead:

:D

However, I'm glad to see a couple of votes for #4 because as time as gone by here, I'm leaning more and more towards that particular solution. It also makes it possible to place one of the anchors very close to the camera in the left corner of the image, and a chain leading up to the closest node to the right (which incidently gives me a nice diagonal cutting through the image)... I'll be making some inverse progressive tweaking on that one and see where it ends up... and also spend some time thinking about wtf "inverse progressive" really means.... I might need more coffee :argh:

Oh, and thanks all :bowdown: you're helping a lot by chipping in your 0.02 here

EDIT --- #5 is kinda nifty too, but for some reason it feels off balance... guess I'm to much of a "weight-to-the-right" kinda guy :argh:

[lukep]

#4 seems the way to go.
But did you tried to lower a bit the hills ? I think they still quite kill the scale of the node

[Lemog]

To don't have any problems... I vote for James... only James :scream:


Seriously... I prefer the #5 than the #4... sure ! and I prefer this format than picture #2... then #5...

I'm waiting the other 95 next versions :twisted:

[JamesMK]

lukep - Yup, #4 has become my favourite as well... with tweaks of course. And I have indeed lowered the hills too. Better that way :thumbsup:

Lemog - :D Only one more version....

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Juggled things around some more and made a full testrender. I've ended up with something of a combination of #4 and #5...... below:

[JamesMK]

http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/7/3764/3764_1100642445_medium.jpg (http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/7/3764/3764_1100642445_large.jpg)

I think I've settled for this one now... it combines features from versions 4 to 5 and has the right-side weight that I tend to like, combined with plenty of negative space to the left to sort of introduce a balance/imbalance to the whole thing. Minor changes are bound to come, but lets say it's 90% good.

Just for reference I replaced my node proxy with the real thing. By doing that I see that the lighting and/or material is a little bit off, but mainly looking like I want it.

With the real node geometry in place, the full scene is close to a million polys, and certainly the heaviest scene I've attempted to render on my sissy hardware. Much to my surprise, it worked! R9 is frigging ROCK SOLID! Woohaah!

[claudiojordao]

Great James, just great! I love the ambience and the "cartoonish" style. Keep the amazing job.

[Lemog]

Yep, this one is really good... the left part, a bit desertic agree me... I think this part of the scene will need some details... small details but many... to contrast with the great towers... :thumbsup:

[Crusty_Butt]

Not much to say other than yelling out loud in my office, "HOLY MACKEREL!"

So clean and perfectly balanced. Definitly a level to aspire to.

-Bret

[nataz]

so cool! :eek: more... :buttrock:

[DimitrisLiatsos]

I like very much 5 and 6 and if u really kick me in the butt...i will say first of all "OUCH" :scream: ...and then i would say number 6 but maybe i would add a node (or move the one far back ) close or near over ..not completely over the house on the left up on hill ...my humble opinion :love: ...amazing work man!

[Squibbit]

mmhh...where the anchor gonna be ?

[WazaR]

Excellent composition. There really is a sense of balance to the whole image. I would tend to agree with versiden though, .... perhaps your comp. could benefit from a lower perspective to give the whole scene some more "emph"

Again, absolutly dashing work. Keep it up.

Adelante amigo...

[userBrian]

Is it POSSIBLE that a fluffian hosing down the roof of his house just to be
extra safe noticed his potato crisps burning on the grill and hosed down
the grill causing one of the node stabilizers to short leading to the toppling
over of the huge ship when it couldn't steady itself? And those cowards
ran away? Or is this story just a cover up that the stabilizers were shorted
when the invaders saw the zombie potato monsters and all peed their pants?

My 3d entry (http://www.cgtalk.com/showthread.php?t=179803)

[JamesMK]

claudio_jordao - Thank you, and I have to say that your entry is coming along amazingly well.

Lemog - Yup, the distant mountainsides of the upper left part will have lots of houses and related stuff, and since it's pretty far away, those details will indeed be small but many....

Crusty_butt - Thanks a lot! I'm kinda busy with general aspiring myself... and as a sidenote, I might as well point out that you're currently number one on my list of hilarious usernames :D

nataz - More coming... it will slow down a bit now though...

Dimitris - I'm not going to kick you in the butt... I've got squirrels taking care of such matters... That aside, I'm with you on the point of adding maybe another ship rather close to the left, at least I have been considering it, since it would bring back some of the thoughts I had in the very first composition... but it all depends on how it will combine with the background in that particular area and the overall balance.

Squibbit - The closest anchor will be on its way from off-screen lower left side towards the upper right side. I'm not exactly sure where the anchor itself will end up along that line, but I will build the rift so that it appears to have started outside of the current framing, lower left.

WazaR - Thanks! It might be tricky to go any lower with the cam right now, since the ground and its features is an important part of the image. There might be other ways to get some more impact though. I will keep the current postion and POV for the time being, but try to build the terrain in a way that allows for slight adjustments later on.

userBrian - He he :D That's a very probable scenario actually...

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thanks all for peeking in. I'll start working on the terrain now, but first I will probably have to do some general trimming to the slabs of ground I've been playing around with during this compositional phase, just to work out what parts will need detailing and so on. I also have to take the necessary steps to divide the scene into manageable chunks for the layers to be rendered eventually. Even though I could render the current geometry in one pass, there is no way I'm going to manage that later on when the ground is completed, all the houses are added and everything has been textured as needed - planning ahead for renderlayers and compositing is crucial here.

My updates will probably not be as frequent from now on.

[flyingP]

you've sort of cut the composition right down the dead centre there :surprised
do you have anything else planned for the left hand side ?? ah huge Greek potato perhaps? :D

[rattlesnake]

hi mate....some how i lost subscribed threads...i missed some updates...i think number 6 is ok...but i think all looks too close...maybe u can pull those mountains more to the back so they look far away... and add more of those nodes blured at the distance...to make it huge....i know maybe thats not your idea...but it came to my mind...i just wanted to tell ya in case it helps...

[terraarc]

#6 Looks :thumbsup:. The left side certainly needs something....maybe add a little action with the third tower and a great fluffian group trying to damage it...don't know how though maybe using their big potato-guns (I remember a J.Dredd comic episode with a potato-gun)...

Waiting for updates!:bounce:

[JamesMK]

pig, snake and terraarc - Good observations and comments. I'll have plenty of room for such tweaks further on... there are indeed many things to consider, and a lot can actually be saved until the very final compositing. Now I must however move on to the remaining modeling tasks as there's a lot of work left to do. I have a general direction now, which is the main point at this.... er... point. :beer:

[monsitj]

your modelling skill is great and lighting too! is it your final lighting?? great work

[Bumbi]

Composition no 6 looks good but it almost feels like some sort of defensive towers in a wall. A bit too rigid sort of.

Will there be any living characters in the scene?

Anyways, the models are sweet and detailed. Keep it up.

[JamesMK]

monsitj - Thanks a lot! About the lighting, I would consider it a draft setup right now, mainly what I'm going for, but in need of some focused tweaking later. I have another mood in mind as well though, more of a hazy dawn of sorts... might try that too before I make up my mind.

Bumbi - Thanks for peeking in :thumbsup: As per the question - yup, there will be some scared fluffians running around (yet to be designed). I can also agree that the nodes might be lining up a bit too rigidly... didn't occur to me before actually, so I'll certainly look into nudging them a bit. Thanks for your thoughts.

[KOryH]

Hey James,
looking good. I look forward to the next update!

[Peter C.]

Im in awe James, just from the ship itself. For the ship placements to get a better balance, how about having them on more different elevations, or would this have the opposit effect? Or,taken from your previous WIP's, a wide angle POW from the top of the ship looking down at the village, showing as much detail as possible of the ship, while the wide angle captures other ships nearby would be really impressive.


Anyway, more updates please! :bounce:

[Virtuoso]

Hi James...............I have been away for a few days........So I missed some updates......but in the end your #6 does work best......It's all about keeping the scope and scale with this piece of yours,and still maintaining all your primary models close enough...........remember that last shot will be quite the grand one size wise..............I think you have the compo set,the details will be seen,the action close enough......It's go time for you now...(is'nt it always ;) )......Doing quite the job,as expected,your love for this shows in your work,there are'nt many people with that kind of passion and talent combined.........Keep it going strong.......:arteest:

[Deadlyforce]

Your models are great. I have nothing to say about it.
But I still think the scale of the scene is a problem.

That is my own point of view, but you should put the camera closer to one of those great nodes...

Good luck for the mountains anyway !

[jddog]

Ok James,
I know that I come really late (probably too late) and sorry I didn't read all message I just jumped in your challenge page to view all wips and last proposition on the image composition. Seeing the last one (6) something disturb me in the balance of the composition image. Your structures are vertical and they fly so you play with loud entity and particular design forms of these space ships, to the other side you have a small village who increase the effect of scale and permit to work on a epic scale and sensation whee we see the image.

Now seeing all proposition personally the more interestings are all the vertical images and the 2 post of the 15 november are really interesting... probably increasing the numebr of small house and generating some small villages you will increase the deep and force of the image.

All landscape images are really beutifule becasue you see more -space-ships- and is quite like a movie shot... that really interesting too, but the balance is not really here... something disturb me and probably this is due to the number of space ship that you have (all pair) try with aodd number like 5 or 7...and distribute it in a larger (not larger but deeper) space. More distance between each one.

Great, great (and more) work... i really like it... hope that my comment don't come too late and please consider this like a feed-back... :thumbsup:

jdd

[JamesMK]

KOryH, Peter C, Virtuoso, Deadly Force, jddog - thanks a lot for your feedback. It's great to hear about your doubts and ideas... I certainly appreciate you're taking the time to post your thoughts.

Been somewhat busy the last few days, and I've also been drawing some more thumbnails to see if I can get this composition ticking somehow... I think I'm pretty close now... so for the sake of completeness, another update below:

[JamesMK]

http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/7/3764/3764_1100898618_medium.jpg (http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/7/3764/3764_1100898618_large.jpg)

Trying to get some more drama with a little tilt, forced perspective and a clear diagonal.

[mv]

I like that last test. The diagonal is good and the big shadow on the cliff really helps giving a threatening look.

But I think you don't get the wanted dramatic effect because those floating machines seem so soft and friendly there! I'd suggest having in foreground the wreckage caused by, like, one of the anchors .In that case, the cable-chain-whatever that links anchor to machine would also be an interresting compositional element to lead the eye through your pic.

Keep it up!

[JamesMK]

I'd suggest having in foreground the wreckage caused by, like, one of the anchors .In that case, the cable-chain-whatever that links anchor to machine would also be an interresting compositional element to lead the eye through your pic.
That's exactly what I have in mind incidently :D

[SnakeFarlow]

Hi.

I really like yor image. The ships, the modeling and the composition is really good. Maybe you could take a look to my work and give me some advices.

Congratulations and good luck.

[Climax]

• Looks cool James, are u planing to introduce some living creatures in your scene? it would be also excellent some people down there to accent the magnitud of your big towers!

[stork]

a portrait ratio would serve you better here james. i am not suggesting that you change the layout you have though... just consider taking the top border of comp#7 and stretching it up into the sky... the landscape layout you have now really crushes down on the vertical layout of the nodes. imagine just taking what you have and seeing 2/3 of the way up on that nearest node... that would be really intimidating and immense...
just a thought, but really play the vertical nature of your objects...

feel free to disregard all of this, as it is your art not mine... hehe

[Deadlyforce]

Ahaaaaa ! More interesting than the previous perspective !

But take care with the points of tangency : the node and the rock on the left, and the node with the house shaft on the right.
I won't bother you with the size of the houses because it is your choice, however, the node and the house on the right are too close in size. The only way to fix that (just my opinion) could be to move the node closer to the camera...(I know, I know, I repeat myself...:D).

Waiting for updates...

Good luck !

[nataz]

Cool update JamesMK,

it seems to me that it would gain a little more animation if the potato abducters would not stay parallel as they are now...

The cliff on the left is a real add on! I :love: this point of view

[userBrian]

I like the last one but I agree with m@ that it actually looks like the fluffians
are going on a mellow balloon ride challenge. I really think the dragging anchors
are necessary in order to make a real bubblehead mashed potato choice. Well I
guess you are about to start dropping anchors thru the roofs so that will end the
friendly ballons passing by. Hmmm....wonder how this will tickle fluffville. Send the
squirrels up the anchor chains.

my 3D "Challenge" (http://www.cgtalk.com/showthread.php?t=179803)

[Kaksht]

Yeap, just like m@. said, you have to do something with the anchors, that would give a great effect, and maybe one of these ships wreckeges in the far background.

Btw, arend those two shps in the background to far of the ground? :) Cause they look very heavy...

[DimitrisLiatsos]

The last perpective is far better and somehow it gives u fear...poor village .. the rolling of your camera also gives a new dynamic in the view :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: ...me likes it mucho !

[Sharga]

Don't know if these are permanent yet, but I especially like your colors and overall theme.

[Gideon]

This looks pretty interesting. I love the way everything looks kinda skewed. I look forward to this piece being completed. ;)

[artemesia66]

Hey james, i can't get over how good this is looking. The most recent composition is great. one thing that's been bothering me about the last couple, though is that the cropping of foremost node thingy seems awkward. I've taken the _extreme_ liberty of knocking together a pshop of a version of compo 7 that's extended to show the whole node. Hope you don't mind (sometimes it's easier to show it, than say it, if you know what i mean). anyway here's a link if you want to have a look:
http://www.orderchaosart.com/cgtalkposts/jamessuggestion.jpg

[Kraull]

Your new perspective is definetely adding something! I find it more dynamic this way.

[stevetwist]

I like the latest composition - but I do have to say that artemesia66's slight alteration seems to give the piece more power... probably because it makes that node seem really large... so I'd think about his composition James, as it's quite a good idea.

[BikiniBottom]

great work man, i like your modelling and your theme in general! hope to see more of this stuff! keep it on

[greentek]

hi James..

your work is absolutely fantastic! :thumbsup: it looks very nice and very impressive..
i have few thoughts about.. maybe you'll find something useful for your work in them..

i may suggest you to make your image even wider.. you have two choises.. make your ships look grand and dominate in the scene (as it's now i think).. or try to make whole composition look grand.. in this case you have to try to show that despite this huge ships there is something more grand and more important.. comming out from your concept idea it should be misfortune and endless sadness of these poor inhabitans.. i think you may try to change mood of your picture from sunny to a rainy day showing remains of destraction on the foreground and disappearing in the rainy and gloomy background row of the huge ships.. something like in composition #6 but without mountains.. also in the gloomy and rainy environment you get possibility to use very intensively a lot of lights of your ships and create even more dramatic scene.. some kind of real awe..

well.. just my reflections..
anyway great work James and keep it going! :thumbsup:
cheers..

[JamesMK]

My most sincere thanks to all of you for chipping in your thoughts here - lots of good ideas and suggestions floating around for sure :thumbsup: I will try out a couple of more changes, but then I REALLY have to get moving on the remaining modeling (and I mean it this time)... I have to build rather convincing pieces of terrain to get the message across, so it's going to be a lot of work... I will try to have some margins to allow for changes in the end as well.

Once again, I'm very happy about your feedback. I've been a bit busy the last few days, but hopefully I can get some more work done tonight.

[JamesMK]

http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/7/3764/3764_1101152984_medium.jpg (http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/7/3764/3764_1101152984_large.jpg)

Made minor changes to the layout, mostly fixing some tangent points (thanks Deadly Force for pointing that out... I tend to forget...) and moving the nearest ship a little more to make more of it visible (still just the engines, and still cropped (I tend to think the cropping makes it feel bigger, like it doesn't fit in the frame))

Also slapped the real node geometry in again to check on things... scaled down all houses by a factor of 0.6... and most importantly added the anchor and roughed out the rift. I will probably change the chain into some kind of cable (with barbs most likely)

At this point, I am now able to split the scene file into three chunks (foreground, midground and distant) and work on them separately. That will help a lot.

[flyingP]

coming along nicely wabbit... a thought how's about making the node on the right even bigger and moving it a bit more to the right :)

[JamesMK]

how's about making the node on the right even bigger and moving it a bit more to the right :)
Fully doable :thumbsup:

[Russel-Nash]

Fluffians aren’t afraid of height, are they?

http://www.bluesplinearts.de/Temp/high.gif
Great progress btw. :thumbsup:

[azazel]

Coming along nicely. Shouldn't all nodes have anchors ? Or at least the ones that stay low...

[overcontrast]

hey looking great man.... everything is taking shape... awesome going man.. keep it up dude :thumbsup:

[Squibbit]

now this latest one is great ! before this , I couldn't quite grasp the pic , but now,
all is different :) :thumbsup:

[YasushAzush]

James
i dont have read Your past Post but what i think is ,maybe if you delet all the ships except the one wich is doing the anchore thing will make the scene powerfull.(my opinion)??they are too many for the layout:bounce:
keep working

[lukep]

Really nice update.

Besides work on the nearer node other have comented about, how about moving the last one even a bit more farer ?

This would neatly emphasis the line others form

[Climax]

• Would u please leave the challenge??, so we all have a chance to win!?:twisted: .....lol :D

[JamesMK]

Russel_Nash : Nope, they really enjoy living on the edge like that.... they are really extremely tough potatoes those guys.

azazel : Thank you, and you're quite right. The ones close to the ground will all have anchors.

overcontrast : Spank you, spank you very much.

Squibbit : Sounds almost like it's starting to make sense!? Have to do something about that....

visualact.com : Hmm... not sure. But it's easy enough to make a few tests and find out :thumbsup:

lukep : Thanx.... and yup, that's another thing I can easily try and see how it looks. For the final, every node will be separately rendered, so it'll be a piece of cake to move them around and scale them etcetera in post.

Climax : Waaahaaa! :D Nah, fear not. My entry will not have any impact on the results... and I've got plenty of time to mess it up... just wait and see :argh:

---------------------------------------------------------

Thanks all for stopping by!

I just realised yesterday night that I have very little left to do in terms of pure modeling now - which is rather nice because it means I have finally managed to organise my work to a point where I have more than 50% of the time left for texturing, lighting, FX and postprocessing.

To keep y'all in the loop in terms of my particular workflow right now, here's my current to-do list:

- Finish the anchor rift in the lower left corner

- Design the barbed anchor cable and distribute copies of those across all nodes at ground proximity

- Add some stabilisers to the anchor and make it look a bit more menacing

- Refine the terrain; mostly just upping the detail a little bit (just a little, the rest to be done with textures)

- Build parts for the planet cover (partially covering the sky)

- Distribute a lot of houses. There will be a small village around the rock overhang in the upper left part, one rather large village in the distant low center part, and finally one really messed up group of houses where the lower left anchor has passed by

- Distribute lots of posts for the fluffian power grid and hook them up with cables

- Paint a lot of textures - colour, reflection and diffusion maps for the nodes, colour, displacement and bump for the ground and rocks

- Make some patches of grass for the terrain closest to the camera

- Make some bushes and small trees (probably 2D alphamapped on planes)

- Figure out what kind of smoke/exhaust/fire effect I want on the node engines

- Add some atmospherics (volumetric fog boxes probably)

- Figure out a good way to get some motion blur on anchor cables and engine fans without having to resort to scene motion blur. Most likely it should be doable with object based vector motion blur... have yet to try it out though.

- Generally add some debris and small parts of destroyed houses flying around in the turbulence caused by the node engines.

- .... and a lot of other things I can't really think of right now.

Arrgh! :wip:

[flyingP]

will we get to see Fluffians ? :curious:

[JamesMK]

will we get to see Fluffians ? :curious:
Righto. Just came to my mind while cleaning the kitchen floor....

ADDENDUM TO to-do (toodeloo shu-bap-shuwap wap)

- Design and model a few small fluffians to be scattered across the scene. (these guys will be very low-detail since they are indeed not going to occupy a whole lot of pixels each)

[DimitrisLiatsos]

I also enjoy last composition u posted very much ( i just realized i have seen this yesterday but i forgot to mention it that it really rocks)...Good thing wabbit is u have now a lot of time for texturing - lights and post proccess ..not like some stupid bubbles:scream: who may end up doing the Beep - Beep Koyote sketch in their effort to finish..lol.

Amazing work man...i am really waiting especially the lighting part where i always enjoy your dramatic lighting...by the way ..will u use any HDRI for lighting or u will go the traditional way (educational question) .? :bounce:

P.S : where are the potatoes hidden man? ...er ..and the Squirrels..did they came or not yet :scream:

[JamesMK]

---will u use any HDRI for lighting or u will go the traditional way (educational question) .? ---
I'll go traditional on this one... Actually, I've used traditional lighting all the way except for the very first challenge I entered (the sideshow, in which I used stochastic radiosity)

As far as squirrels and potatoes go, it all depends on the scale of things... might be able to get a few potato plants visible in the foreground :lightbulb

[flyingP]

Righto. Just came to my mind while cleaning the kitchen floor....


the creative value of doing that is often not give the credit it is due :wise:

[rattlesnake]

i really want to see fluffians too!!

youre scene is very promising! i just cant wait my friend!

[JamesMK]

the creative value of doing that is often not give the credit it is due :wise:
:D To be honest, I get most of my ideas while washing dishes... that's why I haven't bothered to get a dishwasher - it would ruin everything...

[Nazirull]

Great entry James.....!

Those giant potatoes....(arent they?) are really awesome...
Which one of those images are you going to take as the final angle?? :bounce:

[DimitrisLiatsos]

:D To be honest, I get most of my ideas while washing dishes... that's why I haven't bothered to get a dishwasher - it would ruin everything...

...right on, me too ...although for some reason my wife has appointed me the official dish washer of our house after seeing i was doing all the thought in front of dishes with bubbles on them ...That's basically the reason for the Lord of Bubbles title...lol...:scream:


> It's good man u go traditional lighting....i will stay on this road too i think so i am searching for co-fighters on this...:)

[Kaksht]

Hi there James, great work here, looks like Your final render is gonna look awesome, thumbs up!

[terraarc]

Men dishes and bubbles! That's creative! I wish I find my own "dish-washer" creativity!

The composition is going really well JamesMK! :thumbsup:

[SuperXCM]

Excellent update, as always!!:thumbsup:

I like the compositon, make a real scale feeling.. Like it!
No crit for now, just waiting for update!!

Nice work! :beer:

[DenialK]

Looking good, bré. If you carry on like this you may actually - through hard work - create something that almost gets close to my extreme (effortless) talent.

Just look at that little fellah spin ---> http://www.explorata.net/smiley/spinning.gif

[jddog]

:bounce: excellent...!

...but like rattlesnake >> I really want to see fluffians too!!

julien

[Lemog]

I agree with the other friends... Flufflians are the most important thing in your scene... don't kill them... :eek:

[Deadlyforce]

There is a big improvement to your scene !:thumbsup:
I'm waiting for the next updates...

[Versiden]

taking shape dude, more detail on the chains and it's going to look awesome.. fluffians won't know what hit them.. lol

[userBrian]

Looking excellent, though I'd like to see a longer track of
destruction with the anchor. What exactly does a fluffian
look like, a rabbit? From another galaxy?
my 3d entry (http://www.cgtalk.com/showthread.php?t=179803)

[DimitrisLiatsos]

Where are u man..u have never been silence so long :scream: :scream: ..are u ok? :eek:

[Lemog]

I'm afraid too by this silence... James ! whoohoo :wavey:

[flyingP]

you are indeed 'unusually' quiet Wabbit....wassup ? :curious:

[tlggungor]

really good composition and modelling :bounce:

see my 2d CHALLENGE concepts & drawings

[JamesMK]

E'yo - I'm still around here :thumbsup:

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Q&A

There will be a longer track of destruction, in the midground... The closest bit with the anchor and rift in the lower left part merely serves as a "concept establisher" to let the viewer know what's at the end of those cables from the nodes and what they do to houses and ground. The rest will happen further away, but of course less detailed because of the great distance to the camera... the viewer will not have to wonder what's going on thanks to the "description" in the lower left corner.

I'm not yet sure what a fluffian really looks like, except that they are probably rather short and chubby, with big rough hands and a permanently annoyed looking facial expression (big protruded lower lip).

DenialK - Bwaaahaaa!

The last image is the final angle, though I might try a portrait version as well. It will just be extended from the top of the current image though, in that case.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

I've indeed been a bit inactive lately - I'm just sort of regrouping some stuff in my head here... I'm afraid I've reached critical mass... somehow, a bit hard to explain, but the main problem is that I know exactly how to make the rest of the image now, and I don't like knowing that... I have to change some mental wirings in order to summon the motivational signals again. I'll update soon, but don't hold your breath...

[terraarc]

Hello James! Reading your post I kind of imagine a tupical fluffian Frudo Baggifs :bounce::bounce:

Regarding your inspiration problem: I'm offering some "dirty dishes" just for help!! :bounce::bounce:

GOGOGO!!
:beer:

[tlggungor]

hi james

thanks for usefull critics :bounce: :thumbsup: :applause:
pls check again periodicully

[Lemog]

Thanks a lot for these explanation... I loke so much your Fluffians description...

Flufflian or not Flufflian, that's the question :bounce:

[Leesee]

I think should be more detail on close building,and on ship that is close,other is fine to have less,but I think it good to see more about these people,I like to identify with these people.See more close the buildings and perhap a closer person.Ship reminds me on fifth element,is looking good,I like camera view too.:)

[jamacsween]

JamesMK,

Love this thread and been following in the background for a while and cant wait for the grand entrance of the fluffian!!

My favourite image is the one showing the trail of destruction your anchor leaves as it ploughs to a stop in the terrain - this is the real focus of the challenge - that something as trivial to the aliens as dropping an anchor wreaks so much havoc...really like that :twisted:. Hope this does not get lost in the final image.

JA

[Borro]

Great update... You could perhaps twist the camera a bit more :). Keep it up

[JamesMK]

http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/7/3764/3764_1101428624_medium.jpg (http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/7/3764/3764_1101428624_large.jpg)

Just to establish that I'm not dead... here's a rough for a fluffian potato farmer... to be refined, but still low detail since they will not be very large in the final render.

The typical fluffian wears a kind of raincoat and rubber boots. Many of them will also have backpacks. Some may be armed with potato guns. There will be females too, in similar outfits. No boobjobs or hotpants.

[DimitrisLiatsos]

First of ..don't do that again...u need to report from time to time wabbit for carrots , new earings and fluff... :scream: ..and occasionally potatoes :scream:

Second ..... here's a rough for a fluffian potato farmer... ...i was afraid of that...but i am happy ...his clothes imply a wookie small character popping his head out of that raincoat of his... :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

..bubble NUT

[fellah]

"fluffian potato farmer" , "potato guns", "No boobjobs or hotpants"
ahahah shit! long time since I read so many funny sentances in such a small piece of text! :D
sounds really promising. something with those words behind it can't go wrong :)

[Climax]

• I didn't know u were using Cinema 4D! How is it? good modeling tools? It seems so judging by your work, your "Ewok" looks awsome, waiting too see it finished! By what u say it seem they will be some butt cookery around! :thumbsup:

[YasushAzush]

Is that rough model ??:drool: :surprised :applause:

[rattlesnake]

yeah James! Fluffians borning!!...great man...ill be here to see them born...and grow:scream:

[terraarc]

Watching the "Fluffian Rough" I put phrases in his mouth (not yet modelled but....) Warcraft I and II the Orc workers: "Work!Work!Work!", "We're being attacked"......
and imagine him working in his potato field under his coat "Work!Work!Work!" and suddenly! A shadow covers the ground!!!and this "fellah" just looks up and starts screaming! heading to the potato-village! "We're being attacked!"....."We're being attacked!".....

More, more, more!
:bounce::bounce::bounce:

[JamesMK]

terraarc - Thanks for the support :D I actually got around it just by cooking some today... meatballs and macaroni - and that in turn produced some dirty dishes, which I have saved for today in case something goes wrong.

-tolga- - You can count on it, your drawings are excellent and very inspirational!

Lemog - The answer is: to call a fluffian by any other name, it's still a fluffian.

Leesee - Yup, texturing will take care of most detail on the closest elements... I'm not sure if I want anything closer than current layout indicates, maybe just a little... we'll see. Thanks a lot for your thoughts :thumbsup:

jamacsween - Thanks, and the anchor havoc is my favourite element as well, so I'll make sure it's a prominent feature in the final image.

Borro - Maybe some more cam twist... I'll test it at some point.

Dimitris - I'll try to report in with more regularity, potatohead :D I'll start working out a fluffian face to go with that coat today.

fellah - M'yeah... at that time of night I usually don't know what I'm writing at all :D I'm getting too old for this sh*t.

Climax - Thanks, and C4D it is, yes... For the kind of stuff I've done so far, mainly modeling, texturing and some music video FX work, it's been absolutely perfect. Unsurpassed workflow and stability, and it's easy to get good results very quickly. The poly modeling tools in the latest version are unbelievably good... so, well, I'm a happy camper :thumbsup:

visualact.com - It's rough, about 3 hours work. I usually doodle about on a model (or part of a model) until it feels somewhat roughly finished, then I come back to it the day after, look at the renders and spot all the mistakes and missing features... work on it a few hours more until I'm happy... only to find the day after that there's a lot of mistakes and missing features and not much to be happy about... and so on :scream:

rattlesnake - They grow like potatoes... scary...

terraarc - Yes! Something like that. And the sound of their rubber boots running over the muddy fields *splut splut splut* ... Ah, I will enjoy running some anchors through a couple of them :D

[Versiden]

yeah organics.. shape is taking form! looking good :buttrock:

at the moment, it looks like one of those plastic blowup things, that you can punch at it pops back up - know what I mean?
It be kinda funny if you drew a smiley face on it.. "punch me"

[Lelantos]

Awesome work on the ships charachter looking good can't wait to see him finished

Good thing with the potatoes is that you can fry them also oh do i love potatos :D

you rock keep it up :buttrock:

[JamesMK]

It be kinda funny if you drew a smiley face on it..

You're right! It IS kinda funny :D

http://w1.695.telia.com/~u69502813/gso/smily_fluffian_rough.jpg

Lelantos - Thanks, and yep, potatoes pretty much rock :buttrock:

[Lemog]

I want then same one :bounce:

[Versiden]

lol... *squeak squeak*

[DimitrisLiatsos]

me too ...:scream:

[JamesMK]

OK then. I'll make a smily version for the final :scream:

[artemesia66]

LOL. Hilarious. The fluffians seem like alien ancestors of Paddington Bear.

[uwil]

:cool: the model is masked as well as the master...heheh. this fun. keep on!:thumbsup: btw, cool mask!

[mv]

lol, they look great James. Love those proportions!
But you are a bit sadistic aren't you? putting those cute unarmed round potato farmers under the threat of gigantic invincible space cucumbers!

[DenialK]

I have perfected the design. I'll mail you the invoice.

http://www.explorata.net/smiley/spinning_fluffian_rough.gif

[JamesMK]

artemesia66 - You said it: Paddington... That might be my subconscious inspiration... maybe I've always wanted to kill him :scream:

uwil - Yup, it's important for us all to be incognito here... otherwise the evil Neuronomicon overlords might find us before we actually finish the challenge....

m@ - Just a tad bit sadistic... nothing too serious :D I just want to drive rusty metal anchors through the fluffians' malformed craniums! :scream: .... oh... time for my lithium...

DenialK - Oooohh... I'm in awe :cool: Invoice? We never discussed an invoice! :scream:

[Climax]

http://w1.695.telia.com/~u69502813/gso/smily_fluffian_rough.jpg http://www.explorata.net/smiley/spinning_fluffian_rough.gifLoL The Fatty Family!

• Man! I liked your old avatar! :curious:

[JamesMK]

Bwaaahaa! Father and son on a sunday stroll in the park... aahw!

[Virtuoso]

Hey stranger..........Seem to be seeing you less and less all the time........:hmm: ........looks like you rounded the corner with your plan here........I got a few more corners to round.....:wip: .......But I round them in time eventually..........I was thinking you could create a more high end Fluffian for the foreground.......Give the audiance a better feel for them.......And then add the lower poly ones to your hearts content in the background? Just a thought........Either case your Fluffian World is coming along as planned,and I wish you all the best as you go forward james.......:arteest: :arteest:

[flyingP]

dammit I still want to see them in hot pants :scream: :D

[pBarrelas]

Let me tell you james that you have here a very good WIP, to mention your sense of humor..heh heh!! Keep on that amazing work!!:thumbsup:

[DimitrisLiatsos]

dammit I still want to see them in hot pants :scream: :D

...me too :scream:

...and until u get back to yourwabbit-well-known- avatar u will have to see my new one too..just to be afraid occasionally... :scream:

[stevetwist]

Woah! I've missed so much on this thread over the last couple of days.

The potato farmer ROCKS! (I personally prefer him pre-smiley face, although the smiley face is damn hillarious, doubly so on the spinning one... weeee)

I too prefered your old avatar, but what can you do, lol.

As for seeing them in hotpants... man that's a disturbing thought.

[artemesia66]

artemesia66 - You said it: Paddington... That might be my subconscious inspiration... maybe I've always wanted to kill him :scream:


The Fluffians are going to die !?!?! :cry:

[Climax]

What are u waiting for posting those amazing updates??

[JamesMK]

http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/7/3764/3764_1101598521_medium.jpg (http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/7/3764/3764_1101598521_large.jpg)

M'kay.... sorry I haven't been around much the last few days... some family members actually want me to participate in various non-CG activities...

Anyways, the basic Fluffian citizen is completed. I'll make a few variations, add gear such as backpacks and so on, then finally rig and make a little library of poses. In the end I might scatter them about using a particle system or something....

EDIT: A quickie thanks to all for stopping by. I'll get back with some more in-depth chatter tomorrow night probably, but now I have to start looking for my old bed me thinks...

[DimitrisLiatsos]

I don't want to think where u got the idea of the eye glasses man...but i really get a kick out of this....i think his design is very clever ..but then again i didn't expect anything less from a dirty old wabbit who changes his avatar without warning to scary his friends :scream:


...can't wait for this...after u satisfy all the non CG-activities of course :bounce:

[HieSpike]

Hey, the new composition is great and I like the character too. Can't wait to see what kind of atmosphere your going to set in this scene. Good luck.

[kaparo]

Hi James. Great work you have here! It catch my eye since I saw your 3D modelling progress. It has such a humorous feeling that I like a lot: the distorted ships, the farmer character. At the same time it looks very solid. Cant wait to see the final ambient of it! Congratulations!

[Climax]

• James, I like the Fluffian very much, I suggest you not to put to much detail on him if he won't be in a first plane cuz your ship looks really impresive, so it is really cool to see some living beings down there but they are for me just an environment element

Man! I really love this challenge, I remember once u told me: " you'll see once this is finished, you'll be impatiently wainting for the next"........I feel kind of sad thinking this have to finish some day :cry: !!

[overcontrast]

hey very nice character... i didnt gotta drop by ur thread fro seom tym but it looks really good... ur preogress is very good...hmmm that character of urs really reminds me of some1, but i cant remember who... heeh anyways great job man... keep it up

[Lemog]

Great Fluffian... glasses are the final touch !!! :thumbsup:

[stevetwist]

Awesome little fluffian dude there, a very original style of proportions... very neat. I love his little rain coat and wellies! Hehehe

A very cool model! Rock on.

[claudiojordao]

Eheh! Very cool Fluffian James!
Curious to see it's variations.

[Gunilla]

I've just seen your challenge page and I must say it's so impressive work you've done so far!
I really, really like it and those fluffians are just to cute ... keep the good stuff coming :thumbsup:

[EVIL]

I was wondering how
you did the thin fog effect

http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/7/3764/3764_1101152984_medium.jpg

like in that picture, so that the objects loose contrast and
saturation when they are further away?

thnx in advance

[rattlesnake]

i like your character...so youre planning to add hundreds of this guys in your scene?
im really curios to know if u can scatter them with a particle system...if it works can u make a little explanation of it?:deal: thanx James...

ok ill be waiting for more designs...i will love to see this guys with back packs ...maybe u can make some skater fluffians...with back packs, cap ,headphnes and their skateboard...lol..that would be sweet!!

[DimitrisLiatsos]

uselless Post ....I DECLARE AVATAR CRISES UNTIL THE WABBIT GOES TO HIS OLD AVATAR :bounce:

[JamesMK]

artemesia66 - Yes, most of them must die... Those who survive will be ASSIMILATED. And we all know how much THAT sucks...

Dimitris (1) - Ah, well, the official reason for the glasses is really to get a set of eyes that will be somewhat visible even when the characters are very small in the final render...

HieSpike - Hi'ya, Spike. Thanks :thumbsup:

kaparo - I like your description of it... glad you like it.

Climax - Pretty much my sentiment too. Each Fluffian will only be a handful of pixels in the final composition... it turned out to be a bit tempting to work more on the character though - maybe after the challenge.

overcontrast - I think maybe he looks a bit similar to the :eek: emoticon

Lemog - Yup, glasses are a must to allow for up-close potato studies

stevetwist - Wellies are required for all farmers, and I couldn't exclude the Fluffians from this universal law.

claudio_jordao - Me too :D

Gunilla - Thanks!

EVIL - Oh, that... No, it's really easy. It's all in the lighting actually. In the scene I'm using 10 or so omnis for the fill lighting, and a spot for the sun. The trick for the foglike effect is to simply make the fill lights colour converge towards the same colour as the sky background over distance. In other words: the fills close to the camera are rather saturated orange, brown and green, while the fills far away have almost the same colour as the sky... the result is just what you described, a perceptual loss of contrast and saturation over distance. Hope I made myself clear :)

rattlesnake - Ah, I'll make a little description of the technique... Just have to make a few tests to back it up first...

Dimitris (2) - Mwaahaa! I'll NEVER change it back, ya hear? Never! NEEEEVEEEEEEeeeerrrr..... Besides, I kinda like your latest version... spookey!

[JamesMK]

http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/7/3764/3764_1101675890_medium.jpg (http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/7/3764/3764_1101675890_large.jpg)

Well, this is all the detail I'll need for these guys (and I'm sure it will turn out that even this is a little too much).

For variations in the full scene, I'll have a couple of different poses, different colours on their clothes, and the option to have them with or without backpacks.

Might make female and child versions soon, but first I'll make a few scatter tests and see if it'd be worth it.

[greentek]

you citizen looks very nice James! despite small size and low-poly already has a quite expressive character.. great project James! :thumbsup: the final image must be stunning!

heh.. poor inhabiants.. they don't know yet what is going to happen with them.. :sad:

[Lemog]

I can't wait the female version longer, I'm wait the worst :twisted:

[JamesMK]

http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/7/3764/3764_1101688781_medium.jpg (http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/7/3764/3764_1101688781_large.jpg)

A first test to scatter lots of fluffians over the terrain.

Technique used is Thinking Particles, and this setup is based on two TP nodes: PSurfacePosition and PSpin. The former supplies random positions on selected polygons of the terrain and assigns those coordinates to the particles, the latter makes sure that the fluffians are randomly facing different directions rather than having the same orientation.

Technically speaking, it's working like intended. Artistically speaking, it's obvious that I need to make quite a lot of different poses and also several differently coloured materials for the fluffian clothes in order to make the whole scene look somewhat natural.

I also consider adding some ground a bit closer to the camera to allow for a few fluffians to be rendered slightly larger. They are still mainly considered environmental details, but I think it might add a little drama to get some of them a tad bit closer.

Anyways, tech test successful - onwards to see if I can make it serve the overall vision. If it doesn't look good in the end, it's not very interesting regardless of the trickery involved.

[arturro]

Ass kicking stuff! I love it:) You must make some Fluffians waveing to the ships! Maybe waveing with handkerchief, or some flowers:) It would look very funny, but also would be quite real:bounce:

[DimitrisLiatsos]

http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/7/3764/3764_1101688781_medium.jpg (http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/7/3764/3764_1101688781_large.jpg)

.....


Hey wabbit..this is most impessive... Somewhere i have seen and i think it's possible ..if u subdivide enough the area where u will scatter your particles(fluffians) then u could also arrange their vertical axis parallel to the normals of your polygon ground...maybe u should check it out...really good my friend...sudenly even if it's a first test..looks very impressive and immidietly helped the scale of things in your scene :thumbsup:

[JamesMK]

Somewhere i have seen and i think it's possible ..if u subdivide enough the area where u will scatter your particles(fluffians) then u could also arrange their vertical axis parallel to the normals of your polygon ground
Oh, that is most certainly possible. It was even the first thing I did... but it looked really funny... mostly because of the rather large slopes. I got very tilted fluffians... looked like they were going to tip over any second :D

[DimitrisLiatsos]

That's basicaly cause maybe u had large polygons or or the suddivided ones needed to align their normals.....i had the same effect u describe once in a test and when i realigned normals...looked wayyy better..is there a tool for that in Cinema..(i suppose there is for sure..) :)

[Virtuoso]

Well there you are James......And I see Dimi here too..........I thought for a second you guys had dissapeared.........Almost seem like strangers to me these days.......;) ;) ......one wink for each of you........


james I think that various poses will be key........The slickers look sleek......That ryhmes.........I like these guys,they have a very low end poly look,but still maintain a nice look,a certain something I cant quite put my finger on.......But it's a good thing.......have you considered putting one or two nearer the camera,without blocking the scene,a more high end one,a few added details just for eye candies sake?..........I think with this you will give the viewers the feeling that all the other BG ones too have this more developed higher detailed look.......Ok james,keep at it........I think that an army of these guys will do quite nicely......take care................:thumbsup:

[terraarc]

The Fluffian guy looks awsome! :thumbsup: Waiting for more, agree with Virtuoso on the poses..

Have to say that though it's a little late! I think a more pronounced chin would look awsome on the Fluffians!

[keetmun]

Whoa, very impressive model. So much character in that citizen! Can't wait to see more. Very smart modelling!

:buttrock:

[Climax]

• Very nice, good to see life in your pic! the only thing is that the fluffians seem like "FLEAffians" :D but they are there to give your ships the greatness feeling, however, will all the citizen wear the same coat color?

• Good Job James as allways :thumbsup:

[flyingP]

clever Wabbit, but yes you need to add in a few different poses/textures on them ......and maybe the odd pair off hot pants :D

And change your Avatar back sod it :scream: :scream:

[Versiden]

hiya...

getting very interesting, are you going to pose each Fluffian?

no crits, great workflow .. respect :buttrock:

[theuni]

Hi,

great idea!!! I really can`t wait to see the final image.

[rattlesnake]

ohh..yeah..is looking nice man...the scattering works very good to me...great work James!

[artemesia66]

Great looking Fluffians, James. The shiny rubber boots are the best. I think in addition to randomizing their postures more, you also might want to think about grouping or clumping them, and making it look like the Fluffians in each group/pair clump are interacting--facing each other or watching something together (say, their impending doom). right now they kind of look like grazing sheep-purposeless and undirected. although maybe that's the point. ;)

[ace4016]

Nice looking fluffians, dont know why but they look kind of creepy to me (attack of the fluffians).

[macoD]

Very nice, great details and good idea ... Perfect model.

[JamesMK]

http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/7/3764/3764_1101774549_medium.jpg (http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/7/3764/3764_1101774549_large.jpg)

The rig.... Pretty simple stuff, as it's not really supposed to be a high-end character (and I'm not that much of a rigger either).

Standard issue 'smart bones' and weightpaint.

[JamesMK]

http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/7/3764/3764_1101774772_medium.jpg (http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/7/3764/3764_1101774772_large.jpg)

After rigging, I set up a bunch of poses in a PoseMixer object and played around a bit. While rigging isn't very fun at all, it sure gets a lot more fun when it's done and one can start doing stuff with it :)

Oh, and again, I have been totally immersed in this all day... so, I'm really sorry about the lack of presence in the forum... I'll do something about it after having some sleep.

Rock on!

[greentek]

your fluffian looks great James! :thumbsup: wonderful character! i love this toy man! :thumbsup:

and yeah.. you're right.. rigging obviously isn't a funny process.. but finaly it rules! :cool:
great stuff again and keep it up my friend!
cheers.. :beer:

[Crusty_Butt]

You sure breathed some life into those Fluffians. Wow! Great poses.

-Bret

[Nazirull]

Fluffians have arrived!!!:scream:

I was looking at the thinking particle test rendering...I can almost smell the sick, traumatic invasion of the Fluffians!!!:scream:

Im sorry if thats not the effect that you want to give to your viewer but thats how im feeling....[Probably just because i got Duplicatofobia....Fear of massively identical living creatures.(i made that up)]:eek: :scream:

[Climax]

rigging isn't very fun at all,• Totally agree! specially when things doesn't come as one would like to, but even with your character that is a bit corpulent, looks very flexible and with good deformations, I like the poses! he looks a bit like Dr Octopus

Very impressive, once rigged, fluffians seem thinner :thumbsup:

[ace4016]

lol, rigging really isnt fun when you have a character that can break every rig you make for him; be thankful the fluffians arent flexible (or dont look like they are). Climax is right, fluffians do seem thinner rigged (wierd). Looks like the fluffian is more of an adventure lover then a worker now.

edit: are you going to use the fluffian and scenery for future project(s)?

[Lelantos]

This is a great charachter i like him a lot.... poses are working great:thumbsup:
love to see more of this :bounce:

[flyingP]

hahaha you're just a big poser........ :cool: :thumbsup:

[Versiden]

excellent man... works really well.. nice

maybe I shoulda gone for the low poly characters too..

[stevetwist]

Looking really really cool, the rig is simple but oh so effective.

Awesome.

[jamacsween]

Great character, and some really nice poses.

Looking forward to seeing it in your scene.

JA

[Nazirull]

Those Fluffian looks like they are trying to rap something....break-dancing i think....:D

I want to learn how to rig!!

[claudiojordao]

Yeah my friend... very good... Keep Fluffian! :)

[DimitrisLiatsos]

Your charcters are in very good poses..:thumbsup: ...i was thinking about placing them in your scene and the test u did with scatter. I think James ...make about a dozen poses of them ..keep them in a file and when u are ready to place them ...bring these 12 guys and copy them where u like one by one as instances...i know it looks more work but it will give u more control i think to an image which already looks very cool...but i am sure that u have already thought of that friend(just a humble suggestion to the Fluffian Master)....I likes your poses ..they gave much credit to you character :thumbsup: .

[Saschi0815]

Hi James, whats in your swedish beer, man? Your char is really cool and funny in a positive way!!:bounce: :thumbsup:

Haven't read the previous replies, so pls. excuse if my following question is on the wrong track: Should they be lowpoly? Maybe u will put a lot( and as i know your work i mean a LOT...hehe) in your stuff and the LP is of some memory reasons? I think so, isn't it?

Anyhow, your fluffians are coming extremely sweet + beautiful :thumbsup:
best wishes, dude!

[JamesMK]

Oi! First of all, thanks to all for stopping by and posting your thoughts!

Random Q&A:

Virtuoso - I am actually considering putting some of these guys a little closer to the camera. As it turns out, I kinda like the look of them, and they turned out to be rather expressive... The first pose in the 'three-poses-in-one' image even gave me an idea for an entirely new composition... I will do some tests.

Climax - Yes, they will get different colours for their clothes... otherwise it will look like an army platoon or something.. don't want that. And they do look a bit thinner once posed! Funny thing... Guess it's because they appear to be mobile all of a sudden, which makes the 'inflatable doll' look less apparent.

Artemesia66 - You're absolutely right about grouping and so on. The scattering is too random, and looks like... well... random scattering. Not good. I will have to switch to manual placement.

Dimitris Potatohead - Definitely spot on. Manual scattering will be the thing to do. Even though they are rather small, the placement and pose of each and every one of them will need individual attention.

Saschi0815 - Yep, the low poly quality is because they are going to be very small in the final image. BUT, as it turns out, I got an entirely new idea for the composition yesterday, so I might have to make a slightly refined version for SubD that will be rather close to the cam.

All ye others popping in - thanks a lot for your support and comments :thumbsup:

-----------------------------------------------------------------

So, with the character done and rigging down, I will move on to the next part.

Most of what remains to do is related to the terrain and environment. As I mentioned, I have an idea for an alternate composition that I will try out first. If I can make it look like the image I see in my head, that will be the one to go for.

If so, I have to build a new rough landscape (that's not very timeconsuming) before starting on the terrain details.

Stay tuned.

[linda]

So much work sence i was here last time this is super nice great great, and i love that character.............Good work James!

[Lemog]

I don't see the fluffias poses before... that scratch my eyes... Its for me one the the most beautiful and also interesting and original character I saw here... and he seem true sympatic...

I think someones near the cam is a good idea... that's give to your creation an cool, live and sympatic aspect... maybe you can add in the hand of one of them a little potatoes bag, no ? that's so pretty... :bounce:



Avec mon petit sac j'avais l'air d'un c... ma mère...
avec mon petit sac j'avais l'air d'un c... la lalalalala alala lalalal alalal lalala...
(french potato song)

[paladin6303]

Too funny! Great cartoon theme, camera angles. Like the reflection(?) in the goggles. "

Back to bed, so tired I had a dream I was sleeping,
Al

[jddog]

Manual scattering will be the thing to do. Even though they are rather small, the placement and pose of each and every one of them will need individual attention.

For placement: If you already made the new terrain to place your (wonderful) fluffians you can use a plceonpoint function using terrain points duplicated in a new poligon, works well and fast and they will be automatically posed to the ground (where you null or first point/coordinate of the body is).

jdd

[DimitrisLiatsos]

wabbit said :

...Manual scattering will be the thing to do. Even though they are rather small, the placement and pose of each and every one of them will need individual attention.

Dimitris potatoe bubble say.... : I know what u mean ..this is the point when u will say "#%$#%^%%#^$%$#$$" as u will place it's one of your Fluffians:scream: ...but i know that at the end u will do it and be happy about it....wabbit nut !

[Squibbit]

hahaha , good one , wheeled carrot avatar :D

will this bring end to the crisis ?

[terraarc]

Great poses man! Very expressive! Certainly caught the "We being attacked" feel... waiting for more...:thumbsup:

[artemesia66]

Great poses. Suddenly they're characters, not models. Excellent.

[JamesMK]

linda - Thanks! Hope you'll have fun on your 'business trip' btw :D

Lemog - Oh, I'll fix them up with some potato bags... no problem. Marvellous potato song btw... almost fell off my chair laughing :D

paladin6303 - Glad you like it. And it's a reflection, yes. Standard issue MTV style array of glowy things (usually attached around the camera lens, but I had to move it around to match up with the angle to the glasses)

jddog - PlaceOnPoints is a good idea :thumbsup: I have however decided to do it all manually. The exact same thing happened on my AW challenge entry (back then it was things attached along a spline, and I ended up releasing them and set each one by hand instead... any sign of procedurality makes me uncomfortable :D )

Dimitris - I'll remember to say "#%$#%^%%#^$%$#$$" exactly... probably many times :scream:

Squibbit - Not sure... it ain't over 'til the fat lady sings. And so far there are no fat ladies around.... the avatar crisis might go on for years to come I'm afraid.

terraarc - I'm glad to hear that... posing fluffians turned out to be great fun.

artemesia66 - Thanks, that handful of polygons did tend to come alive a little bit like this... it's strange stuff...

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Playing around with the new idea for the composition at the moment. Nothing show-worthy yet, but I'll be back with something soonish. Thanks all for peeking, and cya soon :cool:

[johnny3d]

i like your creativity and you textures nice :applause:

[Squibbit]

Not sure... it ain't over 'til the fat lady sings. And so far there are no fat ladies around.... the avatar crisis might go on for years to come I'm afraid.
Maybe we just have to wait till the end of the Opera ?

[JamesMK]

Maybe we just have to wait till the end of the Opera ?
Heh heh :D Good point. Well, that, and someone has to model a fat lady. Haven't seen any around yet :curious:

[Squibbit]

and someone has to model a fat lady
uh-oh ...I'm afraid what the oucome might be...

[flyingP]

guess a sort of fatish cartoony type pig doesn't count huh? :curious:

[DimitrisLiatsos]

I will make fat lady...weeeeeeeeee :bounce: ...lol

[JamesMK]

guess a sort of fatish cartoony type pig doesn't count huh? :curious:
Wrong gender I think.... Or is that really a female flying pig?

Dimitris - You will not. You've got too much work on your plate anyway... remember you're supposed to texture all those things you've built :scream:

[DimitrisLiatsos]

:sad: ....bastard :scream:

[flyingP]

Wrong gender I think.... Or is that really a female flying pig?


good question....not sure flying pigs have gender....guess they sort of have to exist to start with before they start getting into such deep and philosophical concepts :hmm:

[JamesMK]

It's back to the ancient question of what came first then; the egg or the flying pig.
As we all know, pigs lay eggs.

[Squibbit]

yea spiky , square eggs that whistle

[JamesMK]

http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/7/3764/3764_1101958891_medium.jpg (http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/7/3764/3764_1101958891_large.jpg)

An alternative layout here...

I'm pretty happy with the overall arrangement, but there's a slight risk that it appears a bit hard to read - mainly because of the tricky contrast.

It also turns out to be pretty hard to light in a good way. However, I think it's pretty promising, so I'll tweak things around some more.

And before you ask - yes, there will be more houses and more fluffians, mainly on the distant ground. The chain is also temporary, basically there only to visualise where it's supposed to go.

C&C away!

[Gunilla]

New layout looks super - stay with it :thumbsup:

[ace4016]

I like the new layout. I think its more grand then any of the other compositions. About the hard to read, maybe a big picture at the same would work and when you add the rest of the scene maybe it will make more sense. Take your time in thinking, you still have a 1.45 months.

[monsitj]

wow ! can't comment anything , and yes your new layout is very dynamic !
particle debris is good too ,
good luck!!

[DimitrisLiatsos]

New concept view is very dynamic.. yes....U have a sharper eye and u may pull this of , but me ..it scares me a bit 'cuase although it's very dynamic it doesn't leave u understand that the Fluffians are in a great danger and all that(at least not yet)..i am puzzled ...It is dramatic though ..more than any other angle...sorry i am thinking loud... :) ..i also am trying to help by suggesting something that also will show the amount of work done from u. This concept needs a lot of study regarding DOF in order to help that vanishing point heading down to the center of your image..and as u said contrast also in a main factor in this....but IT IS dramatic...more ! :deal:

[flyingP]

you'll hate me....well more :) ....but I prefered the other one, personally I think you've lost a bit of scale and depth with this one :shrug:

[arturro]

I vote for the new concept:thumbsup: Only add those small houses and more funnt flufians in the background. Not sure if they look clearly in the background, but the consciousness that they are there will be very nice.

[fellah]

that composition is very very nice, with a few more fluffians(don't add too much, so it becomes messy) and the light/textures.. it will surely become a great piece of art.
but.. not as neato as your avatar! shit.. that is one of the coolest things I've ever seen!!! (no joke)

[overcontrast]

wohow man... everytime i c ur work i just fill up with amazement.. u got an extraordinary concept and ur sence of lighting and idmention is magnificent... the last rendering looks really cool... keep up the good works man... i cant wait to c it finished!! :thumbsup:

[JamesMK]

Hmm.... *scratches beard*

Gunilla, ace, monsitj, arturro and overcontrast seem to see mostly the good bits here, which is all good of course, and I thank you for your encouragement and comments :thumbsup:

Dimitris - I'm just glad you type while you're thinking :D Valid and good points too, particularly perhaps about the vanishing points, which indeed are rather obscure and cause for confusion... in the end, that's not good. I strongly believe that a good image should hit you like a big rubber sledge in the face - that is hard and instantaneous... if it takes anything from 3 seconds or more to figure out the rough outlines, there's something wrong

flyingP - Some scale is indeed lost... move the camera up in the air like this, and the nodes suddenly shrink. Bastards!

fellah - Agree about detail there, sometimes less is more. So, you like the carrot racer? I can hook you up with a local dealer (I get 10% commission :D )

---------------------------------------------------------------

I certainly appreciate all your comments here, both positive and negative. The negatives are particularly valuable as I continue tweaking this... I will play around some more with it, perhaps find some inbetween solution (this alternate version and the previous previs... he he 'previous previs'... ) that still has the drama of the latest one. I guess the lack of impact in the previous one was the reason I tried this instead... the other had some kind of sterilie diorama quality I couldn't agree 100% with... hmm... I'll go scratch my head some more (ew, there's heaps of loose strands of hair on my keyboard...)

[Lemog]

One thing is sure... it's more dynamic... and that's a good thing... the fluffians are too interesting... it's so good to have someones of them... the new depth with the new framing is very important and permit you to have something great and imposing... and that the most important, no ?

Bref ! I like at 100% the new concept my friend...

I think this year wabbits are good ideas... :scream:

[DimitrisLiatsos]

... I I strongly believe that a good image should hit you like a big rubber sledge in the face - that is hard and instantaneous... if it takes anything from 3 seconds or more to figure out the rough outlines, there's something wrong...

...Man u are definitely right...that's why i think that at the end u will find this Instant EYE NUKE u are searching ...if any hair is left on your head to scratch :D :scream:


..waiting ...must admit though that the instant feeling u are reffering was somehow achieved at least to my eyes....but then again i don't see so well :D ...(sorry i can't help teasing..."It's Beyond my Control"...Malkovitch)

[Cartesius]

I love the new perspective but I'm worried that the scale will get lost. Your earlier compositions really showed off the gigantic difference in scale between the poor little Fluffians and their buildings and the super nodes with their brutal and careless use of anchors. With the new composition you will have some problems conveying that impression, I think. Tough situation but I'm sure you will manage it!

/Anders

[userBrian]

Wow, this last one definitely rocks my cup of tea.
The others look way too mild now. The clouds of
potato dust add to the mystery. After all, this is for
a book for the sophisticaded conosieurs of dimensionalia,
so we read a higher level. I think there'll be no more
problem reading this than the Road Runner. Yeah, like he said,
with the hi res view you can add all the road maps you want.
In the potato dust too. Love that fog! Very trippy. You
never cease to amaze with your exciting new twists.
I need to keep reworking my concept too, right now it is
too crowded, everything fighting for equal time. So it is
refreshing to see your spacey haze. Looking forward
to the rest.

my 3d entry (http://www.cgtalk.com/showthread.php?t=179803)

[Matroskin]

James Kaufeldt has entered the Grand Space Opera 3D.

Challenge Page (http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/grandspaceopera/view_entries.php?challenger=3764)

Latest Update: Concept Sketch: New idea - previs (omg, it never ends!)
http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/7/3764/3764_1101958891_medium.jpg (http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/7/3764/3764_1101958891_large.jpg)

An alternative layout here...

I'm pretty happy with the overall arrangement, but there's a slight risk that it appears a bit hard to read - mainly because of the tricky contrast.

It also turns out to be pretty hard to light in a good way. However, I think it's pretty promising, so I'll tweak things around some more.

And before you ask - yes, there will be more houses and more fluffians, mainly on the distant ground. The chain is also temporary, basically there only to visualise where it's supposed to go.

C&C away!
Pretty strong dramatism, rather good contrast between object dimensions. Also a bit rotated view angle is a good underline of a flight height.
But your previous layout I liked much more, because (as I have understood) the scope was to show an unexpected "visit", ruinig a tiny village. And here actualy I can't get on what's happens: the dramatic moment on the ground is dissappeared in the fog...
For me it have given more adrenaline filling myself as a spectator standing on the GROUND, feelind myself defendless against all this stuff.

my Space Opera page (http://www.cgtalk.com/showthread.php?threadid=186743)

[keetmun]

Nice concept! I like this one a lot. Nice dynamic camera angle. I'll vote for this one.

Cheers!
:buttrock:

[Deadlyforce]

Yes I agree with Deryk : the composition is not bad but we're talking about huge spaceships or machines and gigantic galactic civilisations. By placing your camera above most of the objects I think you reduce the amount of drama your scene could have (I was tempted to do the same in my own work though).:)

I would add that the eye tends to look at the white node in the background (and the chain) first for different reasons : it is approximately at the crosslines that cut your image in 3 (not sure I'm very clear, sorry). And it is white (in the light).

These are details and rules (and some rules are made to be broken) but you seem to have a strong line of composition (white node, character and border of rocks) in the diagonal of the frame. Not sure this is ideal.

Despite those little points of detail, I love the idea of a collision between the big nodes and the houses. Good luck and keep up the good work !

[jddog]

s*** your last post is really rock&roll... I love it ... uh :buttrock: (x3) + :bounce:
jdd

[stork]

the new composition does a couple of things here... 1 it shifts the perspective of the viewer to the bad guys... Its a "we are lookng DOWN at the people we are currently invading" kind of angle. 2. it gets you back into protrait ratio which i say KEEP PLEEEASE the vertical orienation of portrait ratios lends itself nicely to a huge vertical tower (hmmmm like the nodes!)

a couple of details you may want to resolve though... the fluffian is as tall as his roof line... he'd have to squat to get inside when NOT being invaded... The anchor and chain are facing DEAD on to the camera... so much that if all of us had not been reading the thread from the get go, we could not tell what the heck they were, so we need a bit more profile so we can see what the anchor is... at any rate, just my two cents.

I do like the new comp though and it is intriguing to me the thought that it sort of empathises with the invaders... it gives a unique perspective, in the context of this contest where most everyone else has a clear good and bad guy...

[JamesMK]

Hmm... *scratches hair and armpits*

Lemog - I agree about the dynamics. That aspect is improved... I'm more bothered about the other things. But maybe everything will be better if I add a few wabbits :lightbulb

Dimitris - There is an eye nuke with my name on it somewhere out there. Just have to find it. Oh and Malkovitch is one of my great heroes... along with Gary Oldman :thumbsup:

Cartesius - Indeed a loss of scale... it's tricky - adding up my requirements in one image becomes like a puzzle to solve :banghead:

userBrian - He he... thanks! Interesting feedback :D Potato dust... I'll be thinking for a while longer.

Deryk - You pretty much describe a part of my dilemma... The camera really should be at ground level, but at the same time I need to show some ground from a certain elevation, but I don't want to solve it with slopes because that sort of makes the whole thing a bit claustrophobic rather than great and vast. Thanks for your thoughts.

keetmun - Glad you likey though!

Deadly Force - I get your point about the crosslines here, and in terms of diagonals I've gone from a good one in the previous concept to a not-so-good one in this... Great observation :thumbsup:

jddog - Oh, 3 x eh? :D

stork - Lots of good points! The flipped empathy is an interesting aspect of it... and a very valid comment about the anchor as well as the need for previous knowledge about the concept. Such a mistake would be very bad to make in the final image... it has to make sense even to those who have no prior information of course.

-------------------------------------------------------

Excellent feedback everyone! Invaluable! I just hope I'll be able to make this thing tick sooner or later. Will be making further tests tonight... have a couple of ideas, and hopefully, before the end of the millenium, it will get there.

[azazel]

You pretty much describe a part of my dilemma... The camera really should be at ground level, but at the same time I need to show some ground from a certain elevation, but I don't want to solve it with slopes because that sort of makes the whole thing a bit claustrophobic rather than great and vast. Thanks for your thoughts
Maybe fake it a bit ? render foreground from lower camera, and background from a bit higher one, than just merge it in post ;) - if the cameras are not very far from each other, this should work. Actually, read this: http://www.apple.com/pro/photo/israelson/index2.html - that's partially where my 'faking' idea comes from ;)

[lukep]

the new composition is more dynamic, true if quite confusing.

But i prefered the previous one, which you could read at first glance.

Now it's only with rough shapes so perhaps.

Also there is a shift of point of view, from the "good if sometimes filfthy" ones, to the bad guys. that changes the mood.

[sbv20]

I prefer the previous composition. The new one is pretty neat if you have seen the first and sort of know what is going on in the image. Without that knowledge I feel the image is tough to read and does not show off the difference in size. Maybe with more refinment it will be easier to tell what is going on in the scene, but for now I think the old one is stronger. Great project, I can't wait to see where it goes.

[adr]

hello James , im agree with all the comments about the first composition is better .

"Is hard to read" as you say in a previous post , i prefer the other composition too .

Keep rocking mate :thumbsup:

[Kaksht]

Hi there James!
Well, this is definetly more dramatic and interesting render, it is better then the previous idea IMHO. It shows everything that needs to bee shown and doesnt put to many unnecisarie things in the picture, the fog is a great idea. I would go on with this idea, thumbs up! Will be waiting for more updates:bounce:

[JamesMK]

azazel - Yes, the time has come for a little bit of the ancient art of chi-ting... I have already faked a little, but half-assed fakes are almost pointless when one can go all the way :D Thanks a lot for that link btw, it was a really interesting article and gave me quite a few oddball ideas I'll have to try out :thumbsup:

lukep, sbv20 and adr - Thanks, good points

Kaksht - Thanks for the support! You have now entered the realms of the minority :D

------------------

Lots of new ideas have emerged... I will peacefully move my objects, lights and cameras around for a few days more to come. For some reason I don't feel really pressed for time yet, so even if these tedious revisions seem to go on forever, I think it's time well spent. With a bit of luck one might even end up developing some sort of gut feeling about how to quickly solve these kinds of tasks in future projects. I have already learned tons from it so far.

[3D-ima Green]

thats nice! i like the colors and the angle.. u've got some style James.
ill keep my eyes on this :eek:

[Virtuoso]

James...........Soemtimes we can all over think what we are doing,always strive for that next step,always look for something more,but certain creations don't need this.........I think your first creation/compo is better suited for your concept,it depicts your storyline and concept the way you I believe intended to show,it really shows the size and the differences between the two sides.......... The angles and perspectivemthe grand scale........The new version has it's pluses,but in the end cuts short the impact of size,the heart and soul of your concept is size,and I think you should continue to showcase this as a centerpiece........You lose this for the most part with this latest compo.......Not entirely,but enough.......

I think you need to focus on something,something more central......The star of the show......perhaps from these stars of the show you can then portary more secondary actions/models in the BG.........to create more of a grand scale........I think your set up here is almost all BG,I think you need to focus on something a little more up front and center.........Then the eye can go off to the secondary models,and extras........

Lots of tiny model's barely seen so very far away,basically boxs or barely readable models are OK to add size and grandness to a scene,but sometimes things can be grand without having to go too large...........in the end whats the big deal about some barely seen models way to far to really make anything out? But the most important is the centerpiece,you should focus on this,show the "Pivotal moment up close and center",and then the secondary pieces can fill in to create a more grand scene.....

Ok then...............Just one guys thoughts,could be way off of what you feel and want.........But got to get them out honestly right.....:)

How about a funny little scene just off of the main focus,to really give the viewers of the scene a reason to care more for the Fluffians........One hanging for dear life from a cliff edge,with another hanging onto the first by the end of his boot..........Of course you can show this boot half fallen off of the poor guy.....Maybe one or two hanging or riding the giant chains,hitting it.....as if that will do anything.........this I think can show even more so the "Absolute no chance for the Fluffians"...........Also bring people closer to the heart and soul of the concept..........Ok,better get back to your work,I kept you here long enough....You do have some nice work here,and there is lots of potential with this concept,I know you will bring this out in the end for sure..........Best to you James.............:arteest: :beer:

[DenialK]

James, you seriously need to stop snorting dog food. It distracts from your mission and - let's face it - is meant for the dog. You're making the dog angry.

[stevetwist]

Woah, how did I miss this update?? New composition looks a lot more interesting than the others... more epic and powerful, but I think the lighting will be important here because if all of the node appears in shadow (like in the test composition) then it could be confusing to the viewer.

I eagerly await some more experiments.

[flyingP]

James, you seriously need to stop snorting dog food. It distracts from your mission and - let's face it - is meant for the dog. You're making the dog angry.

that is pretty ugly.....you really do not want to be anywhere near your monitor if you need to sneeze afterwards either ....or talking to someone face to face (leaves a real bad impression during interviews :wise: ), driving the car, drinking your coffee (although sneezing into your coffee is a real bad idea even if you don't have a nose full of dog food).......my God the list goes on. Of course you could get some pretty groovy textures out of it, take photo's please :lightbulb

and how's about an update :D

[jamacsween]

James,

Wahaaay, the anchor damage is back in a big way. As I said at the start of my thread, this image inspired me to give this challenge a go.

Agree though its a little hard to read. Where the fluffaivian standing? On a hill top/cliff top? Personally think its going in the right direction tho...:thumbsup:

JA

[JamesMK]

3D-ima Green - "Style" is one thing I'm trying to obtain, so I'm very glad to hear that.

Virtuoso - Wow, that's a solid chunk of thoughts... many thanks. Very good points too. I think part of the problem might be that it is unclear how I should "categorize" the image... on the one hand it's sort of a natural scenery, on the other hand a depiction of an invasion with very uneven odds... these two things call for very different approaches, and choosing a primary focus is associated with some difficulty due to the huge scale differences of the involved subjects. To tell you the truth, I've been looking at a lot of famous old war photography lately, and the very best of those images are indeed rather character-centric... The idea about a few guys hanging from a cliff is a good one, and it's crossed my mind too at times, along with a few others involving small groups interacting in various ways. I believe that would be the best way to tell a story within the bigger picture.

DenialK - Mwaahaaa! :D I've cut down a bit lately... OK, I still do a few lines of Pedigree Pal every day, but I can quit anytime I want to *gör kräktecken*

flyingP - Haw haw! Now I've got small spots of snotty coffee on my monitor... thanks.

jamacsween - Glad you like it. And yep, he is standing on a cliff top/overhang thingy here (actually the overhang seen in the distant left of the previous concept)

-----------------------------------------------

I'll hopefully get some updates out tonight, i.e. about 12 hours from now. Thanks for your support, bros, dudes and dudettes

[tikson]

Hi, James,

Maybe you can try frog (fluffian) perspective instead of birds one. It looks that the others have already suggested it. I did not read all the feedback very carefully.
I imagine that more dramatic woluld be if you imagine your scene through fluffian eyes. I already see how huge anchor hits the ground near the camera and if you look up then you'll see immense nodes hovering above the houses. Imagine yourself into the action, into the crowd in panic... you'll see the debris flying in front of your eyes. I think that feeling of participant is the key of the image. Then you feel that your house is destroyed and you are in danger. If you look it from 3rd persons view, then you're safe and audience doesn't feel the personal effect.

By the way... you have just great concept and very promising realisation. Keep on going :thumbsup:.

[Climax]

• Wow James! It doesn't matter how you twist the point of view! IT ALWAYS LOOKS GRREEAAAT!:bounce:

[Kraull]

So much possibilities of angle with 3d... I think the one you've chosen work perfectly! It's kind of original! Waiting to see it evolves!:)

[uwil]

WOWOW James!....simply AWSOME!:cry:

[userBrian]

I still think that it is no mystery why these annual
visits correspond with the Fluffian potato planting and harvesting
seasons. It explains why the Fluffians build houses that are so
easy to rebuild, and why they don't have fenses or roads. And of
course why the fluffians happen to all be wearing backpacks
during planting and harvesting season- they know some of their
houses will necessarily go, and so they have a sleeping bag and
lean-to sheet in their backpacks. It is a harsh life that of a Fluffian
potato farmer, what with building expendable communities and all,
but the rewards of economically harvesting the big potato-heads
are worth it to the Fluffians. An incredibe documentary James.
Putting yourself in such danger!

my 3d entry (http://www.cgtalk.com/showthread.php?t=179803)

[rattlesnake]

hi James...i saw your last composition...and i think it have an interesting view...i think i have a great sense of art so what ever compo option u choose i think it will be great...just remember to consider the challenge aproach...but i think we can always make things that make us happy without leaving the challenge edges...

your compo make looks the scene like "grand" so i think youre moving to the right way...good luck James!

[rattlesnake]

i also think that is important that we can see some of the houses down there... and more nodes far away....:lightbulb

[nataz]

It is a harsh life that of a Fluffian
potato farmer[...]

Right!
But it is nothing compared to the Fluffian way of the Grand Master Potato Force (may blessed be it's name until the 7th generation), which i am trying to follow (hardly i confess)... JamesMK spare me nothing, i have to say, he just throw some brilliant stuff on my screen without even wondering what all that talent will do to my poor state of mind, which is already weakened by a forced (but fair) fluffian potato diet (one ine the morning - with a cup of salt, one in the evening - without salt but raw).
I can tell you this is reeeeeeal learning of the Force!

[DenialK]

James is currently rehabilitating from his dog food addiction. It is a pretty nasty Pavlovian treatment, similar to the vomiting therapy used in Thailand to cure heroin addicts. Without going into details, the process involves several hungry dogs and no underpants. I repeat: No underpants.

[ace4016]

lol, sibling rivalry, gotta love it:scream: .

[JamesMK]

http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/7/3764/3764_1102376144_medium.jpg (http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/7/3764/3764_1102376144_large.jpg)

Yet another possible composition. Feels good right now. Got the idea to maybe make the nodes rather dark graphite grey perhaps... I currently have a thing for Oren-Nayar surfaces :)

Anyway, you get the idea. Houses and general damage to be added of course.

[DimitrisLiatsos]

Man...THIS IS EVEN BETTER..sorry for yelling..but ..this i like the most :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

[ace4016]

For sure this composition is clear. I like this one:thumbsup: . Only thing is that if the nodes are also cities I would think the fluffians and thier houses would be smaller compared to the nodes, unless the reason the fluffians seem a bit bigger it becuase they are closer to the camera:shrug: .

[Squibbit]

yea I like this one better than the previous one too , needs more action , tho , but
I know most of that will come when u put the particles , the anchor digging and other
effects in place..

something should be behind the little people to separate them more from the background..
dust.mist..u tell me..

also...the anchor thingy could be a bit turned to the side as it works thru the earth

there could be something on the rubble pile the anchor has collected...u know..
dog house (or whatsitcalled)... a chicken... a barrel in the rubble...

someone could be watching from the doorway of that building

there could be someone hanging from an anchor line in the background....who knows why..

[Climax]

• I agree with virtuoso on reply #721 , Althought your image looks very good from all perspectives you have used, the main concept is what is most important, the hanging fluffians sounds good, also the ones trying to cut the wires.

• Your last concept is a compendium of your great idea, I suggest you that if you feel good with it, go get it! 'cuz if you go round and round you'll feel some kind of emptiness at the end, that's human nature, there are thousand of possibilities for your final image, but there is one you feel good with.

• I wish u the best my friend!

[mmoir]

James ,
This is one seriously cool image, I like the perspective of this image.Look forward to it being finished. The image is definitely feeling dramatic for the fluffians.
Mike
My GSO entry
http://www.cgtalk.com/showthread.php?t=180886

[D-3]

great.. nice light and camera position!!! realy nice!!!
best luck

[userBrian]

Hi James, yes I like the darker surfaces, they look more brooding
but please explain what is this oren-nayer (I probably misspelled it)
surfaces? Sounds like I need a link. Forget milk, got link? And when
are you going to texture the flushnob to the Fluffians toilet? Well, I think
your last entry was not verbiose enough, this is just my 2 cents worth,
but in case you need some suggestions in this area, I'll be glad to strike
your "silence" by these noisy additions...It is the year 4993 ,, and the Necromaniacs,
or whatever they are called, are having their semi-annual war games excercises
on the Fluffians planet...sorry, I just found a GOOD bottle of Jack.

my likely 3d story (http://www.cgtalk.com/showthread.php?t=179803)

[Kaksht]

Hi there James!
This is definetly a good composition, couple of cits dough. IMHO it would be better to make the atliest a bit brighter, cause now its definetly to dark, you cant see all the beautiful detail on it, and maybe darken the sky a bit, now its just overburned, thats just a thought :)
Good luck in finding the best angle!

[Lemog]

Yes... this update is great... and certainly the most original by the other... you must work in this way man... but what are doing the Fluffian Army :scream:

:thumbsup:

[Versiden]

It looks really good, I like it! Keeping with the diagonal slant gives a sense of action and motion I think.

I think the fluffians look a little large in comparison to those towers in that last update, the towers aren't looking as grand.. what do u think?

[flyingP]

For sure this composition is clear. I like this one:thumbsup: . Only thing is that if the nodes are also cities I would think the fluffians and thier houses would be smaller compared to the nodes

ditto.....this is better, I still think you have bit of a relative scale issue though :hmm:

[stork]

i believe you have struck gold here dude... i get the feeling you knew what you wanted to say in this layout... the others were a fair bit more ambiguous. I try not to crit folks technical stuff so much as it is likely there style... but artwise on your latest post i truly, truly feel you are finding the voice you want to speak with now... stick with this compo, it has something to say.

and a little PS for some folks who may not be MAX literate... an oren nayer blinn surface shares the same charactersitics of a lambert in MAYA, basically, no specular highlights (gloss, shininess), it is a flat (texture wise) surface.

[JamesMK]

Thanks all for sharing your thoughts on this :bowdown:

I have to settle for this now, because the clock is really starting to tick quite loudly, and I've got heaps of work left to do.

What I will do though is to scale down the house and fluffians a little bit, that's a good observation from ace, Versiden and flyingP, and it's easy enough to do without having to mess with the overall composition yet again. I merely want to find a balance where they are small enough to make the nodes appear large, while they are still big enough to be readable in terms of their poses. As for the size thing, though the nodes were once referred to as 'city nodes' it's mainly because they could be part of a city, i.e. one node is comparable to one tall building in a city... so it's not supposed to be a city all by itself, if that makes things clearer.

Anyway, I'm grateful to have been getting your great feedback during this lengthy compositional crisis. This last one feels good enough, and it's time I get moving to finish things up. Thank you all :thumbsup:

EDIT : Oh, and special thanks to Stork for answering userBrian's question about Oren-Nayar... that just about covers it - it's similar to Lambert, thus a rather simple illumination model well suited for rough surfaces such as chalk, dirt, dust and so on. The Cinema 4D version of Oren-Nayar has neat controls for the roughness factor and diffuse falloff. Combining that roughness with reflectivity seems to make an interesting result which is rather different from the standard Blinn solution.