Grand Space Opera 3D Entry: Jason Nieuwendorp

[ArtisticVisions]

Last CG Challenge, I didn't finish my entry...... I'm not going to do that a second time. ;)

I already have a few interesting concepts on what I'm going to do for this Challenge. Once I get off work later today, I'll start some concept paintings in Photoshop and see if any of my ideas turn out.

Good luck, all. :thumbsup:

[pBarrelas]

Good luck for you too!! And i can't wait to see your concepts!!

[ArtisticVisions]

Before I talk about my entry, I should talk about the inspiration behind it.

For the longest time, I've noticed that the majority of Science Fiction has it's characters traveling, fighting, etc. in Space using various forms of technology and machinery; the writers always seem to believe that in order for humanity to progress beyond Earth, they must invent new or amazing technology which will allow mankind to travel the stars.

Well.... what if we don't need the technology to travel the stars? What if the real tool we need to travel to new worlds, to travel in Space..... is our own mind?

Suppose that thousands of years from now humanity no longer needs traditional technology, considering it "barbaric and uncivilized". Suppose that mankind has completely uncovered the mysteries of the human mind; skills such as ESP and telekinesis, things once thought to be impossible, are skills which every person is capable of..... skills which some are better than others....

Humanity has travelled through the Stars and back, creating and settling new worlds wherever they go. Worlds are "born", shaped and formed by the the most powerful and the most wise of Men.

..... And yet, man is still not "perfect": there is still conflict, still war amongst others. The days of physical confrontation are long gone, replaced by the Mind Wars (rough term :shrug: ). instead of physically meeting and fighting, 2 (or more) minds meet and battle; whoever has the strongest will.... wins. However, not everyone can be a "Mind Soldier". Only the most exceptional individual, who's willing to die for his/her world, is allowed and trained.
Even though these confrontations do not physically exist, people can still "see" them. The energy these mind warriors create is great, so great that the individual's "soul" can be seen as a being of light; thus, the wars can be witnessed by the rest of humanity........

[ArtisticVisions]

http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/7/4214/4214_1098329253_medium.jpg (http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/7/4214/4214_1098329253_large.jpg)

A rough, "rough" concept of what I want to portray in my entry (I should note that I'm not the greatest concept artist...) :sad:
Created in Photoshop in little over an hour, with no reference images. (I'll need to so some research on space, planets, ect.)

[pBarrelas]

I really like your concept!!

Very nice. I think that you have here a goog start!! keep on!:thumbsup:

[Archetype]

1st off :)
hi
good luck on the contest ;)

second love the concept .
cant wait to see some 3d

btw ?
did u realise that u have a dutch surname ?

[ArtisticVisions]

http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/7/4214/4214_1098482314_medium.jpg (http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/7/4214/4214_1098482314_large.jpg)

Another very "rough" concept how the soldiers' energy or essence appears from a physical observer.
Note: I might switch to pencil for future sketches, since I'm not 100% confortable with concept sketching in Photoshop for some reason.

I've further refined the story behind my entry.
Thousands upon thousands of years beyond our curent time, mankind has evolved into a being of high intellect and purpose. No longer refering to themselves as Man or Humanity they are called the Wave, named after the basis of all Matter, Energy, and Life (it makes sense if you know a bit about science). Each sect of the Wave is allowed to create their own world (only one world is allowed per sect, however), from which the people take their surname (the Wave Neni, the Wave Krise, etc).
Should a Wave sect decide to move to another Space where it doesn't belong or creates more than one world, that Wave will be challenged by another Wave in accordence to the rules set by the Wisest when the Wave came into being. However, these incidents are not called "War", as that word is from the old human language and is considered barbaric: they are called "Conficts" (if you know science and know about the wave concepts/theories, you'll see the symbolism in why I choose that word).

[ArtisticVisions]

I'll probably start on modelling in a little while; I'm also going to start testing some Surface concepts under various light settings to see if I can get what I want (I use Lightwave). The biggest challenge (no pun intended) for me on this entry is that I wish to use volumetrics for some of the effects..... and I've never done them before.

btw ?
did u realise that u have a dutch surname ?Yeah, my last name is Dutch; my aunt told me that there's actually a town in the Netherlands with that name (she went there once when she was in Europe).

[ArtisticVisions]

http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/7/4214/4214_1098570201_medium.jpg (http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/7/4214/4214_1098570201_large.jpg)

While I am still doing a few more concept sketchs to get the composition of my scene down, I also decided to get started on modeling the soldiers.

This current model was actually a model which I had initially plan to use as a character template. At the time this contest started, I was only about 25% finished with it; now it's about 80-90 percent finished (need to make his toes and finish a few additional areas).

One thing I should point out is that although I plan on using this model as a template for all the Soldiers, I do not plan on making them all similar. As the Wave Soldier (still not too happy with that term) are a reflection of the individual's will, each one is different than the other: some are stronger looking, some are weaker looking, some are male, some are female, etc.

[joshcxa]

A different concept, which is good. Good luck for the rest of the competition

[ArtisticVisions]

http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/7/4214/4214_1098667741_medium.jpg (http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/7/4214/4214_1098667741_large.jpg)

Still working on the modeling, but thought I'd also get started on surfacing the Enforcers, the current name I'm using for the soldiers (the original name was Mind Cutters: see below). This current surface isn't too bad (I really do like it), but it is causing a few weird problems when rendered at different angles, so I'll have to keep tweaking it till I can work those issues out. (maybe I'll get rid of his ears?)
Rendered using 1 distant light and 2 area lights (also trying to figure out how to best represent lighting from Space)

EDIT: I changed the name of the soliders to Enforcers, rather than Mind Cutters.
(the reason being "Cutter" suggests violence, which the Wave consider themselves to be above; "Enforcer" suggests that the soldiers are in the Right, doing what is best for all. What the people of the Wave doesn't realize is that their Conflicts are still Wars.....)

[funkymunkey90]

Are you using reference photos?...the model of the human shaped being is a little miss-shaped and look strange...or it could just be the camera angle...don't want to be a downer it just might help

[pBarrelas]

Hey Jason, i like the glow effect of the skin. You're right you have to tweak your model.

For outer space illumination, don't use GI cause you don't have any atmosphere to spread the light all over the place. Instead, use a main illumination source and arranje some more lights to help you sculpting that shapes. For example, you can use reflected light from some planets arround!! I hope this helps:)

[ArtisticVisions]

I should point out, before I go into detail, that the models aren't finished; I just wanted to get a head start on surfacing it (for me, modeling and surfacing go on at the same time).

funkymunkey90: The head looks slightly deformed in the previous image due in part to the angle of the render, but also due to the shader; I'm using Edge Transpirancy with a high Luminosity and a low Difusion settings. I think the previous shader was a little too much, as you lose too much detail in the face. I'll get a render of the new shader later today.

pBarrelas: Thanks for heads up; I kinda thought thats what I'd have to end doing for the lighting anyways, since GI really doesn't reflect real Space conditions.

[ArtisticVisions]

http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/7/4214/4214_1098751545_medium.jpg (http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/7/4214/4214_1098751545_large.jpg)

Surfacing is starting to get where I want. I removed the ears cause they were causing a few problems (I'm thinking of removing the nostrals of the nose as well); the muscles of the body need to be refined, but I don't know about the face (too much detail and the surfacing will look odd).

[Designer2]

very good stuff you have here Jason i like idea the only thing i recommend you is to draw a good sketch for your character or have a good reference to model on so you get the realistic shape of mussils and dimesions.. so far this is so good...

keep digging:)

[ArtisticVisions]

Forgot to mention that I'm using the book "Dynamic Figure Drawing", by Burne Hogarth, for my modelling reference (it had previously helped me a lot when I studied Life Drawing in college).

[lardbros]

Just wondering if you've tried adding the edgetransparency shader or even a incidence angle gradient for transparency to give a softer feel around the edges?

I love this concept.... HIGHLY original and there are so many options to choose from... DAMN wish i'd come up with this!

Another thing about shading... for planets i use the diffuse sharpness option in the advanced bit of lightwave surface editor, so maybe you could try that on the characters to give the high contrast lighting of space??

Just a few ideas to bounce off the walls, although probly the diffuse sharpness option may lose the softness of the character outlines?!

Keep up the good work, and hope i get my concept for this challenge feeling right!

[ArtisticVisions]

http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/7/4214/4214_1098836019_medium.jpg (http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/7/4214/4214_1098836019_large.jpg)

I talked it over with Kurt and, in an effort to be fair to other contestants (and to make sure I'm eligible to submit my entry in the contest), I decided to scrap the areas of the model which were created before the contest began (which really wasn't a lot to begin with anyways - basicly it was the front of the chest and the nose of the face).

Also, I had previously forgotten to upload the images of the model in WIP (it had completey slipped my mind). Thankfully, I had saved various versions of the model as I progressed, so I'll try and upload those later tonight.

[WazaR]

Some points

a. What is the scale of these people? Since they are in a sense godlike, what physically will be their size? I would recommend that they be huge,... plantearlly huge in fact. This would truely give their "conflict" a great deal of an epic sense.

b. Based upon the indeterminism of Quantom Mechanics, while these two beings be in superpostion? In other worlds will they fit neatly into our common sense understanding of real physical objects, or will they even at there marcosopic scale still display their fundamenta wave nature... as oppossed to what usally happens. This would be an intersting path for you to take. Wave nature of matter can exhibit very strange properties namely like that of have mulitply instances in differnt locations at the same time, or of having an indeterminate position. Check this link out for more information... arxiv.org/abs/hep-ph/9809371

c. What method will these two beings use in conlict? Will they use weapons, or will they be weapons? How will their wave like nature affect their combat.

d. What kind of color treatment do you have in mind for the background? I would recommend that you do some research on HOMEWORLD 2 the game from Siearria studios, it is the best possible refrance for execllent color rendtions of space.

e. Tnx for bien fair. It takes alot of guts to do so.

[ArtisticVisions]

http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/7/4214/4214_1098843555_medium.jpg (http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/7/4214/4214_1098843555_large.jpg)

This was the model at the start of contest (as such, it will be the areas which will be scrapped).
At this stage, I don't mirror the model; only when the model starts to interect to I then mirror the model and start modeling again.

[ArtisticVisions]

http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/7/4214/4214_1098843938_medium.jpg (http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/7/4214/4214_1098843938_large.jpg)

Although I started modeling the chest at first, I decided that maybe the face should be my first priority.
For reference, I used both "Dynamic Figure Drawing" by Burne Hogarth and the head modelling tutorial by Dan Ablan (from his book, Inside Lightwave 7).

[ArtisticVisions]

http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/7/4214/4214_1098844306_medium.jpg (http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/7/4214/4214_1098844306_large.jpg)

At this stage the arms were done, as was most of the head and chest. Although I generally don't use the Box method for modeling, the one exception is when I model arms or legs (since they're basicly cylinders who's shape has been tweaked, it's easier to model this way than to extrude points).

[ArtisticVisions]

http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/7/4214/4214_1098844696_medium.jpg (http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/7/4214/4214_1098844696_large.jpg)

The leg modeling was done in the same manner as the arms; this was the stage just before my original post which first featured the model(unfortunately, I didn't have any previous versions of the model which featured the progress of the hands).

[HieSpike]

Hi,

I like your concept and I give props to anyone working in LW...rock on! My only question is that how will the view know that it's in the mind? Just wondering....good luck!

[ArtisticVisions]

lardbros: Yeah, I'm using Edge Transparency shader for the model; my first tests were set a little too high, but I think its near to what I want. As for lighting, I have an idea as too how I'm going to approch it, but I haven't reach there yet.

WazaR: In regards to your questions:

1. Scale-wise, my current plan is to make them human size, if not maybe twice the size of normal humans.

2. Very interesting article, but I don't understand half of it! :D
Still, I might look into encorporating some of that into my entry.

As for the rest of your questions, that's rather hard to explain.
At my next post, I'll try to explain a bit more of the story behind the Conflict of the Wave.

[greentek]

hi Jason.. extremely good idea but you should remember to keep it epic and express some pivotal moment.. and i dont think you have to worry about Quantum Mechanic or something like that.. its art what we are doing and it must be emotional and nice.. and be scientificaly correct is not essential i think.. in my opinion you may feel and do free whatever you have in your mind..
best of luck to you and cheers..

[ArtisticVisions]

http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/7/4214/4214_1099106689_medium.jpg (http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/7/4214/4214_1099106689_large.jpg)

Sorry for not posting sooner, but this week I had assignments out the Yin Yang, so I didn't have a lot of time to work on the model till now.
The nose and chest have been remodeled; I think I was also able to fix some of the previous shading problems I had with the nose.

I'm still tweaking the surfaces, especially the eyes (in this render, they look a little off model-wise, but that problem has since been fixed). As for the lighting, I'm still working on it, but I have an idea on how to accomplish the ambient lighting of Space and planets.

[ArtisticVisions]

http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/7/4214/4214_1099170631_medium.jpg (http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/7/4214/4214_1099170631_large.jpg)

The male Enforcer model is finally done.
However, even though the model is completed, I don't intend "every" one of the Enforcers to be the same; as I stated previously, the Enforcer's "form" is based on the will of the individual (ergo, some will be stronger looking and some will be weaker looking, some will be more musculer while others are thinner and more nimble, etc.). I intend to use this current model as the basis for all the Enforcers (including the female Enforcers....).
One thing I should note is that while I tried to put enough muscle definition into the character, I didn't want to put "too much" definition because when I did the sufaces didn't react the way I wanted them to.

[greentek]

hi Jason..

you posted about adjusting lighting for your scene in this thread (http://www.cgtalk.com/showpost.php?p=1690326&postcount=241) .. but I think i have to post what i think about lighting here.. one distant light set for the sun and area light for planet is very basic set and for good image is far not enough..

setting up proper lighting is very difficult and extremely important task.. proper lighting is half of the picture.. at the moment i dont know exactly how many lights im going to use for my space scene but sure not two or even six but much more..

currently for the very basic lighting setup in my scene im using one "sun light" for diffuse color, one for specular slightly displaced but to mimic the same source sun.. one light with negative value im using to dim shadows area (dispite the fact that i dont use ambient light)..

two more lights are simulating light from distant stars/starfield.. another two lights i have to mimic lighting comming from the asteroid.. one of them simulates reflected light, another light from outer glow..

and i didnt even start sorting much more complex illumination from explosions and dispersed lights.. :D

on the current stage i cant say anything about lighting in your scene because its not clear for me from your concepts yet what kind of illumination you are going to use..

im ready to assist you setting up lighting for your scene.. sure if you think you need it..:) lighting and texturing are my favorites so my advices might be useful..

by the way your model is quite cool.. comes along very nice..
keep up great work!

cheers.. :beer:

[mmoir]

ArtisticVisions,
You have a very interesting concept. One thought , can these mind warriors interact withe the physical world. It will be interesting to see what you do with this.
Good luck .
Mike
My space opera entry.
http://www.cgtalk.com/showthread.php?t=180886

[ArtisticVisions]

http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/7/4214/4214_1099244425_medium.jpg (http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/7/4214/4214_1099244425_large.jpg)

Been working on this since last night; since I'm going to be using this model as a template for the rest of the Enforcers, I want to get him surfaced right and rigged with bones in a way which can be used for the other models.

Lighting is proving to require some thought into it (as greentek said in his previous post);I'm trying out a few ideas at the moment using main lights and a few negative lights to help with the ambience of the main lights. This scene was lighted with one distant light (15%), one area light (55%), and two negative distant light (-5% and -10%).
Since the lighting setup has changed, the surfaces now react differently, so I have to also tweak those as well.

Rigging is going fairly decent, although there are a few problem areas; since I don't use weight maps (for me, they're a pain in the butt to create and use), I use extra bones to control the deformation of the mesh. Right now, there are a few "issues" at the base of the leg and torso and the stomach, so I'm trying to see what I can do in those areas.

[ArtisticVisions]

http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/7/4214/4214_1099244705_medium.jpg (http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/7/4214/4214_1099244705_large.jpg)

Another test, this time I changed some of the percentage of the lights and greatly changed the transpirency of the surface of the model. In a way, I like this surface more than the others, but it's causing a few "see-through" problems, like at the base of the leg.

[ArtisticVisions]

greentek: Yeah, I do admit the lighting is going to need to be better thought out than my original tests. :shrug:
Right now, I'm testing a few of your suggestions out now, but it was at first a bit difficult, due to the fact that the Difusion settings of the model's surface was set rather low (I'm testing it now at a higher setting to see how it works, as my posts above demonstrate). The current scene of my entry is somewhat similar to my original concept sketch, with the Wave Enforcers fighting near a Sect Planet; currently, I'm think of adding a second, much smaller planet to the scene (as the Enforcers need to be near the area of battle, they travel on smaller seperate worlds which they use as bases).

mmoir: That idea is currently depending on how much I can learn about particles and volumetrics by the time this contest is near finished.:rolleyes:

[ArtisticVisions]

http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/7/4214/4214_1099270285_medium.jpg (http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/7/4214/4214_1099270285_large.jpg)

Just doing more tests; this time, I changed the luminousity to be a bit higher, removed the transpirency map (but kept the Edge Transpirency), and created a translucency map. I think the settings might have been a little too high, but it create very interesting results.....

[ArtisticVisions]

I would have posted sooner, but had college assignments to finish up. Still working on the models (I've alos started work on the planets) and lighting of the scenes. I have started testing with particles and volumetrics (which is thankfully easier than I thought); I would've posted my results today, but unfortunately my current means of transfering files, my Lexar USB Jumpdrive, is acting like it needs to be formated when there are already files on it (only seems to do this on PCs, while I can access my files just fine on Macs. Hmm.....).

Once I figure out a solution on getting my images to a computer with internet access, I'll upload my results.

[ArtisticVisions]

http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/7/4214/4214_1099588146_medium.jpg (http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/7/4214/4214_1099588146_large.jpg)

Finally got my files to a computer with internet access. :D

I started tests with the particle and volumetrics of Lightwave (which is thankfully much easier to learn than Cloth FX); in a way, I wish there was a Special FX Milestone.

[ArtisticVisions]

http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/7/4214/4214_1099588979_medium.jpg (http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/7/4214/4214_1099588979_large.jpg)

I took the previous image into Photoshop and did some experiments on the Enforcer to see if I could create more of the "softness" and "ethereal"-like quality I had originally envisioned for them.
Not a final image by any means, just a test.

[mmoir]

Artistic Visions,

Your enforcer model is coming along nicely.
Mike

My GSO entry
http://www.cgtalk.com/showthread.php?p=1711798&posted=1#post1711798

[ArtisticVisions]

Well, I'm still alive for those of you who are curious. :)

I've been (and still am) pretty busy with college assignments, so I haven't had much time to work on my entry; what little time I've had free, though, I have been working on it. I've started work on the space scene, which I'll be creating in Photoshop (creating nebulas is easier for me to do in PS rather than in 3D). Also, I've had to create a "fist" morph for the hands of my model (doing one with bones was causing a few weird problems); since this is a still rather than an animation, I don't forsee any problems using this method.

I'll probably have some new images on Saturday or Sunday. Till then, see you later. :thumbsup:

[ArtisticVisions]

http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/7/4214/4214_1100819085_medium.jpg (http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/7/4214/4214_1100819085_large.jpg)

Wow, it's been a while since I updated with anything important (I guess that's what having to do final projects for college will do to you).

I've finally been able to start remodeling the male Enforcer model into a female version; females modeling isn't a speciality of mine, so I'm studing up on the female form. The current model is really rough I admit, so any advice is greatly appreciated. :)

[ArtisticVisions]

http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/7/4214/4214_1101084765_medium.jpg (http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/7/4214/4214_1101084765_large.jpg)

The female Enforcer is nearly completed; only areas that remain to be fixed are the shoulders, knees, and breasts (still would like C&C on this, please).
I'll start with final renders soon, as soon as I can create several varients of each Enforcer (after testing with Particle FXs, I think I'll have to do aditional touch-up in PS to correct some of the "color" issues that keep coming up); I'll also be writing up a more detailed version of the story in the next day or so as well.

[ArtisticVisions]

http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/7/4214/4214_1101315234_medium.jpg (http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/7/4214/4214_1101315234_large.jpg)

Both the male and female Enforcers are completed; aside from some minor edits to give each Enforcer more of a individual appearence (so they don't all look the same), the character modelling is complete.
I'll start final renders soon. For the space enviroment, I currently plan on using 3D planets mixed with 2D space, but we'll see how good I can get the planets looking as a 3D model (my skills are more in the 2D field).

[Virtuoso]

hi Jason..

you posted about adjusting lighting for your scene in this thread (http://www.cgtalk.com/showpost.php?p=1690326&postcount=241) .. but I think i have to post what i think about lighting here.. one distant light set for the sun and area light for planet is very basic set and for good image is far not enough..

setting up proper lighting is very difficult and extremely important task.. proper lighting is half of the picture.. at the moment i dont know exactly how many lights im going to use for my space scene but sure not two or even six but much more..

currently for the very basic lighting setup in my scene im using one "sun light" for diffuse color, one for specular slightly displaced but to mimic the same source sun.. one light with negative value im using to dim shadows area (dispite the fact that i dont use ambient light)..

two more lights are simulating light from distant stars/starfield.. another two lights i have to mimic lighting comming from the asteroid.. one of them simulates reflected light, another light from outer glow..

and i didnt even start sorting much more complex illumination from explosions and dispersed lights.. :D

on the current stage i cant say anything about lighting in your scene because its not clear for me from your concepts yet what kind of illumination you are going to use..

im ready to assist you setting up lighting for your scene.. sure if you think you need it..:) lighting and texturing are my favorites so my advices might be useful..

by the way your model is quite cool.. comes along very nice..
keep up great work!

cheers.. :beer:


....................................There is no way to say it better..........I can only add that you work on cutting into some of the flesh,divide it up a little more.carve out some valleys,mostly around the triceps and the area where the shoulders meet the arms........round out the shoulders a touch more.........It's not far off by any means,it just in tweak mood,and what models are not even when there so called "Finished" .................Just chip away,carve into that mesh,twist it around,look at refernces.............In either case you are doing a nice job,and I appluad you for getting involved with this while in major studies,that is some great work ethic........and in the end it will pay off many times over........Just keep at this,even if you have to finish after the challenge,see this through to the end,get this done as you planned,that is very important.......And carve into the models a touch more,tweak and carve,it's close...........Keep at it jason............I'll keep a look out for your progesss......:) :thumbsup:

[ArtisticVisions]

http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/7/4214/4214_1102737438_medium.jpg (http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/7/4214/4214_1102737438_large.jpg)

Glad to see some people are still interested in my work :) ; recently I had to completely redo my final Photography project due to the photos being underexposed, which has been taking up more time then I want.

After looking over the models, I agree with Virtuoso's comments: the muscles need to be more defined. So I whipped out my Dynamic Figure Drawing book and having another go at modeling the human form.

[Lelantos]

Hey that last image you have there looks really much better now, but i think you should fix a little the shoulder it seems to bee very big you are doing great work here keep it up:thumbsup:

[Virtuoso]

I got you to get the old.................."Dynamic Figure Drawing book out" ...............:cool: ....Now your talking jason...........I can see you have started to put some nice extra curves in.......just keep chipping away and carve this bad boy up..........define and contour...............Nice,keep at it,it'll be aces real soon....I'll be watching jason.....:arteest:

[ArtisticVisions]

Would have posted an image of the tweaked version of the male leg right now, but...... Lightwave crashed before I had a chance to save it. :sad: (evidently LW has a bug in which switching between Quad-View to Single-View and back causes the program to crash)

I haven't yet tested the new "defined" areas of the model in Layout to see how it renders with the Luminousity and Transparancy, so maybe I'll do that first before I start again on the leg.

[ArtisticVisions]

http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/7/4214/4214_1104285678_medium.jpg (http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/7/4214/4214_1104285678_large.jpg)

YES... I am still alive and working on my entry. :D

Haven't been able to get far with finishing the tweaks to the models (what with having to finish the college semester assignments and then having family up, but I'm finally back into it. After recieving two new books (Lightwave 8 Lighting and Lightwave 8 Texture), I have learned a LOT about both topics and have gone back to rework the surfacing of the Enforcers.
I think I've got it pretty good as it is, although there are a few areas which would have to be touched up in Post.

The lighting, I've determined, is going to be an issue: because there is so little in the Defuse channel and so much in the Luminousity channel of the Surface of the model, having more than 2-3 lights is overkill (and increases render times).

[ArtisticVisions]

Well, 11 days left and I have absolutely no idea if I'm going to be able to finish in time (I'm still going to work till the end, but I kinda doubt I'll get it in by the deadline). :sad:

This hasn't been a total loss, however; I've learn several new techniques and will continue to work on this piece till it's finish.
Anyways, thanks to everyone who took the time to view my little WIP. :)

[ArtisticVisions]

http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/7/4214/4214_1105215878_medium.jpg (http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/7/4214/4214_1105215878_large.jpg)

Working on overdrive to get my entry finished by the 17th; doesn't help that the first I rendered this scene, Lightwave rendered for 4-5 hours, then crashed on my :/ (be nice if Newtek would release 8.2 NOW...)

Anyways, this is the start of the final image, with one of the "Rho Theta" Enforcers finished (more on that in a later post); rendered in LW with additional touchups in Photoshop. My plan is to get the characters rendered and finished first and do the background last (as a matte illustration).

[ihamid]

hi there, just wanted to let u know that ur not alone:)! go Jason i know ull get this done!:thumbsup:
yup the time is short heheh for all of us i think:)!

[ArtisticVisions]

http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/7/4214/4214_1105292049_medium.jpg (http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/7/4214/4214_1105292049_large.jpg)

Starting to get there, people. :D

Finished the "Xi" Enforcer (red charcacters are "Xi" and purple are "Rho Theta"; more on that later). The biggest issue for me at this point is that Volumetrics takes FOREVER to render: I can render a character in less than an hour, but it takes 6-7 hours just to render the particles (which is sad, cause my computer is rather high-end). :/

Next renders will be of a female Xi Enforcer and her "victim". ;)

[ArtisticVisions]

http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/7/4214/4214_1105387721_medium.jpg (http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/7/4214/4214_1105387721_large.jpg)

Still working on overdrive to finish by next week (should be fun....). The colors of the dying Enforcer might have gotten oversaturated, so I'll have to take a look at that. Currently rigging a Xi and Rho Theta Enforcer "dueling", in addition to working on the planets.

[mmoir]

Hey Jason,
Nice to see you working on this again:), keep working at it you still have time. Good luck with the contest.
Mike

[Virtuoso]

Nice tweaking session Jason.get this to the finishline now.You put some nice effort inthis and took some nice steps forward,Best to you,and great to see people actually finish what they started......:arteest:

[ArtisticVisions]

http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/7/4214/4214_1105547807_medium.jpg (http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/7/4214/4214_1105547807_large.jpg)

I think I'm done with the "detail" character renders (that is, the renders which required high quality and large resolutions); now the only things left are the "far away" characters (since they're going to be off in the distance and not really visible, i don't have to render the same way I did for the previous renders), the planets (which I'm working on now), and the space background (which will be done in Photoshop).

My current plan is to finish the entire entry around Saturday morning/afternoon, followed by getting it up on FTP Saturday night and all of Sunday (since I'm on dial-up, I figure it will take a while to upload).
Looks like I'll be able to finish in time after all. :)

[ArtisticVisions]

http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/7/4214/4214_1105562246_medium.jpg (http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/7/4214/4214_1105562246_large.jpg)

Just testing out a few ideas on rendering a planet. Since I don't think using image maps will work (well, I did try, but the final result looked kinda crappy....) I'm using procedural textures to create the planet, by studying several tutorials and pages on the subject; the results turned out pretty good, I think (although I'll have to do a few additional tests before I decide on using this method for my entry).

[mmoir]

Hey Jason,
The planet is looking good :thumbsup: , maybe you could add a bit of an atmosphere to the planet since it has lots of water on it. I uploaded my final to the ftp and it seemed to take a long time, so I would leave lots of room . It will probably take longer than you think to upload. Good luck .
Mike

[ArtisticVisions]

Just letting everyone know that the space scene is going very well (currently rendering the "invading" planet, Rho Theta); I'll try to post it later in the night. It's looking like I'll be able to (God willing...) finish my entry tomorrow night, which then I'll have Saturday and Sunday to upload it to the FTP page. :)

[ArtisticVisions]

http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/7/4214/4214_1105677162_medium.jpg (http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/7/4214/4214_1105677162_large.jpg)

Well, I promised a space scene by the end of the night and this is what's currently finished. I still have a bunch of tweaks to do to it(Rho Theta and the sun is currently missing, plus some of the stars look a little too "oval"), but I think it's turning out rather well.

Couple of issues have come up that I didn't consider till now: namely, the first Enforcer I created and rendered for my entry. I currently feel he lacks the amount of depth and emotion that I've want and have created in the others; in addition, his sword doesn't look exactly right (instead of rendering the character and the particles seperately, like I did for all of the other characters, I rendered them together for the first one). As a result, I'll be re-rendering the character and his particles again (which I'll start the particles tonight, since I know they'll take the longest to render).

EDIT: Didn't realized till I looked at it now, but part of the atmosphere of the planet got cut off (the lower left area on the planet); I think it must have happened during composting the planet and space together, so I'll have to look at that as well.

[ArtisticVisions]

http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/7/4214/4214_1105725248_medium.jpg (http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/7/4214/4214_1105725248_large.jpg)

Finished the editing to the 2 main Enforcers (the Rho Theta Enforcer had to be completely re-rendered, while the Xi Enforcer needed only minor edits).

[angel]

The space scape is looking nice, a way to improve it would be by adding some atmospheric glow. If it is there is not prominent enough.

[ArtisticVisions]

http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/7/4214/4214_1105734806_medium.jpg (http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/7/4214/4214_1105734806_large.jpg)

The space scene has turning out rather nicely, I think; the sun was a rather interesting experiment for me, since I could find no information on how to make one in Photoshop (tried Google, but just got a lot of dead links). I might add more atmosphere to planet Xi and maybe increase the size a bit, but the background is looking pretty done to me (ideas, anyone?).
(with the exception for the planets, which were created in Lightwave, the entire space background was created in Photoshop)

EDIT: For those currious about the spheres of light that are circling the invading planet (Rho Theta), they are actually what allows the planet to move in Space without being affected by the gravity of a star (which would normally "trap" the planet into it's gravitational pull; however, with those sphere encircling the planet, it cam travel without being affect by the star).

[Aethyrprime]

This is one heck of a battle between noncoporial beings. I like it. Good job on that background. Keep at it!

[ArtisticVisions]

http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/7/4214/4214_1105761733_medium.jpg (http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/7/4214/4214_1105761733_large.jpg)

Man, the Final entry is so close to being finished I can almost taste it. :)

I plan on it being done tommorrow morning; I'll also have a revised version of the story behind it (I've been writing it when I wasn't working on the actual entry).

[ArtisticVisions]

Just thought I'd post the final story behind my entry before I upload it :) :

The Conflict of the Waves

Many centuries pass our current Age, the most brilliant minds of mankind were successful in their dream to create a flawless being: the Perfect Human. For the first time in existence, the mysteries of the Universe was laid bare on the human soul; space, time, matter…. all of things and more were mere playthings for this individual and could be distorted and changed simply by his will. Mankind named this being Kadamon, “the prototype”, for they believed he would lead the way to the betterment of humanity… however, they would be proven both right and wrong.

Kadamon was disgusted and repulsed by Man; in his view, mankind was a flawed, weak organism responsible for terrible acts and thoughts. “It would be better”, he thought, “That I should wipe humanity from the plane of Existence and start over”. A rebirth, a new Genesis… so that is what he did. By a single thought, Kadamon erased humanity and, like sculptor with a lump of clay, he remodeled and reshaped them into a new, more perfect entity: the Waves.

The Waves could be described as “the next evolutionary step of humanity”. Physically, each individual resembles a typical human (both males and females). However, Kadamon allowed the secrets of the Mind, which had previously lied dormant in the human psyche, to be unveiled the Wave; feats such as telekinesis, telepathy, creating objects out of matter, and more were gifted to each member of the Wave at birth. In an attempt to prevent one individual from becoming more powerful over another and to foster creativity, Kadamon allowed only certain members of the Wave access to each type of Gift (individuals who could create matter were called Crafters; those who could converse over great distances were called Seers; etc); these “jobs” became collectively known as Sects. Although each member of the Wave was born possessing every gift, it was through the lessons of the Learners (ones who teach the young Waves the gifts of the Mind) that each member finds their own calling and joins their respected Sects. Each Wave was given one planet to call its home and its only home: no Wave was allowed to move into another Wave’s space. For a time, it was good and there was Peace.

Then came the day that everything changed.

For some unknown reason, one Wave became “corrupted”; their thoughts came centered on greed, envy, vanity, selfishness, and hatred. Out of jealousy and pettiness, they invaded and committed genocide on another Wave. Soon, several other Waves began to change and turn to dark thoughts: the Waves and others like them would become known as “Viruses”.

Kadamon could not understand how the thoughts of these Waves could become so tainted… they were supposed to be perfect! He came to the conclusion that, perhaps, there was a part of Mankind that could not be erased from the Waves. Perhaps that flawed imperfection would always exist; never disappearing no matter how many times Man was recreated. Out of grief and sadness, Kadamon used his will to travel beyond the universe, to the Place Beyond Time and Space: to never return to mortal planes again, to exist in a state constant dream...

Before he left, Kadamon gave the Waves one last gift. This gift was to be used to insure each Wave’s peace and to defend itself from the threats of Viruses: it was named the Enforcer.

Like the various Sects, the Enforcer was a “job” which a member of the Wave could become; unlike the others, however, the gifts of the Enforcer were focused on using the mind for combat. An Enforcer was capable of projecting his/her will and thoughts against an opposing will and destroying it. To choose to be an Enforcer was to brand oneself as a “exile”, for the Enforcers were viewed by the general populace as little better than Viruses; this was because in order to learn to art of combat of the mind, an individual had to delve into the deep unconsciousness of the Wave mind… right where the original, “imperfect” human emotions and thoughts still existed.

Although the Enforcers “battles of wills” technically existed in the minds of the combatants and not in physical space, there was one unexpected exception. Due to the strength and sheer power of the combating minds, each Enforcer’s will would appear to take on “physical” form, appearing to observers as brightly-colored beings of energy. Through this phenomenon, the wars of the mind can be witness by other Waves, who name these battles “Conflicts”.

This is the story of one such Conflict: a battle between the Wave Xi and the Virus Rho Theta…

[ArtisticVisions]

http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/7/4214/4214_1105824275_medium.jpg (http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/7/4214/4214_1105824275_large.jpg)

Well, it's finally finished. :D

I hate the fact that I had to decrease the file size of the jpeg to less than 150kb. I tried to keep the compression as low as I could to prevent artifacting, which resulted in decreasing the size of the image; as a result some of the finer details, such as the smaller characters and what not, got lost, but I guess that's what the Print version is for (now lets hope that's the version which will be judged).

Anyways, thanks to everyone who took the time to view my little WIP and help me with advice; it means a lot. I had a lot of fun with this Challenge and am looking forward to the next one. :)

[Virtuoso]

Well,well..................You did it Jason...............Congrats.....:beer:

You know that only 125 people or so can actually say that out of what some 2.500......let me tell you one large step in all this is actually finishing.And you have just taken it.:arteest:

You have done well,even with your other outside everyday work life.......

I hope to see you in the future,and think you have taken a big stride forward,and next time you will take another,and as we all will always move forward......Congrats on a nice effort and excellent work ethic.hope to cross your path again.It's been nice meeting you.Until later,all the best to you.......:arteest: :beer:

[Aethyrprime]

Congradulations on finishing it Jason. Michael is right. You are one of the few who staid the course and completed. Great job. You have a nice battle between these creatures and some nice colors and shapes going on in there. Keep at your art and the rest will come... till next time!:applause:

[ArtisticVisions]

Thanks, guys, and good luck with your entries as well. Although I feel a little bit of "digital" burnout from finishing my image, I already have a few plans for other CG projects (one of which I plan on submitting for Expose 3).
Till we meet again in the next Challenge. :)

[angel]

Hey you made it! Congrats! very nice. I see you made the atmospheric glow more prominent:thumbsup:
It does make a difference. Nice Job man!

[Claireabella]

Hi Jason........ wow, that's a very striking image you've done. The colours are really vibrant and stand out well. It's amazing how everyones imaginations and imagery have been so diverse given we've all been working from the same title. That's the beauty of art and I look forward to the next challenge. Good luck! :thumbsup: Claireabella

[sumawut]

HEY DUDE.........

very great this piece.
I like it.
good LOOK...........
good luck............

[jamacsween]

Jason,

You finished...Well done and the very best of luck...

JA

[ArtisticVisions]

SNoWs: Yeah, I had to do some additional work on the atmosphere of the planets (compositing the LW renders into the space background kinda removed more than I wanted); I used parts of that PS planet tutorial that I showed you to add more atmosphere and to give the planets a bit more "bump" to them.

Claireabella: Thanks; initially, the color scheme was somewhat different for the characters (they were reds and yellows, respectively). However, I ran into issues when I tried to light those colors using the Surfaces I had created (the reds/oranges turned out well, but I thought the yellows were too hard on the eyes), so I decided to make the Rho Theta Viruses another color that would compliment the colors of the Xi Enforcers and the Space backround.

sumawut sookvamdee: Thank you, but.... I've kinda noticed that you've been leaving the exact same comment in other threads. :rolleyes:

jamacsween: Thank you; sorry to see that you couldn't finish. Hope to see you in the next Challenge. :)

[jdsb]

IMO nice characters.all the besthttp://www.cgtalk.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

[essencedesign]

I just wanted to drop you one or two of these :thumbsup: :thumbsup: for your image...it has such a dynamik sense of movenment and great choice of colors....I have enjoyed following it....peacE ))

[userBrian]

Great job Jason- We're both Lightwavers- It was interesting reading your thread.
I'm glad we finished !

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

[ArtisticVisions]

jdsb: Thank you; no hard feelings from the other thread (sometimes it's hard to determine online if a person is just talking or being critical over something). :)

essencedesign & userBrian: Thanks guys. As I said in the Lightwave forum, it looks like a lot of us 'Wavers did pretty good in this Challenge (and actually finished). Cheers. ;)

[ArtisticVisions]

Noticed a lot of people uploading high-res versions of their entries on their threads, so I decided to do the same as well: :)
http://www.geocities.com/studioartisticvisions/cg-images/conflictfinal.txt

[essencedesign]

Cool , thanks for sharing bud....very vibrant image for sure and a cool concept from the begining...nice to meet you here and thank you for the kind words in my thread as well. :thumbsup:

[ArtisticVisions]

http://www.geocities.com/studioartisticvisions/conflict/close1.txt
http://www.geocities.com/studioartisticvisions/conflict/close2.txt
http://www.geocities.com/studioartisticvisions/conflict/close3.txt
http://www.geocities.com/studioartisticvisions/conflict/close5.txt

Just a few more close-ups from the original file. :)

[monsitj]

congrat for finish entry man! hope to see you again next challenge!:bounce:

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