Grand Space Opera 3D Entry: Alexander Lehmann

[lehmi]

Hi,

I wish everyone around best of luck for the contest.
About 2 months to go and I hope that timeframe is sufficient to get my image done.
Actually this is my very first bigger render project... I bet I can get the final maxfile done... but can't render it in time due to missing experience ;)

I will post the idea, sketches and some sort of story in a few hours.

Thanks for watching - I'm participating to refine my skills in terms of creating high poly renderable stuff :) Critics are more than welcome since that's the only reason I entered ;)

-Alex

[lehmi]

So basically what I wanted to make is some sort of a floating Power plant.
Around the year 2500 humanity runs out in terms of energy and ressources.
So they invent a prototype of a powerplant that's floating over the sun (or some parts of the sun that will be split away from it during that era)

So the image shows the moment, where the plant "touches" the surface of the sun (or one of it's parts) the first time - the moment that decides if all the years of researching and building the plant have paid off, or if they've been a waste of time/ressources (that would mean the end of the civilization btw. ;) )

Focus of the image is definately the plant, but there will be some observe and repair drones flying around (and probably even some astronauts) In the background is the sun and the tentacle like pipes of the plant touching it.

I will model the scene in rough shapes first, to check the composition and maybe even coloring etc.

thanks for reading!

[lehmi]

http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/7/5297/5297_1101060569_medium.jpg (http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/7/5297/5297_1101060569_large.jpg)

Very rough concept sketches. I'll use them to hammer down some shapes and the arrangement of the parts.

They're really just reminders, so I don't forget some of the ideas I had for the various parts during the modeling.

[jammin]

hey Lehmi, looking forward to all the mechanics (and the fire, yeah, yeah)

i've got a lot of fire and smoke too, so i'll be watching this because i may be needing your help

good luck and happy modelilng:)

ben

[lehmi]

cool thanks :)

I will post some rough model that I did for the composition this evening

not sure if there will be fire in the pic... but definately a nice glowing sun surface shader :)
not sure if I can help you though... as stated before I'm pretty to all this stuff... but I'll do my best if you need some tips :)

[SnakeFarlow]

Hi, Thanks for the advice.

Your models looks good, I would like to see those in 3D. A stupid advice maybe, try to use paper without squares, they make dificult to understand better your work.

Snake Farlow. The rogue.

[tzktime]

maybe i missed it but if not then show us some composition sketches, so far u only have sketches for your power plant :) agree with snakefarlow, use blank paper.. its much clearer.

[lehmi]

true!

next time I'll use blank paper (and my scanner instead of my camera)
I'll maybe do the compo stuff in 3dsmax as well... not sure yet.

check back in a few hours for new pics

[Climax]

Wilkomen! Your idea looks nice! looking forward to see its evolution, Viele Spaß!

[lehmi]

http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/7/5297/5297_1101155119_medium.jpg (http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/7/5297/5297_1101155119_large.jpg)

Well this is a very rough modeled concept of the powerplant.

I hope I can find some time tomorrow, to either sketch a composition image or arrange the elements of the picture with this rough model... not much missing but a sun and some floating part of the sun + various other stuff

Critics more than welcome!

[overcontrast]

hey nice modeling man....nice detail and i like the tanticles also... very nicely done... keep it up man.... btw can we plz see you concept drawing for the final scene? :thumbsup:

[SnakeFarlow]

Hey, you are doing it good. Your first modeling is very impresive, looks complex, i would like to see more of your work, keep working hard.

Only one thing, there are two shapes at the beginning of your model. what is it? i think that it does not match with the rest of shapes.

Hope this helps.

SnakeFarlow. The rogue.

[lehmi]

hey thanks!
glad that you like it.

I will make some more screenshots of the various parts when I come home.



It's true, the edgy part looks pretty off atm. It's just a placeholder for a more modern and complex home for the guys who work @ the plant. It will have some windows etc. soon!
it will be a lot more rounded... maybe it'll seem as if it's made out of cylinder that have been melt together.



Now I will make a sketch for the final compo and I will soon post the composition made in 3dsmax... with placeholders for sun, the split up parts of the sun and some of the observe&repair drones :)


thanks for your replies!

[oneir0s]

I like it too but I think that you need to cross more times the tentacles for make it a little bit more organical the model and a little variation of sizes along can to help it (bigger in the start, little in the end.)

It´s only an idea.

[nuclearman]

Alex, lots of luck with your scene. I haven't had a lot of luck making the surface of the plasma ball work properly in my own entry, so I'll be keeping tabs on how you manage to iron out the problems with simulating the surface of the sun. What app are you using?

[lehmi]

I am using 3dsmax.

Not sure how I will approach with the sun surface... I probably go for a procedural shader... maybe mixed with some bitmap textures...

I will post the final story and composition sketch today!
Good luck with your plasma ball... if I happen to make something that you like... feel free to ask me how...

more soon!

Alex

[lehmi]

http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/7/5297/5297_1101310168_medium.jpg (http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/7/5297/5297_1101310168_large.jpg)

Finally got my scanner running.
This sketch shows the rough layout of the scene.

Sun in the right hand background. Floating glowing parts of the sun scattered above it's surface. Focus point is the powerplant that's sucking the energy out of one of these "asteroids".

I will now move on to coloring, and maybe optimizing the composition...


I appreciate any comments!
Thanks...

[lehmi]

http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/7/5297/5297_1101317453_medium.jpg (http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/7/5297/5297_1101317453_large.jpg)

Just colored the sketch.

Turned the view around because the thing look a lot more impressice imo...

Not sure about the perspective yet... hmmm

suggestions?


Thanks,
Alex

[VHashishV]

nice. Can not wait to start to see the details come out :)

[Climax]

• Great updates Alex, you are going fast! Seems like your machine funtions perfectly on Sun's surface, lovely coloring, try to make heat distortions in the "air" so we can feel the Heat!

Keep it up my friend, i looks you are close to finish!!

[tzktime]

Maybe you could try composition on a different angle. This angle doesn't look quite right but it is good nonetheless. Keep it up! :thumbsup:

[lehmi]

Hey the idea with the heat distortion is really cool...

Yeah the angle of the camera / plant is not final yert... it think I'll move it a bit closer so that you can see more of the station and it looks more gigantic.

I will now rebuild the scene in max with placeholders and optimize the composition.
Thanks for the feedback!

[lehmi]

The Story:


Just when the Global-Space-Foundation will be founded in the Year 2500, scientists will notice, that the sun is starting to push out little bits of it's surface. It will be an unknown phenomenon and reports will show that this harmless effect is humanitys opportunity, to develope a new source for electricity.
A powerplant will be developed to turn the heat of these asteroids into electricity. The conctruction and transportation of this gigantic device will consume every last bit of humanitys energy - therefore it will be their last hope - their last chance to keep the civilisation intact.

The powerplant consists of four "powerseekers" that are planted into the asteroids surface, the core itself, which is a device that converts the heat into electricity, and a part where all the workers and scientists will be living in. At it's very end, there will be the docking station. The converted electricity will be sent into one of these four containers, which are transported back and forth constantly between the plant and the earth.

[Eagle_e7]

Hi lehmi

Great concept, I look forward to seeing some more. :)

[lehmi]

wayshttp://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/7/5297/5297_1101482185_medium.jpg (http://www.cgnetworks.com/challenge/entries/7/5297/5297_1101482185_large.jpg)

Here's the old model in scene with camara and background compo...


what do you think of angle/view overaul feel?
Maybe it's better if I shrink the thing down a in height, so I can get a bit closer and show more detail in all these parts

any tips or ideas how to improve it are very welcome!

[lehmi]

Starting with the in detail modeling now... I will replace all placeholders one after another!
check back for changes!

:)

[nuclearman]

Alex, the composition question is a particularly tough one, since you can't really use "realistic" lighting techniques (this close to the sun, there wouldn't be any shadows on the powerplant, as luminous gases ranging from 80,000 to 2 million degrees Kelvin extend a good distance from the surface, giving rise to the solar corona). If you want a better sense of what the lighting would entail, check out some of the information on the SOHO -- Solar and Heliospheric Observatory -- project that's been monitoring the sun since 1994:

http://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/object/index.cfm?fobjectid=2546

So ... what's the best way to present a massive engineering project of this kind? Well, if you want to try to be "realistic," I'd first posit a specially designed "visible light observatory" on a neighboring powerplant -- something heavily shielded and using all sorts of special filters so that we get a "reduced luminance" view of the powerplant in question. Next, I'd set up the camera there, and acknowledge that's where you're shooting from.

If you want to be more practical, you could render the image of one of the powerplants as it is heading past Mercury on its way to its destination. That way, at least you'd be able to deal with somewhat better lighting conditions. If you go that route, I'd suggest renting copies of the films 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY (paying careful attention to the sections involving the Discovery spacecraft) and SILENT RUNNING (for the "beauty shots" of the Valley Forge spacecraft), since those films will give you an excellent idea of how to get the most out of a very linear model.

If you go the significantly more challenging route of trying to present the scene as you have it, you might benefit from a viewing of the 2003 sf film, THE CORE, which does a pretty remarkable job of trying to visualize what it would be like in the superheated molten of the Earth's core. That film used Max for a lot of the fx shots, so insights gleaned from a careful viewing of the film (or getting ahold of the Cinefx issue with a lengthy article on how the fx were done) should be trasnferable to your project.

[jammin]

nice, Alex.

i like the mood at this point (nuclearman has some good reference for ya on shots, lighting, etc.) -he has a good point too, that this scene/camera angle would be completley blasted with light if you were using real world lighting for this shot. on the other hand, who says we need to be grounded in reality? -i kinda like the 'moody' colors and surreal feel you have here and hope you pursue it even more...

composition-wise, it seems too early for me to tell -right now my eyes want to leave the image through all that heavy black space you have on either side of the power plant. when this area is filled with transports, planets, magma, heatwaves or whatever, this probably won't be the case and i think we will be able get a better feel for the overall comp. there are those that will agree that it can sometimes be more efficient to work out details like this on paper (even w/ stick figures, hasty sketches, thumbnails, gum or anything else...) first, before we get too far along with our 3d.

keep up the great progress; i'm looking forward to more!
ben

[lehmi]

nuclearman: Thank for the great reference tips! Yeah I already knew at the beginning that this would'nt be possible in reality... and I will rather go for a more artistic and illustrative lighting rather than something that's based on reality! Thank you very much for the ideas and film title's I'll surely check out some of these!!


jammin: Good point... I'll think about making more handdawn stuff before I go on with modeling... (slow progress atm, since I'm very busy with more important things :( )


I'l keep you updated!

[userBrian]

lehmi- You took a month off from the challenge! Well, I hope you find peace
in your new quests.

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

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