Chemistry Lab - Hms Challenger, William Neumann (3D)

[korgano]

I really like this render, though simple are relativly monochromatic it is clean and perfect for a museum to show where and what everything is. It reminds me of a more modern lab for Steven Maturin (from the Patrick O'Brian novels that the movie Master and Commander was based)...

The only crits that I can give are:
a) the sissors do not seem to have much depth
b) the door nob is too shiny and less tarnished/dull
c) it would be nice to see what is going on in the back right since there seem to be many intereseting objects back there that the frame of the shot somewhat hides.

all around good work, cheers!

[neofisk]

Korgano,

Thanks for the comments. I agree with your points ... if I had had more time, I would have worked on those. Deadlines come too soon ...

Here's the sketch that I used as my reference pic:

http://neofisk.com/ChemLabRef.jpg

You'll see some obvious differences, and some omissions, but like I said ... deadlines.http://cgtalk.com/images/smilies/smile.gif

Thanks again!

[-CCFly-]

nice detail, but the shadows of that chain close to the window look weird.

[Afraid of the Dark]

I think it's a great illustation, however it doesn't look like it belongs in a ship, let alone a 19th century one.

[neofisk]

CCFly,

Hmmm ... you're right ... the chain is modeled, too. Must be something to do with the lighting I've set up ... too close to the chain maybe. The shadow looks a bit large, too, now that I look closer. Next time ...

Afraid of the Dark,

Glad you like the illustration. I thought it looked pretty modern for the day, too ... but it's taken from the reference pic ... and other sketches and even photos I've seen from the expedition look pretty modern, too. I guess the scientists on board were cutting edge. :) Here are a few links to some other info about the expedition / ship (if you're interested):

http://life.bio.sunysb.edu/marinebio/challenger.html

http://www.challengeroceanic.com/chal.htm

Pretty modern looking equipment ...

Thanks to all for the comments.

[Creieru]

I think you did a nice job...
I think u shoud make the shadows more soften.
I would have made the picture more coloured.
Stiil, nice job!

[HellBoy]

hay that is so cool, did you do that sketch by hand plus when you said software: others, whats others or is it personal? :rolleyes:

[neofisk]

Creieru,

Thanks for the comments! I was using mapped shadows in this image ... but the shadows still came out a bit too sharp. I would have tried something more like GI, but in trueSpace, and on my old 1.2 GHz machine, it would have taken a few days (at least) to render. There is so much transparency (glass material) and reflection (glass and metal) that it just made the render crawl. http://cgtalk.com/images/smilies/rolleyes.gif And that's just for this one still image! The scene was intended to be used for a short animation clip, so I had to make it work with a farily short render time per frame.

Marsame,

Glad you like the image. http://cgtalk.com/images/smilies/smile.gif The sketch wasn't done by me, actually ... it was done by the naturalist on board the HMS Challenger back in the 1870s. I wish I could sketch like that! The way parallel lines are used to do the shading makes his sketch look much "fuller" or "busier" than my 3D image. That may not have been in the original sketch, though. I imagine the sketch was later used as the source for an etching so it could be printed in the books written about the expedition.

I tried to fill in details about the scene, too. There wasn't much reference material available to me, so I had to guess on some things. For example, I thought the room should probably be a light color. The only source of light (other than oil lamps or candles) was the small port or window, so painting the room a light color would have maximized the reflected light. The scientific equipment was pretty amazing, too. Like the microscope ... it used a small mirror to reflect light from below and through the slide / specimen plate. They really got a lot done with the tools they had ...

The only software I used, other than trueSpace, was Photoshop ... just to do a little touch up and to sharpen the image a bit.

Thanks again for the comments.

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