Finished: West Point Pencil

[Joebount]

Flat ground, ok rendering. It lakes the realism touch. Dunno where.

[Theta-Dot]

Really? gee...damn. Well how do I fix it?

[elgordo]

I think that's 'cause the letters appear to be extremely defined, not distorted neither defocussed. I also find the lightning too warm.

Anyway good work!!!!!!

[Theta-Dot]

Why would they be distorted or defocused? The camera was aimed right at those letters. Hmm.... I'm not very good at this.

[road]

Nah bullcrap this looks awesome!!!!
I love it... The only thing that you may need to work on is what it's sitting on... is that a table? or what the pencil is awesome i wouldn't change anything!

[Theta-Dot]

It's sitting on a writing pad, and that's pretty much how it looks. It's right in front of me. I thought I did a good job on the pad:)

[road]

ahh.... never seen a writing pad that color.....
you may think about making it a different color or maybe with some lines on the paper or something... just an idea though... I think you've done a good job on this ...

keep up the great work

[Theta-Dot]

It's not really a notepad or anything if that's what you were thinking. It goes on my desk to protect the wood. It's just a big piece of paper on top of a piece of cardboard. Thanks a lot for the comments though, guys.

-ThetaDot-

[webfox]

It looks really good. I think the reason it's not quite photoreal is because of how generic the reflections seem.

The only thing that really bothers me is that the clip stands up in the air. A pen tends to roll onto the clip and rest against the ground plane with it. The surface that the pen is resting on would have to be squishy to keep it from rolling until the clip touches the writing surface.

It's very good, though.

I have a question. There are a lot of spark plugs and pens being rendered and posted to these groups. Is this some sort of class assignment?

Keep at it. You're doing great so far. :)

[Theta-Dot]

Well, after deducing that it was possible for the pen to actually rest like that, I thought it was ok to show it like that. It's possible, so it works. Right? Thanks for the comments guys

-ThetaDot-

[metallimonkey]

Hey Theta-Dot, Great job on this. You seem agitated with the responses people are giving, they are just trying to help by throwing out some suggestions, they are not trying to insult you. I also thought of the clip thing that webfox mentioned. Overall, it's a nice rendering.

[bigbad]

It looks great.

Do you have a orginal picture of that pen. You should put it in the thread.

Put the clip on the other side, touching the ground. Because I,ve never seen a pen keeping its balanse like that. The text is to much in the middle. Looks like you´ve done them in photoshop or something.

You should test these thing because you have the skill to do that.

[Theta-Dot]

No I don't have a picture of the pen. I actually have the real pen, so that's what I used. I just tried it. I can get the pen to rest like that very easily I assure you. That pose is very possible. The text was done in the program (max)... but it is flat text. I couldn't get the text to bend in the direction I needed it to bend (around the pencil)... So I could fix that. Don't really know how to though, there are no horizontal cross-sections of the text object to bend it on. Thanks guys

=ThetaDot=

[gfx]

Originally posted by Theta-Dot
The text was done in the program (max)... but it is flat text. I couldn't get the text to bend in the direction I needed it to bend (around the pencil)... So I could fix that. Don't really know how to though, there are no horizontal cross-sections of the text object to bend it on. Thanks guys
=ThetaDot=

Why can't you just make the text in some 2d app and use it as a texture? - that way you can rough it up a little bit - softer edges and it'll be shaped to the pencil when you map it.

[Theta-Dot]

I never though of that. That's a good idea. I'll try it when I can. Thanks!

-ThetaDot-

[reaver]

Thats really nice mate.

Don't take it so hard I've just posted my first pic in the finished gallery and I got absolutely battered (I had to bite my lip a few times)

So I'm sticking to the WIP section I don't need the grief.

For my part I think you've done a really good job. if you want the text to wrap around the pen slightly maybe try using the bend modifier

Or maybe boolean it out of the pen then slightly bevel the edges to catch the light.

But to be honest I think their all talking out of their A........is that the time:)

Good luck and keep your chin up.

Cheers.

Nick.

[Renzsu]

Hi there, I think you've got all the ingredients for a great render and already looks very cool, however the tips people gave are really usefull. Often photoreal pics look photoreal because of the little 'faults' in the image. A real glass bottle always has some deformations or wear, plastic has some fingerprints or whatever..
If I were you I'd still try to roll the clip to its side. Just the fact that the real pen stays in that pose if you put it there doesn't mean it's a very obvious pose (try throwing your pen on the desk, see what pose it ends up in ;) )
And about that desk, it looks a bit like orange canson paper, and therefore not a very likely desk material. Maybe you should show the edges of your deskpaper as well? Maybe put half on the paper, half on the actual desk? perhaps it creates some nice contrast?
Maybe you can put some writing (little things you put down during a phone call or something) on that paper, so that it isn't that sterile?

Anyways, we don't put you off from experimenting? ;)

[Theta-Dot]

Ok. I can roll the pen so the clip is resting on the ground, but I'll move the text so it's still facing the camera. Great idea putting it on the edge. That would look great. I'll get on it when I get done with this damn Calculus! Don't really have any good wood textures though...

Thanks for the suggestions!

-ThetaDot-

[Sandpiper]

Hey Theta-Dot.

The pen is looking great for real. The comments:

As far as the relections go, I would say this: Your reflections are only as good as the environment it's reflecting. So if you only have the pen, the pad, and the max default background, then the reflection won't look nearly as good as if you had the room modeled up around you and was reflecting that. Now, I don't even suggest modeling up the entire room, but you should consider maybe an environment map with some decent contrast between dark, mid, and light. Even if you just used some sort of gradient, then that would help I think. I'm sure not everyone agrees, but that's my two cents. :thumbsup:

Are you using raytracing for this or not?

[Theta-Dot]

Sorry I know I was kinda slow doing this....
Anyway I fixed the clip, and shifted the camera over. Does the text still need fixing? Is the DOF to much? Thanks

(The image is reposted onto the very first post, on Pg. 1)

-ThetaDot-

[sumpm1]

I've never seen a pen do what that pen is doing. It's not possible man. You are full of crap. I shun you're entire family.

Just kiddin man!

I don't see what everybody is criticising, looks damn good to me!

[Theta-Dot]

All the comments on the 1st page are pertaining to the old picture, so that's why people are complaining a lot:)

-ThetaDot-

[reaver]

It looks spot on to me.

Nice work.

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