The Journey Begins Challenge (3D) Entry: Nicolas Stanek

[lostcat]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/10875/10875_1142038089_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/10875/10875_1142038089_large.jpg)

This rough sketch of the concept of my Journey will be an empiric vision of what could have been the day Xuanzang left his town for a long trip across China to reach India and bring back the Sutras... a blink inspired from the Journey to the west...Im not going with the characters of the Novel, but they will appear as they served the inspired vision of the the famous legends of the Monkey king .... But! In my version its no question of any comics/movies/TVseries character duplicata but a picture of Xuanzang himself leaving his disciples to engage his long march toward the West...

[SweD]

very very good concept and references. It will be epic for sure ! I'm really curious bout it ! waiting to see more.

Good luck and Have fun :thumbsup:

[mmoir]

Hey Nicolas,

I don't know the story but your concept sketch looks great.:thumbsup:

[varma]

Cool dimensions and wonderful concept!
Good luck!
:)

[lostcat]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/10875/10875_1142085835_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/10875/10875_1142085835_large.jpg)


Hi guys and thanks for your moral support! I wish everyone a great Journey!

I added a dragon (the Iguana), some pigs and of course, some monkeys...Now, Im gathering some references for the monks dresses and Im still trying to figure out what kind of position/mood and style the human figures will have...

[lostcat]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/10875/10875_1142151190_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/10875/10875_1142151190_large.jpg)


I Added a tiger laying peacfully on the enourmous banyan tree. He will eventually protect our pilgrim along his journey hence it is said in the legends ... I cant tell for sure if in the story, he meets his little kitty on his way back from India though but for now, he will just represent a powerful karma on top of Xuanzang....

mmmm, to be perfectly honest, Im really happy with the composition and how it turned out. I will try to stick with it as much as possible... Now the 3d part...Hope that I will have a real enligthment power boost for the 3d prod .... zen... stay zen

[lostcat]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/10875/10875_1142397351_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/10875/10875_1142397351_large.jpg)

Im starting by blocking the 3d environment against the painting so I can align everything and establish the distances between the objects in the scene. At this point Ive also established wich objects will corespond to a render layer... four render pass should divide the probably astronomically high number of polygons render pass. I will try to composit everything in PS... if I ever get there.


l8er

[Elentor]

Nice concept there and composition. I have some problems usually fitting my compositions in the same PoV as the concept and you have done this pretty well.

[lostcat]

Ok party people, Im finally back :scream: recovering from a HD crashed :rolleyes:... had to reinstall eveything and, man I almost cried. I was so pissed I almost didn have the guts to see how crazy people were doing in here...:bounce: Ok 'nough said, lets proceed with the latest developements...

[lostcat]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/10875/10875_1144012761_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/10875/10875_1144012761_large.jpg)

Lots of stuff going on here:
improved the evironment geometry also added a river and bridge. I started the banyan tree and Im doing some basic PaintFX grass test.


later

[lostcat]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/10875/10875_1144013693_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/10875/10875_1144013693_large.jpg)

Ive decided to use a paint FX approach for the clouds. I Modelled two planes one on top of the other so I can paintXF the curves (clouds) on two different height level.

[lostcat]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/10875/10875_1144026834_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/10875/10875_1144026834_large.jpg)

a quick render test, here's how it looks with a little depth fog and air density. Of course the lighting is still at a very primitive stage, but I like how the contrast cuts the front and the back ground, making everything readable.

see ya!

[lostcat]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/10875/10875_1144072827_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/10875/10875_1144072827_large.jpg)

Modelling the Iguana, dont think Im gonna had more details than this, the textures should do the rest.

[SajNT]

Nice work lostcat, I think we're almost after the same thing here :) Except I wish I could get more familiar with zbrush during the span of these few weeks left

[oceanbluesky]

Nice iguana model -- might want to run it through Z-brush...their website actually has alpha brushes which would paint nice bumps and scales on it, if you wish

Looking foward to seeing more, good luck!

[Staszek]

Very nice model of iguana - idea is cool too!

[lostcat]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/10875/10875_1145328399_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/10875/10875_1145328399_large.jpg)

Now lets get dirty...

[lostcat]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/10875/10875_1145364743_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/10875/10875_1145364743_large.jpg)

Modelling the monkey

[lostcat]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/10875/10875_1145364841_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/10875/10875_1145364841_large.jpg)

here's the tiger

[varma]

Great looking characters! Are those front paws finished?
I'll be looking more to this thread!
Clouds look good too, maybe some color variation can make it less uniform! Just a thought!
:)

[Nothingness]

hello nicolas,

the tiger caught my attention this time! One question about him: are the front feet gonna stay that way? It looks like he was wearing socks that grew attached to the legs.
Another thing: what are you gonna do with him? You gonaa use a texture or fur? I think you'll use texture because the body is too thick to be putting fur on.

Th feet of the pigs: do they actually look like that? I wouldn't know exactly, but now they look a bit like shoes with high heels. Maybe check up on that to be sure.

Also nice way to use the paint effects for the clouds. I'll have a look in that when i'll be needing the clouds. Do they also render in mentalRay ?

keep them updates commin ok! :cool:

[lostcat]

thanks for the comments Varma and Nothingness. I agree, this looks strange just like that ... Well I guess Im trying to find the essence of these animals rather than diggin for realism :)) + these animals will occupied a little fraction of space in the final image. Texturing and fur will do the rest of the job...hopefully
...I might take them for a longer Zbrush ride after the contest, who knows.

Paint FX are not gonna render in MR and unfortunatly, I want to throw in there a lot more than that and dont want to deal with shit loads of them converted in polys .. Im trying to find a good compositing strategy. I have done very little compositing work before. Now I feel like I will run into trouble soon.

BTW, Im still using my concept sketch as the final composition and how things should look like in the final version...sort of a challenge I imposed to myself...:deal:

[lostcat]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/10875/10875_1145500285_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/10875/10875_1145500285_large.jpg)

after a good shampoo, here comes the tiger...

[lostcat]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/10875/10875_1145507864_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/10875/10875_1145507864_large.jpg)

Oink! The pigs should be far enough so no need for more work, we wont see the skin details.

[lostcat]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/10875/10875_1145682375_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/10875/10875_1145682375_large.jpg)

Foxy monkey doing the parade

[Climax]

Hey, That is a good looking monkey :thumbsup:, nice furring! what do u use for hair? I use the shave&Haircut that comes with max, it is good but a pain when rendering, I also have used shag hair, but shamely it renders only with scanline render, I'll appreciate if you share your experience or tips :thumbsup:

[lostcat]

thanks Climax, that's Maya Fur, painted a few attributes maps. Im using two fur definitions, one for the eyebrows + his sort of moustache and one for the whole body. Rendering took 5 minutes in MR

[Womball]

That's quite an impressive pig! I haven't really experimented much with maya fur, can it be made as thick as grass or feathers? And can you use ansioscopic shaders?

[lostcat]

thanks Womball :) I believe you can make fur pretty thick, never used it for anything else than fur so I dont know how thick you can go (grass no problem). Using anisotropic shaders ? I dont thinks so... all IM using is the specular color and sharpness that come with it in the attributes editor... It's probably coded so it mimics the effects of an anisotropic shader...

[oceanbluesky]

Hey Nicolas, really terrific job on the hair! Very nice! (Hope you didn't spend ages churning out test version hair-renders...always seems to take me forever to get hair to look right, especially with the five minute renders you mention.)

Look forward to seeing more! Good luck!

[rasamaya]

Hey, This is a great thread, I enjoyed your posts. Your characters are fun! I need to do a bunch next week at least 5 but more like 10-20. Noahs Ark is my theme. Im kinda jealous your are so completed. Have you tried rendereing fur with renderman, deep shadows look great.Ill be back

[lostcat]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/10875/10875_1145856424_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/10875/10875_1145856424_large.jpg)

Here's a first draft of my monk or rather the template character Im going to use for cloning the rest of the croud. After that, a quick individual surgery in Zbrush will give them a little personality. Ok, lets Pelt this man and get the UV unwrapped so we can move on!

[oceanbluesky]

Hey Nicolas, really like your theme and perspective...had to look up Xuanzang...found this link if others are interested in knowing more about your cool backstory:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xuanzang

What a noble subject to have chosen. Looking foward to seeing more, good luck!

[lostcat]

Thanks Oceanbluesky and Rasamaya for your kind support!!

Jounrey to the West is a great Novel and for sure Boudhism as many old religion is an infinit gold mine for supernatural and fantastic inspiration... Im trying to render all this enlightment in Mental Ray (except for paint FX)

I let my cosmic consciousness speak through Maya, the divine power of creation, my Godess of illusions:bounce:

[Womball]

Ooh a human. He overall looks very good. Some tweaks though that I think he could benefit from:

His upperlip looks too puffy and your losing the plane of skin that sits right on top of the upperlip. Check the edges of the lips. There doesn't seem to be the 3rd fold of skin there created by the NODE! Its a connection point where most of the lip muscles attach. Its tends to create a slight swelling toward the innerlip. And it is slightly raised.

The knees lack detail and look box modeled. So I would suggest beveling some of the boxiness of it.

The feet aren't quite feet yet. There is no arch from side to side (flatfooted). Also his feet are tiny! I know it used to be a custom for women to bind their feet in Asian countries, but I don't think men ever did it. A foot is a little bigger than the head in length.

Overall very nice modeling!

[lostcat]

Good call Womball ...it's pretty much what I had spotted as well... and I can't wait to give him a buffer job tonight :D

[lostcat]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/10875/10875_1146027714_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/10875/10875_1146027714_large.jpg)

Here's our fellow monk, in the subd form wearing a misss fast skin shader.

[lostcat]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/10875/10875_1146114848_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/10875/10875_1146114848_large.jpg)

started some monks cassock...

[Womball]

Looking much better! hahahahha, great use of the ying yang! The shouldders lack definition and the back of the upperarm is kind of lumpy.

[lostcat]

That's right Womball, something is wrong with the arms/shoulder area... and it needs some more nerves and muscles for sure...
the Uvs are done though... about an hour... Pelting Tools (http://sunitparekh.com/pelting/) to the rescue :buttrock:
getting to really like this plugin a lot!

I should start texturing him in the very near futur

[alvin-cgi]

Good models and concept:cool:

The Journey Begins (http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?t=322760&highlight=alvin)
Spectacular 3D (http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?t=275950&highlight=alvin)

[lostcat]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/10875/10875_1146279475_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/10875/10875_1146279475_large.jpg)

Fixed a couples of things: his head arms and where shoulder bend.

[lostcat]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/10875/10875_1146724290_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/10875/10875_1146724290_large.jpg)

added a belt and a few straps on the shoes...

[lostcat]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/10875/10875_1146725710_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/10875/10875_1146725710_large.jpg)

I finally upgraded the statue on your left! I also modeled a new banyan tree... perhaps a fig struggler this time :)) I dont know... worked on the grass and made the fall behind the tree really quickly with some paint fx after spending a fairly good amount of time to revamp the whole mountain. Textures are temporary and soon to be replaced by something more hand crafted... how many more month do we have ?

[lostcat]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/10875/10875_1146807493_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/10875/10875_1146807493_large.jpg)

The baniyan tree modeling is almost complete. The Iguana is ready to be installed on the statue/Totem.

[oceanbluesky]

Wow Nicolas that Monk looks fantastic! Really love the rich hues of his cloak. Nice use of the SSS Shader too. Looking forward to seeing the igunana comped in...

Good luck!

[lostcat]

Hey thanks Oceanbluesky!
Well the poor guy is about to go for a 17 years walk to India, and he doesnt even have a single pocket on his jacket.... hmmmm hold on...

:beer:

[lostcat]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/10875/10875_1147242827_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/10875/10875_1147242827_large.jpg)

Hi, Ill just throw a whole bunch of stuff on him and reuse the props on the other monks later if I can get to clone him... worked mainly on his clothings, but it's time to move on.... so much texturing left to do!

[lostcat]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/10875/10875_1147243328_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/10875/10875_1147243328_large.jpg)

I finally sit the Iguana in place. I also worked a lot on the grass, the falls, the clouds and the pine tree. Etc. I should start texturing the front crags and the valley with some real painted textured asap...times fly!

[Womball]

The background looks fantastic! However the iguana kind of looks like a rock. His color is too close to that of the pedestal orb he is on. Maybe a touch of rim lighting would help to pop him out.

[lostcat]

Thanks Whomball :beer: and yeah, she needs another skin, with more spec and bumps... For the final these characters will cover much more space so I really need to start the texturing factory and get some zbrushing/paintin goin and add some more depth to this...

[Womball]

Also I kind of like the taller grass too. Looks more expressive to me. But that's just my opinion. You may want to all try giving the iguana some emittance.

[lostcat]

hmmm, I must admit I was feeling rather happy with the grass, but since you mentioned it, now it feels like it was cultivated, like too healthy... let me had some more wildness in it and some long and crying dying grass... ;)

[lostcat]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/10875/10875_1147413977_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/10875/10875_1147413977_large.jpg)

Hello out there!
I completed his clothes and I gave him a little bag, a case to carry his scripts and a water bottle. I promise it's the last time you see him in his binding pose, and textures are coming...

[kreuz]

i love all of your models , really amazing:thumbsup:

[lostcat]

Hey Thanks kreuz, Im glad you like it!
Best luck !

[lostcat]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/10875/10875_1148318256_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/10875/10875_1148318256_large.jpg)

Here Im placing the tiger on the banyan. Im having trouble rendering paintFX with fur ? Like one will prevent the other to render (maya renderer), very frustrating...Or more probably, Im doing something wrong that I can really spot

...investigating...

[lostcat]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/10875/10875_1148319081_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/10875/10875_1148319081_large.jpg)

Ive basically completed the textures for his head, body and accessories, Ill left the cloack for later, now it's gonna be tight with the deadline as how much more detail I will decide to put in....For the model of Xuanzang, I "quickly" deformed the polygon meshes using FBIK and skin weighting than I sculpt-deformeded the result in Zb to pumped back up some of the articulation distortion. Gave him a stick (not textured yet)...comments are welcome

[safe05]

Nice modeling and texturing. I also like his design. His hands seem a little "self-illuminated" though. (i.e. loss of shading)

[Womball]

This is coming along great! The scene overall looks a tad bit dark though.

[lostcat]

I agree for the hands Safe05, dont know if Mentalray considered sss object occlusion when using miss_fast_skin, Ill try to fix that or hide it


thanks Womball, and I have to admit: I have 2 monitors here, one that makes my stuff looks hell of a dark and another new one that gives me just the right feel (subjectively speaking) and much more depth and contrast. Also consider that the tiger is under a tree in the jungle ...mmm generally speaking, I do dark stuff

[lostcat]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/10875/10875_1148355155_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/10875/10875_1148355155_large.jpg)

Who's Up for a mud bath.... Anyone? I mean any comments?

[Womball]

They are almost perfect! I would add a light pink sss shader on them to get them to glow slightly.

[lostcat]

Thanks Womb! An sss shader ? That's what they wear now actually, although the diffuse map might swallow a bit too much light...Ill check that out...

[lostcat]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/10875/10875_1148622276_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/10875/10875_1148622276_large.jpg)

Ive sketched out some farmers very quickly by deforming the Xuanzang model in zbrush and posing them with bones then I sent the models back and forth between Z and Maya til I got that.

[lostcat]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/10875/10875_1148622838_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/10875/10875_1148622838_large.jpg)

Here we see a statue of Xuanzang alone in the dark for the last time hopefully! His thumbs look odd, I know, I ll fix it...I ll fix it...

[Womball]

Whoa he's got a upside down heart spear! Very fancy. Hopefully composistion will be shown soon! Its getting close you know.

[KOryH]

Supurb modeling and work on the BG.
I can't wait to see this finished.

[lostcat]

KOryH, Whomball thanks for the keen comments! It's gonna be tight I know!!! I havent plan to sleep tonight

Oh well, I doubt I will have enough time to really come up with a very polished composition, but Ill do my best, promise... in anycase Im gonna post the result in the 3d forum and spend some extra time to achieve what I had in mind!

[lostcat]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/10875/10875_1148774454_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/13/10875/10875_1148774454_large.jpg)

I think I ve uploaded this image like 3 second before the deadlines... could nt finish it ...for many reasons :(((... but thats ok, overall Ive learn a great deal during the process...

I wish best luck to all of the participant! After all, many of you have win a new cool image to add in the portfolio!!

[Womball]

Really cool image! You have to look to find things, but that's pretty cool. Where is the monk though?

[lostcat]

http://www.borgdust.com/portfolio3d/images/3d/big03.jpg

Here's a render test of sme monks composited, crappy... I should open an other thread soon and really put everything together as I envisioned...

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