My First Work Ever in MAYA (or 3D in general)

[soundwav_]

:D Nah, it's no Bong... (although you CAN smoke pot with it, but it's not why it was invented)...

it uses flavoured tabacco... very tasty :)

I want to finish with the modelling first, and then I'll add the materials... I'll probably need help with the glass material :shrug: ....

More updates SOON

[SheepFactory]

Its not a bong ,

I ordered mine a week ago , cant wait to smoke some apple tobacco :)

You are missing the brass plate that should be close to the top part. Its to collect any fallen ashes\tobacco.

You should use some oriental motifs when texturing the glass part.

good luck

[soundwav_]

OK, I added the tray at the top of the hookah's body...
I've colored the different surfaces just to give an idea on what's going on...

next thing: the hose... :hmm:

................

[soundwav_]

OK, this time I've added the hose's handles.
the one on the floor goes in the mouth, and the other goes to the hookah...
Now all I have to do is the actual hose that connects the two handles... and materials...

(again, if you want to see how it should look like, go to this hookah site, and check out the hoses... (and hookahs) (http://www.hookah-shisha.com/)

and crits and suggestions are welcome!

[soundwav_]

well, I'm done with the hose...

I've put some colors and Maya's default wood texture just to illustrate how it should look like, more or less...

Next step: Creating the real textures, and set up some good lights for a change (any suggestions???)

:bounce: :shrug:

[Max4ever]

well well well hellrender...nice avatar man! ;) :D

[soundwav_]

Well, I made the glass shader for the hookah's base, and on a small part of the mouthpiece...

I always not so glad with my glass shaders, but it's nice :shrug:

As always, I'll be glad if you'll give some tips, or critics... :D

[Gentle Fury]

Originally posted by HellRender
*hates maya's renderer*

looks good so far, just looks so tacky with that maya renderer.... get some plugins, or 3rd-party renderers.... a good renderer makes simple cubes look awesome!!

(i have proof... www.hellrender.com/MaxCubes3.jpg) :D

yeah but a good artist can make mayas renderer sing :)

ive gotten pretty decent at it!

http://exurostudios.com/testimages/better_angle.jpg

rendered in mayas native renderer.

[soundwav_]

So you think it's the Maya renderer that makes the glass look not too glassy?

I've heard some good things about Mental Ray and Brazil...

Can someone recommend of a GOOD renderer? :surprised

Thanks!

[ThirdEye]

Yes, Mental Ray and Brazil ;)

[soundwav_]

ok, I think I'm done with the real wood textures for the pipe's handles... and the shader I made for the hookah's body...

any thoughts? :eek:

[jeb]

if the ray difuse plugin still exists... you should get it

very nice model

[Gentle Fury]

Originally posted by soundwav_
So you think it's the Maya renderer that makes the glass look not too glassy?

I've heard some good things about Mental Ray and Brazil...

Can someone recommend of a GOOD renderer? :surprised

Thanks!

actually (completely disregarding what i had said......lol) the reason the glass doesnt look like glass is not the renderer. It is the shader and the lighting......first, the lighting is WAY too uniform for anything to look real cut down on the ambience......shadows are our friend....they give objects depth.

Second, the only way for glass to look like glass is to have it reflect something!

http://exurostudios.com/testimages/image_lighting_truck_rear.jpg

http://exurostudios.com/testimages/image_lighting_truck.jpg

http://exurostudios.com/testimages/overhead_truck.jpg

that was just a crappy lighting test i was working on......it doesnt even have any textures at all......but see how it looks more like metal and glass by reflecting something.

One of the physical principles of any shiny object (with the exception of colored objects) is that they do not difuse any of their own light. They merely reflect everything elses light.......so silver is actually the absence of any self-color......it is made up of everything around it that it reflects........so a mirror in a void would be black and basically invisible.

another major flaw is the way light is shining thru the glass. As light is bent thru a round glass object it diminishes and appears to get darker as it rounds the edge.......this goes for any thick transparent object (which this appears to be)

since you are using maya you can easily fix this problem.

Apply a ramp to the transparency and apply a Sampler Info utility node to the objects out U and V, then adjust the ramp based on the thickness of the glass.......this will make it so the outside edge of the object will always be darker and less transparent then the part that the camera is visibly able to see thru.

Maya is a creative and artistic tool........dont blame the canvas for your not knowing how to use the paint :)

[soundwav_]

OK... I've set up a simple scene just to test the lighting and reflections and stuff...

hmm... I need some help with the lights...
I used 2 soft spot lights (only one of them casts shadows).

I really need to know how to set good lighting...

Tell me what you think, guys & gals!


(The blue shaders are assigned to objects that I haven't made their textures yet)

[Gentle Fury]

gentile fury...
lol, that render dont look all that good


and what did you find so horrible about the renders i posted? True neither of them are completed work, but thats the best i can drudge up here as i have just recently moved and all my work is in boxes.

but i dont really see what is so horrible about what i posted.

[soundwav_]

I think Fury's renders look great... especially the 2nd one.

I fetched Mental Ray 1.5 for Maya...

I played a bit with the lights, rendered with Mental Ray and this is the result... hmmm... tell me what you think.

[Array]

heheh, mentalray isnt the kind of renderer that one can get good results from without a LOT of tweaking. this is a VERY good image for a first try though. keep it up! :thumbsup:

[Gentle Fury]

Originally posted by Array
heheh, mentalray isnt the kind of renderer that one can get good results from without a LOT of tweaking. this is a VERY good image for a first try though. keep it up! :thumbsup:

I certainly agree, we all have to start somewhere.

and this is a very good start

and thank you soundwav_ i appreciate the compliment :)

but like i said they are def not the best i can do, just used to show examples of what im talking about.....the truck is so pre-lim its not even funny.......lol

[soundwav_]

Thanks, people!

I try to get some better results...
I'll add depth of field the minute I'll figure out how :D

[DimitrisLiatsos]

:bounce: Stop arguing about a perfectly good renderer(maya's ) and let's all explain this guy some basic lighting setups to make his model come to life!!!:bounce:


Try warm up your scene ...close raytrace for start.....put a key light in front of your model and right up (ligt casts shadows)

Pur a second light (directional ) behind model , looking at the camera and lighting a lit thr right- back side of model (light which doesn't cast shadows and basically is helping the eye to cut out the model from background. A cold light (light blue form the left front ..used as a fill Light..!!!
I would experiment with that in ipr (positionand intensity) and then i would raytrace the scene.


That's my two cents.....and No Maya's renderer is not the worst renderer out there ( i would never blame a tool ....only the artist!!!.....:rolleyes:

[soundwav_]

I can't agree more, DimitrisLiatsos!!!

Like they say... a bad dancer always blames the floor... or the less known sentence: every woman will look good to you after enough beer!

Thanks for the tips, DimitrisLiatsos! Will do!

[Gentle Fury]

bravo DimitrisLiatsos
:applause: :applause:

nice post :)

[DimitrisLiatsos]

Supplemental...


In order to put Depth of Field in your scene ( in order to have meaning putting DOF) i think u should put some other stuff in your scene...or u will DOF a scene where your model will be around a blurred wall ....u want that?


Try pixho.com for some studies in light setup....don't use GI or fake GI for your scene...u will loose all the highlights with GI....

That's all...hope i helped!!!

[soundwav_]

I've created the lights DimitrisLiatsos recommended...
I'll check Pixho later on...

This is where I stand so far...

[blindleader]

hey nice bong

I saw first work ever and thought, oh dear, it's not a chrome ball on a chequered plane is it...;)

This is coming along very nicely. I don't use Maya but I know the renderer can do some great things in the right hands, get to know it before you go on to more complex rendering systems :thumbsup:

Great start to 3d.

[soundwav_]

updates coming really really soon...

I've just been busy for a while... jobs & stuff...

hopefully I'll post an update later today, or tomorrow...

[soundwav_]

BAD NEWS, PEOPLE!

Well... if you noticed, I haven't posted updates recently...
The sad reason is that my HDD crashed and I had to format it all.

:thumbsdow :thumbsdow :thumbsdow :thumbsdow :annoyed:

hmm... so, sadly, I must announce that the last picture posted here is the Final picture :thumbsdow

Thanks to all the people who helped!
Time to the next project...

argh.... :thumbsdow

C'ya around, people.

[crazymopho]

how do these HD crashes just seem to happen to people? I've never understood it. It has never happened to me, or anyone i know. Although, it has always made a nice excuss to tell my teacher about why my paper is late ;)

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