Nomad WIP

[ThirdEye]

1) The hard shadows are wrong for this kind of illumination, that kind of shadow suits more a summer environment, you have a cloudy sky, they're not realistic.

2) If you have clouds then you need haze at the horizon, the floor edge is too well defined

the rest isn't bad at all, keep up the good work!

[AdamT]

I don't know about the shadows--it is partly cloudy. :) But you do need some distance haze/fog and maybe some dof.

As for other elements, you have to decide what the story is. Did their ship crash on this planet? Did they just find something astonishg? Are they potting to approach an unfriendly town/city? Maybe they have to burry a croaked bot?

Come up with the back story first and you'll know what the scene needs.

[dandavis]

Thanks you guys, yea, the story is this. These robots are roaming the desert, Nomads, shall we say. They are scavangers, somewhat like the little characters in Star Wars.

It's just a "for fun" render so there really isn't any formulated story, just me mucking about, really.

The atmospheric effects were in my plan of things to do. I've been f***ing around with this for a long time (for me, anyway) and I've began to lose touch with it. I've almost just thrown in the towel, actually, and am just looking for suggestions.

I really appreciate the feedback, you're too kind.

dano

ps. Am I the only one who thinks that sky is TOO cool. I did it in Vue and used it on a background object in C4D.

Oh yea, one more thing for thirdeye. I think you are the same character who gave me some honest feedback over at Renderosity once on one of my renders. Well I think someone else gave you some trouble about it. I just wanted you to know that I will never do that. I always appreciate honest, objective feedback because I'm always trying to improve. Thanks again!

[ThirdEye]

Originally posted by dandavis

ps. Am I the only one who thinks that sky is TOO cool. I did it in Vue and used it on a background object in C4D.

Oh yea, one more thing for thirdeye. I think you are the same character who gave me some honest feedback over at Renderosity once on one of my renders. Well I think someone else gave you some trouble about it. I just wanted you to know that I will never do that. I always appreciate honest, objective feedback because I'm always trying to improve. Thanks again!


I always try to be honest when i see cg pics. I always ask people to be harsh when talking about my wips, otherwise c&c are useless. Renderosity.com has beem a quite good place when i was a newbie, i've seen some great pics (but tons of crap too). Now that i learnt something more about cg i think cgtalk.com is the right place to improve my 3d skills more. There are a lot of professional pics in the gallery, you can only drool and hope to be as good as their authors one day. That's what i do everyday, i see a pic, i say "wow!! well maybe i can try making something like that..." and i start a new project. That's exactly what i did with my heads and with the car i'm making. Same thing for my table scene and my XL teapot scene.

About your scene... i'm not that desert expert but i never seen a cloud in the desert :p That sky is cool tho, you made a good job with those clouds. :)

[AdamT]

If the deal is that they're scavengers show them scavenging something! Maybe they could be syphoning some electricity or oil from a decrepit vehicle or robot? Maybe if they live in the desert they should have some sort of mobile encampment--like the bedouins' (sp?) tent camps. If they're traveling they should have something to carry their gear, like backpacks, carts, cartbots. There should be wheel/foot prints trailing into the distance to indicate where they've come from and where they're going. Anyway you get my point. At present there are just no clues as to what's going on--aside from the title.

[dandavis]

Thanks Adam, great ideas! Damn, I'm at work right now and have a few good ideas spinning in my head.

I agree with you thirdeye. I've reached a point where I really want to improve my skills. Lots of great feedback here. That's for sure.

dano

[JIII]

grrr why can't I see the image.

[dandavis]

Hey JIII, I'm actually cheating a bit here, The url for the image is actually hosted by another site. Perhaps the problems are arising from the other site (who shall remain nameless). Usually, if you refresh once or twice it comes around. Sorry about that. :rolleyes:

[JIII]

hmm there is something about the lighting.

but one thing is that they dont appear to be doing anything. they are just sitting there maybe in the final you would want to make it appear as if they are all going in one direction and walking.

also the angle of the shot appears to be a little low which gives a really funny perspective thingy.


try rasing the camera so we are not front on more of a downward shot. like we are looking at these nomadic robots as they jorney onwards. and maybe arrange them in a sorta V pattern to give some depth to the image.

just my thoughts. hope you don't mind.

[dandavis]

I don't mind at all, in fact, I appreciate it very much.

[dandavis]

I hope you guys aren't getting tired of seeing this. Here is the latest installment of a project I'm working on. Thanks for taking the time to look and c/c. One note, I still have alot of things I want to do to this so keep that in mind.

danohttp://www.renderosity.com/photos/GAL_200304/GalleryImage379482.jpg

[ThirdEye]

Looking good so far, add some dirt, everything's a bit too polished at the moment. Also the shadows should be more blueish.

[FredSpeaks]

Looking Good. I would maybe repose the robot closest to the ground. maybe make it looking down, since it is crouching for a reason.

Keep it up, and I really like the sky. Still waiting for Ozone for Cinema.... then hopefully we make make cool atmospheres right in cinema.

[AdamT]

Cool! Now you're getting somewhere! I think there should be more variation in the size/shape of the small rocks, and maybe add another layer or two of grime on the large ones?

[dandavis]

Thanks you guys. I've done all of your suggestions and it looks pretty cool. I'm gonna start adding some more stuff now.

[dandavis]

Hey Fred, I'm with you on the ozone plug. I'll pay money for that. It's done by the same people who make Vue? right? If so, Vue does a rite fine job with making skies, hopefully it will be just as functional. I made this sky with Vue and used it on a background object. I think it worked out ok.

[FredSpeaks]

Yeper... it is made by e-on software. here is a link to the cinema announcement: Ozone 2 (http://www.e-onsoftware.com/Products/Ozone2.0/Cinema4DPR.php)

should have been out already, but i'd rather see good software than on time... actually, i'd like to have both.;)

[Wilson-3d]

Great seeing it progress so far along. :airguitar I would add some (or a lot) more of the weeds-grass in the middle right. Also I like Freds comment on the far right bot looking down.

[kiwi]

Nice work :thumbsup:


The sky is a bit too saturated,also when I make sky for a SCI FI scene I always try and add a different color to the sky to emphasize the scene is not on Earth.If you like that idea try Image > Adjust > variiations in PS and see how it looks :)



Also try adding a tint of color to your main light,it looks at the moment to be pure white.If your sky becomes say orange then add just a smidegeon of orange,or yellow orange,or if your sky s not really thick try lightish yellow :)



Think composition as well,let the placement of your chars tell a story for that frame.For instance how long have they been in the desert,how long have they been walking,and stagger there positions a little as well so the composition does not look to mechanical or staged.If they have been walking for ages add a bent sort of tired position to them to suggest this for you.


Try and make a dusty grime map as well for the desert sand.



Keep at er :thumbsup:


Stu.

[dandavis]

Thanks stu! Although I really like the sky, I think you're right. I was thinking of re-doing it. third_eye had mentioned that there were too many clouds and I agree. I'll probably warm the light up a bit too. I'm working on the poses for the robots also. I'm trying hard to make it tell a story. (although noone but me will probably get it ;) )

I dunno about the different colored sky though. I'll take a look at how it looks.

Thanks!

dano

[noen]

i agree - more dirt and grime on the bots and rocks - are there any plants on this planet? lichen maybe? or dead plants, those might help set the scene

otherwise its looking good :-)


brenda

[kiwi]

No problem :)


What I usually do for a scene where there is a char etc is imagine you are the char {bare with me} and you have crash landed on a planet and are walking through the desert,now what is around you,how does everything look?,for instance the sand does not even have to be light brown if you dont want it to be,rocks can have a reddish tone etc.The terrain could have undulations and cracks etc,Let your imagination go wild :)


Stu.

[dandavis]

Heh heh, Oh, my imagination can run wild, for sure. It's just that my technical skills have trouble keeping up with it. :) Thanks for the help. I guess I'm in no hurry, I'll just keep trying until I get it right. That's why I'm asking all you fine folks for some direction here. I guess if you never push your skills, they will stay in the same level and I want to be the best CG artist that I'm capable of being.

Thanks again!

dano

[dandavis]

Here's the latest installment of this project. I'm still not finished but thought I'd show it anyway. I think it looks a little unbalanced right now so I'm gonna start modeling some sort of architectural structure for the left hand side. I added a couple bugs and dirtied up the front rocks a little. I like that so I'll probably do it to the back boulders too. If you see something that you suggested not done, it's probably that I just haven't gotten to it yet. The list of things to do on this won't get any shorter. Eventually, I'm going to have to figure out that fog shader so I can add some atmosphere. I did a couple test renders but I can't get it to look right. It always comes out way to "soupy". Maybe it has something to do with the radiosity, I dunno. Any suggestions?

dano


https://home.insightbb.com/~dandavis18/wsb/media/315305/site1.jpg

[MJV]

Looks great Dandavis. But then I have always been an admirer or your work. :thumbsup: Nice to see you here and look forward to seeing this scene progress.

One suggestion: How about giving the man something more interesting to hold than a rock?:rolleyes:

[dandavis]

HA! That's funny, I knew someone was going to eventually say that. Yes, I'm thinking that the rock has been more of a place holder than anything. It's good to be here MJV, thanks.

[AdamT]

I thought he was going to smack the little guy on the head. :)

[dandavis]

Actually Adam, I was thinking about doing that. Still havn't ruled it out yet. I'd definately change the pose(s) if I did. This is still evolving as we speak.

[dandavis]

Just a couple things left to do. Does the DOF work? -- dano



https://home.insightbb.com/~dandavis18/wsb/media/315305/site1002.jpg

[JIII]

hmm I would rachet it up a bit more those three tower thingys seem to be too much in focus.

that or move them back to put them in focus.

but what ever it is there is just something weird about them.

[kiwi]

Cool :thumbsup:


The texture on the big rock is starting to look just a little bit stretched.I have found rocks behave the best when I set the textures to cubic.



As for the dof I think the sky could be a bit more g blurred :)



With it being a desert try reducing the saturation of all the objects just a bit to allow for dust and wear and tear.



Would look cool if the large bot is moving rocks and the little one squirts him with oil or something,so the big one calmly walks away grabs a big rock and drops it on the little ones foot which makes it jump about like a lunatic :)



Stu.

[dandavis]

Thanks again you guys. I personally like DOF but I know alot of people don't. I think I'll keep it and try to incorporate the buildings on the right more.

Hey Stu, can you be more specific about the stretching cuz I gotta tell ya, I don't see it. If it's there, I do want to fix it so let me know, OK? The textures are mostly proceedural and are cubic mapped already.

Thanks for your help guys! I really appreciate it.

dano

[squidinc]

Originally posted by dandavis
Thanks again you guys. I personally like DOF but I know alot of people don't. I think I'll keep it and try to incorporate the buildings on the right more.

it probably needs some haze instead in this situation to give a better sense of scale, if this was a photo I think the buildings would still be in focus, the pelham shaders work pretty well for this kind of thing


Hey Stu, can you be more specific about the stretching cuz I gotta tell ya, I don't see it. If it's there, I do want to fix it so let me know, OK? The textures are mostly proceedural and are cubic mapped already.

are the textures SLA 3d or 2d shaders, if you make them 3d it won't matter what projection they're set to, they should render totally seamless on any object :)

looking good so far dan, I really like new additions
:thumbsup:

[flingster]

hey dandavies this is coming along sweet just checked back to see how youre getting on and seem to have done a load since you dumped those droids on that planet...as for rock lifting droids....what the hell NASA do that stuff all the time....send something to mars...move some rocks...then send something else to mars and they can collect the rocks!!:shrug:

Ooops maybe a bit to political...:wavey: but ya know what i mean.

[dandavis]

Thanks again, haze is what I really want to do but I can't get those darn shaders to work, It always turns out looking like Pea Soup fog. Regardless of how I adjust it. I think it has something to do with the Radiosity because when I render it without, it's fine. I guess I'll just keep messin with it till I get something like what I want.

[squidinc]

try setting up a Di-cloner light dome, it'll probably produce similar results to what you're getting here, but quicker :)

[dandavis]

Here's a screenshot of what I was talking about with the Pehlam shaders. I can't seem adjust it to be able to see the sky in the background. I think it looks very cool but it's not exactly the effect I want.

Here's some info on the scene:

The lighting is done with 1 parallel light to simulate the sun, all the fill light is done with a fake HDRI image mapped onto a sky object that I have set not to render.

The sky is mapped onto a background object.

Does anyone know what I'm doing wrong?

dano


https://home.insightbb.com/~dandavis18/wsb/media/315305/site1003.jpg

[dandavis]

Well, here it is, I think I'm finished with this. Thanks for everyone's help.


https://home.insightbb.com/~dandavis18/wsb/media/315305/site1004.jpg

[JIII]

el sweet post this baby in the finished work section lets see if we can get another front page for c4d.

nice work the DOF is kicking some serious rear now.

[kiwi]

Looking good :thumbsup:


SLA huh,well I dunno what it is then,maybe its contrast or something,just ignore that query then if no one else can see it :)


Stu.

[Halogen]

wow i have loved watching this progress and the final result is excellent :thumbsup:

Good work mate.

[dandavis]

Thanks guys! All your input really helped me alot.

@ JIII: I appreciate it but I really don't think it's THAT good. What the heck, I'll post it anyway. Thanks!

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