Steampunk Myths and Legends Entry: Mark David

[walrus]

This is really impressive, Mark! I mean, a whole working mechanism? Wow! I'm sorry you won't have time to illustrate that entire bottle you referred to, but maybe next time! ;) One small note: The body of the duck feels slightly weathered, with spots on the metal and such, but other parts seem factory-new, like the beak and feet. The feet won't be seen much in the final composition, but a little aging on the whole thing - but especially the beak - might be a nice finl touch, even if it's just in Photoshop. Good luck with the background! :thumbsup:

[mdavid]

Kerem
Hey, thank you Kerem :)

cristinagar
Thank you Cristina. Yep, I was looking forward to seeing how it would look with all those bits moving

Gunilla
Cheers Gunilla. With boats, there's a whole lot of stuff going on ...

http://www.mdavid.com.au/cg/boat.gif

Yes, the propellor pushes water backwards, but up at the bow the spray is thrown forwards. Like with the ducks. But it is also sent sideways too, due to the boat pushing the water out of the way. The thing is, the boat is moving forwards all the time and it leaves the spray and waves behind it and that's what gives us the impression that the spray is going backwards. If a motor boat suddenly stops then its own stern wave - which is still moving forwards - will suddenly catch up with it and in some cases (low boat and large wake) sink it! Ducks would never make that mistake.

I don't have any pics of ducks doing a running take-off - they tend to get into the air pretty quickly, but I did get a nice pic of a Black Swan running across a lake as it takes off. Notice the direction that the spray is being pushed!

http://www.mdavid.com.au/cg/swan.jpg

And a mighty happy new year to you too :)

MartinNielsen
Thanks Martin. That's great news to discover you're back in this challenge. Good luck with it.

walrus
Thanks Mike. Yeah, a few more days and I'm sure I would have had that battle scene modeled and rendered. Such a shame, eh? ;) Thanks for your observation about the feet and beak. You are right about them needing some weathering. I've been experimenting with the brass tex but couldn't get the look I wanted, so I will definitely be painting a bit of grunge over it in Photoshop.

[mdavid]

http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/22/15993/15993_1231138268_medium.jpg (http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/22/15993/15993_1231138268_large.jpg)

Since this thing has now been animated it seemed a waste not to use that to create some motion blur in the moving parts. And this is the kind of look I'm getting. As a frame of an animation I think this would look just right - and that seems to be what the software was designed to do, after all. But as a still image I think I can get more like the blur effect I want with a bit of Photoshop trickery.

Or then again, it might be me using the wrong settings in Cinema.

While I type this, I'm rendering the duck at full, final resolution. It sure is fun watching the computer do all the hard work, creating such a big duck. The plan is to do the duck in one render, the water in another, and then post work (spray, added grime and maybe also distant shores in background) in Photoshop.

- Mark

[khendar]

Kerem
Cheers Gunilla. With boats, there's a whole lot of stuff going on ...

http://www.mdavid.com.au/cg/boat.gif

Yes, the propellor pushes water backwards, but up at the bow the spray is thrown forwards. Like with the ducks. But it is also sent sideways too, due to the boat pushing the water out of the way. The thing is, the boat is moving forwards all the time and it leaves the spray and waves behind it and that's what gives us the impression that the spray is going backwards. If a motor boat suddenly stops then its own stern wave - which is still moving forwards - will suddenly catch up with it and in some cases (low boat and large wake) sink it! Ducks would never make that mistake.

Depends on the type of boat of course. A jet powered boat will send a plume of spray backwards from its engine outlet.

[mdavid]

Depends on the type of boat of course. A jet powered boat will send a plume of spray backwards from its engine outlet.
LOL! Yes, you are absolutely right about that! :)

[daWinky]

With less than a fortnight to go it looks like I won't have time to do anything complicated for a background. So I guess that rules out a vast Lord of the Rings style battle scene between the ducks and the chickens. To get something across the finish line in time I'll be showing the steam duck vessel skiing across the sea.

May I remind that it's just a week left?;) But I'm not very sorry to miss the battle scene, I'm really looking forward to see a peacefully waterskiing duck ! With such a beautiful model you don't need much surroundings:) ...I'm curious to see the start of the environment, good idea to make the effects mainly in PS, not easy to get good water effects in 3d in such a short time...and I also think that you should add things like motion blur later, the rendered effect is not really convincing...

-sabrina

[mdavid]

May I remind that it's just a week left?Apart from the very minor fact that I've started waking up screaming in the middle of the night, I think I'm dealing with that very well. Yeah, that's a bit of a <search for suitable word> problem isn't it. A wiser person would have stuck to a schedule. What can I say? I blame the ducks.

[MartinNielsen]

It's always the ducks...

[Gunilla]

Good morning, a big thanks for taking me through the mysteries of spray - I have to admit I haven't given it much thought before. Fascinating stuff.
And as for the confusion with the remaining time - you're not the only one getting a shock from how little time remains.
I hear ducks can do a great deal of things with a persons perceptions. They have probably messed around with a lot of peoples heads here. Duck magic it seems :D

[warpv]

Hey Mark!

I've been away for a while and have been catching up on your thread. I have to say, your attention to detail always amazes me! :drool: I'm eagerly awaiting your next steps! Hope to see this one to completion! :) Good luck!

[mdavid]

MartinNielsen
Absolutely. It had nothing to do with me ;)

Gunilla
You're very welcome :) Now I just hope I'm getting most of it right. Thankfully Timothy (khendar) was here to remind us about jet boats, where a plume of spray is blasted right out the back. In that case the spray is definitely going backwards.

And I agree with what you say about how ducks affect our minds. I was a reputable person before all this.

warpv
Thanks Christopher. The truth is I normally do not pay nearly this much attention to the finer details of physics. But when I take on one of these challenges I enjoy the fact that I have all the time I need. Oh, that's right. Deadline's in a week...

[mdavid]

http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/22/15993/15993_1231237811_medium.jpg (http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/22/15993/15993_1231237811_large.jpg)

This is more how I wanted the motion blur to work in the wings. This was done very quickly using a Radial Blur in Photoshop

[mdavid]

http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/22/15993/15993_1231237989_medium.jpg (http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/22/15993/15993_1231237989_large.jpg)

Some might have the outrageous impression that I'm leaving this to the last minute. And they would be right, of course.

I've now rendered out the duck at full resolution. Seeing it really big exposes the mistakes I never noticed at low resolution, so I had to fix a few seams and some edge weighting, and other bits I'm saving time by just touching up in Photoshop.

You'll notice that I've started doing the spray bits. This is not done with particle systems - I ran out of time there so I'm just painting it in Photoshop.

If I get the time I also plan to paint a coastline in front of that boring-looking horizon. The coastline will not be your normal coastline, because this would be an avian civilisation which the steamduck is leaving behind...

I should be uploading a final (low-res) JPG in time for the deadline so you should be able to see how this turns out. I hope. Whether or not I actually submit the final high-res in time depends on whether I can get my hands on a PC to run the uploader. It's only Macs around here and I don't work at the office (where we use PCs) during any of the last 4 days before deadline

- Mark

[Gunilla]

Regarding uploads, I noticed that some had had some help from the admins to do it for them. So don't worry about that part.
The start for environment looks fine for me - will we see any glimpses of the passengers?
And 4 days - is that true? I was thinking it was still about 6 days left :shrug:

[daWinky]

It looks like the duck have finally reached his natural element...looks fantastic and the duck seems to be very happy! The motion blur made with PS is actually much better, I like the effect. Hope you find the time to bring this wonderful scene to your liking!
And 4 days - is that true? I was thinking it was still about 6 days left
Then I should be the one to wake up screaming! No, I think 6 days is right...

-sabrina

[mdavid]

Thanks Sabrina and Gunilla,

Yep, 6 more days to go, for sure. If I can finish it in the next 2 days then I can upload it from the office PCs. After that, I'm at home with only my Mac until the deadline runs out. I'm not going to miss sleep over it though. Thanks for the suggestion, Gunilla

Gunilla
Yeah, I'd love to have a few ducks hanging out the sides, like how dogs enjoy leaning their necks out of car windows. That would be great fun! Not much time though

daWinky
I'm sorry if I gave you a fright about how much time left! I'm glad you like the motion blur effect too. I love what the 3D software can do but sometimes a bit of pixel-pushing in Photoshop is so much quicker

[mdavid]

http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/22/15993/15993_1231292473_medium.jpg (http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/22/15993/15993_1231292473_large.jpg)

It was slow work painting the spray so to take a break from that I've been working on the background. Looking at this I can't help being reminded of the car landscapes in Cars. It's not my intention to do the same thing as Pixar - those guys are so amazingly good I don't fancy my chances at imitating them even for a second. But I think it does show how madly difficult it can be to do something totally original

- Mark

[madshooter]

I agree with you it is difficult to create something totally original. But you have done a great job. Maybe add some distant mountains in the background. Not sure might look good:).

[Ferx]

Hey Mark,

Great updates my friend. The steam duck looks really cool on the water. Maybe the position is a bit stiff. Perhaps the duck more "seated" and pushing with the feet on the water and stoping with the wings ( like your reference photos - maybe some duck videos on youtube can help to research for the ducks water touchdown :) ) Like the mood on the enviroment for your background. Really great work Mark, awesome concept and cant wait to see finished! :D Cheers my friend!! :beer:

[Lemog]

Yeees... very good with the background... great ! I appreciate much... :buttrock:

just on thought, maybe legs not completely symetrical... as if he need to find better balance... and of course he can seek a better centre of gravity by moving the neck.. not ?

That will give more the feeling of motion... what do you think ?

and care with the tail in the alignment of the background.

Courage man... almost finished :beer:

[Gunilla]

Oh yes- I really like that background! And besides that, I now press the "I agreee with Lolos comments" key. Those small adjustments for the pose could make it really take off :)

[daWinky]

Hey Mark,

the horizon line is a perfect addition, so good and I think it's very original;) ...
And I agree with the comments about the pose, pehaps just a few tiny adjustments...you're very close to the finish line and I'm sure the ducks are proud of you:D

-sabrina

[warpv]

Hey Mark! Nice stuff with the background! ;) Who cares if it's not a completly original idea, those are so hard to come by nowadays anyway! :shrug:I agree with the comments already posted, I really liked the pose of the duck on one of your early reference pics...maybe rotate the duck back a little so he looks more like he's landing on the water...not water-skiing on it...

Only a few days left...looking forward to seeing the final image!

[thebest]

everything is looking great have a good feeling about this one ......keep going:buttrock:

[mdavid]

http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/22/15993/15993_1231609314_medium.jpg (http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/22/15993/15993_1231609314_large.jpg)

I've changed the duck's pose quite a bit. Hopefully it does not look as stiff now. Thanks to Lolo and Fernando for the suggestions regarding the pose and Roshan for suggesting some mountains.

I'll be working a bit on the trail left behind on the water and then maybe this will be ready to call final. Then I've got to figure out how to upload this. The uploader did not work when I tried it at the office despite multiple tests on multiple days and I'm not even due in there again until well after deadline closes for this. So I might officially make it or might not. The important thing is that this has been fun and thanks to you folks I've learned some more stuff

- Mark

[mdavid]

madshooter
Thanks for the really nice idea about the background mountains. I've now done that

Ferx
Thank you. You are right about the pose looking a bit stiff and I appreciate you pointing that out to me. I've now modified the pose quite a bit (although the changes in its appearance are only subtle). But I think it is looking better now

Lemog
Thank you. I really appreciate your suggestions too. I believe you are right in what you say. I've now modified the duck's pose as you suggest and I definitely think it looks better now

Gunilla
Thanks Gunilla. Yep, the pose of the duck has now been changed quite a bit. After designing the duck with lots of joints it was fun to actually modify its pose

daWinky
Thanks Sabrina. I'm glad you like it so far. I've uploaded a new update along with this post

warpv
Thank you mate. I'm going to have to make the duck look like he's waterskiing because that's what the myth is about, and I'm very careful to be true to the myth ;)

thebest
Thanks Tony. Yep, still going. Hopefully it's pretty much finished now

[MartinNielsen]

Hello :wavey:

Sorry to hear about the upload issue. Maybe I can get in trouble as well :sad: Nevertheless, it has been a pleasure following your thread again. Sometimes it's so funny to read your posts :) You did an excellent job modeling that duck, but somehow I don't think the scene fits the duck that well. It deserves something better. But I know time was running out for you.

I hope to see you in another challenge again :)

[mdavid]

MartinNielsen
Hey Martin, thank you buddy. I appreciate your honesty regarding how the duck image came together. I think you are right. It looks like a carefully-made duck model dropped into a rushed background scene, because that's what it is. The organisers were very clear about deadline times right from the beginning, like they always are, so the fact that I ran out of time is no one's fault but my own.

This image was never going to be a potential winner in this challenge so rather than stress over how much time I have left (while at the same time wondering if I'd be able to upload it anyway) I am thinking today that I will just keep working away at it in my own time.

The things I plan to work on include some waves/wake behind the duck and also completely redoing the coastline. And generally looking again at the overall comp and colours. I think that will be an enjoyable project :)

Thanks for the very kind words about this thread too. I enjoy how these threads take on a life of their own and especially enjoy the interaction with other challengers like yourself, each adding to the fun and interest with their own threads. It's great fun having such a talented and varied community all pursuing the same challenge. I sure hope to see you back here too

[daWinky]

Hey Mark,

wonderful, the posing is much better now, the duck actually looks happy and enjoying the ride!:cool:
I also like very much the trail behind it, well done - the only thing I see to crit is the yellow glow on the water, is it the reflection of the wing? Perhaps too much and too colorful?
Now I can only hope you'll manage the upload, the duck deserves it's place in the finished gallery!

-sabrina

[Gunilla]

Sweet, sweet, sweet... it is really coming together fine. I love what you did with the splashes!
If you keep on having problems with the uploader just email the pic and the info to me and I'll give it a try.

EDIT: OK, I can't upload either so perhaps it was a bit hasy for me to offer to upload yours :(

[Kerem]

I love the mechanical details of the duck :thumbsup:

[mdavid]

daWinky
Thanks Sabrina. I'm glad you like the changes in the duck. That yellow glow was the interior of the duck (which is glowing yellow-orange from the internal fire) reflecting on the water. But you're absolutely right - it did look odd. So I've taken it out. Thanks for getting me to have another look at it! :)

Gunilla
Thank you. I'm glad you like the splashes. I've been working on them some more now. I've done some waves/wake and more spray and turbulence in its trail. And a big thank you for your very kind offer to upload the final for me. I might take you up on that offer but of course I will not hold you the least bit responsible if things don't work. And of course since we all got a time extension I might be getting another chance at the office PCs so I just might be able to handle this

Kerem
Hey thank you Kerem. Much appreciated :)

[mdavid]

http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/22/15993/15993_1231749445_medium.jpg (http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/22/15993/15993_1231749445_large.jpg)

I got an email (I'm sure you all did) saying we had another week on the image category. Cool! That means I'm back in this thing with a chance. So today I was making changes to the spray and wake left behind the steamduck. I also took out the coastline temporarily but since I got the water effects working a bit better I'm now thinking I like this simple composition more

- Mark

[daWinky]

You sure make good use of the extra time, I'm very impressed with your water-work:thumbsup: ...so I'll follow this for another week! You don't want to put the coastline back in? I'm not sure, it was a fun idea and at least some kind of coastline would be good for the picture...or you have to rework the sky and melt water and sky in mist...just some suggestions, I'm curious to see your solution...

Nice day for you!

-sabrina

[MartinNielsen]

Excellent, you give it another go :thumbsup:

[Gunilla]

Tricky choice! I like this new cleaner setting - also gives the impression of a really long journey, out on the open ocean.
But the old one was funny and gives it a context so... :shrug:
Glad to see you're still on it and don't hesitate to poke me for the upload if needed. I managed to make it work finally so now I know all my settings are top notch :wise:

[miketche]

Nice water effects. All hand painted?

The coastless composition looks nice as well. I think sometimes people get the idea you have to stuff your image with detail. While that often does work sometimes a nice, simple, clean composition works best.

[warpv]

Hey Mark!

Glad to see you are still working hard on this! The new pose for the duck is really great! As for the coastline, I also kinda like it like this. It's much more simple, but it still works. I only have maybe one piece of advice, I did a quick test with your image in Photoshop, and I think it works very well if you curve the horizon a bit. It would make the image a little more dynamic and would also give the feel of the great big open ocen like Gunilla said.

Looking forward to seeing it finished!

[mdavid]

daWinky
Thank you Sabrina. As is usual, you are offering some really helpful suggestions/feedback and once again I'm very grateful to you :) Yes, I've been thinking a lot about the background and there would be a lot of work to get the effect I have in mind, but I am not convinced the overall composition would benefit enough from it. So I'm going for the simple comp.

MartinNielsen
Thanks mate! Yep, just like you, the realisation that there is suddenly enough time is enough to make all the difference. I'm very happy that you finished your entry too

Gunilla
Thank you Gunilla. I liked the joke aspect of the avian horizon but felt that it was somehow putting too much into the scene. So I did settle on the cleaner look. Thank you again for your offer to help with the upload. I'm thinking that my past attempts to test the program failed due to all the server problems we've been reading about, so I'll give it another go now that everything appears to have settled down. And it looks like there is now an Apple Mac OS X version (http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?f=278&t=717409) of the uploader too! :) If I still can't get things to work then I would love to take you up on your offer :)

miketche
Thanks mate. Yeah, I agree with you about detail. I'm a big fan of detail but the overall look of a finished piece is the most important decider in my opinion. I know it is ultimately a subjective thing - some would have preferred to have seen the full background setting but I'm happy with the decision I'm making.

The ocean and ripples left behind in the wake were modeled. Those little waves fanning out behind the duck were just extremely simple meshes, duplicated and placed manually in the same pattern as a real boat's wake makes. I used the same material as I'd used for the ocean to texture them, except I turned off the bump map for them.

All that splashy stuff and sheet of spray were hand-painted.

And the trail of white turbulence in the water was a photo of a boat's trail colour-matched and manipulated into the scene using Photoshop

warpv
Thanks buddy. I'm glad you like the new pose of the duck. Thank you for the idea about curving the horizon. That is a really cool idea and I like that a lot. So I've been trying varying amounts of curve. The curve I settled on actually turned out to be only a very mild amount, but I do think it enhances the feel in the way you describe. So thank you again! :)

----------------------------------------------------------------

The extended deadline has given me the chance to produce a final image I'm personally happy with, and also the opportunity to upload. So I'm going ahead with calling my image Final now. Thank you to everyone here who has contributed feedback, encouragement, insights, opinions and ideas.

And thank you also to Timothy (khendar) who, I suspect, has had a gigantic job working behind the scenes during this challenge.

- Mark

[mdavid]

http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/22/15993/15993_1231894083_medium.jpg (http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/22/15993/15993_1231894083_medium.jpg)

Things could have turned out so differently.

Chicken civilisation had been making great strides and only their wearying age-old conflict with the ducks was holding them back.

According to duck mythology, the chickens were a fearsome and unsophisticated tribe, utterly lacking in grace, manners and webbed feet. Yet the chickens threatened to overwhelm the ducks by sheer weight of their numbers.

The head duck, a mighty avian warrior called l'Orange, addressed his assembled flock with a disquieting mixture of excitement and sad resignation. 'If we don't find a way to move on to other ponds, our days as noble birds are truly numbered. We need to build a mighty vessel, fit for a whole tribe of ducks, to spread ourselves across the globe.'

And so began the era of the waterskiing duck. After an unfortunate series of failed prototypes, including the perpetual-motion-powered waterskiing duck and the cold-fusion-powered waterskiing duck, an awesome steam-powered version was created. Not only did this marvelous vessel carry the proud ducks across the oceans to colonise every part of the planet, but the very sight of it leaving at high speeds demoralized the chickens to the point where they quickly succumbed to domestication by the up-coming new race of humans.

No human knows what became of the steam-powered duck and it's awfully difficult to get the ducks to tell you. We can only hope that somehow, some parts of it have been preserved so that one day it might be recovered and finally show us, once and for all, that it really happened.

Or was it all just a myth?

[mdavid]

http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/22/15993/15993_1231897422_medium.jpg (http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/22/15993/15993_1231897422_medium.jpg)

Software: CINEMA 4D,Photoshop

Things could have turned out so differently.

Chicken civilisation had been making great strides and only their wearying age-old conflict with the ducks was holding them back.

According to duck mythology, the chickens were a fearsome and unsophisticated tribe, utterly lacking in grace, manners and webbed feet. Yet the chickens threatened to overwhelm the ducks by sheer weight of their numbers.

The head duck, a mighty avian warrior called l'Orange, addressed his assembled flock with a disquieting mixture of excitement and sad resignation. 'If we don't find a way to move on to other ponds, our days as noble birds are numbered. We need to build a mighty vessel, fit for a whole tribe of ducks, to spread ourselves across the globe.'

And so began the era of the waterskiing duck. After an unfortunate series of failed prototypes, including the perpetual-motion-powered waterskiing duck and the cold-fusion-powered waterskiing duck, an awesome steam-powered version was created. Not only did this marvelous vessel carry the proud ducks across the oceans to colonise every part of the planet, but the very sight of it leaving at high speed demoralised the chickens to the point where they quickly succumbed to domestication by the up-coming new race of humans.

No human knows what became of the steam-powered duck and it's awfully difficult to get the ducks to tell you. We can only hope that somehow, some parts of it have been preserved so that ond day it might be recovered and finally show us, once and for all, that it really happened.

Or was it all just a myth?

[daWinky]

Congratulations Mark! It won't suprise you much if I tell you that I really love the theme, the concept, the execution, the final result and the whole thread...Wonderful final picture and story:thumbsup: ; it's great to see that such a good result comes together with much laughs and a lot of fun during the creation process! And in the final description of course, calling the head duck l'Orange is so mean:D ...So it was a pleasure to see this from start to end and again: the final picture is wonderful!

All my best wishes,

-sabrina

[warpv]

Hey Mark!

Awesome story! :applause: Funny stuff! You mean that in all your time studying the ducks for this project they weren't even able to confirm to you the existence of the Waterskiing Duck?! :surprised

The image came out great! The new horizon does work very well. It was lots of fun following your thread throughout the challenge! Here's hoping I'll see you around in another challenge in the near future!

[madshooter]

Looks great. Very nice water fx dude. CONGRATULATIONS:)

[Lemog]

Congratulations mate... you must be proud... the design of your duck is great :beer:

[thebest]

congrats amigo very nice Duck :beer: I mean very nice job :cool:

[handlebar]

Great final Mark, i'm glad you went with the simplified background, it just works. Good luck.

[Gunilla]

Well, you really went flying with this one - love it!
Also, your thread is a really refreshing hang-out, lots of fun and useful stuff being discussed as usual.
Congrats for being a cool artist and a splendid host :)

[mdavid]

daWinky
Hey thank you Sabrina. I can honestly say this thread, and the final image, just wouldn't have been the same without you! It's been great having your company and all your wonderful feedback and (extremely helpful) suggestions along the way. And I'm glad you liked the result

warpv
Thanks Christopher. Sad, but true: the ducks are not the least bit helpful in providing the proof I need. Thank you again for the idea about the curved horizon. That is an example of something I would not have have thought of by myself and I do think it improves it

madshooter
Cheers Roshan. Much appreciated :)

Lemog
Thank you buddy. Yes, I'm happy with my duck and am happy to see it in my simple scene. Which makes me all the more amazed at the astonishing amount of animals and scenery in your entry - and to think you are animating it too! Thank you for your encouragement in my thread, and now I'm very much looking forward to following more of your own brand of magic in your Noah's ark story

thebest
Mister 'keep going', thank you. I'm glad I kept going

handlebar
Thank you Steve. I'm glad you like the background. By the time I'd finished the water effects I started feeling a lot more confident about it

Gunilla
Hey Gunilla, it is so great having you take part in these challenges, both as a buddy in this thread and as a challenger in your own thread. Thank you again for all your wonderful help and encouragement. As you know, I sometimes have doubts about what I am doing and so your support and honesty help a real lot

[Ferx]

Hey Mark,

Great Finale my friend!! Totally love this steampunk duck!! cool pose and gesture on it, like a lot!! You make an amazing work like always. Ever is a pleasure to see your development, designs and works for a concept, a great and joy experience :D And the story behind the image is really nice, you are a cool and great story teller :D Congratulations Mark .... and yes.... time for lot of tequila shots!! Salud!! Cheers!! :beer:

[Lemog]

Which makes me all the more amazed at the astonishing amount of animals and scenery in your entry - and to think you are animating it too!
you know... mine are a lot of more simple... :D

[mdavid]

Ferx
Thanks buddy. I really appreciate such kind words. I'm glad you liked the story too - you know, every bit of it is true ;)

Lemog
you know... mine are a lot of more simple... :DAh, you're being modest! Yes, I made my duck very detailed - more detailed than it needed to be, in fact. But you're making a whole bunch of animals plus an environment - and that is impressive. So I say :bowdown: to your design and modeling and animation skills, and now this image challenge is over, I get the chance to enjoy more of your amazing thread

[Try]

Congratulations on your final Image Buddy!:beer:
I love your unique take on this challenge (like always I must ad).
Was hoping for the cavemen in the background looking on this Duck marvel with astonishment. But on the other hand coming from a guy that couldn't finish at all.

He, he. Now I can always clam that it is your fault. :D
You talked me out of doing my easy to make my "George W. and the weapon of mass destruction".
no kidding aside.

Great job Mark.
The water looks almost to real and the mechanical solution is brilliant.:cool:

[mdavid]

Try
Thank you buddy. It's always a great treat to read your comments. I appreciate your kind words.
Was hoping for the cavemen in the background looking on this Duck marvel with astonishment.
Yes, I too would have loved to see the cavemen. Either that or the chickens watching in awe from the shore. I think something like that would have made this into more of a serious entry in this competition and raised my chances of winning fabulous prizes.

You talked me out of doing my easy to make my "George W. and the weapon of mass destruction".
no kidding aside.
Yes indeed. I think I was crazy to do that. You were onto something good there and I foolishly argued the case against it. Well, at least George W Bush can retire with all his popularity intact now.

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