Secret Agent Entry: Andrzej Sykut

[azazel]

http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18294/18294_1245787904_medium.jpg (http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18294/18294_1245787904_medium.jpg)

The situation I have in mind is devoid of political or national background - just plain stealing of trade secrets. Either there's no villain, or the spy IS a villain. Or he's a freelance photographer, wanting to sell the photos to some newspapers (I actually like that one most).
It all happens in near future, in top secret facility where commercial space vehicle is being built. Think space shuttle, only newer. The spy, in stealthy black suit, hides at some shaded cranny, and takes spy-photos of the whole thing. I'd like the spy to be female, and at the same time, I'd like to avoid tight black leather suit ;). That might be tricky.

The image here is just a quick previs in 3d, with some quick postproduction.

[ace4016]

You could always go for tight cotton cute :D. Keep pumping out those concepts :)

Good luck on the challenge :thumbsup:

[fellah]

grrrr... why do you always have to join... :)

nah seriously, good start! you've come a long way already.
have u tried flipping the image? for all of us who read from left to right that would ease. it would let us see the agent first, then see where she is looking and not the other way around.
and maybe add something that runs into the picture for added depth.

but it's cool like it is atm to, just some ideas. looking forward to updates!

[azazel]

Hahah I join because it's so much fun :). And it motivates me.

I'll try flipping the image, didn't even think about it, and I too read from left to right... some walkways, catwalks that would add some depth are planned.

[azazel]

http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18294/18294_1245836305_medium.jpg (http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18294/18294_1245836305_medium.jpg)

Ah yes, the flipped one is better I think. Thanks man :)

[xsz]

Wow, that is pretty cool :) goodluck

[OZ]

JUST COOOL!!! i love this schene! great start!!!

:applause: :applause: :applause:

[diissar]

looks interesting,i wonder how it will end up;

[nemotoad]

Reminds me a lot of the missile from the incredibles movie. Great looking concept!

[grooshka]

Andrzej,
This one will sure become my private 'lesson of world lighting'.
I still have in mind your image for Uplift Universe (who could forget?). It was looking splendid.

As for now your concept looks very nice and promising. The story is legible, angle is dramatic (flipped one is far better).

Good luck with your work.

[azazel]

http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18294/18294_1247215435_medium.jpg (http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18294/18294_1247215435_medium.jpg)

Finally, i've something new to show. Almost forgot how damn hard the female form is to model. Not done yet, but time to move on to the rest of the scene - that means few more characters (workers, security guards, boss - but thankfully in low detail), and the environment.

Edit:

As for the Incredibles inspiration, it wasn't conscious - but it's one of my favourite movies ever, so it's probably there.

[alshakno]

Hi, very nice start
you have a nice style
i will follow this

good luck

[authentic]

great concept. the shading is excellent (love the shoes). The head is a bot too little maybe ? But hair can change this sensation.

[germanager]

man, you are the lighting master

[azazel]

http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18294/18294_1247422035_medium.jpg (http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18294/18294_1247422035_medium.jpg)

Not much of an update, just to show I'm working on it. Did the lattice structures, the platform... still much more walkways and catwalks to do.

The previz was rendered in vray, ported this to mental ray, and somewhat changed the lighting as a result. It's very preliminary, and will change as I assign shaders, but so far it consists of a HDR skylight, two MR portals at the top, and one spot, picking up the area behind the shuttle.

Thanks everyone for your comments, much appreciated. The girls head is indeed tad too small, will be corrected.

Edit:
damn, forgot to flip the image. next update will be flipped ;).

[azazel]

http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18294/18294_1247435910_medium.jpg (http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18294/18294_1247435910_medium.jpg)

Quick speed model of the technician - there should be few of them, hanging around the scene. Still need to fix the boots, and add bit more detail to the face mask area - some of it got lost in the Decimation Master process. But anyway, he won't ever come this close to camera in the final scene, so it doesn't really mater that much.

[germanager]

hard surface modelling, girl are good, you can get a second(?) lighting award, but pay more attention to folds, they don't look really convincing at this stage

[bearfoot]

i love it.. great concept and sweet modeling

keep it up !

cheers
n

[fellah]

bastardos, so slow.. you won't be able to make it in time! that's the only thing i'm certain on in life.
:wavey:

[Zapan]

Boxx renderfarm ? :cool:

I really hope you will have the time to achieve this one ...

cheers ,

-Zapan

[azazel]

http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18294/18294_1248553585_medium.jpg (http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18294/18294_1248553585_medium.jpg)

Still working on it. But way to slow, damn it, only 2 weeks to go. Need longer days :).

[azazel]

http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18294/18294_1248617783_medium.jpg (http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18294/18294_1248617783_medium.jpg)

I think I'm almost done with the environment for now. It'll look way different with the atmosphere, and i hope to have some time to have another pass at the details - but i have to work on characters a bit.

[diissar]

hey azazel,you did a really good job!!keep it up! :thumbsup:

[mic]

Your environment is looking stellar!!! Really awesome... And yea... I agree, we need longer days.

[azazel]

http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18294/18294_1248647414_medium.jpg (http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18294/18294_1248647414_medium.jpg)

Little test of the crew. They will probably be much smaller in the final image.

[CGIPadawan]

Oooooh! I love this one!

It looks like it was done with film "big-atures" or kits made of PVC.

Gives off that "Thunderbirds" or "Captain Scarlett and the Mysterons" feel in terms of grain, set, props, and finish.

Nice. :thumbsup:

You gotta hurry though.

[azazel]

http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18294/18294_1248705669_medium.jpg (http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18294/18294_1248705669_medium.jpg)

Those guys are really small in the end :). Will desaturate the blue ones ASAP.

[FBiege]

that is one nice launching ramp. great details .. i hope to see a bigger version soon.

[Levan]

Witam mistrza! :)

Very interesting concept, great modeling and lighting.
Good luck in the challenge!

[chilombiano]

nice work so far man. love the crew guys look and the overall lighting .
Good luck!

[azazel]

http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18294/18294_1249049746_medium.jpg (http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18294/18294_1249049746_medium.jpg)

Changed the pose quite a bit - previous one was way to extreme for my non-existing rigging skills to handle. Weird deformations and stuff... this one is more doable ;).

[azazel]

http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18294/18294_1249049934_medium.jpg (http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18294/18294_1249049934_medium.jpg)

The materials on the gun are different than in previous image. I'll also add some detail to the barrel and underbarrel, as that is the visible part.

Since most of it will be hidden in the final image, I made a nice rendering of the gun on it's own.

Thanks guys for your comments, they mean a lot :).

[ChaseStone]

It really looks fantastic, my only suggestion would be for the gun; i would shorten the barrel so that there's no extra barrel visible beyond the muzzle break. but other than that I think this is turning into a really great image

[MartinNielsen]

Great stuff :thumbsup: (http://forums.cgsociety.org/misc.php?do=getsmilies&wysiwyg=1&forumid=0#) That sniper looks fabulous.

[fellah]

rhhhhaaaa!! to cool.. you already won once, leave the rest of us alone :) you rock old friend..

[azazel]

http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18294/18294_1249127659_medium.jpg (http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18294/18294_1249127659_medium.jpg)

Rough composition. Still lmost no atmosphere, so it'll look bit different in the end. But already i see ton of small bugs that annoy me ;), and one big problem with mental ray's interpolated glossy reflections, which leaves unwanted hard enges everywhere.

On a side note, the foreground uses different, longer camera lens than the background - wide angle did bad things to the character.

[idkfa]

Hi, Andrzej
your image is going very well, I like the mysterious feeling it has, and the lighting and huge space, filled with nice details. Looking forward to see it finished :thumbsup:

[azazel]

http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18294/18294_1249229625_medium.jpg (http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18294/18294_1249229625_medium.jpg)

Main change is scaling up the crew guys, now they read bit better. Some more bugs to fix still. After every iteration of bug-fixing, my bug list isn't getting any shorter, it just has different bugs...

I hope to fix most of the bugs today, and stard rendering it all in high res. Will probably take few nights.

[chilombiano]

very nice so far!. nice colors and love the character designs
if i can say maybe a bit more z depth or height depth haze could help . or maybe no need

[azazel]

I hope to add quite a lot of smoke, fog and atmosphere in general. Just not yet, it's strictly post job, with help of some volumetric lighting passes.

[ajitmenon]

Hey Andrzej
Thanks for critique on my piece.... Now my turn .. :)

Anyway, u have a nice piece coming up! If I could make a few suggestions (though there isn't much time)
- the agent's pose is a tad bit casual... before u go ahead with final renders, do u think re-posing/ re-positioning the character might help a bit..
or maybe it's a camera thing.. bring the character closer to the camera so u only see the main body/ hands and gun... and u see the character looking down into the space below
, sort of like a POV shot...
- some form of environmental dust/ fog will help your interior a lot...

I'm sure u'll address most of this but I guess the crucial thing for all of us now is.. TIME!
here's to getting to the finish line!

[azazel]

The critique is one of the main points of the challenge IMO. So I greatly appreciate them :).
I don't think I'll have the time to re-do the pose, as the character is already rendered... What i can do, and probably will do, is some reposing strictly in 2d. Unfortunately, those will be small changes only... But maybe I can scale her up in post a bit, that could help some.
Anyway, it'll be tight finish even as it is ;). Posing her was probalby my least favourite and hardest for me part - second to modelling her. But modelling was way more fun.

As for the atmosphere, it's very important to me, I just leave it for the last, compositing stage. No time to do it properly on WIP images...

[Kris-Rusinek]

Smells like another masterpiece incoming! :)
Looking great so far!

I'll keep my thumbs up!
Pozdrawiam

[L8n]

Love the look of that shuttle - can't wait to see it with the full atmosphere added, you're obviously a master at that kind of thing. Good luck.

[Irawan]

this is really crazy details,it would be nice if you make more contrast,for example make the shadow stronger,right now is a little bit convuse because the amount of detail you have.
cheers. heri

[azazel]

http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18294/18294_1249504479_medium.jpg (http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18294/18294_1249504479_medium.jpg)

Here's most of the passes I used. I used only tiny parts of most of them - there are four diffrent reflection passes, with different hdrs, and I've chosen only the parts I liked. Same with the rest. I

[azazel]

http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18294/18294_1249504579_medium.jpg (http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18294/18294_1249504579_medium.jpg)

Not sure if all that smoke and fog makes it easier to read - especially the shuttle. Now it kinda looks like it's a part of the whole building - but I think I like it that way: until the shuttle is finished and ready, it's not really an independent thing.

I have to sleep on it, and see if I can change something tomorrow. Maybe I'll add more smoke ;P

Thanks guys for your comments, I had them in my mind. I tried to have a lot of details in the raw 3d scene, because the 2d smoke and fog will obscure lot of it. So what I'd like to achieve is impression of the detail - but unlike painting, in 3d few well placed brush strokes won't work ;).

[MartinNielsen]

Looking good, man :thumbsup: This is almost complete, I think :)

[ChaseStone]

This is so hot. The lighting on her clothing really came out great

[chilombiano]

really looking good. wish to enjoy the full rez soon!

[azazel]

http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18294/18294_1249596823_medium.jpg (http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18294/18294_1249596823_medium.jpg)

Changed the colors a bit, changed some details... almost done now.

As for the girls lighting, it's a compositing thing really - I rendered a pass with additional 3 lights in RGB colors, and added them to the main, lit pass. It gave a bit of cloth-like look, which I like. And I can tweak it without re-rendering.

[azazel]

http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18294/18294_1249677806_medium.jpg (http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18294/18294_1249677806_medium.jpg)

Do it, and you are free. Just one shot. Easy shot. Destroy the cargo. You won't hear from us again after that.
What They didn't tell her was that gold-wrapped mysterious thing in the cargo hold will change the world, will change it for the better. Sometimes, not pulling the trigger is as difficult as doing it. She didn't pull it, not this time. Now They will track her down, They will find her anywhere. Well, let them try... It won't matter. She will find Them first. Then she will be free at last.

[azazel]

http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18294/18294_1249678414_medium.jpg (http://assets.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/24/18294/18294_1249678414_medium.jpg)

Software: 3ds max,After Effects,mental ray,Photoshop,Wings3D,ZBrush

Do it, and you are free. Just one shot. Easy shot. Destroy the cargo. You won't hear from us again after that.
What They didn't tell her was that gold-wrapped mysterious thing in the cargo hold will change the world, will change it for the better. Sometimes, not pulling the trigger is as difficult as doing it. She didn't pull it, not this time. Now They will track her down, They will find her anywhere. Well, let them try... It won't matter. She will find Them first. Then she will be free at last.

[DMPLNG]

Incredible work! I really like the colors in this image, and the composition is great. Congrats!

[Zapan]

Another gorgeous piece of art from you !

Amazing lighting and atmosphere !
My favourite entry , hats off !

Best of luck

cheers ,

-Zapan

[MartinNielsen]

Excellent final :thumbsup: She looks so "agentish" :)

[JRBRAZ]

Man, terrific job!!! Very very good!!

Could you post a high resolution version? I would love to see all the details :thumbsup:

[rashi]

wow cool compositing dude,if u can please tell us how add atmospheric fog to give image depth coz ive being working on a personal image and i want to add some depth to it
thankyou

[man-to]

Hi Andrzej, thanks for dropping by :) I see you have some nice composition and designs here, colors fit aswell! Wish you luck in the challenge.

[azazel]

http://sykut.pp.com.pl/azazel/secret_agent_final_small.jpg

Here's a higher res version. I will write something about my smoke and atmosphere process later, gotta go now.

[authentic]

that 's a great picture you made. Some part are really impressive and beautiful like the "golden" shader/part.
Good luck for voting, you got your chance I think.

[azazel]

Thanks for the great comments :)
Actually, the gold shader is kinda bugged - it looks properly, like a gold wrap - but in isolation. In high res, and in the scene, it looks bit different than I wanted. Well, to late to re-render, and if you like it, it means it's not that bad ;).

Now, as promised, about the atmosphere:

The atmosphere is a combination of many solutions:
- I use a lot of photographed/filmed smoke. Even something as simple as cigarette smoke, shot
against black background can be enough - as long as there's some detail in there.
This can be used in Screen blending mode, Normal mode, or as a mask for flat color/gradient layer
- you can use z-depth channel as a mask for the above, to achieve some depth in the smoke.
- quite often, even a well placed gradient in Normal mode can be enough, especially if masked by z-depth
- big, bright round gradient near the edge of the image simulates the off-screen lightsource quite well
- it's better to use few different smoke layers at low opacity, than one at high opacity IMO
- I usually render separately a few passes of volumetric lights in rgb colors - either for use as a mask, like the z-depth,
or just color corrected and comped in screen mode at low opacity
- What's most important: smoke not only makes things bright, like Screen mode does. It also lowers the contrast -
that's why it's important to have some layers in Normal mode as well, if things get too bright.
In this particular image, I had some color correction before the smoke, and afterwards, I had to use curves to darken the midtones quite much.
- Light shafts, halos around lightsources, they all add to the illusion of smoke/haze. Quite often they are very easy to add in Photoshop, like I did for this image.
- It's important to remember the atmospheric perspective - what's away is more blue (usually) and lower contrast and saturation than the foreground. That's one more reason for z-depth.

If i need to be more specific, don't be afraid to ask :)

[yakonusuke]

Didn't see your entry neither, pretty awesome scene and so many great details!
I think you could have intensify her decision not to shoot, by kinda loose the grip on the weapon and let it just hang in one hand or so.
Anyways really really cool image, good luck to you!

[rashi]

hi Andrzej
thnx 4 da details about atmosphere i'll try to add some in ma future compositions :thumbsup:

[Arnol2x]

Good day Andrzej. A really cool shot you have here. Nice atmosphere, looks like the whole scene was disturbed by that agent. Nicely achieved the felling of doubt on the girl. Good Luck mate! :thumbsup: p.s Like that sniper rifle, reminds me that long-range barret gun.

[Randis]

Good job man! Love the airship! cool design, very arcade.
a very good and interesting image.

Tho i must admit i liked the lighting in the older versions better with less green

[DerRoteBaron]

Simply, great work man! I love the camera angle, beautiful atmosphere and story telling. Cheers! ;-)

[pawelturalski]

wow! love it man! love it! incredible atmosphere! but i don`t like that girl - i think the first idea with binoculars was way better due to fact that it just had more "secret" mood in it

[mic]

Really awesome!!! Congrats on finishing!!! :thumbsup:

[dhuang1]

this is a masterful image, and i especially like the earlier test images of the tech crew. your character work is awesome, good luck!

[fellah]

another entry they forgot, imo. maybe they did it on purpose as you've already won once... :) very very good work! i hope to see you around in future challenges.

[germanager]

at least, u could have got honourable mention, 2d is prevailing this time

[azazel]

Thanks guys. I'll be around in next challenges, as long as the time permits :).

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