CGTalk - Enchanted Forest - Environment

leigh

05-22-2002, 11:40 AM

Thanks for all the comments, everyone :)
Ummm.... what is Evangelion?? Never seen it... I guess I'm just well read... :p Actually I'm a witch.

Okay, well here is the story...

Evening Falls On the Forest Of Time

It is nearing the End Of Days, and mankind has betrayed itself for the last time. The ten swords (symbolising betrayal and irrevocable endings) pierce the lower part of the tree, signifying that the end is coming soon. The leaves that are left are old and withered, and will soon fall from the dying branches of Life.
The dying rays of twilight pour through the trees of The Forest Of Time and into the glade where the tree stands. Everything is very quiet.

Right, here's a very quick sketch of my Tree Of Life and Death...

http://leigh.cgcommunity.com/images/tree.jpg

As you can see, I've based my Tree design on the tree from Sleepy Hollow. The Tree will be surrounded by a forest, with bare autumn-esque trees. In the branches of these trees will be cages, which hold the souls of living things.
Around the Tree Of Life and Death will stand 5 altars - Fire, Water, Air, Earth and The Soul, which together bind energy into life. But the altars will be old and withered, and no longer contain very much power.
Texture wise the Tree will be fairly normal (although weathered and old) at the top (which is the Life part), and towards the bottom and the roots, the bark will become rotten. The Tree will be bleeding where the swords have pierced it.
Lighting wise, it will hopefully have loads of volumetrics streaming through to the forest floor.

ZrO-1

05-22-2002, 12:17 PM

Very cool Leigh! I really like your concept. The story is very well thought out. The sketch looks pretty sweet also :buttrock:

Evangelion refers to the anime series Neon Genisis Evangelion. It dealt with humans batleing the "angles" which were some sort of extra-terestrial life forms. (at least that's what I think they're refering to).

leigh

05-22-2002, 01:41 PM

Thanks ZrO-1 :)
Hopefully, I will get a start on the modelling tonight...hopefully....hope.....fully.........
:surprised

rolhionjs

05-22-2002, 03:26 PM

wow the idea of this tree is awesome ! :) i like that ! :) happy to see my favorite texturing godness on this challenge ! :)

Wolfewood

05-22-2002, 03:32 PM

I know I might be a little late to say it, but this idea totally rocks :) Very creative, I like :) :beer:

leigh

05-22-2002, 03:37 PM

Thanks Wolfewood :) I put a lot of thought into it, because I always like to have a story behind my creations :p
Nice quote from Dune there, by the way ;)

leigh

05-23-2002, 08:24 AM

Hi all, I started modelling my tree last night, and this is what I've done so far....
Not much to crit on, I know, but I thought I'd show it anyway :)

http://leigh.cgcommunity.com/images/tree_01.jpg

Equinoxx

05-23-2002, 08:32 AM

loverly twig girl . . .

now make it FATTER :twisted:

Chico

05-23-2002, 09:37 AM

Theres alot of history in that model already...:thumbsup:
Maybe make it alot fatter..? fat trees are well aged, and a tree of life and death should be well aged....just a though:applause:

nice work.

leigh

05-23-2002, 09:39 AM

Thanks :)
Yeah, I'm gonna make it fatter.... I'll hopefully have an update tomorrow...

MikaelPersson

05-23-2002, 09:43 AM

Going along the symbol/detail line.
You could add some marks/cuts in the tree or sticks in the ground. To mark of the ageing of the tree. You know like the pencil marks on the kitchen wall that your mother makes.

Maybe a bit off regarding your heavy symbolism. But it could add a different streak or lightening up the mood of the scene.

leigh

05-23-2002, 09:47 AM

Hmmmm that's a cool idea. I actually was going to add some carvings in the tree, but only when I get to texturing it - this scene is going to have such a high poly count by the time it's finished that I need to be as poly-conservative as I can.
But when I get to texturing it, I think I will add some kind of calender carving to it :thumbsup: Thanks for the idea :)

benhaines

05-23-2002, 10:13 AM

Hey Leigh

:airguitar :airguitar rock on! That tree looks great... aaah isn't magic bevel FUN!? I look forward to the finished version!

Keep it up! Ben

leigh

05-23-2002, 10:57 AM

Hey Ben - would you believe I'm actually not using magic bevel? :p (although yeah that tool ROCKS!! :buttrock: )
I always model poly by poly - insane, aren't I?? :insane:

hypercube

05-23-2002, 11:44 AM

Looking cool so far! I'm not using magic bevel either, but poly by poly? not even regular bevel? :argh: you so crazy :D

Glad you're finding time inbetween the city at any rate..things are so impossible here I can barely get to see everyone's, let alone work on mine..oh well, I'll either play catchup or drop out.

Anyway, look forward to more..carvings will be cool! Please post any tree-UV tips ;)

lildragon

05-23-2002, 11:56 AM

great start Leigh, I love the twists and turns :D very organic indeed, now do as Equinoxx says and make it FATTER :twisted:

leigh

05-23-2002, 12:01 PM

hypercube - Yeah, not even normal bevel - I guess I'm really oldschool, but I just prefer having that kind of control. Although, admittedly, I do use Extender constantly - an essential tool!!

lild - yeah and as I've told you and Yves - TONIGHT IS FEEDING TIME!!!! MWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! :twisted:

leigh

05-23-2002, 12:28 PM

...

lildragon

05-23-2002, 12:34 PM

Lol!! you freak, I humbly step down and graciously accept 2nd place :bowdown:

heheh freak :p

cheers

Iguiniz.X.

05-23-2002, 12:35 PM

:applause: :applause: :applause: :xtreme: :xtreme: :twisted:

He! you are quite addicted to CG TALK, aren't you?
Or do you have a nasty :deal: at your pants.

No for real. I must say that your dedication to CG talk is great and that you are a true GODES for CG talk:thumbsup:
Keep it up. I appriciate your efforts

:wavey:

rolhionjs

05-23-2002, 12:42 PM

You're a posting godness now ! :) :applause: :applause:

leigh

05-23-2002, 12:48 PM

Heheheheh thanks people :thumbsup:
I really spend far too much time here :surprised
But I'm addicted!!
Hey and the reason I'm here is because of all the awesome artwork everyone here does!! So thanks to all of you :love:

Iguiniz.X.

05-23-2002, 12:56 PM

I knew you were :twisted: addicted:twisted: and twisted Maybe whe should have a special smilie for that (NEW SMILIE: leight's adiction)
Do we have to start worring? :curious:

800 Posts isn't that much. does that mean that CG talk is a couple of months old?
I mean: 800 posts is a lot if you do 2 or 1 posts a day that will make it ALMOST 3 YEARS. But at the spead you post it is a mili second

leigh

05-23-2002, 01:10 PM

Heheheheh no need to start worrying....yet.....:twisted:
Actually I'm not sure exactly how old CG Talk is....:shrug:
I've only been posting here for 3 and a half months, so I guess 800 is quite a lot for only that amount of time :p

Madpear

05-23-2002, 02:03 PM

Too many talk in this this thread and not enough pictures. Why is it so well rated? there's just one skecth and a CG tree. Is that really so great?

Equinoxx

05-23-2002, 02:10 PM

why don't you go post the same message in matt clarks thread ey . . .
he also got stars based ONE post which doesn't show anything . . . he hasn't even replied yet [no disrespect to matt]

same for a few other threads . . .. leave people be . . .
if someone thinks it's worth the stars, then so be it . . .

I do agree with you tho, but as said, someone prolly thought this deserved to be rated . . .

leigh

05-23-2002, 02:14 PM

No I kinda agree with you :surprised
I generally only rate threads toward the end of the challenge, or only when there is quite a bit of solid work shown. I wish others would do the same. I mean, I'm grateful that someone thought what I've put here already is worth 3 stars, but I personally think it's a bit strange to make judgements so early on.
Often a thread starts out really promising and doesn't end up all that great....
I think (like Equinoxx said) that people give ratings to people that they expect will deliver something cool. It's their expectations, I guess.
And yeah, there is too much talk going on here :p. Heheheheh but that's because we are all kinda chatty :) Forums should be friendly :beer:
But, next post I make here in this thread, I'm going to have an update :bounce:

JohnR

05-23-2002, 03:27 PM

You should keep working on that, that three is fantastic, I like it a lot, an the idea of mythologycal part of the three too.

eric P

05-23-2002, 03:45 PM

damn,so much flower trow in the face,so much vaseline,that's not the way to progress.

Russo

05-23-2002, 06:46 PM

hm.. distorted tree... I like it

[msf]

05-23-2002, 06:59 PM

Leigh have you seen Tim Burtons rendition of sleepy hollow? The tree from that and your tree bear strikingly similar features.

05-23-2002, 07:28 PM

I was gonna say that! (it has a sword in it too) ;)

Very similar twisty tree-ness, but that's not a bad thing! The Tree of Death from Sleepy Hollow is one mighty evil tree, and if you get it like that - then it's gonna be a mighty fine model.

:bounce:

800? That is sick and wrong.:shame:

but then to an Abba fan.... :scream: (Just Kidding! :bounce:)

More!

ZrO-1

05-23-2002, 08:07 PM

Originally posted by Leigh
...As you can see, I've based my Tree design on the tree from Sleepy Hollow....

LOL I guess you guys missed that part :p

chi

05-23-2002, 08:26 PM

modeling poly by poly is the best, but i start to get lost after to long, but you seem to have the hang of it, you seem to be more than just a texturing goddess:)

05-23-2002, 10:37 PM

Doh! Did miss that...

"Lesson kids, always read everyone's posts before you put a reply"

Ahem.

whoops :rolleyes:

animazn

05-24-2002, 04:52 AM

what exactly does Extender do?

urgaffel

05-24-2002, 06:26 AM

I want more pictures! ;)

leigh

05-24-2002, 08:44 AM

Hey everyone :bounce:
Thanks for all the comments :)

animazn - with Extender, you basically select a couple of points on your polys, and Extender makes duplicates of them that you can then position to create your new polys. It's better than just aiming your mouse in general space and making a new point.

Here is todays update - as you can see I've pretty much finished the basic tree shape. And I made it fatter, as suggested :wip:
I'm still going to refine the branches a bit more, but I'm considering using displacements for that. As for the swords, they are mostly placeholders, I'm going to model each one a bit differently.
I also managed to get decent UVs of all the roots and the main part of the tree :bounce: I can't wait to start texturing it!

http://leigh.cgcommunity.com/images/tree_02.jpg

Howard Day

05-24-2002, 08:47 AM

Way to pick a really, really obscure reference! :D
Seriously, looks like a really good start. Although those swords look kinda flat, I'm sure you'll fix that eventually. :)
Keep it up!

Equinoxx

05-24-2002, 01:53 PM

still not fat enough, but better still . . .

take a good look at the roots tho, they seem flat and outof place . . . give them an even more organic twisted form . . .

i like the way you're heading tho . . .

[msf]

05-24-2002, 06:12 PM

nobodies perfect :)

Equinoxx

05-24-2002, 07:03 PM

Originally posted by [msf]
nobodies perfect

true that, but one can persue perfectness :twisted:

chickenflu

05-24-2002, 07:10 PM

Hey Leigh!! Yeah, like everyone else I really like the way you're heading with this one. Congrats on your last challenge by the way, it was really good :D Keep up the good work!!!

Equinoxx : I believe the word you are looking for is perfection

:beer:

MikaelPersson

05-24-2002, 07:40 PM

I am not sure I like the swords right now. They certainly lend a sense of scale to the tree now. But I really liked them better in your first sketch. How does it look if they get scaled up a bit?

leigh

05-27-2002, 08:29 AM

:cry: Only 2 stars?!! I know that I haven't really got much to show yet, but that doesn't mean my end product is going to be crap. People really should wait until a fair amount of work has been done before giving it a rating - I always do. Obviously a sketch and a couple of screenshots isn't very good compared to other entries in the challenge, but that's because I've hardly done anything yet. And I've noticed the same thing in a number of other threads in this month's challenge - people have just posted a rough sketch, and a screenshot, and they get given 1 star because of that, even though it's only a start. I'm not complaining, I'm just asking that people be patient before giving ratings. And then they should also say why they think a thread is crap too.

Anyway, thanks for all the comments and suggestions ;)

Mikael P. - I am considering scaling the swords up, because a colleague of mine also mentioned them. Alternatively, I may bring one of them closer to the camera to get more depth in the scene...

Well, here is the result of a couple of hours work I managed to get in over the weekend.
Please note that this is only really a lighting test.
The textures are obviously only temporary. I know they look horrible, they were just a colour reference for my future textures.
This is a very low quality render with no anti-aliasing, and low quality volumetrics. I rendered 2 passes - one with the geometry, and one wityh just the volumetrics and comped it in Photoshop.
I made the grass with Sasquatch.

http://leigh.cgcommunity.com/images/tree_lightTest_03.jpg

As always, comments and suggestions and critiques are mandatory!!

dmcgrath

05-27-2002, 08:53 AM

All is well with Leigh it seems. Your idea is fantastic, and I love the updates. But doesn't Dante's Hell have NINE rings? I forget.

Keep it going. :bowdown:

Do me a favor and come on over will ya?

http://www.cgtalk.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=8917

Howard Day

05-27-2002, 08:56 AM

Hmmm. Good stuff. One question for yah - ar the trees in the back textures or objects? I'm thinking textures, but why would they be so aliased? Hmmm..

Interesting stuff.

One suggestion - make the grass look like it's been trampled down - like people have recently been there...

Waiting for the next update...

hypercube

05-27-2002, 09:03 AM

Woohoo! Was wondering what you'd been up to :)

Looking great so far..very moody, nice composition..though maybe shifted a bit to the left or right might give it some spice, but it is still after all the central thing, so that's cool. Swords bigger would definitely be good, kind of getting lost in there, and some stuck closer would be nice like you said for depth.

Lighting is working, hard to do gloomy and still get a decent look at stuff..Not entirely crazy about the volumetrics in back, but I'm sure that'll develop, and the colour of it and the way it defines the tree are nice.

Grass looks good so far, I like the 'weedy' effect.

Anyway, glad you're getting some time in, can't wait to see more! Hopefully I can get more done on mine before your 1000th post :D

leigh

05-27-2002, 09:15 AM

dmcgrath - I think there are 7 rings, one for each of the Deadly Sins. But I could be wrong... ;)

Howard Day - the trees in the background are objects. But I modelled them very low poly to avoid bogging down my computer too much.
As for the grass, yeah I'll make some trampled down sections... :)

hypercube - thanks for the comments and suggestions :thumbsup: Yeah, I'm still working on the volumetrics, at the moment it's a bit tricky because this scene takes over an hour per frame to render (mostly because of the sasquatch, but also because of that one damned volumetric light :annoyed: ). That's also why I set all the volumetric setting to low. Hehehehe. What I like about that volumetric light though, is the way it kinda seeps in between the trees at the back, almost like mist.
Oh, and you better hurry with yours, because my 1000th post is coming soon!!

MDB101

05-27-2002, 09:18 AM

Sweeet stuff Leigh! I love it so far :) I can feel that this place you created makes me feel lost deeep in the woods.. looks cold and a developing place. It also gives that unaware feeling not knowing where u are.

I sugest mabe Im not sure, but I can see a swamp on the bottem there with fire flies giving little light. I look forward for more updates :) hehe take care sweetie.

eric P

05-27-2002, 10:01 AM

Leigh,what have you done to all those guys on cgtalk,even if you make a piece of shit they always will say's "woaw it's amazing,you are the greatest,can wait to see it finished" Pee in there pant's everytime they saw you post something.

by the way,need a lot of work...............................

leigh

05-27-2002, 10:12 AM

And why is it that whenever you post a comment, it's always something rude and/or inanely stupid???
I chose to ignore your last stupid comment, because it really wasn't worth the effort of responding to.

I don't expect people to say something is good if it isn't. And I certainly don't get the impression that everyone oohs and aahs about my work either :surprised

And I know it needs a lot of work - I've only been working on it for a few days for christs sake. You say "by the way,need a lot of work..............................." - well, instead of just making broad statements, why not tell me exactly what needs to be worked on?? Hmmm??

Why don't you also participate in the challenge instead of just making snide comments all the time??
If you have nothing constructive (and no, that doesn't mean grovelling) to say, then just don't say anything.
I ignored you last time, but this I actually find offensive.

MikaelPersson

05-27-2002, 11:13 AM

Are we being jealous eric? Still, I dont think this is the way to draw positive attention.

Leigh, your idea of bringing one of the swords to the front, is one I like. It would give depth and still keep the sense of scale to the tree.

Another thought. Couldn´t you position a small bird at the top of the tree. I dont know the proper name of the bird. But I am thinking of a rather small one with a red chest.

rolhionjs

05-27-2002, 11:20 AM

hehe ! :) Leigh : your lightning preview is awesome !! Did you use your procedural method for this render ? i mean the one you explained to me ?

That's too good :)

And f**k the ones who think it's a piece of shit... what ? no no i'm not defending Leigh, she's older enough to do it... I just think what i'm writing... I like her wips every challenge ! :)

Keep it up Leigh my heroin ! :)

leigh

05-27-2002, 11:32 AM

Mikael P. - I think your idea of a bird is great :thumbsup: Tack så mycket. I'm not sure which species of bird you are referring to, but I think that a crow or raven would probably be most appropriate in a scene like this.

.::STRIKE::. - thanks :) Yes I did use the different pass method for rendering the volumetrics. It really does save loads of time ;)

lildragon

05-27-2002, 11:37 AM

Leigh this is looking great, one thing I was wondering is where the light source on the left is coming from? The background is rather eerie, and then you have a lil patch of light in the foreground illuminating the tree.... are you going for ambience? or a specific light source?

You're loosing some detailing in the tree, but you most likely already knew that.. ;)

The grass is excellent :thumbsup: what did you use?

cheers

MikaelPersson

05-27-2002, 11:44 AM

A swedish lesson, robin=rödhake
Well, I was thinking along the line of lightening the mood again. It can get a bit gloomy if it´s all black.
But blackness isn´t necessary a bad thing. It´s just that it´s so often done. Here are a few links to the bird I was thinking of.

http://www.myra.nu/storrodhakefyr.jpeg
http://www.tynnered.goteborg.se/valen/faglar/individ/rodhake.jpg
http://hem.passagen.se/jorf/Fagelbilder2-filer/image004.jpg

eric P

05-27-2002, 11:52 AM

ok,i'm maybe rude.........i let you do your thing,i won't bother you anymore......................soon as i got time i will post something and so you can have your revenge:D

pascal_blanche

05-27-2002, 11:53 AM

good work leigh, now you should start to think a little about composition to enphasis your main subject... for now the big lack in your pict is some idea of persperctive an depht . the background is a cool idea, but you should try to let an open space somewhere to allow the eyes to go somewhere, for now it's too uniform and blocked ( maybe a nice moon half hidden by a hill? ).. think about a forground too, could help a bit with the composition(I like the idea of a blade too ).. agree with Lil, we need to have an idea of the main light source ( wich would be the moon I guess.. or some spooky lights comming form the ground? ) You should play a bit with the light on some of the blades too.. another little thing, we see some symetrical pattern in the sky ;)

Eric P : try to be more constructive in your critics you jealous guy :D

keep it up leigh!

leigh

05-27-2002, 11:58 AM

Lild - ummm that eerie light is actually a point (omni) light. It's kind of for ambience, but temporary - remember the tree is going to be surrounded by 5 altars - each will have a light coming off it.
And I used Sasquatch for the grass. Mmmmm Sasquatch....mmmm....too bad you don't get Sasquatch for Max, eh? ;)

Mikael P. thanks a lot. Ummm although 1 of those links don't want to work for me... But I see which bird you mean - cool! Look out for it in my updates, it will be there ;)
Also, with regards to the gloominess, well this is an evening scene, so it will be kinda dark.
But as I said above, there will be altar lights, as well as the soiul cages hanging of the branches in the forest, which will help to illuminate the entire scene somewhat.

Pascal - anything you say :bowdown:

Eric P. - I wouldn't stoop so low as to have "revenge". I'm more mature than that.

eric P

05-27-2002, 12:03 PM

.....jealous of what?........it's not jealousy it's just that people use to congratulate to easly.....and that's not constructive critics either.:D :wavey: ......let's return to leigh treads.....

Sangotten

05-27-2002, 12:36 PM

:thumbsup: It's looking good!!!

Did you make the background yourself too? I think the tree could do with a bit more green...leafs and stuff and the sword should be more visible... but hey you're doing a great job!!!

:wip:

Clanger

05-27-2002, 12:39 PM

Wow, love the atmosphere here, hope your computer can stand higher quality settings for the final render. That grass is great, makes you wish you had lightwave, well almost.

I did have a larger tree in mind when I saw the sketch, the scale of the grass makes it look quite small, is that what your after?

vfxmatt

05-27-2002, 12:42 PM

Very cool leigh ,luv the lighting and the poly trees in the back,really moody.So you used sasquatch for the grass ye,it looks really good just the tree texturing needs work but im sure youve already got that one done.cant wait to see the finall.Thu,s up leigh.:thumbsup:

leigh

05-27-2002, 12:54 PM

Eric P. - well, I think your comments are worse than unconstructive praise. Let me tell you now - if I see one more inane/unconstructive/insulting post from you in my, or anyone else's thread, I will delete them.

Sangotten - the background? You talking about the sky? Yeah I kinda made it - I compiled a bunch of different pics of clouds and colourised it all to get that image.
I still have to add the leaves to the tree - but there aren't going to be a lot of them though.
Also, the swords will be more visible when I render with anti-aliasing. I'll probably move the camera in a bit closer too...

Clanger - yeah I also hope so :surprised As for the scale of the tree - the tree itself is pretty big, but the grass is also very overgrown and long. The swords are probably a better indication of the scale.

suethsayer - thanks Matt :) And if you had read my post properly, you would have seen that those TEXTURES ARE TEMPORARY YOU SILLY GIT!!! Heheheheh...

Tellerve

05-27-2002, 04:35 PM

Leigh-

Well my main thought when I saw your stuff besides being impressed was that the tree was too small. Not necessarily too thin but too small. It did look much better in the initial textured/lighted scene but earlier with the size of the swords and their relation to the tree it just seemed a bit off to me. Just an opinion and I have seen trees that size before, I guess from your initial descriptions I foresaw a larger more robust tree.

As for birds...what about a vulture?

And as for Dante, there were 9 rings/levels of hell, but heck in hell who's counting really :p

Tellerve

05-27-2002, 05:04 PM

:bowdown: more renders!:bowdown: more renders!

And.....coud u give a blue backlight at the scene???The big tree may jump forward a bit more......it deserve more evidence!!:buttrock: loveya!

Teyon

05-27-2002, 05:12 PM

Woah, good start here, Leigh. I like the concept and you're making a good transition to 3D too.

Kulu_Kulu

05-27-2002, 06:37 PM

i haven't a really developped english so it will be short
REALLY IMPRESSIV , rreally beautiful :thumbsup:

c trè bo et je respect bcp ton taff Leigh (si t'arrive à comprendre mon français) :)

keep it uppp
kulu

Faeroon

05-27-2002, 07:06 PM

*slaps eric p. with a big troud*
uhm... where was I...ah yes!

Great rendering - gives me the creeps.
This tree reminds me of "The Tree of the Dead" from the
movie "Sleepy Hollow" - like this movie your pic has a
dark, mystical mood... brrr... :argh:

Waiting for update :)

GrAnt

05-27-2002, 07:34 PM

Sheeeeeeeesh, that is excellent leigh!!! It has such a dark and gloomy look to it, i just love it!! and that grass, you haaave to tell us how you did it....I was tinkin maybe you should add some very dingy/dirty birds like vultures some where....your talents amaze me..top notch!:thumbsup:

Sgt.Pepper

05-28-2002, 03:21 AM

Looks really creapy, I like it.

Q: What is "volumetric light"? I like playing with the lighting and it sounds really interresting...

Teyon

05-28-2002, 03:42 AM

Volumetric lighting is a tool used to simulate the effect of light passing through particles of dust. Most noticeable in sunlight shining through a window. Often you can see the diffused rays of light viewed as beams. That's my poor-man's explanation. I'm sure somone will give you a better reply.

sean_G

05-28-2002, 08:32 AM

in dantes "inferno" if youll notice he counts pergatory as the initial ring of hell.... albiet, his next work "purgatorio" purgatory exist is its own eccliasiatical time/space.... sort of a limbic diocese

so there is some debate over whether or not purgatory actually exist in its own right or is one of the rings of hell... because you may be admitted into heaven from purgatory, once purged--thus the term "purg-atory", but never from hell.

either way, i dig the fact that you took it that deep leigh. have you read the kabbala?

leigh

05-28-2002, 08:34 AM

Unfortunately, no update til tomorrow... :sad: just wanted to respond to the comments so far...

Tellerve - yeah a couple of people have mentioned the size of the tree. I'm kinda going by the size of The Tree Of The Dead from Sleepy Hollow, which was a pretty average size tree. Although, compared to the rest of the trees in the forest behind it, it actually is quite big... I've also used a wide camera lens to try and get that cool bent proportions look...

-OZ- - heheh thanks :) Yeah, a blue light is an excellent idea! I'll add that tonight, hopefully have an update tomorrow.

Teyon - thanks man! Hey your challenge looks pretty cool so far too. Get back on msn sometime!!

Kulu_Kulu - thank you very much :) Heheheh, did you know that your name means "big big" in Zulu (it's an African language)

Faeroon - hehehehe "*slaps eric p. with a big troud*" - thanks, someone neede to do that ;). Well Sleepy Hollow, and the entire mood of that film, is my main inspiration here - hence the withered tree, and the greenish lighting. That movie was just so brilliantly filmed - it's a true piece of art. The fact that my scene reminds you of it, means that I am on the right track then - thanks!

GrAnt - Thanks you Vaalie! I did the grass with the Sasquatch hair engine. I'm going to be adding birds soon, but not vultres. I'm going with Mikael P.'s suggestion of robins... They will be added soon.

Sgt.Pepper - As Teyon explained, volumetric light is, simply, a light where you can see the actual beams. Most 3D apps have this option, although I warn you - it takes ages to render... Volumetric lighting is great to add atmosphere to your scene, as well has realism. For me, it is essential in all my work to have them. Here, they add a cool misty creepy feel in the forest in the background. If you interested in lighting you should check out
Illumenal -The Resource For Ultra Photorealistic Lighting & Rendering (http://www.illumenal.com/) - they have some really cool stuff there.

sean_G - thanks for that insight. Yeah, I know a fair amount of the Kabbalistic teachings - my tree has ten branches, just like the Kabbalistic Tree Of Life. I've always had a great interest in esoteric writings, and have always tried to incorporate them into my life (and art) as much as possible.

sean_G

05-28-2002, 09:04 AM

that would add another layer to your judeo-biblical metephor.
as the robin was the bird that perched atop christs crown 'O' thorns, and was smattered with his sacramental blood after he was pierced by the spear of longinus....

good choice

sean_G

05-28-2002, 09:11 AM

PS... thats supposedly how the robin came to acquire his red crest... those spears work nicley as spears of longini(us), maybe some blood trickling from the tree wounds then... i think the tree in sleepy hollow bled too, didnt it? although that might be overdoing it a 'bit...

leigh

05-28-2002, 09:16 AM

Actually, if you look very very closely at that last render, you'll see some trails of blood coming out from where the swords have pierced it... I don't want to overdo it though, it's just a subtle touch ;)

Equinoxx

05-28-2002, 09:23 AM

common ya lazy girl . . . I demand an update . . .

you're slackin . . . GIT GOIN :twisted:

rolhionjs

05-28-2002, 02:45 PM

I didn't know illumenal ... Wow there's some excellent work ! Thanks for this great link Leigh ! :)

Faeroon

05-28-2002, 03:11 PM

@Leigh:

Hehe, so I was right :wip:

I've looked at your last picture again and...
your grass is marvellous - I know you've done that with
Saquatch.
Now my question: Do you or any1 else know how to
do nice looking grass in Maya? I've tested all the PaintFX
presets, altered them but... dont know... they just dont
look impressiv :surprised

Maybe you, my goddess, can gimme some help here? :bows:
Or maybe someone else - would be great

PS: Harharhar - remember the scene where Johnny Depp hit
that tree with his axe... :surprised EEKIE! Disgusting - no
I say: MORE BLOOD ON YOUR TREE LEIGH! :airguitar

leigh

05-28-2002, 03:27 PM

Equinoxx - you little poep, you calling me lazy??!! Look at you! You haven't entered the last 2 challenges you lazy git!!

.::STRIKE::. - yeah Illumenal is bloody brilliant :)

Faeroon - hmmmm, I don't really know Maya - but what about Maya Fur?? Surely you could make grass with that? Sasquatch is also, technically, a hair engine, yet it works great for grass and weeds and such... :hmm:

Equinoxx

05-28-2002, 03:30 PM

shaddup, you know damn well that i've been occupied with non-challenge related models and that my hand hurts like hell at the mo . . .

I can outmodel you ANY day tho . . . I just choose not to :D

again, UPDATE :love:

leigh

05-28-2002, 03:36 PM

oooohhhh poor little Yves :cry:
hehehe :twisted:

Anyway, even though it's been only days since I celebrated by 800th post, this is...ta da da da :drumrock: ....

MY 900th POST!!!

Equinoxx

05-28-2002, 03:37 PM

right, double post your 900th message Right MUAHAHA

cunt hehe . . . /edit from Leigh/ *tsk* *tsk* now is that any kind of language to be using on a polite forum, Mr. Adam? :shame: /edit from Leigh/

ok, enough of this fun, let's keep this serious ey :)

ZrO-1

05-28-2002, 04:42 PM

@Faeroon: Like Leigh suggested, I'd suggest using Maya Fur (not the hair Paint brush but the fur. Then you could map a ramp for the color. You'd pro'lly also have to tweak the spec since it's set up as hairs and not plant material. It should work just as well as the Sasquatch these Lightwave lightweights ;) :p :D are using.

KOryH

05-28-2002, 05:19 PM

Less talk more pictures.
I lke what i see so far, I just want more!

MikaelPersson

05-28-2002, 06:48 PM

Faeroon, I think maya fur is your best bet. I am using it right now to make a meadow (work related). You can achieve some quite nice effects with it. I could upload an animation done with it. If you are interested.

Faeroon

05-28-2002, 07:00 PM

@Mikael:

Hell yeah!!
I would really like to see this - maybe you can give me some
tips how to achieve the grass effect with fur...
but could we handle that via PM , email or in another thread.
I dont wanna make the goddess of textures angry, because
we mess up here nice contest thread.:p
:bowdown: *bows deeply*

MBUUN

05-28-2002, 07:12 PM

I like what I see so far. It reminds me of the tree from Sleepy Hollow, which I tried to duplicate at one point, but failed the first time. Nice job on the shape of the trunk. Wicked curves.

It would be cool to see the shot with a wider perspective, close-up on one of the sword handles, showing the others in the background, looking up at the tree. Just a thought.

ZrO-1

05-28-2002, 11:17 PM

I really hate to ask this, but....
Hey Leigh, would you mind paying me a visit and tell me what you think of my progress (particularly the UV maps).
Thank you Leigh :love: :love: :love:

levin

05-28-2002, 11:25 PM

maybe you should change your title to "POSTING GODESS"?

excellent tree shape by the way, godess

:thumbsup:

Mike Pauza

05-28-2002, 11:34 PM

Real spooky. Your tree even looks like a character...nice stuff.

sean_G

05-29-2002, 08:32 AM

your right leigh...
that is some subtle blood, it looks good in all its understated gory-glory, youre just one step ahead arent you? looking foward to more developments. . .later

Jib

05-29-2002, 08:43 AM

:thumbsup: Nice image (but WANT MORE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

your picture reminds me a scene of the movie:
"Sleepe Hallow"
I've seen a concept drawing of the film where there is exactly the same environment...

leigh

05-29-2002, 08:49 AM

:)
Here is a different angle. I'm not too crazy about this one though...and I know it's too dark :p
I was wondering if someone who is clued up about composition could give me some tips? This sort of thing isn't usually my department :sad:
As you can see, I'm trying to create more depth by placing that sword in the foreground, but it's not quite working yet... PLEASE HELP!!!

the textures are all still temporary - I know they look cack

http://leigh.cgcommunity.com/images/tree_lightTest_07.jpg

Howard Day

05-29-2002, 08:58 AM

Yeah. It's too dark. :D

No, really.

Ok, first of all, the background is waaaay too busy (and this coming from me. :) ) My suggestion is to blur it, or make it less obtrusive. Right now it's a pixel farm... :D

You might want to make some sort of break in the clouds to let a little light in on this scene. That'd be a great chance to whup out your volumetrics....And create some nice spec shine on that sword.

Heh. It looks really good so far - the grass and weeds are great.

I hope this helps...

sean_G

05-29-2002, 09:05 AM

if you already have your scene segmented into layers-passes
it shouldnt be too tough. but it depends on what youre really trying to achieve. having a hard time with DOF and focal length?
youre using LW right leigh?... can you do a Z-depth pass in LW?
that would help, then you could just use that Z pass to apply most of your post-process focal FX in afterFX etc. and it would save on render time associated with DOF and Z-depth colour etc.
but again im not really sure exactly which kind of depth effect you want.

good luck leigh.

leigh

05-29-2002, 09:14 AM

Thanks guys :)
Yeah I am going to be doing DOF, it's just that rendering for DOF requires 9 passes, and already this scene takes 1 and a half hours just for one pass :cry:
So I am leaving that to the end.
Yeah I guess I can do a z-depth pass though, Sean, I'll try that tonight... I'll see how it turns out.
Howard - I like your idea of lights coming through the cloud, I think I'll use that :thumbsup: My computer is going to hate me for this....

Howard Day

05-29-2002, 09:20 AM

Welcome.

One idea - you could cheat the effect and place some textured transparent polys in there for the volumetrics. That would convince your computer against suicide... :D (The same effect that I use in my pics...)

sean_G

05-29-2002, 09:24 AM

alright liegh since youve got z-depth dont bother doing another LW DOF pass ever again, DOF is characteristically crappy in most 3Dpackages... if youve ever seen XSIs DOF youd know why work arounds are essential, it $UCK$. . . and this methodology is a lot more flexible anyways.

all you have to do is just take that z-depth pass, invert its gray-scale values so that the closest objects are the darkest, and use it as a mask for a blur filter. and viola DOF in like 3min.
now composite to taste....

you could also use this same Zpass for adding atmospheric colour depth like in an underwater shot, in a murky lake,etc.

hope this sheds some light on the subject

Howard Day

05-29-2002, 09:30 AM

Heck, do it in Photoshop and be done in 15 seconds.

leigh

05-29-2002, 09:31 AM

Howard - heheheh I think I'll rather push my computer to the brink than fake the volumetrics. I've used that method before and it looked pooooooooooooey!! Although, it looks cool in your scene:p

Sean - Thanks :thumbsup: I'll do that for sure!

Howard Day

05-29-2002, 10:11 AM

Just make sure to post the home video when smoke starts pouring out of the case. It'll go in my "Best Videos" Bin... :D

leigh

05-29-2002, 10:15 AM

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

Howard Day

05-29-2002, 10:24 AM

Either I'm up too late (It's 3:30 in the morning here) or you just laughed at one of the dumbest jokes I've ever made. Or you're mocking me. :D Seriously - any new updates?

leigh

05-29-2002, 10:32 AM

No, just the images that came to mind of my computer exploding were really funny :p
No updates til tomorrow - I'm at work right now and I have a city of 174 buildings to UV-unwrap and texture :surprised , and I'm only a third of the way done...

Howard Day

05-29-2002, 10:36 AM

Maybe some pictures of what you're working on now?
.
.
.
.
.
Nah, NDA's ****. Nevermind. See yah later. :D

Joebount

05-29-2002, 11:25 AM

Yup, a bit tooooo dark ... It's a shame for a software called Lightwave :p

uh uh, just kidding quys ! :)

Why don't you add some fire burning some trees, it could be really interresting.

just my 2 cents

BTW : if you answer before 18h00, I will tell to your boss that you don't work and that you spend all your time on this forum ... Damn ! the same for me !!! :scream:

dobermunk

05-29-2002, 11:37 AM

I think a few light rays streaming in would be the perfect way to work out the composition. Maybe leave the sword up front dark and out of focus, positioning a bright spot behind it bringing out some moss and crosses.

I don't think the background is too cluttered - once you alias render and maybe some blur.

hypercube

05-29-2002, 11:38 AM

Definitely like the sword up front..but aside from the dark, the one thing it seems to lose from this angle is more size of the tree..since it twists up and then back, it really seems to be smaller somehow, instead of looming over. Not sure what you could do about that and still look up at it..in the movie they could throw the camera around, have people next to it, etc..maybe just the size of surface details, and the swords. will be enough.

Also, definitely zdepth everything..I do all dof in post now, it's just too nice to tweak a slider and watch the focal point shift, instead of change a number and wait for a render.

However, that said, I'm not sure I'd dof this..it's too big..unless you're only going to see the sword, you just don't GET dof like that unless the scene is very tiny..I've noticed people doing that on car renders and many other things, but it just makes it look like a miniature, no matter how much realism it adds. And you also get little or no depth of field in reality with a wide angle lens.

All that said, for this z-depth would be sweet for playing with fog or haze in the scene.

Sorry to rant, look forward to the next, wish I could see your city as well :)

Kaos

05-29-2002, 11:38 AM

leigh, just a thought..... this is a still image yes?? and will more than likely NOT be animated, am i right?

well, why would you need to render the multitude of trees in the same scene??
Split it up, composite it on photoshop.... then the DOF is also photoshopable... and heck, from loking at your textures, i am sure that you know your way around PS to be able blend any discrepancies with the composition (if there is any...)

also, why not add a few light emitting elements into the scene?? its very dark.....

Maybe OZ could fill you in on the neon moss thing??

sorry, but it looks too dark for me to be able to tell if its kick ass or mediocre....

dobermunk

05-29-2002, 11:50 AM

DoF the sword!!
DoF the SwOrd!!

leigh

05-29-2002, 11:54 AM

Aaaah! Some excellent suggestions coming here - thanks a lot!

Joebount - I don't think I'll be adding any fire to the forest, but possible to one of the altars (each altar represents one of the elements, and fire is one of them). Oh and my boss knows I'm sitting on this site all the time already ;)

dobermunk - I was also thinking about keeping the sword out of focus. Yeah, now I'm definitely going to try that. By the way, that sword is going to protect my tree against your billion dollar cheese campaign ;)

hypercube - yeah that's the main reason I wasn't too mad about this particular render - the tree didn't look as cool from this POV. I'm definitely going to reposition the camera to get that look it had before. I'm going to play with DOF, even though, like you said, it's kinda unrealistic.
Oh, and as for my city, I'll lose my job if I show anyone ;) Contracts contracts contracts....

Kaos - ummm, I am going to do some animations with it hopefully. And because we have a Combustion suite here at work, I can render everything in as many passes as I like, and animate it in any way I wish :bounce:
So, yeah, I might actually seperate the forest into a new scene. That would make it more controllable.
And I am going to be having a couple of light emitting objects - just wait a day or two, and all shall be revealed...

pascal_blanche

05-29-2002, 02:38 PM

leigh.. use the fog! (is that me or it sounds like an obi wan line?? :p ) really the only big problem is that your dark areas in the backgound have the same intensity as in forground.. that's why you don't feel the depht.. because it's night, you could use a blue/green fog set at 20 or 30% and a brighter layered fog could add atmosphere too. You don't have to make it dense.. subtile enough to help the comprension of your pict .. or play a bit with the Z trick that Sean mentionned... you can adjust things very fast this way.....I like the new compositon a lot.. keep it up and keep posting ;)

leigh

05-29-2002, 02:49 PM

Hey Pascal, thanks for your input!! I was hoping you would see my plea for help!
Thank you oh snailmaster :bowdown:
Yes I know fog would be fabulous, it's just that I've got to figure out the most rendertime/memory efficient way of producing decent looking fog in LW...
Anyone got any tips? :sad:
And I'm glad you like the new composition - I trust that anything you say is good :bowdown:

hypercube

05-29-2002, 03:16 PM

regarding fog, HV's really aren't -that- slow anymore, especially if you're rendering in layers, can crank their settings down a bit and then blur in post..only thing I can't recall is if they're getting written into the z-buffer correctly now..pretty sure tho. Main trick is don't have the camera IN one, or you'll be willing the render to your grandkids.

one other way would be the 'motion blur trick', which is pretty kooky and may be too time consuming..but sometimes it works good for ground fog..

leigh

05-29-2002, 03:21 PM

Hey thanks Hypercube, I'll try hypervoxels then :thumbsup: Any tips on making some cool fog with them though??

sean_G

05-29-2002, 03:31 PM

that does have a nice starwars ring to it.- i really am not that that keen on the processing architecture of LW. but you could use a seperate Z-depth pass the same way for fog.

only adjust your focal point to be just in front of the camera. this is so that things that are closest to the camera appear the least "fogged-out", or obscured. render out a frame of nothing but the fog.

and use that , plus the new Zdepth mask to composite on top of your rendered still. this way you can seperate the scenic-render calculations of the actual render and the atmospheric fog. . . its what i was talking about when i mentioned "murky underwater shot" in my last post. if you have any snags hit me up, and id be glad to help.

ps. as a texturing goddess im sure youre hot with PS, youll be foggin' it up on the Z-depth tip in no time ! good luck leigh

Madpear

05-29-2002, 03:40 PM

Try to put the fog in post using the z-channel of your image: it's easy and efficient. Take care to your compositing, it seems that some trees in the background come in front of the main one. You should you should delete some trees in the background: that's too much. And finally, even if it's the night, you should add more contrast in you seen. That's it :shrug:

sean_G

05-30-2002, 02:23 AM

hows it coming?... good i hope. i just had one thing to say
"Billion dollar cheese campaign..!!" LOL

Sgt.Pepper

05-30-2002, 04:29 AM

Cime on nai miss Godess.
That sky is beggin for a bad moon :twisted:

BTW: thanks for the lightinglessons...

three

06-02-2002, 01:36 AM

but i can still recognize really good art bebe :D everything's going fine i hope, can't read right now so I've skipped the reading parts :D
keep on the good ajow... eh,.. work! :D

<waves>

take care.

Adam Klein

06-02-2002, 05:36 PM

nice! no way I can catch up on 9 pages of posts, but I wanted to throw out a few comments on the piece.

The crosses are not distiguishable as they are in earlier stages
only one shadow is giving it away to me now.

also the background trees have too many floating leaves it lookes like major wind disturbance (tornado? ohhh, that'd be cool)

add more STUFF to it! sounds like you have big plans but I'd say ditch your grass (for later) stop waitin for Vols. to render (for now;) ) and keep build more to the scene itself and THEN come back and tweak/create the high render elements some more.

Also I was wondering if you shouldn't create a background 'matte' with those sillhouetted trees, so you don't have to render them every time, and just lay it on a single background poly.... If that's uncool for final product, surely it will help speed up the test renders

keep it uuuup
:beer:

UrbanFuturistic

06-02-2002, 06:52 PM

OK, haha! Composition! Something I actually have a clue about! :p

OK, I could be hideously wrong here but first we have arrow one. The handle of the sword with the standing stone(?) tends to lead the eye back again and again to the stone in the background.

The reason the eye is on the sword in the first place is because it's like a great big line(2) cutting the image in half and it's very distracting as far as the rest of the scene is concerned.

If you move the sword back in line with the root of the tree(3) then the line will (stupidly enough) seem more natural... well, more pleasing to the eye.

If you don't want a lit object in the foreground to be distracting then make it no taller in the picture than half the height of the picture.

...and take everyone's advice. Since volumetrics are part of the lighting process and time consuming in themself they really should be left to last.
regards, Paulhttp://homepage.ntlworld.com/odubtaig/smilies/coffee.gif

UrbanFuturistic

06-02-2002, 09:15 PM

Also, make the branches on the background trees thicker. They need to be dense enough to give a real sense of dark menacing presence rather than just a sense of bits of black floating near some poles... unless that is they look better high res :p
regards, Paulhttp://homepage.ntlworld.com/odubtaig/smilies/coffee.gif

dutch

06-03-2002, 05:32 AM

can you make some of the trees in the bg all on diff angles n stuff for me?

please
its been bothering me :)

dobermunk

06-06-2002, 09:01 PM

C'mon Lee, time for an update. Da cheese is ripe ;-)

dmcgrath

06-07-2002, 12:54 AM

he he he, dober...
:insane:

Scott Harris

06-07-2002, 02:39 AM

hey did you disapear?

leigh

06-07-2002, 08:42 AM

Hey everyone, I'm still here. Just had no time in the last week for an update, AND my server has been up to trouble AGAIN :annoyed: so I've had virtually no access to the internet... Hopefully, I will have an update by Monday :) Thanks for all the extremely valuable advice and suggestions :thumbsup:

Hehehehe Adam Klein - those aren't floating leaves!! :scream: The trees brances are actually solid - they just look broken up because there is no antialiasing :p

06-07-2002, 12:16 PM

.....TOO BAAAAD!:annoyed: ........argh!damn net probs!Im very curious to see ur update!!:bounce: Kmon!:bounce: Kmon!:bounce: Kmon!:bounce:

Adam Klein

06-07-2002, 05:17 PM

heh,heh :p

Grey

06-08-2002, 04:05 AM

Leigh, classically what photographers will use to get depth perception is a shallow depth of field. This makes everything in front of and behind the point of focus blurred.

I know that Cinema4D's depth of field filter sucks bigtime, not sure what LW's is like (if it has one). Even so, you can do this in post using a very light blur filter if you render a depth map.

But Depth of Field may not be a very good idea here depending on the effect you want.

You might also try using a very short focal length on your camera. 35, 25 and maybe even so radical as 18 (which distorts quite a bit).

This will force you to get closer to your tree as well, possibly adjusting hte angle your shooting your scene from. The objects closer to the camera will look bigger in relation to the objects farther away.

Landscape photographers classically use short focal lenghts. Ansel Adams was famous for it.

dmcgrath

06-08-2002, 06:56 PM

Heck,
I say render it in layers, and comp them in P-shop. Then do the depth-of-field in post. Might be a heck of a lot easier, and we would be none the wiser.

UrbanFuturistic

06-10-2002, 12:22 AM

*thought*

I don't have many and this one's for you Leigh... must be your witchy powers :p

Tried X-DOF?
All an excuse to say UPDATE!!!!

Yeah, I'm a big Sleepy Hollow fan... or even a big Christina Ricci fan... Rrrowlll... erm... that'll be the beer talking :argh:
regards, Paulhttp://homepage.ntlworld.com/odubtaig/smilies/coffee.gif

levin

06-10-2002, 01:28 AM

where are you? your public is clamoring for an update.

about those swords, how about bringing them to the foreground, covering some of the view; have you considered a worms eye view looking up? of course you have to bring the camera down, with the swords blocking the way and sight up.

GlasS-

06-11-2002, 10:22 PM

Less talk, more pictures.

06-11-2002, 10:24 PM

HAAAA beloved (by everyone here.......im right?) goddess!!! where are you!!!!!..............here is not the same without u!...............................................................................................................................................:eek: hA! PANIC!!!!:bounce:

Viper

06-20-2002, 05:46 AM

Updates? :bounce: :bowdown:

Kaos

06-20-2002, 07:53 AM

dammit woman........... give us an update...........

:thumbsup:

DimitrisLiatsos

06-23-2002, 01:05 PM

Up to now i was just watching..but now i must say
UPDATE !!!:bounce: :bounce: :bounce:

MaskTX

06-23-2002, 06:09 PM

Leigh you the most talanted girl I ever seen!

ZrO-1

06-24-2002, 04:24 AM

My last girlfriend was the most talented girl I had ever seen....Boy was she flexable...:drool:

hehehe just kidding.

leigh

06-24-2002, 07:19 AM

Hey everyone, sorry there hasn't been an update for such a while, I've been a bit too busy :sad:
Well, here is a little update - mostly it's just a composition change and a lighting tweak...

http://leigh.cgcommunity.com/images/tree_light_test_08.jpg

Joebount

06-25-2002, 11:39 AM

There is obviously no lights in Lightwave ... uh uh uh
Try to add a deep blue light instead of darkness, the result will be better IMHO

Except that, great ! :°)

leigh

06-25-2002, 11:58 AM

heheheheh :p
Yeah, you see the problem is in trying to make a dark scene. You see, I want to make it dark, like the way it looks just before night falls completely.
So how do you light your scene to make it look dark?? :surprised That's what is puzzling me....
I already have a blue light in there, I guess I need to add more :)
Thanks for the suggestion! :thumbsup:

dobermunk

06-25-2002, 12:30 PM

Maybe if you work more with rim lighting.
Night generally has light coming in at an angle picking up the contours. Blue in particular.

A (very) quick illustration of what I mean:

leigh

06-25-2002, 12:37 PM

Ooooh! Cool idea, Dobermunk! Thanks! I will most definitely do that ;)
Thanks a lot :thumbsup:

ZrO-1

06-25-2002, 05:56 PM

Yeah Dober's suggestion would work really well. That right side of the objects could use definition. One thing I noticed in the last pic is that I think your light might be a little low also. To my eye it almost looks like cast light from a house or campfire that is just out of frame on the left side. Maybe if you bring the angle up on that light that could help also.

Just my 2 cents.

DimitrisLiatsos

06-25-2002, 11:19 PM

:bounce:
Well Done!...but i must agree with dobermunk's
suggestion for the blue back light!!!
Go on !!!:D

fellah

06-26-2002, 03:44 PM

hi leigh,
can't see much on the last pic but the previous ones looks really good! so I guess the last one does to with a bit more lighting :)

and yep, a little backlight would do the trick, and maybe a volumetric light from above shining down on the tree with particles flying around? :)

cheers :wavey:

MikaelPersson

06-26-2002, 03:54 PM

I am a bit unsure of your lightning right now. It looks like there is a house or camp fire infront of your tree. The decay of the yellow light is way to sharp, if you are going for a night look.
The light at night is really uniform. But how to make such a lighting interesting, well. I think the best bet is the rim light everyone is talking about.

schmu_20mol

06-26-2002, 04:21 PM

well i don't know how many lights you're using ..... but in normal film environments for dark scenes 7-9 lights are used....perhaps you need some more to get the results you want

beside that it's pretty interesting athmospere you created....i like it:thumbsup:

leigh

06-28-2002, 08:49 AM

Hi all :) Thanks again for all the suggestions.
I've added a backlight (as you can see) which I do think does indeed make the tree far more dramatic.
However, something weird happened with the Sasquatch grass and the volumetric lights (as you can see) :surprised

Also, sorry about the dusgusting quality jpg - I was in a huge rush this morning when I saved the image... :p

http://leigh.cgcommunity.com/images/tree_lightTest_10.jpg

Crits and comments anyone?? :shrug:

Error323

06-28-2002, 09:16 AM

I think it's a very cool atmosphere (the green clouds and all) But the picture is a bit to dark, can hardly see the tree :(.
it's just to dark in front of the picture...

:: Error

Faeroon

06-28-2002, 09:19 AM

The Backlight adds a good part to the mysterious athmosphere,
in my opinion it could be a bit brighter
(I think the overall picture is a bit dark, all the nice details are being darkened away :surprised - just IMHO)

Hhehehehehee - looks that you've now got something
strange going on with your gras too :D
Remember what happend to my PaintFX gras - the
mysterious red stuff - seems like plugin grass doesnt like
lightning at all.

But I really like your pic - the tree looks wicked after
all, cant wait to see the finished version :applause:

leigh

06-28-2002, 09:25 AM

Thanks for the comments! :)

Error323 - I think the problem is that when I work I have my monitor's contrast up quite high, so to me the tree isn't very dark... :hmm: I'll play with the images contrast a bit more though ;)

Faeroon - yeah, the light and grass problem is mildly annoying :p hehehehehe

Equinoxx

06-28-2002, 11:18 AM

where's me friggin nightvisiongoggles . . . :rolleyes:

hehe :twisted: tho VERY dark . . . i like what i see girl, but goddamned turn down your comps bright/contr. and thtrown some friggin lights in there . . .

oh and is it me or does that look like a VERY small tree of Life :cry:

love ya poppy :twisted:

MikaelPersson

06-28-2002, 11:33 AM

I like the new light setup. You could increase the rim though.
:) I know what you people are talking about regarding darkness. My monitor here at work is turned up lots so it´s quite ok here ;). But would I have looked at it at home, hehe then I probably wouldn´t seen a thing. The greenish light is nice, I like extreme colours.

leigh

06-28-2002, 11:34 AM

Ok ok how about this then? I know it's a bit toooooo light, but is this better, anyway?

Nori Bloodywrath - it's small because it's withered and dying, just like the human race MWAHAHAHAHA!!! :twisted:

http://leigh.cgcommunity.com/images/tree_lightTest_10_lighter.jpg

MikaelPersson

06-28-2002, 11:39 AM

yes, better.

ZrO-1

06-28-2002, 04:16 PM

Yeah! That's a lot nicer Leigh. I really like the new lighting...so cold *shiver* :).

I just noticed the cool light rays coming out of the BG trees. It might be a bit more obvious if you move that light source making the rays off more to one side of the pic.

I really like this one. I hope you get to finnish it by the end of the challenge. It looks really cool.

Faeroon

06-28-2002, 06:18 PM

Muuuuuch better know!:wip:

Virtuoso

06-28-2002, 11:15 PM

I like the "SURREAL" feel to it. It seems to pour out with this surrealistic feel. It also is mysterious. Like what's happened here????..............Plus the greenish hue and light in the background has me wondering what's going on back there, something happening there right now that has already taken place here in the foreground??? Maybe a better idea to stay away................

I like it, fine work, surreal and mysterious, very nice job.:thumbsup: :)

james_martin

06-29-2002, 06:29 PM

Your bark doesnt seem to flow with the tree, maybe thats just me. I do love your choice of colors, nice feel

Dis

07-01-2002, 12:55 AM

ugh ! way too much light IMHO, but it really depends if you watch at the picture at night, or at daylight when your monitor isnt the only lightsource. i found the previous ones much better.

Dis

07-01-2002, 01:54 AM

Hi evil goddes
(- it's small because it's withered and dying, just like the human race MWAHAHAHAHA!!! ):surprised
Ssssweet evil image....the new version is perfect. time to give some stars.:applause:

Pancreas

07-01-2002, 08:25 AM

We´re all condemmned! The tree of life is dead! I´m so contraried. ;)

I think the last one is the best, darkness is good, but there must be a bit of light in order to appreciate it. Nice atmosphere, the green sky is great, i´ve only seen a sky like that through a beer bottle, it´s nice to watch it again without those pink elephants.

oziris

07-01-2002, 08:41 AM

Wow, it's beatiful!

Luvburger

07-01-2002, 07:00 PM

Hey Leigh....just wanted to say keep things dark! It fits perfectly with your main light sources. Also so many people in this industry are afraid to truly push the darks, so a lot of the images lose some of their power.

Also, just a few comments on the lighting. I like the volumetric clouds for atmosphere...very nice touch, but you didn't use and Depth of Field on your camera. I know it's past the "end", but you may want to play with your camera a little just to see what happens. I think it would add a little more mystery into the forest behind.

The "backlight" is a little too strong. Try to think of it as more of a rim light. Rim lights are just meant to accentuate the contours of the piece it is lighting a little more subtly than that.

I like the image overall, so cheers on a job well done! The composition is strong with the left to right movement along the tree, into the strong diagonal by the sword. I am still a little curious as to why you decided to put that rock into the screen right area of your image. I think the piece is stronger without it, but that's my humble opinion.

Again, nice work...I look forward to seeing your next entry!

leigh

07-02-2002, 08:14 AM

Thank you everyone for all the comments :thumbsup:

james_martin - hehehe the bark actually doesn't flow with tree, you're right. That's because I never actually had the time to texture it properly - these are all still temporary textures :p

Dis - yeah I also think there is way too much light now, but unfortunately not everyone has chosen to slowly destroy their eyes by having the contrast on their monitors as high as I have! Hehehehe.... That's why I left the darker one there as well, so that if your monitor is high contrast, that's the one to look at ;)

-OZ- - Me? Evil? Never! . ........... :twisted:

Pancreas - yup, those pink elephants sure are annoying from time to time....

Luvburger - I did intend to add DOF, but I didn't get around to it - just ran out of time :sad: I still have quite a bit of work to do on it, so I will be playing with the lighting a bit more - adding rim lights and so on. The reason I added rocks and that in the fram was because I wanted it to have a real forest feel - too often I've seen people make landscapes that are missing the little details that real landscapes have. If there had been no rocks here, it would have seemed to be missing something, I think.