Enchanted Forest -Environment- LXStalker

[Iguiniz.X.]

Let me be the firts to welcome you at the forum.:cool:
Yea the challenge is a geat start to learn a new 3D package.
I'm learning through this forum 3D max myself.
Why don't you post your drawings. Because of te quality of the forum?
Well the only thing that can happen is that they Coment an Critic it and that will only help you.
Show them, I'm quite currious.:wavey: :cool:

Wel good luck at the challenge.

[hypronost]

First of, welcome !!

That's a great start to !!:thumbsup:

[Koma]

welcome ,good start:bounce: :bounce:

[LXStalker]

Thank you all for your welcome messages! :wavey:

here´s a little update:

[leigh]

Hey, that's looking pretty cool!! :applause:
The trees look great so far :thumbsup:
Are those elf houses or something??

[LXStalker]

thnx leigh!

i don´t really know what it´s got to be.. i´m still thinking about it. maybe an old wizards home or something like this.
i want to use it only as a background object... not the main thing in the image... later when i light it, it will move more to the background (cause it´ll be in a darker area of the forest.

[leigh]

Oh cool! :bounce: The lights from the windows could be really spooky coming through the trees....
Looking forward to seeing more!!

[LXStalker]

ok.. i give up!

not the contest... i give up working for the contest while learning XSI. Although XSI is a great tool i decided to switch back to Max to continue the contest. i´m much to slow with xsi to get finished before 30th june -so i think i use Max from now on.

now texturing.

[leigh]

Heheheh yeah, when push comes to shove, stick with what you know, eh? ;)

Well, the texturing looks like it's off to a good start so far. That moss is cool :thumbsup:
Your lighting isn't great though. You should really try and establish your lighting before texturing - because often textures which look cool initially look horrible when you change the lighting.
I really would suggest that you do a lighting setup now before you go too far :)

[LXStalker]

thnx leigh...

already working on it :bounce:

[alexx]

hey lx,

those textures look cool.. i think i will have to copy your library some day :)

concerning the trees: are you planning to subdivide them further?
i think they look a bit polygonal for now.

and for the upcoming stuff: i wanna see tons of fog layers in there.. how about some fog that has it´s origin in the "witch house" in the trees?

waiting for updates

cheers

alexx

[LXStalker]

hey Alexx (Tidiiiiii) ;-)

thnx for the comments.
No..i won´t subdivide the trees any further... i´ll hide the polyedge by putting grass, moss and little dwarfs on it.. (maybe i can modell you ? ) ;) hehe

fog layers: i try to light it the "nice day in summer"-style... if it doesn´t work i´ll add fog... lot of fog ;-)


cya!:beer:

[alexx]

*evilgrin*

better modelling me than you.. that would cause some severe gravitational problems on the branches :)

daylight..

hmm.. but there *cant* be fog in daylight.. alex pleeease.. pretty please.. use at least one particle :)

[LXStalker]

hmmm.. i´ll think about it...
there is some sort of ground fog early in the morning.. maybe something like this ?

[LXStalker]

here´s a little new update.


Grass, ground and Water are just stand-ins.

i´ll add real grass and more detail like mushrooms and fruits later...and i´m still seeking an idea on how to integrate a building or a small city...

http://www.vh3d.com/enchantedForestContestSmall.jpg

Cheers,

[dodo3d]

:applause:
cool envioerment ,cool design ,cool lights ,cool idea all is great but I don't like the water texture and the forest is still not enchanted;)

[LXStalker]

thnx dodo3d

as i wrote... grass and water are not finished... and i hope the enchanted feeling will come up when i added some details...

:)

[ZrO-1]

That is insanely beutiful. Right now yours is the best daylight forrest picture I have seen yet. Once you refine the ground and water this piece will be truly amazing. Great work! I can't say enough about it, I think you really nailed the lighting and depth of a great old forrest. :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :applause:

[Mr. Nice Guy]

Wow :eek:

When I saw the first pic of you my thought were. How will this look like.
But when I see the last pic it looks very good. It wasn't what I expect by the look of the first pic.

Keep on going :thumbsup: :applause:

[psumo]

This is awesome!

My only complaint is the grass shader
and the intersection of the water to the ground

[Iguiniz.X.]

Who:eek:
This is insane.
As you already said The grass and the water but what the heck the rest is buetiful.
I really wonder, how did you make the leaves???
Tell me
:bounce:

:wavey:

[hypercube]

Really fantastic. Great atmosphere and light. The leaves and shafts of light, and everything fading/blurring into the distance really give it that feel.

The ground and water have definitely got to go though, it's nearly perfect otherwise. :thumbsup:

[Sangotten]

Damn man!!!

Those textures and lighting are/is awesome I can't really say how much Love this one but....AAAAAAAAAAAEEEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHHHHRRRRRRR I LOVE IT... eheh okay...

Anyway keep up the good work (fix the water please???)

[LXStalker]

:)

@all: thnx....i´ll do my best to fix the water and ground soon.
at the moment it takes 1m49s rendering the image (plus ~30 seconds for running through the compositing tree in Digital Fusion) as soon as i start with the grass the rendering times will increase rapidly so i´ll do this last.

@iquiniz.X.: the leaves are just low Poly (extruded Spline) with a Texture on it with different color and transparency variations.. the rest is some SubSurfaceScattering with really low samples which looks good for a Still Image - i have to try it in animation.

[LXStalker]

ok it´s 3:30 in the morning now and i´m have to go to bed.
here´s an update.

still have to do the ground in front and the intersection between water and ground.

there´s a red Spot on the gras... don´t care about this.. already fixed it, but don´t wont to wait for another render.

http://www.vh3d.com/enchantedForestContestSmall01.jpg


Good night! ;)

[hypercube]

had to dig this one out..

http://www.hyper3fx.com/projx/cgc/eek2.gif

Mmmm yeah. That's good lovin' right there. Red spot or not, that is just @@$%$@#% great. Keep it coming. :bowdown:

[Adam Klein]

AWESOOOME!

there's a little red smudge on the grass under the main tree, can't figure out why its there

that's it

keep it up man!

[psumo]

ok more suggestions

there is a touch of blue in the bloom of the
background image that looks bad. You should get rid of this

You should add some sort of white foamming around
the spot where the water and the ground meet to cover the intersection

[LXStalker]

once again, thanks for all your suggestions!!! :bounce:

here´s another update with a few things fixed. I turned the VolumeLights now into 3D generated (they were painted before) and fixed the red smudge spot on the gras.
also the Stones got new textures to push the contrast in the picture a bit.

I still want to work on the left bottom side of the picture as i still don´t really like it... please gimme some suggestions how i can improve there...

btw: the rendertime increased from 1m:49s for the picture without grass and reflective water to 1h15m with full features. :)
(Dual AthlonMP 1600+ 1024MB RAM)

Comments & Critiques please!!!

http://www.vh3d.com/enchantedForestContestSmall02.jpg

[Kirt]

Here's a suggestion ...

[LXStalker]

Kirt! that´s a great idea... i already thought about it, but i was too lazy modelling the whole castle an things around it..

maybe next week ;-) but i really like the way you integrated it in the picture..!



;)

[Kirt]

Anytime! I really love your image - btw. All it needed was a point of interest. I think adding that castle will do the trick. Can't wait to see this one finished. It really looks superb!!

:thumbsup: :thumbsup:

[weissem]

Hi Alex,

I really like what you've done. It's a very cool image and looks like a cool place to wander through.

I have a few minor criticisms.

The first as one of the previous posters suggested is an interest point. Currently the composition (meaning the arrangement of the image) is not focused. The eye wanders from point to point and searches for the focal point. This isn't always at the center of an image. On yours for example the point I find my eye going towards most is the small grass patch to the right center. Personally, this region although very beautiful, is not very interesting.

The reason the eye migrates to this spot is the way the light falls onto the foreground. The other area the light reaches is the area to the left at the intersection of the water and the ground. Again, this is a weaker part of the scene and brings the eyes attention to the shoreline, which lacks sufficient detail as seen in other parts of the composition.

I think someone else mentioned that the blue light on the tree just above this area is also distracting and doesn't complement the image. Additionally, the blue band has a horizontal look to it and if it is cause by sun rays (or is it a lens flare), these should be radiating from a central point downward into the frame. This is perhaps caused by multiple light sources at different locations. In general all the sunrays in the picture should be almost parallel. It seems that there are many cases of this throughout the frame. This might be caused from the light source too close to the ground.

It seems that the strong light reflection on the left frame at the water edge is not correct (perhaps this is a 2D effect). Generally speaking a light reflection should be between the source and the eyepoint, if reflected from a ground plane like water or heat shimmer on sand. There has to be something to reflect (bounce) the light back to the eye, if it is beyond this direct line.

I would suggest moving the large tree around 10-15% of the picture width further to the right. This will open up your image and give it much more depth, sucking the eye deeper in the image. Continue the water around and behind the tree so that the view will wonder, where it goes and what's beyond it.

Currently there seems to be sufficient depth in middle and background, but the foreground is devoid. I suggest adding a foreground element, like an over hanging tree branch or small reeds at the bottom at the edge of frame that is out of focus.

You black levels, contrast and saturation is all very good. If you do more work on the foreground, be careful to maintain the balance in depth. You may need to push this even further as you bring detail to the foreground. I think the saturation has the most room right now so adding the foreground element with a lot of saturation and a dark shadow will bring even more depth to the image.

Well I think that should give you a few things to think about. Best of luck!

Eric
:beer: :rolleyes:

[windarr]

Hello, I just wanted to say that your image is spectacular and I can only imagine what you will manage to turn out by the end of this challenge. I personally think Kirt's idea with the castle thing would be great for your picture, it'll really give it a nice enchanted look. I think it would be great if you have time to add a small row boat to the shore on the bottom left of the picture with a few little people walking to it. I think having some small people for reference would really show that the castle and little houses aren't just for decoration.

Where and how do you get something that does SubSurface Scattering for Max? I've heard about the term being thrown back and forth but I didn't think it was available for Max?

Again...Great Work!!!

:applause:

[LXStalker]

@windarr: thank you. it´s a good idea to add little people - i´m only afraid i won´t have the time to do it. Next week i move to another city. this will make may workstation unusable for some day....
As far as i know there SubSurfaceScattering is integrated in Brazil and Final Render and i thought also in VRay (but i´m not sure about the last one.) I did it with FR.


@Eric: Thank you eric for giving me such great and detailed feedback! i really appreciate this!!! Of course you´re right with all the things you said. I will think about what i can do in the time left. i don´t think i´ll have enough time to work all your suggestions (the challenge ends soon, and as i already told windarr i´ll move back to my home city next week.. So thank you very much!
Hope we can work together again, somewhere, sometime! ;)
:bounce:

[windarr]

Oh well, hope the move is painless. Keep up the good work.

:wavey:

[LXStalker]

here´s a Test were i changed the color of the lieaves a little bit (in post) to get an autumn like picture...


but it´s just a test which i wanted to share with you... i will continue with the more summer like green leaves... :p

here´s the pic:

http://www.vh3d.com/enchantedForestContestAutumn.jpg

[pascal_blanche]

amazing work Stalker, you got my vote :D if you could just try to fine tune your lighting, and avoid the white in your pict (except for the sky maybe.. looks ok to me) For now your pict is way too much overexposed.. I like your last color set.. warmer... And how the heck did you do thoses trees? not the first in front, the other ones???

[LXStalker]

thank you pascal! :beer:

i will fine tune the image after i finished modelling the castle.. i want to fix all the lighting problems in 3d so that won´t be a problem to render an animation when it´s finished without tweaking to much in post.

about the trees: i´m a lazy one. i just modelled 2 Trees (the others are just copies of the main tree and the next right to it. of course i modified the copies then (moved and rotated Vertices via softselection, so that they don´t look all like the first two.




:)

[AJ]

My socks have been knocked off!

Extremely polished image, gorgeous.

:love:

[LXStalker]

thank you. anything i can improve beside the things the others said ?

[three]

Man, this is just plain fuggin beautiful!
Art in it's most splendid form.
I love it.

[leigh]

Wow!! Excellent work!! The only thing it need now is something enchanting.. ;)
Well done :applause:

[ZrO-1]

True perfection. There is nothing that doesn't work in this image. Artistically as well as technically this is a masterpiece. It trancends the medium it was made with. Truly goregous. I hope one day I will be able to produce work that is half this good.:bowdown:

[alexx]

there is only one thing that really strikes me in the image which is the reflection on the water..
such a calm looking water would never have that high frequency noise on it which reflects.

but the rest.. charming :) !

[Bezerker75]

:thumbsup: :thumbsup: love the light coming through the trees...and the soft DOF...this is really coming along nicely!! I agree alexx...the water needs more reflection if it is that calm...but way to go:thumbsup: :thumbsup:

[Pancreas]

Lovely! Wohs and gasp! :eek:
I´d love to get lost in that forest. Very very nice lighting.

[pearson]

:eek: Wow, that is amazing!:applause: I do agree with Weissem about the forground element and a focal point, although if you build the castle in the middle that would be the focal point.

Maybe some more ferns in the lower left corner to hide the water/land seam? That would help push the depth...

[3D-Sam]

Looks really cool LX:

I'm 19 from Puerto Rico, it's not easy to do 3d for me around here ( don't have a lot of motivation on cg stuff around here). But people like you, Leigh, and all the cool people in this contest inspire me to go on.

Keep up the good work, i'll try to be ready for the next contest.
:bounce:

[Kaos]

i think i just wet myself............

[LXStalker]

@all: thanks for all the replies! I had no time the last days and it will be hard to find time to finish the image until the deadline... but i hope i can show you some new pictures in a few days..

thank you all! ;-)1

[LXStalker]

Hi all,

seems that i won´t have time to finish the pic until the end of the challenge.. :shrug:

but i´m sure i will finish it in the next month an do a cam flight trough it or something like this...

thnx all for their comments so far... :bounce:

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