Environment- MIDNIGHT

[azvin]

Congrats... I like it a lot! Maybe if you use a little noise it would give a more realistic look. But it´s very nice!
:thumbsup: :thumbsup: :beer:

[Sky_DaBomB]

I thought you posted this image before but in color :shrug:

[modulatum]

Wow that's some beautiful stuff :drool:

[Emberghost]

Those pictures have crazy amounts of detail! This is front page quality in my oppinion, I always like 3D architecture.

[Sceme]

i like that image also very much. i love the water. But the only problem is that the whole image is way too blue or something.

great work anyway:thumbsup:

[Digital Backlot]

Yes I did post it in color a while back but I lost my website name and didn't have more then a day of comments before the link went dead. It was very unexpected...

So I thought I'd try something different, go with a more black and white look to see what people thought of it.:lightbulb

[Windex]

nj, reminds me of a scene in Mission Impossible (first one, the good one with a story)

[Digital Backlot]

it's inspired by the pirates of the carribean ride at disneyland hehe.

I love that ride.:buttrock:

[Digital Backlot]

http://digitalbacklot.com/GalleryImages/Making.jpg

good example of how I work..

[mannyfresh027]

looks much better monochrome :D

very nice

[Digital Backlot]

BW I agree, it's one of the reasons for the repost. I took the color out and thought it looked more like an old silent horror film set.. If I'd added some film grain streaks it would have been perfect...

[avalon]

:applause: :applause:


Amazing

[rollmops]

Beautiful!:thumbsup:
:lightbulb But: did you make a test with the moon as main light and soft shadows?
Monochrom is superb but you could keep a part of the color in the most lightened part of the set. ( sorry for my english ).
The swans need a beter texturing.
keep it up! :beer:

[Sceme]

u should try out someting between blue and that colored version
i think that blue is too blue or something...sorry about this but, i can't help it:blush:.

It's great image, but u can make it better just with color changement.

[pezz]

Simply stunning. I think it's perfect the way it is.

[Digital Backlot]

Thanks people! With all of the views, I was hoping more would vote, or comment on it. Is it that bad? or have I made you speechless?:love:

[childplay]

Hey I like it. You can smell the atmosphere. I like those side buildings that are under some angle... like you shoot the photos and then connect them to make a panorama.

all the best
Nikola Drincic

[Digital Backlot]

looking for the negetives here folks? Buller... Buller...

[Digital Backlot]

While I apprciate the posts, I was hoping after 800 views, that I'd be getting some more input from this fine forum. Last try on the forum go round...

[Tragas the Elf]

Question: Why is there so much noise on the water? From the mood of the picture I would think the the water would be calm and still. And as far as I can tell, the trees look pretty static so there isn't really an obvious sign of wind or anything.

Also, I would think that the light reflected from the water onto the buildings might look different than how you depicted it (seeing wavy reflections like as if you were walking by an indoor swimming pool), but I'm no expert on that subject.

If you really want scrutinized criticism I could probably think of a couple more things that I don't think are accurate, but I've mentioned what I feel sticks out the most in my mind.

Beautiful picture by the way.

[MedusasHead]

Makes you speechless indeed! :applause:
Really beautiful, the colored version has some "Monkey island" feel (this is supposed to be a compliment!), while the monochrome version is more serious and... well, romantic...
I am currently working on a night scene as well, thanks for the light setting inspiration!

[daniella3d]

that is really awsome! one little thing is that as a photographer, I can,t help but to be disturbed by the perspective distortion. We always try to avoid it or correct it but in 3d you have not really any excuse to cope with this. I wouls suggest that you put the camera a bit farther away and use a bit of zoom to remove this anoying distortion on the side, unless of course that is what you like.

strange maybe, but I prefer the blue tinted version than the color one.

[Frank Dodd]

A complex and beautiful piece of architechture a great modelling job. I agree it does look better in monochrome but that isnt to take anything away from the texturing job you have done on the scene.

Very nicely done! :thumbsup:

[Zero314]

yeah i love this black and white version, but i'd love to see some color in there, might be kind of nice

[smighty]

i like it..very nice the monochrome version

[Digital Backlot]

Thank you for all of the good observations! This is what I was hoping for. The water and tree comments really helped! I had a lot of people point out that my water in another image looked like a street so I turned up the waves on this one just to make sure people got it.. As for the trees, good point heh. The again if I turned down the water, then the trees don't need to blow!

Keep em coming, I'm taking notes!

[allenatl]

The color version is good. The black & white version is great. Amazing difference!
The b&w image works better in conveying a mood and emphasizing the lighting.
The bright colors in the other image work against that. Might work better with
more subdued colors.
If both images were in a gallery with other pictures, I would probably browse right
past the color image but I would keep coming back to the b&w image for another
look.

[zandernice]

ok, You want a crit, well here goes.

there are two things that really stand out.

first, the walls need a bump i think. In my personal opinion, they look too smooth and "3d". add some bump.

Second. Now this bothers me more than anything else. I think some caustics should be added to the walls around the water. If you dont have a fancy renderer, than use a projector light of an image of caustics. I really think that will make all the difference in the world. Definatly add some caustics.


ooo, and one last thing, maybe something added to the foreground could add some depth to the image >see attached<


hope that helps....

[Digital Backlot]

Originally posted by zandernice
Definatly add some caustics.



great idea, I'm sucha noob, I should have thought of that one.. you very right and it would have made this look much better.

:applause:

[worx3d]

I would like to know what app was used for this image. It's beautiful, congrats! :beer:

all of the things I can think of to improve the image have already been said: noise, caustics, lightning..

good job.

joel

[Digital Backlot]

Originally posted by worx3d
I would like to know what app was used for this image.

you can read the Computer Graphics magazine article on it Article (http://cgw.pennnet.com/Articles/Article_Display.cfm?Section=Articles&Subsection=Display&ARTICLE_ID=152515)


The short answer---- Lightwave :buttrock:

Thank you for the kind words, I'm working on a newer version.

[lildragon]

There you go frontpage. Enjoy

Yup even after what you know what. I just didn't see it bud

-lild

[daniella3d]

ok this is funny :)

you have to admire Lildragon good sense of humor :)

as for your image, I already commented on it and still feel the same way about the wierd lense distortion on the side. Something that is really anoying in architectural photography and something that we would pay a lot of $$$$ to get a lens that does not do it as much. I would change that to make it less distorded and use a different focal length.

the ambiance is great and the set if very beautiful. This whole perspective thing is really ruining that image for me though.

why did you use such a fish eye lens?

[lildragon]

Originally posted by daniella3d
ok this is funny :)

you have to admire Lildragon good sense of humor :)


I hold no grudges, we're all here to learn from each other in any shape or form.

Nice work Digital Backlot sorry I missed it earlier, point it out next time.

The water is the most impressive part of this piece, I love the way it reflects and plays with the moonlight, the only prob is (and I'm not sure about this) but shouldn't there be caustics on the buildings due to the immense reflections from the moon? I haven't seen to many nightscapes like this in real life that's why I ask heh.

I have to agree with daniella3d on the distortion, the lens you use makes it look a bit skewed (not the middle of the image but the ends), but other than that nice work.

-lild

[frameless]

great atmosphere, great lightning, 4 great stars for you ;)

[behzad]

Not bad at all.

[KungFuJackRabit]

The set looks great. I prefer the color image as well.
KFJR

[odainton]

Overal a great piece, just one thing that kinda jarred for me.

The large reflection in the middle of the water doesn't seem to be reflected from anything above the waterline. The window is too far left and the moon too far right for either of them to be causing that reflection.

From this viewpoint, any reflection should surely be vertically opposite it's source. Unless of course there is a lightsource at the top of the steps that is only visible in reflection and is obscured when look at directly.

OJD

[oxyg3n]

Nice environment, I really like how all the lights interact with the water and add to the reflections.

[Digital Backlot]

Originally posted by odainton
The large reflection in the middle of the water doesn't seem to be reflected from anything above the waterline.

OJD

This one by far is the best observation. This is a must fix on my part... what happend was I was so rushed to get the thing out for CGW ( and the render took hours) that I never thought of it. You see the moon use to be small and to the left more. I moved the moon and not it's reflection. lol

The caustics thing is also a must.

[agreenster]

Finally got yer front-pager didnt ya Joel?:D

[JA-forreal]

Beautiful Render! 3d environments are my favorite renders. One thing I will point to though, it appears that the moonlight is layered into the background. I don't see the moons back soft rim light on the buildings, etc. that would emit from such a bright moon.

But don't mind me, it's a great render. What sotware did you use?

[Wonderer]

Very good! Wy don't you try to do something more dark, with mist and subtle moonlight, just a sugestion.:beer:

[granito]

Add some clouds, some stars, I dont know how many lights you have on the right side, I thinks its too many, or add a few more to the left side, to even it out, because you have some objects that you cant see. the walls need some more texture on them, they look flat not too much depth to them. I aggree that the perspective is off, on the sides of the images.

Or

you could leave it how it is. It looks great. :applause:

[Digital Backlot]

One thing that people need to know about this image is, the final image was printed on canvas and then painted on with real oil paint.

it's a huge painful process.

1) model texture light

2) cut up the huge resolution of the image into smaller pieces so i can manage it in photoshop(the original render was 40,000 pixels)

3) Paint digitally in photoshop other details, lighting, added detail that no renderer could do.

4) re-assemble the image

5) send to printer to be printed on giclee' canvas

6) paint oil highlights on the canvas print.

So If I screwed up anthing at anything in the first render... we'll it stayed.

I also wanted to make the image maketable to women since they are the ones who decorate homes and would be most likely to buy paintings.

I did do a guy friendly painting (the sleepy hollow) "firefly inn"

As a side note, I'd suggest all artist give printing there artwork on canvas a try. I was the only digital artist to be shown at B&R galleries (one of the largest in so. cal) and it would have been nice to have seen more CG art on the walls with mine. It's a serously untapped market.

you can get your work printed cheap (but high qaulity) at glicleeart (http://www.gicleeart.com) ask for Scott

Cheers

[Digital Backlot]

Originally posted by daniella3d
why did you use such a fish eye lens?

this image was inspired by a piece of concept art from the pirates of the carribean ride.. if anyone of you has the book "designing disney's theme parks" on page 119 you'll see the perspective is right on.. Get the book anyway it's great!

Hope that explains the motives behind the lens.

[leigh]

There is something about the lighting that I don't like. The moon is providing the main source of lighting from behind, yet the shadows on the front left side of the image seem to defy this. There seem to be two light sources on either side at the front of the scene, yet there are no visible light sources. I think that if you'd modelled two streetlamps or other such light fitting, it would have made a little more sense.
Don't know if this has been mentioned already though, so sorry if I'm repeating something that's been covered.

Another lighting thing that bugs me slightly is that your lighting coming from within the windows could benefit from some attenuation. Particularly the light coming from the window on the round tower part next to the main building in the middle at the back. The shadow that it's light casts of the balcony railings would probably look better if they had some falloff instead of remaining so strong in their cast image along the wall.

The only other problems are little nitpicky things like the repeated texture (or what appears to be a repeated texture) along the bottoms of the pillars where they meet the water on the left, the lack of water damage on the bricks along the waterline (although it might be that there is damage, but the lighting is hiding it), and other minor attention to detail things like slimy moss that could also be growing along the waterline on the walls (now that would look cool!). The large swan boat on the right is also looking a teeny bit strange - it's difficult to tell what it's made of - right now I'd have to say it's plastic.

But overall a nice image - you've captured a cool mood :)

I saw mention of a colour version - where is that? I'd like to see it :)

[katon]

This sounds cool, but i cant see it, the link it broken. I hope it is up soon.

Katon

[Digital Backlot]

Originally posted by katon
This sounds cool, but i cant see it, the link it broken. I hope it is up soon.

Katon


which link?

[Virtuoso]

Originally posted by Digital Backlot
it's inspired by the pirates of the carribean ride at disneyland hehe.

I love that ride.:buttrock:


Oh yes,what better inspiration,I agree 100%.And your work is elegant and full of great detailed eye candy.Beautiful sophisticated set piece.Wonderful mood and ambiance.:thumbsup: :beer:

[JA-forreal]

Originally posted by Digital Backlot
One thing that people need to know about this image is, the final image was printed on canvas and then painted on with real oil paint.

it's a huge painful process.

1) model texture light

2) cut up the huge resolution of the image into smaller pieces so i can manage it in photoshop(the original render was 40,000 pixels)

3) Paint digitally in photoshop other details, lighting, added detail that no renderer could do.

4) re-assemble the image

5) send to printer to be printed on giclee' canvas

6) paint oil highlights on the canvas print.

So If I screwed up anthing at anything in the first render... we'll it stayed.

I also wanted to make the image maketable to women since they are the ones who decorate homes and would be most likely to buy paintings.

I did do a guy friendly painting (the sleepy hollow) "firefly inn"

As a side note, I'd suggest all artist give printing there artwork on canvas a try. I was the only digital artist to be shown at B&R galleries (one of the largest in so. cal) and it would have been nice to have more CG art on the walls with mine. It's a sirously untapped market.

you can get your work printed cheap (but high qaulity) at glicleeart (http://www.gicleeart.com) ask for Scott

Cheers

You are making me smile man. Putting 3d renders to good practical use is what I'm all about. I see that you think that way too. Great setup!. I will give that a try in the shop that I work at. We are always looking for new products that we can produce and sell ourselves. Cool tip!

[butchoi]

Its really cool!

:applause:

[Zmei]

Originally posted by Digital Backlot
which link?
The link to the Image, I can not see it either.

[Digital Backlot]

It's up now...

My hosting service had a spike in it (not from cgtalk traffic) but from the 600+ websites on the same server...

[Digital Backlot]

Originally posted by Leigh
I saw mention of a colour version - where is that? I'd like to see it :)

The whole series, each done in about two days each... in lightwave and photoshop.

http://digitalbacklot.com/GalleryImages/MIDNIGHTBELOVEDCGTALK.jpg



http://digitalbacklot.com/GalleryImages/COLORSOFVENICECGTALK.jpg

http://digitalbacklot.com/GalleryImages/FIREFLYINNCGTALK.jpg

[Frank Dodd]

Excellent work on these new entries in fact I think you should have started a new thread with them. In particular the Tobacco Shop has a great feel to it, an old building hidden away in the depths of a murky marsh and run by superstitious locals an old man with a gruff moody demenour behind the counter selling home cut tobacco's wares and hosting boorish characters in the dark and moody smoking den on the upper floor lit with with a deep red lantern glow. Very atmospheric :)

[anorris]

That looks very nice, I like the blue effect, if you ever animate it, I'd add some film grain and camera jitter to give it that old-time effect, great work!

[limkinkwan]

Ilike the black and white 1, looks more realistic, but the color version has u personal style...anyway detail in modeling always make 3d stuff looks better..:thumbsup:

[milqman]

i LOVE the tobacco shop.
absolutely love it.

i prefer the black and white to the color version of the other two however.

[DustinBrown]

Thats very very nice, but I have never seen a moon that big. Does it get that big?

-Dustin

[Digital Backlot]

Originally posted by DustinBrown
Thats very very nice, but I have never seen a moon that big. Does it get that big?

-Dustin


in my world it does hehe.


As for starting a new thread with these, they're a bit old, but are a part of the entire series so I figured I'd show them off. Glad you all like them, It's very painterly and rough in design and details, but that what I like about it. It's my style

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