Author Jack Vance's stories: "Planet of Adventure" or "Demon Princes"

#93

The Vance Integral Edition has some 19th century style illustrations (one illustration per Vance volume). Here are some:

From Throy. From Ecce and Old Earth. From The Blue World. From The Star King (first volume of The Demon Princes. From The Killing Machine (second volume of The Demon Princes. By the way, that last image is from a scene in The Demon Princes that I was thinking of doing. From Cugel the Clever. From Trullion. From Ports of Call. From Emphyrio.

All those above linked images of course are very stylistic. They’re fun to look at though.

Here are the book covers to the Vance Integral edition. Some assorted artwork from said volumes.

#94

Ok, so here’s the latest update with your adjustments in mind.

Feel free to do any paint over on these sketches. Makes it easier for me to see what you have in mind, or maybe if you find the time to cut and paste from photos to build a general image of zap or any of the other. Cause when describing in written, it seems I constantly misinterpret your intensions, so I think it’s easier this way, when discussing features, clothing etc.

As for the pictures you linked to. To me, the comics seem a little to futuristic in it’s style than I feel you had in mind, or is this truly what you had in mind?

ps. You forgot to explain the word “DRAY”.

#95

I think that’s pretty good. To further refine it, I think the cloak needs sleeves, probably down to about mid forearm. The shoes are pretty good. The hat brim could be a little more floppy and/or curved.

Definition of dray at dictionary.com.

Also, one of the links about two posts back shows a cover to the book with a dray on the front.

If I get a chance to do some sketches, annotations, etc. I will. Thanks for what you’re doing. Now that you’re reading the book though, I think you can focus on stuff that you’ve already read. Tell me your thoughts on what scenes you like, or what objects/characters you might be interested in developing.

Are you sure the comics look more futuristic that what I’ve been talking about? Look at the pictures of Reith in that first comic image. It’s almost exactly like your sketch - and you did the sketch before I even saw the comics!

#96

it was more the style of the characters and garments which struck me as more futuristic than I think you intended, or maybe it’s just me, but it’s good to have seen that comic so I know how others interpret the world.

I probalby do something more to her flip-flops etc, but you want the forms to be very simple, right?
Not too much detailing like patterns in garments or extra accessories.

On chosing a scene
I like the beginning when the explorator II is destroyed and they fly in, in their smaller space shuttle, to when his partner is executed, and he is left alone hanging in the trees. But this might be a bit to massive. Otherwise I like when they encounter the dirdir man and the pnume attacks them(if that’s a scene you intended).

#97

With regard to all clothing for all characters, there is the almost certain possibility that there could be patterns in the garments, details on the buttons, etc. These might be monotone patterns though. In other words, Reith’s vest or Zap’s cloak stay the color they are, but there might be some embroidery or something of the same color.

There might be embroidery, pockets, fabric strips sewn up the sides, ruffles, pleats, etc. Once we get the basic shape down, we can work on closeup drawings for the clothing details.

The buttons - they might be wooden, stone, copper, bronze, steel, silver, brass, gold, etc.

If wooden or stone, they would have holes for the threads to loop through for connecting to the garment. If metal, they could either have holes or metal loops cast into the back. If cast from metal, they might have cast sculptured patterns on the front. Buttons might also be dowel type shapes which turn 90 degrees when slipped through a slot in the fabric. Buttons might be discs, squares, diamonds, triangles, ellipses, etc.

I think it’s these details which would really add to the overall production. For example, I think Reith’s shirt should have buttons down the front. Taking into account that he bought the shirt from locals out on the Steppes, what kind of patterns might there be on the buttons?

Regarding your general question about simplicity - I haven’t stated that I want simplicity. I want plausible realism with fine detail as opposed to large scale overdone outfits.

#98

Just to clarify - it wasn’t a Pnume which attacked him. It was a Phung. I really like that scene.

I think the initial scene of the spacecraft orbiting the planet and the incoming torpedo would be great, but I think the whole hanging in the trees scene requires jungle modeling, which sounds like too much.

I’m not scared of architecture, because I’m working on my city generator. But jungles and marshes - I don’t want to go there… yet.

Keep reading, and keep thinking about what you like. It sounds like you’re well into the first book, which ends on page 152. So maybe you’ll be starting the second one soon. I really like the second one, and there are tons of awesome scenes in that one. I’m looking forward to hearing your thoughts on the second book.

#99

Great, that’s valuable solid information and ideas.
Yes, pnume, phung. Having a hard time separating them all, but I’ll get there.

I just liked the whole jungle sequence, but I agree that it is probalby too demanding. At least for the moment, but depending on how many people who’ll join in the future, I want to leave it open for discussion. But the phung scene is settled then? And of course I can tell you have a very nice idea for your city generator, so that’ll be cool, but don’t reveal anything =)

#100

No! :slight_smile: It’s a possibility that we’ll leave open. You need to get through at least the second book because there are some great scenes in that book.

But if you want to draw a Phung and post the sketch that would be really cool.

#101

time for a little update
regarding the phung, i’m not sure what it’s features are, have to re-read it.

#102

She looks good, but she also looks very fashionable now, which is just a little bit in the wrong direction. The sleeves are good, nearly perfect. The cloak as it stands though, it almost looks like a high fashion coat, which isn’t quite right.

I’d probably drop the front of the hat’s brim a little bit - let it droop down in the front just a little. The good things about the cloak are it’s length and how it now form fits her body a little bit better, to show her slenderness.

But anyway, why don’t you give Zap a rest for a moment? Now that you’re reading the books, let’s focus on stuff that you’ve read. Keep me posted on where you are in the books so I know what you’ve thus far been exposed to.

There is one absolute certain no matter what scene we choose: We’re going to need a model of Adam Reith, his gadgets and his clothing.

Also, if you’re interested, we can start working on pipelines and Maya assets if you want. It might be interesting to start doing some modeling in Maya for proof-of-concept objects, even if they aren’t the final things used.

What platform are you on? Windows XP? Vista? Mac OSX? Linux? Would you be willing to get 3Delight and 3Delight for Maya installed? If we could get you setup there, then we could sync our shader and rendering output and get you up to speed in that area.

Then, maybe we could start working on some rough models of Reith’s head. And maybe as experiemnts, we could work on some garment accessories for him, such as buttons, belts, etc. and put together high quality renderings of the small accessories, just to refine the rendering and shading look, color tones, shadowing methods, illumination methods, etc. If we can get you synced with 3Delight, we can start sharing and evaluating the methods for lighting in outdoor scenes.

Also, (I don’t know if he’s reading this), but Keithtron (see this post) has, through some email correspondence with me, has taken an interest in some rigging, and he and I are hopefully going to be putting together a sort of uber-camera rig, wtih dolly tracks, boom, and fully rigged onscreen controls, simultaneous pane viewing, a resolution gate, etc. The final result should hopefully be way better than any type of camera animation controls currently available in Maya (at least to my knowledge). The theory is that the camera should be treated equally as a rigged character in terms of control and interaction.

What are your thoughts? 3Delight is pretty easy to install. You just have to get the license server setup properly.

#103

There might be some inspiration to be found at this site for things like buttons, buckles, etc.

Here is an example. And another example.

#104

I was thinking it might be interesting to do some preliminary work of the Phung scene - maybe some storyboarding.

Also, here are some givens: We need an Adam Reith model, and I think we can start working on that. Also, if we could pull together some various models of props, etc. we could perhaps start refining the rendering pipeline.

I would like to start developing some shaders, perhaps for Reith’s clothing, skin, hair, and so on. Also, if we could get Reith’s head model built, we could start developing his hair, and general hair workflow techniques, etc. I don’t see hair as being easy, nor do I want to do it poorly, so I see it as being a long process of experimentation and devlopment, but I don’t mind - I just want to get started.

#105

Update: I’m translating my road network generator to C code, and working on my architecture generator code. Both are coming along nicely, but nothing to show at the moment. Geuse and I are working on some wardrobe and accessory items for the main character, and discussing possible scenarios to animate.

Naturally, I’m still open to others who would like to participate. Roles to fill include modeling, rigging, concept art and character animation.

Although there isn’t much to see yet, I think those who might have there doubts will be surprised over the next few months (could be longer though) by incoming models and renders.

I’d really like to encourage any interested people to read the books and to join in. Reading the books is important, and I don’t know of any people who have read the books and not truly thought of them as masterful works.

Some bigtime fans of his books include George R. R. Martin (author of A Game of Thrones), Dan Simmons (author of Hyperion), Frank Herbert (author of Dune), and Gary Gygax (creator of D & D, and admitted that Vance’s The Dying Earth was his inspiration for the D & D game). There are others.

Read the books. And then I think many will realize how original and non-derivative his stuff is. The imagery he paints with his words is iconic and lasting.

#106

Update: Awesome stuff in the pipeline! We have no renders or models to show yet, because we want to impress, so we’re holding back until our stuff is really refined. And we do think everyone will be impressed!

We’re building the main character right now, as well as accessories for some of the characters, and rigging tools for the pipeline.

Everything in the above post applies as well. Read it if you haven’t already. We’re still looking for enthusiastic people to fill most roles.

#107

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#108

I have now configured a Trac/Wiki system integrated with Subversion for assigning and tracking all tasks associated with the project and change control and archive of all assets.

It’s working out quite well. Participating members have access.

#109

wow man! Coun’t me in. I haven’t had the chance to read either of those novels but within the next few days i plan on going out and getting them read so i have a better idea of what the project is trying to accomplish. You’ve already given a plethora of material on which to base the calaborative proccess and i plan to post some pictures of what i have recently been working on which seem to be along the same lines as the ones you’ve laid out. I have only been modeling and working with maya for the past five months in my spare time but i have progressed fast and i am an avid learner and would love this chance to help out with what seems to be an awesome project. Thanks!

#110

mwgriffin,
I’m looking forward to further discussion with you! I will PM you later today when I have more time so we can better establish what things you want to do and so on. Aside from myself, there are two other individuals working on the project. We’re engaged in a lot of separate tasks, but we hope to build momentum and interest as more people join.

If you want, you can PM me (send a Private Message), detailing your skillset and and describing in more detail what you want to do. Or look for my PM, but it will be later when I have more time. I’m looking forward to hearing from you.

#111

Sounds interested. If you are looking for a composer to compose an original score, let me know. If you are interested, here is my website with some of my work:

www.sidbarnhoorn.com

I wish you all the best for this and future projects.

Best regards,

#112

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