FXWars! Dracula's Castle!: 3DEffects, Exterior Shot

#1

Hello Everyone!

This is my second time I am participating in the FX Wars. I shall do my best to produce the results I want.

This new topic will be my WIP for the challenge. I have decided to choose the Exterior Shot.

Thanks,
3DEffects

#2

Hi again!

With the help of my assistant (i.e. my sister) I managed to jot down a few points regarding the Challenge…

  1. The first shot will start from a distance showing a forest of large trees surrounding a space covered in mist.

  2. The camera will move into the trees thus revealing a dispersed village, making the grand castle situated on top of a hill, the centre of attraction.

  3. Closer shots of the village, showing the scene getting darker to emphasis that it is late at night during a slight storm, will make the way up to get an above view of the castle where the famous Count Dracula once lived.

Here are two pictures that show my progress (one shows a sketch of how i intend to place the scene and the other displaying the early stages of the castle):

Thanks,
3DEffects

#3

oook…no comments. Ok here is a small update. This is the land and hill on which Dracula’s Castle shall be put on…

Hope u like it,

Thanks,
3DEffects

#4

Pls can someone give me any C&Cs pls?

#5

Ill review your work when I get home.

-R

#6

Hey, you’re doing good!

Here are my tips:

  1. Most importantly - start with only one shot. It’s OK to plan for a second, but you’re better off with delivering one good shot on deadline, than delivering two unfinished shots. :slight_smile: Just my opinion, anyway.

  2. Try to make your castle more interesting with more geometrical detail. Windows, etc. Googling for “castle” images will give you tons of reference material, seek inspiration there.

  3. You have some texture stretching on the hilltop.

…just a few tips. Good luck, looking forward to seing your piece finished!

Cheers,

  • Jonas
#7

Oh, and I like the idea of a village at the bottom of the hilltop. Just make one or two houses, and instance them.

Also, you can create some kind of background picture, with mountains on a horizon, and clouds or something, a la a matte painting (as opposed to modelling the entire background all the way to the horizon).

  • Jonas
#8

I agree on what has been said so far.

I do recommend you concentrate more on detailing the castle, adding decent lighting
and working on your camera move.

Good luck,
-R

#9

The castle is a little too happy looking, in my opinion – you could go a lot of different directions with it. I’d start with a little asymmetry, and start making things a little more angular and imposing.

For the castle hill, you might try experimenting with camera projection for your textures. It’ll allow you to fake a ton of detail in without modeling it or dealing with massive UV mapping headaches on the polyheavy hill.

Check out the links below – they’re for Maya and Lightwave, but the fundamentals can be applied anywhere:

http://www.a3d.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/maya/camera_projection.html

http://www.newtek.com/products/lightwave/tutorials/rendering/camera_mapping/camera_mapping.html

Keep it up!

–T

#10

Thanks guys for all ur comments and suggestions…I shall take note of those. Here’s another update…

Thanks,
3DEffects

#11

I hope that dracula doesn’t have to ride all the way up on his bicycle… Otherwise that may be a quite tricky and exhausting job…! :wink:

The idea of the scene is really cool I think… The castle on a hill and some houses in the lower part, may be working really cool! :slight_smile:

The things I have some critique about:
[ol]
[li]The hill looks quite tóó high… At least: the angle it goes up looks just a bit too much. To make it look better/cooler, you could lower the hill, or make it go up a little smoother. I don’t know which tool your using, but I’d make a very low-poly plane (just 5 x 5 edges for instance), move some points in the middle a bit up, but also moving some point around that a bit up, so that it may be going a bit smoother. Then just let a divider do it’s job! :scream: [/li][li]The houses down the hill look a bit ‘alone’. You may want to add a forrest there (or you had planned that allready?!) and get the houses a bit more together, so that it more looks like a little village… [/li][li]I know it’s still wip, but as said before by Trey, try to optimalise your stuff. Use mattepaintings where possible, don’t model stuff you don’t see, and don’t tweak renders till the last issue, but adjust the mood later in a compositing package (After Effects, for instance). I don’t know if you have the ability to use it, but it may be a big privilege! :slight_smile: [/li][/ol] Have fun! :slight_smile: I’m very interested in the final! :scream:
-Gijs

#12

Thanks Dutchman for ur comments! The forest,etc were all planned don’t worry:thumbsup: Though my problem is that I really haven’t got time to change the things everyone has asked me to do, I wish I had but with college I have barely free time.

As for using After Affects, etc well I don’t have enough cents in my pocket to afford those!:smiley: hehehe…

P.S. one last confession, is that the program I’m using is a free application (Anim8or) and is not able to do things as compared to professional ones (such as 3D Max, Maya, Lightwave); though I am trying my best to push the limits in this program.

Anyway thanks alot!
3DEffecs

#13

Hi Everybody!

Finished just in time to post the final video. I hope u like it, nothing special, but I still hope u enjoy it.

So…here are my:

My final video specifications:
Type of Entry: Exterior
Length of Video: 1min 1sec
Total File Size: 5.1MB

Link to video:
My Dracula’s Castle Challenge: Resolution 400x300

Thankyou,
3DEffects

#14

POST YOUR ENTRY! FXWARS !Dracula’s Castle Challenge:8 -R

#15

May I ask what software you used?

#16

Well yes I’ve used Anim8or and Terranim8or for the video…(both are free software applications and not as professional as 3Ds Max, Maya, Lightwave, etc…unfortunately:sad: )

Thanks,
3DEffects

#17

You’re doing great with the programs you have at hand, so just keep going! :slight_smile:

If you want to switch to a professional application, just download the legal trial version of Maya. The industry needs Maya people more than they need Anim8or people. :slight_smile:

Cheers,

  • Jonas
#18

The industry needs Maya people more than they need Anim8or people.

That is very true Jussing. Thanks for ur reply!:thumbsup: Do u think u can give me a link to the free trial please?

Oh btw…IMO I think that my entry sucks…anyway…:shrug:

Thanks,
3DEffects

#19

James,

Here’s the link:

http://www.alias.com/glb/eng/products-services/product_details.jsp?productId=1900003

There are an absolute ton of tutorials available here, on the highend3d.com website, deathfall.com and many others for Maya – and if you’re looking to work in the industry eventually, Maya’s the way to go.

We all think our stuff sucks after we’re done with it… even the best work we do. That just means that your standards are higher than your capabilities and you’re learning something.

It’s more important that you had the desire and drive to enter (and finish!) an entry than how you place :slight_smile:

We all had to start somewhere – I started with Stratavision/Bryce v1/Poser v1 (to date myself) about 12 years ago and I can honestly say I made a lot of things that didn’t look half as good as your piece when I was starting out!

The coolest thing to me about the challenges here is that you get pros in the industry, beginners, and everyone in between – and generally the community is supportive of everyone. We’re all learning on every single project.

Keep it up, man…

–T

#20


http://www.alias.com/glb/eng/products-services/maya/maya_ple/get_maya_ple.jsp

147 MB download