Grand Space Opera 3D Entry: Vance Fry

#1

Vance Fry has entered the Grand Space Opera 3D.

Challenge Page

Latest Update: Final Image: The Voyage to Norian

Well, here’s my final picture. A bit of a shame that you’re all seeing this low-res, jpeg-artifact-plagued version, but so be it. Hope you like it.

Thanks to those (few) artists who found time to comment on my project. Good luck to everyone! This challenge was very fun for me, and I learned a lot. (I also drank a good amount of coffee, but that’s another story. :slight_smile:

Blessings to all in the new year!
Vance

#2

welcome to the comp and good luck

#3

Prior to the concept sketch stage, I looked around for images that would serve as inspiration for the mood that I wanted to capture. This is not my picture. It is a Corbis photograph. I just wanted to properly credit what will serve as the “emotional inspiration” for my image–that of someone looking out from darkness at some amazing spectacle.

-Vance

#4

That image looks like it could translate into some very fantastic images. However, I’d be very intrigued to hear your extended concept plan, or ideas that inspired you to enter this challenge? Also, I’d recommend sketching, as much as you can, every image that pops into your head. It’s very usefull for you, no matter how rough the sketch is, to maintain a visual journal of all those thoughts that would normally just pass in and out of your mind. Plus it helps us as the critics see where you’re going as compared to where you want to go and give some advice on the process, not just finished ideas and thoughts. Look forward to seeing your work

#5

Here’s my attempt at capturing the mood of the theme. I like the idea of more people watching this grand spectacle, rather than just the one person in the picture that inspired me in this direction.

I kind of like the feel of this idea, although it’s certainly very simple right now. More detailed concepts to follow.

-v

#6

quick idea for one of the smaller space ships that will accompany the “big bertha” main ship.

#7

Here’s the progress of the small ship model. It’s looking a bit different than the concept idea, too much like a sailboat maybe. Maybe I could trim down that “mast” a little…

I’ll keep working on it.

#8

Yeah I agree with changing the mast but i still think you should keep it in. Remeber there is no air in space but there ARE solar flares which can in theory offer a similar type of propulsion to a regualr sail in the wind. Bearing this in mind could the sale be something more like a parachute?

#9

Here’s a concept design for the main ship in this scene.

#10

This is the beginning of my main ship model. This segment here is the long neck-like thing that the main saucer will be attached to. I like the idea of using intricate shadow-casting geometry for my surface textures. In the end, I think the textures themselves will be fairly simple. The surfaces will rely more on shadows for its “texture.”

Nothing fancy for the modeling part. Just duplicated and stretched and moved a whole lot of primitives. Cubes and cylinders mostly. I kind of wish I’d read Michael Crawford’s little tips on creating detail before I started!

#11

Here’s another progress pic of the “sail ship” thing. I do think I’ll follow the suggestion to have the sails catch light instead of wind. I’ll have to use some kind of solor panel-looking texture or something.

Vance

#12

More modeling of separate components of the big ship. I have to do this in pieces or I’m afraid my computer would explode. (Well, not explode, but you get the idea.)

This will be one chunk of the rear section of the ship. You can also get an idea from this pic on how I’d like geometric detail serve as some of the surface texture.

#13

This is a new version of the little sailship/shuttle. I revamped it with a bunch more detail. I’m happier with this version than I am with the earlier version.

#14

Another angle and a test render. To be honest, I think I like this ship from the back more than I do the side. It tends to hide the flaws, I think.

#15

This is a quickly thrown together little ship that will be scootering around somewhere in the scene. It won’t be shown up close, hence the simplicity. If I have time I’d like to have lots of little ones around.

#16

An update vision of what I’m aiming for in the final scene. The big change is that I’ve put those little people on a kind of planet surface instead of in a spaceship. For some reason, I didn’t like the idea anymore of them looking out a window. It felt like it limiting the scope of the image. I also think I’ll have a more generic space backdrop, not the city/dock thingy in the first concept.

Vance

#17

Yeah, sorry, I uploaded the wrong picture in the last post.

Again:

Here’s an update vision of what I’m aiming for in the final scene. The big change is that I’ve put those little people on a kind of planet surface instead of in a spaceship. For some reason, I didn’t like the idea anymore of them looking out a window. It felt like it limiting the scope of the image. I also think I’ll have a more generic space backdrop, not the city/dock thingy in the first concept. Vance

#18

I’m not sure this is “big” enough for my texturing milestone, but it’s what I worked on last night. I mentioned earlier that geometric detail would make up a lot of my surface detail, with a reasonably simple shader to complete the effect. For me, it seems the best images out there are ones where there is lots of geometry to cast lots of shadows. That’s going to be the effect I’m going for. Here’s a couple of test surfaces/renders for the spaceships. (Ironically, not much geometric details in the tests…)

#19

By the way, feel free to comment everyone. Critiques are very welcome. I know my entry isn’t as good as some of the others, as I’m really still learning how to use Maya. (Also, I’m not able to put as much time into this as others.) But it’s still nice to have people say something. :slight_smile:

Vance

#20

oh nice modeling
looks cool
not sure what yours is about but i will just asume it has some big spaceships flying over a big city
lol
well i like the model but i think u need to work on the textures and also maybe the lighting