HCR MINI-Challenge #23: Ansel Adams Tribute

[byvfx]

I understand where Roberto and BertieRooster are at, but it is interesting to note that this particular challenge topic would have lent itself very well to using several of the world/matte painting apps out there. And Vue and Terragen arent the only ones…

Several high end major studios use both of these applications for creating matte paintings. Terragen/Engen was used in time machine, Stealth, and I believe most recently in GIJoe. Vue was used to some extent in the latest Caribbean installment. These are both legitmate tools used by the professional industry for a specific need.

Its understandable that when someone says “model” we have a tendency to think that the only way is through box modeling and sculpting. And Im sure it can be done well, dont get me wrong. But to be fair, making very realistic terrains and environments procedurally is very challenging. You need to understand math and functions in order to achieve the realism as seen in the high grade terragen renders. And sometimes doing things procedurally just simply makes sense for the project. An experienced user of any of these apps will quickly recognize a one-button-click terrain / atmosphere…

So my point here really is, that these tools ARE used professionally in the industry, and even if its not appropriate for this particular challenge, I could see it being a good challenge in and of itself…

i rarely chime in on these things… i agree with Jason. This just seems absurd… you use what will give you the best result in the least amount of time. Whether its max, vue or terragen, frankly if you were to do a environment like this in production it would be simple. i.e camera projections low res geo.

[spaceboy412]

byvfx, i’m sorry if anything i wrote is absurd, i’m new to these challenges and i’m still unsure as to what the endgoal is to be. i agree with you 100% about doing those things for production, i just didn’t know if that is the approach we are supposed to take with this, which is why i’m asking these questions. apparently i’m going about it the wrong way and perhaps should just stop my participation until these things are more clearly defined.

[byvfx]

Spaceboy, u didn’t write anything absurb I was saying the idea of restricting yourself to say one app. Nothing against u or anyone here. I was just sharing my opinon. I do understand this isn’t production, so if the rules were to use just one app then so be it :). In anycase I can’t to see what u guys do!

[japetus]

Hey Brandon! good to see you here!

[WyattHarris]

True you can have a poly plane with an image mapped to it and it could look really good but in the judging that will not be worth very much compared to an entry where someone modeled the entire mountain. Having used Terragen for years the process isn’t far different from ZBrush in that you are drawing on the model to sculpt it vs. drawing on a procedural map or importing one. I don’t think you are going to get as good a result in Terragen vs. ZBrush. Oh sure you’ll have great atmospheric lighting, clouds and a great procedural ground texture etc. etc. but none of those things have to do with the voting. Only the model.

[valentious]

So does this mean the person who does use one of these programs have points taken away during judging? For Example:

Artist A used Vue or Terragen, and it looks really good. But Artist B used 3d Max and it looks good, but not as good as A. Does B win?

( I personally don’t use Vue or Terragen, but if someone else uses it here I’d probably lose since Im using Max)

where is your faith
lets do this

[valentious]

I love Ansel Adams work, this looks like a perfect chance to use Landscape generation packages such as Vue or Terragen, is this allowed? If so I am so definitely in
cyphyr

that would mean a model of any scene of time frame right.

i found photos of builings he took in his time.i researched his achieves and found some interesting building loads of deatiled that captured my interest.

3ds max is by trunk card in this field

[valentious]

Interesting question as regards using vue/terragen. On the one hand the subject matter is made for those softwares, on the other, would using them really count as “hardcore modeling”?

Not to diminish the skills of those who use those softwares in the slightest. I just wonder if one would really call them “modeling” applications or some other discipline.

this is suppose to be a modeling contest not a image manipulator…
exact word were to “sculpt”

[dilen]

Hey guys I am new to CGSociety hope to become someone great like all you people here. This is my first mini-challenge me planning to take part as I too love Ansel Adam’s Photography.

I am still a student in university doing Animation but would love to show my potential here.

I just wanted to ask I am using 3ds max with Z-Brush and is that fine and which softwares cant be used to accomplish this challenge.

Thanx all waitin for reply…

[valentious]

Hey guys I am new to CGSociety hope to become someone great like all you people here. This is my first mini-challenge me planning to take part as I too love Ansel Adam’s Photography.

I am still a student in university doing Animation but would love to show my potential here.

I just wanted to ask I am using 3ds max with Z-Brush and is that fine and which softwares cant be used to accomplish this challenge.

Thanx all waitin for reply…

yeap
am 3ds max user 2010
lets team up

[valentious]

am also a 3ds max user
wat do u have in mind
am all ears

[JohNLA]

W.I.P. page.

Ansel Adams Inspiration photo

Youtube final video

.

.

.

I really enjoyed making this model and attempted a faithful representation.
I wish I had found more references to build the inside of the church but for some reason there just are not very many on the web.

I also learned quite a bit. For instance, before this project I did not know how to mix textures on a single object with vertex paint. Doing so really helped add variety to the ground.

I have about four weeks worth of work into this.
It was all created in 3DS Max 2008 64 bit and rendered in Mental Ray. CS2 Photoshop for textures.
Final comp done with Windows Live Movie Maker.
In the final video I did no post processing other than the addition of text.

I sure hope I am not forgetting anything. :curious:

Good luck, to everyone participating and a big thanks to Roberto

[aovesen]

W.I.P Thread

The Original Photo ref.

Beauty Render :

Grey scale, photoshopped :

viewport renders :

1600X1200 image

In this challenge I wanted to get a good representation of the original photo. I’ve used alot of simple modelling with primitives and low level techniques to get finished within the timeframe. I did have time to work on some of the finer details like the lionheads and the trees. What I would have liked to work more on is the texture work, but as this is a modelling challenge my focus was mainly on getting objects done.

Most of the work has been done in 3ds max, and some parts altered in Zbrush. Textures are mostly just standard materials of max, but a few polypainted in Zbrush and modified in photoshop. Renders done with Mental Ray.

Thanks for setting up the challenge I had a good time with it and I hope everyone else did as well. Good luck to everyone
Regards
Anders Pabst Ovesen

[RobertoOrtiz]

Guys sorry for the delay,
work got in the way:

Ansel Adams TributeL post your final entry!

[RobertoOrtiz]

Well we got a lost of people still working on their entries:
NOTE those who finished will be credited as having finished ON TIME.

Ok for those who want more time…
http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?f=208&t=843644

-R

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