Eric2575

Beautiful scene. Could the anomalies be caused by the pole model? Have you tried to render just the pole with the same lighting setup? I don't know much about rendering, so sorry if I'm way out of line.

Don't think your questions are stupid. I went through the exact same thing. Even talked to Anzovin about where the manual was. They should really update the tut to include the "constraints on" trick. I'll be honest with you, I bought TSM2 with great hopes but got so frustrated with it that I'm using it as a coaster for now. This is not a reflection on TSM2, just a statement on how dumb I am when it comes to making it work. It's quite obvious that many people are much smarter than I am, cause so many people swear by it. Anyways, I hope you get it to work for you and keep asking questions along the way. I'll keep reading this post and may yet get it to work also. Good luck.

Just curious about all the tubing. How are you doing that, sweep? What version of AM are you using? I am wondering about jumping from V.11.1 to V.12.

I really like Thom's movements, very fluid.

Pix: Stuff like this really intrigues me. I know you could just model more splines, but for my part, I'd like to know why this happens and what can be done to avoid in the future. I've applied decals to a tire and did pretty much what you did - applied from the front and then applied the decal to the inside of the back of the tire. I don't remember having the trouble you did though. I'm sure you're not moving the model as you do this, but just make shure. If you'd like, send me the file and I'll try to see what I can do with it. You can edit the file to include just the tail section if you like, just so I have the decals and the problem section of your model. Pm me if you want me to try. Eric

Erst einmal bitte ich um Entschuldigung. Ich weiss, dass Dein Name Daniel ist. Verzeihung I meant, please don't flame me for that bad joke...you know, very nice, not very knife....ahh, forget it, bad joke Well, now that you asked for more constructive criticism...the spotlight on the wall rendered too bright in my humble opinion. With a spot on the wall that bright, why isn't the blade reflecting some of that or at least getting some specular highlights from it? Same with the base. It's like the wall is reflecting the light but not much else is reflecting it. And I still say you need to give the handle a little specular, just a bit. The handle is beautiful, but looks too flat. You did this in a Cornell box, didn't you? P.S. I'm getting information overload in regards to normal maps. Some posts say you have to have V.12 to use them, other posts say it can be done in V.11.1 (my version) with a plugin. I have no idea of how to do normals. I'm one of those guys that needs to have a very hands on approach to anything I try for the first time. Limited processing ability - lots of eagerness to learn, but not enough gray matter to absorb it all Would you post a wireframe of your knife and tell me how the heck you use normal maps? Btw, do you use the plugin, or do you have AM v.12? I already downloaded the Nvidia Photoshop plugin. Did I mention that the point of your knife seems razor sharp pointy? Do you have a reference pic we could see?

Very, very knife...jeez, dont' flame me, I couldn't help myself...ahem, I mean nice, yes, very, very nice. Thanks for the link, Matt. I'll check it out and convert to the power

Nice effect, but a tad bit busy. A guy wielding that sword could use it to hypnotize someone if they look at it long enough.

Normal mapping...The power of nor....mal mapping??? Tell me more bout normal mapping? I do want to convert. Don't want to be known as using "cheap" methods You're right about the bubbling rust, but you mentioned that it was taken care of through the years. When I've cleaned the rust off of an object that I haven't used in a long time, I find that the areas that I've cleaned the rust off of, are pitted, hehe

No problemo, Dan. Pitting - incorporate small nicks and dents into the model via bump maps. A rusty surface eats into the metal, creating small pits. Are you using decals to make the rusty spots? If so, you can add that same decal as a bump map right over the same spot to create a little depth (pits). Also, if you look at almost any knife, you will usually see rust and crud collect where the blade meets the handle. Your knife is spotless right there.

Hey Dan: This is off the top of my head as I look at your last render. In that particular render, the blade actually looks like stone. I don't have an old piece of wheathered metal in front of me, but this doesn't look right. If the blade is really old and already has rust on it, I would suggest some pitting, especially where the rust is eating into it. For an old blade, the tip is way too pointy. Use and age should have dulled the tip a bit (I know you said it was well kept, but). I would also suggest a bit more lighting on the interesting handle, it's getting lost in the dim scene. Apply a bump and diffuse on the handle to give it more detail and depth. One last thing: Lay down a similar knife on a surface and you will see that the tip will make contact with the surface unless the handle is made out of lead - balance. In your render, the tip is obviously floating over the surface as evidenced by the shadow. Ok, I've spoken my piece. .....Wait, one last to last thing: The midpoint of the blades cutting edge has some kind of crease. Is that modeled that way on purpose? If so, that's fine. Just wondering. Hope I didn't rant too much...later

I'm gonna redo the treads from scratch sometime, and who knows, if they come out better than these, I may do a Wink on the steps. Thanks Stian, thanks Ken...will keep ya updated.

You got the one item on the tire that I thought I could let slip The tread in the middle is a bump and diffuse decal that was my first attempt for that purpose. I think the black and white hues aren't optimal and so they didn't convey the depth I was after. Good eyes. But then again, you are the master. Still working hard on the body smoothness. there are some wicked corners and intersections of the body panels that are being stubborn. Some of the mesh is being reworked.

When you say anchoring cp's, do you mean hooks?

Part of my Saleen S7 model

The model looks great, let's see a wireframe.

My security settings do not allow ActiveX controls to run. Can you post your movie some other way?

Brilliant!

Even an old object should have some specular highlights, right?

Looks great Dan! More renders, drool, drool!

Xtaz, searched through the forum and came back to your great motorcycle guy. I was looking for chrome and headlight info. Your chrome looks awesome, how did you do it?

Wireframe so far

The frustrating part is: I am using Colin's paint and reflectivity materials. I did a render in a stock chor without skylight rig and the paint and reflectivity showed up real well. I wanted to use a skylight rig because I saw so many cool renders with them. Dan, do you mean to say that I should put a sun into the chor besides the skylight rig? If so, I'll try that. And yes, please give me any insight into applying Colin's paint. Obviously I'm missing something. Matt, are all of the colors we get in the swatch pallette solid colors? If so, will it not be a solid color if I only change the color value by one? Anyways, gonna do some more test renders with your suggestions. Thanks

Used Yves skylight (20) for these shots. The white render came out pretty good. The colored render came out like candy and flat. I didn't change any of the settings from the first shot to the second and thought I would get a very nice render, but I'm not very happy with the flat candy color. Is a skylight setup not really the right for photorealistic outside shots, or do I need to change some settings? Btw, the model is still in progress, just some test renders. Uh, sorry, will post a wireframe later today, gotta get to work right now.

Tha walls are also way too smooth, they need some cracks or stonework or something to make them look like they belong on the inside of a old musty tower.