Pengy

Gerry-Thanks it's been interesting for me too thank goodness otherwise I would've bailed the 1st time I tried to make glass I can't say enough how much I appreciate everyone's help,I trully learned alot.Hopefully I'll remember some of it. Here is the latest render with fixes to all of the latest suggestions. I also added the red back light and turned cast shadows on for the two coloured backlights...I like the effect. I still have to add the smoke but have a question concerning this. Is it easier to just use photoshop to accomplish this, or, should I take a stab at using particles(which I have no idea about)?Other than that I think I will move it into the showcase forum and call it done, for I fear I've exhausted my knowledge of lighting. Any last minute suggestions would be greatly welcomed.

Amazing work! Stuff like this is the reason I like 3d. Have you finished the complete model and if so could we please have a look at the rest of him? Are you planning on animating him? Is there more characters like this to follow?

Here's the wire of the feathers. Just 2 patches and messed with shape and hair setting until I got what I wanted.

Thank you guys. Not a pain in the arse at all Vern this is exactly the kind of stuff I was looking for. I'm sure you've experienced it after a while with a project you can't see it anymore Interesting about the two images being similar..you had more guts than me though I didn't even attempt to put hands in mine. I'll fix the paper pdq wouldn't want to interfere with your sleep. One thing though, I wanted this to be a scene in a lonely motel room but I guess it came across more as a bar, ah well what ever works Andy I added a higher spec but it made the hat look rubbery, any suggestions? I will post a wire of the feather, was quite simple to do actually.

Thank you for the reply mediaho. All the strides have been because of all the help I've received here on the forum. Most times it pays to suck it up and show your work there always seems to be a multitude of great suggestions. And on that note here is my latest update. I tried with my limited knowledge to follow all your suggestions. Roughed up the paper, sepia toned the pictures increased the specularity on the hypo and derby. I also tried to unorganize the randomness Although I wasn't quite sure what you meant by that. I was thinking of adding a red back light as most neon would have more than just one colour.

Thank you littleandy I wondered if the syringe was "washed" out a bit by the poster. I was hoping the derby hat would stand out a bit more and catch some bounce off the back blue light still loads of tweaking to do with that.

Thanks for the suggestion and kind words Vern. Parlo suggested roughly the same thing. To try and make it fit in better with the environment, I think you're both right and it's definately my first thing to do. I was also wondering about the syringe..does it seem realistic enough?...Does it need more reflection to stand out? Any thoughts?

A little further along on the lighting path. I'm trying to keep it darker and have it look like a neon blue glow at the back of table. Not sure how to accomplish this. Please any suggestions or critics are most welcome.

Funny how much of a difference a few shadows make.

Thanks Bill still need to round up the $$ for upgrade. Here's all the props assembled, The lighting is just temp. Made a few changes in cig pack and ashtray and liquor colour. Any C&C would be most appreciated before I move on to learning lighting.

this is for more cartoony characters but it will still work http://blenderchar.weirdhat.com/eyetute/

An update to the props for my still. I still have to work on the materials but thought I'd post what I've got so far.As always any crits are welcome.

gra4mac, James, died but only in the last Tom Clancy movie maybe thats what you heard. I think he would be great for the voice though...I'd kill for a voice like that.

Another great job Javier. 1 question, is the bottom of the glass supposed to be glass as well?

I second that Rodney.Great job and I believe above and beyond the call!

About the scale, yes the head is that big. In the Jan 18 edition of the New England Journal of Medicine there was a study from Cedar Sinai that suggested while excessive alcohol consumption not only had the possiblility of increasing the size of one's liver there was also documented double blind studies that indicated it could also increase size of cranium.(and if u buy that let's talk about buying this bridge I happen to own in New York ...j/k please twas joke, no e-mails. Rodney thanks for that. Bill. I was wondering if it isn't too complex if you could explain the hack to get rid of the alpha artifacts. There is a nice hawk outline etched in the pic I found and thought it would be a cool touch. I could fake it in PS or make it out of patches if the hack is too difficult.

Still have some more work to do on the glass but I figured out the problem. Here's all 3 of my props so far.

Great Job so far. This guy looks like he's going to be a blast to tell stories with. 1 thing I'd like to see is the back of the mask have tied ends hanging down.

I've moved on from the bottle for now and started working on the shot glass. Thanks to lessons learned on the bottle the outside went smoothly(just used same material(momma didn't raise no fool ) Now the snag I've hit is in modeling and materialing the bottom bowl and part of the shot glass. As many of you probably know they have a glass that is more dense than the rest of the glass. Here is my attempt at the glass with just the bowl. Any help would be most appreciated.

Badda boom badda bing that did it I was getting weird artifacts around my decal..it look like I had cut it with scissors and pasted it on there,so I made my own and all is well with the world. Thank you again Bill,you should really make a tutorial on these material things..hehe So, here is the new bottle with just a kleig light to start per Javier's suggestions. Man if I didn't drink before I think this model would drive me there...me and my bright ideas Thanks again!

Here is what the alpha looks like.

Javier: I don't know if I'm doing something wrong in photoshop or what, but I've tried both making completely new patches and copy and pasting patches from the bottle, removing the glass texture then applying the decal. The white of the underlying geometry still shows. Please help

Thanks again Javier, I had wondered about the transparency of the bottle effecting it but thought na thats too simple..that'll teach me The bottle is going to be part of a larger still I just rendered it like this in order to show it. Should I light it now by itself even though other light sources may be in the full scene? Also another question I had about the liquor part was... Did you model the liquor as one unit or did you simply extrude a horizontal spline across from the inside of the bottle and colour that?

1st let me say thank you to everyone for the advice. I think the time has come to call it a job done and move on to the next prop (shot glass of course ) I added a cork like in the original pic and removed the lid, I don't think if it was being drank the cap would be put on. It turned out much better than I had hoped because of the excellent help I got. Hopefully I can get the liquor to look much better once the chor scene is lit. Thanks again

Thank you very much for replying. Zaryin: I tried your advice and no joy, I discussed it on the Wed nite chat and it seems like this is a recognized problem. The effect has kind of grown on me and I think I'll take some artistic license and live with it. Javier: I think your whiskey image is an excellent example of the photorealistic capabilities of A:M. I'm glad to hear its all native materials. The lighting aspect is a little daunting to me right now along with alot of other things. I think gaining some knowledge on lighting will be a great learning experience and will help on future projects.