Shadows not projecting right??

[Eric2575]

Hi all:

 

This is a quick test of the Nautilus on the surface with a klieg as the sun and a fill light in front of the sub for a little ambiance. The problem lies with the sub's shadows reflected on the surface of the water - they are casting in the wrong direction. The light source is in the back to the left, ergo the shadows should be pointing to the front right, yet they seem to be pointing straight at the viewer. No diff with the fill off.

 

Any ideas?

[luckbat]

Sorry, man, but that image is correct. Those aren't shadows, they're reflections. Reflections on water always show up directly beneath the object they're reflecting. It has nothing to do with where the light source is. It has to do with the angle at which they hit the water, and the location of your eye.

[nixie]

Luckbat is correct, I think youl find the shadows you are looking for if you change the water plane to a plain material to test.

 

Nice render by the way, looks like an old special effects scale model shot. (see Stingray)

 

Nixie

[Eric2575]

Thanks for pointing that out...I've been up too long working on this and that...yawn...should have know...yeah, I knew that

 

Wait till you see the underwater shots.

 

Hey, Chris - I searched the forum for Stingray and came up with zip. What is Stingray? I probably know that one too, but am just too tired to realize it

[KenH]

Yeah, actually, how is the water and sky done in that? Looks great.

[nixie]

Stingray was (like thunderbirds, captain scarlot) a brittish TV show by Gerry Anderson. Shot in 'super Marrionation' !! basicly string puppets; im sure youv experienced it in some way. I just thought the image you posted looked in a way like the vehicle shots seen in programs like that!

 

Cant wait to see the underwater shots now!

 

Nixie

[Eric2575]

The water is a result of a lot of experiments trying to figure out how Charles Babbage did his water tutorial. There are so many variables that have to be accounted for until you get semi realistic water - it almost drove me nutty. You see, I'm not a vary smart person, but I am diligent. If I hit the nail so many times the wrong way, chances are that one day I will hit it the right way

 

The background is just a jpg of a sunrise that I stood up at the end of the water map. Play around with the focal distance, color of the water, reflectivity, color of the light, etc, etc, and if you are lucky, you get a decent shot. The birds are three brush strokes in Photoshop - ok, ok, so I cheated on those - told you it was just a quick lighting experiment.

 

Another thing that bugs me in this shot is what the focal distance (FD) has done to the water surface around the sub. The FD is centered kinda tight around the sub because I wanted the background, where the water ends and the sky jpg begins, to blend with a little fuzyness. Well, that part went ok, but I don't like the way the water around the sub looks closer than the water in the foreground - the ripples look bigger along the horizontal plane parallel to the sub than the ripples closer to the viewer. But, as I said, this composition was just a quickie, and for that, I'm really happy with it.

 

P.S. Egads Chris, I was hoping my comp looks a little better than the pic of the Stingray? I do remember seeing something about the super puppets.

[nixie]

Dude! That stingray pic was the only one I could find! jeez! The way you have set up this shot explains to me why it looks like a scale model - the background is a plane with the equivilent of a tank of water in front of it, the camera, because of the tight focus, looks to be using a macro lens or something similar.

 

It looks good, I like it. Was never much of a fan of thunderbirds stingray etc!

 

Nixie

[Eric2575]

Kinda like the lagoon at Universal Studios with the big screen in front of it. He, he