WIP "reading stump"

[nglemb]

Here's a project I've been working on in my spare time for the last week or so. My wife and I both love reading so I decided to make an ideal comfortable, rich environment to do just that in. I'm still working on drawing out the surroundings here there's still a lot of tweaking to be done on the textures and what not for this model, but thought I'd start a thread anyway. Feel free to blast away. Comments are always helpful.

 

 

[Zaryin]

That is beautifully rendered and textured. Could we get a Wireframe too?

[NancyGormezano]

That is quite beautiful - sort of a bonzai reading room?

 

I love the stressed metallic texture, & fuzzy mossy rock - I would say the bark is a bit too "blurred" in contrast to the crispness of the other textures, the blue cushion a bit too saturated? bright? also in contrast to the other colors. Have to wait to see what else you have planned to see if those comments are relevant.

 

As the wip stands now - I'm not sure I would have known what it was had I not seen the sketch, nor read your explanation. Perhaps you are going to add a character sitting on the couch/cushion reading? or something else to indicate reading room? i assume the lantern is to be added as well - that would be a nice touch.

 

I love the feel so far & how it is starting out, looking forward to more.

[nglemb]

Thanks for the comments! I see what you mean about the stump and cushion. And yes, there will defintely be more of a context when it's done to bring out the "reading" theme. Hopefully a character and a lot of books.

 

Here's a wireframe view.

 

[nglemb]

After some major changes here is what I have together of the scene so far. I'm planning on having a character sitting on top of the cushion on the stump reading under the lamp. The lighting and composition for this picture has been kind of different for me so I would love to hear and comments or advice on that aspect especially, but any critiques are great.

-Nathan

 

 

[KenH]

LOL That's insane! But I like it. Yeah, it's abit flat at the moment. The framing looks like you're trying to show off everything. But that doesn't make a good shot necessarily. You want to capture the atmosphere. So, a suggested shot might be with the left hand trunk showing a little at the left of frame (up close) while the center is on the reading chair. Then in the "distance" you have the right hand trunk to the right of the image. You might have to move stuff for that though.

 

I think that shot would emphasis the way the character in the chair feels. Enclosed by shelves of books and cozy and hidden away in his own safe little world.

The lighting might benefit from some blue rims from the surrounding "natural light".

Nice modeling by the way. I envisaged the character as being either a caterpiller with character or a really old elf.

[nglemb]

Here's a little different arrangement of the scene. I think this brings out the depth a little better.

[Hutch]

That is pretty stinkin awesome. The grass looked less artifacted in the previous render. Is it just the lighting difference or maybe fewer passes? I think the mountains look nice but so did the stars. Maybe if the mountains were lower in the composition you could still have some starry sky above and reduce the sort of plain area below the mountains.

[nerrazzi]

Wow man! Not bad! I hate lighting a scene but it looks like you've got the hang of it.

 

So will the whole story center around this stump? and, are there any pics of the main character?

[Kamikaze]

Man, Thats stunning , Id kinda like to see a fly around the scene, (sorry I had to sak... keep us updated....the choive of color is super..

 

Michael

[NancyGormezano]

That is just plain beautiful, gorgeous. Love the sky, fantastic texturing, color palette & bee-yooo-ti-ful lighting. Can even hear the crickets. I prefer the first image. Perhaps there will be a cricket in the grass in the foreground watching the eventual occupant of the cushion?

 

I assume you're going for a still? not an animation? If animation, then the 2nd shot is good for establishing the grandeur of the location. Tho, I feel like it could use something in the valley - perhaps a more obvious, irregular brighter cloud/fog layer?

 

As for the first image: One thing that bothers me is the consistent same flat round tops on the book cases and that they appear to be the same size, height - might be good to introduce some variation in shape & height, size. I love the rock with candles - but feel it is too centered (in this still). Move it closer to the "sitting tree"?, move it to the left some?, make it larger? Maybe adding a cricket (or something more clever) to sit by the rock, also reading, might help offset the symmetry. Again have to wait for the occupant of cushion to be able to assess composition.

 

Beautiful. beautiful. beautiful.

[JohnArtbox]

The images are lovely.

The lighting and texturing are beautiful and the design for the reading stump and bookshelves is great. Creating a second bookstump (perhaps a taller thinner version) would reinforce their grown nature.

At the moment I like the lower viewpoint of the first image, but I feel it would work better if you shifted the reading stump to the right and shrunk the RHS stump a little. At the moment it seems too symmetrical.

Great Design

[KingSalami]

very cool

[nglemb]

After taking a very long break from this picture I decided that I really needed to finish it, so I put together a character to be sitting on the stump and rendered it out. How's it looking? I tried adding a touch of bloom to gift the scene a soft warm feel, but I'm not sure if I like it or not. It's cool, but I feel like I'm sacrificing detail in that it washes things out a bit. Any thoughts?

[arkaos]

WOW! WOW! ....um, did I forget to mention "WOW!"? I am so totally not worthy. In short..."THAT...KICKS...ASS!". Awesome job. Enough said.

[Mr. Jaqe]

Holy...

 

That's the best looking stump I've ever seen!! And the stone with the candels on it... Just pure beauty.

 

My only crit is that the books look a bit odd, like they're made of play doh.

[Luxo]

Ummm, Wow.

 

 

I'm in shock.

 

Like

 

 

Wow!

 

 

 

 

*faints*

[trajcedrv]

AMAZING WORK!!!

 

...

 

 

...

 

...

 

 

what can I say, except that I would really like to get there (to the reading place, that is)

 

drvarceto

 

p.s. it seems that those last few weeks are turning into "era of photorealism"

[Haikalle]

Just amazing.... You have done great job...I really like the colors and lighting...and

the tree where reader is sitting... that's really look like old tree...just Wau

[skurge13]

Such nice work! Have you thought of putting some little details on the ground, like some scattered books, or some small rocks, or colorful mushrooms? Or maybe you already have details on the ground, I can't really tell because the image is really dark on my monitor (fluorescent lights are on and sunlight is streaming in right now and the monitor's calibrated for a dark room). I need to see the image tonight to get a better idea of how it looks. Still, my first impression on seeing it was "this is an evil sorceror's reading place" and I don't think that's the mood you're going for. What if you flood the area with some more moonlight, or have some glowing lichen or shrooms, or have bigger, brightly shining stars, or a cartoony moon with a smiling face...well, maybe that's too cheezy, I don't know, I'm just throwing ideas out there....

 

Anyway, great stuff, man! I wish I could do something just half this good!

[ypoissant]

Cool image. I love the lighting and the iamgination for that world design. Bravo!

[NancyGormezano]

lovely mood, gorgeous lighting, love the books (excellent placement, uncontrived randomness) - as I said before - I can hear the crickets - I get a feeling of coziness - peace - nothing evil about it to me.

 

Only problem I have is the mountain placement from a compositional standpoint - sticking up out of the bookcase on the right.

 

I could imagine a more Himalya type range in the background - sort of like the Kali Gandaki River Gorge in the Annapurna region of Nepal - where the river valley is at 3000 feet & the mountains surrounding it are in the range of 20-27,000 feet. This image is probably taken at a higher elevation than the river (probably at 8-10000 feet) - but gives you a feeling for the impact of a dramatic mountain range in the background:

 

http://www.awstevenson.com/Upper%20Mustang...daki%20008.html

 

Love your textures - love what you've done.

[cosmonaut]

Very, very nice.

[nglemb]

Thanks so much for all the comments guys! I really appreciate it. I've gone and posted it in the showcase area. One of those thing where I've been tweaking and tinkering with it forever and just have to be done or I'll never stop if you know what I mean. I have a bad habit of doing that with projects. On to the next one.

[Odog2020]

Man, thats a great image. I really like seeing the guy sitting and reading. I would trip if I walked into a book store and it looked like that. I am sure something like that would make one hell of a business. Animation land or not, I would spend alot of time in there. Great work.

 

James