The Journey Begins

[Russel_Nash]

Hi,

I decided to participate in the latest challenge on CGTalk „The Journey Begins“.

 

Here are the models I made so far. They are still WIPs. So critiques & comments are welcome.

 

You can find my WIP thread on CGTalk here.

 

Russel

 

 

 

[Rodney]

Love it!

 

Really Outstanding. Great personality being built into your models.

[nimblepix]

WOW!

[Paul Forwood]

Wow! Great start, Torsten!

 

I have also entered but haven't put anything up yet.

 

Best of luck to you!!!

[luckbat]

The only critique I can think of: that "Dark Lady" font doesn't seem to match the time period. Take a look at some of these ones:

http://www.fontcraft.com/scriptorium/colonial/index.html

http://www.fontcraft.com/scriptorium/western.html

[cosmonaut]

Very nice work, I was thinking about entering this one too if I can find the time. My only complaint is that the boards in the airship look too lumpy. Other than that great work so far. Looking forward to seeing your progress.

 

Kevin

[Eric2575]

I actually like the lumpy look, they add some character to the model, but that's personal preference I guess. Overall, this type of modeling keeps me inspired to keep bettering myself in CG.

 

I could see the owner of that airship coming back from a cross country trip, landing and driving off in his Tempo Gigante

 

Rock on!

[ddustin]

I like the lumpy look as well.

Excellent work!!

 

David

[pdaley]

awesome, AWESOME work! I really love that 'you know it wouldn't work, but looks like it could anyway' kind of technology here.

 

Texture is going to round out the boards for the hull into looking less like... pillows (I mean to say they appear soft). Another idea might be to make the edges appear a little more irregular, like aged wood. Maybe a patch-job here or there. This looks like a well-maintained craft, but you can't go adventuring and not acquire a little wear and tear.

 

You've modeled a lot of detail here. I bet you could make use of the new displacement mapping to really push it.

 

Go, go, GO!

[robcat2075]

I'm on the "boards too lumpy side." They look like they are inflated. Is thie because the edges are not beveled but just rounded corners?

 

But wonderful work all-in-all! Eager to see this develop!

[Russel_Nash]

Wow, thanks everybody for your replies. I really appreciate them.

The boards are very basic. Just 24 patches each. The edges are not bevelled. The patch-count is already slowing down my machine so I can’t make them more detailed.

I actually split the model in parts which are put together in the choreography. Right now it consists of 7 parts.

The work is currently done in version 12 of A:M. May be I’ll switch to v13 in the end to take advantage of the new subpixel displacement feature.

Thanks luckbat for the link. I will have a look if I can find some better font.

I haven’t done very much of texturing so far, so I would like to use this challenge to learn it.

 

Thank you once again.

 

Russel

[jakerupert]

>I really love that 'you know it wouldn't work, but looks like it could anyway' kind of technology here.

 

 

Superding Torsten, bin schon auf`s Endbild sehr gespannt!!

Find auch die Planken klasse, so wie sie sind..

 

;>) Jake

[trajcedrv]

AMAZING MODELS! Can't wait to see this pic finished.

 

Small crit:

 

1. I feel that character's feet are bit too small.

2. I love the lumpy look of the ship, but I feel that hard edges here and there would add to its 'believeability'

3. You better thexture those as good as they are modeled, or else... ;-P

 

Great work, keep us posted!

 

Drvarceto

[Eric2575]

You probably already know this, but save the model files under V.12 and then under V.13 if you are going to play V.13, as they are not backward compatible at this time. Grosse klasse!!

[agep]

HOLY! I'm just speechless! the models are outstanding!

[DarkLimit]

I def commend you on these models; great details.......the ship esp is outstanding........I wish you success with your entry.....

[Russel_Nash]

Thanks everybody for your replies. They really encourage me to work as hard as I can on this project.

 

Here is another model for the final scene. The bark of the tree will be done with displacement maps. Also the balustrade will get more details with displacement. Once again I reached the limit in patch count of what my machine can handle. And still there is so much to add to this model.

 

 

Thanks once again.

 

Russel

[Paul Forwood]

Nice work, Russel! Keep it going.

It is unlikely that I will get my entry started before the deadline so its all down to you. ;-)

I gather that you will be compositing a render of your parrot-ship with a render of this background to get around the limitations of your computer? I notice that you are attracting the attention of many of the outstanding CG artists on CG Talk. Well done and the best of luck to you with this fun piece. :-)

[rusty]

Good modeling! Like your style. The craft looks like the one used in Mummy II -- wow, very much like it but, that's no big deal. But if you didn't in fact base it on the one from the movie (which would be just fine) you should rent a copy and check it out; I'm going by memory but everything from the shape and construction down to the placement of the wheel and furnace.

 

Cheers,

Rusty

[Russel_Nash]

Thanks for your comments.

 

Yes, compositing the elements is the only way to keep rendering time in a reasonable scale.

 

Actually I haven’t seen "The Mummy returns". I will definitely go and rent a copy of that movie. Thanks for the info.

 

Russel

[trajcedrv]

This keeps getting better and better!

 

(I have not yet seen yout thred at CG Talk, it would be interesting to see how non A:M artist react to it)

 

Keep us posted!

[3DArtZ]

I want a tree house like that!!!

 

so cool!

How about some vines that one might be able to swing from or climb.... if the situation called for it!

 

Nice stuff!

 

Mike Fitz

www.3dartz.com

[Dhar]

Looking mighty fine.

 

I didn't know there's a patch count limit; what's the limit?

[robcat2075]

The boards are very basic. Just 24 patches each. The edges are not bevelled. The patch-count is already slowing down my machine so I can’t make them more detailed.

 

Wouldn't bump/displacement/normal mapping eliminate the need to model each board separately?

[noah brewer]

Wonderful work! Thanks for sharing!

 

BTW (as you probably know already) if you want to keep your ship separated into different models, yet animate them easily in the choreography as one model, all you have to do is drag/copy a bone from model into the rest of the models. Then, if you make an action and drag into each model in the chor, the ship will always move as one piece.

 

Another advantage of this technique is being able to turn OFF unseen sections of the ship when the camera is close-up on a character. (Unless you want to see them for reflections)

[Russel_Nash]

Thanks,

 

veins may be a good idea. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

There is no patch limit from Animation:Master (as far as I know), but my machine will slow down to much if I add more.

 

May it would be possible to use displacement maps instead of modelling each board separate, but know it’s to late

 

I didn’t know that feature with drag/copy the bones till now. Could you please explain a little more. I tried to do it but I didn’t work. I add one bone to the main part of the ship than attached all CPs to it. After that I dragged it onto the other models but it just disappears in the main model and nothing else happened.

 

Russel

[Russel_Nash]

I started texturing the head of the main character. The feathers are done with a hair material and I used feather images which I painted in Photoshop as emitter.

 

Russel

 

[luckbat]

Those feathers look beautiful, but I'd highly recommend creating a second version that replaces the orange hair-feathers with a decal, and using the hair-feather model only for closeups. (Alternatively, you could create a pose that toggles the orange hair and reveals the orange decal underneath.) Otherwise, your render times will be severely impacted by something that's barely discernable most of the time.

[Russel_Nash]

Thanks,

This character is for the still image in the first place, but I will use him for animation after the challenge is over. There for I will make a version where the feathers are replaced by a decal.

 

I rendered a 360° view of the airship.

 

Here are the links:

 

4.8 MB

 

720 kb

 

Russel

[R Reynolds]

Of course the look of your balloon is a choice that's yours to make but I would prefer to see the ropes cutting into the envelope less severely and have the envelope look smoother and tighter (see image). As it stands right now it appears to me that it's a tightly wrapped pillow. If you want the balloon to have texture you can always add a bump map that won't betray it's spline construction.

[oakchas]

I'd like to see more refinement in the eyes of the model... and there's something about the color combo... but I gotta say I really am impressed with this whole project... I hope I can do as well some day..

 

Interesting that the CG talkers aren't picking up on the A:M references... They seem to think you're working with polys.

 

Keep up the great work. Between this type of work, and the TWO movie... A:M will get more notice. It's all good!

[Russel_Nash]

Thank you very much for your suggestion Rodger, but I think I will keep the balloon as it is. I like the “softer” look.

 

Charlie, thanks as well for your post. Can you give some more info what bothers you about the eyes?

You are right colour is a bit fancy but I like it the way it is.

 

I roughly put together the ship and the tree house to find the final layout. Than I finished up the pic a little in Photoshop. Here it is:

 

 

Russel

[robcat2075]

Good looking scene.

 

the lack of tension you are showing in the lines here

[attachmentid=15861]

is rather at odds with the tension you are showing elsewhere in the balloon.

[Zaryin]

I have to agree with Robert about the tension. The scene you are developing looks great. I can't wait to see it finished. It definately fits the subject matter.

[oakchas]

Russel,

 

I guess my complaint about the eyes is the non-roundness of the pupils. And their asymmetry.

 

I understand that pupils and irises are not perfectly round... but I would like to see the character's right eye match his left a bit closer, as the left pupil does not look so irregular.

 

Also, to me, the blue feathers look like painted brushstrokes done in PS rather than modeled.

 

That said, you are doing a much better job than I could on this... I am enjoying the progression, and the fact that you are working (doing workarounds to bring the concept to fruition) with a somewhat limited hardware platform...

[Russel_Nash]

Thanks for your comments.

I may work on the eyes a bit, later.

 

Here an update for the whole character. He lost his boots.

 

 

 

Russel

[nf1nk]

its lookin good, I wonder if the capitain would look more birdlike, if you made the feathers stop just below his pant line so we get some more of his cool scaley feet and ankles

[Russel_Nash]

Thanks.

I updatetd the feathers so more of his feet is ow visible.

 

Here a WIP of the texturing status:

 

 

 

 

You can click on the image to get a higher resolution.

 

Russel

[Dark_Jedi]

Oh wow. amazing, great job

[Russel_Nash]

Thanks a lot.

 

I used the v 13.0 to render some parts of the last pic. The bark of the tree has a displacement map on it. Unfortunately I get some render artefacts (black spots) where there are 5-point patches.

Is there a way to get rid of these artefacts?

 

Russel

[Paul Forwood]

Is there a way to get rid of these artefacts?

 

Just Photoshop it, Russel. As this is for a still image it shouldn't be too much work and it is just part of your post-production chores.

 

Have you tried adding a little fogging to your render to help give it more depth?

 

Nearly there now! Keep up the good work.

[Dark_Jedi]

when i first saw the character i thought it was a frog. is it a chciken now?

 

when i first saw the character i thought it was a frog. is it a chciken now?

[Russel_Nash]

Well I think of him as a kind of parot, but may be he is a frog ith feathers and a bill.

 

I made some minor adjustments. You can find an updated version here:

 

Link

 

Russel

[Russel_Nash]

I rendered all the differnet parts in final resolution of 4096 x 1742. Next step is post work.

 

 

Russel

[Dhar]

Please enlighten me; is final resolution same as final render?

And why the different screens? Is that what is called composites? Is this for special effects?

[oakchas]

Dhar, I think you're right.

 

Final resolution being the resolution he will use in the contest looks like wide screen HDTV, or could be close to panavision. Where before the view was cropped a bit.

 

If I recall correctly, Russel was pushing his computer to its limits (memory wise) so rendering the final scene in layers, one layer at a time, is an economical way (memory wise) to render a scene, where it is composited (each layer merged into one in photshop or A:M s own compositor.

 

The grey background will be transparent. In the shadow pass, the darker than the background greys will be slightly less transparent than the mid grey background.

 

He could also have done a specularity pass, which would have had lighter shades of grey towards white, being less transparent and obscuring what was below with white specularity.

 

At least I think that's a fair explanation... not as good as what Yves would do... but passable (maybe)

[Dhar]

Thanks Charlie. That explains it pretty well for me

[MMZ_TimeLord]

Russel,

 

Don't forget you can use A:M to do the compositing work and it will retain and use lighting information from each layer!

 

Give it a shot... you may be suprised by the results.

[Russel_Nash]

Thanks Charlie for the explanation. That was exactly the reason and the way I made it.

 

The resolution is double the size of panavision.

 

I never used A:M composite feature before, and deadline is really close. So I will not use it this time. But it sounds very interesting and I will take a closer look so I can use it next time.

 

Here is a pic of the current status.

 

 

Russel

[Russel_Nash]

Ok, the journey is over. I have just submitted my final image.

 

Thanks to everybody who’s supported me on the way.

 

Now here’s the final image:

 

 

You can find a higher resolution here: 2048 x 871

 

Thanks once again.

 

Russel