*A:M User* Roger Posted July 11, 2006 *A:M User* Share Posted July 11, 2006 [attachmentid=18147]Hello, Here's a cave for a short film I'm working on. It doesn't look quite right to me for some reason. I had shaded it with the darktree shaders, but they take forever to render on my laptop, and I temporarily uninstalled them. What do you think? I seem to remember it looking better with the shaders ( I am using clay shaders, combined with some of the other materials). I wanted the main characters to have a "claymated" look, however, I am not sure that is appropriate for every prop / item in the film. Would you stick completely with the clay look, or have clay characters in a semi-photoreal environment? I ask because I have an underwater scene, and of course clay water would be opaque. I was thinking of just using a transparent material with some particles floating around to simulate water. Thoughts? Ideas? Criticism on how to make better? Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nerrazzi Posted July 11, 2006 Share Posted July 11, 2006 You forgot to post it.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve392 Posted July 11, 2006 Share Posted July 11, 2006 Hey ,you forgot the picky Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
*A:M User* Roger Posted July 11, 2006 Author *A:M User* Share Posted July 11, 2006 Hey ,you forgot the picky sorry, I realized my mistake and had to edit the post.........didn't think anyone would get to it so quick LOL thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve392 Posted July 11, 2006 Share Posted July 11, 2006 Couldn't you use Hash matt's from the cd and change them around to get what you need ,theye do render faster Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
*A:M User* Roger Posted July 11, 2006 Author *A:M User* Share Posted July 11, 2006 Couldn't you use Hash matt's from the cd and change them around to get what you need ,theye do render faster I honestly don't have the time to learn the ins and outs of the Hash materials system, I'm sure it would take me at least a week to come up with a clay shader. I am kind of in a rush to finish this project, I have given myself til the end of August to see what I can get done, if at that point its done, great. If not, I have a good start. I do have an extra machine for rendering, but again, that is not quite the point. Anyway, the point is not the shaders, the point is does it look ok now, or should I scratch it and start over? would you model it differently? I started with the entrance and then just started extruding it back and pulling points. I used to copies of the entrance hole to do the extrusions so that I could extrude a partial interior. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve392 Posted July 11, 2006 Share Posted July 11, 2006 I think it looks ok but would look much better textured,but so doese anything Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
*A:M User* Roger Posted July 11, 2006 Author *A:M User* Share Posted July 11, 2006 I think it looks ok but would look much better textured,but so doese anything Thanks......I'll throw some textures on it, and put another image up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nerrazzi Posted July 11, 2006 Share Posted July 11, 2006 Well... You've got the traditional mouse-hole opening, puts me more in the mind of an igloo rather than a cave. If you're going for a cartoon look, then it's a start. A more realistic approach would be modeling a sort of large crack in the side of a mountain? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
*A:M User* Roger Posted July 11, 2006 Author *A:M User* Share Posted July 11, 2006 Well... You've got the traditional mouse-hole opening, puts me more in the mind of an igloo rather than a cave. If you're going for a cartoon look, then it's a start. A more realistic approach would be modeling a sort of large crack in the side of a mountain? Nerrazi, That is a good idea, but since this is a cartoon cave for a cartoon dragon I thought the mouse-hole look would be more appropriate. I have to reboot now, I'll throw some textures on, let me know what you think when I post the new pic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
*A:M User* Roger Posted July 12, 2006 Author *A:M User* Share Posted July 12, 2006 ok...... Here is the same cave w/ some textures thrown on it. Be honest, if you think there is something that would make it better, please say so. Thanks [attachmentid=18150] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
noewjook Posted July 12, 2006 Share Posted July 12, 2006 It looks much better. I should add some thicknes to the entrance wall.No it looks if it was made from paper. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
*A:M User* Roger Posted July 12, 2006 Author *A:M User* Share Posted July 12, 2006 It looks much better. I should add some thicknes to the entrance wall.No it looks if it was made from paper. Yes, that was my impression also. It looks razor sharp right now. I think I will also make the cave more gray than black. Thanks for the critique. Roger Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dude Posted July 12, 2006 Share Posted July 12, 2006 looks good but i think that the cave should extrude in after the big "hump", instead of outward. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
*A:M User* Roger Posted July 12, 2006 Author *A:M User* Share Posted July 12, 2006 looks good but i think that the cave should extrude in after the big "hump", instead of outward. I'm not sure how you mean.......I kinda just "glommed" them together..........I extruded the entrance, then made a separate "domed" bit and then shoved the 2 together.......the internal tunnel I don't believe is part of the larger structure. I will try messing with it some more tonight, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dude Posted July 12, 2006 Share Posted July 12, 2006 see the first cave is how you have it, the second one is how i think the cave should look. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
*A:M User* Roger Posted July 12, 2006 Author *A:M User* Share Posted July 12, 2006 see the first cave is how you have it, the second one is how i think the cave should look. *slaps forehead* got it..........I don't know why I couldn't picture it before. Heck, I'm not sure why I didn't do it that way in the first place......that is essentially what I wanted anyhow. Thanks for jiggling some synapses. I will post a corrected cave tomorrow. Roger Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zandoriastudios Posted July 12, 2006 Share Posted July 12, 2006 texture looks good for a dragon cave. Once you get your lighting set-up, it will be better to judge how it will look. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
*A:M User* Roger Posted July 12, 2006 Author *A:M User* Share Posted July 12, 2006 texture looks good for a dragon cave. Once you get your lighting set-up, it will be better to judge how it will look. Ok, the first cave was bollocks so I re-did it, it looks a lot better now ( I think) but I think I am going to have to do something about textures, other than these darktree shaders, because this one still took like 8 minutes to render. The clay shader seems to render fastest, but I really like the igneous rock shader. hmmm ok I rendered a low res picture ( what is that, 320x200?) and it only took a minute but I think I am probably going to want to render higher than that for the finished film, and this one texture takes a really long time to render, so I may have to do something else when it comes time to render the whole film. Ok....I added a 2nd view also..... Do you guys think it looks better? If you need me to post a bigger picture, let me know. [attachmentid=18201][attachmentid=18203] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
*A:M User* Roger Posted July 12, 2006 Author *A:M User* Share Posted July 12, 2006 I think I am going to add some crags and escarpments and stuff behind the cave, maybe a sheer cliff face or something... Also some trees. Thanks for everyone that has made comments, they helped a lot. Let me know if there is anything else that you think would "punch it up". Roger Hmmmm Maybe something like this: [attachmentid=18204] Anyway, that's sort of what I picture it looking like.....some grass on top of the cave, maybe hobbit-hole looking, but not *too* much grass. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve392 Posted July 12, 2006 Share Posted July 12, 2006 I think its looking a lot better ,the trees ,grass would make it good I reckon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ddustin Posted July 12, 2006 Share Posted July 12, 2006 Roger, It looks like you minds eye is going in a good direction. If you have a good image of a mountian, you can experiment with a technique called camera mapping. It seems tailor made for your shot. Do a search for it. I am no expert but have toyed with it. If you need help with the trees, we have some good images. David Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
*A:M User* Roger Posted July 12, 2006 Author *A:M User* Share Posted July 12, 2006 Roger, It looks like you minds eye is going in a good direction. If you have a good image of a mountian, you can experiment with a technique called camera mapping. It seems tailor made for your shot. Do a search for it. I am no expert but have toyed with it. If you need help with the trees, we have some good images. David By camera mapping do you mean where you take a flat plane, and then map a bitmap to it? That might work in some cases, but I don't think it will look quite right here......these environments I am creating are sort of a cross between claymation and stopmotion look.......not CG photoreal, but there will be some things that are supposed to look that way. I was thinking of having clay characters and some props, but then having photoreal trees, grass, and cloth ( I really like the look of the trees generated by the treez plugin). However, I am concerned that things might not look very "unified" if I go mixing styles like that. What do you think? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ddustin Posted July 12, 2006 Share Posted July 12, 2006 By camera mapping do you mean where you take a flat plane, and then map a bitmap to it? That might work in some cases, but I don't think it will look quite right here......these environments I am creating are sort of a cross between claymation and stopmotion look.......not CG photoreal, but there will be some things that are supposed to look that way. I was thinking of having clay characters and some props, but then having photoreal trees, grass, and cloth ( I really like the look of the trees generated by the treez plugin). However, I am concerned that things might not look very "unified" if I go mixing styles like that. What do you think? Camera Mapping is where you create a rough geometry the position the camera, and apply a decal through it. But if you are looking for a more clay-mation look, this would probably not work for you. I usually try for realism rather than the style you are trying to create, so I am not a good judge. Good luck, David Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
*A:M User* Roger Posted July 12, 2006 Author *A:M User* Share Posted July 12, 2006 By camera mapping do you mean where you take a flat plane, and then map a bitmap to it? That might work in some cases, but I don't think it will look quite right here......these environments I am creating are sort of a cross between claymation and stopmotion look.......not CG photoreal, but there will be some things that are supposed to look that way. I was thinking of having clay characters and some props, but then having photoreal trees, grass, and cloth ( I really like the look of the trees generated by the treez plugin). However, I am concerned that things might not look very "unified" if I go mixing styles like that. What do you think? Camera Mapping is where you create a rough geometry the position the camera, and apply a decal through it. But if you are looking for a more clay-mation look, this would probably not work for you. I usually try for realism rather than the style you are trying to create, so I am not a good judge. Good luck, David Well, as far as look, I am sort of going for a "shrek" look, at least as far as vegetation and environments go, and clay characters, and probably clay and cloth props, where appropriate. I want it to have sort of a hybrid look, where you have that sort of "thrown-together" found object look that you get with stop motion films ( since you are appropriating lots of different things to make props) When I am closer to having a scene done, I will put up a still so what I am trying to describe makes more sense. Roger Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
*A:M User* Roger Posted July 13, 2006 Author *A:M User* Share Posted July 13, 2006 I also posted this in the hair forum, but I think it might get more response here: Ok.... I was trying to follow the tutorial for creating grass that I found on the ARM...... but I don't seem to have gotten anywhere. I selected the area of my cave that I wanted to have grass....then I flipped the normals on that area. I created a particle system hair material, adjusted the parameters according to what was in the tutorial, did a test render....... and nothing but naked cave. What did I do wrong?? Roger Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
*A:M User* Roger Posted July 13, 2006 Author *A:M User* Share Posted July 13, 2006 OK.... after some fiddling around and help from the hair forum, I now have.... Chia cave! Its not *quite* what I wanted, but its close. I can always refine things later on. What do you think??[attachmentid=18260] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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