MSFlynn Posted September 10, 2009 Share Posted September 10, 2009 It's been awhile - I couldn't even tell you how long; maybe as much as two years. Lack of funds, lack of processing power, lack of that extra computer or two, lack of time, etc. I had to make a choice between AM and guitar and I chose guitar. Things have not gone quite as planned, but how often in life do they? There hasn't been a day that I haven't missed playing in the realms of 3D modeling and rendering and I finally decided that it's become enough of a distraction that I need to scratch the itch. Guitar is still my overwhelming priority but I'm going to start spending a little time each day working with AM again. I can't say how much time that will be but it'll almost certainly be an hour or less so I won't be turning out any copious amount of work, but then I never did back in the day either, being more content to just experiment. This image is pretty simple. Background created in Photoshop with Flaming Pear's Glitterato, the stars with Diard's Universe software, the planet map in PS with Flaming Pear's Lunar Cell then mapped and rendered in AM, the ship detail created and rendered with DarkTree edited in PS then mapped as displacement in AM, the flares in PS with Knoll Light factory. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
*A:M User* Shelton Posted September 10, 2009 *A:M User* Share Posted September 10, 2009 I like it! Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hash Fellow robcat2075 Posted September 10, 2009 Hash Fellow Share Posted September 10, 2009 Pretty spiffy! I'm surprised the displacement worked so well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheSpleen Posted September 10, 2009 Share Posted September 10, 2009 Very well done! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gerry Posted September 10, 2009 Share Posted September 10, 2009 Nice image! I feel your pain though, I've recently felt like I need to spend more time with my guitar and just last week took it for the first repair/maintenance in (mumbly-mumble) years, having the bridge fixed and neck straightened. I'll make you a deal: I'll spend more time on my guitar if you spend more time here on the forum! Deal? Deal! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Bigboote Posted September 10, 2009 Share Posted September 10, 2009 I can see how the two can compete for attention... I just picked my acoustic back up after weeks of neglect and --- I GOT BLISTAS ON ME FINGAS! I like your image...my little brain wants to see some night lights from citys in the night-side of earth though. You know what program has the BEST lens-flare package I have ever used? A:M! Yup- the deepest and most comprehensive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admin Rodney Posted September 10, 2009 Admin Share Posted September 10, 2009 Looks really nice Mike! Its great to see you again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mtpeak2 Posted September 11, 2009 Share Posted September 11, 2009 Hey Mike, glad to see you're still around. I like the image for the most part, but the rays on the darkside of the earth/planet look a bit odd, should they be there?. Also, the underside of the ship, it looks as though the lighting is coming from a different light source, from the front. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MSFlynn Posted September 12, 2009 Author Share Posted September 12, 2009 Updated image: Just some blocking in of the rest of the ship before I start detailing it. I'm surprised the displacement worked so well. Why? Martin did a great job a few years ago when he implemented the new displacement; it completely changed the way I model things like space craft. I'll make you a deal: I'll spend more time on my guitar if you spend more time here on the forum! Deal? Deal! I can't make any promises... my little brain wants to see some night lights from citys in the night-side of earth though. You know what program has the BEST lens-flare package I have ever used? A:M! Yup- the deepest and most comprehensive. I'm pretty well versed in using AM's lens flares. Knoll Light Factory was just a simpler. faster implementation for this image. I'll be using AM's flare options for the engine glow. As for lights in the shadow of the planet. you're assuming that it's an inhabited, industrialized world. But that's just an excuse. I actually am planning on adding city lights later, after I finish the ship. but the rays on the darkside of the earth/planet look a bit odd, should they be there?. Also, the underside of the ship, it looks as though the lighting is coming from a different light source, from the front. The rays seem to fade in the shadow for some reason making it look like there are rays in front of and behind the planet; I'll probably end up shortening them. The lighting is from the default set up of Rim, Key and Fill with their positions, colors and intensities adjusted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MSFlynn Posted September 16, 2009 Author Share Posted September 16, 2009 Changed the lighting some, added light lists, set the base color of the spacecraft and created the engine glow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
*A:M User* Shelton Posted September 16, 2009 *A:M User* Share Posted September 16, 2009 Very nice!! Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hash Fellow robcat2075 Posted September 17, 2009 Hash Fellow Share Posted September 17, 2009 Yellow submarine! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kwhitaker Posted September 17, 2009 Share Posted September 17, 2009 nice warm colors, MSFlynn. it like it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Bigboote Posted September 17, 2009 Share Posted September 17, 2009 I get a nice feeling of 'the depth of space' from that image...which is actually pretty hard to emulate. Good job! I might think the yellow is a bit 'school-bus-ish'...but its up to you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MSFlynn Posted September 18, 2009 Author Share Posted September 18, 2009 Added more detail that still needs some refining. Added some more color, a lot more color to come. Added a dark gray light to illuminate the underside of the spacecraft which won't be adjusted until the detailing and coloring are done. I might think the yellow is a bit 'school-bus-ish' I was heavily influenced early on in my artistic endeavors back in '79 by Chris Foss. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MSFlynn Posted September 22, 2009 Author Share Posted September 22, 2009 I've been working with the lighting and I cannot for the life of me get the ship to cast shadows on itself. The lights are just the default lights for a new choreography with the colors and intensities changed. The Rim is set to cast shadows, the Fill and Key are not. The ship is set to cast and receive shadows. But you can see that there are no shadows at all being cast by the ship onto itself. For instance, the tower should be casting a shadow on the upper dorsal, and the thrusters on the lower fin aren't casting any shadows either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hash Fellow robcat2075 Posted September 22, 2009 Hash Fellow Share Posted September 22, 2009 I've been working with the lighting and I cannot for the life of me get the ship to cast shadows on itself. You do have shadows ON in your render options, right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zaryin Posted September 22, 2009 Share Posted September 22, 2009 This is looking beautiful so far. It might have something to do with your AO settings. If it's too high it will affect the shadows being cast by other lights. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MSFlynn Posted September 23, 2009 Author Share Posted September 23, 2009 You do have shadows ON in your render options, right? Yes. It might have something to do with your AO settings. If it's too high it will affect the shadows being cast by other lights. It's not that - I have no global ambiance set. I've narrowed the problem down to the Rim light - it's set to cast shadows but it's not casting any at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tbenefi33 Posted September 23, 2009 Share Posted September 23, 2009 That is looking awesome . hope we get to see it fly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hash Fellow robcat2075 Posted September 23, 2009 Hash Fellow Share Posted September 23, 2009 I've narrowed the problem down to the Rim light - it's set to cast shadows but it's not casting any at all. Try deleting all your lights and put one new one in to start. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pixelplucker Posted September 23, 2009 Share Posted September 23, 2009 I have the same problem with the rim light that is in the default chor where shadows are on but don't render. Image looks great! Try adding other colors to the nebula? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MSFlynn Posted September 24, 2009 Author Share Posted September 24, 2009 Try deleting all your lights and put one new one in to start. I've messed around quite a bit and have come to the conclusion that for whatever reason, the shadows are not rendering (or at least not showing up if they are rendering) because the light is pointing right at the camera. I'll post some pics tomorrow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MSFlynn Posted September 26, 2009 Author Share Posted September 26, 2009 I haven't had much time the last couple of days to do much but I think I've solved the shadow casting issue. Here is a render of just the ship with the shadows: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MSFlynn Posted September 29, 2009 Author Share Posted September 29, 2009 If you look at the earlier renders in the engines, you can see some angular shadows which I found to be rather strange. During my experimenting with the lighting I cranked up the global ambiance and it turned out that parts of the engines were rendering peaked instead of curved; apparently the choreography was somehow corrupted. So I rebuilt it using the project I had been using to test the lighting. Now I have the shadows I was looking for and am back on track with the image. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MSFlynn Posted October 5, 2009 Author Share Posted October 5, 2009 It may not look like much has changed but a lot of time has been spent on the color and diffusion maps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hash Fellow robcat2075 Posted October 5, 2009 Hash Fellow Share Posted October 5, 2009 That's turning out well. Is there a story in the works? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MSFlynn Posted October 5, 2009 Author Share Posted October 5, 2009 That's turning out well. Is there a story in the works? Thanks! And no, there is no story. I saw some game advertisement on the web and liked the way they had their space scenes - where space wasn't black and on a whim opened Photoshop and messed around for about 20 minutes and decided that I needed to just go ahead and create a complete scene. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MSFlynn Posted October 13, 2009 Author Share Posted October 13, 2009 More detail work and some more lighting adjustments. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve392 Posted October 13, 2009 Share Posted October 13, 2009 Graet looking image ,I like the glow coming from the engines.Real nice colouring Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MSFlynn Posted October 20, 2009 Author Share Posted October 20, 2009 I'm happy enough with the ship coloring/detail and the lighting. The only other changes will be adding lights to the ship and city lights to the shadowed area of the planet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hash Fellow robcat2075 Posted October 20, 2009 Hash Fellow Share Posted October 20, 2009 I'm happy enough with the ship coloring/detail and the lighting. The only other changes will be adding lights to the ship and city lights to the shadowed area of the planet. That's a far out ship! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MSFlynn Posted October 20, 2009 Author Share Posted October 20, 2009 Here's a first stab at adding city lights to the planet: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MSFlynn Posted October 26, 2009 Author Share Posted October 26, 2009 City lights on the planet are complete. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hash Fellow robcat2075 Posted October 26, 2009 Hash Fellow Share Posted October 26, 2009 Do you think maybe the terminator on the planet should be sharper? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MSFlynn Posted October 26, 2009 Author Share Posted October 26, 2009 Do you think maybe the terminator on the planet should be sharper? I just used the shadows as rendered in AM. In the final image below, I took those same shadows and dropped them onto a couple of more layers to create a more defined terminator as per your suggestion. Final Image: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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