July/Aug - Noob - pianoman
 

I decided to start a new thread because I forgot to put July in the subject of the last one. So I'll state my idea again, and post that one image I had.

Here is what I originally posted:
The guidelines made it sound like it should be kind of a scary scene. My worst fear is deep, dark water. I hate looking down on dark water and seeing those dark shapes, not knowing what is down there. It freaks me out. So I decided to attempt to make a scene sort of like that. Maybe have a glassy lake in the moonlight, with an old dock in there. I also would like to have a thin layer of fog over the lake, but not too much, because I want to be able to see the water. I haven't started on this at all, so I don't have any pictures or anything. Feel free to give suggestions, thoughts, ideas, anything.

The second idea I had was this:
I would have a close up of a leaf sitting on water, a ripple coming out around it, and the leaf is on fire. I don't know how I came up with it, just thought it might look cool. The only thing is, I don't know if that would get me good lighting points.
Here is an image of the ripple for that one, although I'm leaning towards doing the first idea.

I've decided to do my first idea for this challenge, so I made a rough model - very rough - of the dock. I know texture doesn't matter for this challenge, but I'd like to texture it anyway. Please give me ideas for the shape of the dock and such, I'm not sure what it should look like yet. The dock is not going to be front and center in the scene, maybe just a silhouette off to the left side. Here is a picture of the rough model.

if you go with the first idea, I wouldn't make the dock look so solid. I'd use thinner poles. Maybe a very unstable construction in wood, with a few broken planks, and the water underneath...that would look scary. If it's just a silhouette though, it may not be that important.

Thanks, I'll work on that. What would be the best way of making broken planks? Just making the end jagged by moving points? Also, what would I do about texture?

Broken planks? Maybe u could knife it up a bit and simply just move the points around... You could also entirely break off some pieces and just re-insert them away from where they were before at an angle where it might look more "jaggedy". :alien:

But then again, depending on how far its gonna be, and since you also said only a silhouette, I don't think either that too much detail or even much texturing is required on this part...:rolleyes:

I really like the ripple idea, the render is very nice I have been working with ripples in some of my work as well, their could be alot of very interesting light situation with that idea.

Ryan

Yea, I like the ripple. But do you think I could do a lot of good lighting with a scene like that?

Defiantly, just think about how light reflects off of the surface and refracts thought the surface. Move your camera below the surface will make so very interesting distortion.

I worked on the dock a bit, made it a little broken up. Let me know what you think.

DUDE!!!!:attn: hey! It looks a lot better, I still think that you could break it up a little bit more, especially the planks themselves, but I really like the end of the dock. GREAT JOB!:headbang: :alien:

Here we go, I broke up a bunch of the planks. Should I cause more damage? Less damage? Let me know

The next thing I'm going to tackle is making trees to go around the lake. I have a tree generator, but it doesn't generate the leaves. Anyone know how to make some good leaves? They'll probably be silhouettes also, so texture doesn't really matter.

good progress.

I'd recomend varying the ends of the planks some. Right now, they're perfectly in row.

lookin' good !
Now that's a scary dock....:p

thanks, I tried to make the ends of the planks more varied so they're not in a row.

now that's what i'm talkin' about!!! ;) Those planks look a bjillion times better! Love the dock man! :)

Thanks Zeeman, I'll leave it like that for now, and tweak it later if I need to. The next thing I want to do is trees. I might not need leaves on them, if they are dead trees it would be a little scarier, don't you think? I don't know how many there should be, either. Here is a description of the scene I have in my head: The silhouette of the dock coming from the left in the distance, on a glassy lake. Around the lake some trees (leaves or no leaves?). I want a thin layer of fog over the lake, and fireflies above that. And to top it all off, the moon in the sky above.
My main focus right now is the trees, let me know what you think I should do.

I did a little texturing on the dock, here's the picture. I still need some advice on trees, if anyone has any.

good progress. maybe could do with abit more texture.

about the trees iv not really done many but i think the best way is to use a transparency map to display the leaves etc.
if its a distant tree then id just do two polygons in a cross with the transparency displaying the leaves.

Looking awesome, keep e'm comming !!

Good progres, the dock has alot of character now,

As for the leaves use a flat rectangle divided a few times and give it some shape. then make a clip mask in the shape of a leaf, aply it to the surfce and us should pretty much have it be sides the texture.

Ryan

or if you want to preserve the poly count use a regular flat rectangle and apply the picture of the leaf and use an alpha map for the transparent parts.

I actually came up with an idea for the trees. I think I'm going to have only one tree, actually, and it will be growing out of the water, and the branches will look like creepy hands reaching out in all directions. I don't think I'll need leaves, it would look better without them I think. I could have some vines growing on the tree though, that would look cool. Let me know what you think.

here is my start on the tree. It's not much, but comment on it if you'd like. I want the fingers to be more pointy at the knuckles, but I need to use subpatches too. How do I do that? Just alter the weight map with airbrush?

You really need to thicken up the branch where it exits the tree. It looks like it would just snap with the weight of that "hand". Think about how your arm looks it starts big and gets smaller as you get closer to your hand/wrist.

I did some more work on the tree, here's the picture. I'm going to have fines growing on it, and maybe some smaller hands sprouting in various places. Let me know what you think

I really like what you have done it looks AWESOME:attn:! The tree idea is very cool. Can't wait to see more. Keep up the awesome work.

wow thats a creepy looking tree.i think if i came across a tree like that in the dark woods i think i would crap myself lol.keep up the good stuff man

Here is a basic - very basic - layout of my scene. I just wanted to get a feel for how it would look. I'm going to add more "arms" to the tree, put some vines growing on it, make fog over the lake, have a night sky with moon and stars, and put grass on the land around the lake.

Looking sehr gut pianoman. I like the layout and look forward to the finished product. Keep up the schwepps work. Peace!:eek:

Looks like the scene is coming togather, I think you really need to work on the compition thou. move the camera so that or main objects take up more of the frame.

Ryan
:beer:

Howdy pianoman! Your scene is progressing well! I agree with Ritual, at the moment both the tree and the pier are equal focal points - a different camera angle would add a more dynamic feel to the composition. Looking forward to seeing more!

Cheers! priimate.

Yes, I know my composition and camera work are terrible at the moment. It's not anything like what I want it to look like.I just wanted to get a feel for the general position of everything in the scene. If anyone has any ideas for different camera angles, please give suggestions. Anyway, here's some new shots of my tree. I added a bunch more arms and it's looking pretty creepy.

Looking good pianoman! :attn: I think working on the texture will make it look a lot better too. Great job! Can't wait to see the whole thing together.:eek:

:) i love it. the hand choking the other hand is really kool :)

Sorry I haven't posted in a while, I've been away. Well, I did get some work done. Here's a picture of the scene. I know, the moon is huge, but it looks kind of cool. Any suggestions on the fog or any textures would be great. Thanks!

DUDE YOU ROCK!:attn: I think your scene is coming along really well! :nod: I don't know what to tell you about the textures:shakehead, because I am not very good myself:rant:. I think that with some background, texture adjustment, and maybe a little thicker fog, your scene will look great!:eeek2: :eek3: :ninja: (that's a ninja)

i like how this is coming keep up the good work maybe try a different camera angle where you can see the water more and catch a nice reflection of the moon.

Thanks for your comments, equinox. I tried a new camera angle, and it looks great. I have a hand stretched out in front of the moon, and I added some fireflies. I still need to change the texture of the tree, and add a background. Also, the ripple probably needs some work.
I also had an idea of having a skeleton fishing off of the dock. Are we allowed to use material from the Lightwave content discs? Because I don't think I can make my own skeleton in time...

Please give suggestions and comments. Thanks!

I really like what you have done. I like the new camera angle and the revamped lighting. The fireflies look good but I might play around with the intensity of the lights. I really like the ripple, but I might try moving it or the moon a little so you can see a more of the moon's reflection. I like the skeleton idea, but don't have any idea about the use of lightwave objects. I might try to make the fog a little thicker as it got farther away. I don't know what to do with the background. I would just start trying stuff, maybe adding some dead trees and some ground. You could vary the height of the trees from left to right like a "V" so you wouldn't obstruct the moon. Sorry for the length, just thought I would throw out some ideas, try to help. Your scene is looking great pianoman! Keep it up man.

I made a slight adjustment to my scene - I made the fog thicker in the back, just to try and bring the focus more to the foreground. Any comments on lighting, textures, or anything would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!