[sandfish]

wow ... amazing work !
your progress is nothing but ...stunning.
the crawling snake from under the night stand is great idea.also the rat up on the bed head... gr8!
it seems to me that he just woke up in this freaky situation, and simply freeze , don't know what to do. only his fingers grabbing the sheets....slowly ..... and then jumps in terror!
nice wood textures!
my only crits:
the pillow...where the snake head is, seems..leaking downward.
not solid enough.
the sheets where the lower scorpion is, need more tweaking...now it looks like two sheets appart .
the red glow on his feet is too red than it should be IMO... there must be a falloff to the clock red light. i agree with NoStr0m0 about turning the clock a bit so we could see what time is it ... especially after you gave it so much thought

is this the final composition?

[NoStr0m0]

I must agree with sandfish and also with my own little brain. The work is great and the composition is stunning.
The only reason I said to raise the upper body a bit is to make the scene more dinamic by catching him exactly when he realises what's going on and begins to freak out and jump out of the bed. His muscles begin to contract for the leap, his fingers dig deeper into the sheet so he doesn't loose grip, and then... the jump...

On the other hand, it's just a noob's oppinion so...

Good luck! :attn:

[Warlock 279]

...hey guys thanx for comments!

...nostromo...i've never used motion designer and i didn't feel that with two days to go i should start messing that...its bad enough i decided to teach myself UV mapping on the snake in the midst of this project and then turn around and use precedurals in the end anyway ...what you said about raising the upper body is a valid point...however i was wanted that sick feeling...the one where you're so afraid/nervous you want to react but you get that sick sinking feeling in your stomach and it saps all your strength...in any case...it would be far more work than i have time to do unfortunately...as he's modeled entirely in that pose and sheets modeled over him and all that...if i had actually rigged him like i should have then i would definately give it shot...but i just can't go back now and start moving all that geometry

...sandfish...thanks! i'm glad you like it...to address the issue of the pillow i was going for that fluffy pillow and try to get it to curve around his arm like his arm was being pressed into it...i may look into tweaking that quickly...the cloth by the low scorpions is definately getting changed...its been bugging me as it didn't quite turn out as i wanted and since you commented on it i'm not the only not liking so i'll definately be looking into the geometry there...as far as the red down on his legs go...there is a fall off on the clock...its set to an inverse falloff of 2 and a half feet...it just seems to continue on forever sometimes tho...altho my alarm clock does that in real life too...its really bright at night and seems to fill my whole room if thats the only light...its close to the final compostion...i've tweaked the camera to deal with the negative space a little bit better in some of the areas and also lowered it to build a little more tension by the brining the viewed into the scene a little bit more....

...to both of ya...thanks for commenting...i'm glad you guys are liking it so much....all the textures are strictly procedurals...excpet the guys eyes...those were image maps...the clock has also been fixed...in the other angle you can read it if i have antialiasing on which i did not when i rendered that frame...but its all moot b/c its definately more readable in the new composition...i don't want it to be overly obvious and become a focal point for the whole image...i want it more of something you pick up on as you look further into the image...

..nostormo...you're definately right about it not being overly dynamic...that's what happens when you don't spend time sketching and just go at it off your first sketch...i knew that was a mistake...but i jumped in anyway...and now i'm stuck with what i've got i guess

...thanks again guys...its always helpful to have others look at it with fresh eyes b/c i know i've been staring at it for so long i don't see it the same way everyone else does...

...here's my updated composition and what not...still need to tweak the geometry issues discussed here...i also changed the hair from a modeled object of to SasLite and gave him eye brows...kinda had forgotten that ppl tend to have those ...AA: enhanced low...render time: about an hour mintues...resolution 800x450 [as that's always my choice res]...i'm looking forward to finishing this up late tonite [circa 9 AM server time] and rendering it out at 1600x900 over night! ...let me know if you guys have any more imput as i'll be checking back here a few times before i call it finished yet...

[Warlock 279]

...about wrote a book there ...someone want to publish that...:p

[NoStr0m0]

My hero!

Thanks for the nice words....you make me :blush:

It's a lot better now...

Just one last thing... then I promiss I'll shut up...at least a while...
About what sandfish said about the sheet next to the scorpion on the bed... It looks like it's sinking into the bed...hm...an idea... to be eaten by your bed.. I saw that once in a movie... a guy tricked girls into sleeping with him and in the morning the bed would eat them...nice.
Anyway... the rest looks good enough to win...
Good luck!

P.S.
About the book... I might write one some day with all the huge posts in the forum . Who knows, maybe I'll even buy it..

P.S. II
Glad you went with the 6:66

[Warlock 279]

...nostromo....you know that could make an interesting book...random posts taken form forums across the net and compiled compltetly un-contextually into a book...the sinking into the bed is exactly what happened...i had made the matress indent under him and then when i converted it to a sheet overtop of him i had to walk the line between the sheet follwing the matress and sinking in where there's not tension from it rising up over him...so i'm still tweaking that...rest assured i'll have it looking better when things come to a head here in the next 27 hours...oh my ...and that must be once crazy movie...with a bed that eats women!...

...okay in playing around i decided to try a bank on the camera...seem to a little more tension to the image...let me know what you think...

[NoStr0m0]

Hm... I'm not sure...
Could you move the camera down a bit and point it upwards-ish?
It may hide the sinking in the sheet. Also could you move the clock closer to the edge of the... of that? Just an idea...

And the movie was actually an epissode from a TV series called Bedtime Stories or something... the bed was just a coincidence...
The series had stand-alone episodes, each one was a little horror story.. it was nice...
I also saw an episode about a thing in a basement... and I never got over it I'm still scared of going there.
Anyway...

Just do a quick render and see what you get...
And also try banking the camera the other way...
If not you can leave it leveled so it creates a bit of contrast between the calm of the position and what's in the scene.

Waiting to see what you come up with....

[NoStr0m0]

Just an idea... how about moving the camera near his head, and looking down on him and his 'pets'

P.S. If you could get the clock in the corner of the image, it would be great...only if you can

[Warlock 279]

...nostromo...i've heard of that series i may have caught an episode or two actually...anyway as for the camera...i shall play and we'll see what i can get...its gonna be tought b/c of the way a lot of the things in the scene are aligned...but it never hurts to try...

...update...sheet fixed...tagged...and me thinks thats it this time around...back in a bit...


[can't believe i just left an away msg in a thread ]

[Warlock 279]

nostromo...i checked out what you said about the camera angle...and it was funny as i was moving the camera i'm thinking to myself "this is where i wanted the camera in the frist place...why don't i have it here?...this is the shot form my sketch..." ...and then i hit F9 and 11 minutes i realized why i had changed...see the corner of the wall...that's was bugging my somethign fierce the way the light plays in that corner...and that's why i have changed...hmmm....i do like this more but that wall is such a distracion... :/

[Warlock 279]

...anybody out there have anything to say about any of these shots....let me know...the sooner the better...thanks...

[sandfish]

i was not shure between 1st and 2nd....
hmm...i think the second from the top looks better, even if you loose the lamp and kleenex.
the angle is better ... the rat is closer to camera and hides partially the problem with the sheets.
anyway...
NOW IS THE .... TIME to choose the best

:beer:

[NoStr0m0]

Hi!
Sorry for leaving you like that but here the clock was almost 2 A.M. and I've been up since 6 that day so I was kinda tired...

Now... I like the last three renders.... so I will refer to them as the first, second and third, ok?

The second one gives that feeling of disconfort, like there's something really wrong with this picture. I like it... if you could move the snake a bit twards the ebd of the bed so we see it better, but that's my oppinion.

The third is also nice cause it really captures his face and the situation he's in. If the wall bothers you, make the room longer, wider or whatever... so the corner is further away.

So I would chose from one of these. Nice job anyway... Good luck and hope this reaches you in time.


P.S. When I said to move his camera close to his head, I forgot to give more details. So I ment move the camera where the bed column is, and lok down on him, twards his legs. It's a radical shot but maybe it would work... Also you could try banking the camera to the left for this position so you can see the clock (I know, I know, shut up about the clock already! But hey, I gotta have a hobby...)

[Warlock 279]

...sandfish...that's kinda the one i'm leaning towards...but then after i look at it for awhile and look at one of the others i like that one better...i do really like the framing of the rat in the second shot tho

...nostromo...don't worry about it...you shouldn't feel like you've abandoned me...you've been more than helpful already...i know what its like running on lack of sleep...i've been up till 6 am the last three nights with this silly project...and have had countless other obscenely late nights on this project over the last 2 weeks...anyway...i'm definately leaning towards the 2nd image down from the top...or as you referred to it the first one i think...and for the record...it did reach me in time and i'm much obliged for the comments...also i did go for the extreme shots...they just didn't work...the one loses the expresion and the other loses the clock...so i kinda ruled both of them out...

...they've all got something unique that makes them look good...but none of them really seperate themselves as "the one"...like the first one kinda establshised the scene nicely...the second frames that rat really nicely and places you into the scene...the third loses the framing on the rat but adds the discomfort with the camera bank...and the last one really shows his expression and the other large snake but loses two of the rats when it comes down to it and i really like the one on the headboard ...so it would seem i've got it narrowed down to between the second from the top and bottom one...i guess there's enough time if i stay on top of the ball i could render out both...hmmm...anybody got a coin???

...alright...i'm callin' it a night...i'm gonna let them render and we'll see what the morning brings [here anyway]...thanks again for your comments guys i very much appreciate the help you thrown my way over the course of the competition...

[Warlock 279]

...oh yes...and nostromo...i can't lose the clock in any case!