[CrazyMerlin]

Ok, this is my first competition entry here. I wasn't sure what to go with so I played around with some ideas and came up with an idea for Fear & Loathing as regrets.

I decided to include a syringe to represent escapism, a gun to represent violence and a whiskey glass to represent not caring.

These things to me represent the fear that one could become and the loathing if they did.

I started off mapping point to a picture of a .357 magnum that I found on the net....

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...ics/Image1.jpg

I created a cutting block to get the hole for the trigger guard...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...age1_Persp.jpg

I spent some time getting the barrel right, and I enjoyed this part immensly....lol

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...rrangement.jpg

although the final image isn't going to show the whole gun, I know I will use it in other scenes, so spent some time on it...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...ment_Persp.jpg

At the moment the scene looks like this, but I have yet to add a few touches and to add some atmospherics, although I'm not sure what yet.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...ndLoathing.jpg

Hope you like it so far, and if you have any ideas or questions, please let me know.

Thanks

~~CM!

[sandfish]

Hi CrazyMerlin
I think we should see more of the gun in the frame.
Looking good

[jedimasta]

I disagree with sandfish, but the reflection in the glass is off somehow. It's hard to tell that the reflection is of a gun, because the shapes are really weird looking. You might want to up the resolution on the image you used for the playing card. If I were to wager a guess, I'd say you scanned in the image of a real ace of spades.

Try instead to recreate the texture as a vector image in illustrator or something similar to get the edges sharper and cleaner. I only metion it because I had the same problem in my image where some objects are sitting on one of those giant desk calendars. I scanned in a part of the calendar and filled in the rest, but the whole thing really looked crappy. When I recreated it in illustrator, all in vector, suddenly I have this unlimited-hi-res image that looks GREAT in the scene.

Before and After:
http://www.media-geeks.com/images/ar...led_pillsa.jpg http://www.media-geeks.com/images/articles/pillsa.jpg

(look specifically at the surface everything is sitting on)

[bullet_evader]

I agree with sandfish, The gun should be better in view.

I also agree with jedimasta about the reflection and texture quality.

[priimate]

G'day CrazyMerlin, love your idea!

Only thing I was gonna ask was if you added an air layer inside the geometry of the whiskey glass? If you haven't, it would really help to make the glass stand out against the table!

The .357's pretty cool, you should have it a bit more visible (you could try switching it around with the syringe, so it's lying next to the bullet). Lookin' forward to seeing more!

Cheers! priimate.

[CrazyMerlin]

Hey guys! Thx for your comments.

I had just finished this render before reading them, so I will post this anyway and then go back to the lab and take your comments with me.

I especially need to do something with the glass, it just doesn't look right at all.

I changed the card to a better one at higher resolution, and added some shadow.

Let me know what you think........time for more changes.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...pics/FL_05.jpg

~~CM!

[jedimasta]

beginning to look much better. You might want to try a backlight so as to outline the glass more. The shadows are carrying the edges off, if you know what i mean. the playing card looks OH so much better.

I will say that the syringe no longer really fits the scene though. I think the gun, bullet and booze are plenty to get the point across.

[CrazyMerlin]

Thx jedimaster, I agree! The syringe is looking rather out of place.

I have been playing around with some settings for creating a nice looking glass, and came up with this...........

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...pics/glass.jpg

What I did was to first redesign the glass as a simple lathed shape. I then added a solid base, but gave it the same surface (I think I will make it less transparent too).

I added a transparent texture gradient and a reflection gradient texture........(click images and maximize your browser to see settings)

Transparency texture gradient

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...ssGradient.jpg

Reflection texture gradient

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...onGradient.jpg


I found these setting gave me a nice glass, hope they help someone else out there.

Oh, make sure to have the polygons on the glass set to double-sided, this is necessary for the gradient to work.

Ok, time to get some real looking bourbon in that glass.


~~CM!

[CrazyMerlin]

Hey guys!

I've been playing around for the last couple of days with the glass and with liquid insisde the glass.

I came up with another render in which I am happy with the glass, but not too sure about the bourbon inside it. The top surface of the liquid bothers me.

Could you guys give me some thoughts on the liquid please?

Thx

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...pics/FL_06.jpg

Back to the lab!!!

~~CM!

[jedimasta]

the liquid needs to have more transparency and just a hint of distorted noise in it's reflection. You still need to see through it (from the top).

[CrazyMerlin]

Hi guys!

Thought it was time for an update.

I have spent the last few days playing around with the glass surface and the liquid, and I also decided today to add some ice.

I think the glass is pretty much finished now. I am pretty happy with the results, and feel it is time to move on.

Next I am going to concentrate on 'mooding' the scene, and adding some realism to the gun, as so far it looks like a CG render. lol

Thx to all who gave me advice, especially jedimaster for the distorted noise tip on reflections.


UPDATED IMAGE
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...pics/FL_11.jpg

When I am done with this scene, I will upload the glass and contents so anyone is quite welcome to use it in their scenes.

~~CM!

[CrazyMerlin]

And here is my latest glass render on it's own.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...zy/Bourbon.jpg


~~CM!

[jedimasta]

That's a gorgeous glass. Glad I could be of help.

[CrazyMerlin]

I've uploaded the glass, so anyone can now use it in their scenes.

Thx

~~CM!

[equinox]

wow man i like the light play in the whisky looks great cant wait to see it all together.