[Odyssey]

This one differs from my 1st render (To be found here:  http://ambience.i8.com/orion_fix2.jpg ) in that is is mostly done in Lightwave (I'm using a very slightly old and therefore free version of 3D Exploration for converting), instead of a snapped Truespace setup which got put in Photoshop. In fact, this render only features Photoshop in the anti-fighter beam.

So - how do my engine glows, beam glows, and beams fare up? I'm looking to make a Lightwave version of beams (I've only had limited success as of yet), but do you think I need to?

If anything else is out of place, please remember it is primarily a test render  

 http://ambience.i8.com/mentu.jpg
Enjoy.

[an0n]

The planets clouds a re too bumpy and the Mentu's engines are too yellow. Make the engines blue-ish.

And Don't have the planet receiving it's shadows from the Sun! It's at the wrong angle.

[Scorpius]

Those are awesome dude!   Everything looks very good except I Personally would make the sun a bit smaller. And the beam is great color but It doesnt look like its producing a lot of light. (Im nitpicking and this is all I can come up with)   Excellent work!  

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[Thorn]

I assume you're using Lunarcell to do the planet?
Well, you can download images of real clouds from weather satellites, much more realistic looking...
The engines also seem to be casting light on the top of the Menu, which it shouldnt...
Other than that, it looks great...

[Odyssey]

 

Originally posted by an0n:
The planets clouds a re too bumpy and the Mentu's engines are too yellow. Make the engines blue-ish.

And Don't have the planet receiving it's shadows from the Sun! It's at the wrong angle.

I know the clouds are bumpy - I pulled the background from a previous render without FS ships in...
Please keep in mind that the Mentu is Vasudan, not Terran. If I was doing, for instance, an Orion, the glows would be blue, but not on a Mentu  
Umm... Wait a minute, where else is the planet going to get shadows from? The angle is rough, I know, but as I said, the background isn't supposed to be perfect.

 

Originally posted by Scorpius:
Those are awesome dude!   Everything looks very good except I Personally would make the sun a bit smaller. And the beam is great color but It doesnt look like its producing a lot of light. (Im nitpicking and this is all I can come up with)   Excellent work!  

I'll work on that beam, thanks for the pointer  

 

Originally posted by Thorn:
I assume you're using Lunarcell to do the planet?
Well, you can download images of real clouds from weather satellites, much more realistic looking...
The engines also seem to be casting light on the top of the Menu, which it shouldnt...
Other than that, it looks great...

Again tied in with sub-standard background... Maybe if the render is good enough I'll do the background from scratch, and take some time over it  

Ya, I noticed that too, it's either the glows that are giving an area effect, or I've got them somewhere they shouldn't be. Of course, I could argue that the Mentu has curves in which allow the passage of light  

Glad you like it...

[Gortef]

hey nice on again  

and your trademark is in it too, the big sun that get bigger when you stare at it  

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[LtNarol]

absolutely amazing, keep it up

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[RoachKoach]

is it possible to get amazing shadows like that on the ships with using just photoshop and 3dx?

[Odyssey]

 

Originally posted by Gortef:
hey nice on again    

and your trademark is in it too, the big sun that get bigger when you stare at it    

Thanks...
  Maybe I should work on those suns before mass hypnosis occurs  

 

Originally posted by LtNarol:
absolutely amazing, keep it up

Again, thanks...

 

Originally posted by RoachKoach:
is it possible to get amazing shadows like that on the ships with using just photoshop and 3dx?

If you tried hard enough, I'm sure anything is possible. But with 3DX, I don't think it is a scene editor, so individual lights instead of an ambient glow are probably impossible - correct me if I'm wrong, somebody.
However, there is hope   You can do exactly what I did on the Orion render (yes, there are shadows, you have to look closely though...), and use a version of Truespace (I used TS3 SE, off a cover disc, but TS1 (free) will do fine). In Truespace you can play around with lights, and everything is straight from the .cob format. Play around with the view until you get something you like the look of. Then you have to play with an individual light, after deleting all other lights - make sure to set the light to cast shadows.
Unfortunately, in Truespace, the quality of the shadows isn't brilliant, but it should be enough... When you've got everything looking good in Truespace, set the background to something really wild, like pink, and choose 'render to file'. You can then open up the rendered file in Photoshop, use the wand to select the pink (or whatever), and delete it. Voila, one vaguely shadowed ship  

Hope I helped... If you need any more help, feel free to e-mail me at [email protected]

EDIT: E-mail and missed bracket fixed  

[This message has been edited by Odyssey (edited 02-02-2002).]

[untouchable]

Next step, Anamation!!!!  

[Odyssey]

 

Originally posted by untouchable:
Next step, Anamation!!!!  

Well, I would try, but first someone needs to help me out in getting a good-looking beam in Lightwave (as I said, only limited success so far   ), or as alternative, 3DS Max...
It'll all come in due course (fingers crossed)

[Thorn]

 

Originally posted by Odyssey:
good-looking beam in Lightwave

I can help there...
Contact me on ICQ or MSNMS and I'll give you some help...

[Sandwich]

DragonClaw has done some good looking animated beams in LightWave, too - he's on ICQ.  

As for that PhotoShopped beam, I always do them like that, but you're missing something - the white portion of the beam should be solid all the way to the emission point. But since it doesn't look good without any blurring at all, I usually do a beam in three layers: outer color (blurred), inner white (blurred), and thin inner white (no blur). Use guides to make sure that the three beam layers all originate from the same point.

Hope that helps!  

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[Odyssey]

 

Originally posted by sandwich:
DragonClaw has done some good looking animated beams in LightWave, too - he's on ICQ.  

As for that PhotoShopped beam, I always do them like that, but you're missing something - the white portion of the beam should be solid all the way to the emission point. But since it doesn't look good without any blurring at all, I usually do a beam in three layers: outer color (blurred), inner white (blurred), and thin inner white (no blur). Use guides to make sure that the three beam layers all originate from the same point.

Hope that helps!  

I know... I accidentally blurred it way too much near the top end. But at that time it was 11:30 pm, and I'm 13, so I really couldn't find the will to do much more  
I'll fix it, expect an update soon...

[Galemp]

 

Originally posted by Odyssey:

But at that time it was 11:30 pm, and I'm 13, so I really couldn't find the will to do much more  

Does everyone know that AWACS #1 is only 15??? I am incredibly impressed!! What vision! What talent! And yet how young!

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[Odyssey]

Lightwave beams = success!  

 http://ambience.i8.com/mentu_beam2.jpg

Hope you like...

[Gortef]

sure I like  

[Stunaep]

All right!!! This rocks!!! Man, I love seeing good renders. Actually the beam glow is excellent now, but the beam itself is now a bit too bright. It's an AAA, right, so we should see a bit more the blue part. Otherwise this rocks. BTW, ain't easy to pull off something like that sun in 3ds Max. I LIKE IT.

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[Odyssey]

 

Originally posted by Stunaep:
All right!!! This rocks!!! Man, I love seeing good renders. Actually the beam glow is excellent now, but the beam itself is now a bit too bright. It's an AAA, right, so we should see a bit more the blue part. Otherwise this rocks. BTW, ain't easy to pull off something like that sun in 3ds Max. I LIKE IT.

The beam is a little bright, I know, but it was a model for a larger beam, and it didn't downsize too well... Oh well, next time I'll fix it