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Stonewalls
About Truespace Archives
These pages are a copy of the official truespace forums prior to their removal somewhere around 2011.
They are retained here for archive purposes only.
Stonewalls // Work in Progress
Post by W!ZARD // Feb 1, 2006, 11:23pm
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W!ZARD
Total Posts: 2603
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Hi folks
This is part of an ongoing WIP that I showed some images from over on the old forum under the topis title of 'Sunset'.
The image in my mind required a castle so I did some serious Googling and found some great castle reference images. I finally settled on Craigievar Castle in Scotland as the inspiration for this model - which is still a Work In Progress. (Note: Craigievar Castle does not look like this!)
I'm posting this for two reasons - 1) I'm rather pleased with the texture work on this so far and 2) I'm looking for all and any creative critiques and suggestions that I can get.
By the time I can afford to buy tS7 it will be a free demo on a magazine cover disc! :( . My only resort is to win a copy in the Caligari Monthly contest (which is how I got my beloved copy of tS 6.6 :D ). To do that I need to do something really outstanding as I'm competing with artist who already own tS7 and it's advanced rendering abilities so I need all the help I can get!!
So c'mon folks - what do you think?
ATB
Stephen
W!ZARD |
Post by Alien // Feb 2, 2006, 1:25am
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Alien
Total Posts: 1231
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I'm not sure what it is, but something about it makes me think it's too small - perhaps something to do with proportions? I dunno, just thinking outloud here.
Also, the corners/edges look a bit too sharp for that type of building - maybe a little rounding off, or roughing up? |
Post by MadMouse // Feb 2, 2006, 2:51am
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MadMouse
Total Posts: 1069
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Hi Stephen, long time no see.
Your castle is looking great to me but I'm inclined to agree with our extra-terrestrial friend, that it could do with 'roughing up' a bit. I suppose it depends on how far it will be viewed from.
ATB Steve. |
Post by hultek43 // Feb 2, 2006, 6:57am
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hultek43
Total Posts: 234
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It looks like a castle, a castle it is. What I think it needs is something to show scale. ;) |
Post by daybe // Feb 2, 2006, 7:24am
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daybe
Total Posts: 562
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I was thinking about modeling a sword and thought perhaps something like that in the foreground, sticking into the ground, a claymore sword to be exact. Just a thought.
like this one. |
Post by daybe // Feb 2, 2006, 7:26am
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daybe
Total Posts: 562
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Btw, I have seen some really nice renders produced using Fast GI, on the old forums, perhaps you can look into using that to render in TS6.6. |
Post by 1image // Feb 2, 2006, 11:28am
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1image
Total Posts: 38
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Hey stephen nice work as usual, i think everyone else is right you need something to show scale, mabie an old cart or some nights doing battle. |
Post by chrisj // Feb 2, 2006, 2:22pm
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chrisj
Total Posts: 239
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Nice castle Stephen, a classic Scottish medieval keep with a more recent baronial style upgrade.
Textures are good, but as mentioned, there's no structure to the edges. Good modelling.
By the way Daybe, the sword you showed is not a claymore, though I'm open to begin corrected. A claymore has angled quadrefoils, not straight.
Here's one I prepared earlier
chris |
Post by daybe // Feb 2, 2006, 2:27pm
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daybe
Total Posts: 562
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Nice swords, not sure about the claymore as I am no expert, I was at a website yesterday and they had that listed as a claymore. I have others like the example you posted so perhaps you are correct. |
Post by W!ZARD // Feb 2, 2006, 4:02pm
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W!ZARD
Total Posts: 2603
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Cool! Thanks for the feedback folks!:D
Alien: Good point about the corners – the final image will have this castle set well back in the scene though so I think it won’t eventually matter. The model’s still in the blocking out stage – I’ve yet to join it all up and when I get there I will look into rounding some of the corners. My final scene already has a horrendous poly-count so I’m trying to keep it down as much as possible.
Re the scale: I’ll post one of the reference pictures I’m using. Thanks for the extra-terrestrial perspective.
Madmouse! Great to hear from you Steve! I was wondering if your warehouse mech had fallen over pinning you underneath! Good to see you again.
Daybe: Very cool idea with the claymore Dave – it’s not going to work for the image I have in mind but I’m strongly tempted to act on this idea! Sadly the Fast GI suggestion probably won’t fly due the big poly-counts – the render times are already getting pretty huge using just a simple light setup. Keep watching this thread and you’ll hopefully see what I mean.
1image: Gudday Col – the scale issue should disappear when I put this model into the final scene – hopefully this weekend if time permits.
ChrisJ: I’ve just been looking around your website – Very good indeed (I loved the black strat – I used to play one just like that). Knowing your amazing eye for detail I’m sure you are right about the claymores – have I seen this picture before? Nice work!
Here’s one of the reference pictures I’ve been using (note nicely rounded corners!). Craigievar Castle in Aberdeenshire, built in 1626, an L shaped 7 storey Baronial towerhouse – they don’t make ‘em like this anymore! (Obviously I’m not going for a true copy – I picked this castle because I like its proportions).
Thanks for the helpful comments – it’s all very much appreciated.
Stephen
W!ZARD |
Post by W!ZARD // Feb 2, 2006, 4:12pm
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W!ZARD
Total Posts: 2603
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Ah Rats! My pic was 40 pixels too tall! Clearly 800x600 is NOT the same as 600x800!
Here it is (hopefully). |
Post by TomG // Feb 2, 2006, 4:38pm
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TomG
Total Posts: 3397
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Cool, Aberdeenshire - where I was born and raised :)
And err yeah, that was my house - no in fact that was the garden shed, you should see the house. Uh huh.
Anyway, I think the image is great, and I look forward to seeing more!
Thanks!
Tom |
Post by Alien // Feb 2, 2006, 4:52pm
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Alien
Total Posts: 1231
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W!ZARD: I take back what I said about size/proportions now that I've seen the 1 you used for inspiration, I guess I'm just not used to seeing castles that are taller than they are wide. :) |
Post by W!ZARD // Feb 2, 2006, 5:14pm
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W!ZARD
Total Posts: 2603
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W!ZARD: I take back what I said about size/proportions now that I've seen the 1 you used for inspiration, I guess I'm just not used to seeing castles that are taller than they are wide. :)
You aren't? What part of the UK are you from? I was born near Rochester Kent which has a Norman castle which is taller than it is wide - and much bigger than Toms garden shed pictured here ;) .
Of course it fascinates me because I live in New Zealand (AKA The shakey Isles) and these old castles just look like huge earthquake risks too me! |
Post by Alien // Feb 2, 2006, 5:28pm
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Alien
Total Posts: 1231
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You aren't? What part of the UK are you from? I was born near Rochester Kent which has a Norman castle which is taller than it is wide - and much bigger than Toms garden shed pictured here ;) .
I'm in Hertfordshire, & I don't travel about much if I can avoid it. I was referring more to stuff seen on TV, etc.
Of course it fascinates me because I live in New Zealand (AKA The shakey Isles)
AKA FilmSets'R'Us. :) |
Post by W!ZARD // Feb 4, 2006, 12:41am
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W!ZARD
Total Posts: 2603
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OK Here is the next step in the gestation (can I use that word here?) of this image. I've yet to build a boat and populate it with some people to (hopefully) add a bit more life.
Note that I am using a very basic light set up here (just 2 infinites).
Hopefully the scale question has now been answered;) and Ive rounded a lot of the corners on the castle (even though you probably can't yell at this resolution. The background cloudscape is (probably) temporary and the banding is caused by fairly high JPEG compression so that won't be an issue in the end. The eventual aim is to render the same scene using different lighting and backgrounds to represent different times of day.
This is tS 6.6. Everything is modelled and textured by me except the waterfall which was kindly donated by Forester (many thanks for that!)
I'm after feedback on the composition and texturing and ... well anything that I can't see but you can!!
Thanks in advance
Stephen
W!ZARD |
Post by 1image // Feb 4, 2006, 12:48am
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1image
Total Posts: 38
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Well i like it, and i like the way you see things
Top Job:banana: |
Post by trueBlue // Feb 4, 2006, 12:58am
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trueBlue
Total Posts: 1761
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Outstanding... look forward in seeing this one progress! The little island almost looks like a character. Are you planing on animating this scene? |
Post by W!ZARD // Feb 4, 2006, 1:13am
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W!ZARD
Total Posts: 2603
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Thanks Col - you support is appreciated;) . What are you doing up at this time of night? I know you are one of the few on this list in a similar time zone to me - oh yeah! It's the weekend - D'oh!
trueBlue: Hi and thanks for the kind words. Animating? Check out my signature - I'm too embarrassed to say what my machines specs are:o but suffice it to say that animation is a no-go given the number of polygons in the scene and the speed of my aging CPU:( .
I usually hide most of the components of the scene for test renders while I tweak things and then unhide them, set up up a render, hit render to file, switch off the monitor and go to bed! My render times will get much longer when I start adding multiple lights and alpha-mapped skydomes etc!
It's a case of 'slow and steady wins the race':D |
Post by 1image // Feb 4, 2006, 1:30am
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1image
Total Posts: 38
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It's the best time for doing these sought of things, no kids, no heat, ahhhhh peace and quite my favourite thing. |
Post by W!ZARD // Feb 4, 2006, 1:35am
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W!ZARD
Total Posts: 2603
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It's the best time for doing these sought of things, no kids, no heat, ahhhhh peace and quite my favourite thing.
You SO got that right! I normally head for bed around 4:30 AM because there's no ringing phones, noisy visitors or neighbours - just lovely peace and serenity, the soft glow of the monitors, the peaceful hum of the cooling fans, the sound of the Foo Fighters on the headphones.....:D |
Post by rj0 // Feb 4, 2006, 8:33pm
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rj0
Total Posts: 167
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Very nice!
rj |
Post by GraySho // Feb 5, 2006, 10:10am
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GraySho
Total Posts: 695
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Nice fantasy style Wiz. I like that idea a lot. But that rock would defenatly look better with a beach :cool:
The textures are nice, but somehow I miss the crisp. Can't tell you what it is exactly. The bent trees fit very well. |
Post by W!ZARD // Feb 5, 2006, 10:25pm
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W!ZARD
Total Posts: 2603
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Nice fantasy style Wiz. I like that idea a lot. But that rock would defenatly look better with a beach :cool:
The textures are nice, but somehow I miss the crisp. Can't tell you what it is exactly. The bent trees fit very well.
Thanks for the comment - a beach? That's a great idea - I'm a BIG fan of the beach! It's a good suggestion but I'll probably pass on it at this stage. I'm curious as to what you mean about 'the crisp'? Are you refering to the shape of the rocks themselves or the textures? |
Post by Vizu // Feb 5, 2006, 11:06pm
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Vizu
Total Posts: 628
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The Background is to dark, looks like Rain with thunder etc. will comes.
Change it to a sunny Cloud Texturemap and i belive it is perfect.
Maybe a Beach part on the right side looks good |
Post by W!ZARD // Feb 5, 2006, 11:37pm
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W!ZARD
Total Posts: 2603
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The Background is to dark, looks like Rain with thunder etc. will comes.
Change it to a sunny Cloud Texturemap and i belive it is perfect.
Maybe a Beach part on the right side looks good
Thank you Visu, I appreciate you taking the time to comment. That's two recommendations for a beach - OK I'll see what I can do! The dark background is a temporary measure and won't feature in the final images(s). |
Post by Vizu // Feb 6, 2006, 3:00am
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Vizu
Total Posts: 628
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For youre Sky environment or Background, i would maybe use some from this high quality 360° Panorama sky photos
http://www.1000skies.com/partials/index.htm
or u can download HDRI files from this source
http://www.lightworks-user.com/hdri_starter_collection/realtexture.htm
too good for IBL, Skylight or as VRay / Virtualight Imagemap. |
Post by W!ZARD // Feb 6, 2006, 4:28am
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W!ZARD
Total Posts: 2603
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For youre Sky environment or Background, i would maybe use some from this high quality 360° Panorama sky photos
http://www.1000skies.com/partials/index.htm
or u can download HDRI files from this source
http://www.lightworks-user.com/hdri_starter_collection/realtexture.htm
too good for IBL, Skylight or as VRay / Virtualight Imagemap.
Thanks for the links Visu - I appreciate the thought. Unfortunately I am working with zero budget and so cannot afford the wondeful skys from the 1st link - and as I'm using tS 6.6 I don't think that HDRI images are of much use:( . I do have some reasonable cloud photos I took myself plus other options to draw on - so I think I have the skys covered for this project - it's just a matter of finding the time :) |
Post by Vizu // Feb 6, 2006, 6:04am
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Vizu
Total Posts: 628
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missunderstood, the link to 1000skies is the page where you can click on every Image to get a higher resolution, that you can save as jpg in youre texture folder.
The HDRI files you can convert to jpg with the free tool HDRI shop |
Post by chrono // Feb 6, 2006, 7:47pm
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chrono
Total Posts: 0
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W!zard, nice piece! But in order to get a better idea of how the light plays within the scene you're going to have to give us a different view angle. Perhaps from the side would be best. |
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