Futuristic bicycle race...

Crusader · December 10th, 2009, 08:51 AM

This is for the current MMC monthly modeling challenge over at united3dartists.

Here are the steps I've followed so far for the first bicycle model...

gmd3d · December 11th, 2009, 04:03 AM

excellent work crusader ,, mega improvments in your modelling skills

Crusader · December 11th, 2009, 04:37 AM

tnx T, that's what I aim for...

Crusader · December 11th, 2009, 04:41 AM

other designs using the same parts of the first...

Thomas P · December 11th, 2009, 10:45 AM

Nice job - looks great.

Crusader · December 11th, 2009, 12:00 PM

thanks Thomas...

here is the basic terrain layout...

and here is an Umpire Flyer to supervise the race and provide protection, which they will need in this scene

gmd3d · December 11th, 2009, 03:50 PM

your work has blown my efforts out of the water .. should be great

Crusader · December 11th, 2009, 04:00 PM

tnx Taranis

i must say that the monthly challenges does give me a lot of practice and lets me try new and interesting things... and its a lot of fun of course

Here is the WIP pics of one of the dangers of this desert race track that gives it the name of 'desert forest race of death'...

Crusader · December 13th, 2009, 11:07 PM

reworked the shark a bit...

even though in terms of nature, it would make sense to have a brown shark to camouflage with the sand, I choose to use more traditional shark colors to make it stand out and draw the focus onto it in the uniform light brown desert landscape the race will be in...

Crusader · December 14th, 2009, 04:59 AM

Here is the tandem bike that will be chomped by the desert shark

Crusader · December 14th, 2009, 05:20 AM

Here is the final scene composition with all the bikes... not happy with all the colors and texturing and the shark still looks too much like a whale...

December 14th, 2009, 10:38 AM

Looks pretty cool.
I really like the bike design.
I found this thread a bit late but I have to say, the wireframe shots are excellent.

Crusader · December 15th, 2009, 04:07 AM

tnx Fretslayer

setting up the scene and getting the textures right took a lot longer then modeling the bicycles, tricycles, tandem and monocycle ...

Here is a reworked one...

December 15th, 2009, 06:34 AM

Massive difference in the new shot.
The color of the shark really works - that gray/white combo is familiar to anybody who has ever lived around them or fished for 'em. There is no way it can be confused with a whale now.

The extra colours in the bikes themselves also make the scene 'pop' a bit more, which is also good.

I like how some of the large stones have a surface kind of like a 'prickly pear' cactus and the way the image captures the movements is very Frazetta. Nicely done.

:thumbup:

Crusader · December 15th, 2009, 07:30 AM

Thanks Fretslayer...

I used those 'prickly pear' cactus idea in another fort scene I never completed and that is where the 'desert forest part of the theme comes in, wanted to add petrified tree trunks and giant petrified mushrooms as well but the scene were already too busy so I thought I'd put it into a different scene showing 'other' dangers along the desert forest death track

"Frazetta"?

December 15th, 2009, 07:39 AM

I think the petrified forest is a fantastic idea - something I'd like to see at some point.
I mean, man... the organic turned into mineral thing can be pretty creepy when you think about it. First thing I imagine is the work of Giger.

http://www.hrgiger.com/

Frank Frazetta is the guy who does Fantasy paintings like Conan.
His 'Death Dealer' is used as the cover for 'Molley Hatchet: Flirtin' With Disaster'.

His work always seems to have a feeling of action in them.
Back when I was still a paint/canvas artist my work was compared to his a lot.
That bothered the bajabeers out of me when I was in my teens and twenties - now I understand the people who told me that weren't trying to insult me (for lack of originality) but rather elevate me by equating my style to that of a modern master.

Here - take a look.
I think after looking at some of his paintings you'll see what I mean about the action in your short reminding me of his work. Also in the gallery here, there is a 'fantasy' image I did titled 'Feeling Frazetta' that is very much in the vein of his work.

http://frankfrazetta.org/

Crusader · December 15th, 2009, 08:16 AM

I wanted to do something similar to my desert forest I did last year, here is the image...

Wow! Frank Frazetta? Then I humbly except the compliment

Seen a lot of his work on the cover of fantasy novels ...

I love the Giger themes and the Aliens series, although I probably won't go into that amount of intricate detail here...

Thanks Fretslayer, appreciate the input

December 15th, 2009, 08:22 AM

I like this one too.
It feels like something they would have had on the cover of 'Omni magazine'.

You have IMO a good eye.

I thought you might recognize the Frazetta stuff once you saw it.
Speaking of Frazetta, his son got busted last night for breaking into the family museum and trying to steal roughly 20 million dollars worth of his dad's paintings.

Crusader · December 15th, 2009, 10:34 PM

tnx Fretslayer... I'm not that great at modeling or animation or special effects yet but I do believe that if you make something interesting and out of the ordinary, people will still like it

I looked up Frazetta on wikipedia and read about his son trying to rob the museum, something like 90 works of art? His mother said that there were some disputes between him and others who were running the museum or something... very sad

December 16th, 2009, 03:12 PM

Hey, I'm right there with you regarding how you approach your art.
I've said it before myself... I'm not a great modeler, I'm not a great animator, I am however a guy who can come up with an interesting story and modeling and animating are how I get my story out there. It's not about my animations...It's all about my story.

I do like what you've got going on here.
In the absence of an animation or story...
I can write my own story in my head as to what is going on.

I like the flow and sense of movement here too.
I've seen far too many renders that are static - I like to see action and movement. I want to be thrilled. You know what I mean?

As for the Frazetta thing.
Man, what a shame.
If you ever get the chance, check out a documentary titled 'Painting with Fire'. It's about Frazetta and it's pretty cool. Looking back at the 'Feeling Frazetta' image I did there is one massive mistake... Frazetta women are very curvy. I forgot that when I did my render.
Oh well.
LOL!

Crusader · December 16th, 2009, 03:28 PM

sounds like we have the same views with regards to 3D modeling, which is quite refreshing to tell you the truth... i haven't had anybody state that fact before, not in so much detail to confirm the principles behind the method, at least

I would love to expand my knowledge on special effects to enhance and increase that feeling of movement and action though. Haven't been able to get that expressed as I'd like to in the 3D images yet...

Thanks Fretslayer...

... could to have a kindred spirit in "3D action compositioning"

Ps. will have a look at 'painting with fire'. I did see it mentioned there on that wikipedia page but haven't checked it out yet...

December 16th, 2009, 03:30 PM

Crusader, if I can help you with anything please feel free to ask.

I know what I know because other people took the time to help me.
If I can return the favor I am all over that.

Crusader · December 17th, 2009, 04:17 AM

Hey Fretslayer... thanks for the offer, I will definitely take you up on that since I feel the same way ... currently, I'm looking at a way to indicate SPEED! almost like motion blur but since this is a still image with no animation, I don't think the normal blur tools is appropriate...

ps. what 3D package do you use? I have trueSpace 7.6 an 7.6B1...

in the mean time, Here is the basic layout for the next scene, “Deadly Shroom Forest” :

December 17th, 2009, 06:44 AM

First off - I don't know anything about TrueSpace other than I've seen some people do some amazing stuff with it.

My favorite app is Lightwave but when it comes to character animation, I suck at it so I've been using Carrara 7 Pro for that. The characters are prerigged and they're set up for lipsynch so it's pretty much a no brainer. That goes back to the 'I'm not an animator, I'm a story teller' thing. LOL!

As for the motion blur on a still image, I would try this -load the image into Photoshop and go from there.

Let me know if you have Photoshop and if so, what version.
I'll fire mine up, mess with it and see if I can help you come up with some settings to create a good motion blur.

For my blurs, I use After Effects CS4.

I like forest image. The wire frame over it really helps me wrap my mind around some of it. I'm looking forward to seeing it with some rendering done.

Crusader · December 18th, 2009, 03:32 AM

Thanks Fretslayer...

I do have Carara 6 Pro but haven't started working with yet. And I only have Gimp, not Photoshop but should be able to get the same effects... haven't done any post processing before though so i have a lot to learn...

gmd3d · December 18th, 2009, 03:47 AM

COOL IMAGES.. really alien landscape even from mushrooms..

Crusader · December 18th, 2009, 03:56 AM

thanks Taranis... will add some bikes to show the actual scale of the Shrooms

And there is a twist, they are carnivorous!

gmd3d · December 18th, 2009, 04:00 AM

cool look forward to it.. .. great work again

December 18th, 2009, 06:53 AM

Cru, if you need some help getting started with Carrara, let me know. I've been using it since v.5 and I currently have v.7.

If you've ever used Daz Studio, think of Carrara as that apps bigger and more powerful brother. Carrara v6 is a fine app. I used it for a long time and I did some pretty nice work with it. It's the easiest CG app I've ever used. I don't mean that in a bad way, but rather in a way such as - since I didn't have to learn the things for it that I had to for Lightwave (like cameras and stuff) was able to jump right in and start animating my 1st day with Carrara. Really.

Check out my YouTube channel and you'll see some of my older stuff.
The intro to Battlestar Galactica (TOS) was created with Carrara 6 Pro and FXHome Vision Labs Studio (for lasers, composite and stuff -I didn't have After Effects back then).

http://www.youtube.com/user/Fretslayer

Plus, you'll be able to see my progress as an animator. If such progress actually exists. LOL!!!

If there is anything I can do to help ya, just give me a shout.

Oh, also there are some excellent tuts for Carrara available online but the manual for the app (found in the place nobody looks - HELP - (LOL!!!)) has a huge amount of very helpful information.

Considering the stuff I've read so far that you've posted, I think Carrara might be good tool for you. - One thing I love about the app is that is works less like a CG app and more like a film set. When I'm animating I call it 'Star Wars and Barbie Dolls' - LOL! Because part of the time I'm taking these CG dolls and putting clothing on them, placing them in sets/locations and having them interact. Other times I have space ships zooming about and dog fighting. LOL! Star Wars and Barbie Dolls! LOL!!!