Apple...

Artwork Works in Progress
#1

My first post here at Elysiun.

First, it has been a real pleasure lurking the boards looking at some incredible work here (and getting inspired every time i visit!)

This is my first “real” piece of work in blender outside of the occasional learning curve type of stuff. I was following Landis’ tutorial on his method of texturing, and fell in love with his apple, so i decided i had to try this method to have my very own apple!

I have a little work to do on the texture, as I am not happy with it yet, and I am still learning GIMP as well, so… c&c’s are definitely welcome!
http://pdavid.sytes.net:8080/apple2.jpg

#2

I cant see picture…

Address:
http://pdavid.sytes.net:8080/apple2.jpg

#3

It looks pretty much fine, except for the texture which is very blurry.

Also, it needs some backlighting.

#4

Welcome, I am sure you’ll learn plenty.

Your apple entry (with some modifications) can join the weekend challenge (look at the last forums for the ‘Weekend Challenge’).

As for the apple itself, although it’s a bit dark (intentional?) I think its very good. Try adding some background.

#5

oooh, a Weekend challenge? I’ll definitely check it out!

The darkness of the scene was one thing that I wanted to recreate from Landis’ tutorial. Visually the setup was very appealing to me, which is pretty much why I didnt include any other type of background or a second light beyond the intial spot. When I was taking a photography course years ago, there was a series of pepper photographs by a photographer that was setup in pretty much the same way, and I also fell in love with those. One vegetable, one light, one camera, and you saw peppers in a whole new way. :slight_smile:

So yes, the darkness is intentional here. :wink:

The texture is a bit blurry i realize. This is my first time really texturing anything at all to be honest, and i still have quite a ways to go. i think the texture image itself is good, but i need to figure out how blender stretches and distorts the image to wrap it onto the model better. i think i’ll revisit the textures, bump map, and spec map here today and try learning a bit more. i’ll repost new results later.

maybe in the weekend challenge…

thanks everyone!

#6

It’s dark, but what I can see of it looks good.

Start by bringing up the lights. Set up a 3-point lighting scheme on it and experiment with colors for those lights. (For example, the fill-light often looks good with a soft bluish tint.)

Then, basically, look at what you see and not only judge it critically but discerningly. That is, after your critical eye says, “That stinks!”, your discerning eye should ask the other eye, “Very well, but exactly what is it about this image that makes you say that?”

This discrnment is what gives you an action-plan to make it better.

An apple is a good example of something which you’ll study very closely and which you’ll expect to have several surface-characteristics… including color (and maybe a blending of colors), specularity, and bump-mapping. To get a final, convincing apple you’ll probably apply several textures, in varying amounts and doing different things, before you come up with a material that does what you want.

#7

Thanks sundial!

i probably should make the spot a bit stronger overall.

and you should have seen all of the iterations i went through doing the critical judgement, then studying what was wrong with it. (i went through half a dozen different models trying to figure out how to make an apple that didnt look like a ball with a dimple on the top). In the end I actually just snagged an apple image from somewhere in profile, followed the general shape, then refined and refined until i got something that looked convincingly natural to my eye.

at the moment I am experimenting with various textures to achieve what i am looking for in a layered effect (you nailed that one on the head).

so thank you very much for pointing out the methodology. guess it turns out i was sort of doing the exact same thing, but not conciously. hopefully this will help me to map a better plan of attack to arrive at my desired effect!

i’ll post back soon what i get in the end…

#8

Looks great pld! Keep up the good work!

Cheers,
Landis

#9

oooh, Landis! Thanks for the great tutorial, btw. You really nailed a great look on that apple!

thought i’d point something out, though. in the tut you show your testmap in photoshop or the gimp when you begin painting your texture on, but i noticed that though the apple image is from the scan of the top of the apple, the testmap was not wrapped to polar coordinates behind it, making it just about impossible to be able to use the testmap as a guide! I figured out finally how to get the polar distortion in gimp, but thought you may want to know…

thanks again for that great tut, and I hope to do you some justice with my final result!
pld

#10

http://pdavid.sytes.net:8080/apple_border.jpg

Reworked apple. spent quite some time playing with the textures and learning how to apply them (mostly from the tut). Method worked out well inasmuch that i could follow it fairly easily.

far cry different from the original texturing i started with.

c&c’s? :slight_smile:

#11

Good stuff! Sorry about the misunderstanding. Glad you figured it out. Keep up the good work.

Cheers,
Landis

#12

The last one looks better, maybe a little more spec

#13

This is really cool. I think it shows you are gonna be a valuable member of the community if you can take a simple apple and just make it seem so cool. Kudos!

Btw, where are Landis’s tutes? His work is so unbelievably good, i know i could learn a hell of a lot from him. Also, has @ndy done any tutes? His work is also awesome. Those two are the blender gods. :smiley:

#14

Yetzero - I was also thinking maybe just a tad more spec. can’t decide if it detracts though from the rest of the composition. i’ll try it and see…

FiXXX - The tut i was working from was: https://blenderartists.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=11889&highlight=landis+airman

It has really been a big help in understanding textures a bit more for me.

and thanks :expressionless: positive feedback is always good! :slight_smile: really, the idea was all Landis. i just loved his composition so much that i had to have one of my own…

#15

Hey! Not sure if I mentioned this in the tut but all 3D programs (including Maya and Blender) use a filtering method when applying a texture onto a surface. In Blender I believe the default is 2 so if you are wondering why your crisp texture you made in photoshop or the gimp is a a bit blurry, try turning the filtering down a bit. The filtering value can be found in the texture window and is relative to each channel, so, you can have multiple filtering values for each material/shader. Hope this helps. Another great way to sharpen up an image (but its a cheat and can be dangerous) is the unsharp mask option in photoshop. Use wisely.

Cheers,
Landis