Atlantean Protector (WC104)

Here’s my entry for WC104. It’s called “Atlantean Protector,” and this here’s the dude in charge of making sure no one discovers the secret power source of the Atlanteans… (that is, until @ndy’s fish ate him :wink: )

http://www.artofinterpretation.com/images/wc104-entry-thumbnail-byrjt2004.jpg

Blender 2.33a + zblur and glow plugins.

Good luck to the other wc participants.

RobertT

Wow, that is quite good. You will win. :stuck_out_tongue:

Wow, amazing work.

You will find my post lacking in crits, as I have none.

Suffice it to say: :o

real nice robert!

some crits

the shark isn,t the same quality as the whole image, I got difficulty watching it lol. I mean, its nice, but it could be better to fit the scene and it looks small.

As for the character he’s nice. I understand he must look huge with his armor and solid as rock to protect the energy, but I htink he could have use a bit more personallity. Maybe holding the stick in a defensive mode with both of his hand. His torso also look quite cilindrical. maybe a bit more variety. Maybe somekind of belt that make the chainmail (is that the word?) stick to his body. so we see more shape.

Maybe 2 guard would fit…or maybe it would be too much…anyway, don,t get me wrong, the pic is really really nice. I’m just pointing what, I think, could be improve.

very cool work robertt, you have a good chance for a win. I like the overall scene, but would love to see a more of a action pose. mabey him jumpin up and beating the crap out of a shark with his torch/pole, and maybe some light coming out, man that would be cool, with the light/temple in the background, that would be a kick ass render.
Great stuff, I always look forward to following/seeing you work.
You are like the monkey at the zoo that everyone comes to see, who is always entertaining and never a let down, hahaha

Well now, this to me, is one of your best works to date. Absolutley fantastic stuff. Very original, which is a good thing and different from your normal style, which is also a good thing.

Lighting is especially good. Great mood you have set and really looks like it is under water.

I have to agree with X-Warrior on the shark though. Some more attention to deail there and you will have a superb piece of work here.

BgDM

a lot can be done in one weekend can’t it :stuck_out_tongue:

no really harsh crits on this one compared to my last one :stuck_out_tongue:

however i feel your image lacks much depth, i feel it is somewhat to do with the stance as well as the shark. the scale of the shark vs the person vs the buildings is confusng.

but hey, the materials etc… are beautiful, and BLUE (nudge nudge wink wink BLUE cough cough BLUE…yea BLUE that was again) looks pretty good.

Alltaken

Very nice!

The only crit is to the fish, which is a bit basic, few details both in modeling and texturing.

BTW, I’m getting dyslexical… I read the title “Alltaken protector” And I was wondering why Alltaken needs a protector %|

Stefano

:o
now i know who gets my vote… and who’s going to win eventually…
the character is just great!
although…uhm… err… the sharks look more like socks stuffed with popcorn!
:stuck_out_tongue:

.andy

Well, I haven’t noticed the shark 'till you guys said there was one, but even then I had to search for it for a few seconds, but guuuys, this is a WC image, you know, that weekend challenge thingy where you have to create the image over the weekend. And still it’s better than what I would do in a year. So who cares about the shark? It’s pretty well hidden anyway. :smiley:

I doubt that there is anybody out there who could squeeze better lighting and textures out of Blender than Robert. But some days ago somebody wrote that he lacks the basic modeling skills. Well, what is basic to some might be state of art for others. I wish I had his skills. But why do I mention that? I do not like the shark. It is so round and almost cute – the best description used @ndy: socks stuffed with popcorn. And that is not what it should look like. I’d suggest sharper edges, flatter nose and the mouth more downward set.

Yes, the models are simplified, but for a WC it is complex more then enough. For me it works all nice together (but the shark). And as I mentioned at the beginning, superb textures and lighting creating a convincing atmosphere.

very impressive modelling in a such short timespan. And cool image, the underwater feeling is there.

I will however disagree with BgDM, this is not IMHO one of your best image.

In fact I find that your recent WC entries are always incredible in term of modelling, but lack a bit in what used to be your mastering, depth sense and lighting.

Steel entry, the priest or the skating girl are pictures you remember long after, I don’t think this one will.

Don’t take me wrong, this is still very good (and far ahead of anything I can do), but I have the feeling that having progressed on one side (modelling), you have loose a bit on the other (this incredible lighting which was your style).

Perhaps, it is only a matter of time, a Weekend in no more enough for you with the complexity of your scenes :wink:

Great work, RobertT!

The glow is really cool - did you do that in Blender? And if yes, how? I tried to use afterglow in the current version and wasn’t able to get proper results :frowning:

Thorsten

wow! thats a great picture!

WOW…If you had time, I would suggest you make his legs more armored, and remove/improve on the shark. But it’s very nice, and you might even win against @ndy! :o :smiley:

really nice work. his pose is too stiff though, even for a guy on guard! :slight_smile: his left arm needs some bend in it as well as his weight should be shifted off center some. put some more curl in his left hand fingers and let his thumb relax. i think on a compositional level he should be facing the opposite direction because as it is it sorta leads your eye off of the page.

TorQ

say what? At this point Robertt has 52% of the votes and rising, and @ndy only has 11%. @ndy would be lucky to get half the votes Robertt gets.

:o great :o

Really awesome piece of work. I liked the model In WIP and I like the scene here. great work.

Wow :o :smiley:

X-WARRIOR: Thank you very much for the great feedback X! The shark I spent about fifteen minutes on, so I agree it’s one of the weaker elements in the scene. I had this idea that the Protector communicated with the sharks, who helped fend off intruders. It doesn’t have to be a shark though, just an underwater beastie of some sort :slight_smile: I didn’t have time to rig and pose the character, but I figured he had just enough presence to get by playing his part and standing watch (at least for a wc entry :)) I like the two guard idea and might try that at some point (if I can reduce the render time).

Wu: Thanks so much Wu. You have some interesting ideas there :slight_smile: In this fictional world the sharks and Protectors are allies, friends of sorts, and they work together to protect Atlantis, but what you’ve described could also make for a good action scene.

BgDM: Thank you very very much BgDM. I put a lot into this, so I’m glad it seems to have been a worthwhile investment. The shark could definitely use more details. I’m still trying to get good results with displacement mapping, so once I’m good with that then there will be even more detailed models in future renders. @ndy’s displacement mapping was fantastic, and those are the kinds of results I’d like to attain in future projects.

Alltaken: Thanks! What maybe subtracts from the apparent depth is the requisite murkiness of the image. I have over 10,000 barely visible particles throughout the scene as well as mist and ambient occlusion, which I put int there in hopes of implying a heavily dense underwater scene. Zblur is also at play but not much because there’s already some blurring that’s occuring through the glow plugin (I had the blur size set relatively high).

S68: Thank you Stefano! That was funny: “Alltaken Protector” :smiley: I think @ndy’s fish would make a better protector because most people wouldn’t even think of challenging something like that if they encountered that in the ocean :slight_smile:

@ndy: T H A N K Y O U :slight_smile: You’re totally right about the sharks :slight_smile: (I think I’ll stop calling them sharks now and just call them fish :)) I also have a manta ray lurking in there too :wink: Seeing your entry inspired me to work much more on mine, so I hope you do well in the wc. I hold your work in the highest regard and am grateful to know you, so keep on Blending.

Erufailon: Thanks :slight_smile: The fish were there primarily to reassure the viewer this was an underwater scene. I’d like to build a better shark and some other sea creatures in the future.

tlustoch: Thank you very much. After all my posts, I do hope we’re at a point where at least the regulars know I can blend :wink: :slight_smile: The shark is simple, but everything else in this scene is fairly complex, especially the main character and building elements, both in terms of geometry and materials and lighting. My last several projects have averaged over 2 million vertices each, but it’s not always about quantity: as @ndy masterfully showed with his Atlantean sea creature, it’s not always about the verts or number of objects in a scene, it’s about getting the most out of any model or scene, however simple or involved.

lukep: I appreciate that Luke :slight_smile: My lighting habits have changed recently due to my adjustment to the new ambient occlusion feature as well as area lights. I’m trying to do new things, try new configurations, and not all the time it will be optimal because I’m back in an exploratory phase these days, trying to see what else I can do using all the new Blender tools. It’s a great education :slight_smile: I’m delighted someone actually remembers my work (steelworks, sanctuary, and the skater… hmm… all titles that start with S :P). The focus here was more on modeling and materials with lighting coming in a close third, but this was a tricky scene to light: too dark, and the details disappear, and too light it becomes too evenly lit. I looked at a number of underwater images and they all seemed so murky and disturbingly lit, but for this I wanted to go for more of a mythical style lighting (if there is such a thing) :slight_smile: It’s an ongoing experiment, and who knows what the next blend will be :slight_smile:

thoro: Thank you thoro. I don’t use the afterglow plugin just the glow.dll plugin. The other one I heard people had problems with so I never really tried it. In this one I made the glow threshold very low, so that almost anything remotely bright glimmered a little. It has its uses. I prefer to use halo materials and halo spotlights more though because it offers more control, but it’s worth checking out if you get the chance.

orion119net: Thanks!

lemmy: Thank you lemmy. @ndy’s still the master :slight_smile:

TorQ: Thanks TorQ! Maybe he’s a little rusty :stuck_out_tongue: I tried several alternate poses but due to lighting and some other elements this one seemed to work best. I kind of wanted him to lead the viewer outside the boundary of the image so as to indicate he might see something in the distance or is just turning to check on a certain direction, sort of inverting him from looking towards the direction of the light behind him so that it’s clear he knows the light is there and is more focused on the surroundings beyond those we see here. Compositionally, that’s probably asking a little too much of the viewer, but I do like to experiment with those kinds of things to see how far I can go conceptually with a certain piece. I will likely feature him in a future scene, taking into consider all the feedback here.

Wu: It would be an honor to lose to @ndy :slight_smile: (besides, I’ve rather gotten used to losing :))

Hippie: Thanks man! I’m glad you like it.

RobertT

Losing is better than winning. Losing humbles you into a state where you challenge youself to do better, where you will become better.

Winning only encourages stagnation.

:wink:

I do agree about the sharks :slight_smile: