I made some mistakes with the mesh:
My only problem is that it does not look realistic enough for me. Anyone has any idea on how can I improve the realism?
Thank you…
here is an update:
changed the sky, and gave the runway a texture. the grass has a different material now.
C&C please 
The runway is too small make it a bit wider you know. The grass is way too big you should make it small try to use damping. The engines should be affecting the grass a little bit so do the grass movement backwards.
The runway could be a little bit brighter and use a concrete texture it should be very flat and how about some white stripes on the runway?
(example: http://www.stulzphoto.com/images/Grissom%20135%20runway.JPG)
The material of the runway could use some more shaders work cause now he is like reflecting the engine boost or whatever. Final thing about the scene hehe that the fire particles are way too long actually there shouldnt even be such flames more like a gas coming out and then a small flame but at least not that big.
On the f15 itself: The model is clean but it doesnt have those flaps to steer.
The window of the cockpit should be transparant and have those stripes on it like this one:
http://nexus.polaris.net/services/image-archive/mech/f15.jpg
Well im gonna stop now
Sorry for posting so many things it’s great work 
Matt
I think the runway fades off into the sky too quickly. Also, I think the grass blades should be significantly smaller, they seem quite large, at the moment. Other than that, I think it’d be nice to have some decals and maybe some bolts and rivets on the fighter. It’s looking good, and your update was a nice improvement. Keep it up.
DwarvenFury
I’m reporting this image as offensive. After all, it’s a fighter.
Nice enviroment, although the terrain ends abruptly, which looks unreal. The mesh is not quite detailed enuff too.
Um… can I have that background texture?
The cockpit is too long, I think, even for the 2 seat variant.
Maybe some bump mapping for panel lines?
Also, I think the intakes are more squared off. There is also a variable inlet - sometimes it is pointed down, and sometimes it is straight.
And if you want super-realistic, model the ejector racks for the missiles. What kind of missile is that, anyway? Seem too wide for AIM-120.
Thanks alot for all the comments 
I’m not after modelling an F-15 , rather making a look-a-like and adding some imagination to it [my reference is a plastic model I glued a few years back, modeled this mesh just by looking at it]. I wanted to make it an exact model at first, but realized it wasn’t my main goal. Though I already have taken some of your crits about the model, and applied them - rendering it at this moment.
I want to create an image that will look like a real one, as if it was taken by a camera.
I’m thinking of trying to make an hot air effect, started searching about it already… will update soon (I hope)…
mikemayday:
the background is from here:
https://blenderartists.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=24738
the links are down, so if you want I can upload it, though the links should be updated I think…
here is an update:
no hot air effect yet… 
I reread my first post, and I guess I wasn’t clear enough - I want to achive photo-realism, I don’t realy care about the modelling right now, just making people think I have taken a picture of an aircraft taking off.
I changed the model a little, the wings and the cockpit are shorter now. It should look more like an F15 now (mainly the proportions)
I raised the mirror value a little, think it looks better this way, but still you can’t say it looks photo-realistic…
Ahh… ok - I get it now.
I think a bit of a gradation from runway to grass would be good. Some bare ground or thin grass. And shorter grass still.
Also, this is a minor thing that most people probably wouldn’t notice, but I think the stripes on the runway are wrong. There are some guidelines about how runways are marked. I think there are some sites on the net that talk about this. If not, check out some aviation picture sites and you’ll see some examples of the runway striping.
OTherwise, I think its looking good.
I added some dirt between the grass and the runway.
Finally, made the hot air effect
it’s not finnished yet. I used the wrap plugin with the sequencer (saw the tut about the matrix bullet)
I need to work on my mask so it would look better:
I think you still need more dirt, and a kind of transition to the grass.
Also, the heat effect on the right is too pronounced where it disrupts the line of the runway.
Something I just realized, too - is this plane going to have a pilot?
After what happened to me with my cheetah cub wip, I’m afraid to use particles too much ;). But I’ll try something…
That is strange… didn’t notice it (got too excited I guess…).
I don’t think so, I don’t really want to focus on modelling right now, though something semi-abstract could be added…
fighters are not reflective. Not anymore.
f-86s, later Mirage IIIs, used to come in aluminiun, no paint. But another pilot can see the reflection far, far away, and that’s not good.
About the runway, you don’t have to follow any standart. A lot of airforces operate from roads, big or small. So in case of war, the planes are placed all over the place, and the enemy won’t destroy every one of them destroying the airbase.
fighters are not reflective. Not anymore.
yeah, I knew that… notice that in the first image it wasn’t reflective… I just thought it looked kinda cool this way… 
Do you think I should get rid of it?
About the runway, thanks… good thing to know (had a problem finding a texture that will fit).
well I think it’s done, learning how to use the sequencer was fun… The hot-air effect seems to be ok, can’t think of much more to add to the scene. Though it does not look photo-realistic enough (have no idea what else to do):
Any other crits for me to know of before I’ll post it in the finished Projects forum (and deviantArt)?
thanks
There are a many, many subtle things that go into making a render photo-realistic. You can have the wierdest model on the planet and make it look photo-realistic with the proper, materials/textures and proper lighting. Because you have chosen a scene that most people will be familiar with (i.e. people might not recognize the plane, but they do know that it is a plane!) not only do the aforementioned things have to be just right, but the scale/proportions also have to be correct for a photo-realistic result. It really looks like you are just going at things from your minds-eye and not from actual observation and research.
Now, I’m going to tear this image apart, but only because you want photo-realism, not because I don’t like it or that I’m trying to be mean. Even if you decide that you aren’t going to go for being photo-realistic, the following should help you greatly for composing good scenes. Please consider this a constructive critique:
*I’m part-way through this and tired of typing “google”, just assume when I say search, I’m referring to a google search. 
*
- Perspective:
Perspective may seem the same thing as scale, but it is not. Perspective not only allows you to judge how big (or how far away from) an object is, perspective also allows you to determine what angle you are viewing the object from. Do a search in Google on “perspective drawing” to learn more about that, It will help you big-time in setting up realistic scenes. Anyway, an abbreviated art lesson is that you have what is called a one-point perspective image (meaning that all receding lines of all objects intercede (meet) at one point in the image, the lines could meet out of view(off the image) but in this case they meet in the image). I have a pic here that shows you where those lines meet. The point at which they meet is called the vanishing point and the vanishing point determines the horizon line and the horizon line, in combination with the others, determines your picture plane (basically the angle from which you are viewing your object). You can see in the image below where your horizon should be (green line). Fixing this alone should help you out quite a bit.
Part of perspective is distance. In the foreground is your plane, the middle-ground is the runway and grass, and the background is exactly what it sounds like. Atmospheric hazing is what causes things in the distance to get more greyish-blue and less defined. it looks like you tried to do this with the ground, but as you can see the effect looks nothing like the background and does not belong. In fact, it makes it look very much like the plane is very high off the ground when the plane looks very close to the ground as you get closer to the fore-ground. Great for abstract, terrible for photo-realistic.
- Lighting:
Frankly, the lighting is the worst part of this whole render, it’s really quite bad. Lighting is also one of the most important aspects of the 3d world. I can’ tell if you are using spot lights or lamps or both, but what is that really bright spot on the runway? The time of day for your background seems to be near noon (depend on what latitude you are at) and the sun is bright, intense, yet partially blocked by clouds. Note the visible colors that the sun is producing, kind of white with just a tint a yellow. The ground is not lit in a way that is believable. You will need to light the plane more brightly and directionaly from behind, and the ground less so, also take that orange-ish tint out of the light and replace it with a light yellow. Some serious tweaking/reworking needs to be done on the lighting.
3.Textures:
Just as important as lighting is the texturing. Take a basic model and you can fool the eye with great textures. The texturing needs alot of help in this image. First of all the surface of a runway is called tarmac. It’s called tarmac for a reason: it’s made mostly of tar. What you have for your runway looks like concrete, not tarmac. Do a google search for tarmac, I found some good images right away. The textures on the plance are not good enough to make anyone think this is a picture. Get rid of reflection on all but the canopy, if you want photo realism. Do a search for “f15 images”. I did a search for “f15 take-off” and found some very good results. I know you aren’t trying to copy the actual plane, but you will find great images for texture references, not only for the plane, but also for the armament. Right now the plane looks as though it has no texture map at all, only the default (or close to it) material color with added reflection.
-
Scale:
Scale basically determines how big things are in relation to each other.
Part the reason the ground is not believable is that the scale of everything in the image seem to be way off. How high is the plane off the ground? My guess would be that it looks to be about 50-75 feet (about 16-25 meters) off the ground, based on the scale of the runway. The grass looks more like corn-stalks than grass, very tall corn stalks.At this height, the grass should be small enough that you shouldn’t really be able to really see individual blades, but light and dark patterns, dirt patches, etc. If your plane is supposed to be higher, then you will want to make the runway more narrow, it should have an end to it and the grass even less detailed . -
Attention to detail:
Attention to detail is what makes or breaks a scene. You have to know where to add detail and where you can cheat (ala. the grass)
There is no interior to the cockpit, not even basic blocks of any kind. Distracts the eye to actually focus there, telling the brain, “that’s strange”. the background image is an actual picture, which means that you are going to have to add grain to the rest of your scene that matches the same grain as the background (easiest way to do this is probably going to be pst-production in photoshop. The jet wash from the plane would not be nearly as severe and it looks like you simply took a smudge tool in photoshop.
All of these things need to come together to make a photo-realistic scene. It does take alot of work, I’m not saying it should be easy, it’s not. If you want something out-standing, it will take patience and time. Especially at the start. I can’t believe some of the textures and models BgDM makes. But then I read him saying that he’s been doing this for 5 years. So, things will get faster and better as time goes on.
I hope what I have written has helped you (and whoever else actually reads all this) at least be able to setup your scene a little better. Also, I know I want honesty when I ask for people’s advice. That is why I have told you that your scene is not really even close to photo-realistic.
I want to end this by saying thatI really like the fact that you are taking on a challenge like this and that it takes guts to post things that you have spent alot of time on. I like your model of the plane, it looks like you are getting a good handle of using Blender.
Cheers!
wow… this is great youv’e just made my day.
Just a few comments, while I render it with some of your advices:
I know the lighting sux… this is the field where I have problems the most.
What I did is, added a sun and a small lamp behind the aircraft (which was the yellow-orange one). I got rid of it…
many thanks for this great reply! It’s going to help me alot
You are very welcome. I’m really glad that it helped!
I realized a couple of things I left out of my previous reply:
First (hopefully this is not too late), if you like the horizon line where it is at, then you will need to change the angle of your runway, like so:
The other thing has to do with lighting and is called GI (global illumination). GI is basically light coming from all angles. GI, in combination with some directional lights (spot lights) are what will produce convincing atmospheric lighting. I recommend do a search in Elysiun on GI, or global illumination.
This link (http://www.blender.org/modules/documentation/htmlI/x5888.html) should help quite a bit on setting up lighting and it also talks about GI.
Keep blending!
Thanks for the link, though I used GI previously. Right now I am using the blender internal engine rather than yafray, isn’t AO should do about the same thing? (because I am using it).
Thanks
here is an update:
this one has no reflection (I’m rendering right now a version with reflection).
I think it looks alot better, removed the lamp behind the plane, and chaged the sun’s color to be more yellowish. Also raised the horizon. changed the runway material a bit.
(edit, just noticed there is a problem with the mesh emiting the grass - it’s visible - I’ll get rid of it…)