Feeling the Force (*Update on Page 2*)

Hey all,

I started playing BattleFront II last week, and then started watching the Star Wars movies again. So I looked up some pictures of lightsabers on google… 4 hours later I had a model of Obi Wan’s lightsaber from the original movies. And 3 days later i ended up with this.

I call it Feeling the Foce, because she is so focused with her feelings she dosent even really need to look at the battle, she is in the zone and kickin @$$. :slight_smile:

Another one for the demo reel, let me know what you guys think. This was done with XSI and Photoshop.

http://student.vfs.com/~3d48matt/Feeling_the_Force.jpg

Matt

Blend on, and blend well!!!

Top animated scene. Good camera angle, very dramatic action packed scene. And top quality modelling. :smiley:

Any tips on making the sabers like that? And the the hair on the dude, how did you do that?

Very well done! The only critique I have is the very linear image on the window, so very flat looking. But I guess it shouldn’t draw attention from the battle taking place. You gotta name your jedi-ett! :smiley:

very good indeed mate, nice to see you posting here again :smiley:

my only crit is that it’d be nice to see some light cast by the lightsabers, and the exploding droid could use some cooler looking meltey parts.

The character doesn’t look anywhere. Maybe make her/him look at something like the spaceships out of the window. Right now I have the feeling, that the character is a nooby and closes its eyes and only has luck not to be hit.

But great image. Colors maybe are to hard?

@Jerri

I read the introduction! :slight_smile: So lets refine my comment: Right now from the picture I don’t get the impression, that she is in control, but that she is overwhelmed by the whole situation and only reacts to everything. I miss the coolness of a person so in control of the situation that she is able to do something else besides fighting.

I hope this refines my comment. :slight_smile: Great image nevertheless! :slight_smile:

Great composition. It conveys a sense of action really well.

There’s lighting isn’t good, it looks almost like half the scene is on shadeless. There should be glows from the lightsaber, from the blaster bolts, etc. The blaster bolts look like flying red lightsabers, you should use a different technique for them. The scene is rather bland, there’s just some white walls and a floor with stairs. The modeling looks good otherwise, very nice detail on the Jedi.

Just curious: How does Blender fit into this?

Bapsis: Awesome image! I especially like the angle of the falling droid, it looks really realistic.

Some crits:
The window frame?

And also, I have to agree with Jerri. Perhaps she could have her head tilted back a bit, with her eyes slightly closed? Or tilted forwards? I think it’s her mouth that makes her look “out of control”- I think it would be a lot more effective if she looked calm.

BTW did you model the ships outside also? Could you post a closeup? :smiley:

Btw Joghurt: When it’s Bapsis who posts, it doesn’t matter :wink:

Just curious: How does Blender fit into this?[/quote]

Oh shit, this is a Blender forum?!?
%|

Say Bapsis, the saber looks a bit thin, don’t you think?
And the lasers in the background battle don’t look too good.
The position of the Jedi is great, but I have a feeling those droids shoot at anything but her.
P

Since when does Star Wars droid shoot straight? if they did, all those jedi would have died in episode1… :wink:

But yeah, I love the character position. Maybe I’d have her frown a bit more and have her mouth closed. To make her more calm. She’s on the light side, no angryness :stuck_out_tongue:

I also think the lighting could be rework just a bit to make more dramatic.

But overall, I really like it. Great piece of work.

Joghurt: Bapsis is an old Blender user, he has all the right to post over here. :wink:

Hey all,

Thanks for all the C&C, glad you guys like it and are offering good critiques. After I finally had a sleep I spotted a lot I want to change as well.

I definatly agree with the lighting and will change that, may try FG and see what I get. I also think that changing her head/eyes/mouth is a good idea. I was thinking maybe eyes (and mouth) closed and head tilted back slightly.
Could a mod maybe move this to the WIP section please? Cheers. :slight_smile:

Ecks:
Ha! Too true about droid aim. I think the prob with the laser blasts is that it was a lazy man’s photoshop’n. I’m going to try and re-do them better in 3D.

Vliegtuig:
Your right about the blade thickness, I may pump that up a bit as well. Background battle lasers will get a overhaul as well.

lightning:

Yep, I did a very basic and cheap job on the background models, here is a close up.

http://student.vfs.com/~3d48matt/destroyer_closeup.jpg

I will also pay a little closer attention to the window frame area. I was thinking either just regular glass for the reflective quality, or maybe glowing spherical emiters lining the inside the center of the middle frame piece, what do you think would be best?

Joghurt:
Nothin’ wrong with being curious. :slight_smile: I started out with Blender and used it for about 3 years, but still like to come to the community here for overall art crit and to show friends my progress as an artist.

thelonesoldier:
I totally agree with you on the laser blasts, they do look just like lightsaber blades. I referenced up some proper ILM blasts and will try to reproduce those more accuratly.
I ment the sceen to be very bland, just black and white and basically featureless and reflective. But if you think this hurts the image maybe i could re-think a few things, like maybe some more gibberish tech panneling on the white walls or something?
And definatly the lighting, I think thats what im going to be messin around with today. :slight_smile:

ClumsyBoy:

Thanks mate, I definatly wanted action in the still, glad it came across clear. I did spend some time doing sketches to find a good composition, it definatly helps to draw things out first.

Jerri:
I get what you are saying, and will revisit her facial expression, im leaning towards eyes closed head back calm. Even tho she is in that focused state, i still want her to have that overwhelmed feeling, really up against the odds type stuff.

traitor:
Glad you like it mate, its always a pleasure to post here. :slight_smile:
There is some light, I had more light casting on her boot and robe, but after watching the movies I noticed in a lot of the lightsaber scenes they give off almost no coloured light, so I lowerd the settings, you can still see a bit reflected off her boot and on her leg and gloves a bit. I will maybe bump it up a bit tho, or play with the fall off a bit to extend the radius.

Jackj:
I think your right about the flatness of the BG, I think I could have more shadows on the ships right side, to help it look like it was lit by the planet. With that and either some glass or a forcefield, the background might look a bit better.
A Jedi-ett name, hmmmm, do you guys have any suggestions? I couldnt think of any, well, one, but it was mostly a joke name and in poor taste so I think i will keep that to myself. hehe :slight_smile:

ozo:
Thanks man, you were the first person on all the forums to comment, and it was really nice to hear something good first off, thanks for that. :slight_smile:

The lightsaber glows are the XSI Glow property, but i wound up painting most of it in photoshop because the glow isnt very good and really goofs up at certain antles or if other geo comes across it, the glow can disapear in small bits or all together, not very trust worthy. Like the blocking blade, it was missing glow off the top eighth of the length.
Sometimes it works out good tho, like these renders of the blade extending ( i made the blade with shape animation so it can be animated to extend.
This lightsaber is what started the whole pic, and it was cranked out pretty fast (could use some scratches etc on the metal bits if it were viewd closeup.)

http://student.vfs.com/~3d48matt/saber_closeups.jpg

Thanks again for all the nice comments and good honest critiques, I will definatly try to improve this image and tweak it up a notch. If i come up with anything better I will definatly post an update, but after 3 days of little sleep, heaps of coffee, and particularly stylish mad scientist hair, i may take a little break first. :slight_smile:

Cheers,

Matt

Blend on, and blend well!!!

I ment the sceen to be very bland, just black and white and basically featureless and reflective. But if you think this hurts the image maybe i could re-think a few things, like maybe some more gibberish tech panneling on the white walls or something?

Yes, absolutely, right now the room looks so bland and crappy in comparison to the Jedi and droids that if I didn’t know better I would have assumed you put stock models in a background you created yourself and just posed them. Paneling, piping, displays, etc. Just look for reference shots from the movies.

man, no one has noticed the most important and sadenning crit of all: WHYYYY!!!?>!?>?!? WHY DID YOU DO THIS TO ME!?!!?!??!

you have star destroyers and battle droids in the same scene. They don’t mix. Battle droids were out of service long before those star destroyers (which are Imperial Class II’s) came into being. The SDs in Empisode 2 and 3 are Victory-class Star Destroyers, which are far older, and were designed specifically for the Clone Wars. My suggesstion is to repleace the Star Destroyers with Victory-class SDs (probably pretty easy, they’re mostly the same) or make them into Trade Federation Battleships, or maybe Juggernaughts (a lot of work for juggernaughts though), which were both in service at the same era as the battle droids. The modelling and setup of the scene is great, keep up the good work. Just make sure to check your history next time! Sorry if this sounds harsh, but I’m an über Star Wars freak, and this kind of thing makes me cry.

-XrQLz

thelonesoldier:
I definatly dont want people thinking that, everything was made by myself from scratch, I will add some pannels reference from the movie.

xrqlz:
Hey man, thanks for noticing that. You didnt sound harsh at all, and Im glad that an UberFan posted this inconsistency. I will look up reference for the Victory Class ships and other designs, cheers!!! :slight_smile:

Matt

Blend on, and blend well!!!

Man that’s an excellent Lightsaber! Awesome stuff. Makes my Lightsaber look right down amateurish.

You made your Saber the same way the professionals did it on the “Call for Help!” program, where the guy painted the Lightsaber glow,frame by frame,on to a saber fight scene using Real Shake.Funny Real Shake used to be free, until Apple bought them out.

Bapsis I thought you were a freak, to do all that in 3 days, but when you said little sleep, then I thought you’re human after all. :smiley: For me to do a scene like that would of taken 3 weeks rather than 3 days.

And Xrqlz, you definitely are a Freak! Stars Wars fanatic indeed. Where you from the planet Alderon?

Oh God, how did I not notice the SDs were in the wrong era?

But how can you tell whether they’re ImpStar Is or ImpStar IIs from that distance?

The ones in Ep. 2 and Ep. 3 are not Victory SDs, the Victory was invented at the very end of the Clone Wars. I forget the names of the ones in the prequels.

The Juggernaut is a land vehicle, the only Extended Universe vehice that appeared in the prequels actually… for one shot in Revenge of the Sith. You’re thinking of the Dreadnaught. It’s got a fairly simple hull so it shouldn’t be too hard.

There also weren’t hardly any Jedi in the Empire so that wouldn’t work. I suggest Master Kyra. Maybe Master Sonya? She does look a bit Russian.
Probably we didn’t notice that coincidence of the two era’s because all the Star Wars designs have a general feel to them, Except the Republic era’s ships seem to all be Tan.