First image with Blender

Hi all, well, I downloaded this puppy on Monday, and it’s taken me till today to get anything done with it, lol
Have to say though, I’m liking it. Just so many things to learn!

http://www.goldingmultimedia.com/codezwiz/red/chesssmall.jpg

I’m not too wild about the built-in renderer, but then I probably don’t know how to use it.

Looks great! Did you turn on OSA?

-Shaun

Hi Shaud, thanks. Yes OSA was on and set at 16.

Nice render, I can not tell if it is the texture or teh model, but make sure you smooth all of your surfaces. Maybe turn down the specular value on your peices down some.

Hmmm… This is your first image with Blender?! Damn, I can’t wait to see the second one! :smiley:

This image has only a few slight quibbles, such as the amount of mirroring effect that you see in the chessboard surface, but those are just that: quibbles.

What carries the image, at least for me, is (a) the very interesting edge detail on the chessboard; and (b) the framing and composition (including the use of light). That is excellent.

You’ve put the area-of-interest in a “rule of thirds” position (at least in one axis), and you have used not only the lighting but also depth-of-field(!) to keep the viewer’s attention locked in place. (You rarely see depth-of-field used at all in a non-pro CG shot, for whatever reason, even though it’s arguably the most powerful tool in the box.) Yet, in those background areas, there are appropriate details: dimly-lit, out-of-focus, chesspieces. They’re all pawns; the story of this picture is not a “lurking threat.” So my eyes wander there, see what they expect to see, realize they’re not the subject, and go straight back to the subject. It’s a well-composed still-life, and a very good one.

I’m also pleased to see that you didn’t neglect the foreground area upon which the chessboard is sitting. And you didn’t make it completely flat … it’s a neutral tile surface, with slightly-embossed lines carrying my eye right back into the picture. The chessboard appears slightly to “float” above that surface, but that’s another quibble.

Nice photo.

You sound/look like you have had previous 3D modeling experiance? What other programs. The fact that you say you don’t care for the Blender render engine tips that off preaty well.

What other programs have you used?

Ohh, and your image is very nice for a first project. :wink:

Yes, I’ve worked mostly with 3Dmax.
Someone told me about Blender. After going through the posts of images that people had done, It seemed clear to me that it was a powerful program, so I downloaded it.
The method of working is totaly different tho. Very steep learning curve. I’m not sure if it would have been easier had I not been familiar with 3Dmax or not.
The goals you have with both programs is the same tho, it’s just the methods of getting there that’s different. :slight_smile:

very nice image, i see you have been able to find your way fairly well around blender, i have dont the reverse to you and started off with blender 3 years ago, then sis some cg courses in the city and had to use max, i found it quite weird as the 2 programs as you saiud do the same things, just such a different way of looking at it. but trust me the steep learning curve isnt as bad as you think, once you know a button in blender you know it for life, within a couple of months i was making fairly intemediate work and with no prior 3d experience so stick with it and you’ll be hit with a huge rush that got usall addicted :wink: (oh and btw after 3 years i still learn new things about blender, its an amzing program to keep you inspired and always learning)

anywho back to the brunt, really like how youve made this a nice consistant peice, good level mix of modelling texturing and lighting, as always it takes a bit of time to convert to different material editors and such, but that wont take long to get used to blenders new and old material features are very much like max. i think mayb as a previous post stated a bit less spec, or a change in specularity colour will really help sell the image and not make too much emphasis, everything else seems fine, nice image and hope oyu stick with blender, im using it for a proffessional film for Siggraph 05 over max which i also have, its a very powerful program and imo more efficient for the short film, and the program and community always grows. =D

Peace out.

Nice image!

The [rather obscure] thing that leapt into my mind was “How cool would it be if there were tiny people running around the base of the pieces?” Like the chesspieces were really 200ft tall and there were people milling around them. It’s be a different image, but I’d like it :smiley:

An interesting idea lord, btw, I’ll have a pint of whatever it is you’re drinking :wink:

For your first image that is simply amazing! I can see you becoming a great artist in a short time.

I do have a few crits, like the chess pieces could use some more smoothing and detail. And the board could do with a little else thickness.

What I like is you paid attention to the colors, they work together in the image quite well.

Keep it up and welcome to blender!

Thanks for the comments all. I agree with just about all the suggstions made, I just have no clue yet how to impliment most of them, lol.
Project #2 is just about done, just doing a bit of tweaking :wink:

could see from this first still that you had prior skills so yeah all thats left is the small time to get used to the blender process, which i find more of an artistic approach, cant wait to see project number 2! =D

Just a quickie.

http://www.goldingmultimedia.com/codezwiz/red/newteye.jpg

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O_M_F_G! :o

Awesome job for second.