Hey guys:) I decided to take a shot at the latest BG competition. So far I have a sketch for composition and general layout. I’m very inspired by the movie Brave:) I’m planning on making the castle some what demolished showing the signs of an attack and very aged. Comments are welcome
UPDATE:)
Final High Res Version http://img5.imageshack.us/img5/9318/xaz7.png
starting as well …
good luck
I like how the trees and the ground create a nice framing affect, also if used correctlty the sword vs the castle could create a nice sense of depth.
Looking good so far Derek! After seeing your entry for the recent Blender Guru Competition I’ll certainly be watching this 
A nice scene. Good luck, i know it will turn out looking fantastic. 
Thanks guys I plan on taking my time with this one and trying to achieve a dense forest feel in the foreground and a large scale feel on the castle. That means lots of vegetation which means lots of particle systems…love it hehe:) The sword will be fun to model as well:P
This is going to be an interesting contest. A lot of good entries are starting to take shape, this one is right up there. I do like the way you have composed this on your blocking. It’s a cool way to make the connection of the sword and castle.
I am intrigued by the circular framing that you’ve used in the concept art, with its suggestion of a fish-eye lens (small f-number) and a foreshortened perspective: the castle is farther-away than it appears. Both of these are, I think, essential to the concept and yet missing from the current blocked-out shot.
I also perceive from the concept art that the sword is on the near side of a large chasm, and the castle is on the other, and that you cannot see the water or whatever-it-may-be that is in the moat. Once again, I think that this is important to the shot but currently missing. (I see the line that runs roughly across from the point of the sword as the near bank …)
The depth-of-field would be “essentially, infinite.” The castle is large, the wall recedes to a great distance, but that’s suggested by mist (declining saturation), not by lack of focus.
As is the case with real photography, the placement of the camera and the choice of lens is going to be crucial. I would actually suggest laying-out the set to scale, then working carefully with the camera placement and the lens-settings to achieve an effect that is “photographically accurate.” People are going to be intrigued, as I am, by the photographic possibilities here, and in their minds eye they are also going to judge it against photos that they have already seen.
Hey Derek, I’m really looking forward to this contest! It looks like your composition is good, but it is confusing whether the focus is the sword or the castle. My eyes jump between the two.
Forests are pretty tough to make, but I’m thinking you can handle it just fine I’m thinking of entering as well, so this should be fun!
Thanks harleynut:)
In regards to sundialsvc4 comment I have thought a lot about perspective, scale and DOF. I feel that the DOF would be very minimal such as the example image below. The president is in focus and the castle in the distance is nearly in focus as well. This is typical of outdoor photography IMO. This is not to say the DOF couldn’t be increased in real world outdoor photography it is just more typically basically all in focus. This I think works better for my scene so the detail of both the castle and the sword can be seen. I will be heavily using mist and fog and maybe even some whispy clouds. Birds also help defining depth and scale as well I think so I’m sure I’ll throw a few of those in there too.
I should also note that right now the scene is setup pretty much to scale. I say pretty much cause right now the sword is about 5 feet long and the castle cylinder shapes are approx. 120 feet tall. And the distance between the sword and the castle is approx. 710 feet. I’m sure all adjust the perspective as I go but be assured I intend on making the castle look massive:)
I made a few compositional adjustments to help direct the eye more. Any thought on the adjustments…better or worse:)
Thanks Jonathan:) Would be cool to see you enter as well. Forests are tough but thats kinda my thing hehe. I think in the end the lighting will play a big part in focusing the eye. To be honest right now I’m not sure if the main focus is going to be the sword or the castle:) Stay tuned to find out:)
A little progress on the boulders and their texture. I’m keeping them simple based off of Ireland type boulders. I’ll add the moss later with hair particles:) Any thoughts
Nice Rocks…
I really need to make some of these for my scene. I’ll put it on my to do list.
I’ll look forward to seeing them with moss.
A little more progress:) I hear ya MonkMonk but I gotta keep moving and bringing the scene together…I’ll probably do the moss and ground debris last. Next I need some smaller rounder rocks and pebbles. Then on to grass maybe:) Then trees probably…I’ll focus on the close up trees and then do lower poly trees for the far away stuff. I’ll probably work the sword and castle in towards the end right before the moss and ivy:) LOTS TO DO:P
reminds me of Camelot
A little update:) Still some tweaking to do but I’m liking where the sword is going. I tried to stay simple but realistic like a sword an actual knight would have used:P Any thoughts are welcome.
Really nice modelling and texturing on the sword! I love the ground too. Is it hand-textured or just a image that you found?
The part where the rocks are in the ground looks a bit too smooth to me. Are you gonna add a little grass in this scene?? Really great job so far! Amazing watching your progress
it’s lookin great so far. I must agree the sword is looking great. specially the texturing/materials. Can’t tell if it’s behind the stone or in the stone, but it’s got an Exaclibur/Calibvnvs feel to it.
Thanks Nathan:) The ground is actually a couple of tiled texture which are combined with a mask texture. Basically I texture painted in a dirt trail to the water in black and white and then used that image to mask the grassy moss texture over a dirt texture. Its still rough and I plan on giving it more love once I get to placing all of the ground vegetation:) I gotta model all that stuff first. When I’m done with this one I’ll probably have 20 particle systems on just the ground…hehe:) The additional ground vegetation will hide the smooth surface near the rocks. I’ll probably make some dirt chunks which will match the ground texture to add more detail without having to go crazy with the subsurf modifier which is already at 6:P
More to come:)
