was just playing about with textures and materials what do you think? if you think you can do it better give it ago and post it here, of course you will need to tell me what you did, so I can improve my skills.
As I was just playing about I diddn’t save a blendfile, so you will have to do it from scratch just to make it a bit harder for you hehe.
It could do with better modelling (of light that is). And the texture size makes the form hard to deduce. But nice newbie cube anyway, try for a cylinder next.
thanks how could i improve the light? i used hemis?
This looks like this goes in the test forum, but maybe you can improve lighting and make something out of it.
When is a test a test? If Maskedsow thinks it’s art who can disagree? Anyway I would steer clear of hemis (little falloff) but at least attenuate (turn down) the light to make one of them a key light (main source).
Hey is that texture see through? It looks like there is some Alpha or Ztrans there, if so could be cool if larger.
Hey, you said to make my own version and tell you what I did, so… Here it is. From scratch, just like you said. I hope you learn from it. I’m always learning, myself. :]
Ba-da-boom.
There are a few things to explain. Most notably the lighting and colours. Notice how things aren’t so vibrant, which makes it a little more realistic. More muted coloured are almost always more realistic, because the entropy of the real world fades everything.
That and I used an image sky, which I packed with the demo file, the sky helps with the realism, because I turned on ambient occlusion with the sky colour, which kinda ‘background lights’ everything with light from the sky picture. It’s like hemi-lights, only better. /:]
I only used one lamp, and that’s the sun-lamp. The rest is the AO.
The water is harder to explain, but if you’d like to know, I could direct you to tutorials or write up a longer thing explaining the things related to fresnel and colour ramps and what-not, but anyway, here’s the demo file with the sky texture packed, it should keep you going for a while, eh? 
BlackBoe, I think there may be a bit of reflected light from that mirror like water? a hint of turquoise?
@ David McSween: This is clearly not art. I can, and will, strongly disagree.
Art = thought. There is no thought in this.
It shouldn’t be here.
This community needs some standards for finished projects - and this is obviously below them.
Alex
thanks Blackboe im sure i will learn a lot from that.
shame on you ajc art is expression art makes you ask questions and think outside the box art is is ok its a cube just a cube nothing special but it inspired blackboes work and that my freind is ART
“I know it’s a cube, but it’s a pretty cube” (it isn’t)
and
“was just playing around with textures…”
Expression, my arse.:rolleyes:
The only question it makes me ask is why the hell you thought it was good enough to post here and not in tests.
Alex
My picture isn’t art either, at all. It’s a cube with some grooves in it floating above the water, it has no emotion, it’s really only supposed to be educational. You’re new so it doesn’t REALLY matter, but next time try and keep ‘finished projects’ for full projects instead of material tests and what-not. That way it won’t distract from the big things.
I mean, look at ‘Zerg Hydralisk’ on the first page, or ‘You are the new guy’
THOSE are projects worthy of attention. Who knows, one day you might be as good as those people, but until then, try and stand back out of respect for the insane amounts of work and skill they put into their things. I haven’t put anything in the finished projects forum yet, myself, so…
That’s my two cents.
David: Yeah, there is actually a fresnel effect in there and a colour ramp, but the cameras tilted up a lot so you really can’t see it as much. If the camera’s leveled parallel to the horizon it sticks out a lot more.
ajc158, stop pickin’ on him. i bet when you started out with blender you messed around with texture to.he just felt like posting it here.
@BlackBoe, you could try faking the reflected light with a low intensity blue lamp underneath the model, set to illuminate only the cube (not the water as well, that would look odd.)
@maskedsow, yeah, we can argue “what is art?” until the cows come home, but in this community, there are certain norms. The test forum or the textures and lighting forum would probably have been a better place to post this. Just sayin’, ya know?
Orinoco: Yeah, I considered doing that, but it would’ve taken too long to tweak, and anyway, it’s not like it was a great piece, eh? That and I didn’t want to try anything too weird and esoteric, cause this guy’s just learning.
I don’t mind your post, even though it is a very simple. I rather have an occasional post like this than a dead forum where no beginners post their projects because they are afraid of being laughed at.
Edit: or flamed at.
The finished projects forum is far from dead.
I agree in this particular case. Though some would call anything art.
Like I could create a solid white image and even if the name was The purification of the mind’s imagination most people wouldn’t accept it as art.
I know its not dead, but I think you understood what I was tryin to say. 
I only clicked on this because the title reminded me of “Yellow Cube with Interesting Lighting” and I thought “good grief”.
Intrr could get away with it, but this is a finished projects forum, not a “I can press ‘render’” forum.
Everyone renders stupid cubes with funny textures, etc. If you’re trying to learn something post in a forum that has to do with improving your texture, or modeling skill, etc.
I just can’t believe that even a newbie would consider this worth our time. He’s just messing with your brains. There was no quantifiable thought behind the artistry of the image, nor the capabilities of blender.
Contrast with BlackBoe’s, which is actually interesting. I’m not sure but I get the idea that he was helpfully mocking the original (which is not an unusual response here): If you want to learn, do some work and we’ll help you out. Don’t waste your time (or ours) thinking about how to be stupid.
[sorry for the acidity of my response, but this seems to me only a deliberate attempt to be obnoxious]