This is my current wip, and i need focused critique on it. Especially on the specularity, lighting and plant texture, i think.
The textures are custom made. Plant texture high resolution due to level of detail, but it is hard to achieve a realistic plant.
i am crap with lighting and materials , they aren’t quite right but they’re not too far off i think
i think the head looks a bit weird
just checked an image on wkipedia
and your body seems just a bit too round
I agree that the body might be a bit too round. One thing I’d point out about the lighting is that the background image you have, the light is coming from the back at an angle, seems to be coming from the middle left. From the shadow on the lady bug the light source seems to be coming from the middle top. Also the lighting in the picture has a slight yellow-orange coloration to it but the lighting on the model and leaf seems pure white, I would try and match the lighting to your background image. The texture for the plant looks quite nice the only thing thats confusing me is the mesh, he leaf seems really thick, it might just be the angle of the camera but the leaf seems like its a thick oval shape rather than a thin shape.
Looking good. Can’t really comment on the plant material until I know what sort of plant you are trying to make. Looks like part of a cactus?
Thanks for the critique, i took this picture as a reference picture ( http://img152.imageshack.us/img152/2664/ladybirdev4.png).
It is not a leaf, but more a green branchlet.
this is your reference image
it’s pretty damn good model
the body is a bit off thou
K, i am almost finished with it:
How about this one?
a lot better, i think it’s time to play around with nodes.
Then there is something news to learn here :), i hardly understand them :evilgrin:, but i know they have big advantages.
I think what you need to do is add a finer bumpmap to the shell of the ladybug - right now you have some larger bumps and scratches, but if you look at the photo it looks more like a very fine-grained stucci thing to me. Also, with the plant stem, you need less of the cellular-looking white veiny texture, and you need to add more of a striated texture running up the stem. Otherwise the models, spec, diffuse and lighting look pretty good.
In the ref pic the bug has a little ridge along the bottom of the shell that your model is lacking. Also the shell has a pinkish/purplish reflective tint to it. I also think that your textures on the body are just a little bit blurry, a higher res will solve that. Looking good otehrwise.
The second image is better.
Pay close attention to the sort of things that a real-film photographer would have to pay attention to, in producing a “good picture,” because that is what you’re going to be judged against in the viewer’s eye. He doesn’t see “a real ladybug,” but rather an idealized version of one. And so, that is also what you will be expected to deliver.
By all means, if you have not already done so, go find or buy a good book on photographing still-life subjects. Study Ansel Adams’ “zone system.” Practice “looking at the light, not at the subject.” Even though the medium of computer graphics and the medium of photography are quite different in some ways, in other ways they are almost exactly the same.
If you look at the reference pic and then at your model you can see that some of the proportions a slightly off. The biggest difference is in the body. The reference bug is longer in the body than your model (your model looks like a chubby-lady bug;)).
Also If you look at the underside of the head in the reference there are little mandibles or something that are not as pronounced in your model.
Other than that good model
You might try turning the hardness on the shell down a bit to spread the specularity highlights out a bit. They seem to be a bit too focused right now. Also the ends of the legs should have visible claw structures–seems like the legs might be a bit thin.
Very good job, though, really almost perfect reproduction of your reference.