Update: Please see page 2 for an updated render.
Here is my entry for weekend challenge # 103 (cyberpunk theme):
Pure Blender.
About the image: this individual is in an underground “cyber cafe,” and she is about to login to the system.
Thanks again to everyone who encouraged this piece in the WIP section.
Have a great week everyone!
RobertT
cool render, man. she looks like she’s very into video games.
sorry to say it robertt but after eeing your WIP thread i am rather disapointed with the final.
not trying to be bashfull or hurtfull, but i feel the materials are very lacking in comparison to the WIP. and the green scene around the persona is not doing it justice.
also the pose that is in action is somewhat BLAHHH i.e. it means nothing to me and gives no feel of excitment.
your modeling was so good on the person, i was totally amazed at the WIP thread, but i am totally disapointed with the final.
now this was perfect, good colours, nicely shown off.
sorry for the harsh crit, but sometimes its good to be mean.
the pink skin is yucky.
Alltaken
I agree with alltaken.
I owe you an answer. In the WIP forum when I said House Ordos only the head was done. So, here is House Ordos’ speaker from emperor: battle for dune taken from the game:
I agree as well… what the hell happened to it… it doesn’t need any skin patches on the arms n legs… and the pink? it actually looks like you downgraded the modeling on the torso.
Hi,
hate to agree too. The model itself is totally astonishing! but the surrounding just doesn’t fit. it even kills the cold and distand feeling i got from looking at the character WIP pics.
Don’t let those critics get you down Robert, you’re one of the most amazing blenderhats and your work is absolut top notch!!
SirVer
Well well well amazing how fast everyone turns on you. Once again Robertt I think you are a victim of your own success. I think you have set the bar so high for what everyone expects from you that everyone expects near perfection with every peice.
For a WC entry and the time you created this it is a great work. And I’m glad to see that you are not afraid to try different things, even though it could mean jumping into a post were the feed back is not so favarable. Good luck in the WC.
that is how posts replies should be! I’m glad to see some real crits in this forum finally.
As for youre work - I think it’s very good in terms of modeling and materials - but the over all compositing, lighting and character pose it’s not the best image that you have done.
I also have to agree with what has been said here.
Please don’t take it personally, and I know you won’t ;).
Keep up the good work though Robertt.
BgDM
Modron: Thanks man 
Alltaken: I really appreciate your feedback, which I find very helpful. What happened as far as the colors was that I replaced the flare materials (because they weren’t showing up in the reflections) in the previous render with clawlike appendages on the cable tips with a red light. I have two low power/distance red lights there. The skin color is picking up more ambient light than I wanted, but after six+ hours of render I didn’t think I’d have time to go back and do one final tweak for the wc. The previous render took about three hours. The metallic material did not change much, but the lighting did as did AO and OSA values. I will - if not in time for the wc then for non-wc purposes - do another render. As for the pose, I tried different poses and didn’t want to veer too much from a frontal view so as to obscure all the details I invested in her. So she’s leaning back about 25 degrees in this render with the head tilted forward. For about twelve hours and that this is a wc entry after all (so it’s not something I had days and day to work on) I’m not too disappointed in this render but knew as I uploaded it there were things that could definitely be improved.
Erufailon: Thanks for the explanation Cool image.
macouno: Thanks for the feedback. I explain what happened to the skin in my reply above to alltaken. I’ll rework the appendages concerning the skin too.
SirVer: I appreciate the feedback. The environment could be improved. I only had time for two test renders given the constraints of the WC and the complexity of the scene (circa 2.5 mil verts). While this is likely the final render for the wc, I’ll work some more on it though including a different environment.
Wu: Thank you very very much. I was hoping someone would remember this was a wc entry and not something worked on for weeks on end, although I’ll probably work some more on this 
This was up there in terms of difficulty of concept and realization within two days, so I’m glad I was able to do what I did within the time I had. I don’t think it’s as good as it seemed to me late last night when I uploaded it, but I don’t think it’s all that bad, even compared to my other stuff, especially with regards to what’s generally expected with wc entries. I’d really like to outdo myself with each and every blend but sometimes it is difficult with the hypothetical bar being so high as you point out. Perfection is difficult to attain in two days though I welcome all the crits I can get and am grateful to hear what people think of my work. It helps me improve (and I know I can do lots of that!) 
@ner: Thank you @ner. I didn’t mean for this to be my best work, but I do agree there are numerous elements that can be improved. The WIP thread illustrates just how far this came in two days. It’s kinda cool to think that two days ago I didn’t ever attempt modeling something like this and two days later here is an image that at the very least interests someone Stuff like that fascinates me As I said in my other replies, while this is likely the final render for the weekend challenge, I will continue working at it. The character deserves extended attention I think. If I come up with something better and more compelling I’ll post it
BgDM: Thank you for the encouragement BgDM. I try to take criticisms not personally but professionally, something that I can work from to get better. In just over a year of being into 3D graphics I think I’ve traveled quite a distance, but I know I have a looong ways to go yet.
Thanks again everyone for all the comments! I appreciate all your time and interest!
RobertT
about the pose, i would kin of think that a forward leaning pose would have been more dramatic.
perhaps the character could fill more of the screen and be somewhat “punching out” so that you get a better sence of depth (currently its rather 2d)
the green IMO is not cold enough for a background colour. a bluer green, or a greyer green IMO would do justice to it.
if i had more time to crit i would write a good few pages on it 
the character is truly awsome though
Alltaken
if there is somthing I like in robrett’s threads is the attention to every body- I don’t have the pationt to do that.
arner- sorry to disagree, but it is never good to be mean. your crit on me however was right on, and the way i think all crits should be, honest very informative, but in no way harmfull. i felf motivated to work harder on my work, and knew were to improve, and very happy to see that someone with your skills liked what I was doing, thanks.
and I agree with the attention robertt gives everyone who posts, I think that is a big reasons for his post’s success, first his work is great, but if you notice robertt gets about 3 times the amount of feedback I think because he includes everyone in the topic replies, this is very important.
Alltaken: Yes, the pose you suggest is one of several I’m considering. Also a different camera angle could also lead to interesting results. The green came out brighter than I wanted, so that will be deemphasized in the next render (btw, blue is a color I have completely avoided in the last dozen or so renders if anyone’s noticed ) I’m glad you like the character. I wanted her to be a visual metaphor for humanity overtaken by technology – someone who, for all her mechanics, retained a portion of her humanness, and someone who could seem fragile or dangerous depending on the circumstances. The environment has more details yet than this render reveals, but it’s the character in this piece that matters most to me, of course, so I’m relieved to hear at least people seem to think the character was well done. I’m sure people know it’s not easy to pull something like this off in two days (well @ndy could do it and better :D). I want to show her from more angles too (which is one reason I developed an environment with mirrors… but I wound up changing it because it became too cluttered and didn’t show her back much). Thanks again for the feedback!
@ner: Thanks for noticing I appreciate everyone’s time and interest, so I figure it’s the least I can do. Good feedback is difficult to get (impossible at cgtalk it seems the moment you mention Blender), so anything that’s constructive I’m eager to hear
Wu: I agree - constructive crits are the best crits I realize the moment I post something I’m asking people through that act to look at my work. An artist without feedback (good or bad) might have no idea where she or he stands in terms of acceptance/appreciation, so anything that provides an indication of how people receive your work is valuable and educational if considered properly (and as long as the feedback is informative). That’s why I love Elysiun and put a ton of energy in these posts, because getting better is my top priority (in modeling and other areas in life too). Hopefully the next render (this or something else) will be “better,” but given the spectrum of subjects and styles I explore, somewhere along the way I know people will not accept certain works or they might wish to see certain styles or themes continued (or abandoned ), which is to say I always realize in the course of all these renders there is no way to meet or exceed everyone’s expectations. I just keep trying and if somebody likes something I did then that’s great It’s a secondary consideration, public acceptance, in the general scheme of creativity, but one that’s not insignificant or without its emotions. We do take chances in posting our works, sometimes great gambles if we depart from what’s expected from us, so hopefully those creative chances can lead to more positive things in the long term as long as everything’s done in a constructive, pro-art manner. The only way to find out though is to stick with it and endure the bad as well as the good Thanks again for writing!
RobertT
Modeling is kick ass but the lighting seems to me to be severly lacking. It feels flat to me.
Again, not trying to be hurtful in anyway. You should know that you inspire me quite a bit and I look up to you more than I do most of the artists on this forum. I say what I said only because I know you can do better
dante
Dante, I just read your reply as I’m about to post a new render and before doing so wanted to take a moment to thank you my friend for the very kind words which arrived at a good time.
robertt
I give you the second render - expand image if reduced in browser.
New camera angle, original character materials restored, lighting changed, environmental details enhanced (most notably the hoses). Used zblur and glow plugins for this one. Some post-processing here to adjust contrast/highlights and desaturate (10%).
Approximately seven hours to render this. My computer died twice during this project. While this will probably be the final render for this particular setting, this is definitely not the last we will see of this character. She will return!
Well, I spent a lot of time on this, took everything everyone said deeply into consideration, dwelled on that for quite a while, and then did this. I think the second render seems more intriguing. Hopefully you’ll agree.
Thanks again to everyone for the helpful feedback, both here and in the wip thread.
robertt
Wow. This is top quality work, RobertT!
Cheers,
b01c
man, that second render is exactly what i was hoping for in your entry to the wc. great render, and the skin looks sooo much better. the pink was too prominent in the first render. great job.
see now that is what i like to see coming from you RobertT
no crits on that oen except her pelvis looks funny, but hey that is being particularly picky.
five big toes up
Alltaken
