Hey guys. Heres a little "along the way"-scene. I want to discover my Bamboo tab by doinsome textures with it on my own and play a little with transparent materials (learn something new everday) So heres the beginning with 3 marbles and self drwan textures (i can do that better but this is just for showing the concept).
Hope you like it. Maybe you have some tips about how i could improve my glassy material and so on!?
I like it. I searched for some references because I only knew marbles with a coloured structure inside. Your ones are painted and I found such marbles also on the web. So I learned something
More passes will do good. At the moment it is very noisy. And I’m not sure about the lighting, perhaps there should be some more highlights.
Yea i rendered it with less samples to get a fast result. @minoribus, marbles are a science for themselves I googled for some references, too of corse and learned so much about the history of marbles D: never thought so … I´m not sure if you mean the “cat-eye”- marbles or the ones with structure inside but i´m tryin around how to get this colored structure in them the best way. Maybe i google the production process of it cause i ever wanted to know how the structure gets inside the marbles
Anyway i have to improve my material a little bit and have to draw lots of crazy textures, lucky me i have some time this weekend
Thx for comments
Topper
P.S. How can i change the image that is shown in the wip forum ?
Here´s a cool video about making marbles for interested people. I like the way he does it and never thought that they were made out of a glass-plate. Really fancy! Such handmade ones must be expensive…
Yes monkmonk i agree they really look like someone had forgotten its toothpaste in them : D
I will change the IOR. thats a good idea. at the moment the look more like one was looking through a window that`s why they might look a little bit false.
Hey Guys, just a little Update Post. I think i increased the look of the material and made new textures for my marbles (have to do some more of course).
Icreased my HDR image-light. I think that looks much better now, although im not sure wether it will be the same one in the end ( has someone an idea where i can get some HDRI-images for free? )
I’m liking the new textures, but I think you may have overdone them slightly, you have lost a lot of the transparency that made the last render so good. Maybe somewhere between the two would be perfect.
keep it up, this will be a great image in the end!
I like the composition and the DOF. The whole scene looks very dense and not arranged.
But my critique is also about one aspect of the composition. In the last image you placed a very interesting marble in the focus. And that marble’s texture was very interesting. Now you placed a marble there which is quite boring (sorry to say that) and mainly reflecting the sky. I think the last image was more interesting and more compelling.
Soooo After some days messing around with some new painting software and materials i can at last procede this WIP. my new Painting Programm is now Corel Painter 12 and i´m reaaly lucky with it, it´s fantastic for painting new stuff!
So here i can present some new marble textures, more will follow!
for the marble right in the middle i played around with curves and put them inside my marble, maybe i must tweak it a little bit that one can see them better i´m also playing with planes and stuff. Cause i`m playing a lot this project will take much more time to end but i learn so much so thats not the problem
Yes, I simply agree with MonkMonk. The marble in the middle is excellent!
The two highly detailed ones on the left and the right of the middle marble are interesting also. They are technically good - concerning the painting. But they remind me more on Christmas decoration. Perhaps you save them for this season
Okay i thought the marble in the middle was not to bad… but didn´t expect that it is excellent thx guys. @minoribus … as you know christmas is planned near after last christmas has gone So here admire my recent collection of christmas tree bowls mouthblown by the best of men of industry … just 100 bucks per piece
(i think i let one of them in my render cause i like it so much, maybe it gives a revival on christmas)
But enough of that i played along … so here´s an update
Yes, the middle marble was a nice addition, it seems to give off a nice sense of depth.
edit… you just posted a new one right when I hit send. Looks like you added a lens flair… I’m not sure if it works good in this scene, at least not right in the middle… Just my opinion.
A hundred bucks a piece… sounds like the perfect price point to be featured at the Harley Casino’s overpriced gift shop… of course we would only accept unique designs like these which also incorporates our logo
You said it all, guys - nearly But regarding the composition I liked the version with the distinct clouds in the background better because the whole image had more visual depth.
Okay,first of all thx for your honest critics! Your welcom!
The blur was more like a test if it might look good and failed hard i guess So i removed it, also i used the Other HDR image which minoribus mentioned.
I think i will let the marbles be as they are and think about some new projects, except there is a true reason for changing one of them.
Here´s my new render with less DoF in higher Res with more samples.
I´m not sure about the tree tops in the background. They are in view by accident, but i think they add some depth so maybe i let them where they are. ( otherwise i´ll remove them with gimp).
@ harleynut maybe i could draw some super exclusiv ones with an good hided “H” Logo just for your giftshop (or maybe as addition to your handle-knob ) who knows ?! or Harleys Casino-Christmas-tree-decoration
So what do you think about my last render ?
Topper
P.s. i hate the marble on the left bottom goddamn half our rendertime …
I agree… looks like a two year old painted it… make it go by by. Just pretend you traded it to some poor kid who didn’t know any better
It makes a huge difference when you give more sample passes. Personally I think you need to keep experimenting with different backgrounds… this last one seems too blown out (the highlights) I kind of liked the one you used when you were experimenting with the lens flair.
Im trying to remember as a kid… where did we play with marbles the most?.. inside… outside… driveway, on a table??
So heres the beginning with 3 marbles and self drwan textures (i can do that better but this is just for showing the concept).
I googled for some references, too of corse and learned so much about the history of marbles D: never thought so … I´m not sure if you mean the “cat-eye”- marbles or the ones with structure inside but i´m tryin around how to get this colored structure in them the best way. Maybe i google the production process of it cause i ever wanted to know how the structure gets inside the marbles 
After some days messing around with some new painting software and materials i can at last procede this WIP. my new Painting Programm is now Corel Painter 12 and i´m reaaly lucky with it, it´s fantastic for painting new stuff!
mouthblown by the best of men of industry … just 100 bucks per piece 
goddamn half our rendertime …