Hey, some of you may remember this recent weekend challenge entry:
I’m working on building up my CG portfolio, and I want to improve this image a bit more. Any critiques welcome. Thanks.
Nice image!
Perhaps if the light cones in the background were at an angle instead of straight up and down?
is it under water?
it looks sweet… but the plants make it look like an underwater scene
I remeber this! looking good. perhaps you could make the glass a bit larger.
a cool alien glow, dying out, would be cool. maybe from inside the dome. The Kelp is too uniform.
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I like the concept, but there are a couple of things that disturb me with this image., which mainly comes down to that the water does not really look like water. (I presume it is an underwater scene, and that you are going for realism?)
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The water! it looks way too clean and sterile! Not even a pool would be that clean. Add some bubbles, particles, dirt and so on. (Remember that the volumetric light is due to the water’s impureness)
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About the lightning: the shadows would not be that sharp. An underwater scene resembles a cloudy scene in that light is coming from about everywhere, at least if it is not right beneath (really close) the surface, as water refracts (bends) light, mostly at the surface, but also in-water due to currents and movement. If the current is really strong i think it could even visibly distort the saucer a bit.
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The volumetric light is really not that great - I agree for one that it could come a little at an angle. Also, it looks like it would come from several spotlights, not like it had been refracted at the water surface. Think about it - it’s randomness and shape is due to the shape of the waves.
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The volumetric light looks like it is all in the background. Remember things like the seaweed might cause a bit of volumetric shadow too (close to them).
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That roundish ball texture you have all over the place i suppose is from the waves on the surface? I don’t buy it. It’s too uniform, and looks almost like it’s applied to the meshes. And it shouldn’t look like shadows, as it is the (volumetric) light hitting the bottom. Look at the last ones of the images at this page:
http://whatisee.org/mt/archives/entries/001183.html
Also, as it is light, it should be stretched at the sides parallel to the light., e.g. on the stones’ sides. -
Finally, I think the sea weed looks plastic and fake, they are just too uniform. They are also almost all the same height - i’m guessing here, but wouldn’t there be smaller plants growing as well?
Wow, maybe I should go and try to make an underwater scene myself - this was kinda fun :). And it became a lot longer than i had intended to begin with, but oh well, posting in this part of the forums i take it you wanted criticism.
cheers
water refracts (bends) light, mostly at the surface, but also in-water due to currents and movement. If the current is really strong i think it could even visibly distort the saucer a bit.
Water currents won’t visibly bend light, unless the water is moving at a sizable fraction of the speed of light in water (no water current even comes remotely close), or the current significantly changes the density of the water (VERY hard to do because water is HARD to compress).
But changes in solute concentration or temperature can cause visible distortions (akin to heat waves off a hot car roof), but I don’t know how common or visible these are in the ocean.
First off I want to say this is a very nice concept, crash scenes are captivating and has alot of energy-
Just a few crits:
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even if it’s a still you want to give evidence of some level of motion example : [break up the rocks that are closer to the ship] [show broken plants around and from under the ship]
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the rays in the background does not fit the scene they are too uniform and they distract from the overall subject… try a more dusty muggy water atmosphere to enhance the mood and overall feeling…
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The caustics is to evenly distributed try a more random setting…
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Zoom out a little and tilt the CAM a bit to add some depth to the scene…
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Also the shadows from the plants, depending on the depth u will not see such sharp shadows underwater…try softing it up a little…
thats just a few things that come to mind…hope it helps…
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kjknohw, thanks for the clarification, you’re right about that.
My reasoning came from that currents often, well, at least sometimes, have different temperature than the surrounding water, so i wasn’t that far off.
It’s awesome!