Hello!
I started working on the environment and I need some hars critics to improve everything!
http://theexodus.battletechmodproductions.com/xwarrior/bg_4.jpg
The grain: that,s the result of an Ambiant Occlusion lighting test, I might get ride of it later…(also that it isn’t an official release and we are just allowed to use official release)
Anything else is up for critics! Bombard me!
PS: I won’t let the sky blue like that BTW
You need to decide what sort of setting this will be-
Abandoned factory? (seems to be the favorite around here)
High-tech manufacturing plant?
In the middle of a battle zone?
If you look at winners of the past F1 contest, a lot of detail was paid to the backgrounds to get the ambient setting they were looking for. Sorry I can’t help more at this point, but I’d just suggest brainstorming. When you started working on this, where kind of picture did you see?
hehe, this is placed on the side of a huge building. The f1 is on a platform attached to a garage. In the background there will be a city, so don’t worry about details 
(I kinda know what it needs for an image to win a contest hehe)
haha you won in 2003, of course:) The image looks pretty good to me, I don’t know what needs to be changed about it, I just know that it needs some things added…
At the moment i cant see anything wrong with it, maybe the barrels need a little something more, they have been knocked over suggesting they may have been there for a while, so a bit of rust maybe.
About the Ambient Occulsion, its great, hopefully before The final date for the contest 2.33 will be out with the AO lamp in it. I would keep 2 sets of lighting in different layers, one with AO, and one without. Then if the realease doesnt come out before then you always have another good lighting set up to use.
About the city in the background, it sounds like a lot of work, but its a great idea.
Those barrels in the foreground are distracting and hiding part of the F1. I would suggest making an updated version of the garage you used last year. The F1 itself is top notch as I would expect from the defending champion! 
Also, I am assuming that the title banner is created in Blender? 
Update time!
http://theexodus.battletechmodproductions.com/xwarrior/bg_6.jpg
I scrapped the idea of using AO cause render time are way too high
Here’s an half finished pic of an AO test
http://theexodus.battletechmodproductions.com/xwarrior/bg_5.jpg
it looks good…but for the time it takes…ughh!
Anyway, I’ll be waiting for some suggestions and critics!
I made those barrel smaller so they won’t distract from the main f1…I might even make some DOF so they are blurred and the F1 is in focus.
Next update will be this weekend with way much more!
Damn, that was my setting! :< owe well i guess ill just have make mine look better(I wish)!
i love when the colors are messed up!!!
The picture looks unbalanced. I would say you need something on the right hand side in the front. It looks too empty right there :/.
Yea you’re right on that, tx for the constructive critic 
Oh and I have some sort of idea to throw at you. How about add some glowing things like lights and nobs. maybe the engines can have the burners lit or something also. Just a though.
Here’s another small update…removed the woody table
I really need your C&C guys! Fire them at me!!!
I like what your doing with the chains, but maybe instead of having the chains just wrap around maybe have some hooks (that uh hook onto the F1) and an adjustment type of thing like this
may i ask why the car is goping to be in a workshop again?? it was in a workshop last time. and no offence but i think the creativity is gone. i think the new one should be racing.
we know you are good at modeling 9we have seen countless static images), now we want to a good action composition. you have done one action shot remember (look in the manual ). now i want to see another one.
as a convisation between two 15 year old girls chewing gum would go
“OMG i can’t believe X-W did another workshop…”
“Yeah me neither, i mean the workshop ideal is Soooooo last year”
ha ha ha
have a good one
not saying i don’t like the work you have doen n it, but i am warning you that it is not exciting me as a concept
Alltaken
a nice action scene with a competitor crashing in the background, or raming the red one would be cool. there is a lot more room for emotion in an action shot (even if the action shot is a pit-change with the crew out.)
could be the racers zooming out from the line.
could be a cockpit shot looking in a rear view mirror.
could even be a shot from a spectators POV looking at a TV seeing this car on it.
could be an image in a newspaper article about a win in the championship…
could be a holographic projection into a living room of your vehicle (and half a competitors) with a kid getting excitied.
it could be anything.
just throwing ideas out there. but take what you like, do what you wish.
i want you to win again, but i promise i will vote for the best (yeah thats a threat you slimy bastard, your either with me or against me (lol quote from your favorite person))
Alltaken
ACK! X-Warrior and his ultra-low-bias shadow lamps are at it again!! My beautiful AO!! You should definitely render the final with it…I promise you won’t be disappointed. Look at my Sig for a new CVS version blender that has a much improved sampling pattern (Curteousy of the beautiful and seductive Ton Roosendaal) that lets you shut off the awful “random sampling” button and see what AO is really capable of.
Example:
No lamps
OSA 8
640 x 480
AO Samples 16
AO Distance 5
Random Sampling Off
Render Time: ~4 min 30 sec on Athlon XP 1800+ with 512 MB of RAM
http://blender.spaceisbig.com/ao_test7.jpg
Anyway, as for your scene…right now this honestly looks like a movie set with an elaborate prop in front of a blue screen. You should composite some real actors and cameras into it and see if you can convince people there’s a feature film being made there… My weirdness aside, I think this vehicle wants action…it wants an engine flaming out with sooty smoke pouring over the cockpit. It wants a piece of metal from another racer slashing its wing. It wants a blurred background while this thing is cruising along somewhere near the speed of sound. It doesn’t just want an oil change. Oil Change = Not exciting. X-Racer 2 = Very Exciting. After all, it is a RACER. I agree with Alltaken in that regard.
Desoto: the thing with AO is, that it’s not in an official release and that make it “illegal” for the competition…I sure know it give great results…but I can’t use it for the moment :S
Alltaken+desoto: I dunno guys, I always thought that a “still” image was way better than an action shot because we could show way more details…but sure an action shot would be very cool, but I really don’t know. I’m already started on my pic, and trowing it away would show I lost lost of time and there is only 3weeks to go…I’ll think about it during the day and give my answer tomorow
Release with AO is imminent. Definitely before contest deadline. You could use AO at the last minute to render. Just a thought.
Still shots are nice yeah…but they don’t say as much all the time as a good action piece. Maybe you should consider some kind of hybrid scene. Like this thing could be sitting in the pits while a big race is going on in the background.
Here’s the latest pic!
I’m now going for a semi action shot. The car is arriving in the “pit” to get a recharge of his batteries while 2 other cars in the background will race in tight formation between civil car (don,t forget this kind of race is illegal in my back story :P)
So the only thing I need to think about is how I’ll put the 2other racing f1 in the background to get a nice composition of all of it (I already have 75% of both car finished)
I’ll be waiting for some other c&c on the lighting and ideas of objects they would like to see around
Oh and I’m desespairly (is that the word?) searching for futuristic city pic. If any of you know a place where I can found some great pic of “The Impostor” movie city I would appreciate it. I tried googling it, but didn’t got much result.
Anyway, I’ll be waiting for some ideas from you guys!
