Shelldweller (Updated: second render added in 12th post)

[RobertT]

Update: Please scroll down to the 12th post for the second render from this project.


+++


Original post:

Another week long project concludes :)


Shelldweller


http://www.artofinterpretation.com/images/shelldweller-web-byrjt2006.jpg



This was a significant project for me in several respects. It was the cleanest UV unwrapping result I've had for a head of this kind of topological detail. I spent two days working on textures and render tests alone for that part. Displacement on the shell was the other area of major improvement I made during this project.

Color maps, bump maps, spec maps, and displacement maps were made in Photoshop. All maps are 4096x4096. Additional Blender procedurals were used in conjunction with the maps and also for the environment.

This was modeled and rendered internally in Blender 2.40. Some light levels/color tweaks mainly on the environment/DOF adjustments were performed in Paint Shop Pro.


As always, thank you very much for viewing my work,

RobertT

[BgDM]

Fantastic character Robertt. Excellent detail level on him too.

I think that the specular on the shell should either not be there, or that the Hardness level is too high. Looks very reflective too, which throws it off for me there. Look at actual snail shells and you will see that they are really not that shiny/specualr. They are more translucent as well.

Some more colour variation and tones on the skin map would really help with this guy too. Paint in some shadows and extra details onto the map to excentuate the high and low spots. It really helps a lot in making the skin more real/beleivable. I also add my bump map layers to the skin colour map as well. This helps with what I just said. Set them to very low opacity though. So they are just barely visible.

Keep on pushing bud. You are always an inspiration.

BgDM

[Imperitor]

Picture doesn't show for me

[Katsuro]

Picture doesn't show for me
Same for me.

Katsuro

[Fakhrudin]

Somehow the picture is lost in the space.... far far far far away from me too...

:p

[RobertT]

BgDM: Thanks so much! Awesome advice as always from one of my all-time Blender inspirations :)


It appears my web host is temporarily inaccessible, so I'm temporarily placing this image at Imageshack (http://img431.imageshack.us/img431/7289/shelldwellerwebbyrjt20065zp.jpg).

*EDIT: image turned back into a link as main host is back up*

RobertT

[r3615]

whole picture is really awesome !!!

You got that gentle grin on his face like it's friendly
but with a little "in your face" something !!!

very expressive...

keep on inspiring us all to push our skills further...

[JDA]

Very good!
The colors are exceptional.

[Room335]

Well done! Very creative. :)

I know this is more of a cartoony picture so just an FYI - bubbles in a liquid are usually not round. The have more of a balloon shape or are kind of squeezed in the middle often times they are like a fat disk.

I discovered this while search for some Photoshop bubble brushes.

[Katsuro]

Hey, it's showing now. But anyways, very nice. For somereason, Finding Nemo came to mind. Guess he kinda looks like the turtles or whatever they were. Keep up the good work in future works.

Katsuro

[RobertT]

r3615: I deeply appreciate the encouraging feedback. I wanted this character to be huge but warm and friendly, so I'm glad that came through.


JDA: Thanks so much, JDA. I actually spent some time on another render, which I will be posting soon below, after taking into consideration what BgDM said.


Room335: Good point about the bubbles! Originally I had more of a watery environment with an IORed plane before the camera that took forever to render and lost some of the detail I worked so hard to establish. With that gone, the bubbles regained their perfectly spherical shapes.


Katsuro: Thanks! That's cool that it reminded you of Finding Nemo. :)



Second render from this project coming up soon!


RobertT

[RobertT]

Here is a second render from this project:


http://www.artofinterpretation.com/images/shelldweller2-byrjt2006.jpg


As BgDM suggested, I tweaked shader hardness on the shell and did some additional work in various areas.

RobertT

[Ace Dragon]

Your work never ceases to amaze me, you always come up with these cool tricks in Blender and then sometimes you give them away for the benefit of all Blender artwork:)

[narven]

Really amasing work :)... nice detail, colours and textures :)

and the face expression is really cool

[sketchy]

Congrats! I think this is your best work since "Blossom". 5 stars from me!

[TFRC]

Absolutely beautiful. Did you do any post-work on the second render? The contrast almost looks too good for straight blender. Also, if you would indulge a noob, I'd love to hear more about how it was textured. Did you paint the displacement by hand from scratch or layer patterns to get the subtler bumps? Also, are the lights colored? Or are those highlights from ramp shaders? Or painted on?

Blows away anything Finding Nemo had to offer -- I've never seen anything like it.

[Michael_R.]

Absolutely perfect....
i like it^^
(want be able to do thi,too^^)

[Aligorith]

Once again RobertT, you have raised the bar. I've noticed that in your renders, you typically make images that look as if they've been hand painted. It's a very special style, considering that quite a lot of cg work is pixar-ish (cartoon, shiny style).

Well done ;)

Aligorith

[lucidMonkey]

the 2nd render is 10x better. Bravo!

[BgDM]

Great improvement bud. Excellent job.

BgDM

[Imperitor]

I can see it now. Your work is amazing. The compliments must be getting redundant by now. I've never seen you make anything that wasn't to the highest standards... Keep on blending.

[RobertT]

Icoxo: Thanks so much, Icoxo. This community means a lot to me.


narven: I appreciate that! It helped knowing in advance what kind of expression I wanted to portray here.


sketchy: Wow, thanks! I do feel it's my best work in several regards, and that's cool that you remember Blossom :)


TyFric: Thanks so much. Yes, some post work was done on the second one (levels, saturation adjustment down). Almost all my post work will be able to be done in Blender now thanks to render nodes and advanced material options. Displacement was painted by first uvmapping the shell and then painting a texture. Additional procedurals were incorporated in other texture channels to provide some extra bump and material enhancements (hardness, spec, etc.). I often use colored lights, and there are some here. Ramp shaders were also used here. It was one of those more involved projects that involved a little of everything :)


<<mR.d@hLa!>: Thanks!


Aligorith: I appreciate the kind words, Aligorith. I spend a lot of time with test renders, trying to get things as good as I can within Blender. I try to use settings and make shader/lighting/render choices that don't underscore the CG-ness of a piece.


lucidMonkey: Thanks for noting the improvements, lucidMonkey :)


BgDM: Once again, thank you, BgDM for the excellent advice.


Imperitor: Thanks, Imperitor. I'm trying to push further with my Blending skills. I still have a lot to learn and a long way to go to the achievements I have in mind in 3D, but with a piece like this I feel I'm making some progress.


RobertT

[stouckol]

i don't really like the first render, but the second is excellent !
i love that style, well done ;)