Hi there.
I have been working on this for the good part of 3 days now, and i have reached a point where i am running out of ideas for improvement. I need some outsider perspective.
Also if anyone has a nice high res rock texture i could use (Of a similar colour to the one i am currently using in this project) It would be more than appreciated 
Cycles – 500 samples – 43 mins
Holy buckets! Nicely done. Reminds me of some of the images in my college textbooks from back in the day. Sadly, I was only an archaeology nerd rather than a paleontology or geology nerd, so I can’t offer super specific insight… maybe make the fossil a little less glossy and flatter in color??? But that all probably depends upon the fossilization conditions, so it might be perfect. Maybe you could add a damaged fossil next to it (I recall seeing many-a-picture of broken fossils in clusters).
As far as visual interest goes, I think it’s great. Is that sculpted? I would be interested in seeing the wireframe.
This is amazing as it is, but I have a few things that I think would make it more interesting.
@Rajakabapockets - Thankyou very much 
I’m very happy that someone with some knowledge and insight of the subject matter has viewed this project. I agree with you about flattening the colour slightly, But as for the the glossy highlights i feel as though they flow nicely with the lighting conditions and also with the material of the surrounding rock.
And yes, I also encountered many images of ammonite fossils in clusters… Most of them highly damaged, but i wanted to create a well preserved specimen.
This has been box modelled completely, using 1 referance image of a fossil. ( a rather good top view referance image ). I added a background image of the referance photo in top view to model the general shape of the fossil. I then subdivided the mesh and modelled finer details using proportional editing. I then created even finer details by using displacement (Material and Geometry) and also normal maps set to a low strength. I used the same process to model the rock as well.
I plan on uploading a wireframe of this mesh very shortly.
@Airman - Thank you very much for you’re compliments and critiques.
I think i will definatley be exploring the idea of adding vegetation to the fossil, but my main concern is that i think the only thing that would grow under these conditions would be moss, and were ever moss grows, there is usually a lot of it. and i don’t want it to take to much focus away from the center piece of this project, but i will definatley do a few tests.
I think your crystal idea is interesting, i will do a quick google later to see if i can find any referance images.
And yes, I do think this would look good resting slightly buried in the sand somewhere along a beach. 
If you can’t find any reference images, it basically looks like a geode, they go through the same process (minerals dissolved in water get in) but one is a rock and the other is a fossil.
Thats helpfull mate 
thanks. It would give me the chance to explore new shader setups, as i’ve never created a geode shader or anything like it.
Good luck!
I like it ill say that, I think if you want to get up on the top row you need a good setting. Also I have a few ideas to help add some better looking dirt effects but without knowing your goal i don’t want to guide you off the wrong way. But really add some plant life, get a real solid layout and its good to go man. Keep all the composition rules in mind. cant wait to see the final thanks for sharing
@jeffreywvgd - Thanks man. The main reason i uploaded this project is to get advice from more experienced users, i have basic knowledge of composition but i am at nowhere near the level of some of the artists on this site.
Could you elaborate on your ideas for adding dirt, as currently i have not started that phase yet. All there is so far is highly subdivided meshes with displacement.
My end goal is to have the rock resting on a beach, partially buried by sand. But i am not fully sure if i am up to the task of pulling that off with sufficient realism.
Very cool. You’re right that the glossiness of the fossil matches the stone, and that could easily be what you’d see in reality. There are certainly shiny fossils; biological gemstones come to mind. Pearls, coral, and amber are obvious examples, but iridescent fossilization also happens, which is right in line with the geode idea.
Having it in a sandy beach would look pretty neat, but, like you said, it’s possibly difficult. You could put it on a rocky beach, which wouldn’t be an unreasonable place to find a fossil. However, a lot of the smaller (sub-boulder sized) rocks near water I’ve seen are typically smooth because of erosion. Because fossils like this are found in places “where there used to be water,” you could place it in a wide variety of settings actually - woods, foothills of a mountain, desert, etc… Again, most of what interested me in the past was anthropological/archaeological, so I can’t really say where you might stumble upon a rock that looks like that in the real world… But that’s all a matter of fact-based-realism anyway, and it might not necessarily make for the best art/composition/most striking image. At any rate, it’s a cool image, and you could tell quite the little story with it. I can’t wait to see what you do with it.
@Rajakabapockets - I’ve decided to move away from the beach idea… Like you said, these types of fossils are found where there used to be water. I think that i might try and create a dried up river bed and have the rock and fossil slightly submerged in the dirt.
As for fact-based realism, it would be nice to have this be a factually accurate image but unfortunatley i have little knowledge when it comes to geology/paleontology, and i am at the mercy of wikipedia and google when it comes to my research. So i can settle for just visual realism at this point in time.
Thankyou for your continued interest and feedback it is much appreciated
Amazing work! Great job.
Thanks man
hi again,
Just a quick update. I’ve started experimenting with different scenes to place my fossil into.
I’ve got the furthest with this one so far. It is supposed to be a kind of dark rough sand filled with small stones and pebbles, it’s no where near the level i want it to be at yet but i thought it was worth uploading.
The texture is a basic mix of three textures, mixed together in the node editor in cycles. I’ll post a pic of the setup along with the render.
I also slightly altered my lighting setup, but i’m not happy with the result so i will be doing further modification either tonight or tomorrow.
Let me know if i’m on the right track with this one, i’m not fully sure about my use of textures.
Cycles – 300 samples – 39 mins
Neat node setup. I’ve never used a black emission node before (Is that black a black emission node, or am I seeing things?), let alone mix it with an SSS.
