Thanks a lot, Enos 
I’m trying to turn the cheetah into a dog because the following scene makes more sense:
Of course the obvious mistakes:
-UV-mapping on the frisbee
-the head/face just looks wrong (way to angry)
-the background trees’ alpha is not working
-the ground below the grass is white
-the grass is boring
Again critiques, notes, comments, further mistakes, etc are very welcome
Pretty cool pose! Although I don’t think turning it into a dog is a good idea…maybe change the Frisbee to a bird instead?
i don’t think turning it into a dog is a good idea either, that would mean completely derailing from your original idea, which is not good under any circumstances IMO. since you said this is a war machine, why not go for somemore extreme type of render? here’s my idea (i would sketch it out for you but i can’t right now, so i’ll try to explain it):
a scene of the cheetah chasing a man, the cheetah is closer to the camera, which is right behind it, and the man is running towards a sort of very bright light source, this make him a silhouette figure and you don’t need to work too much on the detail 
. use some motion blur and the scene will look “dynamic”
as for the model, maybe make the belly thinner, to look more cheetah like and give the impression of a swift machine.
Thanks 
That’s a really cool idea. I just modeled a bird for the scene, so now to wait for the render 
I don’t think looking at the robot from behind would work very well since the face has to be in it. Also a silhouette figure feels kinda like a cheat and I haven’t seen that many renders that work with that element.
Thanks for the link though, that’s quite good reference. I adjusted the belly and hope that it’s going to be better
I really like the robot model…very nice work !.
In my opinion the background is to busy though. The colors are a bit to simillar to the dog, so it doesn’t stand out enough.
A beach could work in the background, or if it has to be a park…maybe a lush green one.
Looking forward to the final result, keep it up !
You should have the big kitty play with a big ball of cables 
Thank you, Durast 
I changed some things in the background in the current version so I think the robot is standing out enough now.
Haha great idea. If there’s time I will definitely try that
Now for the update:
. I think the background is working better now but I need to fill the big hole on the left with something.Any comments, notes, etc. are quite welcome
nice. maybe go for yellow grass? cause you know… cheetahs live in savannah. and maybe a sunset, Lion king style!
still not sure if the model yells “cheetah” enough. here’s a fun idea, ask the person next to you, who knows nothing about CG, and don’t know what is this you’re making, and see if he recognize this as a cheetah
Yeah, I think the grass can definitely be more yellowish, but since it’s of the grass essentials I’d have to change multiple materials, so I’ll probably change it in postprocessing. I didn’t come around to the fun challenge yet but I agree that it’s pretty impossible to see a cheetah in the robot. I also don’t know if I’m going to change the robot that much anymore since I’m not that much of a modeler
Worst case scenario: I’m going to keep it as a mecha-cheetah-hound-thingy and focus more on the expression of the image and less on the accuracy of the robot
Update:
those bushes in the background are alphas planes aren’t they? i think with it being pretty close to the camera, it would pay off to put in the extra work and model them. right now i think the lightings on those trees are not matching with the scene, and it just look obvious that this is fake.
but for the rest, it is looking stunning. the bird look cool, and kinda funny. grass done well. is this still a cheetah? cause i see you name the image “Mecha Hound”?
You need depth of field. Blur out the background because it does nothing for the image.
Thank you, I’m probabely going to blur the trees out in the next version. Modeling some trees could work. I’ll definitely try that
Way ahead of ya
If it works out the next version is going to include dof as well as some mist. Already started the rendering process
New update:
This is currently using the grass essentials, but I already remodeled half of the needed particles myself.
What do you think
looking nice. only 4 days left now so i suggest you wrap it up and start compositing, color correction. right now the scene gives the impression of a gloomy and sad atmosphere, due to the mist and the desaturated color of the landscape. not sure if that’s intentional though
this last image you posted looks fantastic! very nice progress
I want to, but first I gotta get this grass right. The grass in the latest picture is made of the grass essentials, which I’m pretty sure I am not allowed to use. I already remodeled the individual elements myself so now I just have to make it look right. The atmosphere was not really intended that way but I like it. I still have to render the scene in a good quality and that takes a while. Oh boy, I hope there’s enough time
Thanks a lot, Jeepster
Okay, I think this is going to be it:
This is beautiful! Congratulations!
