Hey guys,
I'm pretty knew at making 3D graphics. Please check out this pic and tell me what you think -
(url="http://"http://www.geocities.com/remenant/intensebatlte.jpg")http://www.geocities...tensebatlte.jpg(/url)

just cut/paste the link and check it out
Yes I know that the spelling of battle is wrong but i typed it that way while rendering so sorry about that!)

1. I'm looking for construcive critisim, so no "Oh thats just shyte" kinda messages please
2. I'm hoping for advice from other 3d graphics makers on how i can imporve it technically, such as the lighting, camera angle, especially weapon effects I really suck at those as you can see from the pic! and also any texture tips?
3. Speaking of texture tips, does anyone have any advice making the minute light textures on ships, i.e. those big massive ships with cool looking lights everywhere (sorry if I'm not explaining this clearly enough). An example is the Audemedon Carrier picture from the Ares Title screen
4. Hey Meowx, if you see any textures there that you like then e-mail me at vmossad@hotmail.com and I will send them to you! I have a bump map that I want to send you but i'm having problems with FTP if you want then I can send them via e-mail. so either e-mail me or reply here and tell me what you want!

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Just because I spend a
lot of time thinking
doesn't mean that I'm
intelligent.

First of all, sure, just email the texture to me. Ok, on to the picture...
Ok overall. My first reaction to it is that the objects (planets, ships, asteroids etc) do not blend well with the background. This is one of the hardest things to do right! First of all, you want your background to look right. Looks like you've got a good handle on making nebulas in Photoshop, Try to make it more localized though. Like, just in the top left corner, not over the whole picture. Also, the lens flare doesn't look right, tone it down or prehaps remove it all together...
The planets themselves look good. The asteroids are a bit too smooth, but the bump map on them is quite nice. There's a frog face in the far right one! Actually, that face is the best looking asteroid area, especially the line above it. Go for more of that look.
The beams - they don't really look like beams. One rule for rendering beams is to never render the end of it - either have it hit a ship and stop or have it go off-screen. And big beams (like the ones in the pic) are hard to pull off, smaller ones always look better. I can't tell, but I think there's a beam coming out of the blue tape-measure looking thing... if that is a beam, it's kinda weird looking.
The ships. A general rule for making realistic ships is that there is no such thing as "mint condition". Here's the Fed Carrier I was working on last night (for Quantumire SE):

I reccomend you make some (or get some) 'plate' textures and wear them down with Photoshop. If the 3D program you're using supports diffusion maps (unlikely), this is even better. Nice work with the yellow makings on the brown guys. Just add some texture maps or bump maps to make it look like they're made out of plates welded together and they're good! You will also want to play around with the 'shinyness' of the object - right now they look a bit like the standard EV/EVO ships - like plastic. This is a very hard thing to get around in 3D.
Wow, that's a long post. Keep up the good work and don't quit - the more you do it, the better you get!
-david-
PS - Here's an example of some of my first work: the old Federate Carrier (called the Federate Cruiser back then) from the original Quantumire Trilogy...

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(url="http://"http://www.meowx.com")Meowx Design Studios(/url)
Graphics. Games. And more...

phooooo...

I agree, mostly, with -david-. I've got a few things to say:

1. Blend the background. Your background has way more of a jpeg-compression look than the foreground.

2. Apply lens flares last. This'll fix the odd appearance david noticed. Lens flares are an in-camera effect, so they appear on top of everything. That's why I don't use them too often...

3. Yes, your asteriods look a bit smooth. Get a nice, rough texture for the bump and apply it! That, or work some magic with the mesh.

4. To me, your planets look a bit unrealistic. The one with the "arc" on it is kinda funky, and the plain one, though it may be a plain gas giant, lacks any kind of texture or detailed appearance.

5. Don't just use some cloud filters for nebulas. "Clouds" is old and kinda ugly if not used right (you were pretty good in your use though). If you use clouds, customize a bit! Darken areas with the airbrush in PShop, and use the smudge tool.

6. Beams and weapons: try to find something that makes glowy stuff in your program. For me, I can use point and tube lights with glows for projectiles and beams. Objects make lousy beams. And, Meowx is right about the beam golden rule: try not to show the end. If you really can't render them, try adding them post-process with Photoshop.

7. Small lights: it's just a texture. First you have to learn about making textures, then it isn't too difficult (though more difficult that just textures) to make a little-light texture.

8. Lighting: there's no light source coming from your lens flare! At least make a little light coming from anything bright enough to cause a sun-style flare. Also, high-angle lighting is more dramatic...eg. coming from the side or top. For space scenes, turn ambience off or make it the color of the surroundings (here, dim red). Also a good effect is a back- or fill-light, which shines subtley on the shadow areas, or very high-angle (only a thin crescent of light peeking around an object is seen) can make for a good image, and coloring that light can make for a cool effect.

9. Camera: not bad, but for action scenes get up close and personal! Right now it's kind of like "space scene, and oh yeah there's a few ships shooting at each other in the middle". Make sure the largest part of the image is the subject, in general (there are exceptions). Also, on the ships themselves, try for some more dynamic angles. It's almost planar now, with the way they're facing and where they are. Not too exciting. Also, all the ships are bunched up. Have a few stragglers racing in to get a part of the action, someone circling back around, several driving foreward aggressively. There's little difference in the distance between your ships in this scene - they're kind of evenly spaced. Another note: 5 ships does not really make for a particularly intense battle scene.

I'd post some examples, but they're my submissions for the graphics competition: they're not really supposed to be seen until the voting begins, and they're anonymous for the voting.

I hope my comments helped. Look for me after the graphics competition voting ends.

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Remnant , I might not know as much as others here about models, but I do know planets, and have devised a reasonably surefire way to make realistic looking ones about 80% of the time:

Made using Photoshop 5.0

They suffer from(as anyone who uses Photoshop could tell you) not being actually 3D, limiting them to use in EV/O, since EV3 is supposed to have moving planets...or something.
It's simply a clever and specific string of filters that, when used correctly, produce this effect. Theoretically, they could be used as texture/bump maps in a 3D app, provided one uses proper settings(i.e., no highlights, little ambient light, and plenty of sunshine). But, unless you're using a high-end app, they may not come out right.

Just adding my 1 1/2 cents. Of course, maybe they suck and I'm just deluding myself.

But, if they don't, and you want to make ones of your own, just email me and I'll send it to anyone who want the recipe. I just love making these(they're so easy), so if you'd prefer someone else(me) made them, just send me a general description of what you want and I'll make them.

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"Sorry, a system error
occurred.
"Finder"
bus error
-restart-", MyMac

Q-Czar - A member of RA. Ramblers Anonymous

Quote

Originally posted by Q-Czar:
(b)Well, he posted some planets.

No, Q-Czar, they don't suck! They're quite nice, that's a great way to make texture maps for 3D ones.
-david-

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(url="http://"http://www.meowx.com")Meowx Design Studios(/url)
Graphics. Games. And more...

nothing to do with the technical side but
it doen't look to intense

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Thanks a lot to all of you for the input,
I've learnt a lot from just this one thread, so hopefully my next graphic will be a bit better.
Weepul - I can make point and infinte light sources only in the 3d app I currently use. So I guess i can use the point light source as the weapon projectiles, however, don't I need to put it inside an object to make it visible? I don't think that my program supports object lights.
thanks for all the input anyways it was really helpful.
Q-czar - e-mail is on its way

I guess I should probably rename the pic to "Fight in Asteroid belt"
thanks again everyone and look forward to an imporvement in my next image.

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Just because I spend a
lot of time thinking
doesn't mean that I'm
intelligent.

Just a short note on someting the others did not discuss on. Look in the picture where the edge of the smaller planet touches the edge of of the astroid at around the 7 o'clock position. When the edges of 2 objects that are supposed to be at different distances from the camera touch one another it's called a tangent point. Always try to avoid this. Make sure the viewer can easily see that one object is either in front or behind another object. If such a tangent point exixts in an image, it can cause confusion in the sense of space in the image. Hope this helps.

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