first 3d modeling for c+c

[nads]

hey,
wow.. look time no post.. I've been side-tracked really bad from my AGS game *sigh* i've been playing around with 3d studio max getting really hooked on it... just thought i would post some images i made about a week ago and see what you guys think.
thanks!
- nads

[Nikolas]

Well...

From what I've seen so far (although not a graphic artist by a million), I have to comment as this:

For AGS or adventure game these two are amazing. Can work great in a game and there is nothing wrong with them.

For a non AGS or adventure game and as a 3d rendering I see a lot of faults which unfortunately due to my lack of knowledge I cannot pin point out. And example is the shadow from the glass which should be much lighter. Right now it seems that the galss is made out of solid rock or something, judging from the shadow. The smoke from the ciggarette is two much imo.

Keep in mind that I know shit about graphics really so this post is instinct guided.

[Ali]

The lighting is atmospheric in the first picture, unfortunately it directs our attention away from the desk to the blank wall/floor behind. To achieve a noir look don't use dim lights, use bright back-lights that just pick out the outlines of your composition. Also change the shader on the lamp to make it emit light or glow.

The second image is clearer than the first, but is so bright that the atmposphere is lost. Consider chiaroscuro lighting (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiaroscuro).

Apart from the lighting, the texturing and modelling is pretty strong. The paper looks particularly nice, but I'd consider a narrower pencil.

[nads]

yeah, i dont know how to make the shadows on the glass objects lighter.. *sigh* still learning.. i've only been fiddling around with 3ds max for about 2 months off and on... so yeah.. thanks for the comments thou..

[Ashen]

I think you have to change the Light object's 'Shadows' setting from 'Shadow Map' to 'Ray Traced'. At least. that's how it was in the last version of 3ds I used.

[Hammerite]

offtopic: is that a nyc ghosts and flowers tour poster there?

[nads]

no its a sonic nurse tour poster

[Oneway]

I think they're pretty nice. Though the thing that stood out the most for me were the low-res carpet, wall and desktop textures. Try to find some higher resolution textures so they won't get streched that far.
Either that, or have them tile more.

[jetxl]

I noticed that the groves of the wood on top of the dest go vertical. I cheched out all the desks and tables in my house and they always go horizontal. In the picture the front side of the top goes horizontal as well.

[fertoff]

you should use caustics so the glass shadow looks right. the thing is that the scanline render of max doesn't use caustics,,,you should use the mental ray renderer or vray, or something like that...

[fertoff]

This is what i meant with caustics. I pulled this render together in 5 minutes to show you.




I used mental ray for this one. Also added a tiny touch of DOF for the sake of it.Ã, 
Hope this helps!!
bye

[Ali]

I'd be careful with caustics, they can be overdone. fertoff's caustics are nice to look at, but they're no more 'realistic' than your solid shadow.

Be equally careful with depth of field. Every other render I see is ruined by extreme shallow focus. fertoff's DoF was nicely subtle though.

For incidental glass objects, a semi-transparent shadow would suffice without forcing you to spend a long time tweaking caustics. Without knowing much about mental ray/vray, I suspect that they will be much slower than the scanline render as well.

-Ali

[LimpingFish]

The shadows in the first scene appear to be wrong, but without knowing what kind of light, its postion, falloff, etc., its hard to pinpoint exactly what the problem is.

In 3D, for still images anyway, there's so much fakery that can be employed to achieve the desired affect.

In this scene...



...the lightbulb is just a prop, no light is actually connected to or near it. The light is positioned above and to the right of the camera. A second light, pointing in the same direction, but positoned differently, provides most of the shadows cast on the wall.

Of course this scene is by no means lit "correctly", and a professional 3D artist could point out dozens of faults within it, but it does the job it was designed for with minimum technical effort. 2 omni lights, set to soft shadow, each with a slightly different falloff point. Simple.