Thread: Non-Map Art Showcase

Originally Posted by RobA

Me thinks you need to spring for a faster computer

-Rob A>

Have you not worked with 3d Studio Max and Mental Ray yet? Mental Ray is the shizzle...And as for faster computer...I dunno..I'm running a dual core amd opteron 2214 processor with 4 gigs of Ram running windows xp64 and the 64 bit version of 3ds max...My vid card is a 1700 dollar quadro FX 4500...pre-loaded software included this machine cost you 12,000 dollars. (tax dollars).

Its the global illumination, area lighting, 8+ bounce raytracing, internal illumination on the stone, caustic lighting (render time killer), texture blending and edge rounding (shader effect), and scene glare (specular bloom) that drive the render times up...

Originally Posted by pyrandon

Attached is my latest: a sketched portrait of Nak'hat, the ever-smiling bard. He is of the Mawk'hidu ethnicity, whose rough, craggy features, tawny skin, and dark eyes set them apart from the rest of humanity.

This was completely in PS by hand. Take care!

THAT is a suave lookin dood...and the art style looks like something you'd see on a tavern wall flyer...I love it!

Don you need a deviantart account.

Originally Posted by Arcana

Its the global illumination, area lighting, 8+ bounce raytracing, internal illumination on the stone, caustic lighting (render time killer), texture blending and edge rounding (shader effect), and scene glare (specular bloom) that drive the render times up...

Don't take this the wrong way (!?!) but how much difference do many of those things make for a scene that looks fairly simple (in terms of polygon count)?

Like, would I notice a significant difference with/without caustics?

-Rob A>

Yes...the starburst light on th epedestal coming from the gemstone is all caustics. of course it could easily be faked, but I prefer the complexity because it forces me to think in regards to actual lighting.

The muted colors and the ever present grin is very sinister to me. He has a secret that keeps him smiling and most likely it involves someone's demise. Any PC I had would never be able to relax around Nak'hat. I am really enjoying this thread.

Originally Posted by Fister

The muted colors and the ever present grin is very sinister to me. He has a secret that keeps him smiling and most likely it involves someone's demise. Any PC I had would never be able to relax around Nak'hat.

Hahaha. Well, if you ever were to read our game logs, you'd see this is not the case. He's hilarious. Perhaps my sketch is a bit off on that--but his player always describes him as standing too close to others and showing too much teeth when he smiles.

Originally Posted by Fister

I am really enjoying this thread.

Me too--and I want to encourage everyone to post whatever they want here!!! I love seeing everyone's artwork; I don't want this to be Don's playground.

PS: Hey Robbie, what benefit is a deviant art account? I know very little about it!

Take care

Deviantart basically is a free website where you can post your art for others to see and comment on and see other peoples art and comment on it...its basically a big art community.

And unfortunately there is a lot of patting on the back even when the artwork sucks. What I mean by that is that I rarely see honest constructive criticism to actually help the artist improve. It really is a shame that everyone has become so PC and afraid to offend that an honest critique meant to really help gets berated. Yea, I was a victim once. I don't try to help people over there anymore because of that. YMMV.

Some of the Poser galleries are even worse though. I've seen really bad compositions, that even I could do a better job putting together, get a solid 10 rating.

Yeah I also forgot to mention that due to what RP just mentioned...DA is also a VERY big popularity contest...sux really...but it is a great place to post yer stuff because you can also sell prints...