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Thread: Bringing back the Magic Compass

  1. #1
    Administrator Facebook Connected Robbie's Avatar
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    Default Bringing back the Magic Compass

    I've been meaning to do this for a long time, so I started on it Friday and picked it back up this morning. A long time ago, the inspiration for this site came from an image I was making for fun. I made the image and built the site's logo/layout off of it, and it's held true to that design concept ever since.

    The image was made back in my novice days of modeling/rendering...I built everything haphazardly with no thought towards scale or realism until after everything was modeled...for example, in the above site header image...that map is about 2500 inches tall. Wow.

    Since modern renderers and lighting calculations rely so heavily on scale, I decided to go through the trouble of scaling everything down to real scale...Which sounds easy, except for the fact that when you scale something, that scale factor is stored and maintained. so a 2500" piece of paper is still a 2500" piece of paper that is scaled down to 1.9% or something like that...Instead I had to resize everything. resize means to recreate a lot of it at a different scale, and for some things I was able to scale the vertices down while maintaining a 100% scale factor (crystals, bezier curves, etc.) All of this brings me to where it is now. Getting the magical glow and scene lighting to look good.

    What you have here lighting wise is two candles off to the right, and one directional moonlight beam coming from the top left of the image. I'm not sure how accurate it LOOKS though, and thats where I need some advice. I need advice on lighting, and glow, and texture.

    I'm aware of the tesselation anomalies in the metal textures, and I'm aware of the aliasing on the metallic edges...That will all go away when I do my final render that involves turning the settings way up. What I'm looking for is feedback on composition, lighting, and texture choice. Let me have it!

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  2. #2
    Guild Expert eViLe_eAgLe's Avatar
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    Now... That! Is awesome.

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    Community Leader Guild Sponsor Korash's Avatar
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    I do like the composition and things do look to be in scale. Maybe add some ink to the quill...

    As for the lighting, I am not too sure where the second candle is located....(clock-ray location please?) because the shadows of the glowing gems look a bit off. Also, wouldn't the g;ow of said gems counter any effect from the candles? I also do not see any lighting/shadow from the moonlight.....I see reflections on the face, but no lighting effects...

    I do like the shadow cast by the ink bottle...nice and subtle
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    Administrator Facebook Connected Robbie's Avatar
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    Thanks evile_eagle!

    Korash, I like te idea of ink on the quill...The two candles are pretty much side by side on the right hand side, they're only casting the equivalent of one light because they're close together, distance apart is about 5 inches (kinda like a two candle candelabra). One wasn't bright enough, so I just cloned it instead of doublign the brightness (for realism)

    I'm definitely not satisfied with the balance of the glow, versus the scene lighting, so yes, I think the glow from the gems should definitely cancel out the shadows. Also, the gems need to appear to glow internally, not externally. If you look at the gems in the site header you'll see the diffrence...they were done a different older way using shaders that I think I'm goign to revive.

    As for the moonlight, it's not really supposed to cast any really noticeable shadows...I have shadows for it turned on, but the size of the moonlight emitter is large in order to make the shadow edges very diffuse...The moonlight was basically to cast some white light on the scene so it's not so yellow.

    The ink bottle is the most complex shader solution in the scene. It's actually three different index of refraction calculations: Ink to Air 1.33/1=1.33, Glass to Air 1.5/1=1.5, Ink to Glass 1.5/1.33=.83. This gives the correct refraction for the different surface interactions as light passes through it, lol. Neat
    Last edited by Robbie; 02-13-2012 at 10:01 PM.
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    Community Leader jfrazierjr's Avatar
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    Are the gems glued in place? If not, they would not stay in a "realistic" model. As an aside, I prefer the top banner's more pointy gem on the "bottom"(read closest to viewer)
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    Administrator Facebook Connected Robbie's Avatar
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    Hmmm, good idea...move the pointy gem to the front.

    Is "magic" not a good enough excuse for the gems staying in place? They are glowing ya know I'll see what I can do.
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    Guild Member Lailokken's Avatar
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    If you're going to put ink on the quill I'd remove the cork from the ink bottle (if possible).. maybe have the cork dripping ink onto the table. Also, perhaps add a little more definition to the quill feathers.

    I think magic is a fine reason for holding the gems in place, but if you want the added realism you could always wrap a tiny piece of steel-silk thread or the like around the gem that can be attached to the corresponding prong.

    Overall it's just awesome... I'm so jealous..wish I could do stuff like that.
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    Administrator Facebook Connected Robbie's Avatar
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    I'm doing a render now with the cork off and some wire wrapped around the gemstones to hold them in place. I've also adjusted the lighting a little, and for some reason, the stupid gems were creating a glow, but they weren't casting light...I've fixed that now, and they're actually making little pools of light on the table and map and stuff. Also, some more texture tweaks.
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    Here it is. I experimented a little with the surface of the metal this time also, and made the edges of the metal beveled for added realism. Next trick will be to add some patina or scratches to the surface of the metals or something. Also the ink on the cork needs to be added. What do you all think of the wires holding in the gems? keep or lose?

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    Guild Member Lailokken's Avatar
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    Honestly, I think it's going to come down to which way you prefer the gems. To me, it looks great both ways. If you don't like the wire look though.. you could always try some braided strands, or maybe even some ornate metal gem settings.

    Personally, I like what you did with the cork.. although now the top part of the bottle gets a little bit lost in the background.. at least to me it does. Any chance you can add a bit of dried ink to it.. or maybe some type of silver band around the top to make it stand out more?
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