March Art Challenge - Redfern

[Redfern]

This is a draft of my entry for the "It's a Small Trek, After All..."

"We're old hands at this. Whatever you do, don't act like a nut!"

As soon as Biotech presented the theme of diminutive Trek characters and/or ships, I knew I had to create a "Land of the Giants" crossover. The shuttle is from the www.xcalpro.com site. Alt1701 heartily granted me permission to use his SpinDrift model available at his www.sharecg.com page. The squirrel is probably the most popular item during the current March Madness sale at the www.daz3d.com store.

Sincerely,

Bill

 

[biotech]

Nice work.

 

[Ptrope]

I love it!

 

[Redfern]

Thanks, Ptrope and BioTech! Here's a hopefully improved version.

I swapped the "picture tube" blades of grass for some 3D fern models that came with Poser 6. I'll probably try some different sky and lighting effects, but this is getting closer to my goal.

Sincerely,

Bill

 

[Kagan]

Way to go Redfern!!!

I thought of Land of the Giants when I read the challenge, but alas I have no artistic skills. I just lurk around the Art Forum admiring everyone else's talent.

 

[Ptrope]

Much more realistic! I didn't realize the DAZ Squirrel looked that good - I've been generally disappointed with most of their animals.

I'm gonna have to get that Spindrift, as well - looks good, and might be interesting to play around with textures on it (Starfleet? )

 

[Michael]

I like it, too!

A suggestion, though: Maybe there shouldn't be a sky at all. The effect might be better if the background would be forest, wood and other green stuff. Keep up the good work.

 

[Redfern]

I didn't realize the DAZ Squirrel looked that good...

I was pleased with it as well, and at an intro' price of 1.75, how could one go wrong? It seems to be the most popular item so far in this year's March Madness sale.

I'm gonna have to get that Spindrift, as well...

Well, then, to make your search easier, here's the direct ShareCG link:

http://www.sharecg.com/v/9855/3d-model/Spindrift

I tweaked the .OBJ file in UV Mapper, giving it another material zone so that the "pits" within the engine grilles could glow.

Belar? Good point about the background foliage. It would add even more realism. Of course, if I use something too lush, it could "drown" the foreground elements. I might want to slightly dull the colors and maybe even blur it to "fake" some depth of field.

Sincerely,

Bill

 

[Ptrope]

Well, then, to make your search easier, here's the direct ShareCG link:

http://www.sharecg.com/v/9855/3d-model/Spindrift

I tweaked the .OBJ file in UV Mapper, giving it another material zone so that the "pits" within the engine grilles could glow.

Cool! Thanks!

I might pop this baby into Lightwave and have a go at that prow - make it a little more accurate ... I have a friend who has more than one of the old model kits to check against .

 

[Klaus]

sweet!

 

[Ziz]

I'm gonna have to get that Spindrift, as well - looks good, and might be interesting to play around with textures on it (Starfleet? )

Damn, man, I'm surprised Forbin hasn't beaten you to that concept. He turns everything else into starships. I'm waiting for him to come up with the USS Mr. Hanky.

Then again, maybe not.

 

[Kaiser]

Thats a cute Squirrel Render you made there

 

[Mysterion]

I'm gonna have to get that Spindrift, as well - looks good, and might be interesting to play around with textures on it (Starfleet? )

Hmmm...never really thought about it, but with Starfleet markings, the Spindrift wouldn't look too out of place in the St universe.

Or, thinking further, maybe this is ehat Cyrano Jones' ship looked like?

 

[Redfern]

The effect might be better if the background would be forest, wood and other green stuff.

...and you're right, Belar. It does work better! :thumbsup:

I remembered I had a wooded background on hand, an IBL sample that resided within my TrueSpace folders. I expanded it, blurred it, and cropped it to fit the scene existing scene.

Sincerely,

Bill

 

[ThomastheCat]

This looks great Redfern! The blurred background really sells it.

 

[Michael]

Wow! That's so much better! I love it.

 

[Ptrope]

One more suggestion, if you have the software to use it (PSP, Photoshop or Photopaint, etc.): shadowcatcher. The background looks great, but now they don't look like they're actually sitting on the ground plane. Rendering it as only the cast shadows, and then blending them over the render with the forest background, would really help integrate everything.

Getting better all the time! :thumbsup:

 

[Redfern]

Actually, I didn't use the ground plane, I employed actual geometry with a rumpled surface and a texture map. However, I originally used the Poser 4 render engine in P6. And since the fronds of the ferns were textures and transparency maps instead of modeled geometry, they couldn't cast shadows (an inherent limitation of the P4 engine).

I switched to the FireFly render engine and tried various settings. At first, everything was soft focused, the ferns looking especially blurred. I finally set it to the highest auto' setting, switched to manual, hit the "copy from auto'" button and turned down reflective instances to 1. That time it rendered crystal clear with proper anti-aliasing. Here's the result.

Hopefully one can now see the "play" of frond shadows upon the surface of the 'Fleet shuttle and the somewhat darker soil under the craft.

Sincerely,

Bill

 

[Ptrope]

Bravo! :thumbsup:

 

[Redfern]

I'm gonna have to get that Spindrift, as well - looks good, and might be interesting to play around with textures on it (Starfleet? )

Hmmm...never really thought about it, but with Starfleet markings, the Spindrift wouldn't look too out of place in the St universe.

Or, thinking further, maybe this is what Cyrano Jones' ship looked like?

Hmm, maybe something like this?

Obviously, nothing fancy. I just stripped the stabilizer fin, the antenna and the dome platform. Then I simply inverted the main color scheme, turning the hull off-white and the stripe to red, kinda' like the StarFleet pennants. I left the engine array intact, merely adding ambient light to the grille lattice to match the "pits" (rather than trying to "shoehorn" Jefferies styled nacelles onto the hull).

I'm sure others can make it far more "fanon".

BTW, this render is not an entry for the monthly challenge, but since the idea of adapting the SpinDrift was mentioned here, it seemed the best place to present a picture.

Sincerely,

Bill