S.S. Valiant

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Sorry for the ignorant question, is this meant to be the same S.S. Valiant that was mentioned in "Where No Man Has Gone Before"?

I believe so.

 

[Tallguy]

Sorry for the ignorant question, is this meant to be the same S.S. Valiant that was mentioned in "Where No Man Has Gone Before"?

This is the very same S.S. Valiant. So she does not get a happy ending.

 

[Cary L. Brown]

The thing about that form of glow is that it's a post-render effect... meaning it won't actually provide illumination to other parts of the scene, it only "fakes" the glow. So if you do that, you need to create an invisible "ambient light source" to fake out the illumination coming from that region.

That's also a "node" effect, by the way, so I'm presuming that what you mention works much the same way?

Pretty much. This is all done in post. In this case (and with such an extreme glow) the setup involves making sure that EVERYTHING doesn't glow, just the bits I want.

Yeah, that's the problem with using post-render glow effects in what's supposed to be a vacuum environment. The "Halo" effect is just wrong, but that's inherent to pretty much all of the post-render glow effects I've seen. There should be no "atmospheric scatter" effect... that's where you sometimes end up playing with that "normal fall-off" technique...

I know that in places where they need to do a truly photorealistic "space shot" they actually render the glow elements in separate passes and composite them in. Much easier to do in CGI than with physical models (even with motion-control) but still a royal pain in the butt. I'm not aware of any really convincing way to do it other than in that fashion, however... so glow with a minimal "halo" is about as good as you can get. I'd say your halos are just a bit more than they ought to be (looks like it's in a normal atmosphere, but at least not like it's in haze!). But since none of us are expected to think this thing is REALLY flying in space, well... I'd say this is more than good enough!

 

[MadMan1701A]

Nice work, but to me it looks neither NASA nor Star Trek. That is pure Chesley Bonestell.

Awesome. I think aridas would be ok with that. I know I am.

This looks great, but I have a tech question for you. How do you make the glowing areas glow? I haven't been able to achieve that look....

-=MadMan=-

Using Blender's render nodes. There's a new node called Glare. http://www.blender.org/development/release-logs/blender-246/compositing-nodes/ I set up a separate render layer that just has the lights, apply glare to it, then composite it back together.

Oh, I see. I have been trying to figure out how to get that kind of effect with Blender's normal renderer, so that glows show up in animations and stuff. All I can figure to do is to fake it with lamps all over the place.

-=MadMan=-

 

[Tallguy]

Oh, I see. I have been trying to figure out how to get that kind of effect with Blender's normal renderer, so that glows show up in animations and stuff. All I can figure to do is to fake it with lamps all over the place.

-=MadMan=-

Well, that's the nice thing about the nodes system. They can be used with animation.

Of course, with all this talk of the glows I think I should point out that those won't be part of the final look of the ship. They're just place holders.

 

[aridas sofia]

aridas finally found his way back, in time to say just how thrilled he is with Mr. Bill's artistry. It warms the cockles of my heart to see the old Valiant so splendidly arrayed. Such a shame to blow her up.

But I know he'll blow her up reaaaal gooood.

 

[Capt_Jason]

And lo and behold, he has resurfaced!

Welcome back Mister Aridas. How was your galavant across the ol' dominion?

 

[aridas sofia]

10,000 miles full o' fun. In your state, we saw everything from Mr. Obama and the Sears Tower to Cahokia Mounds and the white squirrels of Olney.

And ate damned good pizza at Larry Bobe's in Lawrenceville. And at Gino's East in Chi-Town.

And crispy pig snouts and a pig ear and pickle sandwich in East St. Louis. The less said about them, the better.

And that was just Illinois. There were 25 other states, too.