Preserved Topic: Criticism (Page 1 of 1)

Hey, all!

I'm currently practicing my "realism" look and the product thus far isn't very appealing. Please take a look and give me a few suggestions as to what I might be able to do with the lighting, wires, LED lights, etc. I'm not happy with it and I'd like your constructive criticism. Thanks!

~Kinetic
http://www.kinetic-sage.com/Dope.jpg

a very good painting you got there!
i just think, the LEDS dont fit in. they are too glowey... and bright...

not a bad start there, The lightening loks a little haphazard imho, and the LED lights could do with being aligned horizontally. The texture is fairly good, as are the wires, however, the drop shadows around certain areas of some of the wires looks wrong. Maybe tone down the rust a little, darker perhaps.

Welcome to the Asylum

::edit:: almost forgot, I think the techno look of the bg doesnt fit with the 'rough decayed' look of the IF



[This message has been edited by vogonpoet (edited 05-28-2002).]

Thanks kindly. I figured the LEDs might give it an interesting contrast but it's too much, I agree. The wires are a bit sloppy I think, too. As for lighting, I can't seem to get some of the effects I've seen around by just using render > Lighting effects. In this image, I used black and white air brush to make the shadows and highlights myself, but as you can see, it looks like crap. =p Can you think of any good lighting tuts that might do me well? Thanks again!

~Kine

the best thing I can suggest is to study objects in real life and become familiar with how light falls/reflects/casts shadows etc. Its more of learning how to see it then actually make it. Once ya can see it making it is easier

btw, it aint crap like you keep saying heh, its a good beginning and imho, it just shows a lack of experience. Give your self time to develop your skills.

keep at it and pay attention to the details.

Not sure what your workflow is, but try and leave the lighting til near the end, and consider the whole piece when adding shadows/highlights etc.

Welcome to the funny farm, Kine. You`ve got a good start there.
Maybe it`s just me, but the led lights are the ones with wires stuck in them, yes ? LED lights usually don`t, do they ? At least not on the front.
Also, it seems to me that on the main body, the highlights and shadows are too intense relative to the rest of the piece.
I think the problem with the wires and shadows is that they`re too consistent. As if the wires are all a the same distance form the background. That`s really hard to do in reality, and is inconsistent with the shadows on the wires themselves.
After that, it`s like VP said, it`s all in the details. What makes it look so *digital* is the cleanliness of it. No scratches, dents, dust, water spots, etc. You have a good start on the corrosion there, but it`s clean corrosion.
Did that make any sense ?


Cell245

That makes perfect sense, thank you. As for the LED lights, I've updated the image on my FTP (by accident) since I posted originally. Since then I've deleted the lights. I'll take your advice and see if I can wear it down a bit. Thanks! I submitted my first RP not long ago. Trying to inch my way into the community. Ciao!

~ Kinetic

lol @ 'inch your way'

Just dive in with both feet!!! graba straight jacket, wait for your supply of black pills to arrive, and sit back and enjoy the ride!

theres some strange goings on at the Asylum .......... some say stay away from teh fish and leave me mop alone!

Yah, good bits of advice all round so far. Nice work so far.

Just thought I'd add a couple more things. Highlights and shadows are not just black & white. They have colour in them. Colour from the object and colour from the light itself. Oh and you can't ever get a purely white light.

Another thing, It's not always dark on one side, light on the other and plain in the middle. It often crosses over a bit. I took your image and quickly painted it up, see how I've re-enforced the depth of the objects by lighting areas up before the shadow and vice versa:

Yes! One of the most important things Dracusis said there is that "highlights are not white". They aren't! They are simply the color of the object times the color of the light times the cosine of the angle between the normal of the object and the light.

For you non-math type people, that means that a highlight is really just the color of the object made brighter. If you have a red object, the highlights should be bright red. Now, if your light source is colored, and as Dracusis mentioned you never see a true white light in nature, then you should make the highlights have some of that color in them.

Another thing to keep in mind is that any part of the object that even slightly faces away from the light source is not lit by the light source. The fading from full color to black happens in the area that is hit by light - the areas that aren't hit by light should be entirely black except for ambient light.

Note that just because I can say all this doesn't mean I can do it, at least not with some practice. I know this because of my experience with POV-Ray, but if I tried to actually *draw* something realistic, it would take practice.

a yup,

<vp secret]
1. new layer above image
2. layer blend mode----soft light
3. paint on new layer with soft/hard brush with either;
(a) white - brush mode 'lighten' for highlights
(b) black - brush mode 'darken' for lowlights
4. Adjust brush pressure/layer opacity to taste

yum yum

</vp secret>


This technique was actually shown to me by someone who shall remain anonymous thanks ~Vp~

You guys own me. ;-p

Hey, I'm learning, eh?!

~Kine

Wow, that sound's like a really sweet trick VP. Thanks a bundle for sharing. I'm sure to use something like that all the time.



Kine, learning is the *best* part of all of this. Play, have fun. You'll get there. Hell, if VP can do you should be able to!

Hah! Just kiddin wif ya VP.

~scampers off to play with new PS thing~ Yay! you da man VP...

Kine: Welcome. Just a couple of points:

1. In your round bits (top right and bottom left) there are 4 circles punched out which come right to the edge of the round things and I doubt that would be a wise thing to do in a real object - the holes would either be nearer the centre (so there is a thicker edge) or further out (which is the one I might go for).

2. With your shadows you've done well getting the feeling of height for the wires but there is one bit that sticks out as being wrong (at least to me - I may have missed the point). Below the H you have two wires the left one is clearly lower and, quite correctly, the right curves and passes over it. However, this then passes under the third wire in that area but that wire looks to be much lower. Its tricky getting everything right but that bit just jumps out at me as looking unrealistic.

Other than that it is a great way to enter the Asylum.

___________________
Emps

FAQs: Emperor