Midnight_Ice_Breaker

[pblacklock]

C&C welcome

thanks
Paul

[renderingfarmer]

First of all, the ice in the front of the image are pure genius. Really good work with colors. I like the mood of the entire scene.

The Whale doesn't look like he's actually breaking the ice. I can't see any cracks around him. He/She looks kind of embedded in it. The snow bank directly behind the whale seems much too bright. And lastly the sky doesn't look right. Just doesn't fit somehow.

I'm looking forward to seeing more here. Good work.

[spinn]

yeah the ice is splendid, and that's why i want you to keep working with this, because i believe it can be something great.

as said: it doesn't look like the ice is broken by the whale. I think the whale would leave an enormous, irregulary shaped black hole in the ice with flakes of ice floating around in it.


what you really need to do is getting rid of that snow in the background. first of all, wherever this whale is swimmin around it will probably be a windy place. snow does not look like a pile of sugar when it's been lying in the wind. it forms into drifts due to atmospheric turbulence. secondly, the snow suggests a shallow shore, which will make this a shallow ocean, which will make it look like the whale is stranded. i guess that's not what you wanted? now i think you should replace that pile of sugar of yours with one or more big, pointy ice bergs with lots of peaks.
remember:icebergs are kind of bluish, and they are not like the ice in the fridge, they are glacial material. white and-non transparent.

you also really need to work on the wale. maybe a grampus would bee cooler though? ad why not water exhausting from its' breathing hole?

the sky (as said) need work as well as the lighting, it looks like if this scene is illuminated by a photo flash or a flashlight. dim it! (or maybe the light come from observing polar explorers on a nearby rubber boat? that would work fine. just add the boat :) )

the key word is: look for reference. both of the whale and of arctic (or antarctic) skies and icebergs, if you'd follow my advise.

[danilo]

Hi,
what is reflecting in that ice.To me looks like photoshop(and I don't minde).Is it modeled?
danilo

[hrgiger]

I think as far as the sky, it isn't dark enough if it's supposed to be midnight. It almost looks more like the sun is about to come up.

[starbase1]

I have to agree the iccy water is exceptional.

I don't like the whale pose though - I don't think they would ever stick their head out so far at such a shallow angle.

Having been lucky enough to see a few, they tend to lie very low in the water, not much above the surface, until they dive with the classic view of the tail rising and dripping.

Perhaps you could try for a 'breaching' pose?

(See:
http://www.montereybaywhalewatch.com/Features/phf0210a.htm
)

This sort of strong upward surge would also add to the feeling of forcing through ice.

The water would be a real pain to model - but looking at the results so far, I think you are the man for the job!

Nick

[mega maniac]

not sure if this is correct, but i think that there is barely any night time atall in that part of the world, they have like a 20 hour day and it is still bright at night.

But i do think the snow bank is way too bright

[pblacklock]

Hey Guys,

thanks for all the comments.

the background was something i just put there for developping an idea. i want the background to be lighted by a big oil rig platform working thru the night.

the whale is is the position that my daughter wants to see on her computer wallpaper, can't argue with the director, but you're right it should be either jumping out of water at a 45 degree or slightly parallel submerged.

i am trying to make steam clouds rising from the water and a foggy background and holy crap, i need another machine, each rendering takes 1 and half hour on my machine. the sky was a default setting just to put something, haven't thought of the colors but it will be either dark blue or bright orange like the one i found on the google search.

by the way the ice and water surfaces are modified pshelf water from their free collection. removed a few layers and added more incidence angles and changed colors for variation on reflection.

no photoshop here but thinking of adding dfx fog, so i try it today to see what it would look like.

thanks again for all the comments
keep them coming
Paul

[hrgiger]

Hmmm...looking better. The ice does look really good in the foreground and I'm glad to see you made the sky darker (you may even want to go a bit darker still...), the thing that looks strange to me...is that the moon? Why is it giving off yellow light? It looks more like a small sun. Try a little cooler color, maybe closer to blue.

[Lude]

I liked the feel of the first image beater.

If its icy water with a full moon, wouldn’t light get reflected back up onto the clouds making them the gray/blue color of the first image and lightening the sky?

As for the ice, if you can get an in-between state of the two images that would be cool. For me the see lost its really cool artic look and now looks like just regular sea a night.

Now for the whale, try arching it’s back - looks like a torpedo at the moment (only shape wise - I like the texturing).

Also rotated it a bit so it's not such a side on shot and I would try moving it of center a little more to.

The moon should be blue looking and the size it is in the first image. Also you could put in a single star.

Anyway that’s my all at the moment.

Lude

[mega maniac]

im not convinced it is supposed to be a moon, as i said before the sun it up nearly all day there cos its on the end of the earth, so it only spends about 4 hours with the sun completely down.

oh and here is a night sky image i never used, dont know what it will look like in a scene but its pretty huge.

Night sky (http://forums.pxbclan.com/nightsky.gif)

[mega maniac]

now i think about it i dont think that texture is all that great for your scene

[pblacklock]

updated my midnight whale scene. finished unless someone comes up with a great suggestion.

C&C always welcome


Paul

[Ziah]

k depening on where you are here are somethings you can think about im not an expert or anything but i like when people give be critism its helpful.


a) you need to choose where your head with your image fantasy, fantasy real, Relistic

base on ur first image which i think appealed to evveryone becuase it was fantasy with a pint of real the only think that was bad was ur sky and the blue lit thing behind the whale the mist you had going on top of the ice was excellent very fantasy real which complimented ur fantasy looking whale (besides its common to see some sort of mist coming from ice especially at night.

b) if ur going for a more real look you water and ice in the second twos look very good only problem tho they do not compliment ur whale .. Your biggest problem as it appears would be the sky and i don't know whut ur using if its sky tracer are textured environment but if ur going for a textured environment try laying down a grandeint layer fisrt and then a procedural text like dented,crust, turbulence layer on top and mess wit the turbulent layer.

You have a nice image going and i would say based on ur animal you should lean towards a fantasy real feel.

[Ziah]

for to post this did this one quickly to show not all that as im still an amatuer

[LecturerAlan]

Hi pblacklock


Really nice image if I can add some constructive praise though I would say, that your Humpback, or is It a Rightwhale,Blue? not very good with my whales... really needs boning (unfortunate turn of phrase) for me I feel that the whole animal seems a little stiff, when the little blighters do surface they sit much lower in the water so for me the scene is one that should be rendered with movement, motion blur the whole cabbodul, maybe with a little breaching occuring, you can`t have a whale scene without some breaching you know what ever that means ?
.
LecAlan