Battlestar Pegasus

[weevilman]

just a quick word about the renders: if you're lighting a subject like this, and you are using some kind of gi (which it looks like you are) you could try using some simple radiance maps for the light casting, maybe just a black image with a few soft areas of reflected color with strong white highlights, that way you will have a less uniform distribution across the hull, help give the impression that it is large and detailed, help bring out your high frequency detail.

the other thing would be the lighting and shot composition. if you are going to light a subject in a vaccum, and you are using a key light, you should really have the camera at an opposing angle where you can actually see the light cast across the surface. as it is all we can see now is a nice, detailed blob of grey with a lot of identical lights at each point of detail. i would bring the intensity of those hull lights down, increase their contrast if you can, bump up their fallof values to avoid the harsh edges that scream cgi.
Perhaps move the key down in the world until is is slightly below the zero point, so the the underside of the ship has a nice silhouette, and we can see the form better.
this will also help accentuate the darker areas, the ridge under the head for instance, could do with a nice high contrast light hitting its hortizontal rim, and then some very soft lights from windows in the shadowed area. i realise this is a wip rendering, but if you can set up a sweet lighting rig now, you'll be able to churn out nice renders straight away! it will also help with your texturing, as you can customize the maps to fit the effect you are looking for, without constantly revising the lighting setup to accomodate the maps.

i find it works better with lights first (sometimes), but it can be done done really well in either direction, again, sweet work, if you're after some example setups i can fire off some quick max files if you like.

[Darth Bane]

Looking good!

I was thinking that maybe that thing on the aft of the ship is perhaps its FTL drive.

[mattc]

You could always just bake your lighting solution....

M.

[williethefool]

thankyou!!!!!!!

[Larsen]

Looks awsome man!... great work!

I'd bake that lighting into the texture tho...

[AldrikG]

Hiyas,

weevilman, I really appriciate the rendering tips.

There is this great scene in Kelly's Heros (one of my favorite movies) where Telly Savalas walks up to Donald Sutherland (who is supposed to be in his tank) and says, "What are you doing?!?!"
Sutherland: "Eating some cheese and catching some rays."
Savalas: "Why aren't you in your tank?!?!"
Sutherland: "It's broke."
Savalas: "Well, go FIX it!"
Sutherland: "Hey man, I just drive 'em. I don't know what makes 'em work."

Originally Posted by weevilman

just a quick word about the renders: if you're lighting a subject like this, and you are using some kind of gi (which it looks like you are)...

What's a gi?

Originally Posted by weevilman

you could try using some simple radiance maps for the light casting, maybe just a black image with a few soft areas of reflected color with strong white highlights, that way you will have a less uniform distribution across the hull, help give the impression that it is large and detailed, help bring out your high frequency detail.

How do I set radiance maps up in Max 6??

Originally Posted by weevilman

the other thing would be the lighting and shot composition. if you are going to light a subject in a vaccum, and you are using a key light

Key light??

Originally Posted by weevilman

Perhaps move the key down in the world until is is slightly below the zero point, so the the underside of the ship has a nice silhouette, and we can see the form better.

????

Originally Posted by mattc

You could always just bake your lighting solution....

Sounds like a great idea! I just have NO clue as to how to go about that.

I really do thank you all for your suggestions, even though it makes me realize how much I don't know about this stuff. Any ideas on where to go for tutorials on all the things mentioned here would be awesome. I know there used to be some here, but I am pretty sure the old hard drive ate them.

Thanks again!

[weevilman]

I really do thank you all for your suggestions, even though it makes me realize how much I don't know about this stuff.

that's cool dude, as far as tutorials go, they probably won't help as much as they should, they are mostly about process and not enough theory, they tell you what to do, not why.

i'll whip up a quick breakdown of the things i mentioned for ya, might be more useful, gimme a couple of days.

[Parker Midwinter]

well... regardless of the lighting it definately looks like the Beast, i like it. well done.

[Bar]

Originally Posted by AldrikG

Small update time!
I "finished" detailing the landing bays, lowered all the plates, worked on the bottom, and played around with lights. It was all fun and games until I went to render the lighted version. My computer was NOT amused!

All comments welcome and appriciated...

It's getting better all the time.
Bar.

[Nevets]

Bar that is one very cool avatar.