R2

[Wiz]

Hi all,

Well I have been visiting this site for a long time (and seen some of the fantastic work going on) so thought its about time i posted something, so here is summit i have been working on (and off) for a while now, good old R2. He is pretty much done, some tweaking on textures etc. left only to do, so would really appreciate any comments feedback you fellas might have :)

http://img198.imageshack.us/img198/2883/r2onicele9.jpg

Cheers,

Wiz.

[Dallidas]

wow that is awesome!

[Oovebei]

A comment - ok - thats pretty damn realistic and where is 3PO? (you are going to make him - right?) :D

[biotech]

Fantastic!

Are you planing on realeasing this?

Or failing that, swaping it for a nearly finished viper with no landing gear?

[Tallguy]

Wow, Wiz! That's the best VINCent that I've seen in a while!

;) Nice job.

[TheGreatRaja]

the only thing that jumps out at me is the lens on the holoproject seems a little on the large size

[homerpalooza67]

Bleep Bloop!!

[blakbyrd]

Awesome! :thumb:

[JeffrySG]

Looks really nice! It would be nice to see it rendered with a better lighting setup / nice soft shadows, etc. so you can really show off that model!

cheers!

[Tveakk]

o man i love that little critter,

nice work

[Novak]

Really nice work.. Like it, good job on the textures part.. Really amazing. Keep
it up.

Now put it in a scene.. :D


Greetz, novak

[homerpalooza67]

"This is Captain R2D2 of the Starship Enterprise..."

[Wiz]

Oovebei
A comment - ok - thats pretty damn realistic and where is 3PO? (you are going to make him - right?)

Hehe, I have been thinking about doing him, but the more I look at 3PO the more he scares me, although would love to give it a crack, so who knows :)

biotech
Fantastic!
Are you planing on realeasing this?
Or failing that, swaping it for a nearly finished viper with no landing gear?

Yep I will release him when he is done :)

Tallguy
Wow, Wiz! That's the best VINCent that I've seen in a while!

LOL... thanks, I think I have caught the fella quite well...

""All sunshine makes a desert", the Arabs say. "

TheGreatRaja
The only thing that jumps out at me is the lens on the holoproject seems a little on the large size

Hmmm, will give that another check, although depending on which version of R2 you are referencing it does vary in size and style.

Jeffry SG
Looks really nice! It would be nice to see it rendered with a better lighting setup / nice soft shadows, etc. so you can really show off that model!

Yeah, still early learning with Mental Ray, so the lighting will get another pass, so hopefully this weekend will get some time to correct it :)

Novak
Really nice work.. Like it, good job on the textures part.. Really amazing. Keep
it up.

Now put it in a scene..

I am planning too :) been working on the Tantive IV corridor, so gonna set him in that :)

Homerpalooza67
"This is Captain R2D2 of the Starship Enterprise..."

:)

Thanks guys for the very kind comments, and feedback :)
Below is a render (WIP) of the Blockade Runner corridor which I am also working on for R2's environment, will get some work done on the both of them this weekend, and post new renders :)

http://forums.cgsociety.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=85692

Cheers,

Wiz.

[Wiz]

Well as ever its been a while, but here finally is a new update!

I have learned a lot from following Mverta's work on his R2, and hopefully you are seeing improvements in my own effort :) (thanks again Mike for the feedback and advice).

I am still to texture the middle leg, (use the word "still" a lot on my R2 thread ;)).

Anyway here ya go, hopes ya likes it, more to follow in the brief moments I get to work on this fella.

http://img161.imageshack.us/img161/6198/r211ly0.jpg

Will do some more renders tomorrow and post em up :)

Cheers,

Wiz

Ps - Will also post a render of the Tantive corridor I am doing as I blew the cobwebs off that one and did some work on him as well :)

[Andrew March]

Excellent work

[Wiz]

Thanks mate, very much appreciate that! :)

This is gonna sound a dumb question but how do I create a thumbnail image for this thread? (big brain fart time)

Here's an earlier image of the blockade runner WIP, done some more work since this render, however the render times are "oh my gosh" so will try and do a new one this week :)

http://img91.imageshack.us/img91/1880/blockaderunner2wb1.jpg

Just needed to get this in before Mverta posted an update on his and totally destroyed mine hehe... ;)

:)

Wiz.

[Wildrose]

R2s tool arms look awefully shiney, particularly given how grungy the white parts of him are. Maybe less reflectance?

Amazingly good modeling.

[Wiz]

Thanks :)

Yeah the arms, currently I am trying to get the blue paint shader working right (as correct as I can anyway) before going back and givein a pass on spec, displacement, bump maps etc. etc. to work in damage and imperfections :)

So hopefully will resolve that, if not, then I am going with the excuse that R2 had his yearly M.O.T and they fitted him new arms ;)

Wiz.

[Andrew March]

For thumbnails you need to upload the images to the scifi-meshes server using the 'manage attachments' feature.

Once the images are uploaded the system automatically creates a thumbnail for you.

[Wiz]

Ok, added athumbnail using the 'manage attachments' option, so hopefully done this right and my thread has a thumbnail image header... ?

lol... if not... then... erm... admin please help ;)

Wiz.

Ps - Just realised it needs adding to the original post (doh) hehe... so done and all is well now.. finally :)

[JeffrySG]

nice updates! congrats to you for sticking with the project!

[Wiz]

Thanks mate :)

Its been a labour of love (and madness), but determined to one day finish him (well to a point where I can call it a day, and no doubt will re-visit him from time to time).

Heres a quick render test, will post more as I do em :)

http://img147.imageshack.us/img147/6460/r2d2artoodetoopose03qo1.jpg

Well off to carry on pottering with him :) so more updates (I hope) later today!

Wiz.

[Wiz]

Hello again,

Just for fun, heres a quick render, hopes u like, and pick pick a colour ;)

http://img180.imageshack.us/img180/4624/pickacolour2br6.jpg

And thought I would start a debate (well would try anyway), ok my preferences for an R2 posed is in his two legged configuration.

I think R2 in his two legged mode has more character, now whether (and I am sure it is) this has something to do with the fact that in the films when in such a configuration Mr. Kenny Baker (:)) is inside him adds to his character, but when in the three legged mode he is a remote. ...

Anyway wot you guys think?

:)

Wiz.

[Andrew March]

Got any updates on this guy Wiz?

By the way, I'm a three legged man myself ;) ooh err missus!

[Wiz]

Will have over the weekend (its the only time i get a chance to work on him) :(

Some more three legged versions on the way (soon) for you to enjoy (core blimey) ;)

Wiz.

[al3d]

looks awsome mate. best R2 so far i've seen

[Wiz]

Tis very kind of you to say so sir :)

I believe it's (hopefully) the best version in a Max format anyway ;)

I am experimenting with Mental Ray still (slowly learning), trying to get the dome material where I am 100% happy with it, but my knowledge of MR although improving, there are still areas I know very little about (or understand) and its a case of suck it and see... so slow going.

However I endevour to persist :P and hopefully have more renders this weekend :)

Cheers fellas for the support,

Wiz.

[Stargate-Fan]

wow...thats pretty nice!

[Wiz]

:)

I was poking around looking for more reference images and I came across this, an early audition by R2 for the role of the hero character Luke.

Lucas was looking for something, well more human... so poor R2 was sent away, luckily though he came back, apparently his audition for the role of Princess Leia wasn't anything to write home about either :P

;)

http://img96.imageshack.us/img96/9876/r2auditiongh0.jpg

[Wiz]

And here's the original colour version :)


http://img157.imageshack.us/img157/1144/r2audition2nn5.jpg

[Wiz]

As promised here is a new render for those of you with a (three) foot fetish ;) (you know who you are) .... :P

Not sure whats going on with the weird shadow artifacts on the shadow underneath him, will continue looking into that. (Help very much welcomed).

Updates made to the dome material and blue paint.

http://img354.imageshack.us/img354/4804/r2d2dm0.jpg

Well hopes ya likes it... :)

Wiz.

[Andrew March]

Nice, me likes :D

[TheGreatRaja]

The upper part of the center leg is wrong :(
but other than that it's great

[Wiz]

Yeah, looking back at my reference for that and there are several variations, however I am looking to go with this middle leg configuration.

http://myb9robot.dooblehorn.com/r2d2.jpg

So will get that sorted soon and post an update :)

[TheGreatRaja]

The center legs are pretty much all the same, just that if the Unit is tiled back more, more of the leg shows

[Wiz]

Well finally did the switch to Max 9, and been playin with the updated Mental Ray, and heres the first test render result (with the new material types) :)

http://img78.imageshack.us/img78/1870/r2uf7.jpg

[Wiz]

And here he is in the three legged pose, also I have corrected the Dome shape so its more accurate now :) (hopefully).

Just noticed as well the foot wires connectors to the main foot piece are too close together, need to sort that!

http://img101.imageshack.us/img101/2136/r2aamm5.jpg

[Andrew March]

I likesess thiss precious :)

[Wiz]

Tis... mineses... my preciouss...

;)

Really got to get round to doing the bloody middie leg lol...

Will do it this week, and then FINALLY finish the material pass and then thats it...

I mean it this time... Then its onto 3PO.... (breaks out in a cold sweat).

:P

Wiz.

[JeffrySG]

those last renders are looking really nice! is the dome slightly too reflective now? might want to just check on that...

C3PO? dude.... if you can pull that one off... I'd bow to you!
:insert bowing smiley:

[ZeeverFett]

very nice work as usual Paul :)

[Wiz]

>ZeeverFett
Thanks mate!
Sincerest apologies for the lack of updates on the Walker, I seem to have less and less time nowadays for 3D stuff, and R2 monopolises what little time I have.
Hows the film coming along?

>JeffrySG
Worked somre more on the dome (took a diff approach), so its less reflective now, just need to figure out the best way to add the dirt and scratches (currently using the Arch/Design mat library), still experimenting with that as you can see :)

C3PO, hmmmm, well I might have a crack at him (still debating whether I am crazy enough to even try), might give his head a go and if I can pull that off will keep going... and going... and going... and going... into madness, or until I lose an ear... ;)

Here's a quick update, I do actually have a day today where I can spend some serious time and effort on him, so will get the feet (including that elusive middle one) finished, and figure out how to add dirt and scratches to the dome :)

http://img133.imageshack.us/img133/8933/r2d2qx1.jpg

:)

Wiz.

[ZeeverFett]

things are going good, I am in good spirits here :)

I guess just send the walker in present condition and we can work with what you have ;)

your R2 looks great, hope your have less time to work on 3d is a good thing for you!

[homerpalooza67]

hate 2 burst ure bubble, wiz, but i think u shud take a look at this artoo: http://www.scifi-meshes.com/forums/3d-wips/11811-r2-d2-artoo-detoo.html?highlight=mverta

but i like ure guy also, just try and make him...more alive!

[JeffrySG]

Wiz: the dome looks much better!!! You've done a really great job on R2 so far!!! Some scratches / dirt on the dome will help a bit, like you said though.

Don't worry too much about M.Verta's R2 either. He had unbelievable access to the real R2s for reference, etc. You've each done a great job!

[homerpalooza67]

true enough, but making anything look really real takes a lot of time, talent, and experience. Mverta is in the process of touching up the original original trilogy from a laserdisk scan (Pre-Special Edition) frame by ****ing frame, so it wasnt really fair of me to make a comparison.
But i still like your R2 wiz, and you're doing a hell of a lot better job than i could myself. :D Keep at it!! :D:D

[Wiz]

Thanks guys! :)

@homerpalooza67
Its all in the detailing and Mverta goes to a whole other level than mine, and its thanks to him sharing his experience (and others on this forum) that I have been able to improve my own effort, and I will definitely be keeping at it :D

To quote 3PO "Will it never end!" (no doubt quoting him wrong there lol).

Hopefully I am learning and improving :), and will no doubt continue to visit R2 from time to time as I continue to improve my own skills and knowledge.

@JeffrySG
Thanks mate, very much appreciate your comments!
Yeah I have added scratches and stuff to the dome, want to do a bit more detailing (and imperfections) and will post a render soon! :)

@ZeeverFett
Will get the Walker over to you, will do some tidy ups on the model this weekend and pop him out to you as soon as matey! :)

----

Thanks for the continuing to support my never ending R2 WIP guys I do truly appreciate all the feedback and comments , it's what's keeps me going!

Cheers,

Wiz.

[ZeeverFett]

would you mind seeing your R2 in the project?, your texturing is really top notch on this one Paul!

[Wiz]

Hey yeah that would be very cool!!!!

Yeah sure matey I can send you a version in a couple of weeks, is this ok?
Can get time to do some more refinement/improvements on the fella then :)

R2 is Max 9 and is set up to render in Mental Ray.

Cheers,

Wiz.

[ZeeverFett]

sure that will be cool! thanks mate!

[Wiz]

Hey guys,

Did a dirt and scratches pass on the dome material and did a quick test render to see how it looks, and here it is :)
Some background touch up and stuff in PhotoShop but the materials were not altered from the render itself.

Going to add some bumps and dents next, and further imperfections, and then get to work on doin the same on the bluebits and then back to that middle foot (will finish that one day :)).

http://img518.imageshack.us/img518/4205/r2d23sm8.jpg

:)

Wiz.

[JeffrySG]

Holy cr*p! you're really out doing yourself now!!! That could pass for a screen grab from the movies!! :thumb:

Every update it just gets better and better!!! :D

[stonky]

Looks good! I guess the only things I'm missing here are a sense of anisotropic shading for the dome and some sort of substrate reflection contribution for the blue bits.

Excellent work!

[Wiz]

@JeffrySG
Cheers matey! :)
Yeah really determined to keep improving this fella, so one last final final pass on touch-ups etc. on the materials and mesh before calling it a day.

@stonky
Stop using them big words ;)
Ok another pass and some tweaks on the dome and bluebits, so getting there I think(???)

Well here are a few new test renders for ya :) hope ya likes!

http://img162.imageshack.us/img162/4966/r2d2testrenderko3.jpg

And a more close up shot, wanted to see how close in I can get on this :) (noticed a few errors and things to sort from doing this render).

http://img390.imageshack.us/img390/7193/r2d2testrender2zx7.jpg

Comments as ever very much welcomed! :)

Wiz.

[Dr. Jones]

Wow, it starts to look really good. The head materials on those two render is much better

[stonky]

The head materials on those two render is much better

Agreed!

[Wiz]

Yeah think the dome material is finally gettin there, been a ride that one.. ;)

Heres a few updates, mere tweaks here and there, havent had much time to work on him, hopefully will get some more free time soon :)

http://img292.imageshack.us/img292/5600/r2d2testrender6vi5.jpg

http://img184.imageshack.us/img184/2528/r2d2testrender7ff4.jpg

Cheers,

Wiz.

[Dark Saber]

Very nice take on the little guy.

[stonky]

Looking good!

The only thing that sticks out to me is the falloff from blue to black that you've got going on in the blue paint. Is it falling off from the camera's POV or the light?

You and mverta have clearly surpassed the ILM attempt - they should be ashamed of their shading and integration work on R2 for Episode III.

[JeffrySG]

Wiz! some GREAT updates there mate!!!

I think these are the first renders where I can really see all that great detail you've put into the body - all the little dings and cuts and scratches! How is that middle leg coming along?

Amazing work!!!
Jeff

[ZeeverFett]

wow I am floored man, really impressive work!

[Wiz]

Mucho gracious fellas!!!! Blown over by the feedback :)

Yeah the ILM version for EPIII, never really understood why they didnt do a better job... ho hum...

The falloff on the bluebits is from the camera POV, basically in front of the camera it should be bright blue which falls of to a dark blue/purple/and appears to be black at its steepest angle :)

Anyway, yeah that middle foot... erm... well...

Oh my god whats that behind you!!!... <runs away> ;)

I got a little sidetracked on the middle foot, as I noticed some stretching on the dome texture so I remapped that today increasing the texture resolution, and currently in the process of remapping the legs (again with a higher detailed map so I can add better looking dings and dents :)) as the uv mapping on these was terrible (not one of my strong points).

Well its Easter weekend so should get some real time to spend on this fella and will post an update soon!

Wiz.

[homerpalooza67]

The biggest problem with r2 in ROTS, was that teh animation looked incredably cheesy- but your r2d2 is really surpassing that! :D

[Dr. Jones]

Hey, you're getting closer to Mike's R2. Well, no offense, he is still way ahead, but your last two updates are really good.

[Wiz]

To have my work mentioned in the same breath as Mike's R2 is a massive compliment (even tho Mike's is a whole level above mine ((and then some))).

TBH it was seeing what Mike had done with his version of R2 which totally inspired me to keep going (plus Mike very kindly offered me feedback and advice which helped a great deal and I am very grateful for).

:)

Well will get some time tomorrow to work on R2, so should have update render/s :)

Thanks again guys,

Wiz.

[JeneralJarJar]

Your materials have come a long way. The newest ones look great.

[Wiz]

Thanks matey :)

Well hope to continue improving him for a little bit longer yet :)
(I just cant get bored of the little fella :p ).

Well not had much of a chance this Easter (as I was hoping) to do some work, did a few little tidy ups, so thought I would drop R2 into a more natural environment for him, and here's the result! :)

Forgive the unfinished bits on both R2 and the corridor itself, but believe it or not there is a light at the end of the tunnel for both of them so getting there :)

Hope you likes!

http://img236.imageshack.us/img236/8525/r2scene01qi8.jpg

Wiz.

[darthviper107]

It looks quite nice.

[Andrew March]

Outstanding 5*'s from me...

[homerpalooza67]

wow...:eek!:...Can u give him guns...EVERYBODY knows R2 is no ordinary droid....:D:D

[Wiz]

Well, not had much chance to work on the fella last few weeks (let alone arming him ;)), started a new job and been busy with that, but did get a little time over the weekend so continued to remap his leg, foot, and ankle (still more to do though, more detail to add, more bumps displacement etc.)... oh boy... hehe...

Anyway here is a quick render :)

http://img301.imageshack.us/img301/1884/legdo3.jpg

[Tovette]

awesome work so far. I like the materials a lot.

[al3d]

best paintjob i've seen in here in a long time mate..good work

[Wiz]

Wow, thanks :)

Going to add some more scratches and batter up the metal pieces some more :) so should hopefully look even better still .... soon :)

Cheers,

Wiz.

[D.M.J.]

Poor ol' Artoo has certainly taken a beating, hasn't he? A nicely authentic savaged paint job!

[Wiz]

Ta matey,

Yeah, he's been around the block a few times this R2 has, how did Lucas phrase it, he was going for an "old future" look (or was it a "used future", well something like that ;))

Wiz

[Tovette]

awesome work so far. I like the materials a lot.

[TheGreatRaja]

very nice work. Is it Uv Mapped?

Makes me want to dig out and remap my own droids :)

[homerpalooza67]

i like this one. very good job beating him up!

[JeffrySG]

great looking texture updates WIZ!!!! I love how you keep on refining this model and it just gets better and better!!!!

[Wiz]

@TheGreatRaja:
Yep all UV mapped, albeit somewhat messy in areas but its done and I keep going back and fixing stuff as I improve my skills :)

@homerpalooza67
Thanks mate, really enjoying adding all the knocks scrapes and dints, its the fun part :P

@JeffrySG
Cheers again matey, well I am nearing the end (for now), this definitely is the final final pass and then back onto my other projects :)

Here is another render

http://img115.imageshack.us/img115/1425/r2anglesoe5.jpg

Arrgh, just noticed the wierd thing happenin with the top of the leg on the far right angle shot of R2, its not like that in the mesh, lol.. weird...

Ok, added further detailing on the leg (mainly the ankles and battery pieces).

Next is to finish the metal detailing on the legs, address issues on the back of R2, and then finally, finally the middle foot <shivers> ;)

Oh and get the Advanced ATAT Walker over to Zeeverfett (havent forgotten matey, will get that over to you soon :)).

:)

Wiz

[Wiz]

Here's a close up on the foot and ankle as well :)

http://img78.imageshack.us/img78/9313/r2footro3.jpg

[homerpalooza67]

Ok, NOW can u give him guns? :lol:

[ZeeverFett]

yeah hurry up with that middle foot, we all would be walking funny if we didn't have ours attached ;)

[Wiz]

LOL...

Ok ok, well the middle foot is finally in the UV shop, so R2 will have to do with this for now whilst I sort that out ;)

Also have given him a gun (although that isnt finished either, its more a practice gun for now :)).

A middle foot update is coming soon I promise... (cough)... hehe

http://img386.imageshack.us/img386/9143/r2vl0.jpg

:)

Wiz.

[ChrisGFX]

:thumb:

Chris :)

[TheGreatRaja]

damn those clone war vets :)

[JeffrySG]

hahah too funny.... at least you didn't stick a Enterprise nacell in there! :eek:

[Wiz]

hehe...

Well it was all going great this weekend, was quite happily mapping the middle leg and that elusive foot, listening to music, whistling away to myself, and singing at some points annoying the neighbours (I do a great ((horribly bad)) Prince)...

I was about half way through (I had just finished all the niggly bits), and happened to check out my reference and blam... oh my god, it was wrong... <screaming at monitor, no no nooooo NOOOO it cant be...>

I had originaly (and had totally forgot), used a normal foot but re-scaled it as a place holder for blocking out the shape and placement...

So I have lost my mapping with the reworks (reaches for many a beer) ...

This is like the "the dog ate my homework excuse" lol... I do apologise...

Ah well... as compensation (and its weak I know)... here's another render of the two legged R2... cough...

http://img267.imageshack.us/img267/615/r21bv9.jpg

And to top this weekend off, I got offered a pretty much all paid free trip to New York and cant go due to work commitments as a project is running late (even more annoynig is the fact its due to an external party that I inherited to complete this project... ((and would have never have chosen to work with)) ho hum...)

(Soz Bear matey :( )

All I need now is to win the lottery and to lose the ticket and my weekend is complete...

Hope you guys had a better one :)

Wiz

[homerpalooza67]

screw the project and take the trip!! u deserve it!!! lol, nice to see r2 again...

[Wiz]

Well havin a break from R2 after last weekend's shannigans with the cursed middle foot ... So as a form of repayment here are render updates of the tantive IV corridor :) (there are additional corridors, rooms added, will post renders of these later :))

http://img183.imageshack.us/img183/2498/corridorvz6.jpg

http://img515.imageshack.us/img515/3939/corridor2yf0.jpg

Current state is one of a ultra clean version of the corridor and its bits, no dirt, real spec maps, imperfections and so on etc. etc. , so will revisit this at some point (some day soon... I hope :)).

Will get back to R2 this week... (damn that middle foot :P)

Wiz.

[al3d]

OH....looks very good mate. now just include the little bugger in it..:).

[Wiz]

Cheers matey!

I plan to get him in :)

Just saving it to the end to do all singing all dancing (three footed jig ;)) set of renders!

:)

Wiz.

[homerpalooza67]

i cant wait!

[JeffrySG]

Well havin a break from R2 after last weekend's shannigans with the cursed middle foot ... So as a form of repayment here are render updates of the tantive IV corridor :) (there are additional corridors, rooms added, will post renders of these later :))

http://img183.imageshack.us/img183/2498/corridorvz6.jpg

http://img515.imageshack.us/img515/3939/corridor2yf0.jpg

Current state is one of a ultra clean version of the corridor and its bits, no dirt, real spec maps, imperfections and so on etc. etc. , so will revisit this at some point (some day soon... I hope :)).

Will get back to R2 this week... (damn that middle foot :P)

Wiz.

Wiz, that's quite the repayment! Those are some beautiful renders/models! It will be really great to see R2 in that corridor!!!

Great work, once again!!! :thumb:

--Jeff

[ZeeverFett]

very nice indeed!

[homerpalooza67]

*ahem* updates? :D

[Wiz]

Hi chaps,

Mucho gracious! :) R2 shall be re-united with his corridor soon :)

Well only had a little time to work on him this week, work stuff keeps getting in the way... If only i could do this for a living ;)

Ok I reshaped the middle ankle, and mapped the middle foot (finally) and done a simple first pass texture, need to go back over this and add better dirt, bump maps, displacement, imperfections blah blah blah :) (Oooh and add wheels to his feet as well).

I also doing some more work on the corridor, correcting the panels (the small dark ones on the arching columns), making them more accurate, although trying to figure out (from the reference I have collected) if these panels are actually placed on top of the column or slightly embedded... Have a look at pictures of the corridor and see what you guys think :)

So here's R2, so so so soooo nearly done now.

http://img520.imageshack.us/img520/3204/artoodetoofrontkd6.jpg

:)

Wiz.

[ChrisGFX]

yeeeees ... now he looks complete ;)

Great work!

Chris :)

PS: please ckeck your IM :)

[homerpalooza67]

Congrats! Artoo finally has a middle leg/wheel!!

[ZeeverFett]

all I see is a red x :(

[Wiz]

Hey it took me ages to model and texture that "red x"... dont mock the "x" man ;)

Ok another quick update, as ever only a little time to work on him and played with the roughness and reflection maps, and thought I would brighten up R2's environment as well :)

http://img398.imageshack.us/img398/8861/artoodesktopqo3.jpg

[biotech]

R2 does Andy Wharhole!

Nice!

Love the gun too, if the family guy episode becomes cannon then R2 has a silver 9mm that comes out with the middle of his blue "arms".

Handy for shooting at TIE fighters when Han and Luke cant hit a barn door.

[homerpalooza67]

*looks for 3d glasses*

thats better! only 1 artoo!! :D:D

[Wiz]

Well back to one Artoo :)

Reworked the metal materials on the body and legs, started to detail the blue bits, and also added (with some final tweaknig to do) rough, glossy and reflection maps on the white plastic materials... as ever its getting closer to that calling it a day (for now) point! :)

Oh wait, still have to map properly the middle foot with bumps, gloss etc. etc. (keep putting that off... lol.. will get to it soon.. honest... cough).

Here are a couple of renders for ya, hope ya likes

http://img371.imageshack.us/img371/9900/artoodesktop1ah3.jpg

http://img106.imageshack.us/img106/1338/artoodesktop2wt9.jpg

:)

Wiz.

[ChrisGFX]

wow ... cool update ... I like very much :)

Chris

[JeffrySG]

yeah, seriously... nice updates Wiz!
This R2 keeps getting better and better!

[Dr Lee]

Oh man that is one *bleep*ing amazing model there.

[Wiz]

Cheers guys!

R2 for me is like course in 3D, everythime i understand a new bit I add it to R2 :)

R2 will never be finished but I do need to have a release version so I can pass it onto fellas that I have promised R2 to (sorry for delay)..

But one thing if I was to do R2 again i was do him so differently, I have tided him up as best as i can but the next project will be so much neater (I hope) :)

Cheers,

Wiz

[JeneralJarJar]

Yeah, looks really good. :thumb:

[Wiz]

Hello again chaps :), well another update, slowly I progress towards the end...

Set up the lights on the dome :) also they do actually animate although not been able to do a animation test as yet due to render times, might do one over night and see how it looks (hopefully it works properly and looks real :P)

Anyhow here's the dome back and front, I tried various ways (today) of doing this, in the end I found the best result was to set up lights facing the elements to light them up.

Ignore the bumps in the dome blue bits, not happy with the way they have turned out, gonna rejig them :)

http://img338.imageshack.us/img338/4484/r2headne9.jpg

And a full pose with the lights switched on :)

http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/4705/artoodesktop5dv1.jpg

Wiz.

[Aiden Ford]

Wow, this looks stunning, just amazing work :thumb:

[Zabiegly]

That looks impressive. Some AmbientOcclusion would look really good on it too (or a bit more if you already have AO). Right now either the floor seems to be misaligned or r2 can float in midair :D

Looking forward to the final picture in the 3d gallery :)

[ZeeverFett]

I bow to you!

[Shadowman99]

Outstanding work Wiz. Once you have your Blue panels worked out, you're pushing photorealistic. Well done.

[Dannage]

Er.. no no no... that's awful.. uh.. he's not.. uh.. tilted back far enough... yes, that'll do...

*looks around on floor for jaw*

[Wiz]

Hi chaps,

Well its been a while (well seems it anyhow) :)

Well took a day of work today (dentist to go to :() so whilst I had a few hours spare waiting around I finished the light saber I put together for the image "R2's audition for the role of Luke Skywalker" I did a while back, so just taking a quick break from R2.

@Aiden Ford: Wow, this looks stunning, just amazing work

Thanks mate! Glad you like :)


@Zabiegly: That looks impressive. Some AmbientOcclusion would look really good on it too (or a bit more if you already have AO). Right now either the floor seems to be misaligned or r2 can float in midair
Looking forward to the final picture in the 3d gallery

Cheers matey, I have done some test renders with AmbientOcclusion and its not quite there yet, prefer the result I actually get without it (maybe something I am setting wrong in the scene perhaps, but pretty sure its not).

R2 isnt floating, merely resting on his wheels which are out of cam view underneath :) Nearing the end and the final renders, so maybe one day soon they will be posted... stranger things have happened ;)


@ZeeverFett: I bow to you!
Wow, thanks mate! :) This saber is winging its way over to you for reference :)


@Shadowman99 Outstanding work Wiz. Once you have your Blue panels worked out, you're pushing photorealistic. Well done.

Thanks again :) yeah the blue, still struggling with that, but have improved it since and fixed a few things :)


@Dannage Er.. no no no... that's awful.. uh.. he's not.. uh.. tilted back far enough... yes, that'll do...

*looks around on floor for jaw*

LOL, thanks buddy, really great to get feedback from you guys, so far its all good (hehe), hope C3PO can get the same sort of stuff (god did I just say i was actually going to tackle threepio).

Well phew, heres the saber render :)

http://img517.imageshack.us/img517/6081/lightsaberqr4.jpg

(Bumping my own thread, the nerve ;))

Well off to the dentist I go (gulp!)

:)

Wiz.

[Shadowman99]

>> (Bumping my own thread, the nerve ;))
They'd have to hand out a lot of tickets if that were against the law.

RE: lightsaber - Looks great! You could use as is and it looks awesome. But if you want to get geeky with details...

The silver bits around the red buttons are smooth and on a real graflex they are not.

There were 4 known Luke lightsabers used in Empire, and each had very minor diffs from each other.

ESB Skywalker Lightsaber (http://www.partsofsw.com/esbsksab.htm)

Some had a piece of silver tape over the center clamp (where it would say "Graflex") and on one that tape had a diamond texture to it, there were different d-rings used, different spacing and number of wiper blades glued to bottom, etc... There's some good info at the link.

[Wiz]

Thanks for the feedback :)

Looking over it again, I see a few areas that you highlighted that could be tweaked (thanks for the link, very useful), although I did reference my own "Master replicas" version, and for the better part its pretty accurate (although some minor tweaks could be done).

You have inspired me to go in and give it another detail pass :) wanted to update the texture set anyway add dirt build-up, scratches, and stuff to give it a more used look and stick it in a very simple scene (always wondered where it landed when his hand got lopped off ;)). So a chance to take a brief break from R2 and update the saber me thinks, will start a new thread as well for that as i intend to do a full (although simple) scene :)

Thanks muchly!

:)

Wiz

[ChrisGFX]

veeeery nice work! Saber looks great too!

Chris :)

[Shadowman99]

Thanks for the feedback :)

Looking over it again, I see a few areas that you highlighted that could be tweaked (thanks for the link, very useful), although I did reference my own "Master replicas" version, and for the better part its pretty accurate (although some minor tweaks could be done).


I have the Anakin ROTS saber... It's close to Luke's saber, but not quite there. It's been modified by Ultrasabers with an uber LED and I can change colors. I decided I like white. It looks more like ANH.

I heard MR is planning a re-issue of the Luke's ESB saber with their newer electronics, so they can scale it more accurately.



You have inspired me to go in and give it another detail pass :) wanted to update the texture set anyway add dirt build-up, scratches, and stuff to give it a more used look and stick it in a very simple scene (always wondered where it landed when his hand got lopped off ;)). So a chance to take a brief break from R2 and update the saber me thinks, will start a new thread as well for that as i intend to do a full (although simple) scene :)

Cool! Yeah, the Parts of Star Wars is a very cool site. Lots of good reference there.

I look forward to seeing your scene. I can only imagine what Luke's hand looked like after falling a mile. :devil:

[JeffrySG]

wow... i know you may have a few tweaks but that saber render looks great! love the lighting and the texture work!!! (and of course the model is nice too) ;)

[Wiz]

How do again :)

@ ChrisGFX
Cheers matey! Like the work you are doing on the shuttle, looking very nice!

@ Shadowman99
Oooh yeah his hand would be a bit of a mess, but if you watch you will notice his hand and the saber fall seperately, so in my imagination (and the planned scene) I see the saber being alone <feeble excuse for not wanting to model a hand hehe>

@ JeffrySG
Thanks mate, always good to hear good things :), keeps me wanting to make it even better which I hope I am doing! Like your chair btw! :) very cool!

I really need to be more pro-active on here posting on other threads.

Well had a pass on the materials, added scratches and stuff to the main pieces, but now means I have started something and have to go in and dirty up all the other bits and bobs ;)

Hope you likes :)

http://img338.imageshack.us/img338/3016/lightsaber2kb2.jpg

[JeffrySG]

Thx Wiz... new scratch textures are looking great!

[Shadowman99]

The materials are far more convincing. The light bloom is good, the blemishes and scuff marks are jst right. It looks like you changed the dimensions on the 'grip' section slightly. It looks great!

So now you need to light it up!

[homerpalooza67]

Some kind of summer camp for astromechs? I can imagine...

"Okay class, extend your grasping arms and take hold of your lightsaber. good. be careful when activating it, last summer an R5 was waving his around so much he sliced off his holocam and actuator. he spent the next 4 months at an incom repair facility, and was eventually sold as remanufactured. You dont want that to happen to you, right? Its a tough life, not being able to copilot starfighters again..." "Bleep! Bloop-bleep!" :D

i have a weird imagination...

[Wiz]

Hey up :)

@JeffrySG
Cheers dude! :) Still more tweaks and stuff to do, but much happier with the result.
Hey I might actually get over to NY again soon (its been a while) will give you a shout, perhaps grab a beer or two :)

@Shadowman99
Thanks mate, I havent actually changed any of the dimensions, the new materials are highlighting a few things though (especially mesh problems ;), need to sort them :P) I plan to light this baby up soon!!! :)

@homerpalooza67
LOL, you are one crazy guy, and I love you for it :)
Dont post whilst drunk or high dude... ;)

Ok, been working tonight (only an hour or so), on the scene, trying to determine placements etc, and what I need to model/detail from what the camera will see, first approach is the below, highligting the saber, however thinking i might do more of the surrounding and have the saber as a smaller piece (might even show damage on the saber missing bits and wotnot) adding to the sadness of the composition, what do you think?

http://img111.imageshack.us/img111/1606/lightsaberscenege8.jpg

:)

Wiz

[stonky]

That looks fantastic, great work!

[Glazy]

This is stupid,leaving a lightsaber lying around like that, it's bound to get stolen!! :)

Superb work on R2 and the Lightsaber !!

[Wiz]

Cheers chaps! :)

Well the image is done, "The lost light saber" (very imaginitive title) ;)

Luke went down one tunnel, the saber fell down another and his hand is just out of shot all banged up ;)

http://img110.imageshack.us/img110/689/lightsaberscene02vg3.jpg

:)

Wiz.

[ChrisGFX]

nice! :)

Chris

[homerpalooza67]

Sweet!

@wiz:
i know im crazy, but i wasnt drunk (or high), just in one of my silly moods (ADHD) :D

but yeah, that was a little too strange :D

[ZeeverFett]

cool, very cinematic :)

[Shadowman99]

You should build Luke's green saber so you can add it to R2-D2. The shapes are all very simple, and you already have a nice library of materials from this project and the ESB saber.

After all, Mike Verta hasn't done it... you want to have a better model than mike, right?:devil:

[homerpalooza67]

R2 should have his own lightsaber and saber-arm, grevious-style. That would make him MUCH better than mike's R2! :) :shiner: :devil: :shiner:

[Tallguy]

And nacelles! He needs nacelles!

[homerpalooza67]

And nacelles! He needs nacelles!
didnt you ask for nacelles on mikes R2 as well?

[Wiz]

@ChrisGFX
Cheers mate :)

@homerpalooza67
Yeah think he did ask for that has a thing for Nacelles i guess ;)

@ZeeverFett
I really wanted to go to work on the tunnel, but as it was a quick image and moreover an exercise in lighting (and testing my metal textures) thought it would do, and it seems to have done the job :)

@Shadowman99
Better than Mike's, I wish, I bow to Mike's R2 (god only knows how cool it is now if Mike continued to work on the fella). I like the idea with the sabre, I see a new scene idea coming about, thanks for the suggestion :)

@Tallguy
lol! I have already given him a light sabre, a wooden leg, and now again you want to don R2 with Nacelles, Lucas will be turning in his future grave... ;)

I will be doing more work on R2 this weekend, currently doing a quick test animation (360 rotation) to see how the materials hold up, will post it as soon as its done :)

Cheers guys :)

Wiz.

[Andrew March]

Any updates yet Wiz?

[homerpalooza67]

R2 should have his own lightsaber and saber-arm, grevious-style. That would make him MUCH better than mike's R2! :) :shiner: :devil: :shiner:

i still like this idea! :D

[Wiz]

Hi chaps,

Sorry for lack of updates, work as ever been very busy.

Ok heres a quick test spin animation i did of the fella.

Free file hosting by Savefile.com (http://www.savefile.com/files/956012)

Homer, how bout a War of the Worlds version of R2, giant tripodic (is that a word :P) droid stomping through the country side, annoying cows, tentacles splaying and wrecking peoples rose bushes ;)

Im off for a couple of days now, so gonna tweak a little more and post an update over weekend :)

Cheers,

Wiz.

[homerpalooza67]

Hi chaps,

Sorry for lack of updates, work as ever been very busy.

Ok heres a quick test spin animation i did of the fella.

Free file hosting by Savefile.com (http://www.savefile.com/files/956012)

Homer, how bout a War of the Worlds version of R2, giant tripodic (is that a word :P) droid stomping through the country side, annoying cows, tentacles splaying and wrecking peoples rose bushes ;)

Im off for a couple of days now, so gonna tweak a little more and post an update over weekend :)

Cheers,

Wiz.

i see your point, but unfortunatly, WotW was not made by george lucas, so its not canon :D :shiner:

^runs :runs:

[homerpalooza67]

instead of using savefile.com, y dont you look at sharecg.com, you get paid (not much) for every time someone views your stuff

[Wiz]

ShareCG, yeah looks interesting, definitely gonna sign up to that :) thanks for the pointer matey.

A quick update, not had much time lately but determined to get R2 finished now as soon as possible. Today is a rainy miserable looking day here in Manchester so plan to finish the tweaks on his middle foot, and blue bits and then get him packaged up and sent out to the peeps I have promised him too :) (should have it ready to go tomorrow chaps!)

http://img299.imageshack.us/img299/1013/r2newkv7.jpg

Well the tweaking on him now is getting that minor thats its getting difficult to see any differences in the renders lol (unless you know what to look for ;)) so def nearing the end... phew...

Anyway, another update tomorrow, and then he is finished, and then final all singing render.

Oooh whilst I am here updates on other stuff, tantive corridor (curved version) nearly done, will pop a render update to you soon Ryan to make sure its what you want (and of course Artoo on his way soon as well) :)

Lars, also will have the corridor to you very soon as well :) or if you need sets of renders for background plates just let me know :)

Cheers all,

Wiz

[Andrew March]

Awesome, simply awesome.

[NanoGator]

i see your point, but unfortunatly, WotW was not made by george lucas, so its not canon :D :shiner:

^runs :runs:

Hehehe. pmpn

[ChrisGFX]

I love that little guy ... :)

[Wiz]

Thanks again guys! :)

Yeah I cant get bored of tweaking and working on the little fella, Artoo what a guy! hehe...

Ok been distracted somewhat with my corridor, and especially Maxwell renderer, I have had an oppurtinity to try it out and I have to tell you the results I have been getting and the ease of which it is to use has amazed me, below is a test render in Maxwell (I am currently saving my pennies and defintely going to purchase this renderer, and will be using it going forward), this is a scene (one of many) I am working on for "A Rising Threat" :)

The below scene is using pretty much the base plastic material from Maxwell (along with several emmitter types) with just a few alterations in the material settings and look at the results :)

I am also doing the Tantive IV corridor for "Descendents of order 66" and with Maxwell I am getting outstanding results (will send updates soon chaps).

http://img297.imageshack.us/img297/109/halltest4hx5.jpg

I havent forgotten about R2, although will leave him in his Mental Ray setup, will get him packaged up defintely this week chaps, sorry just got so into all things Maxwell... its my new best friend :)

Wiz.

[Andrew March]

Maxwell is quite the dogs bollix :)

[Wiz]

Hi matey, oh yeah it certainly is :)

It free's you up in so many ways, no more hassle of having to set up over complicated lighting rigs, spotlights, omni's, GI, trying to to get it to all work together and still not completely happy with the results.. ho hum, the hours I have spent tweaking dozens of different spotlights, omni's and then then the render settings themselves, trying in vain to get photo realistic...

Ooooh R2, the light animations on him now could looks so much better, not to mention the materials, I really do need to do a Maxwell pass further down the line (my savings account gonna take a bashing, but well worth it :P).

Wiz.

[Andrew March]

My only problem with maxwell is the surfacing part, that and the fact that it could be a tad faster, but that's the trade off for relatavistic lighting algorithms I guess.

[Wiz]

Yeah totally, the thing is as well though you pretty much know what you are goin to get when you hit the render button, so yes although the rendering times are big the trade off is the hours and hours you would spend beyond that in tweaking in other render systems, so a life saver as far as I am concerned.

Now I can concentrate on the modelling/texturing side and not really have to worry about how am I going to light the thing :)

Wiz.

[Dr. Jones]

man that's getting better and better

[Wiz]

Cheers matey :)

Extended the corridor, added side doors, will be adding side corridors on the other side of those doors as well :)

http://img513.imageshack.us/img513/5339/halltest5gu1.jpg

Going to finish the actual tantive iv bit now (the door where the stormtroopers burst through) and then onto the other rooms for "A Rising Threat" :)

Cheers,

Wiz.

[Shadowman99]

It's too bad the guy who mops and polishes the hallways doesn't ever clean the outside of the Tantive IV.

[Wiz]

Apparently space is very dirty ;)

[homerpalooza67]

Need more wallpaper renders :):D

[Wiz]

Ok will do a desktop version overnight :) and pop it up tomorrow :)

Wiz.

[ChrisGFX]

hey Wiz ... don't forget about me with the corridor please :)

Chris :D

[Wiz]

Dont worry matey I wont, aiming to have it finished over the weekend so will pop it out to people then :)

Sorry about delay on R2, got so sooooo stuck into this :) please bare with me chaps (owe you a beer or two ;)).

Here's a quick update on the corridor (ignore the grain, quick render just to see WIP) :)

http://img511.imageshack.us/img511/7220/halltest5oe1.jpg

[homerpalooza67]

R2+corridor? anyone else see the logic here? :D

nice job!

[Wiz]

That was the plan originally hence the two projects running in conjunction :)

But now as I have switch the corridor to Maxwell, I have yet to do that with R2 (Artoo still set up in Mental Ray), once I have the corridor finished I will release the MR version of Artoo then set about getting him into Maxwell and then its the long awaited final (final) image :)

Here is a desktop version the corridor I am working on for Star Wars: A Rising Threat, this is an interior shot of the Silverhawke. The Silverhawke's corridor/interiors are similar in design to the Tantive IV interiors, however there are difference and these will become more apparent with the final detailing :) I should also finish the Tantive IV corridor this weekend, so will post that up as well :)

Desktop res (1280x1024) version of the below is here:

ImageShack - Hosting :: silverhawkeintdesktopct8.jpg (http://img206.imageshack.us/my.php?image=silverhawkeintdesktopct8.jpg)

http://img440.imageshack.us/img440/2899/silverhawkeintdo8.jpg

[ChrisGFX]

mhmmmm ... superb :)

[Wiz]

Thanks matey :)

Well the mesh is now completed for the Tantive IV corridor version, all thats left to do now is tweak the textures (add scuffs, dirt to the floor and stuff) and its finished.

Hope you likes!

http://img301.imageshack.us/img301/8516/tantiveivhr9.jpg

[ChrisGFX]

mhmmmm ... superb :)

this is the first time I need to quote myself!


more: mhmmmmmmmmmmm ... superb!

just great!

Chris

[homerpalooza67]

mhmmmm ... superb :) ill quote u for you!

[ChrisGFX]

lol

[Wiz]

As ever chaps I do sincerely thank you :)

More stuff coming soon!

But I am bumping my thread (again) to show a friends showreel (this for me has become my own "general" thread, hope you dont mind :))

A very talented fella and good friend of mine is looking to get into tv/film, this is an old showreel and the work he is doing now is awesome anyway, purely out of "check this out" here is his "old" showreel which ROCKS! YouTube - Doctor Who Show Reel 2004

:)

Wiz.

[Wiz]

Hello again,

Well as my last update was not of R2 felt I owed you a proper update :)

Ok using a different lighting setup now, basically switched from MR lights to Photometric lighting, which again should improve things.

Also noticed the bottom of R2 wasnt quite right so fixed that now need to texture it (hopefully over weekend). Also (hehe another also) improved the metal material on the dome, going to add this improvement to the other metals so should make the little fella look nicer, then will release him... I will i promise, its coming soon...

As ever hope you like the tweaks (see how many you can spot lol, it is becoming a bit of spot the difference competition with my updates ;)).

http://img212.imageshack.us/img212/5964/artoo02mh5.jpg

:)

Wiz.

[Andrew March]

Looks great mate, a cool update.

[Wiz]

Thanks matey!

I just cant leave him alone, he is my break from other projects, like tinkering with him as I go :)

But he has to end sometime and it worries me it is coming very very soon, what will I do with my nights... <looks more and more at threepio, gulp... dare I> :P

Wiz.

[Andrew March]

Oh, you have to do C3PO mate, icing, cake, on the ;)

[homerpalooza67]

<C3P0 voice> "Were doomed!" :p

[Wiz]

Well its been a while... work commitments and wotnot have kept me away from this fella (and other projects)... :(

But finally things are calming down and got time to commit back to R2, and the Silverhawke/Tantive IV interiors :) (updates on them as well Ryan this week) :)

So anyhoo, as I was looking back over Artoo getting him ready for release and noticed one thing that has always bugged me, the dome (especially after seeing Mike's update - wow).

The dome was never as accurate as I would like it, and the mesh was quite messy.

The dome was the first thing I did on Artoo and it hasnt been touched since (going back some time now lol), so rather than carrying on with the old one, I bit the bullet and decided to redo it from scratch.

So here's this weekend's work, more to follow, I have updated the metal materials as well as trying something new with the blue bits :)

http://img167.imageshack.us/img167/7842/newdomev2ss2.jpg

:)

Wiz.

[ChrisGFX]

wow ... great update! hey ... he's as good as Mikes in my eyes.

keep it up :)

Greets

Chris :)

PS: I have a nice seat in my X-Wing for him :D

[Andrew March]

Oh boy that looks groovy.

[Wiz]

Hey, thanks ChrisGFX for those very kind words!

Mike has been very kindly offering me advice, which has helped me to improve and been very much appreciated :)

Ooooh would love to see R2 in your (excellent) X wing, fantastic work on that btw!

R2 is getting warmed up and ready to go (just dont get him shot in his big dome head, dont want to have to do it again :P).

Hey Andrew, thanks mate, will pop you the new mesh over to you soon to play with if you want :), he is all polished (nearly) and (almost hehe) ready to go!

Would be great to see him in another one of you fantastic works!

:)

Wiz.

[Andrew March]

Cool, I'm not around much at the moment mate, work commitments are killing me :(

[Falin]

Nice droid, but you'll have to do his Mate, it's must pair ;)

[homerpalooza67]

Hey, thanks ChrisGFX for those very kind words!

Mike has been very kindly offering me advice, which has helped me to improve and been very much appreciated :)

Ooooh would love to see R2 in your (excellent) X wing, fantastic work on that btw!

R2 is getting warmed up and ready to go (just dont get him shot in his big dome head, dont want to have to do it again :P).

Hey Andrew, thanks mate, will pop you the new mesh over to you soon to play with if you want :), he is all polished (nearly) and (almost hehe) ready to go!

Would be great to see him in another one of you fantastic works!

:)

Wiz.

I'd love to mess around with artoo, considering hes everyones favorite droid, but ive never gotten around to installing max. would love to have the mesh anyway, if your going IPO :p

[mverta]

The metallic flakes suspended in the blue paint don't have the same falloff characteristics in the "flash" (off-angle) as the blue/purple basecoat/topcoats themselves. In fact, because they're trapped in the paint, they are aligned at all sorts of random angles, sort of "anisotropically." Bottom line is let the the flakes layer of the layered material have different falloff characteristics than the blue itself to mimic the real-world behavior.

The mirror-like, isotropic specular layer on the aluminum is only visible at EXTREME angles... the dead-on, and most of the reflection on the aluminum is highly anisotropic and ultimately less reflective. You can't see yourself reflected clearly in the dome when you look at it, but at nearly 90 degrees, you can see isotropic reflections. So let that layer falloff like the blue paint, only more extremely so.

_Mike

[JeffrySG]

Great update Wiz! Nice to see you making this one really perfect! :D

[Wiz]

@Mike
Ah, ok, will make some changes, I knew there was something not quite right but couldnt put my finger on it, thanks mate, away to play with the materials some more :)

@JeffrySG
Hi matey, yeah I keep plodding on with this fella, although I do actually plan to complete him for 2010 ;)

If he doesnt look photo real by then I am hanging up my rendering pants and getting a job as a window cleaner ;)

:)

Wiz

[mverta]

Well also remember you're fighting your renderer. My mental ray R2 was substantially inferior to the Maxwell one. mental ray's improved a few versions since then, but it's still a long way from MW. To get a lot of the things on the dome right, you're going to need to crank up anisotropic, blurry reflections in multiple layers, which is one of mr's weaknesses, but you might as well go for it - you're this far! :D


_Mike

[ZeeverFett]

The polar magnitude transcends the realistic falloff generated by the forfront. By calibrating the x,y and z axis you should circumvent the problems that you are having...

Hope that helps!


Looks good Paul!

[JeffrySG]

Well also remember you're fighting your renderer. My mental ray R2 was substantially inferior to the Maxwell one. mental ray's improved a few versions since then, but it's still a long way from MW. To get a lot of the things on the dome right, you're going to need to crank up anisotropic, blurry reflections in multiple layers, which is one of mr's weaknesses, but you might as well go for it - you're this far! :D
_Mike

It is really cool that you guys have taken this to the point where the limits of the renderer are a big factor! I say keep on tweaking it but you know that we all think you've (both) done amazing work on your R2 units! :D


The polar magnitude transcends the realistic falloff generated by the forfront. By calibrating the x,y and z axis you should circumvent the problems that you are having...
:lol:

[homerpalooza67]

The polar magnitude transcends the realistic falloff generated by the forfront. By calibrating the x,y and z axis you should circumvent the problems that you are having...

Hope that helps!


Looks good Paul!

In other words, if he's holding a magnet too close to the renderer, it will mess up the dome reflections??? :D

[mverta]

Well, I assume by "polar magnitude" he was referring to the "pinching at the poles" you get on spherical objects like the dome when anisotropy is high (caused by horizontal microgrooves on the dome surface), which can happen.

As for it transcending the "forfront"[sic] I think he's saying that if the dead-on reflections and anisotropy are working, it will sort of "lighten the curse" of the poles-pinching, and you won't notice as much. That's been my experience, actually.

Calibration of the x,y, and z axis in this case merely refers to a properly-aligned spherical map projection for the uv's. Again, I agree.




I'm just sure that's what he meant.


_Mike

[RAF-MX]

Increible Trabajo Amigo....wow

[Wiz]

Wow, thanks guys, all the feedback and help has been invaluable!!

Been playing with the material (and brushing up on my physics), and here is the first pass (a little over exposed but will work to sort that).

http://img256.imageshack.us/img256/7518/newdomejb1.jpg

http://img256.imageshack.us/img256/2742/newdome2xi4.jpg

MR ... loads of fun lol...

Well I do plan to finish R2 in MR (its like an itch I cant scratch), then will finally switch over to Maxwell!

So am I getting there guys??? Need your expert opinion (do forgive my ignorance I am learning as I go here and you chaps are helping a great deal).

:)

Wiz.

[ChrisGFX]

I think mapping and texturing is a science for itself. I'm just a consumer who can tell I like or I like not.

I think Mike is the one who can teach you the science of texturing :) As far as I know he is using only "real" textures made from photographes and no shader.

In my eyes your R2 is looking fantastic!

I have another question ... wasn't there another "eye" lense on the top of the head of R2? I'm not sure.

Greets

Chris :)

[Wiz]

Ahaa, you spotted the missing projector, you are indeed correct.

I just havent added that as yet as I have become distracted with the materials :)

Yeah Mike and others are helping me a great deal to improve my own texturing skills (slowly but surely), it's great to have people with such expertise around on here to help!

I can learn more in two posts on here than hours/days/weeks of playing around and tweaking on Max which is fantastic!

:)

Wiz.

[mverta]

I'd say that's a step in the right direction, but it's now dull and your overall anisotropic reflection needs boosting (or is it specular...? hmm). As I recall, I did this in mental ray with >1.0 values, pushing the specular component much higher, and driven with a ramp (but don't quote me on that, it's been awhile). Bottom line is that spun aluminum is still extremely reflective, only the reflections are anisotropic. But there's usually still that subtle isotropic reflection quality, which is only visible at the extreme edges. Too much direct isotropic reflection, and you get that mirror or "wet" look which isn't right, but a kiss of that on the edges is crucial. Also depends on how dirty your particular dome is.

One of the things you're fighting in mental ray is that specular and reflectivity aren't linked, and the light values don't really mean anything. If your specular/reflectivity isn't right, which do you boost? Or do you boost the light source to compensate? Impossible to tell; you can get the same "look" using any combination of values, but then it fails under other lighting scenarios, and you end up chasing your tail. Eventually, if you keep going around the circle over and over and over and over and over, you narrow its radius and eventually find the values for each of the components that not only gives the right look in one lighting setup, but in others as well. This is why I don't miss mental ray :P

Keep at it!

_Mike

[Wiz]

Thanks Mike!

Yeah know exactly what you mean on MR, it's very frustrating, especially trying to find an all round material set up that will work under differring lighting rigs (and so many options under MR, which to choose).

I have been going back and forth between specular and reflection trying to remove the dull coat it seems to have now been given, I also tried the increasing the light approach to where even the sun couldnt have been a brighter source :p

This is then compounded further by the exposure control which also isnt giving me the results I was expecting (prob my ignorance more tho I imagine than the renderer, but I like to think im not that stupid, and you have given me hope by confirming the frustrations/annoyances with MR lol).

So not sure which of the said parties is the guilty setting, will plod on (or as ever plan to climb a clock tower with a high powered spud gun and start shooting whilst foaming at the mouth ;)).

Well back to work stuff, will hopefully get a chance tonight to fight with lighting, spec, reflection, exposure, which seems to love to mock me! :P

Roll on Maxwell ;)

:)

Wiz.

[homerpalooza67]

definitly looking better, just keep on plugging and you''ll get him right!

[Wiz]

That's the plan :)

Ta matey!

Wiz.

[homerpalooza67]

Don't forget: you have to animate him running down a tantive iv corridor :D

[Wiz]

:lol:

I will have to sneak into ILM then, as my machine dies whenever I try to render R2 in my corridor lol.

Although I have made some adjustments since then to the lighting set-up and there are a few improvements to MR in Max2008 which look like I might be able to achieve it more effectively... So will see...

But first lets get the bloody metal right lol ....

Baby steps... baby steps... ;)

Although with Maxwell it all renders fine, although R2 isnt properly setup in Maxwell yet :( just some test materials.

I am going to get R2 done in MR, then convert him to Maxwell for the final all singing dancing renders...

Having said that I would love to see Mike's version in his corridor (that would be :cool:)!!!

Wiz.

[JeffrySG]

Wiz, Those last renders do look really nice! :D But it does look like they are a little flat on the specular like it's been said.

Not sure if I missed this on a previous post, but did you end up buying Maxwell? or are you just testing it out for this project? Also, does MR have any type of physically correct materials? Lightwave now has a few materials that are physically correct (probably not as accurate as MW) so adjusting the spec will affect reflection and gloss, etc. They are really nice in LW but they render really slow. I've had Maxwell on my mind the past few months... but haven't made a decision to buy it...

ps. I don't know what it is, but I love seeing anything rendered in that corridor! It's one of my favorite SW interiors!

[Wiz]

Thanks mate, yeah the specular is the problem at the moment, using the (required) exposure controls really washes it out and the Gamma correction isnt much better, so still looking into that as well as other options.

MR comes with a new material Arch & Design which has a load of templates supporting various different material types which is great, (and a big improvement over the previous versions with the DGS materials which required setting up rather complex shaders structures to get realistic results... Which wasnt really one of my strong points).

Max2008 also offers a few more controls (somewhat mimicing Maxwell) that might help that I am going to play with today, so will see how I get on.

Although having said that I know I would probably get the result I am after much quicker and with much more ease inside Maxwell, so will see if there is trail version for 1.6 (I assume there is one((?)), you should try if it if you havent already).

I had a little test of Maxwell (1.5) as one of the artist at work had a copy so I got to play with it for a bit with my Tantive corridor and really loved the ease in which I was able to set up the lighting and materials, and from the very first render I got an awesome result (far better than I was able to achieve in MR).

Basically I set the lights up to real world equivalents, rendered the scene and got what I was expecting to get, where as in MR you have to play and play and tweak, and pull your hair out and so on (from my experience ;)), although the render times are longer on Maxwell there is less of the hair pulling and tweaking and many many renders, so a fair trade off is you ask me :)

I was planning on purchasing Maxwell and making the switch at the start of the year however I am off to Australia next month for 5 weeks (visiting family and doing a bit of travelling) so my spare cash is going into that trip, but when I get back to I definitely plan to sort Maxwell out and make the switch.

But for now also will plod on with MR R2 :) as I am determine to finish the MR version before moving onto Maxwell :)

I am also still working on the corridor (when I can find time), as well other interiors on the Tantive IV so will have an update on that too soon (I hope!)

:)

Wiz.

[homerpalooza67]

cant you import r2 into MW to render? Or this is a status thing: "I tried MR, but it sucks so im gonna use MW"? :D

So is MW just a rendering platform, or does it allow modeling as well, how does it work exactly?

[Wiz]

Maxwell is a stand alone or a plug-in render engine (or as they like to refer to it "The light simulator").

R2 wont just import straight over to Maxwell as it uses a different lighting and materials setup which is where the renderer really shines :)

So I would have to convert (or actually create) new material types in MW and set up a new lighting system which in Maxwell is far simpler to do than MR.

Hope this helps.

Cheers,

Wiz.

[homerpalooza67]

so if you made a duplicate R2, and stripped the lighting, could you technically send it off to maxwell to rig new lighting? and does MW work for animation?
(sorry about hijacking your thread:))

[Wiz]

Ok to explain, Maxwell is a render plugin for Max (as well as most other 3D packages, or it can be used as a stand alone which you can import you models/scenes into in order to set up the materials and lighting ready for rendering).

So in Max I simply switch to Maxwell (in the Assign Render options), and this opens up the render options for Maxwell, as well as switching over to the MW material library.

For more info mate check out the Maxwell renderer website :)

Realistically it wouldnt take me that long to do a MW version of R2 as I have all the relevant texture maps which can of course still be used.

So it just means if I switch to Maxwell and render I get nothing until I set up new Maxwell lights sources in the scene and update R2 materials using the Maxwell texture library.

Hope that clears up any confusion... Its been a long day here so may have explained that badly...

:)

Wiz.

[JeffrySG]

You can also download the Maxwell manual to read through.. some pretty interesting stuff in it... even if you don't use Maxwell (and you're geek enough to enjoy it)

http://www2.nextlimit.com/maxwellrender/files/maxwell_render_1.6_manual.zip

[homerpalooza67]

Oh ok thanks! @Jeffrey, I hope i'm geek enough to enjoy it, my knowledge of 3D is fairly limited. I want to start modeling, but i never seem to have enough time. i tried downloading TS (cause its free) but i dont like the interface.

I'm thinking of getting max, with the MW plugin. :) just have no time

[Wiz]

Ok getting back onto the subject matter :)

A weekend of tweaking, testing, crying, and wondering who invented liqiud soap and why (also watched The Sure thing along the way ;)) here is an update of the dome (cheers Mike :)).

http://img125.imageshack.us/img125/7539/newdomewm5.jpg

So getting closer I think... (erm..)

Also got to cut out Kenny's eyehole for the virtual Kenny who will be inside, shame you wont seem him, fantastic modelling done there :P

Will post a full R2 render soon, as its rendering now :)

:)

Wiz.

[Falin]

so you going tohave any tools pop out of those nice holes? looking good btw.

[mverta]

Yep, that's getting there. Watch the dirt level a bit... it's a touch exaggerated, I think. Also, you can bring in the edge reflection JUST a touch, and back it off like 30%... Obviously much improved, as I'm sure you know! Good work.


_Mike

[Wiz]

@Falin
Thanks matey, yeah might do some of Artoo's bits and bobs, prob sometime down the line when I have "finished" the little fella and pay a revisit :)

@Mike
Thanks mate, yeah see what you mean about the dirt level, it is showing through a bit more now due to the updates on the metal material, will sort that :)

Hey I (re)watched your tutorial vids for Maxwell, they helped a great deal as well :)

Will play some more and pop an new up a new render soon :)

Thanks again,

Wiz.

[JeffrySG]

looking really great! much better than the previous render!

[homerpalooza67]

looking really great! much better than the previous render! Yup! Could'nt agree more

[Wiz]

Okayed played some more... :)

Cleaned up the dirt :)

The edge reflection still isnt working exactly the way I was expecting (what do you think, still needs to be less?), need to work on that, so will continue to play!

Going to be a late night :)

But as long as I am heading in the right directin its all worth it :)

http://img237.imageshack.us/img237/7710/newdome2bz9.jpg

Cheers,

Wiz

[homerpalooza67]

The light reflection is a little too much glare, and the dirt is a little too overdone, and he's missing his "lightsaber storage panel", but otherwise perfect!

[Wiz]

Cheers mate, yeah the dirt is still a little too much, will do another pass :)

But the glare I think is much closer to being accurate, take a look below at an actual (manufactored) dome, it is "lit" quite similar to my own and you can see how strong the "glare" factor actually is :)

http://img149.imageshack.us/img149/3938/alumrjdome4yy9.jpg

So im off to polish my dome some more (oo er).

:)

Wiz.

[JeffrySG]

looking pretty photo-real to me! :D

[mverta]

That production dome still has a bit of sanding work ahead of it, so the anisotropy and surface is still a touch "wobbly." It's a great reference, but I'd keep your final adjustment guides to production domes in screencaps and whatnot. The real domes are much smoother.

_Mike

[Wiz]

Howdy :)

Yeah I tend to revert to my actual screen grabs for the final reference, however used this image as it shows the glare quite well, although a little extreme (plus it made mine look less glary ;)).

Going to redo the dome texture tonight, removing a lot of the more harsher pieces of dirt, which should help improve the surface giving hopefully a more smoother and polished look.

And then its back to the blue bits as they love to taunt me...

Probably going to drop the Arch Design Car paint, and build one from scratch using Composite, which allows layers to be created (a little akin to Maxwell, I guess, although I havent really looked into this material type yet, so will see.)

:)

Wiz.

[ChrisGFX]

man ... this is gettiing better and better! great work!

Greets

Chris :)

PS: check IM ;)

[Wiz]

@ChrisGFX
Cheers mate, and hopefully it will continue to do so :) or MR will beat me to a pulp ;)

Ok...

Not had much chance to play, but did get some quiet time at the office so had a crack with Max2008 :)

Imported the mesh, and used photometric lights utilizing the expanded exposure controls (also set up some reflectors as the lights dont reflect, although the "mr portals" do but I didnt get time to play with them).

Anyhoo here's a quick render (from a simple setup) and I have to say I like Max2008 (also used the new glow attrib on the arch/design materials for the lights which I think have worked quite well, and now also illuminate which they didnt do before).

http://img206.imageshack.us/img206/2913/newdomehe8.jpg

Sorry for the small crappy render, this was just a quick test shot I did whilst at the office and frustratingly when I downloaded the trail version of 2008 at home and tried to install it, it crashes with an error message and then exits the install :(

The textures havent changed and as you can see with the new exposure controls have removed a lot of the dirt that was coming through and causing the noise and excessive glare on the Max 9 version which had a very similar setup.

So gonna take a brief break from R2 till I figure out why it wont install and get on with some other projects in the meantime, so hopefully soon will have it sorted and be back at it.

:)

Wiz.

[homerpalooza67]

where would we be if not for small crappy renders :shiner:
keep plugging away, and when you finish i would love to get my hands on him!

[Wiz]

Yeah but big juicy renders are better :)

Here ya go to make up for the last one:

http://img251.imageshack.us/img251/3019/r2d2domeae7.jpg

Main things still to do, more ding and bangs, dirt on and around the lights (too clean), continue to play with the blue, and also tweak the metal shader :) and finally get back onto my other projects (oh and win the lottery...).

More updates to follow.

:)

Wiz.

[Falin]

(oh and win the lottery...).




that would be nice, wouldn't it. your dome is starting to shine nicely... err, i mean R2's is. :lol:

[homerpalooza67]

Oh yeah, BJR are much better than SCR!! But i think the dome should be slightly more reflective, a little more dirt cant hurt, but its not necessary. i think he's just about done :)

(And the winning numbers for today's lottery is: 'R' - '2' - 'D' - '2'! :D)

[Dallidas]

wow, total crap. go home! :D

[Wiz]

lol :)

Ok another update, reworked the vent mesh and materials (better metal shader etc.)

Onwards I go :)

http://img352.imageshack.us/img352/5162/frontventze5.jpg

Wiz.

[homerpalooza67]

i have never seen a 4-pronged power outlet before, and i thought you were still working on R2!! :D

good job- now finish him already!!! :flippy:

[Wiz]

:o Finish R2... If I was to do that the world would end...

Dare I even consider it...

Ok, ok, he is all but finished now, just the last few final last minor weeny teeny fixes, and some really small exrtra bits to do, and maybe a few more alterations, and some trivial changes, some last minute improvements, final adjustments, betterments if you will... (you can see where this is going)...

Ok promise he is almost done now, and this time I mean it...

:)

Wiz.

[Dr. Jones]

No reply for over four days? come on guy, isn't it pretty?

it's really good. For now I'd say the fading from blue to black is a little to strong/too fast. It's really weird when you look at the "eye" that is bright blue and the parts right above completely black. But it sure looks good already

[Wiz]

Thanks mate :)

Yeah the blue is probably the main last piece i need to work on, been playin around and tweaking it (trying out different things), I have reduced the fallof etc. (it was pretty severe in the last dome render) so will do an update this evening and pop it up :)

Hey did you ever finish Miss Bobba Fett? That was coming along very very nicely!

:)

Wiz.

[Dr. Jones]

Ho, just forget my previous message. For some reason I didn't see there was one more page. I comment was mostly for the smaller render of the head. Looks way better on this one

[ZeeverFett]

you never cease to amaze

[Wiz]

@ZeeverFett
If I had a penny for everytime I heard those words from a woman ;)

Ok as I stuck Artoo in his scene and for now he is pretty much finished here is a little render to show some tweaks.

http://img146.imageshack.us/img146/78/r2d2cm3.jpg

Now back to other projects, really must get my arse moving again on the other stuff!

:)

Wiz.

[homerpalooza67]

You have no idea how much i want that model...:D

[ChrisGFX]

man ... he is so great! really good work!

Chris :)

[Wiz]

Thanks mate :)

@Homerpalooza67:
Will pm you mate, and will see what I can sort out :)

[Wiz]

How do,

Ok, I am working on a couple of Death Star droids for "Descendants of Order 66" Bantha Poodoo presents the Descendants of Order 66 (http://www.banthapoodoo.de/), and here is one of them :)

http://hosting06.imagecross.com/image-hosting-04/5446R5_A1.jpg

Don't worry, I will be back to 3PO soon(ish)

:)

[Glazy]

Sweeeeeet !!!

[Wiz]

Cheers matey :)

[deg3D]

Nice stuff dude, well done eh. :)

deg

[nova1701dms]

I like it. Good job!

[Wiz]

Cheers chaps,

Just some final bits and bobs to do on the textures and its finished

:)

[Wiz]

And here it is done, outstanding any change requests from the Order 66 chaps :)

http://hosting06.imagecross.com/image-hosting-05/3501R5_A1.jpg

[deg3D]

Nice job dude. :)

deg

[Glazy]

Has this Droid been eating Ready Brek ?! :)

[Wiz]

@deg3d
Thanks mate :)

@Glazy
:lol: all droids should! ;)

[imhotep]

These are awesome! Any though to maybe doing a sith astromech?

[Wiz]

thanks matey, and funny you should say that, doing these new droids has given me a fun idea for an image.

So watch this space :)

[homerpalooza67]

i'm watching,and waiting....:p

[imhotep]

Same here!