United3dArtists Archive

Breech Block · Post by **Breech Block** » 27 Sep 2009, 18:42

I was looking through a glossy mag the other day and came across a stunning pic of an Aston Martin (not that I have ever seen a bad one). And then a mental picture of the image tweaked into a James Bond chase scene leapt out at me. So I rushed home, powered up tS and started a new scene. Just got a twisty mountain road so far but it's early days yet. For anyone interested, the road started life as a cube, was shaped, swept and then curved into shape with the bend tool. Finally, I applied 1 level of SDS to give the road some camber.

LeonRegis · Post by **LeonRegis** » 27 Sep 2009, 18:50

Nicely Done Breech! How do you create the texture?

Cya

tahnoak · Post by **tahnoak** » 27 Sep 2009, 19:11

Very nice and would certainly appreciate as many details as you would wish to share while you work this project. I need to delve more into SDS. I just have not spent much time utilizing that.

RAYMAN · Post by **RAYMAN** » 27 Sep 2009, 19:24

rumors say that Roger Moore made both "the Persuaders" and "James bond" and "Cannonballrun" because they couldnt get him out
of the car and off the road......

Yes Yes that Aston is something !

nigec · Post by **nigec** » 27 Sep 2009, 19:59

Who was it that drove the Lotus Europa? There was one in the Avengers and the original "Gone in 60 seconds" I can't even get into one of those, nevermind drive it lol

marcel · Post by **marcel** » 27 Sep 2009, 20:00

Hi breech! I use often your method. good tools for that. You can also use the bones for a rough road.

RAYMAN · Post by **RAYMAN** » 27 Sep 2009, 20:59

If youve got a tool that does a pathsweep its the optimum especially one that can use 2 sweep curves
here I made an 8 for you to show you... The idea behind being able to use 2 sweep curves is that you can easily make it bank.
The equivalent is the macrosweep in Truespace.
The cheapest doublesweep option that you can get is Hexagon but any nurbstool does it....

Finis · Post by **Finis** » 27 Sep 2009, 22:26

Where are my Hot Wheels cars? I've have an urge to play with them on that track.

TS's bi-rail nurbs tool is probably good for the banked roads too.

RAYMAN · Post by **RAYMAN** » 27 Sep 2009, 22:38

The problem with that is that you cant draw those birails seperatly but most of the forum members got Hexagon from the mag covers for free
so i thought I´d mention it .Many of the people dont know what they´d use it for so here is a good opportunity....

DesignDevil · Post by **DesignDevil** » 27 Sep 2009, 23:07

http://www.designdevil.de/index.php?menu=tutorials

Scroll a bit down to "Modeling a racetrack - GERMAN LANGUAGE !!!". Is in german but you should be able to follow...

RAYMAN · Post by **RAYMAN** » 27 Sep 2009, 23:47

The tutorial shows exactly the same procedur I showed on top... I just said that you can let it bank if you got 2 sweep curves....

Breech Block · Post by **Breech Block** » 28 Sep 2009, 04:32

Blooming heck, it will take me longer to answer that lot than I spent modelling the scene.

Leonregis - Nicely Done Breech! How do you create the texture?
Thanks – in a nutshell, 2 tarmac textures downloaded of the net and blended together 50/50 in Photoshop. Then added the yellow lines in on a new layer using a brush with the Hardness and Density values set to 75%. HTH.
Steinie - Very nice and would certainly appreciate as many details as you would wish to share while you work this project. I need to delve more into SDS. I just have not spent much time utilizing that.
Thanks Bob. I'm actually going to try and use this scene to teach me how to export Zrenders and get all the items in the scene into different layers in Photoshop – something I have never done before. So I'm going to try and keep the modeling to a minimum. Will help out where I can though.
Marcel - Hi breech! I use often your method. good tools for that. You can also use the bones for a rough road.
Thanks Marcel. Yes, I forgot about the bones system – good tip.
Great stuff Peter, those tracks look fab.
Nice link DD.

Anyhows, added a small crash barrier, most of which will be hidden by the Aston Martin hence it ending abruptly. The barrier was created in more-or-less the same manner as the road. All Textures and lighting are just place holders.
Mmm, some nice mountains next.

Steinie · Post by **Steinie** » 28 Sep 2009, 11:34

Breech, I think you meant tahnoak.

Breech Block · Post by **Breech Block** » 28 Sep 2009, 18:32

Oops, sorry tahnoak, sorry bob. Guess that's what happens when you try and write a post at 5:32 am.

Breech Block · Post by **Breech Block** » 29 Sep 2009, 04:30

Just a small update with one side of the mountain done. The rock texture is just a placeholde while I try and create something that will give an impression of scale and yet not show a repeating pattern.

tahnoak · Post by **tahnoak** » 29 Sep 2009, 08:38

Breech Block wrote:Oops, sorry tahnoak, sorry bob. Guess that's what happens when you try and write a post at 5:32 am.

No worries. I knew what you meant.

Breech Block · Post by **Breech Block** » 01 Oct 2009, 03:31

Another small update. All the textures are still very much a WIP, but I think my selections are getting nearer to the mark.

DesignDevil · Post by **DesignDevil** » 01 Oct 2009, 07:49

Looks good so far. Could it be that the street banks in the wrong direction? A street curve should bank into the curve not to the outside - or is this just a kink in my pupil?

LeonRegis · Post by **LeonRegis** » 01 Oct 2009, 13:06

Wonderful Breech! Keep the good work!!!

Cya

Breech Block · Post by **Breech Block** » 07 Oct 2009, 21:58

DesignDevil wrote:...Could it be that the street banks in the wrong direction? A street curve should bank into the curve not to the outside...

Mmm, great observation DD. I think you are probably right, and certainly if this was a racing environment that would certainly be the case. However, my original thinking was that the road would be angled that way so that when the rain poured off the mountain side, the water would run off and away from the mountain, as opposed to being swept back and collected into it, which would ultimately lead to erosion and the undermining of the road surface. Certainly in Scotland, where the annual rainfall is measured in fathoms, it would be a cause for concern.

In addition, this scene is being purposely designed to have a very slightly fish-eye effect that will help accentuate the sleek look of Bond's Aston Martin. Furthermore, motion-blur is also going to be a key element to the final image. Early experiments showed that the camera needs to be very close to the ground for the motion-blur to look really effective but this in turn meant you could not see the bonnet/roof surface of the vehicle clearly which in turn impacted on the fish-eye lens effect. Thus the roads design was tweaked to pitch the car at the perfect angle for both effects.

Breech Block · Post by **Breech Block** » 09 Oct 2009, 09:23

Another small update. Time to move onto the car methinks.

Breech Block · Post by **Breech Block** » 10 Oct 2009, 12:16

Of course, no Bond chase sequence would be complete without the car having a gadget or two.

DesignDevil · Post by **DesignDevil** » 10 Oct 2009, 12:24

ohh ... that looks cool

Tommy · Post by **Tommy** » 10 Oct 2009, 12:28

Very cool gadget!!!!!

Steinie · Post by **Steinie** » 10 Oct 2009, 12:48

NOW we're talking!

Looks good so far.

Breech Block · Post by **Breech Block** » 11 Oct 2009, 04:39

Thanks for the kind words guys, very much appreciated. Just another very minor update tonight with some tidy up PE work on the polys that make up the grill, some vents added to the machine gun barrels and the sliding mechanism for the rocket launcher added. It will probably be all in shadow anyhows so I think I will call it quits on this part for the time being and move on to another area.

Breech Block · Post by **Breech Block** » 13 Oct 2009, 04:24

Early days yet, with a long way to go, but Mr Bond's car is slowly getting another upgrade.

marcel · Post by **marcel** » 13 Oct 2009, 07:38

I like the render of this gun. Your WIP are alway interesting. It would be good to have your forum at the top of the page as other members. You could put there some old images from Caligari wip (i think of the phone or the bank). Just email Prodigy to open a new forum and you can put all your wip inside.

Breech Block · Post by **Breech Block** » 15 Oct 2009, 01:31

Thanks for the kind words Marcel and glad you enjoy looking at my work. Err...I think I will leave requesting a slot at the top of the forum for the time being. I'm still years behind what all you guys are achieving so am quite happy to lurk down here in the shadows.

Here is the latest build of one of the autoguns for Bond's Aston Martin. Not quite sure how much detail you will see in the final image but I enjoy the modeling phase best so I'll stick at it a while longer.

Steve · Post by **Steve** » 15 Oct 2009, 07:37

You call THAT years behind?

Musikman · Post by **Musikman** » 16 Oct 2009, 02:23

Hi BB,

Very nice work, always interesting to stop by here and see what you're working on. Top notch modeling detail & texture as usual! Like the texturing on the road and surroundings, sky has very unique cloud cover also. Can't wait to see the car when it's finished!

Was this weapon rack done in several smaller pieces/shapes, then assembled? I'm still quite the noob with TS, would you mind giving a brief on how it was created....just basic, ie...which part did you begin with, etc...

This is just ONE of the autoguns? How many total? Man, this car is going to be equipped with some serious firepower! (Wouldn't want to get this guy mad in rush hour traffic when he's late for work!

)

Keep up the great work!

noko · Post by **noko** » 16 Oct 2009, 09:12

Very nice so far Beach Block, can't wait for more.

Tommy · Post by **Tommy** » 16 Oct 2009, 13:38

I'm still years behind what all you guys are achieving so am quite happy to lurk down here in the shadows.

I'm thinking that it's not you who are years behind. I feel years behind your work. I have not posted a work yet because I still after 4 years of Truespace still is lerning how to do.

Maybee we others at the community has to decide that you should move up and dont lurk in the shadow.

Breech Block · Post by **Breech Block** » 17 Oct 2009, 05:14

Thanks for all the kind words and comments guys, it is very much appreciated.

Weevil - You call THAT years behind?

Compared to Marcel's work, even Michelangelo is years behind.

Muzikman - ...would you mind giving a brief on how it was created....just basic, ie...which part did you begin with, etc...

Once I know the design isn't going to undergo any further changes, I'll post an exploded view for you. But, in a nutshell, it is a very simple model. Every part starts off as either a cube or a cylinder and is then just manipulated into the right shape via Boolean Operations. After that I use the Sweep, Bevel and Fillet Tools to add little details. It really is that simple. HTH.

Noko - Very nice so far Breech Block, can't wait for more.

Cheers Noko, Glad you like it.

Tommy - ...I have not posted a work yet because I still after 4 years of Truespace still is learning how to do.

Well if you'd like some free advice, I was in the same position around 18 months ago. So I started entering the SMC on the forum and that forced me to try different things and I learned a great deal from that. I also found that picking an object up from around the house and modelling that was very helpful. To be able to hold the actual model your trying to create in your hand and turn it to every angle and study how all the surfaces join together his hugely beneficial. The ReBoot character in my avatar was one of the first I tried using this approach and I have never looked back since. HTH.

Well here is the latest and probably final build. I'm going to live with it for a couple days and see if I'm still happy with it and then start work on texturing it properly.

Steve · Post by **Steve** » 17 Oct 2009, 10:55

That's with lightworks right?

G'won...give us the juicy stuff, how did you manage to get that look, it's so pretty, was it the lighting, or the materials?

LeonRegis · Post by **LeonRegis** » 17 Oct 2009, 12:41

Tommy wrote:I have not posted a work yet because I still after 4 years of Truespace still is lerning how to do.

I still after 5 years just know how to do basic stuff... without a good texture too...

It takes time, don't give up.

Cya

PS: Breech, if this is lightworks do you modify it somehow

, it's very impressive! Or it's Vray...
Amazing work indeed!

Finis · Post by **Finis** » 17 Oct 2009, 15:45

Looks great.

The gun has an enormous bore or the whole thing is pretty small.

How does the ammo get into the gun?

Musikman · Post by **Musikman** » 18 Oct 2009, 03:43

Cool stuff Breech! Looks like this gun is no doubt equipped with a pinpoint accurate GPS aiming device!

Tommy · Post by **Tommy** » 18 Oct 2009, 09:57

It's seems like it's a sort of laser gun. MR Q (The name of the technical genius in James Bonds movies?) have probable invented a new gadget. You don't need bullets just energy. I think this because I see a cord running on the left side of the gun.

Breech Block · Post by **Breech Block** » 19 Oct 2009, 18:45

Again, thanks for all the comments guys, they are very much appreciated and certainly inspire me to post more images. To try and answer the points raised: all my work nowadays is rendered in bog-standard tS 7 (modelside) using lightworks and HDRI lighting. The HDR image I used to do my test renders is was what gave the model in the previous images that bluish tint. Personally, I wasn't keen on it and as you can see from the new image below, I have changed it to get a more natural look. As you can also see, I have made quite a few changes to the model itself since the last post. These have all centred around making it look a bit more realistic. By that I mean changing things like the size and position of the servo-drive motors so they are more practicable/able to do their task. Re-evaluating the cable system and looking at the proportions of the gun versus the support mechanism. A full detailed description of why the weapon looks as it does, ie the size and shape of the barrel, what the cables are for, where the ammunition is etc, etc can be found on my 3D Artists Gallery, the link to which is in my siggy. You can also see a high-res render of the work there as well.

Steinie · Post by **Steinie** » 19 Oct 2009, 19:20

I saw the James Bond Aston Marton DB5 sometime between 1966 and 1968 with it's ejector seat. I always dreamed of owning this car with all the gizmo's. The weapon rack lighting is perfect.
Your attention to the details so far is a worthy tribute. Another fantastic modeling job, Breech Block.

Breech Block · Post by **Breech Block** » 20 Oct 2009, 22:26

Thanks Bob, that means a great deal to me, especially as I have long admired the quality of your renders.

I went to see the James Bond Car Exhibition at the Beaulie Motoring Museum a couple of years ago. All the movie cars were there, but it was the original DB5 that was the crowd puller.

As requested, here is an exploded view of the model that shows its construction. I have placed the rendered version alongside for easy comparison.
As previously stated, it's a fairly simple affair with all the component parts starting life as either a cube or sphere. HTH

Steve · Post by **Steve** » 20 Oct 2009, 23:46

I so want that texture/light setup, it's...so...pretty!

LeonRegis · Post by **LeonRegis** » 20 Oct 2009, 23:51

Yeah, plz! You are taking soda from a orange!!!

I could use it on my WW2 weapons, in the metal parts! Would be amazing...

Thanks

Musikman · Post by **Musikman** » 21 Oct 2009, 06:13

Amazing stuff Breech, thank you for posting the dismantled version. Very interesting indeed, and helpful to examine the progression from the initial shapes, I notice it's very similar to the wip pics you posted when you were working on the Matrix Phone. You most certainly have TS down to a science, top notch work!

Tommy · Post by **Tommy** » 22 Oct 2009, 11:26

I agree. Very impressive work! The exploded image of the gun is excellent. I can see how you have worked and this gives me more knowledge of CG. Do continue with this. I'm excited to se the rest.

Finis · Post by **Finis** » 22 Oct 2009, 14:19

If this is what you do with the gun I can't wait to see what you do with the car!

Breech Block · Post by **Breech Block** » 24 Oct 2009, 20:23

Thanks all for the very kind words and glad the exploded view helped a few of you out.
With the texture and light set-up, unfortunately both the HDR image and the metal texture used to render the scene came on purchased DVD sets so I do not feel able to pass them on. Sorry guys.

tahnoak · Post by **tahnoak** » 25 Oct 2009, 09:29

Breech..... excellent work! Holy &%^$#@! batman

Seriously though it is exceptional detail and modeling. Not sure how I missed all the progress on this one but glad I caught up with it. Thanks for the exploding view.

Breech Block · Post by **Breech Block** » 27 Oct 2009, 05:23

Lol...thanks tahnoak. Glad you liked it.

If you remember, at the start of this thread, I said this project was not about modeling as such, but an exercise for me to try and learn how to export my renders fron tS as layers and masks and combine it all in post. And after getting carried away somewhat with the Auto-Shotguns, I'm now back on track. Here is how the background plate for the final shot is coming along. Initially rendered out in tS, then a copy had a "Zoom Blur" applied, and then using a DOF mask, the 2 images were combined. Finally, some touch-ups by hand to the blur effect and some tonal and colour tweaks.

Musikman · Post by **Musikman** » 31 Oct 2009, 06:27

Finally, some touch-ups by hand to the blur effect and some tonal and colour tweaks

Hey Breech...cool stuff, have really enjoyed watching this one develop.

Quite an improvement between the second stage plate and the third (final) plate, very nice job on the blur fx and the tone/color adjustments!

tahnoak · Post by **tahnoak** » 31 Oct 2009, 09:47

I love the image, though it makes me dizzy as hell if I stare at it too long

Dragneye · Post by **Dragneye** » 31 Oct 2009, 19:38

This is looking Beautiful Breech! Bond was a childhood hero of mine. Not for the girls, but because of his toys. Great job on this.

Breech Block · Post by **Breech Block** » 01 Nov 2009, 09:22

Cheers Musikman, tahnoak and Dragneye, your comments are much appreciated.

As I said right from the start, the focus of this project was not the modelling, but more trying to learn the art of post-processing. As such, for the Aston Martin Vanquish I needed for this scene I decided against creating it myself and instead elected to use a similar model that came with Poser 7 SE. The model was easily transferred into tS using the LUUV object importer plug-in. However, as you can see from the first image, it had close to half a million polys and despite my having 4 gigs of memory, poor tS was brought almost to its knees. In addition to this problem, the Poser 7 model was of the wrong type having the incorrect tyres, wheels and suspension, the wrong headlights, fog lights and indicators and a fair few more inaccuracies that would need to be corrected for the final shot. So I have spent the best part of the last 4 weeks ripping out tons of geometry to get the model down to a manageable level, remodelling all the inaccurate parts and finally customising the model so as to accept the weapon packs I made earlier. The combination of all the above work led to quite a lot of flipped normals, especially around the bonnet area, but for now I think they have all been resolved. All the key exterior components have also been completely re-mapped with regards UV's via an external package.

The next stage will be to experiment with various metallic paint and glass shaders to try and get the best out of the model and create some custom textures for the lights and interior fittings.

LeonRegis · Post by **LeonRegis** » 01 Nov 2009, 10:01

I just can't wait to see what you will do with this...

Keep the good work!

DesignDevil · Post by **DesignDevil** » 01 Nov 2009, 13:29

WOW, that look's amazing.

Be sure to make backups

it would be so sad if you lost this before you finished

compPanda · Post by **compPanda** » 02 Nov 2009, 21:31

Breech Block wrote: However, as you can see from the first image, it had close to half a million polys and despite my having 4 gigs of memory, poor tS was brought almost to its knees.

Even if having 4Gb is good because that means that Windows can use all memory without swapping, Truespace can still only access 2Gb of these since it is a Win32 program. That is a bit of a bummer that a 64 bit version would have solved...

Breech Block · Post by **Breech Block** » 06 Nov 2009, 14:10

Thanks guys.

Well, after a lot of agro with the headlights, I have finally finished all the texture work on the car. I'm pretty happy with all the transparency and reflective settings for the glass and paintwork, although I might just change the car's final colour once I see how it looks under the lighting rig that I will have to devise for the final scene. So far, all the work done on this project has been fairly straight forward. Next comes the part I'm dreading, trying to comp it all together in a believable manner.

As always, you can see hi-res versions of all my work over on the 3D Artist magazine's website - just follow the link in my siggy.

DesignDevil · Post by **DesignDevil** » 06 Nov 2009, 14:45

wahoooo ... that looks amazing, really great ...

Steinie · Post by **Steinie** » 06 Nov 2009, 15:49

Well I have to say something that is bothering me and probably won't be in the final.
There is some funky shadows happening around the side mirror. Also doesn't this model have an
ejection seat? I'm not sure how the roof would look.
Everything else is fantastic.

Musikman · Post by **Musikman** » 06 Nov 2009, 20:33

Wow! Amazing detail Breech, had a good look at the Hi-Res version in the gallery also, excellent work, well done!

Can I have the keys?

marcel · Post by **marcel** » 06 Nov 2009, 20:59

Nice car. I thought the Bond Weapon Rack was bigger.

Dragneye · Post by **Dragneye** » 07 Nov 2009, 19:18

Beautifulllll!!!

nigec · Post by **nigec** » 08 Nov 2009, 19:16

Awesome car BB
its so cool watching people evolve and raising the bar on vurtually everything they do

Breech Block · Post by **Breech Block** » 23 Nov 2009, 03:17

Thanks for all the comments guys. Have been quite ill lately so not really had the chance to work on this.

Steinie - The dark areas around the wing mirrors was caused by using shadow maps. Good call on the ejector seat, forgot all about that.
Marcel - Yeah I'd love for all the weapons to be bigger after spending all those hours modelling them but unfortunately I am constrained by the dimensions of the car's bodyshell.
Musikman - Sorry, the keys are for Double-0 Agents only.

Anyhow's, here is a small update. Added Mr Bond complete with Tuxedo an Bow Tie. Added the car's tax disc and motion blurred the wheels. Have also tried to add some environmental reflections to the car's paintwork so it will "sit" in the picture better when the backplate is added.

jamesmc · Post by **jamesmc** » 23 Nov 2009, 05:20

marcel wrote:Nice car. I thought the Bond Weapon Rack was bigger.

That's what she said.

Superb modeling, awesome modeling skills!

marcel · Post by **marcel** » 23 Nov 2009, 08:05

jamesmc wrote:
marcel wrote:Nice car. I thought the Bond Weapon Rack was bigger.
That's what she said.

but now James has two weapons!

tahnoak · Post by **tahnoak** » 23 Nov 2009, 15:30

Nice rack!

Great work as always Breech. I know there are some not very detailed tutorials out there about how to model a car but if you are ever bored and really want something to do you can always do a tut on car modeling so that the rest of us mortals can aspire to do more

Breech Block · Post by **Breech Block** » 27 Nov 2009, 16:31

After a whole load of minor tweaks to the car's textures/shaders, I'm now ready to try and composite the image together. There are still quite a few more picture elements to be added yet, such as the villians chasing 007 and perhaps some damage to the car itself. But what I am trying to establish now before adding all these extras is the overall mood/feel of the image. The trouble is, as I have recently discovered, when you mainly create an image in Photoshop there are just too many options and you can change drastically alter your image in a thousand different ways at the click of a button. Anyhows, here are 2 images i have pieced together. One is sorta normal whilst the other features a more colour washed effect in an attempt to be more moody and emphasise the danger Bond is in. I would be very interested in the communities thoughts as to which they think will go on to be the better overall image. Many thanks.

NEW EDIT Thanks Finis (see comment below), I'd never really thought of the image in that way, perhaps I should try emphasising that aspect and make it start to rain.

Finis · Post by **Finis** » 27 Nov 2009, 16:37

I prefer the colorful one. The less colorful one doesn't give me the mood of danger. It gives the impression of cold.

tahnoak · Post by **tahnoak** » 28 Nov 2009, 11:13

Breech...

To me, the top one is the better of the two. But then again this is like asking someone to choose between DaVinci and Rembrandt!

The bottom one is just a shade too sterile and, as Finis pointed out, cold looking. The overall washed out look I think is what detracts from the feeling of danger that you want to portray. IMHO, the sharper and brighter the colors the more realistic and the easier to feel the same kind of excitement that you are looking for.

nigec · Post by **nigec** » 28 Nov 2009, 12:27

I think I perfer the top..
the motion blur in the forground wouldn't go in a straight line, it kinda makes the road look detatched whith it disappearing under the road

tahnoak · Post by **tahnoak** » 28 Nov 2009, 12:33

Oh also, from a nitt-picky perspective, unless this is a one way road wouldn't the lines in the middle would be yellow (double solid since it is going around a curve) ...told ya, nitt picky

Ya know, now that I think of it, what is the possibility of getting another car zooming past on the opposite side of the road, maybe just passed the Bond car? This will provide additional feelings of speed and motion to the image. It also adds to the danger because if he is not driving carefully he may smash into an unsuspecting family out for a drive.

Musikman · Post by **Musikman** » 29 Nov 2009, 06:22

Hi BB

I like the second one, just seems more appealing to me. Don't know why, my eye is just drawn more to that one. The added rain & lightning in the background sky definitely seems to bring more action into the mix, definitely looks more dangerous at high speed with poor road conditions! Great work as usual, & I'm looking forward to see which villan is giving chase!

Don't know if I'd be much help, but one observation I did have was in both versions, the colortones of the car seem close to those of the side rock walls, which to my eye tends to blend those two item more, which imho takes away just a bit from the car being the main focal point.

Finis · Post by **Finis** » 29 Nov 2009, 16:17

I like the more colorful one but agree with Musikman about the rain and lightning. Also about the car's colors. Even in the subdued colors version the car should still have more color than the surroundings.

Breech Block · Post by **Breech Block** » 29 Nov 2009, 22:38

Thanks for all the great feedback guys, much appreciated. You have all brought up points that I wouldn't have figured by myself. That is the great thing about posting stuff on the forum, particularly as I find I begin to loose my objectivity once I have been staring at the same image for a week or two.

Nigec - it took me a while to figure out what your comment meant - but then the penny dropped and it stuck out like a sore thumb. The trouble arises because the texture map used for the road changes at the very edge, which when blurred gives that area a very lightish grey effect which then tends to look like it is a shadow effect. So thanks very much for pointing that out. In addition, the motion blur is really more of a zoom blur and is really there to prevent me from having to model a highly realistic rock-face that can withstand close scrutiny.

Tahnoak - In Europe, the centre lines in the road tend to be white. I like the idea of a car whizzing past in the opposite direction. However, I was thinking about putting gun flashes on the weapon system so I don't know if I want to imply Bond would fire if innocent civilians were present. great idea though and I may yet use it, depends how cluttered/sparse the final scene ends up.

Musikman/Finis - With regards the colour of the car and the rock walls, in both pics the car is actually gun-metal, the colour taken direct from a scan of the AM brochure. however, the colour changes due to the environment being reflected of the paintwork. Perhaps I need to dial down the reflective qualities of the shader. In addition, although I really like the rain/lightning image myself, I wonder if I am leaning in that direction for the wrong reasons. Because the image is being composited from a huge array of different elements, it is very hard for me to composite them all together in a way where it doesn't all look stuck-on, especially at 1920 x 1200 where you can see every little detail. Thus by making the image darker I'm managing to hides a lot of these problems. And, as the aim of this project was for me to learn compositing skills, I might just try and get the image back to full daylight.

Thanks again for all the input guys, I'm now gonna ponder my options.

Breech Block · Post by **Breech Block** » 02 Dec 2009, 04:29

Okay, after the last round of feedback, I finally think I know where I'm going with this now. I have worked through a huge list of changes, most of which revolve around the background plate and environmental reflections in the paintwork. Gone are the more extreme elements and everything is a bit more subtle now. I have put a lot of work into trying to get the car to "sit" in the image properly, because as you may recall, when the car is rendered in tS it is a completely on its own. I've also fiddled with all the glass shader settings and tweaked the wheels a bit. So as ever, I'd be very interested to see if you think it all works or whether there are still areas that can be improved upon.

Next up are the villians who are chasing our Mr Bond and I have narrowed it down to one of two options. Hopefully, I'll be able to post a test shot within the next day or two on that front.

Finis · Post by **Finis** » 02 Dec 2009, 04:53

Are the clouds motion blurred? They look like it. Since they are distant they would look normal. If that is for artistic reasons then no problem. Otherwise excellent.

Musikman · Post by **Musikman** » 02 Dec 2009, 05:30

Hey BB

Nice work, definitely like the environmental reflections better than the last renders you posted. I do agree with Finis though about the clouds. Especially where the cloud line meets the rock wall line, imo almost looks like a bit of the blur spilled over, but not sure if that was your intention in the first place. I do like the sky with lightning better, but no rain, just darker with lightning, just my own preference. Overall - looks great, awesome job!

Also, cool how you always manage to include all those details, like the bowtie on Bond, how in the world did you squeeze that in there, never noticed that before, good stuff!

Finis · Post by **Finis** » 02 Dec 2009, 15:48

The car does "sit" well. The car itself looks completely convincing. I'd think it was real if I didn't know otherwise.

Tell about the human model for the driver. I know you are working on texture, post processing, etc. so you probably didn't make that model. Where did you get him and how did you pose him?

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