CGA

Aragon Speed · CGA

CGA (Computer Generated Art)

I work in a number of renderer's, and over time most of my work has been lost due to having nowhere to store it and the project it was done for had finished.

Being slightly vain

I have decided to up some of my recent work for you all to C&C.

I apologise for my work being in compressed files you have to DL, but my network content blocker does not allow me to connect and UL stuff to image hosts.

Over time this thread will grow as I complete and add new work.

I have varied tastes, and my work will not necessarily be of anime.

Info:For anyone that wonders here is a list of programs I use.
Autodesk 3D Studio Max 9 SP2.
DAZ Studio 1.7
Photoshop CS2
Pre-release version of a landscape generator called Terragen 2

Any or all of these programs are used to create my work.

I tend not to do post work in PS CS2. All of my images are created as you see them. I only use CS2 for texture alterations before a final render is done.

Lets start with some of my latest stuff.

Custom emotes
You may see these on-site soon (If Ame likes them) as new emotes, but they will be considerably smaller. So I have posted the collection in the original format at 256x256.

http://rapidshare.com/files/64501601/Custom_Emotes_for_Ame.7z

Custom wallpaper:
I was bored today so I created a new wallpaper for Ame.

http://rapidshare.com/files/64501600/Ame-Chan.7z

Right, lets move onto some renders I did a couple of months ago.

Exploring:
TBH I'm not happy with this one. The ground in the foreground is too bare. It was supposed to have grass covering it, but I didn't have enough RAM at the time (Got more now) for an object population that ran into the hundreds of thousands.

The ship model was imported from a Mod for X3: Reunion that I am part of the creation team for.

This was my 3rd attempt at rendering in a pre-release version of Terragen 2. Being a pre-release test version the render output resolution was limited to 800x600 which is why the image is a bit small.

http://rapidshare.com/files/64510077/Exploring.7z

Sleepy Mountain:
This was a render done in pre-release Terragen 2 again. As you will see my skills had improved 10 fold over the previous picture. I wanted to do a picture of a sunset as seen from ABOVE the clouds, I think I managed this in this picture, and I'm actually quite proud of this one. Again it is limited to 800x600.

http://rapidshare.com/files/64510078/Sleepy_Mountain.7z

That's all for now. I'll post more as I complete them.

Aragon Speed

Unlike yesterday where I threw a scene together out of boredom, I have decided to do a full scene. This is the first shot of the scene.

This is a work in progress (WIP), so far I only have the main character in the scene, and even she is not finished. I felt like doing something I have not done before, so I am after a realistic looking elf character.

What has been done so far:

Basic but detailed human model built. I needed a generic body shape that I could then mold and deform, thinking ahead I designed a model that could be used again in future scenes. (Time Taken: 5 Hours)

I then spent a lot of time texturing the body mesh trying to give it a realistic look. This included the actual skin colouring and details (like wrinkles etc), a bump map so the skin was not flat and unrealistic, and finally a specular map to make the skin shine and reflect light in the right places and at the right strengths. (Time Taken: 4 1/2 hours)

With the basic model made and textured, it was time to refine and model the shape of the face in more detail. Zooming in I altered the face to look fine and delicate, and then adjusted the ears to the more traditional pointy variety. (Time Taken: 2 1/2 hours)

Slapped some hair and clothes on the model to balance the face out. (Time Taken: 2 mins)

Final adjustments to the position of facial features (eyes, nose, mouth, etc) so they fitted correctly rather than be slightly too far up the face and looking odd now that there was hair on the model. (Time Taken: 30 mins)

Set up rough settings for ray traced reflections on the eyes (they will be fine tuned once there is a scene around the main character for them to reflect). (Time Taken: 1 min)

Render test shot. (Time Taken: 22 mins)

Adjust contrast and saturation in CS2. (Time Taken: 4 mins) (Yeah, OK, I broke my own rule about no post production work. This is still WIP tho, so I can get away with it.

)

Total time so far (including test render): Approx 13 hours.

Known errors that are due to be fixed:
There is still a little work to do on the ears. At the tip the model is too pointy and you can see the polygon edges, this needs smoothing out.

Currently the bump mapping on the surface of the eye is too strong and needs reducing.

You can get the orig render and the adjusted picture here: Click me

So now for some C&C. Ignore the hair and the body/clothing in general as they have not been worked on yet. Does the face look like an elf to you? Is there anything you feel is missing? Are there any mistakes that I haven't mentioned you can see in the face or about the shape of the head/features? Does something not look like its in the correct position in relation to everything else?

Do not limit your feedback to just these questions, if you see something that is good or bad, comment on it. It's the only way to get a good model.

Ame-Chan

I would love to give you some feedback, but I've exceeded my download for rapidshare. I have to wait fifty minutes.
Megaupload anyone?

I like the emotes/emoticons, and I posted in the graphics thread about the size. ^^

And the wallpaper is lovely, I will be fiddling with the colors soon. The hair is fine, but she's more of a black/purple clothing theme rather than orange, though the orange looks pretty cool.

I have to wait on the sleepymountain image as well. x.x
I'll get back to you on that, ok?

Aragon Speed

I can't even get onto mega upload. :

RS is always a problem. Have you tried disconnecting from the net and re-connecting to get a new dynamic IP? that usually lets you DL the next bit right away.

Ame-Chan

Aragon Speed

np, no need to stress.

Ame-Chan

Because my critique is so awesome:

Glad I re-read this because I was going to comment on the hair. XD
Her eyebrows should matching whichever hair color you pick, because I highly doubt elves dye their hair.

You did a wonderful job with the skin! ^^
Looks very realisitic!
She's very pretty, I'd say make her slightly paler...
I'm used to seeing rather pale elves.
And her ears should be just a bit pointer.

Other than that, she looks great! ^^

Shiranui

Your Elf looks perfect, though, I'm not one for the design of elves as a whole, still, it looks really great.

Aragon Speed

I'll wait on changing the skin for now as there is only a default camera light at the moment. After the scene is lit, the texturing on everything changes how it looks. Only then is it worth thinking about changing a texture, otherwise you can end up having to changing it twice.

I'll give that a try with the ears, didn't want to go too far with them or they either end up looking like goblin ears rather than elf ears, or they stop looking realistic. I think you are right tho, maybe I was thinking to much about not going to far, and consequently erred a bit to excessively on the side of caution instead.

@Shiranui: Thanks for your enthusasm, it gives the ego a nice boost when someone ends up being wowed out over something you have done.

Hikaru-san

Well, yeah the ears should be slightly pointy or either long and slender. ^-^

It's amazing, you did this?

Aragon Speed

Yes, I did this.

Ame-Chan

Hikaru = new 3d fan XD

Aragon Speed

I have done a little more work. The body is now finalised, and I have adjusted the ears so that they are now longer and pointier. Do they look better? I have changed the make up to match in with the hair colour and the clothing colour better.

I originally just slung this clothing on to give me an Idea of how the figure worked balance wise, but I think I am going to keep it rather than change it as it seems to fit in well with everything else. Do you agree or disagree?

Moving on to hair.

I have three hairstyles that fit this look, and they are all imported models as I'm really bad at doing hair. I am putting them up for you to have a look at because I would like to know which one everyone likes, or can at least stand.

I would choose myself, but I am biased due to the amount of work it is to deal with them. I want the best looking version, and I'm not going to get that by letting my own personal feelings about modelling getting in the way. I will give my personal pro's and con's for each hair style so you understand what I am getting at, but I would like you not to let that influence your choice, and to choose the version that you like.

Hair 1:
From a personal point of view, this is the one I hate the most. The colour is wrong, and I have already had to do a lot of work to get it to fit and look correct, and after a ton of work I noticed on the finished back render that some of the hair tips are still sticking into her back and disappearing. It hides the ears, and reduces the elven look, but at certain angles you can still see that they are pointy ears and not normal ones. On the plus side, this is the style of hair I like in RL - Long, fairly straight, not overly groomed (has a kind of wild and free look), and luxuriant

Hair 2:
This is the same hair as from the first set of pictures, but without the clashing purple colour. I like this one because it fits without any extra mucking about. This is also the only one of the three styles where the hair is pulled tight to the scalp, and therefore displays the ears off fully. The biggest draw backs with this hair are that it looks the least realistic once rendered (in the fringe area), and the colour is not quite right IMO.

Hair 3: This is my personal favourite. It fits without any mucking about. The colour matches the makeup and clothing perfectly (which brings the whole image together IMO). It looks the most realistic once rendered. Drawbacks? The biggest one is that you cannot see the ears from any angle. It's a bit too curly for my tastes, but then I like understated and chic as opposed to big haired rock chicks or girlie's.

Well that's my opinions, what are yours?

http://rapidshare.com/files/65329465/Body_Clothes_Hair.7z

Ame-Chan

damn, have to wait 2 minutes to download this time. lol
I've read your pros and cons lists for each one... after I finally get this downloaded I'll tell you my opinion.

And I'll uploading the images so others can see easily.

EDIT:

OK! Well, the first one is definately my favorite style, but you can't see her ears... that is a drawback. A major one. So no go.

The second one I'm not a huge fan of the style, but it does show off her ears and has a certain elegance to it to make it look elvish. IMO I'd go with this on.

The third one looks nice, but it covers her ears... which is a main feature.

So yes, I vote for the second one.

~*~*~*~*~*~
I changed them to PNGs so the file sizes would be smaller. ^^
Except for the front view of hair three. lol Oops.
Here, thumbnail views, click to enlarge.

HAIR 1:

HAIR 2:

HAIR 3:

And to show off the clothes since I like them so much XD

This was the best pose to show off the entire outfit.

Aragon Speed

Ame-Chan

Aragon Speed

Ame-Chan

...?

When you say, been there, done that... are you meaning been used, or have used?

LOL

Aragon Speed

I mean I have been used and abused as well. So I know where your coming from, and that people now get the same reaction out of me. I'm nice if they deserve it.

Ame-Chan

That's better. ^^
See, I'm slow sometimes.
It's cold, it's pouring down rain, I'm comfy.
So... yeah. lol

Aragon Speed

Your not slow or stupid Ame. It's just I type how I talk, but unfortunately without the inflection or intonation, it can be confusing. I have a lot of trouble with humour on forums because a lot of my humour is either playing with meanings of words, or altering their meaning by the way I say them. Again this does not really work in type.

Between that and the fact that although we both speak English, they US and UK have slightly different variants on word usage and/or meanings, sometimes it all adds up to a lot of confusion.

For example the word 'pants' means trousers over there, where over here it means male underwear.

And if I said that someone had "Nicked my pencil", you might think that someone has notched it with a knife - where I actually mean someone has stolen it.

Ame-Chan

XD

nicked your pencil... I'd be like, "Why would they do that?!"
lol

pants = males underwear?
Wow. I wonder how Rei took that from me then. XD
(Another English friend.)

So when I said "He was mad because he couldn't get in my pants..." if you didn't know I was from the USA, you'd have thought I was a male? XD

Aragon Speed

Pants in England would be referring to the old fashioned Y front variety of underwear. Fortunately we have moved out of the stone-age now and have boxer shorts.

Pants can also be used for female underwear that covers the same area (so he wouldn't have been confused), but it is more usual for them to be called panties or knickers.

These are of course the everyday, totally non sexy variety, and don't include things like G-strings or thongs. *Dribble*

How the hell did I get into a conversation about womens underwear?!? lol

Ame-Chan

It's my fault.
My bad. XD

Aragon Speed

I wouldn't take all the blame if I were you, I'm single and sex starved, so it doesn't take much for my mind to wander in that direction anyway...

XD

Ame-Chan

LOL

aww...

Aragon Speed

I suppose in hind-sight if I got off my butt, left the PC alone, and got a life, I might meet someone. lol

Hotaru

Yeah... my problem is I find better friends in distant areas online, so the ones offline seem... bothersome.