Click for full-sized image		Milestone: Final Image Date Submitted: Monday, 15 January 2007 Title: Axis City Approach Notes: Olmy and the Frant show Patricia the view from their ship and she gets her first sight of Axis City. I felt it was imnportant to show something from further into the book, not just the first half which takes place in the Stone. The story arc of 'Eon' - like many of Bear's other novels - follows a long rising motion, where small ideas introduced in the beginning of the story grow in scope to an immense size by the end of the story. The Stone may be impressive, but as we move deeper into the Stone and into the story, the ante keeps being raised. What's at stake by the end of the book makes the first half seem like small change. To truly convey the scope of the novel, I needed to depict something from later in the book, the Way in all its size and majesty, not merely a single chamber. (But not so far into the book that I gave too much away!) However, to accurately represent 'Eon,' it's not enough just to show the Way. The Way and Axis City, with their billions of inhabitants, mean nothing if not balanced with characters to whom the reader can relate. Patricia is the key character who spans both worlds, the woman who can comprehend the physics and geometry of this strange new world while still holding onto her ties from her Earth. From the first prologue in which we see Patricia, she is described as needing her connections to her home and family to anchor her, and it's a passion that drives her actions (and keeps us tied to our own Earth) for the entire novel. Thus I've depicted her holding her own anchor, the letter from her boyfriend Paul which she carries with her for the entire book. (True, she usually has it inside her jacket, but it's kind of hard to see there!) I've tried with almost everything else to match the descriptions taken from the book. I hope all will forgive the artistic liberties that I've taken with the size and configuration of Ser Olmy's ship: I needed a much larger vessel (and windows) to accurately show the City. All in all, it's a small bit of artistic license taken for what I hope is a much greater effect. Thanks go out to everyone who has commented on my progress, either by posting or in person, to help make this the best piece it could be. I have enjoyed and appreciated all of the encouragement, feedback, jokes, opinions, suggestions and drawovers that everyone has added. Thank you all for generously taking the time to help. -mike CGTalk: CGTalk Thread | CGTalk Post
Click for full-sized image		Milestone: Final composite and colour timing Date Submitted: Monday, 15 January 2007 Title: final image - character detail Notes: Thanks, Mark, Marley, Ivy, Sacha, and Alex! (and good to see you drop by, Alex) It's been a few days and the constructive criticism has dropped off and my own nitpicks have been polished off. (Sorry, Marley, I tried the lights more, they just didn't work.) So I think it's safe to say it's finished. Before I post the final, I just thought folks might like to see a detail on the piece here it is! ... CGTalk: CGTalk Thread | CGTalk Post
Click for full-sized image		Milestone: Final composite and colour timing Date Submitted: Saturday, 13 January 2007 Title: some more changes in the cockpit Notes: Hi, all! A few more changes with the cockpit. At this point I know they're all subtle: I'm now long past the point where anyone's going to notice the 2-pixel changes in my thumbnails! I made the undersides of the cockpit arcs darker, which I really think helps a lot to make thier orientation even more clear than in the last revision. I've added some more tech details too, but they're all small. I tried adding Neville's lights to the sides, but as Blaz pointed out, they drew too much attention to themsleves. But I kept the indentations from them - they add some nice detail to the walls. I honestly can't think of anything else to do on this piece save for submitting it. Any last ideas? Notes and responses: Black-Hand - I'm flattered, thanks... but at least wait 'til I'm done with it! I hate to think of some unfinished piece I'm unhappy with sitting on someone's desktop. A friend of mine did that in the last Challenge. She had this older version, and by the time I'd finished, I'd repainted the 2 main characters! She didn't update it, so I went onto her computer when she wasn't around and uploaded the finished version! Blaz - You are right of course. I tried it and lights ar a hard thing to make subtle, so I left them out altogetehr. They didn't add anything but distraction. Mark - For a book cover (or similar) job like this, I tend to read through the text about one and a half times on an average. One time all the way through start to finish, and a second time, here and there and taking more detailed notes. It's the best way for me to both enjoy the book and make sure that I get all the details correct. Glad you think I've achieved that! Torsten - Glad you think it's looking done. I'm pretty much in agreement. I don't like finishing early either... I generally try to pace myself to finish about 1 week before the end of the contest: enough time to get as much feedback as possible, but early enough to beat the final upload rush! :) So there we go... Any last observations, last details to adjust? See what you think... -mike CGTalk: CGTalk Thread | CGTalk Post
Click for full-sized image		Milestone: Final composite and colour timing Date Submitted: Thursday, 11 January 2007 Title: cockpit revision Notes: Well, all of those details were intended to get smaller in the distance... it was just so subtle, no one but me could tell! So here's a new version. No hexes, the emphasis is all on shapes that flow down the length of the ship. I also redid some fo the lighting to show more of the sides of the arcs, and to show how the light from outside and from the datascreens are hitting them, as recommended. And I also took some of the blue tint away from the far right. And lastly, I took Bill's advice and shifted Patricia and the Frant's reflections to the left more. Haven't got to thinking about the interior lights yet, but hey, this is enough for one night... or more specifically, one really early morning. Better, maybe? (I hope?) Time for bed... -mike CGTalk: CGTalk Thread | CGTalk Post
Click for full-sized image		Milestone: Initial color pass or textured and lit model Date Submitted: Wednesday, 10 January 2007 Title: 2 color tests Notes: Lots more work tonight... and a good thing, too as I don't have too many more nights to devote to this. so one way or another, it's going to be done...! I've added more cockpit details, and done a lot more brushwork in teh back of Axis City to really bring out the glow back there. I've refined all of the glare lines. And I both added more details to the reflection in the window as well as made them less obvious. I was unhappy with the few details you could see, how sketchy they were. it's not like you can see them much now, but it works better. I also shifter around the Frant and Patricia's reflections, to better fit the angles you were talking about, coCoKNIght. And speaking of your suggestions, I have to confess that the idea of adding purple took me by surprise. I didn't quite take it seriously at first, it seemed so out of left field. But I'll give anything a try, and as you can see, I stuck a bit in there, on the bottom version posted above. Not too intense, but it's there just enough to be noticeable. And it's different... and surprisingly good looking. I still can't decide which i like better, the original (top) scheme or new version (bottom) with purple. And it's not helping that it's pretty late here. So when in doubt: toss it out to the general masses to hopefully garner some useful insight. Let me know what you think, folks! Not just on the colros ('though that would be a big help) but also any last touches. Only one I can see at the moment is a signature missing from the corner, which is always my last step in a painting... -mike CGTalk: CGTalk Thread | CGTalk Post
Click for full-sized image		Milestone: Final composite and colour timing Date Submitted: Tuesday, 09 January 2007 Title: Lots of little revisions Notes: Woo hoo! A very productive night indeed (which is good, given how few more there are!) Let's see, what's on tonight's revision list? I took off that strong shadow on Patricia's right side and faded the Frant arm more, so that hopefully it won't look as much like it's sticking out of her (Thanks, Ivy!) I added more detail to the back vanes of Axis City, and faded the background of the way more... not everywhere, but more on the right hand side behind the city where there's the greatest contrast. It isn't a lot, it's subtle, but a slight improvement. (Thanks, Torsten!) Made the data screens a bit more green on the left (thanks, icedEyes!) And the big work: I threw together some quick models of the 3 characters and renderred out some refractions of them on a tube. (Thanks, Sacha!) I painted over those and so now I have some vaguely accurate reflections of the characters on the rounded glass. And i tightened up the reflection/sheen on the glass too. (Thanks Okmer and especially SNoWs!) And I repositioned some of the ships in the background to not interfere with the shadows. Not much left - still some small detailing needed in the cockpit, but after that... Well, just in time! Love to hear you thoughts about the rteflections and other changes, either completed or ones that you think I still need to get to. Let me know... Thanks! -mike CGTalk: CGTalk Thread | CGTalk Post
Click for full-sized image		Milestone: Initial color pass or textured and lit model Date Submitted: Monday, 08 January 2007 Title: cockpit & datascreen detail Notes: Here's a close-up on them datascreens. It was stated in teh book that their written language isn't the same as ours, so I made a new font for them. I just took an existing font - I forget which one - and cut and pasted letters together to make weird, half-breed, mutant children of various letters! :) CGTalk: CGTalk Thread | CGTalk Post
Click for full-sized image		Milestone: Final composite and colour timing Date Submitted: Monday, 08 January 2007 Title: Cockpit mostly finished Notes: Well, lots more work on the cockpit... Much nicer looking walls (though I still will add a few more details.) And I upgraded its navigation systems from the old round viewscreens to holographis data-displays. No you can see part of what's cating the green light on them! (I'll post a detail in a sec...) SNoWs, I think you've got an excellent point about the glare and reflections in the glass. I should try some hard edges again. And I've been putting the reflections off because, frankly, I have no clue what their reflections would look like! Just fun-house-mirror distorted, or smeared all the way around the circumference fo the window? Looks like I have a week to fool around with it! Anyhow, a solid amount of work for the day... -mike CGTalk: CGTalk Thread | CGTalk Post
Click for full-sized image		Milestone: Initial color pass or textured and lit model Date Submitted: Friday, 05 January 2007 Title: Fisheye lens test Notes: Hi, all! Thanks for the notes. I've not had a lot of time to work this week, but I plan on finishing it up mostly this weekend. But like you pointed out, very little to do now. I haven't posted it yet, but I made soem more adjustments on the Frant to try to get his arms looking the same size, and some more resuggested fixes to keep him distinct from Patricia. Getting back to the FishEye Lens idea that Yoff been's asking about, I worked on a test for it on my lunch break today. I don't have all my most recent files here at work, so all the Axis City, character, spacehip and cockpit detailing looks like it's taken a step or 2 backwards. don't worry! This is just a test in the simplest way possible to get a fish-eye lens effect. No fancy (and frustrating) reflection or refraction this time around: I simply applied the background onto a hi-poly sphere and rendered it out! So... opinions? -mike CGTalk: CGTalk Thread | CGTalk Post
Click for full-sized image		Milestone: Initial color pass or textured and lit model Date Submitted: Tuesday, 02 January 2007 Title: corrected image Notes: Whoooops, helps when you upload the correct file...! :) CGTalk: CGTalk Thread | CGTalk Post

[ 1 2 3 4 5 ]

Next Pg ( 2 of 5 ) >>