The Rose: Jan 31st

Well, the rose project was due today, so this is what I ended up with, even though Youtube puts terrible compression on it.

I would still like to continue this project because I really think it has some potential. I still think it needs some variation in the model, but it was coming down to the wire and I had to just call it. I am however really happy with how the velvety feel is coming across. When I was setting priorities for this project, that was very high on the list for what I thought it needed for a level of believability.

I also need to increase the bump, but I was having issues with that because of my UVs. It could also benefit from some better occlusion, but I was worried about pushing it too far because I have a habit of under-lighting things and I think I over-compensated for it a bit too much. I'd also like to continue working on the texturing. I was having a lot of trouble getting it much redder, but my shading network goes so deep that there are so many different elements feeding in to the overall color. I did a higher-resolution still of a close-up of some of the petals, and you can see some of the veins through the subsurface. I'd like to embellish that to make it a lot more obvious.

Anyway, overall I'm happy and proud of how this turned out, even though it isn't as Photoreal as I would like. Hopefully I will have the time to continue it to really push it to the next level.

Rose Update: Jan 30th

The rose has come a long way since last week, but it still has a long way to go. The sub-surface is working well. I used Steven J Tubbrit's velvet tutorial , which uses Facing Ratio with incandescence to mock the velvety highlights. I plugged this into the Diffuse layer of my sub-surface shader. It seems to be doing it's job, but I am still working on some tweaking. The following image is before Occlusion or any other kind of composting.


More updates coming soon.

The Rose: Update #2

Well, the rose is coming along slowly. I've been experimenting with the Subsurface Scattering mental ray shader. I also experimented a bit with lenses, and I ended up with a 24mm. I'll start to add textures tonight and post another update soon.

The Rose: Update

Well, I've completely remodeled, and I'm about to start texturing. I threw a matte red on it for sake of this render. Still texture and bump maps to worry about, as well as lighting. It is making progress though.

And a little bit of progress....

A little more progress... This image looks really dark, but hey - it happens to be what I'm looking at on the screen right now, so I'm postin' it. Trying out this Mental Ray Sub-Surface Scattering Shader nonsense (that was a mouth-full).

The Rose

Well, the rose is coming along. I've started over several times, and am working on another one that I think will be "final." Here is one of the variations I ended up with, obviously, it's not textured or lit yet.

I've been changing around the model because I can't decide on a composition. I've decided to get really close to the model, so that I can show extreme detail in the texturing. The one I'm working on now is much more detailed, and I think more realistic. Renders to come.

A rose is a rose is a....

So for my first project for Photo-realistic rendering, I decided to do a rose. It's not super-creative, but hey, it'll be cool, right?

Anyway, here's how it's coming. I started modeling it today and it proved to be a lot more complicated than I originally thought. Here's how it's looking as of right now. Obviously it is still a work in progress.

This is the first "organic" model I've done, so I know it's going to be a huge learning experience. I don't think it's too bad for a first attempt, but it's going to take a lot of tweaking to get it where I want it. A huge part of this project is the lighting and texturing, so I don't want to spend too much time focusing on modeling. We'll see how it goes. Back to work!

Tomorrow Marks...

.. My last first day of Winter quarter! This is the homestretch of my SCAD career! It's bittersweet - I'm excited to get into the industry, but I'm going to be sad to leave college behind me. But more about that later.

Tomorrow I pitch my idea for VSFX Studio II to the class. I've started a blog specifically for that, which you can find here. It's still in the works, but I will be posting updates there regularly, and I will post large landmarks here to let both of my readers know how it's going. Right now the project is still in it's concept stage, and I've got my good friend Arielle working on some concept art for me. This project is going to present a lot of challenges for me, and I'm excited to get it started.

I am also taking Photorealistic Rendering, which I know is going to be TOUGH, but I am excited to take it head-on. It's going to be a great quarter!