Oh boy! That's quite a bar for October you're setting.

Wahoo, first time someone found what I did interresting. Usually, people I know don't care at all.
I'm happy that you liked my work, expect a way better reult (I hope so at least).

Your picture is nice too, Talvienno, I especially like the way fire reflects on the ship deck. But are you sure there is not a flaw in the way you render things ? Cause 14 hours, man, I could render 6 hours of 720p video with after effects during the same time, and I'm using a crappy laptop. Do you use Photoshop or something else ?

Echo wrote:Wahoo, first time someone found what I did interresting. Usually, people I know don't care at all.
I'm happy that you liked my work, expect a way better reult (I hope so at least).

Your picture is nice too, Talvienno, I especially like the way fire reflects on the ship deck. But are you sure there is not a flaw in the way you render things ? Cause 14 hours, man, I could render 6 hours of 720p video with after effects during the same time, and I'm using a crappy laptop. Do you use Photoshop or something else ?

I'm using Mentalray. Most people use Scanline. There's a huge difference between Mentalray and Scanline, very easily noticeable - you're most likely using scanline or something similar. I could do a scanline render in one to thirty seconds, depending on the scene's complexity.

Here's a video showing a comparison: http://youtu.be/W5AOehiSLPE?t=17s

Mentalray gives a more "realistic" render than scanline, and a lot prettier of one, but at the cost of increased rendering time. Being the perfectionist I am, I can't bring myself to settle for anything less in most cases.

Oh, and keep in mind I'm on a laptop that, while it plays games well, wasn't exactly intended for production work.


What software are you using?

Got it for Mentalray. Gool luck for future renders then...
I'm using After Effects, with some 3rd party plugins, though i didn't use any in this scene.

BTW, expect an update on the video tomorrow.

Wait, so that wasn't in full 3d? Gorgeous skills, man.

Echo wrote:Hey guys, I decided to try something for this month LTFC.
Here, you can see the beginig of it. It's not finished by any means, but still, it gives an idea.
I plan on extanding it to a 20 - 25 sec video.
Feedback is always welcome !

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AW6-FBK ... e=youtu.be

PS : Youtube quality sucks, as usual...

The competition has arrived, let the games begin!

Talvieno wrote:Wait, so that wasn't in full 3d? Gorgeous skills, man.

Nope, not all. Planets are a still image with the CShere effect that make them look like they are spherical. The layer always face the camera, so you can't see that the all thing is flat. To move the camera forward, everything is just scaled up. After effcts take care of that problem, I don't scale manually each object. The sun is a white circle with a glow effect and a lens flare. And the ship is obviously a image I got from LT Update #19, I just animated it. Finally, clouds and stars are fractal noise, color corrected for cloud.

But don't be fooled : it is way easier to do it this way than with a 3D modeler like Blender, but it is also a bit less powerfull. You can't deal with complex 3D shapes in AE. 3D Modeling take more skill, IMO.

When I'm done with it, I'll try to make a video showcasing how it's done if you are interrested.

HowSerendipitous wrote:The competition has arrived, let the games begin!

Indeed

Inspired by the new devlog video, work commences! Again!
I think I might try a new visual style this month, just for fun.

Dinosawer wrote:Inspired by the new devlog video, work commences! Again!
I think I might try a new visual style this month, just for fun.

That's a good looking start!

Oh boy! October really promises to be awesome. I'm curious to see how many will draw inspiration from the latest monthly. (which I have yet to watch!)

Echo wrote:Hey guys, I decided to try something for this month LTFC.
Here, you can see the beginig of it. It's not finished by any means, but still, it gives an idea.
I plan on extanding it to a 20 - 25 sec video.
Feedback is always welcome !

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AW6-FBK ... e=youtu.be

PS : Youtube quality sucks, as usual...

Really nice work! i must ask (If you dont mind) what program? how did you do the skybox? and howd you do the lighting?

Catsu:

Echo wrote:Got it for Mentalray. Gool luck for future renders then...
I'm using After Effects, with some 3rd party plugins, though i didn't use any in this scene.

BTW, expect an update on the video tomorrow.

Just read up above, he explained it all.

Ninja'd by Talvienno
Still, this post adds some details.

Catsu wrote:
Really nice work! i must ask (If you dont mind) what program? how did you do the skybox? and howd you do the lighting?

Thank you ! I'm using a program called After Effects, by Adobe. It's designed to make special effects for films.

The background is in fact the easiest part. I'm using 2 fratcal noises, the first one is color corrected to red and the second one is color corrected to a blue-purple color.
I add a very subtile annimation with the Evolution slider but not at the same speed for both layers.
Then I add backgroud stars, another fractal noise with very high contrast and low brightness.
I think you can do all of this in Photoshop, although it obviously won't be animated.

Lighting is a bit more tricky. I'm not sure what do you know about AE, so I'll try to keep it simple. If you want more precise instructions, just ask !
So, to create the planets, I use an effect called CShere. This effect already come with light presets, I just made it so it looks like the light comes from the "sun". You can duplicate the planet and add it on top to make some kind of an highlight.
For the sun, it's just a white circle always facing the camera with a lens flare : easily doable with Photoshop or GIMP. The ship is just a picture I took from the update #19, so the lighting on it is the one there was on the video.

BTW, when I'm done, I plan on doing a video explaining how it's done since it seems to interrest a few people here.
Hope it helps !

I'm really pleased to see the camaraderie evident in the discussions here and the growing number of talented members taking part in the contests.

LTFC was a really good idea, Katorone.

Echo wrote:Ninja'd by Talvienno
Still, this post adds some details.

Catsu wrote:
Really nice work! i must ask (If you dont mind) what program? how did you do the skybox? and howd you do the lighting?

Thank you ! I'm using a program called After Effects, by Adobe. It's designed to make special effects for films.

The background is in fact the easiest part. I'm using 2 fratcal noises, the first one is color corrected to red and the second one is color corrected to a blue-purple color.
I add a very subtile annimation with the Evolution slider but not at the same speed for both layers.
Then I add backgroud stars, another fractal noise with very high contrast and low brightness.
I think you can do all of this in Photoshop, although it obviously won't be animated.

Lighting is a bit more tricky. I'm not sure what do you know about AE, so I'll try to keep it simple. If you want more precise instructions, just ask !
So, to create the planets, I use an effect called CShere. This effect already come with light presets, I just made it so it looks like the light comes from the "sun". You can duplicate the planet and add it on top to make some kind of an highlight.
For the sun, it's just a white circle always facing the camera with a lens flare : easily doable with Photoshop or GIMP. The ship is just a picture I took from the update #19, so the lighting on it is the one there was on the video.

BTW, when I'm done, I plan on doing a video explaining how it's done since it seems to interrest a few people here.
Hope it helps !

AAHH i see. i was under the impression that you were using a 3D Rendering like 3DS Max (What i use) or Maya. i was thinking to myself "Dang this guy must be a master at 3D" it turns out you are a master in after effects. you used blender for the 3D then overlayed it with aftereffects?

Well in the wise words of a man in the jungle "Cleva Gal" hahaha