Ancient Temple - Hall of the Sword (WIP)

[Deus ex Machina]

Hello,

here is my new work. I used ZBrush and 3dsmax.

This sword is part of the ceremonial-equipment for an ancient temple i'm
working on.

Hope you like it.

test3.jpg

[Erklaerbar]

Very nice. I like the materials very much. Did you work with displacement maps?
If so, how did this increase your rendering time? the reason I ask is because im looking into getting the LW package, which should allow for a similar workflow.
However bearing in mind im used to a very rapid workflow in Z, im not entirely sure whether such an allround "pro" package is suitable for a single person with no commercial background in the CG field.

It wouldnt make sense to buy stuff just to find out, that i need a renderfarm to get quick results with many details.
Thats where my question comes from :confused: Hope you dont mind.

Cheers
E.

[Deus ex Machina]

Hello Erklaerbar,

normally i don't use displacement maps.
In this case i used normal maps - because displacement maps don't work very well in 3dsmax (this is just my opinion ;) ).

Here are the rendertimes:

without normal map: 2:14 min.

with normal map: 5:18 min.

PC used: 2x AMD Opteron 280 (2,4 GHz) with 2GB RAM

I know nearly nothing about LW, so i can't tell you how fast it is. :o

[Erklaerbar]

thanks for the answer. Looks like that normal map plugin is in heavy use then :rolleyes:
I would go for Max myself if the price tag wasnt that high. Rendertimes appear to be in an acceptable range too.

Anyway nice pic. Im curious about the rest of the scene :tu:

Cheers
E.

[Deus ex Machina]

Here is a small update:

test4.jpg

The sword is now finished.

The next piece will be a golden goblet for the temple.

[DAVESTEEL]

Wow... since i see that, im see the trademark of your works:D , i hope some day make renders and models like yours. the model was made with z spheres again ?, can i see the z spheres? thanks for all, you are awesome.:eek:

[Deus ex Machina]

Thanks for your kind words, DAVESTEEL. :o

Yes, the handle was made with ZSpheres, the blade was made in 3dsmax.

Here are your ZSpheres :) :

ZSpheres.jpg

[lemonnado]

A Beauty! I would not have thought using ZSpheres for that. Great Idea and thanks for sharing!
:tu::tu:
Lemo

[theXbucket]

hi there,

great modeling! maybe the texture or material of the blade could be a bit more metalic. seems a bit made of plastic.

greetz!

[Tidalias]

Checked out all of your different weapons and items you link to in your sig. Really great series of items! I'm sure they'll look super when they're all brought together in the temple. Keep it up! :D

[Deus ex Machina]

Thanks for your comments.

theXbucket: I see what you mean. The blade could really look a bit more metalic. I'll try to fix it. :)

Here is a quick test-render of the goblet:

kelch1.jpg

Now it's time to build the temple!

[Deus ex Machina]

Here is a quick test-render for the first room of the temple -
the "hall of the sword".

Hope you like it.

raum01.jpg
I decided to make seperate rooms for each of the items instead of putting
them all in one room.

[saltapiedras]

Tiene muy buena pinta esa escena. ¿Vas a dejarla así o piensas texturizarla?:tu:

[Deus ex Machina]

saltapiedras:
Yes, i will add textures. :)
It needs a lot more work before it's finished...

[Deus ex Machina]

Here is a small update:

raum02.jpg

[ilusiondigital]

Looks really good, an original use of the zspheres in max


Hope to see more

[sirquadalot]

Man... when I first saw this I could have sworn this was all ZBrush...it just has that feel to it.

[Deus ex Machina]

sirquadalot: I rendered it in 3ds Max 8 with finalRender Stage-1.

[Deus ex Machina]

Here is a new test-render with textures.

Hope you like it.

raum04.jpg

[Tidalias]

Looks really nice with the textures! The sword seems a little blurry for being the focus of the picture, though- probably due to the fog. Maybe toss a sharpen on it in post and see what it looks like. Great work! :D

[Deus ex Machina]

Tidalias: Thanks for your tip. I tried it on this close-up. Hope it's better now...:)

raum04a.jpg

[slocik]

looks real to me :P

[Tidalias]

Lookin sharp! :D :tu:
Are you just planning on doing stills of all your artifact rooms? Or are you gonna render some animations from the camera, flying around the room, showcasing the details on everything?
Either way- great project. :D

[Deus ex Machina]

Tidalias: At the moment i'm not planning to do an animation - the render-times would be too long. :cry:

[Tidalias]

Ahh, yeah, definitely. :(
Well, in the least, you can keep it all for a several years from now when technology escalates to being able to buy a personal render farm for five bucks and keep it in your pocket. :D

[SpiderMonkey]

lol. looking really nice so far but the sword blade sort of throws me off as it looks more crystal than metal. maybe less reflection would be good and i'd like to see a glint in the blade and just a generally darker more standoutish tone so as to further express the sword as the centrepiece :)

[Deus ex Machina]

Tidalias: Good idea - but i don't think that pocket-renderfarm would be able to read my Backups...;) :D

SpiderMonkey: I changed the material of the blade (less and more blurry reflection, more highlight and bump). Hope it's better now. I also changed the lighting and reduced the fog. But i'm not really happy with it, so i'll have to play around a little more... :rolleyes:

raum04b.jpg

[lemonnado]

Last one really looks great. Maybe you would like to try and use fog but use the color black for fog! Also do not forget that you can create a grey scale image with fuzzy clouds (blurrrrr!!!) and use that as alpha for the fog!!! So the fog is not that uniform and simply greys out your image... You can slo generate a color map for the fog and feed it into the other fog map channel...

Happy fogging! The foreground looks real sharp! (no pun intended)
Lemo

PS: Maybe you can giove the stairs/bottom of column and wall/column body different textures. That would give it more contrast. Just an idea....

[Deus ex Machina]

lemonnado: Thanks, i'll try that - it seems that you are a true "fog-expert"! :D

[Deus ex Machina]

Hello,

here is a new piece for the next room of the temple.

Hope you like it.

statuetest5.jpg

[lemonnado]

Great! Can you see the future in the mirror?
:tu::tu:
Lemo

[Deus ex Machina]

lemonnado: Perhaps, but i prefer using my crystal ball for that...:D

[Mr micro26]

Great work as always Deus,
Sent more updates,cool:cool:
:tu: