Flamingos

[Slosh]

Arrrggghh! I had to stop working on this picture because it was driving me crazy. I can't seem to get natural reflections in the water (the ones you see are painted in), and I'm not sure how to do realistic feathers. Anyway, this is as far as I got after about 3 hours. The flamingos are zsphere, the rest is familiar territory. I know...there is nothing but blue sky in the background,but like I said, I had to quit working because I became so frustrated with the stupid reflections. I can't get clone to work right, nor 3d copy...any of the ideas I would have used to get the reflections. And forget about environmental reflections! It ended up reflecting all of the elements okay, but it also reflected a solid blue sky! Anyway, submitted for your perusal.

http://www2.zbrushcentral.com/zbc_uploads/user_image-1027827982zxw.jpg

[DeeVee]

I wish I was good enough to do an image like that Brian! The only thing I would change are the reflection of the Flamingoes , they could be more visable. But you did explain that you were having difficulty with the reflections. All that said, I like it.
DeeVee.
Joe

[Vikki]

It's beautiful no matter. :D I do know how frustrating it can be though. I'm sure you'll get it sorted after a break from it for a bit.

The flamingos are beautiful as is the rest of the image!

:tu: :tu: :tu:

[DLee]

I take it this new version doesn't grab like ours? I grab the part I want, flip the texture, use the drag stroke setting the tranparancey to what I want.... that doesn't work in 1.5?

The birds look great.

[DeeVee]

I use exactly the same method!

[juandel]

lovely flamingos, Brian!!! :tu: :tu: :tu: :tu: i guess you checked out the threads on reflections in the QuickLinks; though i have experimented a lot i have not found a method that will do the job in every case yet. anyway, by trying to achieve reflections under varying settings i learned a lot. in the given painting my suggestion would be an echo of what aurick taught me here (http://www.pixolator.com/zbc-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=1&t=001422)

DLee: the grab method will work fine in 1.5 :)

- juandel

[Slosh]

Actually, DLee...it never even occured to me to do that. Yes, the new version does EVERYTHING the old version does, so if 1.23b will do it, so will 1.5. I'm gonna have to give that a try. How do you apply the grabbed texture to the water? Alpha brush, maybe. Also, you would have to grab parts individually, since the water reflection would not be a perfect flip of the 2 flamingos.

DeeVee, bite your tongue! No one does birds as well as you do! And you are the master when it comes to skies and water, so there is no doubt you could make this look as silly as I think it does. Proof? How about your egret picture posted yesterday? That was my inspiration for this.

[DeeVee]

Slosh, my Heron was in one color and very small. I actually zoomed to 6x to get the shape right.
Your flamingo's are a different thing, they are in full color and large.
If I was attempting this image, I would create the falmingos on a black background and import them as a texture, with transparency on, brush 00 and the dragtriangle, by doing this I could rotate and flip them vertically and horizontally, so when it came time to do the reflections I could flip them, reduce the intensity and have a very good reflection.
That is my way. I am sure that there is an easier way, but since I have never read the manual, I do not know of it.
What this also does it gives you a saved copy of the flamingo's that you can use again. I hate to get something right and then have to start from scratch if I need it again, because it was not saved.
I hope this helps, it works for me.
DeeVee,
Joe.

[Flycatcher]

Sorry, Slosh I can't help you with the feathers, and my suggestion for the reflections would have been as above. But I do urge you to go back to this and complete it when the frustration has worn off. It is excellent modelling and just needs those final couple of tweaks to turn it into a wonderful image. :tu: :tu: :tu:

[DLee]

Slosh, once you have it grabbed just use the normal paintbrush, (go back and select the texture again) the alpha stays the rectangle. ADD OFF (important or you get a line impossible to get rid of) use the drag stroke and add it, you can then size and move it, play with the transparancy. Once positioned right add a light blur to it.

I find this a very easy way to add reflections... this is also one layer instructions. If you have layers it should still work, but I haven't done it.

[Flycatcher]

Slosh - I've been doing a bit more digging around my archive of downloaded tips and tutorials and found the following two threads that may help you with the feathers. Southern's method amongst others in this thread (http://www.pixolator.com/zbc-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=1&t=000505&p=), and Upham;s method
here (http://www.pixolator.com/zbc-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=1&t=003144).

EDITED: Hopefully these links will now work; sorry about that. The thread numbers are 000505 and 003144 respectively.

In case there is still a problem with the links, you may find the following tip useful. If you know the number of a thread but can't find it by searching, you can easily locate it. Simply go to ANY page (a single page thread preferably). In the address bar of the browser you will see a six digit bumber at the end of the address. Replace that with the number of the thread you want and click on Go or press Enter.

[DeeVee]

FC your links do not work :ex: they take you back to reply screen.
DeeVee,
Joe.

[Slosh]

Flycatcher, thank you so much for the digging around! That is so nice. Unfortunately, as DeeVee stated, these links don't work. I will try a "search" however, and see if I can find them by the time you fix the links.

Thanks again...Brian
http://www2.zbrushcentral.com/zbc_uploads/user_image-1027995411cbu.jpg

**Edit after searching: Duh! I am such a doofus. I should have used my own feather technique from this thread:
Inca Mummy (http://www.pixolator.com/zbc-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=1&t=006319)

[DeeVee]

Very nice Brian, do you care to explain how that was done. I see a new design for a monogramed tie pin cuff links set. As a sort of jeweler, I can see a lot of posibilities here. :D :D :tu: :tu:
DeeVee,
Joe.

[Slosh]

Well the initials were done with the new alpha skinning feature, but the background is a 3d circle with "Dotsometal" material and a 3d torus (ring) that was deformed and twisted.

[Vikki]

Very nice sig Slosh! I like it.

I can never get the torus to deform like that. :D It's very smooth and really nice.

[Slosh]

Vikki, in case you are interested, I'll tell you how this particular deformation was done. A script would not do well, because it was only 4 minor steps.
:b2: In the initialize subpalette, I reduced (or increased depending on how you look at it) the SRadius to 10.
:b3: In Selection "Mask All", then set Select count to 1, skip to 0, then hit columns. It will make a grid on the tool preview.

:b4: Deformations, size XYZ to 25
:b1: Deformations, twist Z to 60.

That's it! Remove the mask and apply a shiny material, like Intensity Metal.

[Vikki]

Hey Slosh!

Thank you! Yes, I was/am very interested. Just tried it and it works a charm.

Doh! I was trying to do this in the initialize palette with the Twist and Itwist in there. Guess I best get the manual out again and see what it is those things are supposed to do and/or what I was doing wrong with them. :D

Thanks again! Another awesome tool for my toolbox. :tu: :tu: :tu:

[Flycatcher]

Hi Slosh: in case they're still of interest, I've edited the links in my original post on making feathers (page 1). I've checked them: they do now work. Must have had too much wine yesterday. :D

[Slosh]

Thanks, Fly (which incidentally is my nickname at work, but not for any reasons that are obvious). I will definitely check them out.