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JuuG · Joined: 22 Jun 2009 Posts: 137

DrNo wrote:

The background is a bit plain, but it
puts more emphasis on the main scene.

Thank you! I thought it might be too plain. My first idea had been with the ball-and-chain in a photo realistic 'scene-from-a-film' style scenario, actually locked on to someone's ankle. In the end I decided that would look comic or just plain daft, which wasn't what I wanted at all.

DrNo · Joined: 03 Jan 2009 Posts: 1070

JuuG wrote:

DrNo wrote:

The background is a bit plain, but it
puts more emphasis on the main scene.

Thank you! I thought it might be too plain. My first idea had been with the ball-and-chain in a photo realistic 'scene-from-a-film' style scenario, actually locked on to someone's ankle. In the end I decided that would look comic or just plain daft, which wasn't what I wanted at all.

Can't tell you why, but I feel it is the best chrome-sphere-on-plane
rendition ever. A classic reloaded.

The way you were talking about it, I didn't expect something
that good.

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DrNo

DrNo · Joined: 03 Jan 2009 Posts: 1070

DrNo wrote:

I destroyed my previous reply by clicking "Edit" instead of "Quote"...

Recovered! The page was still alive in my browser. It would be gone for good
after any click anywhere. So I carefully selected, copied and resent it.

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JuuG wrote:

DrNo wrote:

JuuG wrote:

You guys are making me wonder if I should post my own WIP up here - unlike the current debate it's very much to do with buying things.

I don't get your point there.

... my image is all about buying too much.

Very confusing to me. I wasn't sure what the "it" was referring to,
or if the "it's" was for "it is" or "it has"... etc. My english is very fragile,
a missing comma and I am lost.

JuuG wrote:

But also, I suspect I have a picture that won't be liked - not particularly realistic and not placed in a realistic setting - I suppose I wanted to get some hints on it. It's probably better to just throw it in to the comp and see what people make of it.

The eternal problem being an author? We cannot experience the first impression
of our own work, because we built it from top to bottom and saw it growing. As a
result we often skip in our minds some problems because we see the result
the way we want it to be, not the way it actually is.

Flipping the image is an efficient way to reduce such a subtle bias. It looks like
enough for you because your entries are always good and almost always excellent.

________________________

Now what about my beta version? There it is. I told you that the alpha version
was enough only because I knew the beta version wouldn't be enough.

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The word "Philadelphia" is reversed because the image is flipped. Using the Love Park
sculpture would look so much more artistic, but I can't use it. Damn.

_________________
DrNo

JuuG · Joined: 22 Jun 2009 Posts: 137

DrNo wrote:

Now what about my beta version?

Better and better, maybe work on the texture on sides of the desk?

The coins are a lot better now.

You also talked of putting a few hairs on the hand which would be good but I've never worked out how to do that.

DrNo wrote:

The word "Philadelphia" is reversed because the image is flipped.

The image looks the right way round as it is, people usually wear their watches on their left hands, and I'm pretty sure the watch is the right way round too - why not keep it this way but flip your poster image before you render?

lequenne · Joined: 09 Jun 2009 Posts: 33 Location: paris

Excellent !
I love your latest version of in gold we trust !

I especially like the quantity of details in the different grounds. You know how it works, the human eye catch the main point of the image, and sometimes forget to see elsewhere. There is plenty of other spots hidden behind.

Very good job !

DrNo · Joined: 03 Jan 2009 Posts: 1070

JuuG wrote:

Better and better, maybe work on the texture on sides of the desk?

It looks flat, right? I cannot improve it much directly without losing
the anisotropic specular reflection on the far side. But I can still
preprocess the texture itself by adding a noise channel.

JuuG wrote:

The coins are a lot better now.

Do they still seem a little bit unnatural?

JuuG wrote:

You also talked of putting a few hairs on the hand which would be good but I've never worked out how to do that.

I expect to do something quick: a grass-like layer with a lot of
transparency. All we need is to feel some frequencies without
necessarily being able to see the individual hairs (which looks odd
most of the time anyway). I don't need a perfect contact with the skin.

JuuG wrote:

DrNo wrote:

The word "Philadelphia" is reversed because the image is flipped.

The image looks the right way round as it is, people usually wear their watches on their left hands, and I'm pretty sure the watch is the right way round too - why not keep it this way but flip your poster image before you render?

You got a very good point. I didn't expect that.

Then I will have to flip more than one texture. In particular, there is
also something written on the hourglass base. It is already difficult
to be read forward, so I suppose you didn't notice it written backward.

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DrNo

JuuG · Joined: 22 Jun 2009 Posts: 137

DrNo wrote:

JuuG wrote:

The coins are a lot better now.

Do they still seem a little bit unnatural?

I started to write "No, not at all. They look fine to me. " but after really examining them some of the bottom layers do seem to be floating slightly. I'm not sure that matters - I didn't notice until I really looked.

Supposing you made the coins 'no_shadow' (assuming you can with your render technique), that might bring them tight together in the image. I would definitely give that a try.

DrNo · Joined: 03 Jan 2009 Posts: 1070

JuuG wrote:

DrNo wrote:

JuuG wrote:

The coins are a lot better now.

Do they still seem a little bit unnatural?

I started to write "No, not at all. They look fine to me. " but after really examining them some of the bottom layers do seem to be floating slightly. I'm not sure that matters - I didn't notice until I really looked.

Supposing you made the coins 'no_shadow' (assuming you can with your render technique), that might bring them tight together in the image. I would definitely give that a try.

I knew a technical guy like you couldn't miss it Smile

At least it wasn't obvious.

The coins alone took me half the time of the entire image.
I will try to do something for the release version. Maybe ajusting
the shadow bias could work. I can disable the shadowing completely
by setting the bias to the maximum value, but visually, it looks worse.

A bias = 0 allows the surface to cast shadows on itself yielding
undesired results most of the time. But sometimes I use it to
add some fake texturing.

_________________
DrNo

DrNo · Joined: 03 Jan 2009 Posts: 1070

lequenne wrote:

Excellent !
I love your latest version of in gold we trust !

I especially like the quantity of details in the different grounds. You know how it works, the human eye catch the main point of the image, and sometimes forget to see elsewhere. There is plenty of other spots hidden behind.

People coming across the forum could say, "well, these guys only congratulate and thank
each other", but we are only honest. So it is my turn to say thank you!

Having said that, I agree with you. I am getting used to this very simple rule
of the human mind that you are referring to. We like to go either bottom-up or
top-down. So if one is able a picture to be readable both ways at the
same time, something very different could emerge from it.

With the beta version, one now knows that the hourglass because of its shape
also stands for a dollar sign ($ with two bars). Yet another strong reference to
the time=money equation. However, it is still not my main point which is related
specifically to the still-shaky-and-fake hand.

On the other hand (again?), if I could do a realistic dummy (if it makes sense),
I would use it. A stupid dummy... trusting gold.

What? no more gold? Then we only need to agree by signing a contract
using a golden pen. That should do it, shouldn't it?...

What? the pen is blue? At this point, who cares?...

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DrNo

DrNo · Joined: 03 Jan 2009 Posts: 1070

OK the release candidate is almost ready. I changed my mind
regarding the Philadelphia thing, I will change it to something else
(more artistic). A tribute to Benjamin Franklin has not much to do
with the topic and the scene/concept is already loaded enough.
It would be over-the-top and confusing.

Keep it short and simple. Don't drown the punch line.

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DrNo

DrNo · Joined: 03 Jan 2009 Posts: 1070

Upload done. I found a way to make the first-level concept readable
even without a text. I am starting another entry. A bit short in time though.

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DrNo

lequenne · Joined: 09 Jun 2009 Posts: 33 Location: paris

DrNo wrote:

Upload done. I found a way to make the first-level concept readable
even without a text. I am starting another entry. A bit short in time though.

So did i !

Any remaining comments are always welcome !

Congratulation Dr No for your entry, very well done !

Razz

DrNo · Joined: 03 Jan 2009 Posts: 1070

Thanks... Both you and Thomas did a great job.

My only concern for you is the calibration of your picture.
It looks very dark...

I like your text. Very simple, very relevant.

You are actually saying the same as I do: what
about money if it cannot provide anything really
important?

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DrNo

DrNo · Joined: 03 Jan 2009 Posts: 1070

Congrats to Yves!

Great way to get into your first top 3 (if am not mistaken?)...

Unfortunately Ian didn't vote, so he will end up last after the update.

JuuG's didn't do as good as I expected... it was my favorite of the round.

The padlock looks so real...

Quote:

[ThomdeG]Maybe the paperwork is too flat. They should show some wrinkles and /or bent/torn pages.

I agree. I used just a slight dirt-like texturing (over the text). It looked
good at that point because the context was not as realistic as the
end result. I forgot to take a look back at it...

Usually, the left-right image flip trick reveals such problems, but I was
used to both versions and didn't notice it.

Quote:

And why are the pens in their holder facing away from the user? Wink

Because they are not there! Remember? The pen is blue!

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DrNo