benk

Thanks Michael and Aardbeg. Won't be a contest winner but I learned some things. bk

Thanks Tony.

This posting will constitute my submission of a final image for this project. Back plate image used for this project is from Google Maps, Isla Isabela, Galapagos. Blender used for particle system, rendering and compositing. 3D Coat used for modelling and painting. True to my interest in the intersection of art and science and animals in society this image is an imagined vehicle (Darwin's Hoverboard) that Darwin might have used in 1869 on the HMS Beagle expedition exploring Galapagos where he observed animal morphology and ethology leading to the development of his theory of evolution. I thank all at 3D Coat for all their hard work in the continued development and refinement of their product and in establishing this competition. I wish good luck to all contestants and look forward to seeing their excellent final images. BK

Some more scene adjustments....still more modelling to go. Thanks for comments Tony and Ballistic_Tension. Haven't a clue regarding music. bk

More refinements. Still need to punkify the camera, add some birds to groom the tortoise, more mechanicals and a bunch of time with the particle system and environment. Not sure it is worth the effort but I will forge on.

Thank you for your help Daniel. Perhaps I am using the shader incorrectly. Even so it seems to provide results that are very similar to the 3DC Render Room. I think it works great and is easy to implement. I will adjust IOR settings as suggested to see if results change. I am in Ohio, USA, eastern US time zone (New York time). Thank you again Daniel for the shader. I think it is quite useful and a good asset for those using Blender for rendering. bk

I have been using Daniel's shader as described in the link you posted. I am happy with the results and its use. In 3DC use a metalness/roughness workflow and plug the image textures to their respective sockets in the shader. The normal socket input on the shader did not seem to work for me so I simply routed normal inputs around the shader and set them up as usual for cycles materials. Thanks to Daniel for providing a great shader to the community. Alternatively you can explore the Disney Uber shader mentioned in the "Off Topic and General CG Related" section of the 3DC Community Forum. Good luck, BK

Thanks Michael....I'll need every trick I can muster to compete with your entry. Hopefully by the time I get some DOF and more objects in the scene the tortoise won't overpower the composition. Looking forward to your updates. bk

Testing a scene concept. More elements to come.

Amazing work Michael. I am not sure I should even bother working on my project any more. This level of work is well beyond my means. Are you going to unwrap all those parts or vertex paint? Stellar work, looking forward to seeing more. bk

Looking forward to see where you go with this Michael. bk

Sketching in a few more elements. Starting to kind of look like a backwards velocipede. More elements to come. bk

Thank you angecroft.

Thank you AgentSam. Much more work needed to catch up with the rest of the entries.

Here are a few paint tests. Lots more modelling to go. BK

Thanks Carlosan for the suggestions. I just tried on default cube primitive, convert to surface mode, then geometry>decimate and .39a crashes. No crash with same procedure in .19. So it does not appear to be project specific. I will be away from program access for a week but will keep looking at forum to see if anyone else runs into problem or has suggestions. Thanks, bk

Carlosan: Is it possible to link back to my post regarding the same topic? I am still unable to decimate in .39A without crashing. .19 still works fine. Thanks

Thanks Carlosan. I did indeed try the latest Linux build of .39A and the problem persists. bk

Has anyone encountered crashes when decimating surface mode meshes via the geometry dropdown and .obj export in latest beta builds? 4.19 does fine but every time I try in .36 and up I get a crash. I am using Linux and have reset my user data folder as is per typical for problems. I guess if no one else has problems I will stay away from betas for awhile. Thanks, bk

I am experiencing a similar problem with the text tool in the sculpt room. Whenever I hit apply, nothing shows up. Tried voxel hi res and surface mode. Restarting app and/or machine do not change the problem nor does the latest build. Haven't seen problem with other objects tools. Any thoughts greatly appreciated. I am on Linux 64 bit...do I need to contact Sergii? Many thanks, bk

Here is a bit more sketching. Looks like my scene will be a hoverboard for Darwin's expeditions, replete with Victorian field biology sampling devices. Don't know if the filigree concepts will pan out....probably a nightmare to retopo, but I am looking to expose some of the steam engine elements.

Beginning to sketch out mechanicals and how housing might be affected.

This will be a hard one for me but I will give it a try. As usual I will attempt to integrate an animal into the theme. In this case I will attempt to do something with a skate as a platform for a skate (pun intended) board or hover board. Yes for you biologists, my primitive looks more like a ray than a skate but that is my start. If this idea bombs I will look at the possibility for a steampunk mobile medical vehicle. Looking forward to all the works on this challenge. bk