Attached Link: http://www.renderosity.com/viewed.ez?galleryid=514222

After nearly 18 months with Vue, and lurking here, I finally put a render in the gallery!

Couple of reasons for posting this:

Firstly because Fearajinx asked me to post here when the image was finished. So, there you are Jinx.

Secondly, I can't help wondering why it's had so few viewings, although some very encouraging comments. I wasn't too happy with the appearance of the thumbnail of the whole image, so chose instead to use a detail from it. If it's just that the subject matter is only of interest to a minority, that's cool. If however, the thumbnail is putting people off, am I doing myself a misservice using it?

Comments welcomed.

John

You have 7 comments at this time and ranking excellent : felicitations ! For much more, you will need to become very popular (at renderosity or here), or make killer pics, or both There are too many pics on renderosity, not possible to take time to look at, dont' worry about number of hits... ;=) Yves P.S. : doing nudes with poser helps a lot

Hi John with me its very much a personal thing that I dont generally comment on an image that doesnt give any details of the content. I dont have Vue Pro only Vue so it maybe that all your image content is off the program CD, but not knowing whether thats the case I am more inclined to not comment. I just have this thing about models free or purchased, that if they are good enough to use to enhance an individuals image, then they should be good enough to credit. If I just use Vue then I put All Vue, in the details, that makes it fully clear. I commented on others images long before I posted, I realised on other gallerys I had posted on that it was a community thing, you dont have a group of employed commenters. If I didnt comment then others might feel why should they bother to spend time looking at others work, eventually you would end up with nobody commenting. As it is, it is usually a small group that try to comment on as many images as possible, out of all the people that post. Of late I have found it difficult to keep up with through other things to do, so have not been commenting as much. Have you commented on at least some of the images around yours,it's not compulsory, but you are one of the source that commentors come from, it is a point to think about. This is not intended offensively, I hope you will take it in the spirit it is intended. Dave

Thanks for the felicitations, Yves! Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining. I'm really thrilled with, and gratefull for, the comments and rankings. More than I could have hoped for. All I was really asking is: was that thumbnail a bad idea? Also, there IS a Poser nude in that scene, but they're just off camera. Perhaps that explains the rankings? Now there's an idea. Dissapointed with your gallery rankings? Just pop a Nude Vicky in a Temple in there,just out of shot! John

Hi Dave, I think I must have expressed myself very badly in my first post, that both Yves and yourself seem to have interpreted it in way so far from what I intended. I hope my response to Yves clarifies this. I find your point about models very interesting. I had thought that, if I didn't credit any merchant or other artist, people would assume I had made them. In retrospect, that's obviously not the case - point taken! (BTW, all models in the scene in question were made by me in Anim8or 0.85, mapped with UVMapper Classic and textured in Xara X.) As far as commenting on others work goes; I haven't done so up till now as, having no 'credentials' in terms of a gallery, I didn't feel I had any right. Now, however... John

Yes I remember !!! Will take an other look to that nude pic and comment it :P Yves

Just kidding John, posted a comment there, I did not see that you made mdoels by yourself, that makes all the difference, they are awesome !!!

Don't look too close, I had to chop her right arm off to stop her from messing up the reflections in the mirror, she doesn't look so good after the surgery! John

Hi again John, well I agree that does make quite a world of difference to your image that you modelled and textured the models yourself. They are excellent work, I do make a fair proportion of my images contents myself and know that, it can be time consuming, but you do feel you have more personal input into that image, than if you took the easier route and found them either in free stuff or purchased them. I think it is worth noting how an image is created, not everyone will be bothered but certainly many will. I also think it can be an interesting learning experience finding out how others create their images, it can encourage other people to try modelling programs when they see what you have done. Lots have undeveloped talents purely because they think they cant do it, when with a little perseverance, they would find that many things for their images they could create. I do now understand the point of you original post sorry for any misunderstanding. Dave

OK, so... cursed, as I am, with the soul of a romantic, trapped in the perceptions of a scientist and blessed with the brains of an idiot. I spent most of last night re-rendering the image (which I now hope never to see again in my life) with no ambient light, but with some point lights strategically placed to replicate the real passage of light within the scene (ignoring the bevelled edge mirror, I'm not getting into prismatics!). Result shown above. On the plus side: many details in the full res tiff are stuningly photorealistic, this reduced res jpeg really doesn't do them justice. On the minus side: render time up from 43 mins to 2 hrs 58 mins, didn't notice till 3 am that the bump maps on the chair cusions and floor were ludicrously over the top with this lighting... meeting at 9 am with telephone hardware people.. TAPI device drivers... calling party IDZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz, zzzzzzzzz....

I prefer this version, we can see more light/shadows gradient !!! Now welcome to the club of hours Vue renderers ! One tip is to prepare the pictures during the days and render it during night ;=) Computer works during night, and you sleep (as an example). This way you can even increase your rendering time up to 8hours (one night between 23h and 7h). Hope you will continue to model by yourself, ;=) Yves

Hi JW, I don't really know how to word this, as each time i try (i have attempted to write this twice now) either I come off as a narrow minded idiot who only looks at certain peoples work, or it sounds like i'm coming down on you... Neither of which could be further from the truth! Firstly let me say that your re-render of your picture is stunning! I really mean that, its a great image, a beautiful lighting setup, and you have some brilliantly modelled items in there! I honestly have no crit whatsoever! Next let me say that yes, your thumbnail 'did' put me off. But not in the sence you would think. I'm not someone that just instantly dismisses anyones work here at Renderosity. Mikeangelo and to a lesser extent the others in this thread have alighted to an unwritten law that seems to be at work here at Renderosity. It may seem sad, and narrowminded of folks to be this way, but when you regularly post comments and get involved here you will find that more and more of you time is spent on commenting, and instant messaging. This is not a chore, I like commenting and getting involved, but I for one only have so much time :( The 'reason' I skipped your image by, put simply, is because the thumbnail didn't grab me. (see what i mean by no mater how i put this i sound like im just 'dissmissing!') For me to look at work by an artist I don't know, takes a thumbnail that jumps out at me because as I have already mentioned, I just don't have the time. This way I realise I miss some great artwork, I know this... But there is, as much as any of the people here would like to see it otherwise, an etiquette to follow. Now I have someone else to watch, and I don't see you having any problems here, as I think you will gain a great many fans! Welcome to the Vue gallery! Kutter.

I think the lighting work has been well worth it, too much ambient can wash an image out, and the default setting is too much IMHO. I think Kutter summed up the commenting side nicely, there is only so much time available for anybody, and to comment on all the images that come on would be impossible. My own personal category of person whose images I dont comment on at all after a couple of times, is one who fits all the following points. One who never gives any details about their image, never credits the creators of free stuff they use, never answers questions on their image, never thanks the commentors either by IM or on the thread, and never comments on any others work. To me these people are taking advantage of others good nature, or they just havent got any idea of how a community works, maybe its the type of world we now live in that encourages that attitude. You quite obviously dont fit into that group, but I am surprised how many do, and yet they still manage to find generous enough people on the gallery to at times even vote them into the hot twenty. Anyway I look forward to seeing further work in you gallery, its very well done. Dave