It's a two man sub, so it's not supposed to be really large (just in case anyone wonders). Location is supposed to be on the continental shelf at the edge of a kelp forest. (Headed for deep ocean exploration) The sub is entirely a boolean construct. I imported the plants and sharks. Comments and suggestions most welcome.

Oh, and no post work.

looks really good! I think it captured that murky look really well. I like it.

The look of underwater is great! However, it seems a bit empty. I'd suggest putting some rocks or small patches of plants in that open space. I also don't like the placement of the sub. It may look better if it's just a touch higher in the picture.

I like it so far but the shadows seem to green and washed out to me.Maybe voulumetrics would help out in that area.Or use fog and haze for the murkiness and have the shadows be a dark blue or almost black.Just my opinion though.

If I make it too murky and too high contrast, then I'd have to get rid of the caustics. There has to be a certain amount of clarity and ambient light to support caustics.

How are you simulating the caustics,with light gels,or using the sun through a water plane.Or maybe a diff method I'm not aware of.Oh by the way,thats some damn good modeling there.

The caustics are a light gel that is set into my volumetric slab "ocean". Thanks for the nice words about my sub. It was one of several that I modeled based on one I saw in Clay's gallery (and that was also in (I think it was) Susan Kitchen's book. Most of what I know about boolean modeling I learned from Clay (either directly or indirectly). Here's mach-2 of the scene. I don't want to clutter it up too horribly much, but have added a few things and moved the sub up a bit. Keep those comments and suggestions coming people.

Ah,now those rocks sure add alot I would say(in a good way that is).And about the voulumetric slab,I was not aware of that technique at all,but now that you mention that is done that way I understand the mechanics of it.In the pics that I posted with caustics,I used a cone light with a gel,and made light visable for faked voulumetrics(my computer is slow,250mhz)for faster renders.I'll try your way though too,I cant pass up a new technique.thanks for the info.

Oh,one last suggestion,on the 2 spot lights on the top and bottom,in water there tends to be a slight visability of the light ray as it pass' through the tiny particals in the water,like in those specials on nova when they use submersibles(sp) to explore deep ship wrecks and such.

I'd make the kelp in the background more distinct. Don't know, more specularity? Also, something is bothering me about the lights... yeah, that radial light in the front is too small. I think you should make it more like the whole window is glowing. You should use soft(-er?) shadows on it, definitely. And, yes, create volumetric lights (real or fake) for the headlights. And the ambient light could have more blue. The bottom is excellent now, with a couple of objections. What's that dark thing in the foreground? A ray? And the stones below the kelp should have a different texture, cause mossy rock looks quite unrealistic compared to the green stones in the sand. Great sub.

That's not a radial light, it's a reflection on the glass. The light itself is the same size as the window. Dark thing in the foreground is a rotting boat. Stones in the sand aren't so much "green" as they are slime covered. But, I'll see about doing something with that rock under the kelp. I had thought about doing something volumetric with the spots. How do you "fake" it??

At first look I'd suggest that you use soft shadows. I've never seen so hard shadow edges in an ocean scene. Besides that - great work!

Ah, I thought so after I posted my response. Hm, You should have a different reflection, not a ball. Maybe the caustic gel as the reflection map on the window? Fake light, take a cone or a cylinder and apply one of the laser beam presets from volume materials. You'll have to raise the density a lot, and then play with edge softness and fuzziness. And of course, change the colour. And the boat is undistinguishable for what it is. I see just a dark silhouette with some lighter bits in. I'd say you don't need it at all.

Ah, but the reflection is off the inside of the window. That's the problem. Thanks for the fake light idea. I will play with the boat and if I can't make it look better, I'll delete it.

Hmmm. How about duplicating the window, faking a light with it -> upping the ambience, fuzzy, a bit of transparency, so it's more uniform. Or removing the reflection?

the easiest way to make a fake volume light is this,1.create cone light,2.hit edit on the light,3.select,"make light visable.then blay with the falloff type that matchs the scene best.