I'm working on a terrain based castle. I envision placing a keep of some kind (haven't decided the shape of that yet), also a bridge. There's a lot of green on the walls, but I also plan to grow some ivy up the walls and do something with the ground cover. Where I'm mostly looking for input is on my focus. Other than creating an architectural study, I don't really have one. Any ideas?? Keep in mind that I do NOT have Daz or Poser, so there are some limitations involved here (unless someone out there wants to collaberate on this with me and create a knight on horseback or something that I can run across the bridge). Comments people??

Would a dragon be too over the top?? Should I consider doing the whole castle in the plain stone (like the bridge) or leave it greenish ... do the bridge greenish as well and cover the whole thing with plants??

Dragon is not too over the top. Keep the greenish stones on the castle. Gives the castle characer. Nice start on a promising setup. Wade

Bridge mossy too? Or leave it clean. I'm really torn. I'm working on the keep right now ... I'm going to leave it simple, but I may do a metal roof ... gad, I'm in a creative slump here.

Great loking castle Ricky. I think the bridge would be as mossy as the castle, in particular because it's closer to the water. 8) Catlin

Sometimes when you get stuck on something, it's good to come back to it the next day, especially if you feel you're forcing your creativity. As for a focus of the image, that's a tough one. I find that's the hardest part of an image, finding what to focus on. Your pic looks good so far though. How about a few mountians in the distance? Or maybe make those trees tower over the castle. Just some suggestions. Good luck :-) Doug

Well, you can go two ways, leave the moss on the walls, and add it to the bridge and distress them somewhat, sort of the 'not quite ruins yet' approach or have evrything kinda clean....if you want to use the dragon, make him your focus with the castle secondary focus...have him sitting on one of the towers(?), up front with wings out spread, protecting 'his' castle, or in the back with them furled, maybe pouting.... One thing and this is just me, I've been reading alot about the construction of castles and fortifications, and the towers, to me, look way out of proportion to the castle walls, reducing the height of the towers so that the windows up top are just above the walls, might bring it into perspective, in my opinion... Some taller trees in groups of 3 to 5 with underbrush will also keep the image from looking to contrived and stark... Mind you these are just my thoughts if I as to do the image, but you have a great start!

Mountains out beyond the water?? Yeah, I can see that. I'm not sure about making the trees that big, though. The towers are supposed to be about 60 feet high .... then again, lots of trees are that big. I'll rework it some tomorrow. The big problem I've got with this piece is that, while the render times are short, the file sizes are HUGE!! So, I'm rendering it in sections ... one layer at a time. Ehhhh, I'll pick it up tomorrow or over the weekend.

My original idea was to have a 15 foot outer wall and 60 foot towers. So, I'll make the outer walls more like 30 feet. I can't do much with the dragon because he's just a picture plane. I dragon-napped his image from DAZ to see if I liked the idea of a dragon. If I want to pose him, I'll have to make a few purchases and learn another program. Might just do that. Larger trees ... check. Groups of trees ... check. Back for more suggestions in a day or two. Thank you all.

Hi yes 15' is a bit low for casle walls. If you want ideas of scale etc try seaching for warwick castle or the welsh castles. Looks good so far Dave

I could see the larger trees and smaller towers Rick. I love the terrain texture. I would also go with the mossy bridge like Catlin said since it's closer to the water. The moss on the castle walls seem a little tiled to me, perhaps you can add more moss in certain sections or just add some in post work. Don't want to get your hopes up here but, and I could be wrong here, but doesn't Poser 4 come in demo form? If so, isn't the dragon an included posable model? Gawd, I have both Poser 4 and 5 and I seldom play around with them, what a waste of money. I should really try to do more with them. This looking to be a great scene.

Your image looks excellent so far. Maybe as a point of focus you can place some sort of altar structure on the grass area in the foreground. . .also, I was curious as to why your file size is so large? : )

I don't know why, but a croquet game looks feasible on the lawn..;)

Stop by Barnes and Noble book store. They had several books in the bargin section about haunted castles. Fantastic photos! Like how this is looking. If you need any dragons, just let me know - I can send you an exported obj or obp file. Peggy

I think it's coming along nicely. The dragon is fine, he just needs some victims,.. er,.. playmates along the walls and maybe scurrying across the bridge. I can see a very dramatic scene unfolding here, very nice ?:>)

ricky, nice broad-strokes so far. if i may (: i get the impression the castle is in the middle of the ocean. just an instant reaction by way of not seeing an end to your, water... its just a 'broad-stroke' thing. detail-wise... you could try to give the ground around the castle, and the bridge for that matter, some algae near the water-line. to give the impression of the water level raising and lowering over time. heres a quick render of a portion of an image i stopped working on a long time ago.

File size is large because I am going for a lot of detail on the walls of the castle. Although .... I think I just figured out a way around some of the problem. You see, the towers are complete all the way around, but that means three large terrains that the program has to save on the back side that are never rendered. So, I think I will just block the windows with a black or textured plain or cube so that light doesn't come through the windows ... sort of like a movie set. I'll look to see if Poser comes in demo ... also going to look at DAZ. And, I promise I will change the scale of walls, towers and trees. Can't get to B&N today ... it's walking distance, but I made the mistake of taking a walk to the harbor yesterday (to get some photos of the tall ships .... they have the ships from "Master & Commander" and "Pirates of the Caribbean" there as well as some others, and my injured ankle is now KILLING me.

Ohhh, I didn't know the tall ships were in town. Do you know how long they will be here and if you can go aboard? Sorry to heard your ankle is still bothering you. Sprains can take a long time to heal. I walked for 5 hours around Sea World on Monday, and my two good feet are still tired. I need to get away from my desk more! Peggy

They will be here until the 25th ... public visiting times are between 4-6 today and 10-1 (I think) tomorrow. Except you can go on the ship they used for Master & Commander all day. The other two ships are restricted because they are taking them out sailing on the harbor during parts of the day. It's $8.00 to get on any/all of the ships - including the Hawaiian Cheiftan, the Lady Washington, the Star of India, (another ship whose name I forget), and of course the Berkeley and Medea. Yeah, the doctor said it would be about 3-4 months before the pain and swelling stopped. But, at least I'm not limping anymore!!

Attached Link: http://www.tallshipadventures.on.ca/pathfinder.htm

i sailed/worked on a tallship for a week way back when i was a youngin. it was like summer camp, minus the steady ground, of course. we crossed lake erie to ohio (from canada) i tell ya it was the best experience of my life.

I was on the crew of the Star of India for about three (?) years (more or less). It was an adventure. Especially the time I fell from the royal yard .... (someone actually caught me by the seat of my pants as I whizzed past them). Although we did not sail often ... which is why I eventually left.

Ok, well, at this point it looks sort of postcard-ish. You know "We were travelling around Cornwall and found this lovely castle" type thing. I know how you feel, though, you go through agonizing hours of modeling something ond you're going to bloddy well show every virtual inch of it! Point of view is everything... is it viewed from the ground? are you viewing it from a hill? another tower? the back of a passing dragon? Who's looking at it and why? If you have a dragon attacking (or maybe just checking out) the castle, consider the pov of a startled inhabitant of the castle. Landscape wise, most castles aren't built in the middle of nowhere, they are built in the center of their area of commerce, save possibly Mont St. Michel, unless your castle is just a hideout for a bunch of royals. or your castle could be on a floating island, or in the middle of a lake ringed with mountains... Whenever I make an image, I ask myself "what's going on here?" Sometimes there's a clear answer, sometimes not. (as an aside, my favorite thing to do is suggest something is going on and leave it up to the viewer to add their own interepretation. You may find the best images do this. end of art lesson). The hardest part is when you make something nice, and your castle is nice, to get over its preciousness. If you want to make the image its best, pretend your castle is a freebie prop... ;) a really NICE freebie prop! Have fun!

Before I saw your post, I decided that the POV was from a cliff overlooking the island in the mountain lake on which the castle sits. (Imagine the village on the other side of the bridge.) I ended up calling it "So Much for a Quiet Saturday Afternoon".

And here's how it came out .... PLEASE feel free to comment at my gallery. I'd love to get more of you over there to see my stuff and help me get better (whether it's my Brycing or my photography .... I can always use help).

Okay, lookin' good, definitely more depth, you're on the right tract...:)