Been awhile since I made it in time for a monthly challenge so I thought I'd put together something for this one. I know the glasses are simply NOT Captain Jack Sparrow, but I liked them in there. For those who played WarCraft part of the idea for this render was the images that used to come up between "chapters". Shooting for a cross between fantasy and photo without coming too solidly down on either one.

C&C welcome

Nice!

A few little problems with this image, for one I think the sword is stuck far too deeply into the deck of the boat. I know it is necisarry for it to be in that far to show the hilt but maybe you would consider changing it to a dagger so the size would be more appropriate? I really like the map model and texture; there are some minor texture mapping problems with it though, for instance if you look to the extreme right of the flat part of the map just where it would begin to curl up the texture is badly skewed there. Also it looks like it is streched a bit too far around the outside roll as well. Also the texture on the pieces holding up the railing in the background is not mapped correctly and it is repeated identically on each one, maybe remap it then rotate it seperately for each piece? As I said before the texture on the map is really nice but some of the textures for the other items are not up to the same quality, like the sword for instance, maybe paint on some dirt/rust etc? I really like how the map is curled up right until it touches the blade of the sword and how the string on the medallion flows over the opposite side of the map. It really adds to an image when people take the time to have objects appropriately interact with each other like you have here. Another suggestion, you might want to consider mapping the texture you have for the deck onto a terrain, this works like a displacement map and can really improve the believeability of your image as the textures contours are displayed in 3D and shadows are cast more realistically across them.

Nice compass.

I actually like your texture for the balustrades. It looks like old, flaking wood to me. I agree that rotating them would help. Also, i'd go with less specularity and more bump on them. They look too smooth for the texture.

I like the sword(though I agree that dagger size would work better) Personally, I would change the hilt, though. It's more angular than any pirate sword I've seen... it's more like a power-ranger style. Or it could be that I'm just weird. The medallion also looks a little green around the gills: literally. I guess that's the reflection of the sky, but it'd be cool if it was a little more goldish. Not sure how you could do that, though. Just my 100 baisa!

I agree with turning the balustrades a bit so that it doesn't look like a repeating texture. I really like that map. I agree with Blog about the things he pointed out as well as maybe a dagger rather than the sword. The string on the medallion does flow very nicely. It does intersect with the top of the roll though. And that compass rocks man. This image is coming along very nicely. I am anxious to see it finished. Nice work. Wade

Hokay, I made a few fixes and uploaded and since I probably won't have time to fix anything else I won't post it again here. The Map Texture: I completely agree..that was one of those things I was planning on fixing but it turned into a "look at it long enough and you don't see it" deals. I made some corections in the final. The difficulty was that I modeled the map in Wings and it has no texture mapping so I had to apply as object top, hence the skewing. Balustrades: Dang skippy I should have rotated them, did in the final...and increased the bump map. Dagger: Never liked the hilt to begin with, changed it and scaled the whole thing to, hopefully, look more daggeresque. Coin: Played with the sky to get a more "gold looking" reflection. Thanks for the suggestions all...I suppose you'll have to see how it came out once AS posts it. :)

I was assuming the necklace was a jade carving. :^)

Attached Link: http://www.cgtalk.com/showthread.php?s=ec2f5837bb80fd4a3ba8728069dbfcd2&threadid=77417

REally nice composition, Claymor! BTW - you mention that Wings doesn't have texture mapping... it could be worth your while experimenting with AutoUV. I don't use it myself, 'cos I'm used to Unwrap3d, but people who use it seem to love it. Attached is a link posted by Magmi on the Wings forum recently. There've also been interesting threads on the Wings forum about it, not too far back.

Yeah, I have used the mapping in Wings. Sometimes it works great, other times it comes up short. I didn't take the time to play with mapping the map yet :) but probably should.

Just needs a 'Jolly Roger' flag..............;-)

Where's the final image going to be posted? I'd like to see it when it's done!

@SteveJax - It's in the challenge entries. You can get there by clicking on Challenge right under the forum banner that changes. @Claymor - Looks great! I love that movie and I've heard of WarCraft. That aside, it's very well done. :)

Thanks Damia! (PS- Love the Screen Nick! I have the whole Damia Series in hardback from Anne McCaffery)

Attached Link: http://www.renderosity.com/contest.ez?contest_id=314&ShowQuestion=9596

Looks like he got the texturemapping of the map fixed. Very nice!