That's pretty neat, Sacred. Did you use that underwater atmosphere or make your own? Good lighting, too. Cheers, Mike

Thanks Mike. :) Actually, I made my own, the reflections using the underwater atmosphere made the entire scene too dark and unpredictable in the areas I was hoping to focus in on. Even now, there is still an unrealistic clarity to it....the water is too still. But, at least the scene is clearly visible :D Sacred ps, any suggestions on getting better clarity with realistic depth movement would be greatly appreciated.

Can you find a caustic type image and does Vue let you put that image in a projector/volumetric type light?

SacredRose, this is really neat--I like the watery version better, but I see what you mean about the background. I think that "refraction" is responsible for distortion so turning down the refraction on the water material might help. Also, if you're not going to map the mermaid, how about a procedural scaly material for her tail? Maybe you could swipe one from the fish. I haven't tried that myself, mind you! :) anyway, this is a really sweet pic, nice posing & subject. MaryCanary

Sacred, I've found that I don't always like the crystal clear clarity of some of my Vue renders, and I've sometimes rendered a completely final scene with complete anti-aliasing and then saved it as .bmp. Then I'll render just a preview at the same size and save it, as well. I don't know what painting programs you might have, but if you have something which allows you to blend the rough version in with the final version, you might be able to get something more to your liking. I use Painter 6, myself. It has this "clone" brush and it works by painting one image into another, and the opacity can be varied by either the opacity controls or a stylus. I'll see if I can quick come up with an example of what I'm talking about in just a bit. I agree with what Mary Canary said...very nice posing and subject matter. And composition, too. :) Cheers, Mike

heyas; i kinda like the second one... cept the surface of the water looks too close. actually, i think the underwater scene has lots of blue fog. check the fog and haze settings and try turning them down.

Bloodsong, Hi! That is all. Cheers, Mike <<< one VERY frustrated Rhino user/abuser!

heyas; stick to the topic, you silly moderator, you! :) (btw, axe and spike made good tutorials on making a rim, go try them!!) oh, and speaking of caustic gels on lights.... well, you can't actually do that, per se. however, you can put the caustic material on a plane/square and stick it in front of your light. i make leafy shadows with gels like that all the time.

Bloodsong, I hate to be OT and all, but I guess I can get away with it now! :P Only kidding..... Anyway, I've kinda temporarily lost interest in Rhino, because all of a sudden, I'm like totally into Vue, messing around with the functions and transparencies, and all that good stuff. :) I just discovered there seems to be no limit to the number of Vue materials that can be mixed, and therefore, there seems to be no limit to the number of potential materials! :) I also used Rhino to make a rather large (120 characters) 3D text, which I saved as .3ds, hoping for a small file size, with the intent of using it in a Vue pic. My 600 mhz Athlon powered Compaq took about 20 minutes to save this file from Rhino, at about 25% more polygons than normal. It became a 53 MB 3DS file when it was through. I tried to import it into Vue, but after waiting nearly half an hour, my PC crashed HARD. CFTRL+ALT+DEL didn't do anything, and I simply had to turn it off and back on again. Then I tried again, with the same result. So, I wasted a Rhino Demo save, but I think I found Vue's limit? Dammit, I KNEW I shoulda used Amorphium for 3D text! So, people, what's the largest 3D object, MB-wise, that you've been able to drag into Vue? Cheers :) Mike PS I shouldn't say I've lost interest in Rhino, but rather, I've put it on the backburner for now...but I will try the toots, bloodsong; thanks for letting me know! :)

Sacred, Yeah! Now that is a relly good picyure you have there. :) I love the addition of the seaweeds, and the fact that you lightened it up makes the surface of the water show up much better. Good job! Cheers, Mike

all right! this turned out very well, good job :) i like the seaweed ivy thing you added on the dolphin. (as for YOU, mike, i'll send you an email!) :)

bloodsong, Now you've got me in suspense....what's up? Mike mowenj@mediaone.net

well... read yer email! :P :) now quit messing up poor sacred rose's thread! :) oh hey! you know i wanted to ask you, sacred rose... what on earth is 'secret girl's business'? or is it a secret? :)

In Australia...the local aboriginal (tribal natives) elders have discussions - commonly referred to as 'Secret men's business', as women are not privvy to any of this information. Soooooooo, if they can have secret business.....so can girls.o......r in this case, the mermaid and her co conspiritor 'female' dolphin friend ;-)~ Sacred

oh! okay, good. i feel enlightened now, thanks :)

Anytime you feel the needs for the power of 'secret womens business', feel free to call upon us :-D LOL Sacred