heyas; this is stage 2. you might have seen these posted at the wip/gallery forums at poserforum and 3d commune. i need to mess with the rhino's texture some more. the horns need to be darker, and bonestructure wants the rhino to be all caked up in mud and dust. and fix the birds. right now i'm using the poser passerine from ages agone, and i'm not even sure if it is cleared for commercial use. i'll be replacing them with anton's songbird, and giving them some correct textures.

oh yeah... and it needs a title. gimme a hand with that, wouldya? :)

Hey Bloodsong, First, you realize you have to do something about that clearly seen sphere edge that contains the bulk of the dust cloud. But I know you're planning on touching it up anyway. I think bonestructure is right-on to suggest clumps of mud on the Rhino's body, and that would definitely make it more realistic. You know, this is sorta OT, but I use your "Whole Mountain" materials almost always on my background mountains, and I've studied them to a great extent. For that matter, it's through studying them that I've learned how to control altitude-dependant material mixes. :) What I'm saying is, I'm sure that making a suitable muddy rhino material probably would be no big deal for you, and would definitely be worth the effort. You know waht though--- something about the scaling of the animals relative to the "world" here just doesn't seem right somehow. Maybe I've been thinking about that a little too much lately, though, but to me something just looks a tad amiss about the cheetah jumping for cover on the left-- kinda like he's not actually part of the scene or something-- maybe it's the lighting, or maybe I'm just imagining it. :/ And speaking of lighting, I for one would love to see some really strong contrasts here. This is a powerful scene depicting what may very well be a tragic outcome for one or more of the participants, and it deserves dramatic lighting. But, I tend to do that all the time, so that's just my own personal opinion. So, uhhh, that's what ya wanted, right? For one of us to make suggestions? :)

ooops, sorry, no idea for a title... How about "Sorry Hopney, I Stomped the Cheetahs" See, the last thing you want from ME is title ideas!

Very good comment Mike. As for the 'running' off cheeta (the texture don't seem right unless it's still a WIP) may be it be good to place him/her facing the rhino too....half the body length away from him/her mate. Have him/her back up and the shoulder down (head even lower with snarling expression) with both paws on the ground, one forward and the under bend just under him/her shoulder. Title suggestion: "Don't Git Me Horny!" ...LOL!...I'm just as bad as Mike onthis huh!? - Bill

"Don't mess with Mama" snicker

Looks promising , but keep the Cheetah bit out of the title , someone is bound to notice that these are most def. not cheetah's , not even if you squint and cheetalittle. :) Agree with Tesign on the 2nd lion , there's no reason? for that one to jump away, the other one has all the attention of the rhino so this one looks like frozen in a jump that was started a while ago.

Hmmm..looking at it again. That 'running away' cheeta seen to be pouncing on something else off screen :) Anyway, what is a fast animal like a cheeta 'chasing' up on slow Rhino...doesn't sound right or is it the Rhino want a change of diet vegetarian to "omnivorous"? Sorry bloodsong...just for a little laugh. Seriously, they don't look like cheeta at all. Cheeta are on the skinny and lean side over all.

They aren't lionesses? Look like them to me. ;) Laurie

Lionesses , yup , I used the generic lion , but if you want to specify those are lionesses trying to rob the cradle. But what about the Rhino and the Cheeta's is that a Rhiness attacked by Cheetesses? :)

Gotcha bloodsong!...those are lionesses or right. Why???...well Cheeta tails are not like that. If you post work the tails, its gonna look like a cougar or mountain lion. "is that a Rhiness" by hein....hee! x2...bloodsong gotta turn that beast around to tell or flip it...LOL! Good question. Anyway, I know, I know....its always babe follow mummy and daddy just always roaming away. Hmmmm....may be not!...mummy got eaten or chase by the other prouncing lioness and off the screen while daddy take care of number two...on second thought, bloodsong, flip it up or around back face front...LOL! Bill

heyas; those are lions, you goofballs! don't listen to mike, what's he know about african wild cats? :) i'm not messing with creating fifty little dust cloud spheres when i can use the five or six i have and paint up the edges in post. :) i'm not gonna face the leaping lion the other way, either. they were both going forward, but suddenly changed their minds. ;) the rhino was closest to the leaping cat, who has had time to turn around and bolt. then the rhino kept on towards the second, who is turning around now. i do have to fix the neck, though. and maybe she's a bit high off the ground. i dunno, mike. i'm having a terrible time with the plants. they all look huge in wireframe, but then when i go to render them... they're not. i think the background grasses are too tall/big... or else that tree is too short. yeah, i gotta mess with mixing materials for the rhino-in-mud bit. ;)

Cheetalittle?? ::groan:: Well, I won't add much except to say the leaper to the left would look better (I think) if her head was cranked around to look back at the rhino (or toward her sister). Her current lines lead the eye visually right out of the scene instead of drawing the attention into the action. I think the mud-caking will be a great addition, too. :)

Mike!?...Cheeta!....LOL! Btw...bloodsong, I just notice that the rhino horn seem to have stab into the left front paw of the nearest lionesss and the paw looks broken....ouch!

Alright, it's not a cheetah, already! Sheeessshh! Hey, whaddya want from me anyway? As the late great Dr. Bones McCoy might say, "Jim! I'm an ARTIST, not a zoologist!" ;) BTW, Bloodsong, nice LIONS ya got there!

heyas; this is what i've gotten for the mud caking. it isn't exactly what i wanted... but it is hard to mix proceedural materials with uvmapped materials. i mean, i tell it to put the mud at 'low altitude,' but if you look at the uvmap, the head is at the bottom of the map, and the legs are out the sides. i didn't want any mud on her face, but... this is what i got with the azimuth deal. at least it isn't on her ears and stuff. i moved the leaping lion. does that look better? i can turn it to leap more towards the camera, but an outward explosion composition is what it's supposed to have. if i had gotten the stupid grass to bend outward, it might've helped. i tried to lighten the water, but that made it darker. it's more transparent, and there's nothing really under the water to make it brighter. this is the last work-in-progress pic i'm going to post. so you got anything to say, now's your chance. (i dont ignore ALL your advice...!) ;)

Looks good.I'd have to say the "mud caking" turned out pretty well on her face, but on the body it looks like some kind of leprosy or something. But, of course you can always edit that out. It's times like this that we all have to be thankful for programs such as Photoshop and Painter, et. al. I still think it would make for more "drama" with stronger contrasts between the lights and darks, particularly under and around the leaping lion. And, what's up with those birds? They actually lok more like tiny dead,floating, leafless tree trunks, than birds in flight. But hey, I'm not only full of criticism here--- overall I think it's an excellent composition--- just I would approach it differently. :)

The mud-caking actually looks pretty decent, and I think the leaper does look a bit better. :)

heyas; well, scrap that mud, roshi wants me to paint a real uv blend map for it.... it did render kinda funny. i browned up the grey skin to look dustier, so it kinda colour blended together with the brown mud. not so good. the birds are the cheap (free) poser passerine, and not that good. i gotta unpack my songbird and make a texture map for it and put it in there. they'll look more like something in a bigger render. i dunno if i want darker shadows... it's supposed to be a bright african day. but i can give it a shot. thanks, guys :)

As for birds... hmm, I don't know if I've ever seen anyone with egrets or herons for sale, but from watching The Discovery Channel, I know there are huge populations of both kinds in Africa. We have them all throughout Florida too, and I've been hoping I stumble across some good egret or heron models for Poser one day. But the point is, it woul;d look cool to see a few of them suddenly taking flight near the rhino. Ya know, the way they hang out on animals such as rhinos, riding on their backs.... I wasn't thinking about it being a bright African day, actually, and you're definitely right to try to make it look real!

The churnef up sand dust is a bit on the white side. May be you want to add a few more with the yellowish kaki colours ones.

it would look cool to see a few of them suddenly taking flight near the rhino. Ya know, the way they hang out on animals such as rhinos, riding on their backs.... -- That's the impression I get of these birds when I look at them, like they were minding their own business on the rhino's back when the ruckus startled 'em off. Have you tried Obiwan's "distance birds" from the Vue free stuff? They don't have a lot of close-up detailing, but they do have very nice forms! :)

Hello, Just a suggestion. Why not try to use a texture with a bump map for the rhino to get the mud effect. Here's a picture I did some time ago I updated a bit. I honestly can't remember where I got the texture map from so if anyone recognizes it, let me know. For the bump map I used the original texture which I used Paint Shop Pro to grey scale and emboss. In the bump function of Vue, I used a setting of .15 Later...

Wow, John, that is cool! You've gotta drop by here more often. I want to know how you got those great tree roots! ...er, or maybe that's not a SolidGrowth tree? oops! :x

Varian, Thanks. I'm not very outgoing. I'm the person in the back row with the pencil and paper taking notes. You know, the one who every once in awhile draws a little picture in the margin. Again...Thanks...