Well, guys, I finally got the chance to complete my first Carrara project. Please be kind, but honest, in your feedback, as I really want to improve my skills in this stuff. I see the slight clipping in the clothes on the poser figure, but I am tired of messing with this thing! If anyone can give me any hints as to why the stained glass window seems a little blurred, I'd definitely listen... Big thanks go out to Garry Salisbury for his hints on the finer points of the stained glass window, as well as to Poser World for the Chancellor Valorum clothes which were used for the monk in the picture. The walls were my first attempt at creating my own procedural textures... Please feel free to offer and and all kinds of coments and feedback... It's the only way I'll improve my skills... Headgamer

WOW! Amazing... I need to work on my Carrara skills a lot more... :-) Ok... I think the stained glass is blurry because of the image you have as your background image... Is there any way you can have it be only behind the slit windows? Would you share the stained glass info with the rest of us? Aeryk71

I like it. With a little post render touch ups this would become a great image. Its very nice right now...No clue on the window.... With post render I would take and blend/smudge or blur the particle system...I think that would really look cool. Your wall texture looks fine. Nice work. The colors on the floor are great also. Clint

I agree, Clint. A little blurring of the water particles would help. I don't like that the fountain looks so uniform either. The stained glass issue has me hoo-doo'ed. I can't figure out why it is blurry. I changed the backdrop to a different map and to just a color. - No effect on the blurry issue. Clint - what other post work would you do? And all, please comment on the actual composition of the scene. Does it seem to work for you, or does the water/fountain/fire above it just not seem to fit in the scene. My wife and I have been looking at it, and individual aspects look good, but there's just something about the scene as a whole which doesn't look right. HG...

Oh heck. I dont know. Hmm...Mayve a little fog on the floor. Ya know me Im the "Fog Man"! ;) Other than that...good question..I would just blend the fountain in ... I actually save the image and was going to do that tongith just to see how it looked.Maybe remove the fire cloud above the water. other than that I like it... Oh maybe some cluter...So many times we see sterile scenes with out chaos or clutter. Books laying on the floor..A sword leaning against the fountain or all...Things like that might help give it a more nature feel for you. Choas is normal in our lives. This is one of the big things that is taught to artists...add clutter and mess around. Clint

I for one would add 2 smaller windows beside you main window, plus I work on the ceiling, Logically It shouldn't be able to hold like this, add a few beams to make it hold, and I'd reduce the light coming from that window of yours a little bit, it kinda kills the effect a li'll bit. Keep up the good work

Aeryk, No problem. I'll throw together some info about it. However, I want to see if I can figure out the blurred aspect of it first. Talking to Garry, I think we may have figured out the culprit, but I need to test it out tonite to see if what we talked about remedies the situation. And Blade, it actually has something to do with what you mentioned regarding the light though the window.... Mr. Light Cone may be the problem... Stay tuned.... Oh, and Clint, thanks for your comments via email. I piddled with some post-render stuff last night, but wasn't quite happy with it so will finish it tonite probably.... The Goo plugin for Photoshop is a wonderful thing... 8^) Headgamer

One more thing... What do you guys think about getting rid of the light cone altogether and placing something like torches on the walls? Just looking for input. I want to truly be happy with this scene before I move on to my next one... HG...

HG - A few comments. First off, it's a very nice image. The color in the stained glass helps keep the monochromatic lighting from the Blue Thing from becoming tiresome. The composition is fine, but static. I'd recommend moving your camera more to the left -- look toward the priest (who really is the focus of the image -- all good images tell some sort of story and the best stories are about people, MHO). Have the fountain and glowing Blue Thing in the foreground to the left side of the image, and let the priest be silohuetted by the stained glass. Even though this will block some of the beautiful layout in the glass, it'll make for a more dynamic image. I'd also recommend some sort of small, faint spot light from above the priest (doesn't have to have any obvious source in the image). This would give the priest an illuminated edge, and a subtle halo effect. I like the texture in the walls, but think it might be a little too much -- maybe the depth of the bump channel is too high -- I don't exactly see the analogue to the real world for the material it's made of. I LOVE the shadows on the floor and wouldn't change them a bit, unless when you address the uniformity of the water in the fountain it results in some changes there. Great work.

I was thinking a torch or two would be a good thing. Clint