chrisp2 Lots of things to wander around and look at; burning city, crispy bodies, flying saucers. Nice beam effects, was that Bryce or Post? (it was very exciting getting a couple of votes, thanks)

I didn't mean to start a "Let's Lynch Harlann" thread. From my point of view, harlann, I don't want you to feel guilty, I just want you to be a better critic. Your entitled to your opinion. End of story. epilogue There's a broad spectrum of value in the market already. Threeality's spider seems to at least be honest and WYSIWYG. If he/she makes $100 dollars and the customers are happy with it why should I care? If anything it means I should be busy making models everyday! Peace.

Thanks, I'm glad to be a secondary pair of eyes.

Don't kid yourself, Harlann. It wasn't honest and to call it criticism is a compliment. It was a digital booger flicked across cyberspace. If you have ever sat in front of a bunch of clients who can only say "it's too sad looking" and thats the best you can get out of them while the session clock continues to tick and its up to you to eak out what mysterious meaning "sad" might hold for them before you go into overtime then I'm sure you can appreciate someone who can express themselves in a way that makes communication actually possible. If you're going to invest the time, take the time. Don't just ring their doorbell and run. For example: Threeality, Congratulations on getting your spider approved. You have come up with a product and gotten it to market. That's more than I have done. In regards to all this "critic" broo-haha, I ask you to consider the size of the abdomen, it looks a bit small in proportion to the thorax. If you're serious about selling this, remember looks count for everything. Think about your textures, camara position and ask yourself if you think that it calls to people to want your spider. Even small things like centering the spider in the picture make your product more appealing..or not. Julians advice was quite clear And tactful. I hope my additions to his points were helpful.

Nicely done. You really blew the lid off that one quickly. As I suspected the tree design is just a beginning. With the right textures, possibly making the trunks smaller or transparent you could be doing clouds or blazing fires. At least that's what I thought you were pointing towards.

Great Bryce Modeling. It's a textural banquet between the smooth glass distortions and the pitted lens housing. Whether it's past the deadline or not I hope we get to see a render of someone wearing those glasses.

Nice job. I would know exactly what I was looking at without any clues. Very moody misty murky swamp feel. As was mentioned in an earlier thread, one of the biggest challanges in the "challanges" is getting done in time. One of the things that I cut out of my budget (and I wish I didn"t) is painting special textures. If I can't make it from the library it's not going in. But I think that's one of the things that would have helped your X-wing is a little techno-seaming and maybe some distressing dirtiness. Also, a question: You seem to have plenty of ripples in the water but it didn't distort the reflection of chez yoda that much. How did that happen? Just curious.

A very soothing tranquil image (and I'll bet that's what you were going for) :) I wish I was there now. On the suggestion side I'll mention lighting and in this case probably the adjustment I would suggest is in your materials. Consider the posts on your porch and the back of the woman. Her back is very dark and yet you can see all of the shady side of the posts. Visually you're saying two different things. To bring them both into the same world I would look at the material of each and see what the ambient setting is. Either raise the woman's ambient number higher or lower the post's ambient lower. Your choice. Also, on the woman were you going for the "wet look"? If yes, good use of the specularity. If not turn down or off her specular. The appealing aspect of the picture for me is its "lightness" so I would be inclined to raise her ambience. good luck

Opinions make very poor facts but I think that's the best you're going to get when trying to decide whether to go for the upgrade or not. I happen to agree with the two posts above. The Bryce 5 is worth the $99 CompUSA price. Trees, metaballs, and a way to render higher quality images: good. As for more/different material presets: no, not many. But the dials are still there ready to be twisted into a million different permutations of your own design. Not bad,eh?

Just as important (imho) to remember is Rustboy's look is just one of many possibilities. His original 2D rustboy had a Veryy intriguing quality that didn't carry over when he went to the next level. What we're trying to say with our images is important and how we choose to make them look is articulating that message. Photorealism isn't a destination, it's just one path. Rustboy's site is inspirational. It great to see a single person "going for it". There's never been a better time and we all have the same opportunity, whether we have a lot or a little software/hardware. But I'm sure you already know that. I like to remind myself from time to time as well.

Considering what a person might spend on buying a new character and some clothes or props and for the same price get metaballs, 60 trees plus the ability to redesign the 60 plus all the other things mentioned above by kaom. Yes, I'm happy with the upgrade.

Thanks to you both. I just wanted to add that the biggest part of the challenge is picking something that I can finish before the month is over. This scene wasn't so much my favorite but I knew I could start and complete it in a short amount of time. Originally I was going to go for the wide shot with the auditorium full of techno-minions. So far no one has really gone for the alternate: "How the scene should have gone" aspect (myself included). That was an opportunity that could have yeilded some fun results. cheers

Very nicely done! And so lovingly recreated. Did you freeze a frame and build over it? I hope a lot of your people are 2D or that's a big file.

CompUSA $99 Instant gratification. No problems with Serial Number and I upgraded from MetaCreations Bryce 4. G4 733mhz Bryce 5 rendered faster than Bryce 4. More new things would be better but the render quality is better. I just wish they hadn't made it blue.

You guys make fun but all the rendering that I do in my mind will be downloadable once I complete my telepathy technology! Then we'll see who is laughing.