I'm close to what I can't to convey, but not absolutely there yet. Comments appreciated. By the way ... my very first Rhino models ... not the chairs, but the chaise additions to the chairs. It took me awhile, but I finally got something I could use. I think maybe soft shadows for the final render. I don't know whether to create additional lighting for shadows under the chairs and such. What do you all think??

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Looks pretty good so far, maybe smoothify the islands!

I tried smoothing them once, and they went all mushy on me. I'll give it a go one more time ... but just once. If it mushifies on me again, I'm leaving them jaggy.

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Those chaise additions look great... nice modeling first. If you want to smooth the islands some without them looking mushy.... try eroding them and hit your smooth button just once to take off some of the hard edge of the eroded land. I think this is looking nice so far. Keep on going with it as you are Ricky. Wade

There are 10 kinds of people: Those who know binary, and those who don't. 

A whiner is about as useful as a one-legged man at an arse kicking contest.

to smooth terrains: 1-128 erode, 1-256, 1-512.smooth 1-1024erode, smooth. & variations. Provides various elevations at each scale That is one wat to keep from oversmoothing

I smoothed out my mountains and cleaned up the haze in the foreground. I think this version may be ready for posting. That is, unless anyone else wants to make a suggestion.

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I think you can do something with the cups and the bottle the look like stick into the image. Maybe you can get it with a sun ligth direct into the table. Maybe. :) Thanks for your beatiful WIP. Tiler Pantera Bono

Hmmm .... I wanted to leave the balcony in shadow, but maybe I'll add some additional soft lighting.

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The front of the porch thingy looks a bit clipped.... Maybe you could put a bit of a border on it or something.... not sure. And I like the palm branches a lot. It might be advantageous to lighten them up, but only slightly. And the liquid in the glasses looks a little..... glowy....... Other than that, a brillian idea, and a well done image!

Which part of the front of the porch?? A border?? Not certain what you mean. I've never seen a porch of that style that had a border on it. I'll see what lightening up the palm tree looks like and see about toning down the wine "glow".

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BTW, the islands Ricky has depicted here are the Isle of Lucy and the Isle of Candy. (Say them out loud) :^)

This is not my "second childhood". I'm not finished with the first one yet.

Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana.

"I'd like to die peacefully in my sleep like my grandfather....not screaming in terror like the passengers on his bus." - Jack Handy

Oh guffaw!! Tjohn, you are too much.

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I mean the edge of the floor. It just looks a little clipped off is all.

Nit-picking here........the texture on the islands looks like sand dunes, but the shape looks like rock. Wonder if a more rock-like texture with green stuff only on the horizontal surfaces, and slime at the water's edge, would look more convincing? I like the composition a lot :)

I like your breakers around the Islands.

its a nice pic, i like the 2 islands and the balcony, only a suggestion. It's supposed to be a cloudy day looking at the background, but the shadows on the balcony are sharp like during a sunny day... I'll add a light (not too strong) on the balcony, in order to give also shadows to the object on the balcony,they are without shadows and looks like floating.. my $0.2 vasquez

Hey I'll step in a bit ricky, just cuz I love ya hon huggers!! The whole scene is "flat" everything looks a bit dull, I know you can work those textures better, seen ya do it. The whole scene set up is great! and the lighting is cool too, but make that sky pop a bit, even if its rainy, skies still pop out, and you can make that deck texture pop too, I know you can ricky. Fade those lil islands off in the mist, those aren't your point of view or subject, the table seems to be, you can make it snap to ricky! I know you can, like I said, I seen ya do it before at Bryce camp:-) Is my thoughts:-) -clay

Do atleast one thing a day that scares the hell outta ya!!

I too like the composition of this picture but keep worrying about the furniture ! Would the material of the chairs and table so closely match that of the balcony ? And perhaps in so idyllic surroundings a head rest and padded arm rests on the chairs would be welcome. To further enhance the atmosphere maybe the two people have left their drinks and gone for a swim in the bay ?, leaving behind a hat ?, newspapers ? books ? glasses ? radio ? What I'm trying to say is 'What is the story behind the picture', what is the viewer supposed to think of beyond two chairs and a table. Give us something to work on please. Of course, however faint, you should introduce shadows for the furniture, it can't be that dull off Lucy and Candy!! ............Dennis

Just a suggestion, why not try a version as a sunset, end of a perfect day, sort of thing? The scene is trying to show warmth but the colouring makes it look a little chilly. Looking good, though.

tee hee - Dennisld, my reading of the backstory was that two people were relaxing, having a lovely drink, when the weather came across all cloudy and cold and miserable, and they abandoned the balcony to go inside for a warm-up

without their drinks ? improbable

Agreed it needs more warmth. As for the deck chopped off try putting your railing and stringers over the edge. Wood deck railings are usually placed with the stringers or support post toward the outer edge of the deck. As for forgeting drinks for the indoor warm up session, depends on the type of indoor sport being played ;)

My my my ... Clay, the focus is supposed to be the islands, well it was supposed to be the islands, which is why I wasn't putting that much emphasis on the balcony. The clouds and mist are supposed to be from high humidity, not from cold. I'll warm it up a bit. The chairs and balcony are all supposed to be whitewashed wood, but I'll see about making the chairs and table stand out a little more from the balcony. It is supposed to be a sunny day, POV is up rather high on a hill and up several stories, looking at islands some ways in the distance. I made the islands to look like islands do here ... covered with low scrub ... even on the slopes. Ooook .... so back to the drawing board. I probably won't end up making everyone happy, but all comments and suggestions will be given due consideration. Love you too, Clay.

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I thought the focus was the drinks.

www.youtube.com/user/ShawnDriscollCG

I got this thing all rendered, and then discovered that somehow the changes I made to the balcony (moving the supports to the edge of the base) didn't get saved in this version. So, I'm rendering again. However, the side by side is a comparison of the: (1) new sky (that's a fog bank creeping in at the horizon) (2) new texture and color for the table and chairs (3) non-glowing wine (4) moved and lightened up palm tree As mentioned, the edge of the balcony will be changed (although I have seen the post on base type before, where the supports are bolted in from the bottom rather than the side ... but I digress) in the final version, but I wanted to get an idea if you all thought the second version looked better. I'm tired. I've worked on this thing much too long.

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Myself, I think the wine needs more tweaking. Now it looks too flat.

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I think that the new lighting fits better now, specially for the wine and the glasses. Very good work, i think this may be the final version. :) Tiler Pantera Bono