War of the Worlds - Thunder Child by czarnyrobert
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Description
War of the Worlds - Thunder Child
"The little steamer was already flapping her way eastward of the big crescent of shipping, and the low Essex coast was growing blue and hazy, when a Martian appeared, advancing along the muddy coast from the direction of Foulness.
Then, far away beyond the Crouch, came another, striding over some stunted trees, and then yet another, still farther off, wading deeply through a shiny mudflat that seemed to hang halfway up between sea and sky. They were all stalking seaward, as if to intercept the escape of the multitudinous vessels that were crowded between Foulness and the Naze. In spite of the throbbing exertions of the engines of the little paddle-boat, and the pouring foam that her wheels flung behind her, she receded with terrifying slowness from this ominous advance.
A vast iron bulk like the blade of a plough tore through the water, tossing it on either side in huge
waves of foam leaped towards the steamer. Big iron upperworks rose out of this headlong structure, and from that twin funnels projected and spat a smoking blast shot with fire. It was the torpedo ram, "Thunder Child", steaming headlong, coming to the rescue of the threatened shipping. The "Thunder Child" fired no gun, but simply drove full speed towards them. It was probably her not firing that enabled her to get so near the enemy as she did. Martians did not know what to make of her. One shell, and they would have sent her to the bottom forthwith with the Heat-Ray.
Suddenly the foremost Martian lowered his tube and discharged a canister of the black gas at the ironclad. It hit her larboard side and glanced off in an inky jet that rolled away to seaward, an unfolding torrent of Black Smoke, from which the ironclad drove clear.
Another Martian raised the camera-like generator of the Heat-Ray. He held it pointing obliquely downward, and a bank of steam sprang from the water at its touch. It must have driven through the iron of the ship's side like a white-hot iron rod through paper.
A flicker of flame went up through the rising steam, and then the Martian reeled and staggered. In another moment he was cut down, and a great body of water and steam shot high in the air. The guns of the "Thunder Child" sounded through the reek, going off one after the other...."
H.G Wells (1898)
About the scene :
I modeled Martians and Thunder Child in Cinema 4D. Scene was assembled in Vue 5 Infinite. Sky is a bitmap made from several photos, water is a procedural terrain with "open ocean" function applied, smoke was made using numerous spheres with fuzzy material. Distant paddle boat is from 500 3D Objets Encyclopedia by De Espona/Taschen. Radiosity lighting was used in this scene.
My apologies to all my supporters for not posting scenes since march! Modeling of Martian War Machines and ship took quite a long time. But now I can use my own Martian Walkers for new War of the Worlds scenes - if you like this series!
Take care & be prepared! They are coming!
With compliments to British Royal Navy!
Comments (190)
MidnightSon
DAMN !!! Why isn't there anything beyond "excellent" ??
voske
Stunning picture!!!Superb work!!!!v
Malstorm
oh cool i like your story...i'm from essex england...super fantastic image...with some fine modeling and lighting ps...whats the difference from bitmap and j-peg when it comes to layering alpha plane sky photos ?
keys13
Wow, absolutly stunning! :)
fvdioso
cool image...
czarnyrobert
Malstorm - bitamp is a general name for 2D picture. J-peg is a compression format for pictures. It make no difference what type of file you use for backgrount - you just need good quality picture :-)
FrenchKiss
GAWD! What amazing work, Robert! Love the lighting in this and your modeling is spectacular! Can't believe how beautiful this is.
paintgirl
Such a wonderful scene, very crisp and well composed. I love the POV and your models. Excellent work and vote!
Arkanias4
Excellent composition for that dynamic scene! Love the color scheme; the water and sky are fantastic together with the banking of the camera and instead of pointing all what I like I just click V Thanks for sharing :-)
Shardz
Absolutely amazing composition! Your modeling skills are stunning and I am very impressed with the high level of detail! I just wish these war machines would search out terrorists, then everyone would be happy! Superb artwork and welcome back!
Geodesic250
Outstanding!!!!!!!!
zinoarchi
Absolutely stunning image. Outstanding modeling and texturing. Smoke effect is excellent. Fantastic work once again. Very well done. V*
RIGAU
Fantastico*****
svdl
Very cool! I love that water material. A spectacular rendering of that scene in the book. There's two things that don't seem completely right - the horizon seems to be tilted stronger than the clouds (might be an optical illusion though), and the waves coming from the bow of the warship seem to "flat", I'd expect the wave to raise higher at the prow, and then gradually (exponentially with distance) decay to zero height. That warship is an awesome piece of modeling! Very well done.
Mollock_20
I have waited so long to see this scene in 3D , Vote for you my friend youve made my day!
artgum
Stunning, stunning...stunning. Wells would be awed. MASTERPIECE!!!
dlk30341
The water and smoke look great.
UweG
A W E S O M E !!! what a fantastic sci-fi scene !!! big Vote
nanotyrannus
Wow, Can't really add anything that hasn't already been said, the texture on the warship is really great, but my favorite part of this scene has got to be the martian walkers, Excellent modeling and rendering!!
Lyne
I am just blown off my chair!!!!!! Stunning would be an understatment! Perfection might come close! :) vote...and thank you so very much for your tips on fuzzies!! Now I will not be afraid to try making smoke .. or dust?!! in vue! :))
Bert007
cool. Awesome models
BountifulKnight
Bravo! Well worth the time and effort. Fantastic modelling and great story line. :-)
jocko500
wow this is far out and out of this world
lulu18
As usual your attention to detail is amazing. Superb composition, modeling and textures. Fantastic work Robert :)
synergy33
Right that you haven't post anything since March, but when you do, you give a marvelous piece of art to all of us! I can't stop being very impressed by your fantastic work, here's another proof!
nhirschberger
Fantastic modeling and composition ! Awesome textures and light ! Excellent work !!! VOTE
BGHart
Outstanding render and a fantastic concept. I love all the details, the fine textures and your work on the waves and the steam. vote
deevee
Very creative and impressive CR! very well done.
PeterDD
Fantastic image. It really captures the feeling of H.G. Wells book. Would love to see some pictures using these Martian models, they are the best I have seen.
AnneCHPostma
The martians are superb. Way cooler than all other models I have seen !