Dragon thread

[s.winders]

Welcome guys


Earl I have done some more work to the dragon since the last render.

I have no idea what happened to the texture on the left eye as opposed to the right as it looks like the texture has slipped but the eyeball is an exact copy of the right hand side and just moved down the x axis,could it be lighting that has made ths unwelcome effect?


I am thinking of re doing the dragon skin texture actually to get a better sort of result.

I want hyperish realism guys all comments welcome,let me have it [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]


Stu.

[s.winders]

Welcome guys


Earl I have done some more work to the dragon since the last render.

I have no idea what happened to the texture on the left eye as opposed to the right as it looks like the texture has slipped but the eyeball is an exact copy of the right hand side and just moved down the x axis,could it be lighting that has made ths unwelcome effect?


I am thinking of re doing the dragon skin texture actually to get a better sort of result.

I want hyperish realism guys all comments welcome,let me have it [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]


Stu.

[Earl]

Well, I'll wait until I see the next render with your latest texture on it. However, I would stress details. Details are definitely what make a texture look great. Scars, rough marks, distinguishing marks, etc. The dragon texture should NOT be symmetrical, although it can have symmetrical aspects (such as a tiger's face). You have a lot of freedom as to how you want it to look. I'm envisioning now a really awesome looking 'tiger' like dragon, with scales that are not just one solid color or shade. In fact, I think I'll be adding a little of that aspect to my own dragon...giving her some off-color highlights, similiar to stripes.

Some surface properties which can really add life to the dragon are specularity (with bump maps), and a very slight and very fine tweaked reflectivity. What I mean by that is using some sort of real world Fresnel shader, so the reflectivity changes depending on the incidence angle. Then apply the same bump map as an alpha to the reflectivity so it is only apparent on the peaks of the bumps, and you could really get an awesome effect for scales.

Again...just something to play around with. It's a lot harder to get it to look right than my little paragraph describes.

By the way: the dragon that I'll hopefully be working on again soon is a she. And she's actually a significant character is a storyline. She has a name, though I'm not going to reveal any details until I'm posting her. Anyhow I'd love to hear background info on your dragon if you'd like.

[s.winders]

I chucked the back of the head and only kept a few bits because it was going to be to difficult to get the effect I wanted,so I start modelling anew.


I am beginning to wonder if halving the object and using symmetry is such a great idea for when I come to texturing as everything painted on one side gets mirrored to the other.


I am learning lots about modelling but I still cant pull off the shape I want.

I only just realized I could use alphas in the way you described above.I think some planning is now in order instead of crash bang as usual [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]


My Dragon I have decided I want to be different,the angle I am going too look for now is old battle worn and wise,I also want to create a kind of scene where it looks like the old one is passing knowledge to the younger ones somehow {groan more dragons} I am going to call it Clan Dragon.

I need to study texturing a lot more closely there is still truckloads that I dont know yet [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]


Do you have any links for those Dragon images you mentioned I looked last night and couldnt find any I would call suitable for what I want,and I dont want to cannabalise someone elses creation just get some ideas for wings in particular.I want wings that look anatomically correct,that actually look like they could fold in and out as opposed to fold to a point and would break like I have seen before.My problem is I am a perfectionist [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]

I have a Dragon drawing somewhere that I painted I will dig it up for you,it has a really good head so I might have to look at using it myself yet.


Stu.

[s.winders]

I found that painting [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]

Stu.

[Earl]

That painting is great Stu! Did you paint that by hand, or using computer painting programs? Either way I like it [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img] I'd definitely look into doing more drawings/paintings...just rough sketches, to play around with ideas for the look and shape of your head. It's easy to go back and forth between ideas, and sometimes, due to modeling limitations, it's not possible to go back and forth between those styles with your actual model (not without starting over on a whole new one). Anyhow, that's my suggestion. I don't have a lot of time at the moment, but I'll try to find some links to those dragon pictures I mentioned before. If I can't find them, I'll scan some that I have here locally done by Jeff Easley (perhaps I can e-mail them to you since it would be a copyright violation [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif[/img] ). I'll post some more once I get off work.

[s.winders]

Thanks Earl.


I did the original sketch of that Dragon quite a few years ago before I had a computer,then when I got Photoshop I decided to see what I could do with it,I used mainly the airbrush and the smudge tool.

Some prelim sketches are a good idea.Are you pretty handy with a pencil yourself?,if not I will pass on the thumb nails if you like.


I did a search under Dungeons and Dragons and Jeff easley and came up with some really good images.Jeff Easley can render amazing dragons,actually I prefer his style to the Dungeons and Dragons style with the more sort of dog or animal type of nose,I wonder if they used a different nose to avoid litigation with Jeff Easley?,anyway I think Easleys style is for me.

I chucked everything and started again and now I have a top jaw that looks excellent,and its not in a symmetry object so the texture map looks a hundred percent better.I had the taper all wrong on the jaw that was why the eyes didnt setup properly and it didnt look quite right.I will post it when I make another jaw,but I think its looking pretty good so far.

Heres my address s.winders@paradise.net.nz


Cheers.

Stu.

[s.winders]

I like this shape and texture a whole lot beter than the original [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]


What do you think?

Stu.

[Erik Heyninck]

On my monitor the Ivory of the horns is really the colour of old ivory statues.

I also like the way you did break the fearful symmetry. This creates more tensions as something your mind sees at a first glance isn't there.

So now for a 3/4 view, or 3D perspective... I wait with impatience...

[img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_cool.gif[/img]

If you don't work against time, time often works for you.

[s.winders]

Cheers Erik.

Its already had quite a bit of tweaking since that image and I am well onto the head itself now.

You wait with impatience and I model with impatience....hahahaaa [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]


I have all fingers crossed that the head is the hardest part to model [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_rolleyes.gif[/img]


Hows your drawing coming meister Erik?


Stu.