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Artwork => Anim8or Challenges => Topic started by: floyd86 on November 05, 2009, 11:59:55 am

Title: [ COMPLETE ] Challenge #11: Wild Wild West
Post by: floyd86 on November 05, 2009, 11:59:55 am
Challenge #11: Wild Wild West.

(http://www.tagate.com/western/wild_west.jpg)

The eleventh anim8or challenge: Wild Wild West!



Howdie Ho, cowboys!! Welcome to a new anim8or challenge.
This time you will have to make a still render about the wild west. Think cowboy's, saloons, indians and bandits.
Make a scene which shows that typically wild western feeling.


Have fun, keep in mind the challenge rules (http://www.anim8or.com/smf/index.php?topic=2096.0) and post your progress, c&c, and/or final renders in this topic.

Deadline: 2 weeks (November 19th)



What will be judged:
This challenge will have a public poll. Vote for the best still render.

Title: Re: Challenge #11: Wild Wild West
Post by: $imon on November 05, 2009, 03:27:30 pm
Sounds like a fun challenge :) a lot of ways to go.. hmmmm.. what shall i do...

Good luck to everyone participating though!
Title: Re: Challenge #11: Wild Wild West
Post by: 3D Joe Wiltshire on November 05, 2009, 03:34:30 pm
Damn, I have a great idea for this, too bad I don't have enough time to do it... oh well.

Good luck to any who participate, look forward to seeing many interesting ideas!
Title: Re: Challenge #11: Wild Wild West
Post by: Jehovahenker on November 05, 2009, 04:54:13 pm
How many saloons wil pop up here  ::)

(probably 1 from me, if I can find some time next week)
Title: Re: Challenge #11: Wild Wild West
Post by: AirAKose on November 07, 2009, 12:55:49 am
Perfect timing! :D I'm doing a wild west project in my history class, so I can intertwine these two  :P
Title: Re: Challenge #11: Wild Wild West
Post by: $imon on November 09, 2009, 03:13:49 pm
A first WIP
Title: Re: Challenge #11: Wild Wild West
Post by: Kubajzz on November 10, 2009, 10:46:14 am
Good start Simon! I can't wait to see more!

Here is what I created today.

I would like to make the scene somewhat more complex, but I don't have enough time for this challenge so this picture might be my final entry...
Title: Re: Challenge #11: Wild Wild West
Post by: 3D Joe Wiltshire on November 10, 2009, 11:28:08 am
@ kubajjz, a few magnum bullet cases could go well in that scene.

Nice looking spokes $imon
Title: Re: Challenge #11: Wild Wild West
Post by: floyd86 on November 10, 2009, 06:19:00 pm
Nice work kubajzz and simon. I have started something too this evening...
Title: Re: Challenge #11: Wild Wild West
Post by: 3D Joe Wiltshire on November 10, 2009, 06:42:45 pm
Hope ya don't mind my use of your image as my Ipod background Kubajzz :P

EDIT:
Thought you'd like to see it looking sleek as my wallpaper :P
Title: Re: Challenge #11: Wild Wild West
Post by: $imon on November 11, 2009, 03:56:43 am
As I said nice job Kubajzz!

floyd, great revolver model, can't wait to see that textured and rendered in anim8or.. It could use a bit more polies on the trigger and the ... thing sticking out in the top ;)

Good work & keep going guys ^,^


Here's an update on my boot.. I need to step it up a bit this week or I won't make the deadline.. so back to work!
Title: Re: Challenge #11: Wild Wild West
Post by: Kubajzz on November 11, 2009, 06:27:18 am
Cool model Floyd! It looks very clean and detailed, I hope to see more progress soon!

Nice boot, Simon, I hope you can make it before the deadline...

Quote from: 3D Joe Wiltshire on November 10, 2009, 06:42:45 pm
Hope ya don't mind my use of your image as my Ipod background Kubajzz :P
Haha, of course I don't! I'm honored 8)

btw. I like the bullets idea...
Title: Re: Challenge #11: Wild Wild West
Post by: $imon on November 11, 2009, 08:07:44 am
Another update.. starting to get somewhere.. now for texturing!
Title: Re: Challenge #11: Wild Wild West
Post by: Indian8or on November 11, 2009, 09:43:21 am
Here is my WIP.

I want to make a scene that will reflect the "wildness" of wild west.

These are some low poly structures.  Hoping to finish some more props and models in time.

A lot of work to be done.

well done everyone so far.
Title: Re: Challenge #11: Wild Wild West
Post by: $imon on November 11, 2009, 11:42:52 am
Indian8or: nice start on your street scene.. The horse doesn't look too wild though.. I'm sure you're planning to achieve the wildness some other way..

Good luck with texturing etc!


Here  an update on my entry.. Uv-mapped and textured the whole boot.. Pffff.. time for a break haha..

Up next; pant legs maybe. We'll see.

Title: Re: Challenge #11: Wild Wild West
Post by: $imon on November 12, 2009, 06:16:57 pm
It's quite a jump from my last image but uh... Here is my final image for the challenge.

It is a frame from a movie.. The sheriff has a personal 'matter' to settle with a criminal. The criminal is in the saloon, and the sheriff is walking in the saloon to take care of the case. Since their difference is personal he takes off his badge and drops it to the floor.. what is going to happen?

Title: Re: Challenge #11: Wild Wild West
Post by: 3D Joe Wiltshire on November 12, 2009, 06:23:27 pm
Wow... I wanna see the rest of this movie!!! lol, you've captured the drama perfectly!
Title: Re: Challenge #11: Wild Wild West
Post by: RudySchneider on November 12, 2009, 08:21:34 pm
Very "telling" image, $imon!  Good composition, with just enough depth of field and motion blur on the badge.
Title: Re: Challenge #11: Wild Wild West
Post by: ENSONIQ5 on November 12, 2009, 08:59:05 pm
It is certainly a privilege to share this forum with some true artists.  $imon, that image is just amazing, and not just from a technical perspective.  It's rare that a single image with no caption can tell a story as clearly as this one.  The gaussian blurred background provides just enough visual suggestion for the viewer to construct the rest of the western town, and the dropped badge conjures up chilling scenes of a guns-drawn standoff.  You can almost hear the tense, pregnant silence as the piano, and all conversation in the bar, comes to a sudden stop.

As reluctant as I am to criticise an image of this calibre, considering myself totally unworthy, the only thing that seems out of place to me is the "cleanliness" of the image.  I would expect some dust and horse-crap on the weather-beaten floorboards and the hero's boots and jeans, and perhaps the boots could be a bit scuffed up.  Having said that, I suppose even western towns were once new, and the toughest of cowboys would have had to replace their boots occasionally!

Trully amazing work, fully worthy of the gallery.
Title: Re: Challenge #11: Wild Wild West
Post by: hihosilver on November 13, 2009, 02:03:51 am
Good god mate!  That's brilliant.  I love the image and concept, truly fantastic.  I agree with Ensoniq5 in every respect.  The lack of grunge in the image stands out a bit, taking away from the realism a bit, but still looks fantastic.  I would make the jeans denser and less smooth/specular (rougher).  More scratches and grunge are always good in a cowboy scene.

Brilliant work though, simply breathtaking.
Title: Re: Challenge #11: Wild Wild West
Post by: $imon on November 13, 2009, 03:17:48 am
Ha! Thanks so much guys.. I'm glad you like it.

Joe: the rest of the movie will be done rendering in 20 years... stay tuned!!

Rudy: thanks so much!!

Ensoniq&hihosilver: You're absolutely right.. Dirtying things up is the hardest thing for me. Especially in this case, where dirt would exist out of sand & dirt coming from the street, it is for me very hard to simulate that. Also, making jeans and boots worn would require such a level of detail to make it realistic, I didn't find myself capable in anim8or.
I have no excuse really ... just my laziness haha!

Looking forward to seeing everyone else's images for the challenge! Good luck!
Title: Re: Challenge #11: Wild Wild West
Post by: Jdez on November 15, 2009, 06:29:16 am
I love it $imon! That is absolutely astounding! The long shadows give the scene a nice feel and the dof does wonders! I do agree with Ensoniq about the dirt but other than that, perfect!
Title: Re: Challenge #11: Wild Wild West
Post by: rellik420 on November 17, 2009, 12:28:53 am
im not taking anything away from your work simon. but it looks super grainy. i know you work with photoshop alot, and im really new to AO, but it its still is relly grainy 2 me. i think that takes alot away from your model and textures. i dont know what dof means but as far as the dirt on the pants... it makes sense but i dont think its necessary, but it would make it more realistic.

edit: that might by my comp ( i just got a new one). but from my perspective you can really really see the grain on it.
Title: Re: Challenge #11: Wild Wild West
Post by: RudySchneider on November 17, 2009, 12:43:02 am
DOF = Depth Of Field.  When a camera takes a photo, it usually produce a sharp image at the focal point of the combination of lenses.  Objects in front of or behind the focal point will be out of focus, or blurred.  Blur generally looks fuzzy or grainy.  More anti-aliasing can help, but it'll still be blurry, and makes an image seem more "photo-real."
Title: Re: Challenge #11: Wild Wild West
Post by: rellik420 on November 17, 2009, 01:56:22 am
does art support that? or do you do that in some sort of editing software such as photoshop? im just now discovering attributes and different kind of renders.

and like i said b4 i really dont want to take away from your pic but but it looks really grainy. i did just change comps so it might be this monitor. ( i think it might be lcd) but if you "dof" was the left foot being the foreground and everything behind it blurred a bit, even the boot is grainy and so are the shadows.

and when i say grainy i see almost all the colors of the rainbow in the shadow. and i woould think it would just be shades of grey mixed with what ever color the shadow is on.

but in any case its a great model and texture. i think the render is to blame for this one. ( i still think youll win though)
Title: Re: Challenge #11: Wild Wild West
Post by: $imon on November 17, 2009, 04:14:55 am
Thanks Jdez!

About the grain: I actually added a layer in photoshop to add the grain to all parts.. It's an effect to simulate the 'movie' aspect. Movies generally have a lot of grain (maybe not full HD nowadays, but most certainly westerns, I should've added a lot more grain and cracks etc. for movies from that time)

Art does not support DOF, but as you can see in the other image I attached it does support depth channels.. This depth channel can be used in photoshop to make the DOF.
Title: Re: Challenge #11: Wild Wild West
Post by: Indian8or on November 18, 2009, 11:06:15 pm
I am stuck with the ART render, taking too long.  Hope i have few more hours before the deadline.
Title: Re: Challenge #11: Wild Wild West
Post by: floyd86 on November 19, 2009, 03:41:55 am
I'm pretty stuck too. ART is taking too long, I already lowered all settings but still it takes ages :D
Just for the sake of not letting simon win so easy ( ;)) i will move the deadline.

New deadline is: November 27
Title: Re: Challenge #11: Wild Wild West
Post by: Indian8or on November 21, 2009, 01:51:50 am
Here is my final entry ???

Title: Re: Challenge #11: Wild Wild West
Post by: $imon on November 21, 2009, 03:53:03 am
Indian8or, thats not normal... what resolution are you rendering it at? 10.000x10.000?
Maybe you can make a non-AA render to at least show what youve made! You still have 6 days.. if you need any help rendering just let me know..

Your entry now is very breathtaking too, don't worry! haha..
Title: Re: Challenge #11: Wild Wild West
Post by: floyd86 on November 21, 2009, 07:28:46 am
Indian8or wow! Very inspiring image. The lighting, the textures.... how did you do it? Absolutly amazing! ;) :p

But indeed you might want to lower the resolution. Or you can click on the image when it's rendering and drag to move the render around. The red render line is probably just out of sight.
Title: Re: Challenge #11: Wild Wild West
Post by: Jdez on November 21, 2009, 07:39:30 am
I'd keep rendering. no matter how long it takes. We would all still like to see it!
Title: Re: Challenge #11: Wild Wild West
Post by: Indian8or on November 21, 2009, 08:41:41 am
Thanks all, (takes a bow, pauses for a while and then says) thanks again for the encouragement.

I will try to render the scene with mental ray and post it in WIP section.





Title: Re: Challenge #11: Wild Wild West
Post by: lynn22 on November 21, 2009, 04:51:19 pm
Indian8or don't give up just yet, your image will get rendered I know for I just finished a sequence of 665 frames with ART at the standard settings but including glass and it only took 2 days and 3 nights ;D

Patience is all you need ')
Title: Re: Challenge #11: Wild Wild West
Post by: floyd86 on November 26, 2009, 11:30:59 am
YEEE!! I'm done!! Toke some time but finally i'm finished.

For all the other: remember you only have 1 day left!


Here it is:
Title: Re: Challenge #11: Wild Wild West
Post by: Indian8or on November 27, 2009, 02:55:16 am
So this is my final render, seriously.

I had to tone down everything and get rid of some elements.

Quite a shift from my planned scene.

So, here is the story.

It is a blue, cool and gloomy night.  The horses have been fed and watered, and now stand content, picketed on a thick, cotton rope between trees.  It is a dark night with no moon.  A cowboy sits on a hewn, log chair, cradled in his arms is a steel string guitar.  He strums and sings.  His yodeling, foot-stomping, and sad country ballads are offered out to the silent night air.  The fire crackles and pops, flames lick around a pile of logs and then........

Title: Re: Challenge #11: Wild Wild West
Post by: Jdez on November 27, 2009, 03:05:25 am
Looks very good Indian8or! I love the motion blur and the blue colours.
Title: Re: Challenge #11: Wild Wild West
Post by: Indian8or on November 27, 2009, 07:31:48 am
Thanks Jdez.

It was  a relatively lengthy project.  The models are not rigged, so posing was tricky.

The rendering was the lengthiest part and made me eventually to tone down everything.

I did not want to miss this challenge anyhow.
Title: Re: Challenge #11: Wild Wild West
Post by: floyd86 on November 27, 2009, 09:05:12 am
Challenge closed!



You can now vote on the two best final renders posted in this topic.
You can vote on the following people:




Title: Re: [ VOTING ] Challenge #11: Wild Wild West
Post by: Tof on November 27, 2009, 01:09:56 pm
Hey Floyd,

Didn't you forget Kubajz's work?? ???
This time I don't think he can winn but you could give him a chance to get a few votes ;)
Title: Re: [ VOTING ] Challenge #11: Wild Wild West
Post by: floyd86 on November 27, 2009, 01:18:19 pm
Quote from: Tof on November 27, 2009, 01:09:56 pm
Hey Floyd,

Didn't you forget Kubajz's work?? ???
This time I don't think he can winn but you could give him a chance to get a few votes ;)

OHHH! :o i forgot!...... sorry kubajzz :-[

I have reset the votes so everyone has a fair chance, the ones that had voted allready will have to vote again.
Title: Re: [ VOTING ] Challenge #11: Wild Wild West
Post by: $imon on November 28, 2009, 06:00:11 am
Very nice work guys! Sorry Kubajzz, I really like your hat but my votes go to the other gentlemen ;) Tremendous efforts, Floyd and indian8or.

Floyd, very nice render, I love the glass materials and the blur. The gun couldve used a bit more contrast, it looks a bit as if it is floating mid-air. Also, the blur isn't correct in the back, the bottles on the shelves don't have blurred edges. After using a depth map in photoshop it sometimes does that, going over it with the blur tool could solve it.
Great work overall, visually appealing yet the overall color scheme could've been a bit more pronounced.

Indian8or, very nice work as well. The models come across as a little blocky, but within the time frame its very nice. The poses are really realistic, even the horse! I like the story as well. The lighting couldve been a bit better pronounced, either moonlight or diffuse night-shadows. But that mightve been one of the concessions you had to make for the render time.
Great job as well!

Title: Re: [ VOTING ] Challenge #11: Wild Wild West
Post by: floyd86 on November 30, 2009, 06:03:27 am
Voting Ended!

Voting is done and we have a two ties!
Congratulations to $imon and Indian8or for there shared first place and congratulations to Kubajzz for his shared second place with me.


Winners: $imon and Indian8or


Title: Re: [ COMPLETE ] Challenge #11: Wild Wild West
Post by: Kubajzz on November 30, 2009, 06:37:28 am
Wow... To be honest, I didn't expect to get a single vote :P Great job Simon, Floyd and Indian8or! Congratulations!
Title: Re: [ COMPLETE ] Challenge #11: Wild Wild West
Post by: headwax on November 30, 2009, 07:07:03 pm
Wow! That's is some truly great work. The cream is rising to the top here!

Or, as we say in Oz, "the cream has rizzed."

Title: Re: [ COMPLETE ] Challenge #11: Wild Wild West
Post by: Indian8or on November 30, 2009, 09:52:37 pm
Hooorah!!!  Thanks all for your encouragement.  Congratulations to simon, floyd, and Kubazz.

It feels great to win, especially if you have spent hours getting the desired result, almost gave up, gathered steam again, and made it just in the nick of time.

I feel more people should participate in the challenges.

Headwax nice to see you back.
Title: Re: [ COMPLETE ] Challenge #11: Wild Wild West
Post by: $imon on December 02, 2009, 05:59:56 am
Yea congrats indian8or! and floyd and kubajzz for participating.

Looking forward to the next competition!
Title: Re: [ COMPLETE ] Challenge #11: Wild Wild West
Post by: floyd86 on December 02, 2009, 06:07:47 am
Quote from: $imon on December 02, 2009, 05:59:56 am
Yea congrats indian8or! and floyd and kubajzz for participating.

Looking forward to the next competition!

I belief that hiho is coming with a special challenge....;)