First Look - "Identity Crisis"
 

Hey gang!
Here's a new posting from me and I have to say, I'm quite proud of the work I've done with such little Maya knowledge. I've uploaded a pic of my first 3D short, "Identity Crisis", and I need some advice. I'm going for a soft kinda look using RayDiffuse. I couldn't really find anything to do global illumination with that was near as good or as close as this was. I need your help to get this project looking just right. I'm not sure if I need soft shadows or what. I'm trying to get a similar look to what Daniel Martinez Lara gets in all of his stuff. He uses Arnold for his renderer and the look is so rich and lush! I'm dying to find a type of cheap (let's just call it "free") renderer for Maya like Arnold. Any ideas? And please be gentle with your critical lashings. ;)

Thanks in advance!
:beer:
Russell

that looks beautiful. wish my room could look like that,

Oh man,
Thanks Raul! That means a lot to me. *sniffle* Really. That's the last thing I'd expect to hear from ANYONE! LOL! I just started learning Maya in May. I still need to learn how to model characters as my movie is character driven, though. But I'm progressing at a snail's pace and it's gonna take a while. Deadline for my release is Fall of next year... yeah right! In my dreams! Anyhoo, I'll keep you all posted as to how my progress is going. Thanks again for the kind words, Raul! :)

Truly!
Russell

hey nice sceme Russell! looks good to me mate, nice colours.. i like it, are you going to do a whole room view?

Nice lightning you got there. I don't know is it just me but the room seems to be quite huge compared to the other objects...dunno...

nice goin' man.. :p
well kbrown maybe Russell lives in a villa.. :D

keep up the good work Russell you are in the right way

Here, here, now! :)

First, I'd like to thank each and every one of you for your kind words...

Thank you, thank you, thank you, AND thank you!

Now then, here's my reply and update. I need to get a shot further back - from the corner - to get a better view... there's a lot more to the scene than just the monitor and the lamp. You'll see what I mean in my next posting. My wife, whom I've dubbed my "art director", says I need to do something about that bright shine on the wall. I think it's a light but I can't find which direction it's aiming in and it's bothering her to death. :p
The stool hasn't been shaded yet and I'm working on that soon. As for size, you're right. I never noticed the size of the table and lamp compared to the rest of the items in the room. Thank God for the scale tool. ;) That long strip on the wall is part of a bigger plan. :) I'm going to see if I can duplicate something I saw in a room in a scene from the Brendan Fraser movie,"Blast From The Past". I'm no set designer but I'm gonna give it my best. Originally I was going for a cold, green look with flourescent lighting (I made a flourescent light but it didn't work right and I couldn't get it do what I wanted it to) but after finding that warm red tone, I went with that instead. I'm still learning about texturing and bump mapping - which I'd love a few hints on how to get good bump maps as well as how to create them from anyone here if you don't mind - and so a few items still will look flat until I get what I need.
Well, that's all for now. More embellishing to come. ;)

- Russell