update
 

update :)

wowzers.
Awesome job man!

I only have two questions: WHY are you going NEWBIE?
How long did you do stuff in Maya?

Jack i first started in Maya or any 3D about one month and a half ago ..lol
i am basically learning it as I make this..I have'nt completed a single model yet.
I don't think I can be considered anything but a noob.
I have no formal art training at all although I could always draw from a young age..but never could paint so I guess the texture thing is gonna come really hard to me.

Coming along. I'd say the weakest aspects of it at the moment are lighting and textures. Some nice dramatic lighting would be cool. The textures, for the most part, seem a little drab.

Keep it up!

thanks Mike ..yeah you are right about the textures, they seem to be a little plain to me too ......still working on them though so hopefully I can improve the look by the end of the month.
As for the lighting ...there isn't any yet ..hehe just the default with a couple of extra to help, so that will imporve toward the end.
Thanks again it's always great to get feedback from someone who knows whats what so I can improve.

update ..

Update.. the buildings are almost done, just a few tweaks here and there and a couple of more textures to add.

Looks too clean for me. If it were me, Id add some diffuse to the textures. Just my pref tho. Other than that, I like. :)

thx I-iybrid ...I am still strying to sort this texture thing out...I haven't had too much imput so I am have to search the web and read a lot...hopefully I can make the scene a little more interesting and dramatic by the end..we will see, but this has been a really good learning experience all the same if not a little frustrating too :)

All said and done this is my first ever effort so I have to be happy with it as a first go.

Nice scene.

Why not add a bit of fog and drop the lighting to resemble early morning?

thanks Garry ....yes that is one of the possibilities I am playing with...lighting is proving to be harder than texturing to me ....lol

I have found the Spotlight is the best one to play with, lots of possibilities.
I generally use three point lighting.

I.E.
1. One overhead or main direction. (Shadows turned on)
2. One Backlight to soften shadowed edges (Can be coloured to match Object - using low Intensity - No Shadows)
3. One Parallel to object to be lit (Low Intensity - No Shadows)

You can map an image to the spotlight to give interesting effects and shadows. (Simulate a cloud casting a shadow etc)

The Best thing to do is to select the Light and use
---- Panels/Look Through Selected ---
to see what objects are iluminated by it. You can then control your lighting a lot more effectivley.

I hope this helps :)

thankyou Gary ... I really appreciate the tips . I will certainly be playing with lights for a few days to try and get some kind of atmosphere :)

update... I may go with this sort of scene, I still have trees and a few things to add.

To me, the mountains in the back look kinda blank/dull, I would add some stuff there too.

How did you do the fog?

just put some fog around the mountains.

Jack for the fog I turned on Environment Fog in Render Globals and set a max height and played around with settings to get colour, spread density ect .
NightPhantom thanks for the tip..I will try and get some fog round the mountains too , although for now I can't envision where to place it ( top , middle ,bottom or a couple of whisps here and there ?).

Coming on nicely!! For a "newbie" this is some VERY impressive work!!!! Keep it up!!

I have struggled with all sorts of rendering issues for about 4 days..lol
This is where I am atand I am thinking that this is pretty much done.

colors perhaps are a little too saturated, if you're going for a realistic scene. Looks more like something you'd find in Oz with all the bright colors.

exactly how I wanted it :)

ok I have a choice between 3 images...I favour the 1st.
C&C Please !!!

number 2 :)

and the last :)

I believe it all depends on how you want your work to be presented. I too like the first image better because it shows the overall perspective of your ancient civilization.
The other two give me the impression that you also want something that is nice and close.......so......why dont you try the same angle from the first picture.....but a tad closer :)

thanks Dana ..yeah it's a dilemma for me I want to show the whole thing but I am not happy with the loss of detail when rendered from afar ...oh well guess in time I will learn...hehe

You do not have to only submit one image.

I like all 3 images. But on the 2nd one, the grass throws it off, because its obvious that its a tiled texture.

jsprogg, where did you get the ground pavement texture(bottom of last image) file? Looks very realistic...

Jack....sorry I don't really remember where I got it ..I have been to so many site looking for textures , but if you want it I can send it to you :)

jsprogg

I like all three and as Mike says you can submit all of them:)

------------------------------------------------------

Jack Of Spades
Here are a few links to free texture sites.

http://textures.forrest.cz/
http://perso.club-internet.fr/lemog/
http://www.absolutecross.com/graphics/textures/
http://www.noctua-graphics.de/english/fraset_e.htm
http://www.newtek.com/freestuff/
http://www.mayang.com/textures/index.htm
http://www.boogaholler.com/bjudy/fin.../textures.html
http://www.autofx.com/UTC.asp?link=2&page=1&tpp=30
http://www.olegvolk.net/olegv/newsit...relibrary.html

You should be able to find a stone wall or cobblestone pathway.

I think they all look great too, but I like pic #3 the most.

thanks tim ...getting more of an idea ...hehe
please feel free to criticize the pics as I ill never improve without feedback.
I feel I have learned a lot in 2 months, but know i still have a very long way to go :)

i agree with Tim_T, #3 looks most hardcore

I have been playing around with a short animation today...it's not that great because I never bothered to mess with the lighting ect, but left the scene as is.This is my first ever attempt..hehe.
I wanted just to see if I could do it really :)
anyway if you are interested you can find it here:
http://www.rita.lt/crowflyby.avi

another view ....C & C please !

Cool,,, havent checked back in a while ,,, but nice. Looks like some game environment.... hope thats what you are going for.

lightning
 

another test showing the alters power :)
I still would like some feedback please...will have to decide and post my entry soon...

The shadows don't look right to me.

They seem to be coming in from all directions.

If you turned off the shadows on all lights....
AND.... leave the main light that you used casting shadow only. The scene should look better.