I can definitely see this being really cool with some good lighting and texturing! Looking forward to watching it develop!

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-Mike
The Maya Toolbelt

hey - thanks mtmckinley and T1ck!

yeah, some insect creatures would definitely be cool. I had been thinking about some sort of large creature sitting around, though I shouldn't really spend too much more time modelling as I should really get on to textures and I really don't have a clue when it comes to lighting!

Here is an update on some of the other buildings I have been working on...

Attached Thumbnails

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arran3D

arran3D blog

I have also been having some problems making the windows in one of the rooms - I get wierd little shadow marks around the edges when I render. Is this something to do with the geometry, or lights, or normals. I have tried fiddling with different stuff, I remade the room a couple of different ways... I still get the same results. What would be the best way to model something like this?

Here is the render...

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arran3D

arran3D blog

here is the wireframe of the same room. any help is appreciated.

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arran3D

arran3D blog

Looks like maya renderer is having problems with the inconsistancy in the wireframe.

If you notice the inner rim of the window is divided into many polys, but the walls around the windows do not reflect this. Essentialy you have what i like to nickname 'Phantom polys' appearing along the border between where u have many verticies/polys and fewer verticies.

Hope that made some sense.

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Eeekk... Undo!

I have had the same problem once, they told me that those stange x-sided faces is to blame.

Nice jobb besides that!

really cool scene

hey - thanks Angalid and ChikaraNinja - yeah I was wondering if it was from having polygon faces with too many sides. I tried using the split polygon tool to clean it all up, but it didn't seem to have much effect. Maybe I should try again.

cheers guys!

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arran3D

arran3D blog

I think all u should need to do is add edges to make the surrounding polys 4 sided. Quads always render much better.

Alternatively, build a frame to cover the problem area

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Eeekk... Undo!

it looks to me as if you're getting self-shadowing. are you using depth maps, or are you raytracing?

if you're using depth maps then you may want to increase your dmap filter size, and maybe also your dmap bias.

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Accept no substitutions.

hey - thanks ChikaraNinja and NeoStrider.

I'm using depth maps. I had a look at the filter size and dmap bias settings and that helped the renders a lot. I also sorted out the geometry a bit better. Cheers!

Attached Thumbnails

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arran3D

arran3D blog

its looking cool arran
glad you sorted the poly problem out - are depth maps easy to use?

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Examples of bTraffic - a traffic animation tool for Maya
bFlocking - a tool for Maya 8.5+ to generate flocking and swarming behaviours
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nicely done. thou whats with ur avatar. Looks like the dude wants to puke or is terminally ill. haha. Nah its cool, maybe put in a chick there instead. haha jk its ur taste, weird but ya.. if its kl with u dont let anyone change ur mind. Keep up the good work on modeling. Oh give us some background as to y u chose the green dude, if any. lol

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<a href="https://forum.simplymax.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=11595">Click</a> Desert Eagle
<a href="https://forum.simplymax.com/showthread.php?s=&postid=4250#post4250">Click</a> Gas Lantern
<a href="https://forum.simplymax.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=11714">Click</a> Gas Lantern

thanks t1ck - yeah, aside from the problems I have been having, depth maps seem to be fairly easy to use. I really don't have much experience when it comes to lighting, so I hope to leave myself a bit of time near the end to experiment.

Hey tiago2 - actually my avatar is a picture of Cheech Marin, which, if you know his work, may explain his disposition. er...as for a chick, mate, buy a magazine! Thanks for the good words!

Due to dentist appointments and a 28 hour shift I haven't really got too much to show at the moment, but I am plugging away at it slowly whenever I get a chance.

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arran3D

arran3D blog

yea back when i was in school i hated raytracing so i just used depth maps a lot... they're quicker to render (especially if you cache them from a previous render...) and there's less hassle if you want softer shadows

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Accept no substitutions.

thanks neostrider - your advice helped a lot. Don't know about doing a cache - will look in to it. Cheers!

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arran3D

arran3D blog