This will be my first entry to the Simplymaya challenges, and I predict a fun one.

Ok, the words I got were

Unknown - Entity

As a Sci-fi fan I'm reallllly pleased with this and I guess it will require alot of imagination since anything currently known to man wouldnt fit the bill.... unless

... theres nothing saying who its unknown to, but that could just be boring, i'm guessing u want to see something new.

More to follow.

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Eeekk... Undo!

15/07/06

Definition of "unknown" according to https://www.freesearch.co.uk/dictionary/unknown

not known or familiar

Definition of "Entity"

Something which exists apart from other things, having its own independent existence

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Eeekk... Undo!

I got 2 completely different ideas for this project.. both with their own merits..

Idea 1..

Based on Food/drink tasting trials with Drink A and Drink B, both of which are unknown to the tester.. Brand X compared to the leading brand.. etc etc..

Style: Realism
Content: 2 Glasses containing a non-descript liquid marked A and B, arranged on a table of some sort. Details to be worked out.


Idea 2..

A sci-fi type space scene of a nebula / star 'close up' and some unknown pheonomenon passing by.
Style: Special FX.. movie style look, vibrant.

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Eeekk... Undo!

Hey ChikaraNinja - nice ideas - personally I prefer the second one - it just grabs my imagination a bit more and a space scene could be really fun to work on.

welcome to simply maya and good luck in the challenge mate!

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arran3D

arran3D blog

hey ninja, i think ide roll with the second idea more, seems like it would give you much more creative freedom. But you could always come up with a few concepts and see which you would like to work on more.

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________________________
AIM: SublimeDragon33
Catch me if i'm on. Always up for a chat.
e-mail: sublimedragon33@gmail.com

Got a few ideas, need to sketch them but at the moment I'm torn between working in Max or maya.
If I'm gonna go for something involving alot of gassious/ fluidic effects I'll use maya, however my GI and mats are much better using Max with Vray.

Gonna go with the Space anomoly idea.

heres a couple of brief scenes I've thought of.

1. Space, close to a burning red star, a vortex swirls dangerously close, sucking the gasses and matter off the star.

2. A mars like planets surface, shot from the perspective of a probe (beagle?), some kind of energy ribbon in the lower atmosphere

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Eeekk... Undo!

Personally i like your second idea, especially if you model it with a HUD as if the probe is analyzing the object.

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________________________
AIM: SublimeDragon33
Catch me if i'm on. Always up for a chat.
e-mail: sublimedragon33@gmail.com

yeah, that'd be cool seeing a HUD from the probes point of view - it'd give you some creative fun
good luck!

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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
Jan/Feb Challenge 2007 Entry and W.I.P
May/Jun Challenge 2006 Entry and W.I.P
Mar/Apr Challenge 2006 Entry and W.I.P
Jan/Feb Challenge 2006 Entry and W.I.P
Nov/Dec Challenge 2005 Entry and W.I.P
Sep/Oct Challenge 2005 Entry and W.I.P
Jul/Aug Challenge 2005 Entry
www.flash-fx.net

I was thinking of making this piece as believable as possible, going for as close to photo real as I can get. If I chose to do a HUD it will be subtle, however I'm undecided between a phobes-eye-view (close to ground level) or a 3rd person view showing more of the scenery.

So far I have knocked up some mars type renders as a starting point, working on a Rover type probe now.

Will post some renders shortly.

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Eeekk... Undo!

Ok this is the 1st phase of the landscape generation..


https://www.demonicsoulsdraenor.co.uk...nknownWIP1.jpg



After a bit of decoration and with a new cam position:

https://www.demonicsoulsdraenor.co.uk...nknownWIP2.jpg


Further refinement

https://www.demonicsoulsdraenor.co.uk...nknownWIP3.jpg

https://www.demonicsoulsdraenor.co.uk...nknownWIP4.jpg


And a little teaser regarding the Rover:

https://www.demonicsoulsdraenor.co.uk...nja/rover1.JPG

https://www.demonicsoulsdraenor.co.uk...nja/rover2.JPG

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Eeekk... Undo!

nice start.
how are you generating the landscape? manually or with tools?

the rover reminded me of a roller skate

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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
Jan/Feb Challenge 2007 Entry and W.I.P
May/Jun Challenge 2006 Entry and W.I.P
Mar/Apr Challenge 2006 Entry and W.I.P
Jan/Feb Challenge 2006 Entry and W.I.P
Nov/Dec Challenge 2005 Entry and W.I.P
Sep/Oct Challenge 2005 Entry and W.I.P
Jul/Aug Challenge 2005 Entry
www.flash-fx.net

okies.. another rover update.. So far this is just the base for the surface probe.. the chassis if you like.. Will be adding some additional detail, and the bulk of the probes tools once I'm happy with the transport mechanism.
Take a look for yourselves:

https://www.demonicsoulsdraenor.co.uk...rover3pers.jpg

https://www.demonicsoulsdraenor.co.uk...over3front.jpg

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Eeekk... Undo!

I generated the landscape using world machine, started with a Perlin noise based fractal, then the tool allows the user to sculpt the landscape using erosion algorithms, height modifiers, etc.

I exported a height map as a bitmap image, applied it as a displacement map in MAX, then converted to a poly shape so I could further edit the terrain to my needs.

Most of the detail there is a pocedural bump map since too many polys in the scene would be a nightmare to navigate.

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Eeekk... Undo!

Very nice design and detail work. The render is look good to!

Thankyou. Those are on very low quality, I think some of the textures need tweaking alot, but thats something I can do when I have the full model finished so it can remain consistant.

Render time is nice at that setting too.. those images took about 3 mins each I think - Barely had enough time to make a coffee while I waited. :attn:

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Eeekk... Undo!