Drilling Platform - WIP

[flavrsaver]

That's what I tried and still had the same problem. I'd hate to rebuild everything, but I might have to. I've noticed that it crashes when I switch between views and when I've selected the sun as well. I tried deleting the sun system and just using a VRay sun but I still had problems. Maybe I need to post the scene in the problems forum where it could get more attention.

[Joost Ink]

I did not had problems with the file so far, no craches or anything.
This is what I could make out of it.

[flavrsaver]

Looks like you have my old foam map going on there. I need to work on that and make it look better. Glad to hear that you're not having trouble with the file. I just posted it in the problems forum so hopefully I can get it fixed.

Any idea on how to add a sky image to my bkgd? Should I setup a hemisphere and map it to that?

[sea2stars]

No problems here what so ever.

XP32, Max 8, RC3, Intel

[flavrsaver]

After getting that crashing issue fixed (it had to do with changing my display driver to OpenGL instead of D3D), I'm finally able to get back to work.

Here's my latest attempt:



I think scaling the smoke map for the waves makes a big difference. I've also adjusted the fog and I think it's looking better too. I'm going to start texturing the platform because I'm sick of looking at that gray.

I still need to get the foam around the legs worked out. I created a foam effect in After Effects that I can use as an animated mask, but I'm not sure how to apply that to my ocean material so that it's displaced with the water. I'm going to have to brainstorm on that one. I might just add in that in AE during post because it doesn't have to be exact.

I also need to get my sky in there. Thoughts on the best way to do that?

By the way, I REALLY appreciate all of the help and support I've gotten so far. I'm learning a lot and I'm excited to see how this is going to turn out in the end. It's only one shot in several that I need to create, but it's one of the most complex and what I'm learning on this one will help with all of the others.

[flavrsaver]

About halfway done with texturing:



I've had to adjust the camera settings to get my textures to not be blown out. When I do that, it's causing the rest of my scene to not be bright enough. I can't see to find the right balance. I could darken all of my textures, but that doesn't seem to be the right solution in my mind. Thoughts?

[flavrsaver]

I'm also going to go in and add some smaller details, more geometry to the rig. It's still not coming across at the right scale and adding in those tiny details I think will help.

[flavrsaver]

Okay, I just can't figure out how to add my sky into this scene. I tried a sky dome, but it's rendering out almost fully black. What's the best way to add a sky into the bkgd?

[mcvltd]

Make sure your dome isn't casting shadows.

[gilpo]

For sky, here's what we do and it works well:

Turn cast shadows off in the max object properties.

Make the sky dome not emit or receive GI, nor visible to GI (vray object properties) then put a vray light material with the image of your sky selected. Use the light multiplier to control brightness.

Since you have the GI settings turned off on the object, it wont add any additional light to your scene. Vray also wont have to calculate light bouncing off of it. This will make it render fast. It will still cast its reflection on to objects in your scene.

If you are confused, i can post a sample file.

[flavrsaver]

Gilpo - I am confused. I created the dome, but I don't think I have it setup right because I can't get my sky mapped to it correctly and I get lost when you talk about the "vray object properties". Would you mind posting a sample file?

[vizuals]

select your dome,
right click in active screen,
choose vray-properties and, voila.

[flavrsaver]

That helped with that part, but I'm still having trouble setting up my dome. I've never done one before. It seems like it would be easy.

Here's what I did:

1. Created a sphere
2. Cut off the bottom to make a dome
3. Flipped the normals
4. Applied a UVW Mapping modifier and set it to "cylindrical" (it's the only one that would show the clouds correctly)
5. Created the VRayLightMtl and added the sky as the map

I had to bump the multiplier for the VRayLightMtl up to 100 to get it to expose the sky map correctly. Am I doing this right?

[flavrsaver]

Here's my latest based on the above method for doing my sky dome and after adjusting some exposure settings and adding a little bit more detail. Still a long way to go on that.

[Da_elf]

the sky might need some more "3D look" to the clouds and aybe more haze on the horizon