Thursday 26 September 2013

What's cookin'?

Just a quick message from me. The last couple of days I've been rendering frames from the comic. But while they were rendering I've been doing some experimenting on my other PCs. 






Lali will eventually go by plane to Senegal, and that trip also doesn't go without mishap. I bought a Boeing 737-800, its quite a decent model, it just needs a little extra work here and there, new paint job, but especially the cockpit. The 'mishap' however doesn't happen in this aircraft, but in an old DC3 cargo plane I have yet to make.






Its fuggin cool though because I can revisit my old childhood fascination for aircraft again!!! Whiii. Speaking of which, Lali's adventures will also require helicopters, proper ones in tune with the region, like alouettes, Pumas and the Russian Hind; and also old Russian fighter jets like the Mig 21 or the Mirage series. 



















I'm also experimenting with lighting, IDL and skydomes. I wanna see how much I can get away with using just IDL and nothing else. The render of the Business Jet is an example of a scene lit only by the ambient skydome. Pretty decent for Firefly, huh?









Ok so once Lali is on her missions there she'll undergo a subtle change since she's back home. She'll get a slight tan, her clothes will be less girly. I am going to make a more behrbehr /muslim-style and toareg style outfits for her (albeit sexy ones).

But also, like with the aircraft, you'll find that the weapons will also be in tune with the regional preferences and availability  Like here she's holding a Imi Galil chambered for 7.62mm with a folding stock. There will be a lot of FN FAL, AK47, Tokarev and Marakov going on too. 



She will be dealing with embassy folk, local secret service, local contacts and dealers, and obviously the corrupt business-men that will get her further into the case of the shipments, and further inland towards the border of stinking HOT Sierra Leone, where everything gradually starts to unravel.


















But Lali will also flash back every now and then, to episodes during university, meeting some interesting characters like Professor Farrell ;)


I had actually put it on hold for me to pick up again until after the comic, but just two days ago I did a little work on Project E, I think I might be able to get a prototype going very soon. I realised something simple about the mesh construction that was otherwise slowing me down. If all goes well I might actually be able to use her in the next comic. She'll be a hybrid though, just to get her development going. I'll place V4's head on her body so that I don't have to do extra work on the face for the time being. Would be cool if we could see PE in action in the comic so soon!









5 comments:

  1. Good to see you're busy.
    There might be some usable guns and aircraft at this site in various formats. I assume it's a legit site and not stolen models - haven't seen anything I recognise anyway.
    http://tf3dm.com/3d-models/aircraft

    Fred

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    1. hehee thanks! coincidentally I was just on that site today. There are some flipping good models and most of them have been taken from games. Before I use them in my comics I will contact these companies (like Ubisoft and Activision) before using them though.

      But I got a whole bunch of weapons and items from Rosity, DAZ and elsewhere recently, and fairly decent ones too. Some do need a little pimping, like rigging of the moving parts etc. But that's not very hard to do.

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  2. On the cockpit render - looks good. But I would say the seat cushions and some other stuff have ambient colour set above black and therefore glowing too much. And to get more ambient light in there without upping the light intensity (for IDL) increase the raytracing bounces. But I guess you would already know that :)
    Can't wait for the comic to come together.

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    1. hehe my main issue with the cockpit is that it looks too much like a 3D model. The real thing is amess, worn textures, clipboards everywhere, scratched plastic etc. But to give credit to the vendor, he/she did most of the work and it is fairly good work too, also quite accurate, which I really appreciate.

      Yeah you're right I need to check for ambient materials in the cockpit. I never use ambient settings in materials, unless its a glowing object, like a skydome or a digital screen. Some vendors still sell stuff with ambient settings in the materials. It just completely fucks up the scene, looks fuggin weird.

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  3. Ooo0oOoooo... Now you've got me thinking about James Bond spy action sequences, but I know you'd resist any kind usual Hollywood formulas, but then again its still fun sometimes.
    Since Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight Rises, I'm not sure there is anything to do that hasn't already. But again, those famous gun battles in planes with getting sucked out without a parachute, as common as they are, still fun to watch, and enjoy the action. I just don't know.
    Professor Farrell? Older? Wiser? Stuck up? Don't answer that.

    WOW....All that typing. Looks as if some interesting works in the way.

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Hey, because of a sudden influx of spam, I need to moderate comments from now on, unfortunately. I'll try find a work-around in the meanwhile. Cheers!