Lighting Practice: Sun WIP

[skqwashy]

Hello to everyone. So this is my first post here on the site, just though a different group of people could give me different feedback. So critique the shit out of it :)

http://www.foundation3d.com/uploads/art/2009/01/37-12-797550_tn.jpg (http://www.foundation3d.com/uploads/art/2009/01/37-12-797550.jpg)

[Luhiss]

That's a scarey lookin sun! I like it, especially since I've never seen any depiction of a sun quite like that one.

You wanted critque tho.. small, but here it is:

There is something that looks like a hair on the lens, laying accross the top of the sun. It's almost horizontal and seems out of place.

Some of your streaks crisscross, which isn't so bad, but you want to avoid a fuzzy ball look. I'm looking specifically at the 3:30 to 5:30 position on the sun.

Other than that.. I like the depiction. On the spacecraft, I would vary the exhaust plumes.. the two in the foreground look identical. Planet is really well done.

[DaveK]

Critique. Since advice is worth what you pay for it:
There could be a star that looks like that. It would take a lot of magnetic disturbance to generate so many solar flares so intensely, seems more like an explosion than a star. I'd say the corona is too large and too irregular. Normally stars are so big and flares are small enough they don't hide the spherical shape of the star.
The edge of the planets shadow should be a little sharper and not so gradual across the surface.
Over all I really like the image composition and colors. I really like the ships and the strange energy exhausts.
Keep it up!

[Matt]

Critique. Since advice is worth what you pay for it:
There could be a star that looks like that. It would take a lot of magnetic disturbance to generate so many solar flares so intensely, seems more like an explosion than a star. I'd say the corona is too large and too irregular. Normally stars are so big and flares are small enough they don't hide the spherical shape of the star.
Keep it up!

I think this is where it comes into artistic license. I have tried doing a realistic 'close-up' sun a few times in the past and every time it's been a bust. While I agree this one is a little over the top, it does give it a much more artistic view of showing a star. I would have to also agree on the divide to the light and dark side on the planet too, and because the sun is so large, it makes the lighting look off.

Freaky engine exhausts though, I like -- different.

[Meurig]

There are a couple of elements in this scene that I am really very fond of, the first and foremost being the ship exhausts. I absolutely love them. Weird and unusual, something to really set them apart from anything I've seen posted before.

I'm also quite fond of the sun although I do think it's perhaps a bit too layered. Taking out a couple of the flares and perhaps making the existing ones a little longer might give a better look IMO.

I don't like the planet, I'm afraid, partly because of it's positioning in the scene which makes it look really small, and partly because of the texture scale which makes all the surface detail look really big. That river on the central continent especially would have to be hundreds of miles across and while I realise that it'd be entirely possible for a landmass to end up shaped like that, it doesn't quite fly since you quite obviously used source maps of something like the Amazon tributaries and collaged it into a fresh layout. Perfectly reasonable approach, but I find the detail too large and so it doesn't fit. I also find the position of the moon distracting, drawing my eye away from the ships in the bottom half. I'd probably position it slightly behind the planet I think so you only see half of it's shape outlined against the rim of the planet.


Overall though I do really quite like this. I would be tempted to change the aspect a bit and go wider with it, to make the shot seem much more cinematic and to give it a greater sense of scale, but top notch all the same. And props again for the engine trails, very very pretty.

[CAClark]

What he said ^^^^^^ but i would try and make the two ship exhausts slightly different, as they are noticably the same at the moment.

Cheers!

[skqwashy]

wow, thanks for all the feedback guys! its still in the works, and ill keep everything you guys are talking about in mind. thank you again so much! keep it coming if you have any more to dish out!

[Meurig]

Just stopping by this thread again to say that I've highlighted it on the front page. I really do like this scene and would love to see you work on it some more!

Congrats.

[Tenement 01]

There is a nice 'when worlds collide' feel about this picture. More please.

[Starbase1]

There's a mix of stuff in this picture, and I have to agree with the others, some stuff is exceptional, other needs more work.

What I like about the sun if that it REALLY looks bright, something which is very hard to pull off, I find. If you can make it a bit more regular it would be perfect.

Ship exhaust are weird and cool, neat.

I think the second planet should go completely - from the lighting its a LONG way off, most of the way round the side of the star, and for that distance it is WAY too big. And the similarity to the first one makes the first one look the same size, about as big as a star.

(In round figures, if you want accuracy, a yellow star would be about 10x the size of a Jupiter like planet, and 100x an Earthlike one).

If you want something there for composition reasons, perhaps a very small gas giant?

Starfield is unusually good, I like it. How did you do it? Atmosphere on the planet is nice and subtle, spot on.

For me the worst thing about the big planet though is that the unlit part is way, way, to well lit, particularly with something so bright in the scene. I'd suggest remove the background lighting and reduce the intensity and number of city lights.

But I absolutely agree with Meurig, there some seriously impressive elements in this one, and I'd love to see it develop.

:)

Nick

[PhoenixDown]

wow could you do a tutorial or somthing i reckon the effect could be interesting to play with

[zardoz]

I really like some of the small touches in this
the jets on the ships and the lights on the planet. I think that was really a nice touch

[nightchild]

In overall it is very good i would like to suggest to change he planet on the background to give it more variety. Keep up