fooling around with junk you will never see. Slow going since I am still slowly setting my work area and getting walls patched etc. Lacking my network rendering so things are really SLOW.
Multiple old pcs or other pcs in the house. I had a old core2, i3 and i5 along with my older i7 but atm I am unable to make lan cables that will go gige so when I send out the data it lags horribly. It is more like distributed bucket? I forget the actual term since there are more than one way to do it in max. Im using the one built into mental ray.
The i5 really makes a difference in speed. Im sure if I build say a hex core AMD it would really speed up since max can make use of the multi core. Tempting to do, build a 600$ AMD box heh. But other things are demanding what little free cash I have now. bah.
Nice work, I like it as an updated TOS Big-E. Mutliple old PCs huh, sounds like even your oldest one is more advanced then my current Laptop, lol. I just imagine what I could do with a better machine, maybe next year, darn kids sucking up all my money, lol, jk.
Well the i# systems are 2~3 yrs old give or take and were not mine originally. I moved from a older core2 (6400) to the i7. I build my own systems so I am not paying out 2 to 3 grand like some for the same HDW. I think my i7 (2.8ghz?) cost about 1400USD 2 or 3 yrs ago. It is considered by most to be outdated now. (lga1366) The prices on the cpus for this socket never did go down.
ATM I think my network is the major slowdown. EXP with the i5 on the end of 2 switches and on some dogy wire. (cannot make new cables cause they all fail gige, odd since I have 15yr old cables I made that pass gige.)
Only drawback of the distributed render is it is the reverse of rabbit breeding. More systems you add the less you get out of it.
Each to his own I guess, I spend most of my time on the PC and it is a important part of the things I do so I am willing to spend what free cash I have on it over anything else.
Update:
Redid the phasers, did not like the size of the ones I had made. Some ways I wish I had made the opening a bit taller to retain the style of the old ones. Oh well.
Nice details, the deflector looks sweet, loving the glow details mixed with the bronze accents of the OT version of this device, also the array of attachment clamps that it is mounted on brings to mind that scene from First Contact outside the Enterprise-E, was that the intent?
Nope just bits of things built up. The dish is from a older project, the bits behind are just things that happened when I replaced the older base mesh that dish came from.
Interior decal work, taking some marking that John Eaves out into his interior of the SOV bay. The racks are something I would like to make use of in mine since I do want to cram her full of craft but some of the interior space wont allow for it to be easily seen from the exterior. Not so sur eon that huge solid red area so I might do something with it that wont alter the effect. The interior and backside of that cowling though needs help. I am even thinking I should recut the bay opening so it is not a solid edge going all the way out. So anything between the outside and where the shuttle storage starts will likely change over time. I also need to work in the interior control room. Be a real mare to get it to fit in.
Almost lost the model too, that nasty move object bug started to work it's way into the files where you select an object and it would start speeding up the more you moved it and would not take reverse movement commands via the mouse. Thankfully I still have a 2012 2013? ver of max and it had the save file as 2010 2011 etc on it and saving from that saved the file. Problem though it probably jacked up a lot of hidden edges all over the ship.
Looking at the backside it seems I keep adding stuff to the to do list like adding something interior wise into those 3 rooms off the spine. D deck, shuttle control, and that observation deck just below the bay pad. Probably should stuff something on those weird rooms flanking the spine too. (ATM they are just emptyish over lit rooms.) some of the segmentation in that area irks me too but I will force myself to ignore it.
Come to mind too I need to adapt this ship to my new rigging and exposure settings. Then the pain of adjusting all the mats etc.
misc bits, filled in the hole on the nacelles, added more of those textured bits all over filled the aft rooms except the shuttle control room. (dunno what to do in there yet) Turned off the saucer impulse. Likely need to work on the internals for that. I also will likely turn off the blue glows in those caps I added to the nacelles. It just appears as too much glowy crap.
someone just showed me your planet stuff from f3d, I'm not a member there so I can't help with what I can't see, otherwise I would have told you this sooner, I do have ideas to get the clouds to work with a single map in max / mental ray
I am using that vertex paint thing across multiple merged spheres/globes. It does alright but when I convert it to use in MR or for MR materials the clouds "clip" or flatten out like the gradients in the clouds are too white.
I tried fooling with Subsurface scattering thinking it might work for the translucency I want in the clouds themselves. But since I do not know what I am doing it was just a painful experience of failure. HAH
So far for the planned use it just seems to improve on the displacement mapping just by a small amount at the cost of a large increase in render time.
Last 3 images are exaggerated proof of concept (to see if it was even working right) Last image is of standard materials clouds look like smog but do not clip. It could be the mr clipping is just a clump that I missed on the 16k image and actually do clip on the map.
eugh the forum crushed some of the files in pixel size and filesize but hopefully they communicate the intention.
someone just showed me your planet stuff from f3d, I'm not a member there so I can't help with what I can't see, otherwise I would have told you this sooner, I do have ideas to get the clouds to work with a single map in max / mental ray
Your missing out, it's looking really good. I want to learn to do this in Lightwave. The first mesh I ever made was a planet, it didn't turn out this nice so I want to try it again. BTW, I'm working on a render with your Enterprise E.
I am using that vertex paint thing across multiple merged spheres/globes. It does alright but when I convert it to use in MR or for MR materials the clouds "clip" or flatten out like the gradients in the clouds are too white.
I tried fooling with Subsurface scattering thinking it might work for the translucency I want in the clouds themselves. But since I do not know what I am doing it was just a painful experience of failure. HAH
So far for the planned use it just seems to improve on the displacement mapping just by a small amount at the cost of a large increase in render time.
Last 3 images are exaggerated proof of concept (to see if it was even working right) Last image is of standard materials clouds look like smog but do not clip. It could be the mr clipping is just a clump that I missed on the 16k image and actually do clip on the map.
eugh the forum crushed some of the files in pixel size and filesize but hopefully they communicate the intention.
I don't have max installed any more so I can't tell you the names of the materials, but you want to make your spheres and give them each a different ID, then using the multisub surface you can connect 1 cloud map to all of them
then if you add (I can't remember the name of it) the levels/curves map onto the line between the cloud map and each of the multisub inputs you can use those to adjust the cloud map
you may even be able to control this with a weight map like I do in my tutorial, I won't know this without seeing the inputs on the node though
I don't have max installed any more so I can't tell you the names of the materials, but you want to make your spheres and give them each a different ID, then using the multisub surface you can connect 1 cloud map to all of them
then if you add (I can't remember the name of it) the levels/curves map onto the line between the cloud map and each of the multisub inputs you can use those to adjust the cloud map
you may even be able to control this with a weight map like I do in my tutorial, I won't know this without seeing the inputs on the node though
I will have to take a look at this later once I get this current work out the door. I need to look into what a weight map does in LW it might be similar to the vertex pain. Granted I do not fully grasp what some of the other settings do as in how it interacts in the composite stage (takes a very long time to see the results) It does sound like it would be less involved in the adjustment side of things than vertex paint.
I am thinking for some results instead of hours work I might break things down a little. Ended up doing this to control city lights and the clouds that obscure it. IE getting the clouds to look good on the sun side, they looked like crap on the dark side etc.
That and the lag I just run out of ram and the system crawls. Hopefully a rebuild once things are done and I can take the system down for a week to rebuild and reset up everything and relink crap it will kinda go away. lol probably wont and I will have to kick myself for not buying ram when it was piss water prices. Now it has nearly doubled, worse for triple kits.
Posts
The i5 really makes a difference in speed. Im sure if I build say a hex core AMD it would really speed up since max can make use of the multi core. Tempting to do, build a 600$ AMD box heh. But other things are demanding what little free cash I have now. bah.
ATM I think my network is the major slowdown. EXP with the i5 on the end of 2 switches and on some dogy wire. (cannot make new cables cause they all fail gige, odd since I have 15yr old cables I made that pass gige.)
Only drawback of the distributed render is it is the reverse of rabbit breeding. More systems you add the less you get out of it.
Each to his own I guess, I spend most of my time on the PC and it is a important part of the things I do so I am willing to spend what free cash I have on it over anything else.
Update:
Redid the phasers, did not like the size of the ones I had made. Some ways I wish I had made the opening a bit taller to retain the style of the old ones. Oh well.
Almost lost the model too, that nasty move object bug started to work it's way into the files where you select an object and it would start speeding up the more you moved it and would not take reverse movement commands via the mouse. Thankfully I still have a 2012 2013? ver of max and it had the save file as 2010 2011 etc on it and saving from that saved the file. Problem though it probably jacked up a lot of hidden edges all over the ship.
Looking at the backside it seems I keep adding stuff to the to do list like adding something interior wise into those 3 rooms off the spine. D deck, shuttle control, and that observation deck just below the bay pad. Probably should stuff something on those weird rooms flanking the spine too. (ATM they are just emptyish over lit rooms.) some of the segmentation in that area irks me too but I will force myself to ignore it.
Come to mind too I need to adapt this ship to my new rigging and exposure settings. Then the pain of adjusting all the mats etc.
Yeah, a ringship would certainly also be a cool idea once in a while. Nice updates on that one nonetheless.
Reminds me of the ship here: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0168124/
http://www.amazon.com/Infinitys-Child-Tom-Kane/dp/1572526246
http://www.infinityschild.com/Trailer.html
I tried fooling with Subsurface scattering thinking it might work for the translucency I want in the clouds themselves. But since I do not know what I am doing it was just a painful experience of failure. HAH
So far for the planned use it just seems to improve on the displacement mapping just by a small amount at the cost of a large increase in render time.
Last 3 images are exaggerated proof of concept (to see if it was even working right) Last image is of standard materials clouds look like smog but do not clip. It could be the mr clipping is just a clump that I missed on the 16k image and actually do clip on the map.
eugh the forum crushed some of the files in pixel size and filesize but hopefully they communicate the intention.
then if you add (I can't remember the name of it) the levels/curves map onto the line between the cloud map and each of the multisub inputs you can use those to adjust the cloud map
you may even be able to control this with a weight map like I do in my tutorial, I won't know this without seeing the inputs on the node though
I will have to take a look at this later once I get this current work out the door. I need to look into what a weight map does in LW it might be similar to the vertex pain. Granted I do not fully grasp what some of the other settings do as in how it interacts in the composite stage (takes a very long time to see the results) It does sound like it would be less involved in the adjustment side of things than vertex paint.
I am thinking for some results instead of hours work I might break things down a little. Ended up doing this to control city lights and the clouds that obscure it. IE getting the clouds to look good on the sun side, they looked like crap on the dark side etc.
That and the lag I just run out of ram and the system crawls. Hopefully a rebuild once things are done and I can take the system down for a week to rebuild and reset up everything and relink crap it will kinda go away. lol probably wont and I will have to kick myself for not buying ram when it was piss water prices. Now it has nearly doubled, worse for triple kits.