Mythocentric
Extraordinary
Methinks Ken's got the wind beneath his wings and soaring high! Another superb environment to look forward to? It does not get any better! 
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Nature's Wonders Sneak Peek Thread
- Thread starter Ken Gilliland
- Start date
. Look forward to this one too and seeing your progress here in its making. Off to buy the Saguaro Enviro...
Wow... seriously Ken, this is looking nice and it's not even all together yet, just single elements. It's a great concept and niche that you're doing very well with detail and accuracy. It's one thing to say that it's accurate to the particular species (as other companies often claim), but it's quite another to actually pull it off.
Kudos Ken.
Kudos Ken.
Thanks, Chris... I'm always amazed and inspired by your modeling efforts... turning dawn into a horse still blows my mind.
Yes, it's a challenge to make a reasonably correct botanical model without going polygon-crazy... even harder when it's a primary model (not a mid-range or background model).
Here's the finale version of my bromeliad, the Cardinal Airplant (Tillandsia fasciculata). I added the lower geometry so it can affix itself to the side of trees. It's 5,600 polygons total.
Yes, it's a challenge to make a reasonably correct botanical model without going polygon-crazy... even harder when it's a primary model (not a mid-range or background model).
Here's the finale version of my bromeliad, the Cardinal Airplant (Tillandsia fasciculata). I added the lower geometry so it can affix itself to the side of trees. It's 5,600 polygons total.
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Great model. It's really a solid lesson in restraint as well, to be able to keep your overall poly count reasonable.
Dan used to joke that the future of low-res is hi-res. While there is a lot of truth to his statement, machine power such as it is, is certainly capable of handling more polys, but it's still very valuable to have control over your mesh flow, as you do. I'm not fond of indiscriminately added topology density in models. It's not helpful or attractive, and it just slows things down. So your economical approach to smartly added density for detail rather then density for density sake is most welcome.
Nice work Ken.
Dan used to joke that the future of low-res is hi-res. While there is a lot of truth to his statement, machine power such as it is, is certainly capable of handling more polys, but it's still very valuable to have control over your mesh flow, as you do. I'm not fond of indiscriminately added topology density in models. It's not helpful or attractive, and it just slows things down. So your economical approach to smartly added density for detail rather then density for density sake is most welcome.
Nice work Ken.
My concern with polygon efficiency is probably rooted in my early days being a TI-99/4a programmer. The 16K base computer with it's 32K add-on model only had 48K of memory to work with. That required smart, tight program code and created my disciplined approach to modeling-- only add it, if it's really needed. Plus, so you always subdivide later, if needed.
With my models today, I'm the first to realize that most of the use of my products is as a "secondary" or mid-ground/background filler. There's a whole lot more polygons going to be added by the main model of the composition plus other filler models. Plus, with a hobbyist customer base, most probably don't have state of the art computers that can handle millions of polygons. So I do my best to accommodate that without sacrificing too much quality.
With my models today, I'm the first to realize that most of the use of my products is as a "secondary" or mid-ground/background filler. There's a whole lot more polygons going to be added by the main model of the composition plus other filler models. Plus, with a hobbyist customer base, most probably don't have state of the art computers that can handle millions of polygons. So I do my best to accommodate that without sacrificing too much quality.
Here's the trunk and branch base for the Bald Cypress (<3,500 polygons)... I'll be adding billboard layers of pine needle twigs, maybe some pine cones, and of course, blankets of Spanish moss over the branches. This species of pine is one of the few that goes deciduous, so all these additions will be separate models and removable.
Glitterati3D
Dances with Bees
A quick Superfly render of Saguaro. Another great environment from Ken!
Jan
Adventurous
I have been waiting for something like these habitats to make an Australian outback scene. I have combined the Saguaro habitat minus the cactus plants with the Australian Outback by AMLM scene with Red Gum trees and Mulga plants, applied the red ground texture from AM ground to Kens habitat to merge the two together to give depth. I added some more Aussie plants like Dinorauls xanthorrhoea-australis (we commonly call this spectacular plant a Blackboy) and a Flinks yellow brush plant.
Kangaroo by AM (Poser version)- small marsupial called a Woylie from CP and Ken's Sulphur-crested Cockatoo and Gouldian Finches (from Pet Shop Pack) and Kens lizard the Australian Blue-tongued Skink 2 from Natures Wonders-Lizards Vol3.
This is a small version, I am submitting the bigger version to my Gallery
Kangaroo by AM (Poser version)- small marsupial called a Woylie from CP and Ken's Sulphur-crested Cockatoo and Gouldian Finches (from Pet Shop Pack) and Kens lizard the Australian Blue-tongued Skink 2 from Natures Wonders-Lizards Vol3.
This is a small version, I am submitting the bigger version to my Gallery
Nice Glitterati3D and Jan. Jan I know you have my Bowerbird set-- that has 3 ground textures... the reddish ground texture from that set will work on my Sagebrush and Saguaro sets 
Jan
Adventurous
@Ken Gilliland yes it does work, I just tried it using Ground2 from the Bower Bird ground prop and the Sagebush habitat with the same texture set up as the ground2, colour shifting on the rock prop. No postwork except adding the sky. Thanks.
Lovely work Ken...
Both you and Chris are so good at this stuff...and even with high end computers if you put enough items into a scene it can bring it to a screaming halt. I have some forests sets that I bought elsewhere that I rarely use because they just take to much memory. They look beautiful but are just too hard to position without lots of cursing at the computer so they don't get much use.
Both you and Chris are so good at this stuff...and even with high end computers if you put enough items into a scene it can bring it to a screaming halt. I have some forests sets that I bought elsewhere that I rarely use because they just take to much memory. They look beautiful but are just too hard to position without lots of cursing at the computer so they don't get much use.
I haven't shown anything in a while-- it seems the last week has been filled with me helping out family-- but now I'm back at work...
here's a first look at the Bald Cypress bark and the Cardinal Air-plant (bromeliad)
here's a first look at the Bald Cypress bark and the Cardinal Air-plant (bromeliad)
Mythocentric
Extraordinary
I can only echo Miss B's comment. Exquisite work indeed! 