Cgtuts+ Workshop #30 Star Trek Phasers
tuts workshop

Cgtuts+ Workshop #30 Star Trek Phasers

on Oct 3rd 2012 with 8 comments

We’re back with another entry in our weekly community project, where we post a render or animation created by a member of the Cgtuts+ community, and ask you to provide feedback and constructive criticism on their work. It’s a great way to learn more about the intricacies of computer graphics, express your viewpoint, and have your own content critiqued by your fellow artists!

Quick Ground Rules

  • Be nice! We’ve deliberately chosen work that isn’t perfect, so please be constructive with any criticism.
  • Feel free to offer any type of advice on – Modeling, Texturing, Materials, Lighting, Rendering, Composition, etc.
  • You can also link to another render that you feel offers a great example of this type of content done exceptionally well.

So let’s get to it, here’s this week’s entry created by Christopher Cooke!

Star Trek Phasers

Cgtuts+ Star Trek Phasers Render critiqueClick To Enlarge

A Little Background

I wanted to improve my model making skills so I set out to create a high poly, very detailed Star Trek phaser in my spare time. I used Cinema 4D for the modelling, Bodypaint and Photoshop for the UVunwrap and texture painting. The final image is a combination of my impatience and wanting to see a final render. I took a quick picture of my desk and used that for the background plate.

I also took a few photos of my room and combined them into a very quick and dirty sky dome to use in the GI render. Using the sky dome, a point light and a large flat cube for the table top, I rendered out the final image in separate passes and combined them in Photoshop. I love images that look real. Pictures that make you look twice. I was aiming for that realism in this render. I wanted viewers to just think it was a random photo of two replica Star Trek phasers, on a nerds desk. I hope I achieved that and I’d love to know what you think.

Also be sure to check out more of Christopher’s work on his Website
Please let us know what you think in the comments – how would you have approached this project or done things differently? Any thoughts on how it could be improved or taken to the next level. Chime in below!

The most constructive and helpful comments will be featured on the site. Interested in submitting your own video or 3D render? You can do so here! and have your work featured in a future Cgtuts+ Workshop!

 
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By

Rollover to read this author's bio or click through to see a full list of posts by this author.

Ben is one half (literally) of the editor duo here at Cgtuts+. Ben has over eight years of experience in the computer graphics field and although he's primarily a hard surface modeler, he's also experienced in the fields of uvmapping, texturing, lighting and rendering. He has authored many tutorials and training materials focused on 3d Studio Max and hard surface modeling. You can check out Ben's website at bentateonline.com to see more of his work.  

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  • Chris

    This is looking pretty good so far. The first thing that jumps out is the textures and shaders. There is little texture variation visible, and nothing really feels like the plastic material that it should be. There should be some irregularities in the plastic, and small imperfections, like you can see in your tablet in the image. Also, add a noise bump map to some pieces like the top plastic piece, to get that rougher look to the surface. That will soften your spec on that part as well, making it more accurate. I think the spec on the black handle should be tighter too. Your HDRI seems to be having quite a bit of influence on the silver piece at the front. It’s almost looking like a dull metallic material. It might be the shader that needs adjusting, but that final look needs to be desaturated on that part. Also have a look at your shadows. They need to be softened just a bit, and darkened. Use the shadow from the laptop for reference.

    • Chris Cooke

      Thanks for the comment. Its good to get other peoples perspective on the images you make because all your comments make sense. There is a Bump on the smaller phaser, but again your right, it does not break up the highlight at all. Thanks for the comments Chris, its much appreciated.

  • http://www.youtube.com/user/playplaynirmal Nagesh

    good models, and i can understand ur impatience to render things how they look, same here,… sometimes i model something very simple (sometimes i dont model them, import illustrator files and use a shell) and then in 3ds max , put up a skylight , increase its … hmm ,.. i forgot.. well i tick on cast shadows and increase that…something… that increases render times with a good AO pass type thing,..
    No complains as it is a result of impatience,
    the suggestion could be… be calm , take ur time n let us enjoy ur final result

    • Chris Cooke

      I’m loving your comment Nagesh. I really do need to take my time after the modeling is done haha. Thanks for the comment it is much appreciated.

  • http://www.animacine.com.ar AnimaCine

    Maybe you could try matching a little bit more the photo grain and the phasers grain. For reference you could look to the black color of your laptop . Also, I think that it could help the blending to blur the models. This way it could match your camera lens quality. Good work!!

    • Chris Cooke

      Two more great ideas. I did do most of the things that have been suggested here. I think I just need to push the techniques more and let go of wanting to keep them looking tight and crisp. The more blur, dust, and dirt the better right. Thanks for the comments AnimaCine.

  • Hein

    Hey Chris

    Good work! The modeling is nice. I think a few small tweaks and this would fit into the scene very well.

    A few small things give it away now. Like AnimaCine said, the phasers are simply to sharp and clean compared to the rest of the photo. AE has a nice feature called Match grain, that could help to match the noise from the BG layer. For reason, PS doesn’t have that. Also, the shadow of the phasers is a different colors than that of the laptop. Its more brown and lighter. You could even blur the phasers a tiny bit to make them closer in comparison to the rest of the scene.

    Overall its really good work. ;)

    • Chris Cooke

      Thanks for the tips Hein. I’m really glad people are liking the image and giving me all these great tips. It makes me want to do another images and take it to the next level. Thanks for the inspiration people.