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steve-burg — Sphinx
Published: 2010-09-19 19:02:15 +0000 UTC; Views: 18883; Favourites: 192; Downloads: 660
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Description
This 3D illustration was produced for the book "Concept Design II" in about 2004 or so. It is the first in a series of related illustrations. The companion pieces are "Origin: Unkown" [link] "The Coming Storm" [link] and "Evacuate the Colony" [link]A group of ancient structures has just been discovered by a team of geologists stationed on an off-world mining facility. This remote and icy planet harbors no indigenous life, so the origin and purpose of these huge artifacts and their builders are a complete mystery.
In this view, the human explorers search for some way inside one of the artifacts. So far, they've had no luck
All the 3D elements were modeled and rendered in Lightwave 3D, with textures painted in Photoshop. The 3D render was retouched in Photoshop, to adjust the image contrast and retouch some small problem areas. The sky texture is a procedurally generated texture applied to a sky dome in the 3D scene.
This image is a variation and does not appear in the book - but I like it just the same. This is the first time it has been shown
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Comments: 86
Personally I'd LOVE to picnic there.
Well... OK, maybe sit and quietly suck on my suit's food tube, but still... it beats staring out the McDonald's window at the strip mall across the highway.
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Yeah - you definitely have a point 
But bring an electric blanket to sit on, or you'll stick to the "beach"
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Suggestion noted.
...
Packing now.
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the way you blend so many layers of different things so flawlessly is really impressive
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Thanks
It's all set up with the same lighting, so the different pieces go together pretty well. On this, the figures were the only thing separate - the little vehicles were in the scene, so their lights would catch the ground 
From there, it's just a bit of fine tuning it in Photoshop
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ahh . makes the sense . man , the little vehicles and people make the distance seem so vast and the structures intensely large . i'm starting to understand how you must have done the scaling on this - since everything was in one project . so you reduced the sizes of each model into the distance . and that's why they both create depth and also share relative shadows . that makes the sun look believable , as in the distance of the sun is convincing ... i'm typing out loud again
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Hah! You've gone 
The atmosphere is distance fog. Actually, the whole scene is all the same size, just REALLY big. I work in real scale, so the people are people sized. Working in consistent scale means I can load objects from other scenes, and they all fit
I have done the forced perspective on some things, but it's usually so something doesn't extend out past the sky (which definitely looks very wrong!)
The only time I shrink things is when I'm doing a planet. I tried to make the solar system - in scale - but I think that was a little extreme. So it made it 1/1000 of actual scale. It's STILL huge
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actual scale 
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Ah - but what magnificent madness!!!
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i don't see how you do it . my computer is powered by a flock of well trained spoon-billed sandpipers . they never want to render anything larger than like 4000cm . you can't reason with them . at all . madness ? been there a few times
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I don't know C4D too well - but that might be in the settings somewhere - the grid size, or the clipping plane. Usually 3D programs limit the distance that's visible to prevent the computer from trying to calculate to infinity (or melt). I bet if you check those preferences, there must be a way to adjust it.
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there may be but i have problems rendering small things too
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The worst is in Maya. Every time, you have to manually type in the numbers for Near and Far clipping plane. It won't render anything outside it. I won't preview anything outside it. And you can't set it up with different defaults very easily.
There must be a way to fix that, but with things like this it's always some little check-box or numerical value somewhere and difficult to track down.
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in C4D it's simple camera and reder settings for the DoF , beginng and end , focus on selected object , distance maps , etc . pretty easy stuff to change at any time because you can have as many cameras as you want and you can easily save and load complete render presets , even nest presets within presets . plus i have one defauly project file that i always begin with and i have all of my sets there , along with my basic mats and light kits ... from everything i can tell it seems C4D is great - for beginners and small scale projects . i have seen some really complex things made in C4D but they don't happen very often (or they use C4D AND another program)
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A lot of matte paintings for film are made with C4D - it seems to be the tool of choice for the matte artists I'm familiar with. They do finished shots working as individuals, so that to me is a very good endorsement for C4D.
Maya is used by a lot of animators, and in a lot of "assembly line" situations. I know how to use Maya (to a point) - but I don't touch it for doing my own stuff
I've worked with some people who use C4D and the results are amazing! It may be accessible to a beginner, but that certainly doesn't mean it is lacking capability. It looks to me like a great program. People see my stuff and ask "When are you going to switch to Maya?" The answer is "Never". If Lightwave disappears, C4D is probably what I would try to learn - it's a good software
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it is very interesting to hear you say that
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I'm an iconoclast
But seriously, there's so much marketing and hype - it's mostly rubbish!
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lol you're an anomaly and an anachronism and you're not alone
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Busy day here at work - hours of meetings
If you can get a nice result - stay with the software you know. It's easier to learn other 3D software once you know the ins and outs of one program well
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*hands you a beer*
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Once again the pure Archaeology mingles with those vehicles that drive me crazy.
Good scene again.
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Wow i like everything about this one: Mysterious gigantic alien ruins - check! Harsh alien world - check! Great realistic hi tech vehicles - check! Poor unsuspecting explorers in cool powersuits about to meet disaster - check! Good to see you didn't leave anything out
Seriously this is awesome (not like "awesome dude" , as in it inspires awe) and i just love these type of scenes (like [link] ) where the human explorers come upon something they just can't explain
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Wow! Thanks
Awesome is a good word, despite the way it is sometimes used in slang
Between TMA-1 ("2001"), the alien derelict ("Alien") and the scary dead city in H.P. Lovecraft's "At the Mountains of Madness" I've given up any hope of ever not being fascinated by this kind of subject.
Human explorers finding something ancient - yet far in advance of whatever the state of human technology is - that's without a doubt a favorite subject all my life
And of course - the humans don't need to understand. They need to RUN!!!
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Yeah it sure makes for a great subject
Did you know that there is a movie in the works for Mountains of Madness? (supposedly
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If Guillermo Del Toro does it, that could be terrific. I hope it doesn't wind up being McGee
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Poor guys they are searching in wrong area! 
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Believe me - they DO NOT want to disturb these artifacts
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Hehe maybe, but I want see whats inside!! Keep the effort guys! Die for the science! R.I.P
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Yeah, dying for science sounds good - but first, time for lunch! Who packed the food
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Thanks - I'm glad you like it
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