Vipers To The Heavens

[Dacattack]

Hey everyone,. . . . haven't been on in a while. This is an in-progress project of an F-16. What i wish to gain from this project is some lessons on both modeling and lighting/rendering.

So i want everyone to rip this to shreds with crits!!!! REALLY!!!!
I live in an Air-Force town and get asked all the time to do fighter compositions and i'd eventually like to make some money at it but not until i am ready.

So have at it!!! Mistakes are the paths to perfection. Or something like that.

[Supah]

A few points.

1. The serial looks bogus to me.
2. The dirt looks overdone in areas.
3. Composition is a bit cliche.
4. The load outs carried are unrealistic.

[kevjon]

Its pretty good work Dacattack.

Crits from me.
- Your plane seems to be missing specular maps
- weathering is a little overdone in places particularily from the leading edge slat.
- Not sure if afterburners look like that
- Maybe the planes could do with some motion blur on parts of it to give a sense of high speed.

I wouldn't say you've made any mistakes but like all of us we keep trying to improve with each image. Keep up the good work, hope to see more of your planes/images in the future.

[Dacattack]

Thanks for the crits,. . . .

Supah.
--Serial on the tail is fictitious (wanted to create a one based on my town)
--I kinda always dirty up my models,. . .don't like clean. Wanted to convey these aircraft had seen some action or long service.
--Not sure what you mean by "load outs." You mean the ordanance it's carrying?

Kevjon,. . .
--Does have a spec,. . .but it doesn't really come out much, tried an isolated light just for punching up the specularity. Even renderd just the spec and composited in photoshop, but it just didn't look right given it's very day-lit scene,. . . . :) but still working on it. WIP!
--like i said to Sup. on the maps,. . . i likem dirty. But i will definetely tone them back based on your crtis and see how it looks,. . .even though i may not want to, . . .worked hours on those maps. LOL
And not sure what you mean on the afterburners. Were you referring to the nozzel itself or the flame out the back,. . . . . ot both?

And Composition may seem a bit some,. . . .but i still kinda like that direction i am headed.

Thanks to you both. . . .

[kevjon]

With regard to afterburners, meant the flame.

[Dacattack]

Ah,. . . .understood. Thanks. That like alot of other issues with this will be addressed

[MagnumHB]

+ A search on Google for "f-16 afterburner" will give you a good idea of what the flames look like.

+ The dirt is definitely overdone in some spots like the flaps and ailerons. It looks like an oil slick, not a gradual accumulation of dust.

+ By loadout, Supah is referring to the armament. To me the drop tanks are a bit incongruous with the dynamic zoom climb in the image. Also, I don't know if every F-16 carries a LANTIRN as standard equipment these days, but since it's primarily for ground attack, some bombs might be nice to see on there.

[Supah]

+ The dirt is definitely overdone in some spots like the flaps and ailerons. It looks like an oil slick, not a gradual accumulation of dust.



Exactly and the placement of the dirt is also strange, the radome doesnt discolour like that in that location. Lubricants coming from the actuators for the leading edge slats and from the flaps are mostly very small bits that streak straight back. Around the spine of the machine the dirt gathering around the covering plates does look realistic but the dirt gathering in front of them is a bit strange.


+ By loadout, Supah is referring to the armament. To me the drop tanks are a bit incongruous with the dynamic zoom climb in the image. Also, I don't know if every F-16 carries a LANTIRN as standard equipment these days, but since it's primarily for ground attack, some bombs might be nice to see on there.

I think that that isn't a LANTIRN but more a HARM Targeting Sight. What I mean is that you never see a machine carrying live HARM's and just AIM-9's. They will always also carry AIM-120's on the wingtips and the 370 gallon droptanks. Also on the far machine it seems like you've placed a 370 gallon tank on the centerline? It doesn't look like the 300 gallon centerline tank.