Merlin

[giant551]

Well here it is my Merlin. Now this is the part i always find hard, the renders:D so here's my first effort but there will be more. Also at the link is my animation reel for this project, its a quicktime mov at 27meg so takes i little while to load but its not too bad.

http://www.giant3d.co.uk/merlin.mov

i hope you guys like it

cheers

Paul

[mrys]

Hi Paul!

Your Merlin looks fantastic, but a little separated from background... Probably it is light problem. But it is only my small notice. Very good work!

[peter]

Lovely model Paul!!! Looks Superb!!! The render is OK, maybe a bit more specular, bump and colour variety would make the particular panels look better as in Your reference (http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y248/giant551/IMG_1962.jpg.) I noticed the planes, helicopters used in NAVY have very characteristic exploitation dirt (probably effect of the sea salt in the air): http://nl.airliners.net/photos/photos/8/5/7/1056758.jpg . Of course such a strong dirt comes into being after long time spends over the sea (like during carrier operational tour), but this dirt (much more smaller of course) is also noticeable on Your reference.
But the model is really excellent!!!!! I wonder if You could show us how You did the moving parts - I know the movie You put in the WIP section(what is the scheme of rigging - don't know if I'm using the proper terminology). The moving parts are just GREAT!!!

[Skyraider3D]

Without a doubt the model is fantastic. The textures, or rather materials, need improvement though. The model doesn't appear to have specular maps and some parts look quite flat. The render isn't too bad, but the lighting angle is very uninteresting and doesn't help making it look convincing. Darkening the shadows would already help, but moreover try a lighting angle that's roughly 90 degrees from the camera to bring out more contrast. The all-grey scheme is begging for pronounced lighting setups.
The animation of the rotor folding is great, but the flight animation doesn't look convincing. Quite jerky and unnatural. It lacks that typical helicopter drifting behaviour, where movements are only stopped by counter movements and everything eases in and out without abrupt movements.
I hope my comments may be of some use :)
All in all there's a steady line of improvement in your work and its getting better and better! Keep at it mate! :cool:

[cobra6]

It needs weathering most of all. It looks VERY clean!

But the model indeed is fantastic, and the composition I like :)

Cobra 6

[Mirko]

Beautifulst model and good texture, Paul.
The composition is good! One small critic, the helicopter is close to the water, the water would have ripple from the air produced from the rotor.


:salute:

[giant551]

Well thank you guys i appreciate all your comments:D. There is things which need tweeking with the model but on the whole i am really pleased with the project and feel that i have turned a corner with this one venturing into techniques which where nothing more that pipe dreams this time last year.

The aim of the project was to produce a animated reel bringing together modelling, texturing, rigging and animation and putting it all together, and in all i have achieved most of what i set out to do. I now feel XSi is like a old comfy set of trainers, all i got to to now is hone them into a set of sprinting shoes :D

Ok this is the part where i try and fend off some of your comment LOL.

Weathering oh my, well i will be honest with you i know Merlin 87 very well as its one of my squadrons aircraft. Its a pretty new aircraft with less than 400 hours on the books and most of the time clean :D merlin in general is a pretty clean airframe but i will be revisiting the textures and adding bits as i go so i will take everything on board.

Flight animation, again your right its not perfect but its not a million miles off:D I need to try and add a little more weight to the airframe and lead the movements a little more. But i will tell you animating a helicopter is not easy phew:) I had know idea until i tried trying to tweek the animation curves its a real art and hats off to Kiwi for his huey. Possibly if i knew then what i know now i would have done a fixed wing prop for my first reel:lol: :lol:

Peter as for the rigging i have attached a piccy of the set up of the tail for you, its nothing special and the main head is set up pretty similar. give me a shout if you have any questions.


Thanks again guys for your posts i really appreciate them and will look into all your suggestions.

cheers

Paul

[bazze]

The main rotor blades look amazing.. they really spin like the real thing in the image.

[giant551]

Thanks Bazze:D

[Galgot]

Super work, super model ! Animating the rotor pieces must have been something...
The Merlins are very new as i understand, so for sure they must be clean...
lacks just a bit of specular... not much cause they are very flat shaded. And i like that sea too. Hope to see some other render of it :-)
Seen that one ? :
http://www.airliners.net/open.file/1169895/L/
cheers

[Sapper]

nicely done.

[Lukem]

Awesome model, very nice render (being on dial-up, I'm not going to try to get the animation).

Looking forward to seeing what you do with it next:)

[giant551]

Thank you guys, well i have uploaded yet another version:D this time with spec maps and i think it looks much better now.

Anyway it took me a while to get my head around spec maps as Mental ray has more buttons and sliders the the cockpit of the freeking spaceshuttle:lol:

Galot, yes i have plans for that paint scheme and know the aircraft well:D It used to be a 814 flying tigers aircraft and i have a funny story about that particular aircraft.

When it was delivered to the squadron it originally had a tiger face painted on the nose cap. But unfortunately the artist wasn't erm shall we say good LOL. The tigers face actually looked more like a angry hamster than a fighting tiger and the squadron CO went nuts because all the rest of the squadrons where coming into the hanger and taking the piss ( me included:lol: )

so the nosecap was qiuckly removed and resprayed:)

cheers

paul

[Skyraider3D]

O yes, much better now!
I still think you need a different lighting angle, as this one looks very peculiar. It just refuses to blend in with the background.

[giant551]

O yes, much better now!
I still think you need a different lighting angle, as this one looks very peculiar. It just refuses to blend in with the background.

Hmm i move the light to the rear of the aircraft 90 degrees from the camera as you suggested ??? I thought the shadows looked better. This part of the project is so hard LOL

[Skyraider3D]

Yes I noticed, and you darkened the shadows too. Perhaps the ambient light is still too strong? The newer light angle is an improvement though.
Perhaps study this photo, it's almost a mirror of your scene with a similar light angle: http://www.armedforces.co.uk/navy/listings/navymerlinb.jpg
Note how black the bottom of the helicopter is. Unlike clouds, sea water doesn't reflect an awful lot of diffused light.
Another somewhat similar photo, also showing how dark the shadows are:
http://www.flug-revue.rotor.com/frtypen/Fotos/ehindu/MerlinM.JPG
Your render is lacking these dark shadows, making it "float" over the image.

Hope this helps :)

[giant551]

better ???:D

[Galgot]

Yep ! Me like :) Very nice...
I have an idea ... If the thing is low over the water, maybe would be nice to see the reflection of the helicopter on the sea surface. If u do a render with a camera at the same angle but pointing under the helo, u'll get that reflection image that could be pasted on the sea surface as a reflection... That reflection don't need to be super neat, and could be visible just in the clear part of the sea surface... Sorry, I know it's your "toy"... But it gives me some ideas...:lol:

[Skyraider3D]

better ???:DYES! :cool:


If the thing is low over the water, maybe would be nice to see the reflection of the helicopter on the sea surface.Getting an aircraft/helicopter and its reflection on the water surface in the same image is next to impossible, unless it's practically touching the water :)

[Galgot]

YES! :cool:


Getting an aircraft/helicopter and its reflection on the water surface in the same image is next to impossible, unless it's practically touching the water :)

Ahhh... Dommage ...:D

[Martocticvs]

Definitely looks better than the first version - the lighting angle brings it to life much better now.

[digiartist]

Looking very nice Giant! It's great to see you've taken this model from the WIP to finished render, looking forward to seeing more redners of the Merlin:)

[giant551]

Just another render:D This time a bit more dramatic. Thanks for yout posts guys i appreciate them all

[peter]

Looks VERY good!!!

[giant551]

And another, this is a bit of an experiment on a different sort of lighting set up. This time a sort of dusk lower key light. I like this one its my favourite of the 3 so far:D

What do you guys think does it work ??? (setting up renders makes my brain hurt LOL)

[cobra6]

My fav also:) but somehow it could do with a little ground underneath somehow.

Cobra 6

[Skyraider3D]

The second one is interesting, but would probably look more realistic in a more conventional flight attitude. Try this angle (http://www.hmfriends.org.uk/images/merzj132flymid.jpg), it would work really well I think.


The third image is nice, but the lighting doesn't match. I think you should lower the ambient even further to make it a near-silhouette.

[Mirko]

Beautiful the last image.

[pete.cook]

The third image is wonderful Paul. I agree with Ronnie though there is a little too much light on this side of it.

Also, the background plate spoils it a little. To me it looks as if the Merlin is about to touch down with the gear out and a slight nose up attitude, but the background clearly shows that this is taken above a layer of clouds, so unless it is coming in for a high altitude landing, it looks a little odd. Personally, I would remove the lower layer of clouds, because that would keep the image as dramatic without my eye being mislead by the lower layer.

[Galgot]

Mmmh nice ! :D
nice light on that last, i like the way that orange light lits his belly and prop...
I agree with pete.cook, if u cut the bottom of the image it would look more like low altitude.
Previous one i like also... would love to be in the cockpit :lol: Only thing i don't feel right is that cloud that looks rubbed in photoshop at the base... but really, it's not that important.
cheers

[giant551]

Ok cut the bottom of it off and your right it makes a big difference so thank you for that. I have had a play with the lighting and turned the ambient down but to be honest with you i didn't like it it was too washed out and the details of the model got lost so ive decided to use a little artistic licence and leave it as it was:D sorry:D

Thank you again for all your support

Paul:cool:

[Skyraider3D]

turned the ambient down but to be honest with you i didn't like it it was too washed outHmm that doesn't make sense. If anything it should give more contrast. Yes, you will lose some finer details in the darkness, but overall it will look more realistic. But of course it depends on what you like. The lighting condition you have there is really tricky, but it's definitely possible to make slick images with it that are realistic. Here's an example:
http://www.eaglejetsales.net/siteart/sunset_jet.jpg
http://www.relianceaerotech.com/services/images/UL_helicopterSunset.jpg

Note how the reflections give shape to the helicopters/aircraft. This is completely missing in your image. I realise the paint of the Merlin is fairly dull, but some reflection would really help.