BC1-1908 Homework – Aaron Rudderham

[smurfmier1985]

@thecabbagedetective hey Aaron, don’t worry about not answering fast I know you a bit by now I don’t mind, I’m just happy you’re okay! (sorta)

You got a pretty cool sword scene going on there! Yeah sure you could have wanted more out of it but you did the best in the time allotted, and it still look awesome 😎 

Pretty weird cycles is slow for you in 2.8 as it has been improved much and tests I’ve seen around twitter show much higher speed.. dunno why it would be the other way around for you 🙁

I’m no stranger at wanting to be the best and wanting to do it all 110% and then being stressed out and having health issues because of it… it’s a dangerous path indeed. I’m glad you recognize it and have decided to slow down a bit since I like having you around here! 😊

Doing a little bit of work every day for years has usually better results than going super hard for a while and then doing nothing for an even longer while. It’s a marathon, not a sprint.

You’ll get there mate, I believe in you. Take care! 🤘🏻

[spikeyxxx]

@thecabbagedetective Great story!

Don’t you think the compositing is a bit overdone? 

I think I almost like the bare render better….

Please forgive me, it’s only my opinion.

Great work anyway!

[William Miller]

@thecabbagedetective How did you make the fog?

[Omar Domenech]

@thecabbagedetective 

“He never quite got along with anyone – not even his own parents”

Dude this is the true horror story here, do you know the things parents have to do for their children? oh my god, I can’t even imagine how they must’ve felt, after caring for that boy for years. This is too sad.

[Kent Trammell]

@thecabbagedetective WHAT A STORY. No wonder you’re exhausted. That would have taken me hours to imagine and then write. Probably longer than the actual creation of the sword render.

For what it’s worth, I was enthralled by the story. It really added a deep layer to the final piece. I remember in the stylized character class that the first assignment was writing a backstory for the character. The exercise works very well in this case too. I know that takes a lot of effort, so my hats off to you Aaron. You really go 100% no matter what! That will take you far in whatever you do – so long as you can control it and not let it hinder your physical and mental help, brother.

I can sense that you had big plans for this piece. Some aspects are amazing and others feel undercooked. Here’s a few suggestions I made with Krita:

• Wood floor details. The floor is a fairly prominent portion of the image and currently it’s a little too evenly detailed / repetitive. Varying the damage and reflectivity will go a long way. I did my best to illustrate this with a wood floor photo overlayed on yours.
• Vignette around the sword. The lighting is good but still not highlighting the sword specifically as much as the composition warrants imo. I used a simple oval vignetee to brighten the sword and darken everything else. NOTE: The gif compression eliminated the fog which I don’t recommend doing.
• Light lens flare. The lamp at the top is too simple by itself. This is the perfect situation for a little lens flare addition.

I have a couple other notes not illustrated in the gif:

• The finger smudge texture on the glass is awesome! However it’s a bit too prominent and consistent. Makes me think “Geez a lot of people touch this all over”. I recommend limiting it to about 50% of its current coverage as well as decrease the strength of the effect. Make it more subtle.
• The archway in the back can be removed imo. It only appears in the glass and is confusing as to whether or not it’s a reflection or in the background. I think the scene is better without it, just using a black background + the fog layer.
• The sword case frame has an overly simple surface. It almost looks like plain shading, meaning no texture or edge detection detail whatsoever. Given the high-fidelity detail of the glass finger prints, there should be something on the frame too (grime, fingerprints, a bevel, subtle imperfection).

Keep in mind that a long list of notes typically means that I’m a big fan of the work and have invested significant time brainstorming how it could be a little better. You’ve earned an A++ in my book. As always, you do really great work and put forth much effort. Now go chill and recoup!

[Aaron Rudderham]

@smurfmier1985 Thanks for your understanding! I definitely need to speed up though, there’s no way about it. I guess going slow allows me to try more more things in a way, so hopefully that uncovers some cool stuff. Cheers again, and good day to you!

[Aaron Rudderham]

@spikeyxxx Thank you! I think that’s a fair criticism, but to be honest I think I’m going to keep it purely because it’s a fairly stylized, exaggerated scene so I think it suits it well. I appreciate the feedback though, it certainly gives me something to think about.

[Aaron Rudderham]

@williamatics I followed this tutorial for a base (despite being Eevee focused it still works in Cycles) and then tweaked the density to my liking, also adding a gradient texture with a Mix node to make the transition from dense to sparse more seamless.

[Aaron Rudderham]

@dostovel All villains need a tragic backstory! But hey, just because he didn’t get along with his parents doesn’t mean they tried to get along with him.

[Author]

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