Competition #16 - dbsmith

[dbsmith]

Okay so still just fleshing out ideas here, but my boss monster will be a giant squid.
I have plenty of good ideas on its features, but I may get into trouble with the polycount limit, having 8 or so tentacles to model!

Im still undecided where to have its lair, was thinking:
- an old cave
- a nuclear submarine
- something near some bright green toxic waste, and relate that to the character/model of the squid somehow

[dbsmith]

Also, if anyone has some good ideas about how to make the best of a Maya screenshot, please let me know!

[JimmY-DigitaL]

For the sake originality, in the last low poly competition there was a kraken in a submarine type environment entry (Captain Nemo theme), so maybe don't go that route.

A couple of other ideas:
- A coral reef, might be high on poly count but with proper use of alpha textures you can do a lot.
- A sea aquarium, maybe something got into the water tank and the squid grew out of proportion, soon to break the glass that sperates him from the frightened visitors.
- On top or under a boat he's attacking.

Can't help you on the maya thing though.

[Natace]

Not sure if it's THE BEST way to render, but I personally go with a mix of speed vs quality in the temporary rendering department.

I use Maya software and then just ramp up the resolution to my maximum screen resolution, then turn the Filtering settings up and all the rest before saving as a PNG or whatever other format you would prefer.
I don't spend a whole lot of time focusing on making a good render since I prefer in game screenshots to rendered screenshots, but when i do temporary renders, that is how I do it (in a nutshell).

I am too busy to give you a tutorial on what settings to change, but there are plenty of tutorials out there to help you.
Just search google for "Best maya software rendering settings?" or "Best maya rendering settings?" and you should find something.

[dbsmith]

Thanks Natace, but I actually meant setting up Maya's viewport settings for a good screenshot, i.e. whats going to look the best when I press print screen, since that's the delivery format for this comp.

JimmY-DigitaL, these are awesome ideas, I'll have a think about them! Coral would be awesome, but my model's looking pretty high on polycount already

[Natace]

Ah right, I have skimmed through a few tutorials on fiddling with your shaders so that they appear as being high quality in your view port, and also turning on high quality rendering in the viewport itself on the menu up the top inside the viewport, however, I think a person with more rendering experience would be able to assist.

Sorry I couldn't help any further.

[Codeman]

So are you gonna post soon? I am very curious to see what you have going on.

[dbsmith]

Okay heres an early draft of my giant squid model.
I'm having a hard time making the body not look like a giant condom.....

Still plenty of work to be done on tentacles (argh poly count limit!) and I plan to open up the base of the tentacles more to see the beak, but I think if i texture the beak white-ish, it should stand out more.

[Codeman]

Very nice start. I am a huge cephalopod fan and think this looks good. My only suggestion on the body is to consider putting in the flanking fins on the edge of the body and give that squid look.

Also why not just texture the suction cups and use the extra geo in the legs?

Cheers!

[dbsmith]

Codeman, I think you're right on both counts! Thanks man.
I've tried a few fin ideas and haven't quite found one that fits yet. Will keep trying...