Artwork: Time to leave the ship

Done a little more work today on my latest piece. I've been playing around with ideas on what the background rainforest should look like, and how to go about putting it together.

I've played around a little with the copy of Vue Frontier I was able to get through 3D World Magazine and although it's obvious the software is incredibly powerful, being a free version it has a lot of things missing that is likely to make it unusable for me in this case.

Which leaves me with two options. Making each plant/tree individually, or using the paint effects that come with Maya. I think I'll probably do both. The major flora I'll make by hand and then use paint effects for the background objects. I've been wanting to learn to use Maya's paint effects for quite some time, so this will be a good chance for me to do so.

I've put a little more time into fleshing out the rainforest in the concept I put together.



I liked the idea of putting a trodden path leading off into the distance. I thought this would give a sense of intelligent life and the path itself would represent a moving into the future. I need to be careful not to have it lead directly up to the ship though, as this might give the impression it was deliberately put there for the Norn.

The waterfall in the background is mostly an excuse for me to play with particles and possible fluid effects to create running water, something else I've been wanting to do for a while.

They're a little hard to see here, but there's some vines hanging down in front of the doorway. I wanted to include these as I want to give the impression the ship has crashed here and ultimately doesn't belong. I may add some elements inside the ship to enhance the idea that ship is damaged and won't fly again.

And here's the progress so far in the 3D:



I'm having a little trouble getting everything I want into camera. The door is quite a small portal, and I want to see as much outside as possible. At the same time, I'd also like to add a couple of small details inside the ship off to the sides, just to add to the story. I've tried playing with the focal length of the camera without much success. Will need to consider this a little more.

I've tweaked the lighting a little, which has made the outside easier to see, but now the inside is way too bright. Will need to play a little more to make the inside of the ship much darker and contrast it with the outside. As you can see from the concept, I'm aiming to have only the Norns outline visible and not much else.

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And now, for dinner. And after that, probably sit down and get the last couple of Norns ready for the first run. I've hatched the last two Norns, bringing me to the total of 8. Just a little more time and they'll both be ready. But more on that next time.