A rangers grove...

[StarSlicer]

Ok, this is a project I have been working on for some time. It is a signature for my Ever Quest guild leader to use on her Ever Quest message boards. I asked her what she wanted ect ect. She said Trees, water, butterflies and the like. I wasn't sure where this would go at first, but since it will have her humanoid character leaning up against a tree in the end, I put it in this forum. This is my first real outdoor type of scene since I almost always do an interior. So feel free to pinch my skin and give me some CC. It's always welcome from the people and mods who cruise this forum.

I started off by drawing kind of what I wanted a while back.
http://www.ticon.net/~willfam/scene.jpg

Then I started to model the area.
http://www.ticon.net/~willfam/xanthis.jpg

Then, I put in a terrible looking lens flare and a sky.
http://www.ticon.net/~willfam/xanthis2.jpg

Then, I took out the terrible lens flare and used a spotlight to create a rainbow on the water.
http://www.ticon.net/~willfam/xanthis3.jpg

Then, just a few days ago, I used an opacity map to create a better rainbow. I also ditched the sun for a faded planet and put sunrays beaming down from the top. And the butterflies she wanted hehe. I also reworked the texture I used on the ocean in back.
http://www.ticon.net/~willfam/xanthis4.jpg

So is there anything you guys think I should change in the background before I go ahead and work the character model?

[Jason-Lavoie]

Not bad dude, but its not perfect (sorry, i really don't like saying that) i KNOW you can make it better, since you made that scence from that pic, the colors are weird, make the tree and the grass have like a LUSH green, a very nice soft green, and the water fall... you will have to chnage the color, maybe make a ranbow coming from the sea going into the rainbow or somthing... but yeah really cool, i like the butterflies... hehe
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[Jason-Lavoie]

Also i was just goimg through it ,i like the planet dude, BUT, you need some mist coming from the waterfall dude.. theres nothing happening when it hits the water :)

[StarSlicer]

Nah, hey it's ok, you can say whatever you want hehe. If I didn't want some CC I wouldn't have posted it up in here.

[Jason-Lavoie]

Well then, if thats the case... IT ROCKS, ha ha its really good dude, maybe like an adam and eve thing... he he NAKED!

[CountZero]

I don't like the waterfall, and the rock it comes from is odd too. A smaller stream of water going down from a not-so-vertical mountain/rock would be better, now it looks kinda surrealistic. Otherwise it's a nice picture.

[StarSlicer]

There seems to be concern over the waterfall. I myself am not real happy with it either. I'm going to redo that entire section.

[rubberduck]

Hope you don't mind, I took your image into Photoshop and made some changes that I think you should do;)

[StarSlicer]

I was actually hoping sombody would. Was that a custom brush or what?

[Holo]

Ive come up with a good method of creating a realistic looking Waterfall.
Im still working on making it animate properly, but since you are creating a still, it should be helpful to you.

[StarSlicer]

I think that will be a huge success to be honest. I just looked for an hour for a decent waterfall tutorial and nothing came of it. There are not many for 3D Max. And what little there are out there, are generally for Bryce. I look foward to reading it very much.

[Phynius Gauge]

It is looking pretty good. I think the sun's rays in the fourth pic need to be more subtle. I think you also might be better off using a photo for the ocean in the backround. You should add rocks and pebbles along the pathway. Oh, and I dont like the tree that much. I guess the trunk looks too "linear," and I think you could make the tree much more interesting. I think with a little more work this image could be excellent.

[StarSlicer]

Well, I modeled a new rock for the waterfall. The last one was poor. This multi level formation should do fine. I'll move it to the right, connect it and texture it up while I wait to see if I can use Holo's tutorial and techniques to make a waterfall on it.

http://www.carriagebarnrestorations.com/xanthis5.jpg

[StarSlicer]

I texured the new rock area. Raised the arch some. And I used textporter to put some green mossy stuff in where I felt the water would be flowing. I think now, I will either remodel the tree, or put in the water falling.

http://www.carriagebarnrestorations.com/xanthis6.jpg

[sarN]

very nice improvement :) the new rock area works much better witht the scene. Perhaps some flowers or something around by the trees?

[StarSlicer]

Well, I got 3DS Max 6, so I had to give up my grass-0-matic. I drew some grass myself(blasphemy) and started to remodel the tree. Thing is, I really don't know what to do with the waterfall. I like the rushing water of metaparticles in the particle Superspray, but it is not wide enough.(But I don't know everything superspray can do) So anyone got any ideas or tuts on waterfalls?

Image here (http://www.ticon.net/~willfam/xanthisportrait.jpg )

[StarSlicer]

Nobody knows how to make a waterfall or where to find a tutorial?