December 2007 Day to night - NOCTURN8

[Nocturn8]

This is my first time to submit an entry and i'm doing this while preparing a scene for my submission in 3dtotals gallery. Been doing 3d for around 5 years now but have'nt had much experience with matte paintings and scenes like this one. I have been visiting 3dtotal every now and then, and now that i have a few time to spare, I really don't want to miss the opportunity to get closer to the "community". Please feel free to criticize my work as i know it's what will help me get better with this stuff. This is my progress so far, adjusted the lighting and changed the color temperature to a colder one. A few test lightings too so that i can be able to check where to pay attention.

[Nocturn8]

Update 2.

Added a light post to give lighting to the people outside (they would'nt be out there if it's too dark, unless.. nah! they're not Ghost hunters. Tee Hee!) Also added lighting to the room near them to signify that the people there are not yet asleep.

[Nocturn8]

Progress 3

Oh, This challenge runs till "CHRISTMAS" eh! (finally got an idea on how to light up my scene) so, I've decided to put it a "little" touch of Christmas in it since it would be a nice approach to lighting the scene with the "CONVENTIONAL POINT AND CLICK THE BRUSH" idea, not forgetting the small detail of the wires too. Christmas lights is not a bad idea though since it gives my rather already COLD scene a warmer mood and still keeping its cool.

[eyecon]

hi nocturne, doing great so far.

I know its a pretty early to say anything but, try to avoid making too many dar areas. I'm pretty sure your going to create a great image here.

Just asking, where are you located in the phillppines?

[Nocturn8]

I'm located in Bulacan. And you? thanks for the comment and now i know where to adjust the lighting.

[eyecon]

I'm manila, working at an animation company. haha! Nice to meet you here! Good luck on the challenge and keep em coming. Matte painting is such an awesome artform! I just love it!

[jjd1986]

i am liking the christmas lights dude!

[Nocturn8]

to: eyecon
That's very nice, what kind of animation are you in?I really love animation, but i mostly do 3D modelling,rigging,animation and FX. my website is still under construction and i've been pretty busy lately with restarting a small computer rentals and repairs which is basically our source of income. I think I've seen your works and they're really awesome.It's really my pleasure to have known you. And yup, you're right about matte painting, it's just now that i've been learning the art since i've been working on an animation project which needs a lot of matte paintings. (I thought i could go around and find other ways but matte painting is a real necessity in todays animation specially in Live + CG footages. I've learned a lot in forums like these that's why i decided to join. Thanks again.

to: jjd1986
I'm glad you liked the idea, I really appreciate it. God bless.

[Nocturn8]

Progress 4

Adjusted some areas of lighting to generally lighten darker areas (followed eyecon's advice, thanks bro.). added a few more Christmas lights and i figured out that i could use the lamps(or whatever it is) from the original photo for lighting too. I'm hoping to finish this one earlier for me to get back to 3d modelling another project. Had a lot of work on Cropping, erasing and ordinary brushes + a few color corrections here and there.

[Suirebit-3DT]

you may continue with those lights, no prob. Just make sure you integrate them well.

[Nocturn8]

Suirebit-3DT

Thank You very much.

[Nocturn8]

Progress 5

Thanks to the Master, Suirebit-3DT, i'll be able to continue with my submission.

Again, another adjustment to the lighting. Still figuring out how the Church colors SHOULD change. I think I'll be out for the night and took a couple of shots or more within the neighborhood and see how the lights should affect different colors and materials. Be back soon for updates

[Nocturn8]

AS always, a little photo reference will come in handy. last nights photos and a few more which i've searched on the net today eventually helped me pick a better color adjustment. i've also noticed that i'll be doing a lot of dodging and burning, and cloning in most of the shadow areas which needs to be relocated to give significance to the lights which i have added as can be seen in the attachments below. Also, I'm starting to add a few "flexible" wall reflections and refractions of those lights where necessary. as can also be seen below.

Right at this moment, i felt that this challenge is not as easy as it seems, Changing a scene from day to night involves not only a lot of color and shadow corrections, but it also requires a lot of research on how light, the environment and materials react with each other on a night scene. Which I think is not the same with how they react under sunlight or daytime. Thus, giving us the ability to show our skills with the usage of artificial lights.

Truly you are a master Suirebit-3DT. My respects to you and to the 3dtotal team for the challenges here. This is my first time here, win or loose, one thing is for sure, this will never be the last. And the thing is, by learning, each of us here has already won!

[eyecon]

Hi, its nice that you have a renewed interest and respect for mattepainting. I totally agree with you, this is not an easy task. Making matte paints needs very good skills in both painting and composition, thats why its probably one of the hardest proffession to master.

Going back to you image though, I think you made it much to orange-geee... but I gues this is still under progress. Just remeber that incandescent lights and other lights have a falloff, and that should most of the time be seen in the images. Also some rules can be broken in exchange for a better final image.

Good Luck! Oh about your question: I'm working at Toei Animation, yeah same guys who did One Piece and Dragonball... :D

Nice image by the way, reminds me of the cathedrals we have in our country :D

[otas32]

Looking very hot! :D

hmmm a little too hot actually, the building looks like if it had a self illumination map on it. Like previously recommended, some fall off for the lighting would be good :)

[Berseker]

coming along nicely, however i must agree that it is wayy to bright on the last one, deeper shadows please, anyway nice job on that :)

looking foward to the rest

[Nocturn8]

Thank you very much guys, be back soon for updates.

[Nocturn8]

Progress 7

A little busy lately, so it took me a while to make another progress. This time I put on the last batch of my Christmas lights, adjusted the color, started test blending a few areas of the adjusted color with the buildings original colors adjusted to a darker/night scene. After this I think i'll be adjusting the shadows and highlights, and then deal with the windows.

Thanks Eyecon, Otas32, and Berserker.

[adman]

thats looking much better....really like your idea on this one. think the sky needs a bit of work now?.....maybe make it slightly lighter going into the distance? or it maybe too blue? Anyhow good luck with it!

[Nocturn8]

Thanks Adman

Will work out on that one. I kinda like your work as well. God bless and good luck too.

[eyecon]

Gooing well and looking good here! I look forward to the final result!

[Nocturn8]

Thanks Eyecon. Congratulations, by the way, for winning in the previous comp.

[Nocturn8]

Progress 8

Started painting on a few more details...also slowly making progress on the shadows.. Added the cloud, which i do not want to overdo as it would'nt be reasonable for my stars.

[Nocturn8]

Progress 9

Still a little busy lately...Yet, still had a few time to do some more updating to my entry. This time I've added a few more details and a few more color corrections. Also I'm trying to create an Extension so I do hope that you guys can help me out with this one. The Distortion is giving me a hard time creating and extension but I do hope that I'm on the right track. :D

[guitarsimo80]

WONDERFUL set extension man !!!!!

[eyecon]

doing well, anf looking well. The image extension is also great! One thing though, the windows still does not look to believable to me. Well there is still time for tweaks right? :D Good luck and God Bless

[Nocturn8]

guitarsimo80 and Eyecon:

Thank You very much guys. I'm currently working on the windows.. slow on progress due to time constraints... Let's hope I can finish this one on time. Thanks again and God bless!:)

[Nocturn8]

Progress 10

Managed to find time to work with the windows and also added a few more details to some areas such as the wall extension on the right. C&C's are very much needed and deeply appreciated. Hoping to hear from you guys soon. ( would it be better if I add an extension to the left side? I was planning to do so but really ain't sure if the time left will suffice. Any suggestions pls. Thanks!

[eyecon]

great work here! I love the windows! Those stained glass certainlly gives your image characther! Looking forward to the final one dude!

[Ventana]

Is it just me (and I wouldn't be surprised at that) or does the stained glass look like it's reflecting a daytime scene?

[Nocturn8]

Thanks Eyecon and Ventana...

-Regarding the glass reflecting a daytime scene, the interior lighting I used was white light not the convention yellow/orangee bulbs. And tinted windows during a daytime scene would instead appear dark and dull from the outside and would cause a similar effect like the scene above when you look at it from the inside. I will try to figure out if changing the light from white to yellow would make the scene better. A lot of thanks to you guys and your comments.

[Ventana]

Ah, ok, that makes sense. What I see when I look at the detail shot of the window you posted looks to me like a reflection of a roof line and windows on the left and top of the window. But don't go by me. I saw a yellow streak in another WIP that no one else saw. turned out to be my monitor.

[Nocturn8]

Will check out on that one Ventana. Thanks and God bless.

[Yona]

Wow Nocturn, I didn't realize I never commented on your painting!
So first thing: I really like it :D
The Christmas light are a cool idea, and the tree looks great!

Your sky is simple - but nice ;)

I can see why people see a reflection of a building in the window you added - there is a building drawn on the window itself! It doesn't really bother me, but if you change the light to yellow like you said I think it'll solve it.

The first-floor windows look weird BTW, a bit greenish, and I'm not sure if they're supposed to be lit...

- Yona

[Nocturn8]

Thanks yona, Times ticking fast and Anytime soon I will be posting my final image. Did'nt do much changes since last post but I'll do a couple more modifications before posting my final entry. Thanks again