[Kemal]

Thanks WebScriptz :-D

Len, thanks for the offer, buddy, I have strange habit to purchase only from original manufacturer, my wallet does not appreciate Maxon's upgrading scheme as well

I already made decision to go LightWave anyways...

[pumeco]

Originally Posted by Kemal

...my wallet does not appreciate Maxon's upgrading scheme as well
I already made decision to go LightWave anyways...

No prob's mate - I don't blame you. Same feelings here.
I'm not sure if Maxon are just too stupid or too greedy to see that their upgrade structure must be costing them dearly. Shame really, 'cause their software is superb.

I also made the decision to move over to LightWave permanently. I actually made the decision a while back, but I missed the early-crossgrade offer - so I'm holding-out for version 10 before I jump in.

Anayway, Kemal, play it wisely when you do buy LightWave. I noticed that better offers are to be had on the Newtek Europe site than on the International one. From what I remember, if you 'crossgrade' from another app' (VUE included I think) - you will save more by doing it through the European site if you catch an early-crossgrade offer.

I'm going to wait until they announce version 10, then I'll be checking their European store every two weeks until the early-crossgrade reappears. I'll jump on it then - and save a fair bit of money in the process.

I'm talking a saving of many hundreds of pounds/dollars

[Kemal]

Here we go again

Quick lil' animation of a 20 different low-polygon buildings I made in Silo.

Animated in Vue6Infinite. Render time 45 minutes...

CLICK HERE

Cheers :-D

[JeffrySG]

It's very cool to hear that you've added LW to your workflow. I just purchased it about a month or two ago and have not regretted it.

Not sure if you've found them yet but there are a few good forums around that are great for LW users, and I just got two books that have been great as well...

SpinQuad
NewTek's forums
The LWGroup

also...

Inside Lightwave 9 is very good - from beginning LW to intermediate
and
Essential Lightwave (just came out this week) is very good too, beginner to advanced stuff.

both of the books have tons of training videos as well on DVD....

cheers!!
Jeff

[Kemal]

Hey, not yet, but I'm planing to go LightWave next year (when I get my taxes back) :-D

[Kemal]

Wire:



"Clay" render:



And textured model render (Vue 6 Infinite):



Cheers.

[Kemal]

Long time no post, been busy lately...

Here is a keyboard I finished modeling yesterday and rendered today.



Cheers

[Stefan]

Fantastic Artwork, Kemal!

What i always wanted to know, do you take some sort of measurement of your models prior you model them?
They always look so accurately modeled, with all those tiny details. If i had to do the same i would probably use
a NURBS Modeler, for such accuracy. Any clues on your Silo workflow?

P.S. The little Silo man rocks, on your superb keyboard.

Regards
Stefan

[john]

Great work Kemal.

I really love all the little details you get into the models. I want to expand on Stefan's question a bit. I also use Silo for inorganic modeling, but with the smooth look you get from subdivs.

I often find that although I have to do precise modeling, I always have to eyeball my dimensions a bit, especially on the rounded edges.

For example: When I want to make a rounded edge, I do a cut on both sides of the edge, and then slide the new edges closer to the original edge. The closer they are, the sharper the edge, the further they are, the rounder. This is not an exact science, and mostly just eyeballing?

Do you have more precise methods when moving edges around or when rounding edges?

Thanks

[industripop]

damn, those are amazing! great stuff as always kemal.

[MarkInTx]

Originally Posted by Kemal

Hey, not yet, but I'm planing to go LightWave next year (when I get my taxes back) :-D

I hate to offer advice to anyone who is more advanced than me... but...

Have you checked out XSI?

I mean, I can see why LW would appeal to you from what I've seen.

Vue -> LightWave seems to be a tighter integration. And LW does Hard Surfaced modeling pretty well (all of BattleStar Galactica is done in it after all) so... I can see why you would choose LW.

But, if Render times are what you are after, I think XSI edges LW there.

I spent about a year with LW before moving over to XSI. Of course much of it is just personal preference.

But here's my take on the two FWIW:

LW:

Great user community. Mostly friendly guys who all are willing to help.

LW 9 was a much needed upgrade that fixed a lot of the really big problems.

XSI:

Built-in Mental Ray rocks. You almost need to get FPrime with LW to even get close to what XSI gives you out of the box.

XSI can handle a ton of polys without missing a beat. Meshes that will choke LW can be used in XSI.

XSI feels more tightly integrated and well thought out. LW feels like two separate products that are loosely held together by the HUB.

Anyway... You can download XSI for 30 days and give it a spin. XSI Foundation is only $495.

Like I said, to each his own... but I think if rendering is your main driver, you might want to look at it.

::: shrugs :::

[spencerlindsay]

I'm in with Stephan and John on the in-organic modeling tips man. How do you get such clean models? I've been working on a robot project and have taken to building the really important geometrically perfect stuff in MAX (like pistons and gears) and then combining my more free-form objects I'm building in Silo there.

"Wonder Boy, what is the secret to your power?"
-Tenacious D

:s.

[wasamonkey]

to stefan john and spencer

well one think i can see
seperate parts
box modelers (well newer ones)
and organic sds modelers
often try to make things that are seperate one piece

kermal has made seperate pieces for most if not all the parts

also while smooth, it's not perfect, but if you dwell on small things instead of just making a few eyeball slide adjustments you'll drive yourself nuts lol

it's kinda like a small mistake in a drawing
you know it's there, and it sticks out like a sore thumb because you know it's there and it bugs you
but the comic reader will not even notice this flaw unless they really study every little detail of every panel

another example is the focal adjustment
now you could count every ridge, and the angle and then do the math for sections
or you could simply create a cylinder with the options panel and adjust in real time till you have a very close approximation

does the model have exactly 27 ridges like the camera? (made up number)
does it really matter, no
the overall effect is what your after
often even the nurb model and final product will vary in appearance

[Kemal]

Sorry for a late reply, guys, been busy last few days at work.

Stefan: Thanks. I almost never take any measurements whatsoever, eyeballing is what I do a lot. If I really have to come close to something, then I find a good reference and use it on image planes...

I never rush anything, one piece at the time with careful planing what would be a best approach for the next detail. I also immediately delete all the polygons which are not gonna be visible (on shelled surfaces). Anything which can be possibly modeled as a separate piece I model separately.

John: When I want to have more precision, I do not use bevel command, I construct surfaces like on my keyboard using circle primitive which generates evenly spaced vertexes.

MarkInTx: Thanks, I'll check out XSI, for sure, thinking about Modo lately as well, looks like it has an excellent rendering capabilities, not sure about the speed though, we'll see...

spencerlindsay: Lots of patience and planning. Here is the model (base cage in OBJ format)

CLICK HERE to download...

wasamonkey: For the most part you hit the nail into the head ! Thanks.


Cheers.

[Stefan]

Thanks Kemal, for the detailed description!

Regards
Stefan

[wasamonkey]

kemal downloaded the keyboard myself
nice work
i was wondering if you simply mirrored the body of the keyboard
since both ends have the same details
definitely great work, was never a big fan of hard surface modeling, but yours and spencers work definitely make me try harder to do better on mine

cheers

[Kemal]

Yep, I did, for some reason I wanted it to be symmetrical

[Kemal]

Quick displacement and SSS test in Vue. Terrain is the simple grid somewhat deformed in Silo.



Happy new year ya all

[RogerKnightly]

that looks pretty awesome Have you considered some snow?

[Kemal]

Yep, I did, I'm in the middle of experimenting with that (mixing different shaders in one), it is a bit weird, because Vue has a it's displacement tied up within bump channel...We'll see how it goes