The king's room
Posted by Marius Oberholster on Thursday, February 18, 2016 Under: WIP
Hey all!
Time for the weekly update!
This week, the focus has been on the king's room. For me, this is incredibly difficult, because I find no info on traditional Persian interiors. I do know that they did do a lot of things the same way as the Indians did - lots of arches, pillows, low to the floor furniture, etc., but honestly, I don't know to what extent this is the case, so I have to follow peace and ironically, it has made for quite a modern appearance.
Additionally, since the first time we see the king in Esther 6 is when he can't sleep and calls for the chronicles of the kingdom to be read, it is night time. That means, we are finally setting up for the first scene!! Super excited!! I have to be honest, this was the first time during the whole process where I really felt like: "This is really happening! This is gonna happen!" - very very rewarding feeling and maybe you'll feel it to, when you see the renders below! :D
So first things first:
- A Persian carpet
Now many of you know what a persian carpet is. There are various designs and they all look so pretty to me. We even have a history of buying them - they rarely show dirt because the designs are so intricate and high contrast. Very very functional and beautiful! BUT, I had never designed a Persian carpet in my life! Never!
So, I literally had to learn how to design a persian carpet. While mine is not perfect, those I showed it to reacted well. Remember, getting a fresh pair of eyes on a project after you've been on it a while, is a very very very very very good idea! GOD says in HIS Word: "Without counsel purposes are disappointed: but in the multitude of counsellers they are established." Proverbs 15:22, KJV. It's biblical to get an outside opinion, haha.
I searched online and I looked at various types of persian carpets (oh yes, there are many) and the type I settled on was the medallion. It's the type we've always bought and I like the break in sections, so that was my starting off point, along with commonly used shapes and some shapes not used at all in the carpets that I saw - just to make it new :) - here it is:
Time for the weekly update!
This week, the focus has been on the king's room. For me, this is incredibly difficult, because I find no info on traditional Persian interiors. I do know that they did do a lot of things the same way as the Indians did - lots of arches, pillows, low to the floor furniture, etc., but honestly, I don't know to what extent this is the case, so I have to follow peace and ironically, it has made for quite a modern appearance.
Additionally, since the first time we see the king in Esther 6 is when he can't sleep and calls for the chronicles of the kingdom to be read, it is night time. That means, we are finally setting up for the first scene!! Super excited!! I have to be honest, this was the first time during the whole process where I really felt like: "This is really happening! This is gonna happen!" - very very rewarding feeling and maybe you'll feel it to, when you see the renders below! :D
So first things first:
- A Persian carpet
Now many of you know what a persian carpet is. There are various designs and they all look so pretty to me. We even have a history of buying them - they rarely show dirt because the designs are so intricate and high contrast. Very very functional and beautiful! BUT, I had never designed a Persian carpet in my life! Never!
So, I literally had to learn how to design a persian carpet. While mine is not perfect, those I showed it to reacted well. Remember, getting a fresh pair of eyes on a project after you've been on it a while, is a very very very very very good idea! GOD says in HIS Word: "Without counsel purposes are disappointed: but in the multitude of counsellers they are established." Proverbs 15:22, KJV. It's biblical to get an outside opinion, haha.
I searched online and I looked at various types of persian carpets (oh yes, there are many) and the type I settled on was the medallion. It's the type we've always bought and I like the break in sections, so that was my starting off point, along with commonly used shapes and some shapes not used at all in the carpets that I saw - just to make it new :) - here it is:
- A night watch
Of course, since we see the king at night, we need to make sure that the scene says that, as if you didn't know, hahaha. That means that the sky dome had to be switched to night - something GOD had me add in the early stages of modelling the palace complex. Something I know about the persians from movies and paintings is that they luv hanging curtains and drapery everywhere to soften and make the place more beautiful - and I really like that, so guess what came first in the king's room, apart from lighting - Oh yes! Curtains!
- Nap time has lost it's napness
The king needs a bed to sleep on and consequently, I needed to give him on to sleep on, so just before I was about to model one from scratch, GOD reminded me of an image I did for the Blender Guru competition a few years back (scroll down to Blender Guru, image next to the cherry blossoms) where I had modeled a single bed for a scene. Kings typically don't sleep on single beds, so it just needed a stretch and some modifications - which meant new pillows, materials and a few tweaks! :D
(Lighting makes you think it's why the king couldn't sleep, hahaha)
(Much better)
(Add some pillows - takes a lot longer than saying it, hahaha)
(Some more pillows and more curtains)
Of course, since we see the king at night, we need to make sure that the scene says that, as if you didn't know, hahaha. That means that the sky dome had to be switched to night - something GOD had me add in the early stages of modelling the palace complex. Something I know about the persians from movies and paintings is that they luv hanging curtains and drapery everywhere to soften and make the place more beautiful - and I really like that, so guess what came first in the king's room, apart from lighting - Oh yes! Curtains!
- Nap time has lost it's napness
The king needs a bed to sleep on and consequently, I needed to give him on to sleep on, so just before I was about to model one from scratch, GOD reminded me of an image I did for the Blender Guru competition a few years back (scroll down to Blender Guru, image next to the cherry blossoms) where I had modeled a single bed for a scene. Kings typically don't sleep on single beds, so it just needed a stretch and some modifications - which meant new pillows, materials and a few tweaks! :D
(Lighting makes you think it's why the king couldn't sleep, hahaha)
(Much better)
(Add some pillows - takes a lot longer than saying it, hahaha)
(Some more pillows and more curtains)
Ironically, I wanted to put the bed in the middle of the room, between the pillars, but the pillars are so huge, they literally don't even give space for a single bed there, haha. It would make for a nice place to chat if you throw some pillows between them!
- Furniture
Not an easy task and it still needs some research, but for me personally, it looks like the Persians influenced French and Victorian design quite a bit, but yeah, still a lot of work needs to be done, so only the chair and the desk and the bed has been added - yet still the chair doesn't quite fit the style for me, though the counselors disagree, haha. I'll let you see for yourself and I will take it the route GOD leads me to - which might very well be replacement, but not deletion, because I really like the chair:
(As it sits, it can stay, but I really want to replace that chair with something more fitting...)
(Really disliked this thing... It looks okay, but it's not supposed to just look okay, hahaha)
Not an easy task and it still needs some research, but for me personally, it looks like the Persians influenced French and Victorian design quite a bit, but yeah, still a lot of work needs to be done, so only the chair and the desk and the bed has been added - yet still the chair doesn't quite fit the style for me, though the counselors disagree, haha. I'll let you see for yourself and I will take it the route GOD leads me to - which might very well be replacement, but not deletion, because I really like the chair:
(As it sits, it can stay, but I really want to replace that chair with something more fitting...)
(Really disliked this thing... It looks okay, but it's not supposed to just look okay, hahaha)
- A new tutorial!
Isn't GOD just awesome! HE luvs to surprise me with fixes - sometimes it's a command and HE helps me find the solution, but in this case specifically, it came out of a simple conversation about the issue. This was definitely an exception to how HE usually gives me answers. In Blender, we have a feature called Freestyle - it's what draws the 2D outlines based on 3D shapes. What makes it so hard to control is that it draws 2D lines based on 3D shapes - at which point you go: "THAT DOESN'T MAKE ANY SENSE!" - to which I say, just wait. As great as freestyle is, and as much as I use it (and I use it a lot!) it has a tendency to draw lines where I sometimes just don't want any lines and the new tutorial is on how to block out those areas - specifically, around the eyes:
If you struggled with this issue, then you can definitely check out this very quick video on how to fix it:
As you all remember, this remains a hot topic for me, because I still want to get my render times as low as possible, without sacrificing quality and this week, I went as far as to remove the ambient occlusion and very quickly added it back, hahaha. The biggest speed up was removing the sun lamp - it's night, so it's not needed for indoors - outside, yes, inside, no. Turning it off, took about a minute off the render time and no visual difference:
The reason is that the sun is shining from the other side of the palace. It has no chance to affect it, but because it's sampled, it's still taken into consideration. Take it from me, if you don't use it, turn it off! haha.
Here are a few other attempts at reducing the speed with not so great results, hahaha:
No ambient occlusion and no environment ligthing - can still work, but it's too dark.
Normal render - current settings - comparison image
No distance attenuation to cause AO, with environment lighting - wow... O_o
Isn't GOD just awesome! HE luvs to surprise me with fixes - sometimes it's a command and HE helps me find the solution, but in this case specifically, it came out of a simple conversation about the issue. This was definitely an exception to how HE usually gives me answers. In Blender, we have a feature called Freestyle - it's what draws the 2D outlines based on 3D shapes. What makes it so hard to control is that it draws 2D lines based on 3D shapes - at which point you go: "THAT DOESN'T MAKE ANY SENSE!" - to which I say, just wait. As great as freestyle is, and as much as I use it (and I use it a lot!) it has a tendency to draw lines where I sometimes just don't want any lines and the new tutorial is on how to block out those areas - specifically, around the eyes:
If you struggled with this issue, then you can definitely check out this very quick video on how to fix it:
The interesting part about the music at the start and end of the tutorial, is that I am learning more and more about writing music. In this instance, I was focused on writing thematically. What that means is that you are using music in a specific way, to generate an image on someone's mind - for example, using period specific instruments to generate a sense of place and time. Or using specific note combination to mimic nature, etc. I was going for a celtic sound that suggested a nice day by the sea - very relaxing, yet happy. It didn't quite hit the sea side theme, but a friend of mine immediately noticed the celtic-ness of it all, so I'm still very happy with it! haha.
Got a lot still to learn about music!
Got a lot still to learn about music!
- More speed ups
The reason is that the sun is shining from the other side of the palace. It has no chance to affect it, but because it's sampled, it's still taken into consideration. Take it from me, if you don't use it, turn it off! haha.
Here are a few other attempts at reducing the speed with not so great results, hahaha:
No ambient occlusion and no environment ligthing - can still work, but it's too dark.
Normal render - current settings - comparison image
No distance attenuation to cause AO, with environment lighting - wow... O_o
And that's it for this update!! I hope you look forward to more as I am to getting this done and online!! Gonna be so cool!! :D
Have a great one and GOD bless!!! :D
Have a great one and GOD bless!!! :D
In : WIP
Tags: god jesus holy spirit blender bible esther esther 6 project wip curtains pillows king room persepolis speed ups render oops tutorial music
Hey all! I've been doing CG work full-time since 2011. GOD has been with me, supported me and taught me all the way. HE tells us to do all things as unto the LORD and that is my goal. I do whatever I believe the HOLY SPIRIT is leading me to do and it's not always easy, but it's always worth it to be obedient!
JESUS is awesome!! If you don't know HIM yet, follow the link above!
