Wither

I would just like to throw in that the tray looks like a real glass tray. The baubles are iffy (as far as photorealism goes (but you said yourself it's not done)). But that tray is: Especially the corners.

I played around a little and ended up with this. Are the flames a bit more believable there? Edit: Ok, I've made the tutorial as descriptive as I can manage for the moment. viewtopic.php?f=15&t=21430

Looks good, darkshock. But why must the new year be represented by old-looking sepia... things...? Unless it's like some 'ironic' statement of everything new being old recycled stuff... or something. My brain's not working as it should today.

Chrome is slightly different when using Shape3D, as 'texture' has to be done before rendering of the 3D object. I generally create a 'grid' of gradients for my 3D chrome. This pattern works exceptionally well for cylinders. It is worth noting that if you use Curves before Shape3D, you will simply end up with some blackish thing. The Specular Highlight can negatively affect the look of the chrome in spheres. Cubes are the exception to this, for now, you're on your own to making a decent looking chrome cube. The shadow on the darker sides of the cube throw off how Curves would normally function. I haven't found a good 'chrome cube' texture yet. A radial gradient (same color scheme) may also be more desirable for spheres. ~Wither Edit: As I've learned more of chrome and how Shape3D works... my contribution to this tutorial is meaningless. The best way I've found is to leave it light grey with your specular highlight set to anisotropy... Of course, this is all subject to opinion. Chrome is a fun beast to master, mainly because there are countless ways to look at it.

I added a planet. I think the angle of approach could work, if it doesn't impact the planet, it should 'slingshot' around it. I also tried doing your sky suggestion, Ash, but I couldn't make it how I wanted, so I decided not to. How's it look now? Also redid the "ringed moon" planet. Before it just looked like this circle hanging around out there. Edit: I noticed that after adding the planet in the corner, the planet with rings looks like it's only a few feet away. Recolored and shrunk.

Good point, but it feels like drawing part of a planet in the corner throws off the angle (to me). Let's say that the "meteor's" picture has been taken from the point of view of something already in the upper atmosphere with the planet out of the field of vision. ... Yeah, that works... I think.

@ zookey - Looks great. @ chris2fer - Hmm, I can't really tell where you're straying from the tutorial steps. --- Someone found a "Meteor text" tutorial for PS, so I did my best to recreate it in PdN. (There's another example of this in another thread) Someone at my old church asked me to make a desktop for them, so here it is. ^ Clickiez! Full sized 1280x1024 version The planet was thrown in to make the scene look more full.

You gotta be kidding me. That's amazing. :shock: Sozo's taskbar idea is really clever, but TheVoid's wowed me again. That totally gets my vote (when that time comes around).

Looks good, but it needs to be cropped. 2/3 of the image is transparent nothingness. @ Bobofthedead - It's truly amazing, but by being on the same page as my guitar thing it takes all the spotlight. Way to go, man. [pouts] Kidding. ^-^

:shock: Pretty! It is quite well done. But the bottom of the ringed planet is jaggy.

Is that close enough? I can make a tutorial on it if it looks like a fair compromise.

Beautiful. Almost looks like a photo to me. :shock: After seeing this, I need to go get Terragen... --- Here's my guitar, complete with Paint.NET amp! Rick's busted into the music industry. xD --- I played with some things and tried to make some stage lights. Thanks oma for helping me out with the shape of the body.

Thanks, oma! It needs a little bit of tweaking, but it's definitely a step forward. I'll be posting my guitar soon enough.

Seen it, I know. But I played with some blurs and layer modes. It almost looks like stage lights. While we're on the subject, can anyone think of getting the shape of an electric guitar with Shape3D. I did some experiments and I've figured out the neck, but the body has me totally stumped for now.

Edit: ^ Click for a version with a transparent backgroun I noticed that the kick drum was massive in comparison to the rest of the set. I resized it With 36 layers and like... 5+ hours of tweaking, this is the longest project I've worked on so far. I'm glad you all like it. I saved 9 different Shape3D settings for this. Now I can make another one with different colors in about 1/3 of the time. I'll start work on better texturing later. --- @ Gladi8or2 - Really cool looking. @ TheVoid - The "glow" around the text seems off somehow. Maybe just a little less bright? Good background as usual. @ jerkfight - That does look like a vector. Very good. Though the "shore" could use some AA.

My new Shape3D project is done. Yes, it is just a bunch of cylindrical shapes thrown into the general shape of a drumset. I tried making the hardware look more chrome, but it just never worked out as I had planned. I also can't figure out how to get the hardware to attach to the shells in a realistic looking way.

My WIP drumkit! I'll be trying to make an entire kit today. All I have so far is the kick drum, but I'm really liking how it looks so far, so I'll put it up.

Nowhere near Ash's level of ingenuity and skill, but I feel like I'm really starting to get somewhere with Shape3D. My lighter, Santa, and now I'm tackling hair. I know these are all really basic looking, but I put more effort into them than it seems. (Getting the hair to cover only what I wanted for example)

All these beautiful pieces of art on display [Wither walks in with his "art"] Not only is Santa busy this time of year, he's also 3D! ( :shock: I'm forcing myself to make better stuff. ...Well, I'm trying to at least.)

This one's dedicated to indie88... I can't get that dumb phrase outta my head. So I threw together a hippo (I need to work on the snout a bit) to complement it.

@ TwistedWhiskers - uh... wow? That's insanely detailed! But it seems like the eyeball isn't staring in the right direction to me. @ Darkshock - It looks nice, but you've used that background for just about everything.

Thanks, MBL. You're right it is a little bright. I'll work on that later. --- And this is my last lighter picture (I think). The "lip" on the front makes it look like it's really attached to the lighter now Anyone need a light? --- @ thehamster - I like that. It looks happy somehow

I'm still having trouble with those heating coils. I think this is about as close as I can get. I think the metal looks a bit more real this time around. Any suggestions?

Hmm, this is based off of what you said earlier. I think it looks more like the element (or filament?) coils inside the real ones. The exact color is tricky to get down for me. Well it's late here and I'm off to sleep. Thanks for all the tips.