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Posted on 30/06/06 01:36:57 AM |
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pauline
Centenary Challenger Posts: 213 Reply  |
Re: Contest 102: Platform nine and three quarters
good one hi-liter! I do believe I am!! Let's hope tomorrow will be better and I will be energized!! I was awakened at 4 a.m. by another storm this morning and they continued throughout the day so the computer was shut down. _________________ Pauline |
Posted on 30/06/06 09:46:56 AM |
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Steve Caplin
Administrator Posts: 7021 Reply  |
Re: Contest 102: Platform nine and three quarters
Many excellent entries this week, and a lot of different approaches to the problem. I think this Challenge was characterized by great lighting effects! First out of the sorting hat was Storm, with a great ghostly scene showing Gandalf about to leap into the vortex. A very good consistency of tone, a great monitor readout, and the shadow behind Gandalf really grounds him well. A couple of changes would have made this for me: moving the vortex to the right, since we've looking into the tunnel from an angle; and continuing the floor beyond the dividing line. A great old-photo effect in Dave's post, and perfect tonal matching on the two images. Again, though, I have the problem that we're looking straight down the corridor, but we see the opening from an angle. It would be a difficult change to make, especially given the detailed ceiling in the corridor, but the distorted perspective does make the picture harder to believe. Beautiful work from Tom, who has abstracted the original image down to a single brick arch. Gorgeous textures, a spooky kid and great fire effects on this one! But the arch itself is a little two dimensional, wouldn't you say? I'd be tempted to extrude that brickwork a little to give it some depth. Fabulous lighting from Deborah Morley, who is certainly turning in some excellent work here. The night effect is perfectly counterpointed by the lit-up globe, and the shadows either side of the door neatly match the position of the moon in the scene beyond. Well observed placing of the Passenger Notice, as well: great wrinkles, and I like the way it appears to have slipped to the bottom of the frame. And the subtlety of the house elf, bottom right, really adds drama to this one. My only slight difficulty is that there's no real border between the platform floor and the water; I'd like to have seen a positive edge to the floor, or perhaps a hint of railing there. Plenty going on in Michael Sinclair's entry! Eyeblls, lightning, whirling vortices... what does it all mean? One eyeball too many, I'd say. And I'm not sure the lightning should cut off like that at floor level! A spot of social realism from Glen, who has shown us the true face of Kings Cross. Well, yes, that's largely how it is, I suppose, although it's rarely quite as Dickensian as this depiction. Er... is that a fox carrying a basket? A great gag, and some beautiful work in the second entry - and this, I think, is the only entry to have made use of that original trolley. Excellent lighting! A neat before-and-after animation from Vibeke, with a twitchy three-headed Cerberos guarding the entrance. Again, there's a bit of a perspective issue with the scene through the doorway - especially the floor, which doesn't fall in the same plane as the main picture. Entertaining work, though! Hmm... I'm beginning to suspect that raffy has a bit of a thing about cats. Hairy Pawter, though - good pun! A great flea, but shouldn't the cat be looking at it? Come on, surely you have photos of one of your cats looking upwards? Interesting large blobby thing in the middle. Not quite sure what it is! A truly fantastic piece of work from Pierre, with so much detail - the lit lamp, the excellent shadows, the beams of light, the continuation of the wall inside the archway (particularly good, that). And I see the original Harry has been replaced with some handsome devil found on the internet. Wonderful blending! My only problem is that the floor doesn't extend into the archway, which would have linked everything together more. I'm not sure the second entry is better, though; I find the blur a bit too much here. And one of those damn cars seems to have crept in again! A great wizard, some very neat brickwork and a fine poster from mguyer. The wizard looks like a plaster model - in which case, a touch of the old smudge tool on the beard would have made it a lot softer. And there's that old perspective problem with the corridor, again! Love the flame, though, and a great gag in the second entry. Plenty of magic from this week! Just about every magical creature seems to be in there, although I suspect that if the Disney copyright lawyer happened to visit this page he'd think about putting a deposit down on a new yacht. It's all tied together with a unifying rainbow and sparkles - very complete, and very appealing. A really good gag from Neal, with a subtly dented wall (and well done getting rid of that trolley, too). The wonky sign is great; I think the man in the rabbit suit perhaps needs a little more green to match the background, though. Welcome to Wayne, whose first entry in the Challenge is truly splendid. The novel way of opening the wall is great, and the Harry Potter figure blends in perfectly. But look at all that extra detail! The way the keystone drop down at the top of the arch; the lightning bolt from the wand to the revised timetable; the Hogwarts crest on the timetable; Dumbledore in the monitor, looking in exactly the right direction. Above all, Wayne is the only person this week to have continued the floor through the archway. I don't know who you are, Wayne - for some reason your name isn't clickable - but this is excellent work! Tutorial section Two issues seem to have caused a lot of difficulty this week: the floor and the perspective view through the arch. The floor, in almost every entry, ends on a straight line between the pillars of the arch. This sets up a divide between the two regions that breaks the realism of the scene. It's easy to extend the floor so it reaches through the archway, and this really does help to tie the two parts of the montage together: 
The perspective view is a problem, because we're looking at the arch at an angle, but frequently seeing the view through it head-on. The easiest way to solve this is to break the view down into its constituent parts - or simply take a section of it, as I've done here, and then repeat that at appropriate sizes and positions so the view follows the perspective of the main scene: 
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Posted on 30/06/06 10:23:36 AM |
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Deborah Morley
Makeover Magician Posts: 1319 Reply  |
Re: Contest 102: Platform nine and three quarters
Many thanks for the comments Steve, yes I wasn't quite sure what to do with the waters edge. Maybe I should have put some temporary barriers up. Great forum, the only one I've ever joined. Am learning a lot from this and your book. |
Posted on 30/06/06 2:09:09 PM |
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raffy
Guest Reply |
Re: Contest 102: Platform nine and three quarters
You could be right about the cat fix-ation,Steve!I'll have to see a purr-fessional about it! Hmmm...I should have turned the head up a bit more.Of course,I could say that he was having trouble seeing through the blobby thing-it's supposed to be a type of force field or ray that he's sending to zap the flea,but it does have an uncanny resmblance to cotton candy,doesn't it? _________________ Dogs have masters;Cats have staff. |
Posted on 30/06/06 2:54:57 PM |
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mguyer
Incisive Incisor Posts: 799 Reply  |
Re: Contest 102: Platform nine and three quarters
Steve, After your correction regarding perspective, I have to say WHY DIDN'T I THINK OF THAT. Here is my correction.  |
Posted on 30/06/06 4:24:02 PM |
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Wayne
Printer’s Devil Posts: 312 Reply  |
Re: Contest 102: Platform nine and three quarters
Thanks for the encouraging comments, Steve. As for the non-clickable name, I have also been unable to log-on for some reason, since I posted the image. After many attempts, I gave up and re-registered with another name. I am now officially Wayne2! Wayne |
Posted on 30/06/06 4:28:36 PM |
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Steve Caplin
Administrator Posts: 7021 Reply |
Re: Contest 102: Platform nine and three quarters
Fixed it! You're now back to plain Wayne once again. Saves confusion! |
Posted on 30/06/06 5:25:09 PM |
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Wayne
Printer’s Devil Posts: 312 Reply |
Re: Contest 102: Platform nine and three quarters
Very good Steve, thanks. |
Posted on 01/07/06 00:42:51 AM |
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eyal fitoussi
Ace Animator Posts: 45 Reply |
Re: Contest 102: Platform nine and three quarters
thanks for the comment steve. and about the Disney copyright lawyer, he is going to pay me alot of money to make his new yacht look like that....   |
Posted on 01/07/06 03:53:27 AM |
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Tom
Texture Technologist Posts: 401 Reply  |
Re: Contest 102: Platform nine and three quarters
Hi Steve, Thanks for the comments. |
Posted on 01/07/06 07:23:07 AM |
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Dave
*** Posts: 148 Reply |
Re: Contest 102: Platform nine and three quarters
Hi Steve, Ta for the comments, the perspective was out, i did try with it but could not do any better than i posted, i like to try and use my own pics. in the Friday Challenge and i thought a corridor from Gloucester Cathederal would do the job, as you say its hard to do with such an ornate ceiling. I will keep plugging away  |
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