Judge feedback

Judge feedback is anonymous and shown in a random order.

• Hi Daniel, A cemetery is a location that is done over and over. However, every single time it can be special! You found some really cool concept images. Just go for it and make one! The combination of many might not be helping you. See below my few noted about it. -You are very lucky to live near a cemetery as you can visit your reference anytime you need to. -The proportions of the statute aren’t right. Neither is the shape of the tree. But hey!! You live near a cemetery. This is the perfect opportunity to learn photogrammetry and scan some tree trunks and combine methods by creating some cool branches using Zpheres or SpeedTree based on a real life reference. You can also do some photogrammetry for the statute and then give it your twist after. -textures are too noisy. I recommend blocking out the environment first and do some AB tests with different looks. Take a screenshot of your block out into Photoshop and try different stone textures. If you achieve a none noisy look in the mid distance, then you are off to a good start. Again photogrammetry can be of great help here. -Human eye is very good to spot repetition/patterns. If the layout of your scene is locked down the you got to dress the environment to avoid this problem - Night lighting is one of the most difficult things to achieve especially when you are only lighting your scene my penumbra. Play by your strengths and perhaps add other sources of light so that your scene isn’t as dark. -choose a different sky and make it work to affect the reflection of your assets. This will help you understand a bit more lighting. -choose one hero shot and work on it. Play with the camera settings and composition of your shot. I hope this helps here and/or in the future. All the best L
• Would have been good to see annotation of reference and some early tests of art style on smaller assets. Block out looks good though I would say to not lock the placement of assets down at this stage. Instead, modify the arrangement/composition based on your camera positions. Baking has been used but I’d recommend using tiling textures for any larger or repeating assets eg. buildings, walls, trees. This will give you better texture resolution. Statue UVs could do with massaging. All gravestones could be placed on one texture sheet and detail could have been added eg. whose grave it was, when they died, any sentiments. This could have been used to add story to the scene. The grave textures could have more difference between them and less noise. The trees don’t look natural and would have benefitted from having leaves. The grass looks good. The scene/path would have benefitted from having grass at different heights and clump sizes. The nighttime look for the reference can be seen in the final images but the lighting is quite flat. A directional moon light could have been used to introduce a cool blue and create interesting shadows. A stronger fog would have also helped with layering in the final images.