Something for the weekend - Part 150 - What did the Romans do for us?

[davescm]

Hi

This being the 150th SFTW challenge I thought we might do something a bit different. Rather than posting a starter image, I thought we should start with the roman numerals for 150. So that is :

CL

What will your creative minds and skills make with those letters?

The “rules”:

* Anything goes, as long as it meets the forum rules on decency, copyright etc

* Anyone, and everyone, is welcome to have a go, whether you are a complete beginner or a Photoshop expert. This is not just for our forum "regulars".

* There are no prizes apart from the chance to practice, show off, or bring a bit of humour and fun. Don't be shy, join in and have a go!

When posting back your image – please use the Blue reply button in this first post. If posting a comment on someone else’s entry then please use the grey reply button next to their image post.

Have fun.

Dave

[davescm]

It's modelled and rendered in Blender 3D Trevor, but I used the LuxCoreRender render engine as an add in rather than the standard Cycles render engine. LuxCoreRender uses bidirectional path tracing which traces light rays starting at the camera and starting at the lights. That renders glass refraction and caustics (such as those on the table at the bottom right of the glass) much better than the Cycles render engine which traces from the camera only. It also handles the interfaces between different volumes with different index of refraction values correctly. So that is the air, the glass, the liquid, the ice, and the bubbles within the ice. It's a lot slower than Cycles as LuxCoreRender's bidirectional rendering uses the CPU rather than the GPU but in an image like this, slow and accurate is preferable, it just looks better.

Dave

[davescm]

Dave

[EuanWilliamson]

Have you been trying Blender 3 yet Dave?

[davescm]

Only a couple of quick tests Euan. Nothing serious yet.

Dave

[EuanWilliamson]

How are you getting on with the Substance suite?

[EuanWilliamson]

I see caustics are coming for Blender

https://youtu.be/xpoVLh_TEpM

[davescm]

I'll wait until it gets past Alpha to try it but caustics will be a welcome development. I tend to use Luxcore for glass but it is slow.

As far as Blender 3.0 - I like the faster Cycles rendering and am seeing a significant reduction in render times on my RTX3090 using Optix and no tiling. I've not hit any major issues yet.

I've been using the Substance Suite for a few years now so it fits into my 3D workflow just fine.

Model in Blender.

UV unwrap in Blender

Texture in Substance Painter (and use Substance Designer if no suitable textures are available)
Light and Render in Blender

Finish in Photoshop

Dave

[EuanWilliamson]

I rember you saying Luxcore was slow and in the YT vid it mentioned that the caustics were already quick to render. Of course that's all relative and we'll have to wait to see the quality.

[War Unicorn]

"Cosmos and Lily"

(Yes, I got lazy and used the same cosmos from last week's SFTW. It's still my asset---in fact, they're all my assets this time, so bleh!) lol

[davescm]

A nice take on the theme James 🙂

Dave

[hans-g.]

It is very interesting what is going on around 150, especially what concerns the ancient Romans and their influence on the jurisprudence in Europe. Tami dug into history and found that it took almost exactly 150 years to eradicate inequality between plebeians and patricians, written down in the Law of the Twelve tables. They still have an impact today on what grandpa was allowed to learn during his studies. And here we are 🙂

[davescm]

We come to SFTW and we become educated 🙂 Thanks Tami and Hans 🙂

Dave

[Jacob Bugge]

Click/RightClick to get closer, or Click Here to see in Chrome 

[davescm]

From 100 to 150 just like that 🙂

Dave

[Jacob Bugge]

Indeed, Dave; and we have been at 1000 too, though not as an M.

[Jacob Bugge]

Dave, I just read your "just like that" in a new way which is really true: everything there is now was there then.

[davescm]

When flying over the ocean, keep an eye out of the window. You might just see.......

Dave

[Jacob Bugge]

... where you are going in a twinkle, if it is indeed a Comet, Dave.

[jane-e]

I'm still trying to figure out how you did this one, Dave. Is is a material in Substance?

(Or a photo you took from an airplane window? 😊)

~ Jane

[jane-e]

Old, but not CL old

Jane

 

[davescm]

It must be pay day Jane 🙂

Dave

[jane-e]

Haha, only if I sell the coins Dave 😊

As was said earlier in this thread, SFTW is also for learning. The pennies I choose were all wheat pennies, which were made in the U.S. from 1909 to 1956. If you look closely, the dates on some of the coins I used are from the 1930s and 1940s.

The Indian Head nickel was made from 1913 to 1938. The one I used has a date of 1933.

They stopped making silver dimes in 1965 because the silver was worth more than the coin. Mine is from 1963.

Right after I posted, I looked up old coins and it turns out some of them are quite valuable. I have so many jars of these that it would take a while to find out if any I have are worth $10,000, and that will only happen if I ever get around to it. 

~ Jane

[EuanWilliamson]

I've always loved old coins Jane.

Somewhere in a drawer I have an old ~30's silver dollar that my father gave to me.

Well reminded, I must look it out.

[Jacob Bugge]

Click Here to see in Chrome 

[Matt Fitt]

Just Listed! Act Fast!  😉