Hi
It's Friday again which means our weekly challenge is here.
This week I bring you a 3D render, modelled on the gun deck of an old ship. The modelling and texturing kept me occupied for much longer than I planned, but I learnt a few things along the way so that's never time wasted. So there is the scene, what will you do with it? Will it be pirates, a scene from history, or something else entirely?
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.
There are no prizes apart from the chance to practice, show off, or bring a bit of humour and fun. Don't be shy - come and have a go!
When posting back your edited images please use jpeg and downsize to 1200px on the long side.
To download the image below in jpeg format with ICC color profile (sRGB) and without the forum scaling artefacts , right click and then use Save Image As /Save Target As (or similar depending on your browser).
Have fun!
Dave
Edit : Updated image - with better rope render.
Explore related tutorials & articles
50
Replies
Later that night, as the ship sailed by the light of the cold-hearted moon, one could only hear the lapping of the waves and the creaking of the timbers...
Going for a photo-realistic dim candlelight look here (best viewed large, against a dark background).
It's a very impressive rendering as a starting point, Dave. Well done!
-Noel
Graham, you've let us down. We depend on you for the Sam Peckinpah, Quentin Tarantino touch.
I feel a bit sad looking at my effort when squeezed down to so small a size. The info panel says it has 49 layers, but six of those Smart Objects with half a dozen layers each (average) so please double click to see the detail.
I had a wee brain wave when thinking about this. It can take ages to find composite elements with the right perspective, so I used SketchUp and downloaded 3D objects from the library, and moved them into the right perspective before copying across. They don't have that amazing near photo-realistic texture that Dave's renders have, but they are not too bad, and it also means you don't need to struggle making selections to remove the background. Just a thought.
Hi
I mentioned earlier that I wasn't really happy with the rope texture in the original render. I've now re-rendered using displacement maps rather than normal maps on the rope. Displacement has the advantage that it actually alters the mesh rather than simulating depth on the surface. The disadvantage is that it needs more vertices which eat up memory and increase render times. I used Blender's adaptive sub division which increases the mesh vertices near the camera but not in the distance. That meant rendering time "only" increased by 50%.
The difference on the ropes is worth it in my view:
Previous - using normal maps :
New - using displacement and adaptive sub-division :
Now back to the SFTW images 
Dave
davescm wrote
The disadvantage is that it needs more vertices which eat up memory and increase render times.
Dave
Dave, I mentioned finishing my video today. When I exported with Media Encoder, I was chuffed as heck at how quickly my new system exported the video, until I viewed the MP4 and found I'd had the Source windows selected, and not the timeline. It had actually exported a 20 second clip, and not the entire video, but it was totally unreasonable to think it had output a five minute 1080P MP4 file in 20 seconds. 
Hi
Very peaceful Jane. The message on the beam is a nice touch.
Semaphoric - I said in an earlier post that we'd be sunk - and you've nicely obliged.
Noel. Welcome to the SFTW threads. Nice job with the soft glow - and thanks for your comments on the render.
USSNorway - Clever idea - I'll book a hammock with a view.
Keep them coming - everyone is welcome to take part
Dave
Hi
Your comment intrigued me - so I went back to the model scene and hung a board in the same place - the orange outline below. Your perspective was not far off Dag, see the bottom edge - you have a good eye to spot that it was slightly out . 
Dave
One of the first things I do with a SFTW, or any other composite, is set up a Lazy Nezumi Vanishing Lines perspective aid, but I could only do a single point perspective on this one, because there isn't enough information to add any more vanishing points. LNP allows up to six VPs in this mode, but you can see I have turned off all but one.
I wasn't sure if Dave made the ceiling beams parallel, but assuming they are, and turning on another VP in LNP, does make it look like they are.
In which case we can use LNP's Vanishing Lines preset to draw the sign.
Note I had to turn on a third VP, but with nothing to reference it to I used the left and right sides of the image, and made it perfectly vertical. That would be right for single point perspective.
If you have Lazy Nezumi Pro and like to draw, or put stuff up for Dave's SFTW threads, do try Vanishing Lines. It is very easy to set up, and incredibly useful. LNP has other perspective presets, which are also useful, but not _quite_ as easy to set up and use.
jane-e wrote
Too bad Lazy Nezumi Pro is Windows only, Trevor.Dennis .
I've asked Guillaume several time if will ever get round to coding it for OSX, but he said that it was very unlikely. This before brush smoothing was introduced with CC 2017, so you'd have to think there would be even less chance. I still use LNP for smoothing, but Id thought that Adobe's brush smoothing was fairly close to LNP. I've just spent 15 minutes practicing, and discovered that I can't get close to the flowing loops with Adobe smoothing, compared to LNP. I thought it might be practice, and finding settings that worked for, which is why it took mew so long — I wanted it to be a fair test.
I couldn't even get the feel for line thickness with Adobe smoothing. It felt clumsy and frustrating. I put the no smoothing line up as a control, and you need to know it took me a few practice strokes to get it even that good.
And line smoothing is just a tiny bit of what LNP does. It has a ton of presets, and each time you look a bit deeper, you find that Guillaume has added another function.
Here you go. I just found this and didn't know that LNP can now do gear teeth in an ellipse.
So I am really sorry that LNP is unlikely to become available for the Mac. It costs US$35 to buy a permanent license for LNP, and you can use it on all your devices (OS allowing). But if you want to stay current with the updates, and they are frequent, and seriously useful, then I think it is something like $15 a year. Guillaume knows I champion his product, and a couple of years ago he offered to waive the update fee for me. I told him I get so much pleasure from using LNP, I'd rather pay my tiny bit towards the ongoing updates. LNP makes me feel like I am better than I really am. It's a graphic equivalent of that Autotune software that helps shite pop singers sing in tune. 
On the subject of perspective, can you look at my John Lennon quote, davescm? I wasn't happy with it, but then I realized the beams are shorter on the left then they are on the right, so it is aligned to the bottom edge. Maybe I should have increased the size on the right to match the beams?
jane-e wrote
On the subject of perspective, can you look at my John Lennon quote, davescm ? I wasn't happy with it, but then I realized the beams are shorter on the left then they are on the right, so it is aligned to the bottom edge. Maybe I should have increases the size on the right to match the beams?
Hi Jane
The side to side perspective of your lettering is fine but it needs to be skewed slightly, taking the top edge to the right, to make the letters vertical. See the grid overlayed on the beam below:
Trevor - yes the beams are parallel in my model
That LNP Vanishing point does look useful. You can also use Vanishing Point in Photoshop and then, before exiting VP, check "Render Grids to Photoshop" to drop them into a layer in Photoshop. Adding a stroke in layer styles makes them easier to see.
Dave
Something for the weekend(s) 34 - 42.
You may have closer looks (opening in new tabs/windows), unless you consider it cheating.
http://www.bugge.com/Family-and-friends/Illy/Images/SFTW34…​​
http://www.bugge.com/Family-and-friends/Illy/Images/SFTW34…​​
AdChoices