Prize Of The Eagle

[Deleted member jedakk]

A picture with the centurion (back view). The soldiers (DAZ's M4 Legionnaire) look more fantasy-like.

So that's the Apollo armor on the centurion? I think I saw that M4 Legionnaire outfit but didn't get it because of the look. I don't think the vendor for that put much effort into making it look anything like authentic!

That's the same easy-pose whip I have used quite a few times. I scaled the whip's tails down to make them thinner, and made the knots smaller. They seemed pretty big and clunky to me, but you really can pose them any way you want and put different materials on them to make them look like old, bloodstained- leather, ropes, whatever. I use ParrotDolphin's DirtyPretty materials from Renderosity a lot for things like that, 280 materials including dirty leather, dirty cloth, lots more. I like RubiconDigital's metals better, more realistic looking brass, iron, and dirty/rusty metals too.

 

[Repertor]

So that's the Apollo armor on the centurion?

The one on the left is the centurion. The shield and the pilum are from the Apollo legionary.

I don't think the vendor for that put much effort into making it look anything like authentic!

It's much easier for vendors to make fantasy items, so they don't have to bother about authenticity. That's why there are so many fantasy outfits, vehicles etc.
Anyway the M4 Legionnaire outfit seems to be no longer available.

I scaled the whip's tails down to make them thinner

So did I. 60 or 80%.

I use ParrotDolphin's DirtyPretty materials from Renderosity a lot for things like that, 280 materials including dirty leather, dirty cloth, lots more. I like RubiconDigital's metals better, more realistic looking brass, iron, and dirty/rusty metals too.

I must have a look at that.

 

[Deleted member jedakk]

Indeed.

It's much easier for vendors to make fantasy items, so they don't have to bother about authenticity. That's why there are so many fantasy outfits, vehicles etc.
Anyway the M4 Legionnaire outfit seems to be no longer available.

So did I. 60 or 80%.

I must have a look at that.

Only thing about ParrotDolphin's cloth materials is that they are all linen and shiny, so you really need to change the specular color to black and make the specularity zero to get them to look like cotton, wool, etc. But the cloth texture, mottled dirty appearance looks good and all you have to do to change the color is change the diffuse color setting to whatever you want. You can see the difference between the two renders attached: The first uses the ParrotDolphin cloth materials as-is, and the second is with the specularity removed.



And while I'm looking at these scenes, the walls of Sabina's cell use materials that I captured from Stonemason's Streets of the Mediterranean model. I don't know where he came up with these, but there's great-looking broken, dirty plaster, old brick, terracotta tile, etc., and it's easy enough to just save any of those you like and re-use them. Here's what the cell looked like originally, and here's the final version with a brick floor and dirty plaster walls.



And while I'm on this subject, there's a fresco on the wall that you can see in this picture:



The picture is not actually a part of the wall. I used a simple one-sided rectangle primitive object from Poser's library and put the fresco on that as a texture, then positioned it as closely as I could to the front of the wall, i.e. moved it in the X-direction in this case until it was 0.001 units from disappearing into the wall. All of the frescoes in the main room of the ergastulum are done the same way, as are the graffiti on the wall at the entrance.



Trying to incorporate those into the materials for the walls would have been a nightmare!

 

[Repertor]

you really need to change the specular color to black and make the specularity zero

Didn't Romans have any shiny clothing at all? Or is some specularity allowed for patricians?

Stonemason's Streets of the Mediterranean

I have that too, but not yet installed. It is often recommended for ancient scenes.

The picture is not actually a part of the wall. I used a simple one-sided rectangle primitive object from Poser's library and put the fresco on that as a texture, then positioned it as closely as I could to the front of the wall

I use that technique too for posters, signs, texts etc on walls. But in my experience 0.001 units (feet settings) is often too close to the wall.

 

[Deleted member jedakk]

Didn't Romans have any shiny clothing at all? Or is some specularity allowed for patricians?

Whatever works for the image you imagine! For most of my scenes, the characters are ordinary people in everyday clothing, some of whom get dirty and sweaty in their work, so that's the look I'm after.

I have that too, but not yet installed. It is often recommended for ancient scenes.

You have to clean it up some for an ancient Roman scene, remove the lights, pipes etc. on the walls, crates and stuff lying around the plaza.

I use that technique too for posters, signs, texts etc on walls. But in my experience 0.001 units (feet settings) is often too close to the wall.

You have to watch out for displacement mapping on the wall that might have positive displacement in it for sure. I haven't done a scene like that for a while, but as I recall it worked at that setting.

 

[Repertor]

You have to watch out for displacement mapping on the wall that might have positive displacement in it for sure.

Yes, that may be the reason. Displacement mapping on floors and grounds can be painstaking for positioning the figure's feet too. You can't see it in the preview image.

 

[DjEtla]

Belzaph does great work. He even does redheads! Too bad he doesn't seem to have the crux kink... At least to the extent we do in here. :-(

I was just thinking about this image from Belzaph the other day. I don't know if it's ever been posted at this forum in full resolution.



His work can be found at DeviantArt. He also has a patreon: www.patreon.com/belzaph