CGAN Dec 2022 - Wackypedia - WIPs

Wackypedia

Brief: Take one of the following made up words and illustrate it's meaning for the Wackypedia entry. You may include a short dictionary style description.

• dingtogreerity
• jeren
• dollipling
• gullents
• stedientons
• examia
• lammour
• gaque
• whitoria
• ploosnar

Deadline: Midnight of Saturday the 31st of December.  

This thread is where you post your WIPs (works in progress). Finals should be posted over here:  cgartnexus.com/index.php/forums/current-...ypedia-final-entries


Challenge rules and guidelines:
cgartnexus.com/index.php/forums/challenge-rules

Rules in brief:
- All challenge entries must be your own work.
- You should post at least two WIP images that are clearly different from your final entry and each other.
- Your final entry should contain your image (inserted so it shows up full size) and at least two links to your WIP posts on the forum.
- No chatter in the finals thread – if you have questions, post them in the WIP thread or PM an admin.
- Feedback is allowed & encouraged together with the voting and in the WIP thread.
- Deadline is given in UK time (midnight UTC) with a grace period of 5 minutes for getting the post sorted.
- Each member may cast one vote.
- No cheating! Admins may decide to disqualify an entry that does not adhere to the above rules.

"Ploosnar" made me think of a big fishy sea creature, maybe because it's a mixture of Plesiosaur and a splooshy water sound.
So I did a bit of fingerpainting earlier this week...

 
 
 

but...

...I didn't really like it so I started sculpting a slightly different design instead.

 
 
 

As you can see I'm struggling to get the right settings for the anisotropy and density of the water but I was quite pleased with the caustics I added in the last one. I was following  THIS video and although I ended up using a different method it was still based on what I learned there.
I've also started to add some bioluminescence like the lures on those creepy angler fish but I think I've overdone it with the spots.
 
May paint those out again next time.
Still don't know how to get a "water surface" effect at the top.
Must watch more videos.

EDIT: My fat finger selected the wrong video link.
I have corrected it now. I think.

I really like both! I like that perspective with the first one, where we see the little boat from below and also how ancient the creature looks But the modelled one looks considerably more realistic in surface texture and shading. I like the bioluminescence but maybe make the three spots on the lower jaw more varied. They're the only bits that feel "too much" to me. I do also like the angler lures, although I kind of wonder how your ploosnar is going to eat anything that falls for them...

Maybe it just swims downward and lures the smaller things deeper and deeper behind it until they get crushed by the pressure then it just turns and sweeps up all the dead things with its big mouth.


I would like to reproduce the angle and perspective of the first one but linking the dense water volume to a wavy surface that refracts the light is proving tricky. I have seen one video that did something similar (not really what I wanted, but "similar") but I couldn't recreate it and I don't yet know how to proceed further.

Just found a really short video that does the dense water volume with waves on top.

And when I follow it I don't get the same effect.

Multiple attempts later and I really don't understand how this kind of transparency works.

Edit: Had a brainwave and couldn't resist one more try and...that also didn't work.
I can add a noise texture to ripple that top edge of the volume but if you set it completely transparent then you can't see any ripples but if you increase the opacity it completely blocks all the light!
Why can't I have the transparency as well as the refracted/reflected highlights?

I wonder if an HDRI will help?

I quite like the painted version, but the 3D one is coming along. Strangely enough I also though Ploosnar sounded fishy but I might be going with something else (if I get around to it) and the fish I had in mind was much much smaller 

Fishy waves. 

 

Running out of time.

Gullents WIP 1: