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Dragonsting
The ruin is from DAZ3D, so are the dragon and the sword. The material on the sword features Groved Steel by David and Streaming Rays by Frozencry. The lanterns were made from Bryce primitives. Materials by David used was Old Glass and The Eye for all the flames. The scene is - apart from the lanterns - lit by IBL. The HDRI Rotten/Rh?ne was used with very low settings to give a moon shine appearance: intensity 5, effect 100 at linear falloff 95. Rendered with 64 lights in less than half an hour. The sword is, of course, a magical one, which shines on any approach of a dragon. The dragon is very angry but afraid to approach nearer. After all, its name is Dragon-Sting.
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Comments 6
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Spektyr - Rashad is right. The background mountains are from the HDRI used (which is available for free on my website) and they show part of what I see when I look out instead of into the computer screen. I haven't seen a dragon yet, only bats. Richter - yes, scaling was a problem. The ruin is indeed much larger than it appears here. The lanterns change the perception. Oh, I tried 256 light and soft shadows on the nearest lantern, but there was almost no change except for the render time that increased enormously. Perhaps premium render with soft shadows would have been an option. All - thanks very much for your kind comments.
Brave use of darkness. I know I'm late to this party, so I'll just say what a good job I think you've done. 5/5
The lighting here helps a lot for the atmosphere. In fact, what I really like in this composition is the balance of light and darkness. Moonshine appearance - you've achieved it. The Dragonsting's power has to be very strong indeed to keep the Dragon that far away. At first I thought the Ruin is almost as big as Greek amphitheatre, but seeing the lanterns here in front and in the back I think it's much smaller. Not a quibble, I'm not aware of your scaling intensions. Good choice for materials on the sword and fire. I only miss the bump of the ruin's texture. Well, if I have to go a bit further with criticism, I'd say that with less than 30min render time soft shadows are an affordable option. You did a good job on candle's flame and all that is needed to complete the circle are those specific shadows.
. what everyone else said, nice!
I believe the background mountains and clouds are the .hdri. This scene is very accomplished technically. I love the fire plasma that looks very hot. In fact I think the entire scene is spectacular. I just wonder what that dragon is hissing at way up there. I really like the way the mood is set with the lighting. Great!
Ah. Looks like Excalibur. Where's Arthur, son of Uther Pendragon and soon to be King of the Britains? ;-) Nice fire breath. Poor dragon must have eaten too many Jalapenos last night. I remember what that feels like. OUCH! But seriously, I like the sword. The handle looks anchient and severely weathered which is in contradiction to the pristine blade. What about the background? Is that a mountain blurred by DOF? The sky is the perfect twilight blue. Good work! Beautiful image.