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[dwsel]

I'm doing environment and material test for jellyfish. So far I have 50:50 mix of transparent, self illumination with dielectric of IOR ~1.2, but I think I'll need something completely different because refraction with bumpmapping pass takes quite long to render. It looks really pretty and would be suitable for still image, but for animation rendering time is not acceptable. Model is just a deformed sphere.

I'm doing research on how such jellyfish may look like, but there are so many shapes and colours that's very hard to make decision.
First of all I need design, next model and then I can start making material.

Possible references:

http://www.jellyfishfacts.net/jellyfish-pictures.html - something like 200 photos
http://www.polygonblog.com/3d-underwater-scene/
http://vimeo.com/20556340
http://vimeo.com/14835141 - especially first scene

[$imon]

Oh I love jellyfish! Good to see you try and attempt them in Anim8or, though a tough task if you would ask me! I hope you can come up with something cool.

The ones with bioluminescence are most interesting to look at in my opinion. I had fun watching that video 'theres no such thing like a jellyfish'

I like the start youve made there. These complex materials are hard to get in Anim8or (and almost impossible in a single pass) so I have to wish you good luck!

[dwsel]

That render is great! The glow looks really cool.

The ones with bioluminescence are most interesting to look at in my opinion. I had fun watching that video 'theres no such thing like a jellyfish'

I'm planning to make bioluminescent one I'm the same opinion as you that the glowing jellies look the most interesting, and it would be even more if I managed to animate it to the music... As for video - this is the best reference for their movement and for variety. I think I'll choose 2-3 photos from the other link to incorporate the best elements from each of these into my sketch.

I like the start youve made there. These complex materials are hard to get in Anim8or (and almost impossible in a single pass) so I have to wish you good luck!

Unfortunately this material will be scrapped to avoid use of refraction. It can be useful only in the case when I use UnitDistance to render jelly's thickness (for transparency map) and it won't take too long. Probably I'll need passes like: 'rim' (light at the camera inverted to have soft glowing edges), 'translucency' (some more tests required - any suggestions how to fake it? other than 'invert diffuse'), emissive (glowing elements on separate layer), depth, combined pass, but still it depends on jelly's material...

A lot of luck indeed will be helpful

[dwsel]

I think I've made decision on how will it look like. I choose the red one with patterns http://www.jellyfishfacts.net/jellyfish_pictures/jellyfish_58.jpg as my main reference. This shade of red is even more cool http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=3HzFiQFFQYw#t=190s . Dark, more opaque tentacles will blend into the bell. It will have 6-sided symmetry instead of typical multiply of 4. It's going to be stylized mix of designs rather than realistic one. I plan to add at each segment glowing elements that in further plans will act as a spectrum analyser for a background music, though I still think about best way to execute this (movement linked to the bell, morphing, opacity or sth. else).

Here's sketch and another test of material - model is again just random shape. This shader makes really cool thin layered translucency effect when rendered on black background. I think it will stay very likely the same in the final version of the pass. To be composited in the additive blending mode. Any suggestions on these?

[dwsel]

A small update from me. I'm working very slow.

Mesh has no tentacles yet, I think if it's better to paint dark brown lines on the texture and have single mesh or immerse them inside the transparency mapped main part, so that they show through it (second method more accurate). Proportions suffered from not looking at the sketched reference. From the top jellyfish looks quite good, but from the side it looks squashed when compared. Also I think I may need an additional loop at the bottom, where the crease is located - for better control and for tweaking harsh edge.

Also I've learned new trick - to check if the surface is smooth after subdivision put quite regular (default checker will do the job) spherical environment map on your subdivided object. Check how it looks from different angles. If the object is not smooth enough, wobbling lines will be seen.

[Modeler_in_the_Myst]

Maybe a bump map might help give some of the striations seen in the image attached to the original post. Other than that, my lack of experience leaves me with few suggestions.

[$imon]

I like the jellyfish you've chosen to make - should look awesome
The concept looks really good too,  but the start on the model might need some refinement. I think the tentacle-bases are sticking out too harshly pronounced. The whole surface I think could be a lot smoother ( see http://www.ecardmedia.eu/data/media/863/jelly%20fish%20sting%201.jpg )
I'm looking forward to seeing what you'll come up with.. I'm sure itll look awesome.

Still- I hope that the daunting task of animating it doesn't scare you off
have fun!

[dwsel]

Maybe a bump map might help give some of the striations seen in the image attached to the original post. Other than that, my lack of experience leaves me with few suggestions.

Thank you for looking at! Bump and transparency maps will be added at the next stage, after I finish model and UVmap it. Then your response on map qualities will be very helpful. Now I still try to focus on mesh itself.

I like the jellyfish you've chosen to make - should look awesome
The concept looks really good too,  but the start on the model might need some refinement. I think the tentacle-bases are sticking out too harshly pronounced. The whole surface I think could be a lot smoother ( see http://www.ecardmedia.eu/data/media/863/jelly%20fish%20sting%201.jpg )
I'm looking forward to seeing what you'll come up with.. I'm sure itll look awesome.

First of all, thanks for adding me on FB Now, back on topic - your feedback is always very valuable.

What you mention here is because of 2 causes:
1. hard crease at the edge of tentacle bump (I'll move it towards the rounded parts so it will blend more nicely)
2. parts extruded too much - especially at the top

What concerns me more than that is that I tried to reduce number of polys while moving up the bowl, so I collapsed vertices hapilly till I saw how introduced triangles interferes with the subdivided version. And what can happen while animating, Can you suggest different divisions that would minimize number of triangles (other than 36 sided * subd level - edgec verticle at the top)?

Still- I hope that the daunting task of animating it doesn't scare you off

Yes, it does badly!
I'm very weak in animation area, and that will be animation of such a fragile and smoothly moving creature...

[$imon]

Yea the triangles would interfere a bit, I think if I were to model something in that shape, I would start by subdividing a regular cube a few times, so you have a sphere with equal squares on it. Below an example of how the structure could possibly be in that case. (actually, it wont be completey spherical, I had to use the spherify modefier in 3ds max on this to get it more spherical)