Finally finished with my take from the bugbots course. Learned a whole lot about materials, texturing, particle systems and compositing from doing this myself rather than from tutorial! I definitely need more learning on outdoor lighting though I'd love to make a dusk lighting setup for this too!
And the Bee is finished. Again, awesome result, well worth the effort 🤙🏼
Bloody fantastic! The robo part is perhaps a little lost but I know the pain and effort that's gone into every part of this
Yeahhh I was trying to figure out where to put in the robotic elements but I really wanted to include the fuzz which is in most places if u have a suggestion tho im for it
The wings work well - esp in the top render. The light particles are also great and create a very evocative, slightly magical feel - perhaps if they could be seen to be emanating from the wings it would help sell the sci-fi bee more?
The lights on the legs is the weakest point imo. You've added radial lights where the feet attach to the body but as the lights don't carry down the legs it's hard to read and it also means the dark legs get a bit lost and blend into the black hair. I reckon a version where the lights on the legs are removed might work better overall. The other thing that could help in top render is to increase depth of field so background blurs more so you focus on and can more easily read the bee form.
Maybe in this case less is more but my first thought in terms being able to add more robotic/mech stuff is to add it over the fuzz. Could you add some little exhaust pipes like a drag racer engine? Or maybe cut a small panel section into the fuzz that's metal - a refuelling inlet? Or some sort of nectar container that bolts on to the bee like a sidecar bolts on to a motorbike?
All above is just thoughts and suggestions and not criticism. I should be clear that I couldn't easily do any of the above myself. It's a force of habit for me to visually assess and feedback on stuff. Overall I think it's great you finished after seeing each question you posted to the forum and of all the work you've clearly put in to overcoming the many many problems from modelling to hair to particles
Appreciate the feedback for sure! The particles are actually meant to be pollen the depth of field and translucent effect just make them look a bit emission-y don't think I'd take that effect with it cause it makes it a bit more fairytale. Overall though I wish I could make it a bit more real looking cause it's obvious it's a render... maybe it's something to do with lighting but I need to save my pay to afford the cinematic lighting course unless cgcookie make one cause the core course really focuses on indoor and product lighting it felt like.
On the depth of field I did kinda wana do that but making the f stop lower than 2 kept blurring too much of the bee itself Idk why but it just finds it hard to focus on. I did consider some translucent (with mechanism) or glowing pollen sacks on the back legs but at that point I was tired of modelling and then just forgot haha. Did also try cutting a panel or opening to see mechanical bits underneath the fuzz but it just looked forced but I suppose in bio-mechanical that can work. Also did make mechanical parts in the legs but I really wanted to make that leathery skin which didn't work well as a translucent material. the idea of a power inlet or something isn't something I considered so maybe I could try something there in the future. Rn the biggest obstacle to all this though is that the trees in the background make rendering that layer take about 30 minutes which I still don't fully understand tbh, maybe just too many verts
Totally get that weariness that creeps up on you. Each stage unravels into it's own side quest and there's only so much you can take before you just stop and move on or accept the limitations and make a render. The fact you finished and overcame that resistance is the most important thing!
For the trees perhaps they are too high res? If you want to blur everything anyway then render out just the background and use it as a bg plane? Also DoF might be tricky if you didn't model the bee to scale. I had issues with the bug cos it wasn't modelled to scale in the lesson and I never thought to correct. I see you got a Staff Pick! Well deserved. On to the next project!