Here's the results of my RELIC Crystal Wand course! I followed the tutorial for all steps (rendered still image in Eevee with the backdrop and world lighting), but, decided to add a little spice in Cycles. As soon as I realized I could use shape keys/key-shaping to animate the nurb path (for the chains to go from slack to taut) I knew I wanted to animate this sucker.
Added a lil solidify and transmission to the crystals then stuck a point light inside to create a glow (I def realize this effect wouldn't transfer to Unreal and an effect like this would need to be faked within Unreal, but, I wanted to see my vision come to fruition even if it was a lil bit of a Cycles cheat). Created a fire sim in the pocketed empty part of the chalice (seemed like it was almost meant to be there). Added a nighttime mountain HDRI and a particle sim for a snowy background and some basic trees with a Poliigon tree bark PBR. Then, because I was getting Skyrim vibes from the prop, I composed some Skyrim inspired music to underscore the scene. ;)
Gorgeous, I love the attention to details when the flame goes off!
Thanks so much! It took me QUITE awhile to get the fire sim looking the way I wanted it to look (more baking than grandma making Christmas cookies); but absolutely worth the extra effort to learn a lil more about blenders fire physics settings :)
Beautiful work.
Loving all the extra detail.
Staff Picked 🏆
With the amount of talent I see on CGCookie, that is an absolute honor. Loving every course I've taken and so happy to be learning and getting my modeling/sculpting/texturing/animating reps in :)
Beautiful result, Joe. So crisp and clean. You are crushing these courses. Well done, man.
Thanks so much, Bennie! Definitely learning a lot and having a blast! The hardest part for me is soaking up the knowledge and applying it to my own personal projects; but, I think that just takes time and repetition.