Constructive Criticism Corner ( C3 ) Part 3 
30/08/2001
A page Exceptionnaly hijacked by Tachy the Villain...
Today we are going to study something a bit different than Web design... I am going to teach you guys how to have 3d Images that DON'T SUCK ... because you know like i know that your artwork is pretty bad, and that the artwork of 99% of your friends frequenting forums is also pretty bad ... so the objective for today is that you're going to finally progress once you'l have read this page :)  
First of all, we have several cases to be aware of:

Case 1: Your model is bad, your textures are bad, your background is bad... to sum it up, your picture is very bad ( you know it but you hope a guy like "Deks" ( somebody in a forum that's a bit crazy ) is going to say it rocks to encourage you ...but you know it's bad ...
Please Dr Tachy, how do i fix that ?

 Well there are several reasons for doing such a bad image ... for example, you could be a newbie , in that case, your honor is safe , my only advice would be to read the fucking manuals and not to listen too much to what your friends that suck too say, because know that the only people that can tell you what to do are the ones that really don't suck ( not a lot of people ... ask Me or Dak Phoenix for example, we don't suck ) ..
If you are not a newbie ... well ... that is the sad part .... if you are not a newbie, then you really suck ... and you need proper medication.. but it also depend on what you want to do...because maybe you REALLY WANT to make bad artwork ... in that case, your honor is safe too ... but what if you really want to do some good stuff ?
The first thing i suggest is that you really open the books and start modeling something you did yourself, something personnal is always more beautiful than something you did with somebody else's model, trying to steal the glory from someone ... besides, switching to original stuff makes you someone special and encourages you...
Once again, DO NOT LISTEN to the other idiots that "THINK" they know everything about 3d while they know shit ( take a lot of the guys from B5MG for example, they do know how to model boxes and call that starships, and they also believe they will one day work for some great FX companies doing boxes and cylinders... you don't need to listen to these guys ) ..
Start by trying something very simple ... take a wood table for example ... it's easy to do, but more important, it will tell you if you can emulate reality with your program ... besides, you have all the ingredients in a wood table, real looking modeling, photorealistic texturing, and super lighting ... so just know this, as long as you won't succeed in modeling that wood table, YOU WILL SUCK for sure !!

Case 2: Your model is good, your textures are bad

You need to know something, good model/bad textures are more easily spotted than bad models/good textures ...again, several possibilities ... you have bad textures because you are lazy ... then shame on you, know that if you don't at leat try to finish your work properly, you 'll never be good at what you want to do...oh and don't tell me " i am a modeler, i will leave that for somebody else to texture " that's bullshit, you're playing the "generous guy" to mask your own incompetence .. so it's now time to take the bull by the horns and try to do something about it .. so what happened ??
You listened to some people that "THINK" ( again ) they know everything, so they told you to slap a spec map here, and a gloss map here ... and oh the result is fantastically devastatingly lame ... but they all think it's cool, but it's not , because they live in a bubble when they invented their own "real looking shit" rules, so they will apply these rules not knowing anymore than they are wrong ... no once again, the best way here is to first READ THE FUCKING MANUALS, before you start adding a specular map somewhere, ask yourself why you need a specular map here, ask yourself what is specularity, and look at real objects around you and try to see if they need a spec map or not, learn how to do a Metal texture just by yourself , not by taking someone else's settings and taking them for granted ... when you do that, all will be very easy after that believe me, because as they say "been there, done that " ( even if it is difficult for you to admit that a long time ago i too sucked and listened to B5MG morons ( that still suck btw ) )...Oh and you believe that if your stuff looks just like other people's stuff then you are on the right track.. WRONG!! these people believe they are good but they are not, so by doing the same ugly shit you will too be part of the "sucking family" .. don't do that mistake, please !

Case 3: Your model is good, your textures are good, but the scene is HORRIBLE

Shit happens man, you may be a good modeler, but you may not be a good animator/renderer ... shit happens .. been there done that ( fortunately it's over for me...), so now is your chance to become a rendering rock star too, doing some stuff that doesn't suck at all !
\ First of all, stop doing these shitty "beauty shots", this is really annoying, there's nothing else you can do so you are going to render and over-render the shitty 'beauty shots", STOP STOP STOP STOP STOP !!!!
The more shitty "beauty shots" you'll do, the more you will SUCK !! try something else for god's sake , personnaly i am so tired of seeing people using my own models for stupid shitty "beauty shots", STOP STOP STOP STOP STOP
Now, here are a few tips for you to finally get your head out of the dirty water full of people that suck ..
First of all, leave the crappy Nebula background at the door ... 99% of the stupid nebula background i see really look stupid ... usually people add them behind a scene they just freshly downloaded in chich they just have to move the camera a bit and slap theyr BIG NAME as credits on the image, so they believe they actually did something ...that's bullshit
All these static images, they make me sick sick sick ... you should really do something about that, stop the static stuff, and add some movements to your stuff ...
First of all, if you still want your shitty nebula behind, arrange to get a subtle one, something with one ot two similar colours ... also, don't believe you have a shitload of stars close to your model, so don't overload the background, a few stars are highly sufficient, now you think that's enough ? no it's not ...
Have you heard about something called motion blur ???
There are two ways of using motion blur so you have something that looks cool, either you blur your starship, or you blur the background ... i personnaly prefer to blur the background so i keep the focus on the starships, while you believe it moves ... it is a very efficient way of doing a dynamic image, you really should do that ...
When you do that, it is finnaly the end of the crappy "beauty shot" you were so fond of , you're clean , life is good, now you can start calling yourself a "serious" person ...

The conclusion,well see for yourself, here is a set of images that demonstrate the 3 main cases ...

	Example of a bad model with bad textures and bad background and horrible lighting ..
Example of a stupid shitty "beauty shot" ( without credits, bastard ! )..
	Example of a good model with average textures , and terrible lighting..unfortunately the author if the images has nothing for himself and the fact that he has his name on this image proves he is a real bastard because he didn't really do anything apart from slapping a model with a planet and press the "render button" ... call that whatever you want, but certainly not ART...
Example of a bad model ( not the spacedock ) that has terribly bad textures, bad lighting, ridiculous lens flare ( the guy took one already set up ) another image withere the artist just slapped some stuff in a scene and added his name on the image, what a lamer .. it's a shame the Scifi-Art spacedock that is a masterpiece is stuck in this piece of shit of a so called 3d scene...