Das Eiskalt Boot

[schmeerlap]

Inspired by Dune's Dead Calm project I've transported Anders Lejczak's U99 to Arctic waters. Spent ages fiddling with reflection and spectoral settings and still haven't got it the way I want. I also took the U boat's texture image into Photoshop to paint some rust on the hull. This definitely isn't the finished article, and I will continue to fiddle until I get it right-ish, or get bored and sling it on my reject heap.

John

[inkydigit]

looking good so far John, maybe adding some bump roughness on the rust spots(or add some variation to the reflectivity?)...the hull looks to shiney...the ice field and bergs look promising too...keep on herr kapitan!

[Henry Blewer]

I am not so sure about the sub being icebound. Maybe some fake stones could be used around the hull to make it look like it had surfaced through the ice.

[Kadri]

The pov of the U99 is nice . The far left iceberg  and the others  doesn't seem to fit . But when  we know that a picture is 3d we tend to be more to nitpicking.
In real photos are sometimes really weird things . For me it seem you are nearly there where you want it.
I prefer widescreen pictures but if you put a iceberg behind the U99 (without changing its pov) or with making the icebergs a little tighter that would make a good vertical picture too i think.

Would love to see a bigger picture  

Kadri

[MacGyver]

Looks good to me at first glance. I would like to see the sub even closer so that your view is guided along the side of the U-Boot to the right side out of the image... veeery dramatic

[Dune]

Nice try Schmeerlap   It looks good and cold, actually. I agree with njeneb, you'd probably need some 'rocks' around the hull or more open water. And indeed reduce the reflectivity of the hull. As for the iceberg; I tried getting some deep vertical cracks by using the voronoi function. In one version it looked quite good, but didn't turn out well in my latest version in this forum. I would also change the sky, perhaps try some polar light?

---Dune

[schmeerlap]

I've addressed some of the issues; too much reflection on hull, not enough water, and (yes, this is a cop out) redefining the bergs as not being bergs but land. (when is a berg not a berg? when it doesn't look like one anymore!). I also added some post Terragen work on the boat, noticeably the snow on the deck, etc. (felt the purists shudder there). Didn't add fake stones to depict break up of ice, the story is that the U-boat has been laid up and drifting for some time for repairs, and Herr Kapitan is checking the horizon before getting under way (another cop out, I hear you say). I think I've got better reflection on the snow-covered sea ice; the first version was too dark in comparison with bergs/landmass. Bigger pic for Kadri.  

John

[Henry Blewer]

This is better. I like the story also.

[Dune]

I like this version better (apart from the clouds, just some default cirrus would do fine). Interesting to see how you resolved the water ice mixture; it's just very shallow water. I used deep water and added some high contrast color + constant displacement in the water shader to get the floaters. And I like the story too. Still, the bergs could use a larger scale ridged fractal for displacement, I think.

---Dune

[schmeerlap]

There was a wee bit of serendipity involved in the final water settings. I had done two renders each with a different water level and blended one over the other with a degree of transparency in Photoshop until I got the effect I liked.

the bergs could use a larger scale ridged fractal for displacement, I think.

Yeah, I'd definitely agree with larger scale displacement for bergs, but I've already redefined (and declared above) the terrain as . . . well, terrain rather than icebergs (cos they don't look like bergs anymore).

I will try and do a convincing iceberg sometime, though.

John

[Kadri]

Thanks , Schmeerlap 

Kadri.

[tee]

Nice like the 2nd one better, like the water ice mixture.

[Costaud]

Nice image, but most images of submarine in arctic sea (or any cold sea) I saw on the net and books have no mountains, check these images  

[Mr_Lamppost]

While the second version is much improved; water/ice combination, background bergs and even the post work.  I liked the dark moody sky on the first version even if it was less realistic.

[schmeerlap]

but most images of submarine in arctic sea (or any cold sea) I saw on the net and books have no mountains, check these images 

Yes, you're quite right, and that's probably because 99.9% of the time subs are in open waters, frozen or not. However they do sometimes come close to land masses, even in arctic waters. I've included an array of photos to help you appreciate that. Also, I was rather expecting you to use your imagination and try to visualise the scenario of my scene. Do try, there's a good chap. Hopefully the above mentioned array of photos will also serve as an aid to raising or at least elasticating your credibility threshold. The sea monster attacking the sub, I agree, may be a step too far. May I also suggest that reading some adventure novels such as Alistair MacLain's excellent "HMS Ulysses", which is set in North Atlantic icy waters, will help in this regard with exercising your imaginative powers.

I do hope you find what I have said helpful and constructive.

Regards
John