Topic: -OT- StarWars battle scene Need opinions

[Kreeargh]

I'm trying to make a Revenge of Darth Vader battle scene It takes place just after Epp 3  Vader's all pissed and getting revenge on the only thing left to kill the separatists and their droids. Here is what i have so far, it needs fighters and other craft flying around i know, i am still in the process of making the ships.
But for now i am working on lighting general capatiol ship placement so  Which pic looks better 1 or 2 ? 
1
2

[Red_Green]

I like pic 2 better wich the shadowing, plus the planet has more contrast.  If you could get the background more black where there are no stars I thing the ships would stand out even more.

[Magnum357]

Pic 1 in my opinion.

[ModelsPlease]

pic 2

[Star Dragon]

I actually like pic 1 better. The planet is not as "noisy" and detracts from the battle as much as pic2... Also for the back groudn a better stars map would work. For now the current one is way to blurred out (unless that isn't the pic, just the render of it)

[Mr_Tricorder]

Which program are you using?  I use 3ds max and, for videos where the camera does a good amount of moving around, I prefer to use the starfield in video post.  It's just a basic starfield, but it works well and I can usually create any stellar objects that I need in the background and make it look better than just using a space background image.

Also, how are you doing the weapons fire?  I think the lasers need to be brighter.  I usually use particle systems for those types of weapons, attach a white, self-illuminating material, and add a glow effect in video post (at least that's how I do phasers.  I bet it would work well here too).

As far as the action itself, it looks a little flat.  There should be more obvious interaction between ships on different planes along the z-axis.

What you have so far is a really good start, but it's going to look boring until you get the fighters in there.  Star Wars is all about the fighters.

Keep up the good work and keep us updated on your progress.

[intermech]

I notice that you can fully see all of the ships. You might want to think about overlapping some, and having some going out of the screen, this will give the impression of a larger battle seen. I learned this from building electric train sets, the more that appears to be hidden, the larger the scene looks. You may want to put in on one of the edges or the picture the bottom, top, or side of a capital ship close up, or a wing of a wayward tri fighter. The planet looks fantastic, and the ship models are extremely acruate and detailed. An explosion or two at the terminus of the weapons fire might add some excitement, and flashes around weapon origins (maybe at different intensities to imply weapons at different stages of the firing cycles) would add some realism. Overall, I like it alot, the picture is inspiring, it makes me want to try something like that.