I admit it: I'm a total geek. I love electronics, programming, 3D printing, 3D art, and vintage Apple hardware. I'm always juggling half a dozen projects. I also enjoy documenting it all: my successes, my failures, my experiences... and everything geeky along the way.

First Encounter | Kevin Rye.net - Main

Kevin Rye

Geek Extraordinaire. Yeh, I said it.

First Encounter

Feb 17, 2014 Filed in: Michael 6 | Victoria 6 | Creatures | SciFi
I’m continuing my foray into Sci-Fi with this M6 and V6 duo. I wanted to do something where I could shrink down Victoria and display her as a cute little alien. Something simple and not too over-the-top.

I wanted Victoria to meet a human for the first time, so I started to work on a scene where she makes contact with Michael.

Screen Shot 2014-02-14 at 2.16.32 PM

I wanted to her to appear curious, but shy and somewhat childlike. I started to drop in some background elements. Perhaps it’s Michael’s house. Perhaps she landed her ship at night and Michael heard her in the backyard. Maybe he was alerted by lights from her ship.

Encounter 2

I continued to play around with the pose until I had the look I was going for. Michael sits there in a non-defensive stance as if to appear approachable. He has his hand out as if to suggest it’s OK to touch. Imagine your demeanor if trying to coax a stray cat or dog towards you. Think of reaching out with your hand as if to say, “It’s OK”.

Screen Shot 2014-02-14 at 4.58.00 PM

To make Victoria a little more alien, I made her head just a little bigger. To make her a little cuter, I made her ears a little pointier.

Screen Shot 2014-02-14 at 5.00.04 PM

I wanted this meeting to happen late at night when the backyard is nice and dark. The only lights would be that from the porch, the moon, and the ship. I started to drop in some spotlights and gave it a test render.

That looks pretty cool. She hesitates a little, but she’s just about to touch his hand.

Encounter 3

I added some lights to the ship, as well as the porch, and placed some props inside of the house so that you can see them through the doorway.

Screen Shot 2014-02-14 at 11.28.47 PM

OK, now that’s starting to look like something!

Encounter 4

I wasn’t too happy with the blue lights on the ship, so I changed them to red. I also scattered some tuffs of grass over the yard.

Screen Shot 2014-02-15 at 10.17.09 PM

As far as the house, I added some shades to the windows, a front door, another plant on the porch, and a clock and picture frame in the doorway.

Screen Shot 2014-02-20 at 9.52.18 PM

It’s perfect. I really like the way this one came out.

Encounter 17 620

The portrait version has an aspect ratio of 8x10. It doesn’t really lend itself to being cropped for the desktop. I went ahead and changed the aspect ratio to 16:9 and repositioned the camera for a second render.

This one looks much better on the desktop.

Encounter wide 620