Challenge - LVI Manta Submarine Ferry

[Finis]

Manta Seatrans has served your transportation needs above and below the waves for over 40 years. Our new Manta Submarine Ferry provides short to mid-range service for local and regional travelers. Economical, comfortable, modern and you will love the view through the new transparent Biome(tm) shell. Manta Submarine Ferries are already in service on ferry routes and as charters and are receiving very positive reviews.

The ferry's nearly silent gravity propelled water jet drive provides nearly limitless range when powered by feeding on plankton, fish, plants, or sifting silt for food or using the optional compact fusion source or both. The Biome(tm) shell can flex for swimming and reconfigure for hydroplaning in high speed surface mode. The Biome(tm) material is largely self repairing, healing, when provided the needed materials through feeding or from a RayFixR(tm) pack.

This versatile ferry vehicle is capable of use beyond is designed purpose. Customization available. Imagine what we can do for you! Contact Manta Seatrans today!

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Trying to make a semi-manta ray shape for the ferry sub in Hexagon. Gordon surface seems like a good tool for that. No non-experimental results yet. I plan to render in Daz or Bryce.

If you have Daz check your account. There is more free stuff. The Genesis 2 figures don't have any free morphs to change their expressions or body shape. The free figures are equipped as surfers which works for this project. I won't use Daz figures in the challenge entry, if allowed, because voters might think I made them but there will be images for fun too.

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I succeeded at making a manta-like Gordon surface but it is too detailed. Interesting though. Unexpected details appeared. I'll make something simpler and less biological for the ferry.

[Draise]

Manta ray is looking good

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Thanks. That was too much like a creature though.

Good old box modeling in Hexagon. Make a cube and edited to fit it to a top view outline. Then edited for rest of shape. The Bridge tool plus some editing make the tubes for the propulsion water. The top perspective view has the orange man for scale.

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Render tests in Bryce. Daz/3Delight probably could do better glass/transparent renders but I have found it difficult to control and the interfaces to 3Delight clumsy. Bryce's interface has its quirks and unusual design but so far I'm finding Bryce better for this. I would have liked DAZ for the non-challenge pictures with people since Bryce makes them look like mannequins.

Finding free underwater, or any underwater, HDRI's has proven difficult as has finding good panoramas or spherical images (Mercator projections for a regular sphere texture).

This will be difficult to render with the transparencies, volumetrics for underwater look, and making the ferry look transparent while also showing its suface. I want its outer surface smooth but visual clues will be needed so it will probably get a displacement or bump map. That could enhance its "bio-machine" nature though.

The UV's need work. Although a real vessel like this would be great with a transparent floor that is just confusing for these images so it will get an opaque floor. The side view for passengers looks through the "wings". That looks better than I thought it would. I'll try using just a little refraction instead of glass-like to reduce distortion.

[clintonman]

This reminds me of the flying sub from Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. When I was a kid I had a plastic model of it.

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It does! I had a Seaview toy powered by a rubber band. Wind it up and the band turned the propeller.

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Accidental art created in Daz. Trying to render the ferry with a good transparent effect for the shell, applied Omni Environment Light, and this appeared. Looks like a book cover.

Omni Environment Light is how you get photon mapped GI in Daz. I tried to make my own when I first got Daz but then discovered it was already done.

The Daz glass material doesn't have bump or displacement but looks good. Uber surface material has everything but I can't get it to look like glass.

Here is a Bryce question. In the Bryce materials lab on the material options menu there are options Normal, Blend Transparency, Fuzzy, and Light. What does Light do?

[darkmage]

Here is a Bryce question. In the Bryce materials lab on the material options menu there are options Normal, Blend Transparency, Fuzzy, and Light. What does Light do?

As far as I remember it either makes it invisible or a sort of flat transparent (not sure which).

Just try it and see.