And once again it\'s NMM (questions about the theory only ;))

[Mosch]

I have a question regarding NMM again.... our very own Chrispy wrote the following:

Highlights are ALWAYS in the direction of the light source. From there, think of the highlight as \"Hot\" and just go \"cooler\" The warm light comes next, a tad off of the Highlight color, blending into the cool shadow, then into the darkest Cold Shadow. Note: The Cold Shadow is always darkest next to the reflected light, or Reflection. Even matt object have reflected light, as it is getting the light of the thing it is standing/placed on. I doubt You\'ll use regluar shadows, but just remember they are always darkest on the side furthest from the object, then they get slightly lighter.

Now I am not sure how to accomplish this. Let\'s take Randall again, my generic test model. Here\'s that crappy picture of him again:

Let\'s take the sword hilt in his right hand. Now painting the metallic parts in NMM.... I would go and use black on that thing, then \"diagonally\" towards the upper right I would blend into lighter greys and finish with a dot of white. I am however pretty sure that this is wrong.
Also, how would I do the metallis parts on his shoulder (those connected to the clothes)? Once again I would do this diagonal thing, but it doesn\'t feel quite right.
Also, Chrispy used several pictures, for example this one:

I don\'t understand the sword. By my logic, the dark parts on the right side should be a lot lighter, because they are closer to the light source. Another one:

Why exactly is this single, extreme reflection in the darkest part of the shield? Why would it reflect this way and would it do this always?

You see, I\'m a little lost For some strange reason, my attempted SENMM looks (to me) better than my attempted NMM, eventhough people tell me it should be the other way round

 

[supervike]

this is deep...

It is hard to get my mind around these things, especially since we are really talking about 3-dimensional shapes, using a 2-dimensional style.

As to the sword that doesn\'t look right (from the illustrated pics), I think the \"light source\" is not just to the right of the pic, but out in space, as if the light source is over your right shoulder (as you look at the pic). At least that explains the darkness of the right edge (to give the illusion of 3-d)

My theory on the shield is that since you are portraying a convex (or is it concave?) subject, it is an illustration \"trick\" to emphasize the shape. Plus, because of the shape, it would pick up light being reflected from the ground (or whatever).

I don\'t know if any of that helps. But another thing that helps is to get a very shiny piece of metal (knifes and spoons work great) and view it from many different angles, using different light sources.

This is a very interesting theory topic, and I am sure someone much smarter than me will come along and help us out.

 

[Chrispy]

Okay, first of all: I never liked those SENMM swords with the Earth Showing. Because, for one, the Horizon line is always perfectly horizontal unless warped by the actual metal (kinda like the shin guards, but the horizon could curve more to indicate the shape better IMHO). So, on a flat sword the horizon would be straight, but the sword is tilted up, so it should only reflect the sky. Now, I can\'t tell how many angles are on that sword from the picture, but they\'d all be a mix of a light grey or white and the sky color, and the higlights/shadows would still apply.

Now, for the second part, SENMM\'s reflected light is really supposed to be the dirt color closest to the model. Because of perspective, the colors and things far away tend to blur together and get darker, so farther away is darker, while closer is reflected lighter.

And really, I goofed on some of the pic\'s.. Sorry.

It\'s one of those do what I say, not say what I do sort of things..

I hope this helps, but I\'m also not understanding your questions too well... (It never hurts to phrase them in a form of an answer.. )

 

[Itchy]

Well... i\'ve got a question about lighting while photographing NMM. Cause it\'s really easy to do it wrong, and haven\'t done it right yet. Any suggestions? It\'s possible that it\'s just my horrible painting too.:duh:

 

[Ritual]

I always try to get the lighting as even as possible. I want the reflections and shadows that I have painted on the mini to be the only ones you can see and, thus, it is important to light your mini from different directions. The best way, as I have understood things, is to light the mini from left and right and from above and then use something that diffuses the light and spreads it out.

The reflections and shadows that you have painted on an NMM piece implies light coming from a certain direction, but you shouldn\'t light your mini from that direction only, when photographing it. That way you will create \"real\" shadows and reflections on your mini that obscures what you have painted on it.

Hope this makes sense...

 

[Legacy Account]

For what it\'s worth....

...my advice is to get out there with your camera and get some source material. I found it incredibly useful. Chrome car bumpers (fenders), badges - ANYTHING shiny and metallic! I would tone the brown \'earth\' down too - I just think that it makes the surface look LESS metallic. Reflections will almost always have weaker colours in them than their source.....

 

[Klute]

Like Spacemunkie said,,,
when I first decided to try senmm I could take my eyes off car badges and bumpers etc.
My name is Mark and I am a chromaholic.
Always diffuse your lights for photos if you paint on the light source.On some of my images on the gems you can see a white dot thats painted on and another from the light,messes it up.

 

[Albert Moreto Font]

mmmm I think NMM result is much better (and easier!!!) than SENMM. SENMM, if not done at perfection, can be very false, brown directly against blue... its very difficult to achieve a good result. However, Im not sure about those rules where dark-light must be in a sword or wherever, real metallic pieces are crazy! they reflect wherever they want!! hehehelollol???
Keep up painting this mini is not bad