If you can have any of them, I\'d say go Maya, its becoming very popular.

Any of them is infinitely better than Blender anyway, so if you can have them, get them.

Originally posted by Rolf Blacksmith
As far as I know these can\'t be bump maps but displacement maps, visible at the most left and right ends of the tower.

The displace is too precise, seemed like post-work.
Anyway LigH, congrats, seems like you fooled everyone here.

Well, the shadows are pretty much all that\'s affected by GI.  It simply takes all the black shadows and pushes them up to a certain value, emulating light bouncing around.  It\'s best to keep it relatively low (since having pretty black shadows can be good for contrast), and use point/spot lights for all your lighting.

:emerald:

You\'re very wrong. Unless you are using a really bad unknown algorythm, global illumination algorythms are not limited to pushing up light on shadows. Hard shadows are only an effect caused by black bodies direct light, but in computer terms shadows are created by subtracting an area from the light calculation. Global illumination has no intention of enhancing shadows, it simulates inter-reflection on bodies reflecting direct light. For example, this is a quick image of a light inside a cube, and absolutely no shadow ever in the scene. The first is without GI, the second is with GI:

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y26/Kamashii/radinoradi.jpg

GI reflects the indirect light all around the scene, not limiting to where shadows are present. The fact that shadows are usually black unless you have a light from behind is the reason they are usually the first thing noticed when GI is enabled, but the GI function goes far, far beyond it.

If an area has shadows but is in somewhere where light cannot reach because it gets absorbed before, then GI will not \"push it up\", but it will surely push up the non-shadowed areas before reaching the point of zero light.

The fact that 100% of CGI movies and animations within live action moves use GI since Toy Story (and back then, they didn\'t even have a good way to implement per-pixel GI, the guys developed a pretty nasty way of turning every pixel on screen in a vertex to simulate per-pixel effects), plus 100% of professional games\' cinematics hould be a good hint that GI is not a bad attempt at making lights look pre-calculated but a technology needed to simulate real-life scenes (unless you\'re a true master on fakeosity). GI algorythms are the next step being implemented on new generations\' video cards (you can see the new HDRI half-life 2 map or the \"gas station\" demo at nvidia site) and even Planeshift city models has GI baked at the textures.

What channels can be used? Bump, Specular, Reflection, blabla, everything?

Hay there
Sorry for the balls. This was my first HDRI render and since I didn\'t want to do the \"default\" balls render, I added the swords so I could make a good work out of it.

In the sword is writen \"Vaulore\'s Valor\". Vaulore being a RPG character of mine.

The textures are nice, if you make the models a bit better, it will be pro level  
Keep the great work and apply again to PS.

Thanks, these models are a bit old actually. I\'m mostly doing space scenes right now. Like I said, I can\'t apply to PS, too much work to do already.

Amazing what you do with low poly shapes and amazing textures. How large are your textures for your swords?

I do them at 512*512 then downsample to 256*256. Because of the game\'s dynamics (crafting custom weapons) the blades and the hilt have different texture maps, so the res. end up pretty high.

Nice improvement.
But it looks like a toy sword.
I suggest you looking for references. For now, keep in mind even for a short sword the blade ought to be a little longer.

When using dull materials, try to choose colors that represent the final idea you\'re pursuing, or adding generic textures.

Your textures are fantastic. I have to ask, do you use commerical textures or make your own? Because I love their realism.

Thanks.  All my textures are made from zero either brushing or taking pictures.

What modeling program do you use.

I use Cinema 4D 9.5 for modelling, texturing and everything. In some architectural models I use Rhinoceros 3.0, though.