"Clear Skies Ahead" - as featured in 3D World Magazine, issue 85

The F-15 Eagle was modeled in Maya with a fully rigged landing gear and very detailed cockpit, but in the end I really wanted to show these jets in flight.

This image was published in the Exhibition section of 3D World Magazine, issue 85. It started life as a modeling project to enhance my modeling skills, a modeling assignment from the Maya Advanced Modeling class available from 3DBuzz.com

Final Image
Final image
This aviation art piece was rendered in mental ray with a separate ambient occlusion pass. The textures and final composition with clouds and contrails was completed in Photoshop.

The modeling included the landing gear and a hyper detailed cockpit, and took around 7 days, although the final shot does not require these extra elements



"Clear Skies Ahead"
1024 x 768   
1280 x 1024   
1600 x 1200   
Wallpaper
Many people asked for a wallpaper of the picture, but found the sky a little too intense. Therefore I created this version with a moody sky specifically for use as a wallpaper.


"Clear Skies Ahead"
1024 x 768   
1280 x 1024   
1600 x 1200