War of the Worlds - The Black Smoke by czarnyrobert
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Description
Survivors there were none. The dull resonance of the shots the Martians fired, and the clumsy projectile whirling over the trees and houses and smashing amid the neighbouring fields.
One may picture, the sudden shifting of the attention, the swiftly spreading coils and bellyings of that blackness advancing
headlong, towering heavenward, turning the twilight to a palpable darkness, a strange and horrible antagonist of vapour striding upon its victims, men and horses near it seen dimly, running, shrieking, falling headlong, shouts of dismay, men choking and writhing on the ground, and the swift broadening-out of the opaque cone of smoke. And then night and extinction--nothing but
a silent mass of impenetrable vapour hiding its dead.
Once the tumultuous upheaval of its dispersion was over, the black smoke clung so closely to the ground, even before its precipitation, that fifty feet up in the air, on the roofs and upper stories of high houses and on great trees, there was a chance of escaping its poison. The man who escaped at the former place tells a wonderful story of the strangeness of its coiling flow, and how he looked down from the church spire and saw the houses of the village rising like ghosts out of its inky nothingness.
When black smoke had served its purpose, Martians cleared the air of it again by wading into it and directing a jet of superheated steam that hissed against the walls, smashed all the windows it touched
The composition of the Black Smoke which the Martians used with such deadly effect remains a puzzle. The terrible disasters at the Ealing and South Kensington laboratories have disinclined analysts for further investigations upon the latter. Spectrum analysis of the black powder points unmistakably to the presence of an unknown element with a brilliant group of three lines in the green, and it is possible that it combines with argon to form a compound which acts at once with
deadly effect upon some constituent in the blood.
H.G. Wells 1898
Martian War Machines modeled by me in Cinema 4D
There are some subtle Vue 5 Infinite ecosystems here - fruits (cabbages, grapes, apples), litter (leaves, papers)
Buildings Meshes by Alain Gracia - textured and upgraded by me (ex. completely remodeled roofs)
(Those buildings models are available on e-on's Cornucopia 3D)
Market - free Rolduc model - materials upgraded by me.
Horse, carriage and some small props by DAZ3D
Dead men - Poser 5 male
Other small props from 3D Cafe and DeEspona/Taschen
This time I did not made a lot of modeling, but setting of everything, texturing, lighting of the scene and characters posing took quite a long time.
I hope you'll like it :-)
This is my last one before holidays !
I will spent next two weeks in Tunisia, we will also pay a short visit to Khadafi (to check if he really stopped tinkering on his atomic bomb) :-))
Wish me luck ! I hope to return in one piece ;-))
Comments (118)
Digimon
Fantastically grim! Love the low POV + the wide screen, gives an excellent feel for the scale, from a human vantage!! Superb!!!
fenixcats
No more words than what has already been said and take a digital camera when visiting Tunisia so we have proof :-)
AnneCHPostma
As always a superb setup. Though somehow I think the marketplace is still a bit too 'clean'. I do love the leg of the Martian Machine in the front. Great details!
DDDanny
Oh Pu.... !! Quelle image !! EXCELLENT !!!
Bonker
You never stop amaze me.. I know you only post images that you yourself are satisfied with. But even so, the development with each image is stunning.
LordWexford
Outstanding work - composition, lighting & atmosphere are perfectly integrated. Well done!
Hermond
Very good setup m8, I know that you want to be original to the book and portrait the gas, but I can't stop thinking that they look as they are putting away the fires themselves started with their lasers! Martian firetrucks? lol
runningcollector
One of the best movies! Your painting is a wonderful outstanding work!!!!!!!
Elminster_ZK
Very impressive, czarnyrobert. Exquisite texturing and detail. Nothing short of amazing.
nootz
i hope the citizens were warned ahead of time!
jorgegallardo
Excellent work as usual!
meselfr
This is awesome.... Excellent pic..
KeremGogus
You are using lots of free/stock models on your scenes and your own models are mostly simple formations of meshes. But your render qualities are always very high. And on Vue it depends of the speed of your computer. I have some critics for this scene. Fog in distance looks very good. Textures are neat, but human figures are looks so "Poser" and some poses are not designed for dead people (like the guy who laying down over here with standing pose). The weapon of the Martian used looks like water instead of laser or something like that. You can try a different maybe a fiery glowing material. And I can't see any damage on the building - they look so perfect for a place which was attacked by a destructive out world force. Some destroyed buildings on background can make this scene more realistic. Same thing for the market place too - it looks too perfect. People dead here but their stuff are standing still like theres nothing happend. But great lighting and textures, and high quality render as usual. I guess you placed some point or directional lights with soft shadows to create the mood. Thats not looks like an all standard vue atmosphere.
Vile
I love your work! I have to agree with the "poser" comment only because of poser over use in these galleries and because of the usual caliber of your work. Some destruction would be good as well but this is imho. Again great work and I love this series!
Daz1971
Excellent image as per usual! Absolutely fantastic composition and lighting. You are truly the king of Vue! As for the comments about the lack of destruction and the "laser looking like water"....dear oh dear, some people just can't read can they? Given that it's "a jet of superheated steam" I would think that it's SUPPOSED to look like water! And I wouldn't think black smoke would cause much destruction of buildings. I guess when some people see "War of the Worlds" they instantly think of the movie/s instead of the wonderful book.
IceDancer
I agree with Daz1971...people should read. Sure, in the movie they these war machines exploded all the buildings and people, but you are using vapor and that doesn't destroy buildings. I think it looks great. The machines aren't near the buildings yet and once they are, they'll topple down. I think you should market these machines. They are so awesome.
lulu18
Outstanding as usual :) Your interpretation of 'War of the Worlds' is wonderful and your composition so beautifully detailed and rendered. Enjoy your time in Tunisia.
artgum
Your work is just stellar- not only is this one of my favorite sci fi stories and authors, but your attention to detail, and the mood of the scenes brings the original story to life. Bravo my friend.
bobbystahr
The beauty of this place is that there IS a ready supply of materials if one simply wishes, for a change, to simply compose a scene...Very coherent and well shot...thanx for posting
jtt
I`ve been itching to some work like this, You have done another super piece.
sittingblue
spectacular artwork... The smoke effects are exquisite.
Trudy
I just love getting ebots that says you posted again, another master piece!
Shari123
Those many tentacled Martian War Machines are phenomenal! And what a site of devastation you have created. The lingering smoke effect with the light beam cutting through it is fantastic. Bravo!
redbeard
Fantastic work! The lighting, atmosphere, and attention to detail are quite amazing. Terrific depiction of this terrible scene!
Syrup
My computer hiccuped at all the work and amassed items that went into this image.Me ? I'm just impressed by your fine example of Mr.Wells vision of Destruction and Chaos. :B eaver !
zescanner
I have so been looking forward to your next installment of this series. AWESOME. And thank you, thank you... for making the image this large so that we can savor all of the minute details you have so wonderfully and carefully created. This is such a treat to behold, even though it tells a moment in time of such a tragic event. Thank heavens it is only fiction. (I really like that foot coming down at the left side of the scene.)
MAT33
Wszyscy moi przedmowcy powiedzieli co trzeba. Ty stanowisz juz inna lige. My mozemy jedynie poogladac tylko z podziwem. Full wypas.Stanowczo nadaje sie na plakat filmowy lub cos lepszego jeszcze...
czarnyrobert
Daz1971 & IceDancer are right! :-) On this scene Martians don't use heat ray (which beam according to the book was almost invisible) but jets of superheated steam to clean the land from poisonous black smoke they dispersed earlier. This is also the reason of lack of destruction. According to the book, canisters with black smoke did not explode - they just smashed while hitting the ground and released deadly cloud of black smoke. Maybe on next scene I will put more destruction if you wish so :-)) Realistic ruins are not so easy to prepare with 3D - but I will try it :-)) Martians destructive power don't impress today - all those heat rays and black smoke weapons and smashing objects with tentacles seems not very dangerous today, while we have fare more impressive weapons - just imagine a simple small fighter with a couple of thermonuclear missiles - it can completely destroy several large cities, killing millions in one shot. I don't mention the destructive power of an atomic submarine missile launcher... But one hundred years ago, in 1898 the most powerful weapons were ship's guns... In that time Martian War Machines, 100 ft tall using heat ray and chemical weapons seemed quite impressive - People does not have planes, nor radio or tanks... and first use of chemical weapons would take place 16 year later in WWI.
Alexander_Kroener
Another masterpiece :-) I enjoy again and again the incredible amount of details in your pictures as well as the perfect texturing. V
tetsuo211
The end is near.... LOL!!!!! Awesome image :)