My luck at the start of 2011 had not been so great, facing both a rotator cuff injury and illness. At times it felt like I was doing battle with alien hordes of invaders, albeit very very small microscopic ones, but once past the critical nerve-wracking stages and deciding how to celebrate turning several corners (I never said my navigation was any good), my mind drifted as always to the realms of “What if … ?” and transformation. And so I present, with minimal fanfare (I still ache yet), my first render of 2011!
Evolution
There’s got to be a better way of evolving – or at least one that doesn’t involve so much owie!
Hmmm, I wonder if this qualifies for entry to the Dark series …
Even though I’m not using the super-duper humongous level kit that a major animation studio for the movies uses (donations would be gratefully accepted though ), it’s still possible for me to use the same level of effects for single-frame images.
An example of the dilemma this causes is after the fold.
I’ve been reading Darth Mojo’s blog, and in it he once discussed how the Battlestar Galactica FX crew had lit up one of the ships they rendered/animated for the series. I decided to give the methods he discussed a try.
The first image was the one I had in mind right from the start, a simple steampunk vehicle trundling along a barren alien landscape at night, that had picked up an unwanted alien hitch-hiker.
The scene as envisioned would give me a chance to practice the self-lighting techniques I’d been reading about.
Hitch Hiker (Unlit)
Looks pretty good, I think?
Enter the dilemma. I also tried to do the same render, with mostly the same lighting, but turned on volumetric lighting to the render.
It actually came out pretty good the first time, but the haze and smoke “flared” too brightly with some of the lights from the original scene, so back into the lighting settings I went, as well as adding some extra external lights to try and bring the shadows into better focus.
This was the result of the tweaks with volumetrics enabled.
Hitch Hiker (Lit)
I’m not sure which one of these I’d call the “better” one. The first one has some of the feel, and is a lot clearer, but the one with volumetric has a more atmospheric, dusty dark planet feel to it – and the line of shadow coming from one of the alien’s fins towards the right is a cool effect.
I’ve always found H.R. Giger’s artwork to be absolutely beautiful and sensuous, even though some of it can be rather disquieting at the same time.
Like many others, I was first exposed to his work through the movie Alien, and that particular form has stuck in my head ever since.
So over time, I’ve built a reputation for artwork that’s best described as “Nekkid tattooed redheaded vampiric gynoid chicks with heavy weaponry in compromising positions with Giger aliens”
I’ve always found H.R. Giger’s artwork to be absolutely beautiful and sensuous, even though some of it can be rather disquieting at the same time.
Like many others, I was first exposed to his work through the movie Alien, and that particular form has stuck in my head ever since.
So over time, I’ve built a reputation for artwork that’s best described as “Nekkid tattooed redheaded vampiric gynoid chicks with heavy weaponry in compromising positions with Giger aliens”
Hey, it’s a niche
The Alien does lend itself well to the concept of “ambiguous” imagery, however, so see if you can figure out the emotions in this, part of the “Dark” series.
I’ve always found H.R. Giger’s artwork to be absolutely beautiful and sensuous, even though some of it can be rather disquieting at the same time.
Like many others, I was first exposed to his work through the movie Alien, and that particular form has stuck in my head ever since.
So over time, I’ve built a reputation for artwork that’s best described as “Nekkid tattooed redheaded vampiric gynoid chicks with heavy weaponry in compromising positions with Giger aliens”
Hey, it’s a niche
The Alien does lend itself well to the concept of “ambiguous” imagery, however, so see if you can figure out the emotions in this, part of the “Dark” series.
I’ve always found H.R. Giger’s artwork to be absolutely beautiful and sensuous, even though some of it can be rather disquieting at the same time.
Like many others, I was first exposed to his work through the movie Alien, and that particular form has stuck in my head ever since.
So over time, I’ve built a reputation for artwork that’s best described as “Nekkid tattooed redheaded vampiric gynoid chicks with heavy weaponry in compromising positions with Giger aliens”
Hey, it’s a niche
The Alien does lend itself well to the concept of “ambiguous” imagery, however, so see if you can figure out the emotions in this, part of the “Dark” series.
I’ve always found H.R. Giger’s artwork to be absolutely beautiful and sensuous, even though some of it can be rather disquieting at the same time.
Like many others, I was first exposed to his work through the movie Alien, and that particular form has stuck in my head ever since.
So over time, I’ve built a reputation for artwork that’s best described as “Nekkid tattooed redheaded vampiric gynoid chicks with heavy weaponry in compromising positions with Giger aliens”
Hey, it’s a niche
The Alien does lend itself well to the concept of “ambiguous” imagery, however, so see if you can figure out the emotions in this, part of the “Dark” series.
I’ve always found H.R. Giger’s artwork to be absolutely beautiful and sensuous, even though some of it can be rather disquieting at the same time.
Like many others, I was first exposed to his work through the movie Alien, and that particular form has stuck in my head ever since.
So over time, I’ve built a reputation for artwork that’s best described as “Nekkid tattooed redheaded vampiric gynoid chicks with heavy weaponry in compromising positions with Giger aliens”
Hey, it’s a niche
The Alien does lend itself well to the concept of “ambiguous” imagery, however, so see if you can figure out the emotions in this, part of the “Dark” series.
), it’s still possible for me to use the same level of effects for single-frame images.
