Stop & Post March 2012

[BONES]

I've been working on this for a while. It is a "skin" for the music software I use. The image shows just a small selection of the work, there are more than twice that number of instruments and many more effects, as well as a mixer, all of which had to be done. Its a massive amount of work and if it wasn't fro Xara, I don't think I could get through it. The knobs are multi-frame animations done is a specialist application, KnobMan, but the rest is Xara. Because I used to get complaints about blurry images, I export everything at 300 dpi and then down-res it in Photoshop to 96 dpi. That seems to keep the bevels and text nice and crisp. For this skin, I also used Photoshop's Lighting Effects (in the Render group) on each background image. It is faded back - 24% transparency using Hard Light blending mode - so it is quite subtle but it makes a big difference to the overall look.

It started out looking nice and clean, like the second image, then I downloaded a few "old metal" textures and applied them liberally to age everything, using different transparency modes to achieve the desired effect. The clean version is called XTRO and I've called the grungy version XTROapocalypse. I've made half-a-dozen or more skins for this application, Synapse Audio's Orion, but this is easily the most complete and best designed of the lot. Previously I have concentrated more on usability than style but this one combines both to really good effect, I hope.

[Psaumure]

Hi Garry. These were the first ones that I was able to see. I was able to view all three of them on my iPad for the first time. I went and checked some of you older stereograms but they do not pop for me. I'm not sure why. I can view stereograms on paper just fine but not on a computer screen. Any tips to view them?

By the way, excellent job on the three I did view.

Paul

[inabottle]

ok started back work on my Lady Gaga image I posted in January, made a bunch of progress finished the bicep and torso... going to either start on the face or the legs next...

[gwpriester]

Awesome Rian.

How are you and what have you been up to?

(Rian's Xara Xone Featured Artist Gallery)

[inabottle]

I'm doing good, did 6 years in the navy got out last June, and am starting school here starting in April. Havent been drawing much lately but trying to get back into it. Been doing a lot of photography though, but Im going to try to start drawing more.

[gwpriester]

Excellent, Rian. Good luck with school and don't lose touch.

[iamtheblues]

An unfinished project I'm working on, using a seamless techie background I posted recently.

[gwpriester]

A sample for a possible commissioned stereogram. No go ahead yet.