Richard,
Background's looking great. I guess any project that is going to really stand out demands a lot of work. Keep it up...
ron
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Richard,
Background's looking great. I guess any project that is going to really stand out demands a lot of work. Keep it up...
ron
Well, when I get home tonight I will post the new and improved backgroud. I took John's advice (unlike that fact that I did not take John's advice on my cape idea! http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif ) and it's now a heafty 3500 X 2500 vector, fractal and bitmap (copies of the stars) illustration. Looks quite good. I still have a couple more tweaks to do to it but it's almost finished.
Thanks for the 'push' John! http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/smile.gif
"Thanks for the 'push' John!" - Richard
Hi Richard,
I have found that I am pretty good at that... You, Risto, and problably many others... http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/wink.gif http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif
Please check out the updated BG and Wireframe on the previous page............ http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/smile.gif
hi Richard,
Now it looks like a shot from the hubble space telescope (only less blurry). Good job so far.
Now to fix that cape.... http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif
Thanks John! and NO!! http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif
Richard,
The background looks awesome! The effort, in my opinion, was worth it! How about a two frame animated gif with the large stars twinkling? (maybe?)
ron
Background completed I think! http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif Hell, you never know with me! I think I need to be on Ritaline or something sometimes. My mind never stops and always wants to keep doing things better and better. Maybe I was God in a past life!! http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif
You never know!! http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/smile.gif
Anywhoooo.... This view is at about a 15% size and then I took a screenshot of it. One of the things I really love about this version is that it is VERY multidimentional. There are many layers and in each layer there are layer upon layer of fractal, transparecies and stars of various shapes and sizes and densities to give it a more natural depth. I'm VERY pleased with this effect. I attempted about 10 version with various color schemes and what not but in the end I thought I needed to simplify it all and bring it down to black and red as the color scheme and it seemed to be the magic pill for bringing it all together! http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/smile.gif The size of the 'vector painting' is 4000 X 2500 pix, not sure what that works out to being but it's pretty big inch wise. So if this turns out as well as I hope it will then I will have a poster printed of it and framed eventually. Who know's when that will happen, but that's the plan! http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/rolleyes.gif :P
The reason I decided to go with some red effects instead of the blue effects is he is supposed to be a being crying up to God and the Universe, very powerful and there is anger and sadness in there so Red is an appropriate color. Plus with all the energy coming off of him I would think that as it eminates away from his body the view we see everything around him as having a sort of red haze to it. At least in my way of seeing things it would. http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/rolleyes.gif http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif
Here is a study of the 'vector painting' at 100%!!
There is so much texture and movement in this little 600 X 600 square, I LOVE IT!! http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif
Here is the wire frame. There's not allot to see as there are many, many layers of frantals stacked on top of each other with layers of stars sandwiched. You can see I switched from oval shapes filled with just SOME (one layer only) of bitmap stars to rectangles, with feathering and fractal transparencey it really was much easier to get them spread out the way I wanted them with out too much overlapping.
Let me know what you think! http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/smile.gif
hi Richard,
Looks awesome so far. Would even contemplate maybe possibly purchasing a poster if that durn cape got fixed... http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif
Thanks John,
You and others are welcome to the "Study" image. I replaced it with a tiled version created in PSP 8. There really is hardly ANY difference in the over all look of it compared to the one I posted last night.
Tiles perfectly! http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/smile.gif
Enjoy!!
hi Richard,
The stars I could see no problem with. I doubt the "empty space" looks nearly as good as the "study". Unless the "empty space" is not tiled.
Post both, and see if we can tell which is the tiled, and which is the study... do it as a poll and see how many of us get it wrong. Throw a third choice in, "none of the above" and see how many you catch.
I'm not sure what you mean by "empty space" John?? http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/confused.gif
Trust me, the study I had up previously sitting side by side with the tiled version I posted in it's place is not really all that descernable!
I'll try and post the old one and the new one side by side but I'll have to reduce the size so it's fits into a 800pix size, so each one will be a bit smaller!
"I'm not sure what you mean by "empty space" John?? " - Richard
Ummmm... how about....
Star... Empty space... Star... Mo Empty space... Star... Red empty space... Star... Even mo empty space.
Basically... If it ain't a star it is empty space. you know like the stuff between me ears.
Is dat clear enuff? http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/smile.gif
OK, I'm home. Here they are. YES, you can tell the difference between the two with the way the colors are remixed but strangely enough the star patterns are about the same. So I'm not sure how PSP 8 does that but it works very well. I have the tile tiled as my desktop background and it's quite lovely!! http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif
Hmmmm... the tile does not look like a repeating pattern, and that is what I was afraid of. Go ahead and use the tile, but keep the study just in case...
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Go ahead and use the tile.... <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Ummmm, John, I didn't know I needed permission! http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif
If you have your doubts then why not simply save it to your hard drive and use Irfanview to tile it to the desktop and see for yourself?? After your finished all you have to do is, in that same menu, select Options/Set As Wallpaper/Previous Wallpaper and your back to where you started from.
I think PSP 8 has one of the BEST tilers out there. Sometimes it takes a bit of work but most of the time the default settings work as expected. It's about the ONLY thing I use that program for!! http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif Got it as BDay gift from my room mate this year (January) and so it's not like I had another $100.00 out of pocket or anything! http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif
Richard, maybe you should check this one out:
http://www.diardsoftware.com/
The shareware works quite well, I think the maximum file size is 1600x1200 pix, so maybe you'd have to resize a bit. But it's very easy to create a convincing universe with it.
Why keep it all vector when you can mix and match? The Space Being looks like a very complex file. I'd advise a couple of backups. You might be pushing Xara to the limit here and end up like Casey.
Thanks Graf but I really think the whole idea is to do this one by hand. I am downloading the plugin and will install it for PS and see what it can do. Interestingly enough it says on the web site that the plugin is 199 Mb's but the file I'm downloading is about 248 Mb's so maybe it's updated more!! http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/smile.gif
UPDATE: I tried out the plugin, very nice in some areas but very unevolved in others like the stars creation filter. I did much better, more work but more realistic! The other filters are pretty nice though, so that's good. http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/smile.gif
Thanks for the link! http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/smile.gif
OK, planets and star trail are in place. Not asking for advice but wanted to share this next step. Boy was this a fun day for me. I really enjoyed making the Saturn type planet, that was fun (no, seriously! http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif ) and the Star Trail just happened as something that was in the back of my mind and I thought it looked good when I created it, so in it went!! http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif
Richard looks Awesome looking foward to seeing it complete. enjoyed watching this come to life step by step.!
mike
Hi Richard,
Looking very good!!!
Wow, that was a fast, I must be at the top of some folks "check in" list. Thanks for the kind words! http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/smile.gif
Funny, I JUST got around to reading my personalized horoscope that I get daily from Astro Center.com and it says today was the day to do what I love to do!! How perfect! It was a really fun day and I got the evening to keep going!! http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/smile.gif
In actuality I still have a ways to go on the figure of the Universal Being himself but I figure if I got all the other elements finished or nearly finished then when I get back to the main character then I would have all the other pressures off of my mind of other elements in the 'vector painting'. As it is I think I'm running low on other elements but now with the planets in place I think I just may have to change the cape after all! http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/frown.gif Oh well, more fun ahead!! http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif
Hi Richard, looks great... One small suggestions to try... On the Saturn type planet, could you try making the inner and out circles of the rings a shape and filling it with a fractal? It would put a couple breaks in the "lines" around the planet. Ever so slight but enough to know it was not two lines...
Richard,
Awesome background! Love the use of colors and fractals in the planets. Your the experienced one here, but I wonder if you might be able to do a little more with the rings on the one planet? This drawing is just fantastic! Can't wait to see the figure finished...
ron
Thanks again for the suggestions and comments.
The interesting thing is that the Saturn type planet's rings DO have Fractal Cloud Transparnecy applied but when at that 15% zoom level it looks like solid lines!!
Here's a screen shot taken at 100% zoom! It's not as broken up as I'm sure you and John are suggesting and I may go back later and test that out but those lines are buried under all the stars and not all that easy to get too! http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/frown.gif This is where my suggestion and I can't remember who was it that fleshed it out more for implementing an Object Gallery so that ALL objects are listed and editable at any time with out having to ungroup and move other elements out of the way in order to get to it!! Hope to GOD Charles has this securely on his "to do" list for the next release!!
Oh crap, I guess I will have to dig anyways, I just noticed that the stars in the ringed area are not in front of the planet. Damn!! Oh well! http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/rolleyes.gif Guess I need to fix that before I forget! Sigh...........
Richard,
What about creating a solid ring that would fill the space between the existing rings, make it a rainbow colored eliptical fill with a partial transparency? Maybe?
ron
Richard
The project is getting more and more fantastic with each posting. A truley great piece of work.
The only thing that I would suggest is perhaps to lose the Star cluster speckling around the large planet. Why not try just a hint of atmosphere instead (overdone here), which would still maintain the planets edge? Just a suggestion.
Egg
Richard,
This is looking fantastic!
How about this for a possibility: Reduce the being by 10%, move the small planet in the upper left corner down to the lower left corner, move the large planet up to left center. Other than reducing the size of the space being, I wouldn't change any of the proportions. MAN, this drawing is gonna be so awesome!
ron
Hi Richard,
Looks great so far...
But...
Ughhhh...
Ohhh...
ummmm....
I still don't like the claws...
Thanks John, ughhhh, ohhhh, ummmmmm, I think! http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif
Here's an update taking Ron and Egg's ideas into consideration. Not to worry John, you wish may yet come to pass!! http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif
PS: As of today, this project reached it's 4 month mark!! http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/eek.gif WOW!! http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/eek.gif And more to go......
Richard
The planet looks a lot better removed from the thick star field and with the atmoshere in your latest iteration. Ignore John, the cape is brilliant.
Egg
Excellent work!
But I liked the first version better (with the planet in the lower corner) because it has a better flow and is more balanced than the second version. Also IMO the second version becomes a bit too "heavy" at the top (or "unbalanced"). On the other hand I would probably also resize the big planet a bit so it would not be too much covered by the cape. I made some "flow doodles" to show what I mean - the blue arrows show where something could be added to move the attention to the being. Another common technique to is to flip the image... sometimes the image improves or show inbalances in the work (it has probably something to do with the left and right brains, perhaps Gary can explain it better http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/smile.gif ), but in this case I like the original composition best.
But enought with analyzing the images to pieces! On the whole I really like it: The colours, textures, shadows and highlights, and the pose. As I said excellent work.
Looking good Richard http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/wink.gif
Thanks for the pointers Paul. I think the composition is pretty balanced. I have the main character off center but then the large planet seems to add weight to the side that is on the lighter side. I was always taught to work from the center of the composition out to the outside, kinda like a photographer wanting that perfect shot with just the right balance of subject and surrounding elements. So this will be just fine when it's all worked out. Thanks!! http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/smile.gif
**UPDATED** Here is a cape idea #3 I came up with this AM (07/14/2004). Let me know what you all think! Sketched in PS-CS. John, yes I know, there are claws but you will just have to get over it dude!! http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif
Looks good as long as you do not put claws on it.
i think the original cape is perfect i do like what Paul suggested though about flipping the picture. it seemed more natural to me when it was flipped and the planets stood out a little more
just my unofficial humble opinion
Don't listen to John and keep the "claws" http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/smile.gif Reminds me about Batman's cape (oh how wondered when I was a kid, how he could get those M-shaped waves in his cape)
'Nuff said!! This is the one for sure!! http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/smile.gif
Let me know what you all think! http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/smile.gif Yes, more tweaking here and there and I have to actually build the cape now but WOW, I love inspiration. Just seems to come slower these days to me! http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/frown.gif