3D illustrations...

[1alexie]

I am not good on 3D programs, your works look nice. I really like the second photo as it features Japan.

[Gamerprinter]

Yes, agreed, patience is not a virture I have! Sometime in the late 1990's, I was looking at some 3D software, really wanting to try one out, but most were way out of my price range. Raydream Studio, quite low end compared to most was still $500. Then an attorney client of my graphic design studio, asked if I could create a 30 second animation of an accident in 3D. I considered what I needed, got a rough price of what that might cost a client, and reduced it to 10%, which was $1200. Here I was pricing a service, when I didn't even know how to use 3D at all. The client accepting the cost, "authorized me" to spend the $500 and I got Raydream, with a 30 day deadline on the project. I ordered Raydream and spent the first 2 weeks pulling my hair out, trying to wrap my brain around working in 3D, and eventually "figured it out". So I spent the next week and a half designing the animation, and the last days trying to render a 640 x 480 pixel, 30 second animation at 1 frame a second. It took three days to render that out - then I discovered that the shadows were too dark. So I adjusted the light level, to lower the shadow saturation and rendered it again, for another 3 days. After I was done, I submitted to the client and he was pleased, and paid me!

Since that time I tried a bunch of different 3D programs, some over $1000 with annual licenses, those I only spent 1 years worth and didn't renew. I used to Nichimen Nendo as a $20 subdivisional surface modeler, and learned to become expert in it. Nendo is gone, but Wings 3D is based on the same code, so it's almost the same program - some things it cannot do, but others it can, and I'm expert modeling most anything out of it. Vue Creator was just the most affordable option I could do right, which is $20 a month on a subscription. While there are certainly better 3D terrain generators than Vue, still that software is used in movie/television VFX, which is good enough for me. I found it easy to grasp, but then I do have 20+ years experience using other 3D software, to get me moving quickly. I need something to create quality illustrations for my various publishing projects. Xara is just fine for me to create professional maps for the gaming industry, but my normal art is hit or miss. 3D solves my current needs and why I use it.

[MarcT]

Nice images Gamerprinter!
There's a lot of work involved.

I find Xara an excellent tool to assemble 3d images and edit them via bitmap editing with photoshop's nice transform tools (warp, tranform, liquifiy...).

Marc

[RKissane]

Michael,

Have you ever tried Blender? I have seen a lot done with it and what I have seen looks impressive. Looks to be pretty good for the cost of a donation. I don't know 3D so it may not fulfill your needs.

Ray

[Gamerprinter]

Michael,

Have you ever tried Blender? I have seen a lot done with it and what I have seen looks impressive. Looks to be pretty good for the cost of a donation. I don't know 3D so it may not fulfill your needs.

Ray

I actually downloaded Blender, and while it is very capable, consider how Xara products are so user friendly, Blender is the opposite of that, while Open Source (so no cost), and capable of the most complex 3D operations, it's not easy to use at all. I'm dragging my feet moving forward using it. Have you see the user interface - ugh! It's terrible.

[Gamerprinter]

Next 3D scene, the swampy jungle moon of the kappa race, slave laborers of the Oni of Jigoku, a gas giant that this moon orbits. Kappa are small, turtle/frog cross humanoids of Japanese folklore. Created in Vue Creator, a 3D terrain generator and Poser 11, to custom create the kappa in the foreground ... enjoy!

[Gamerprinter]

This is Wa Station, located on a water world that features two small islands and extensive shallow continents for the ningyo (merfolk) and same-bito (shark shapechangers) that inhabit this sea world. The Kaidanese have built Wa Station to both study the seas, and have a secret hiding place within orbit of Jigoku, which this like many of the worlds presented are moons of the gas giant. The Kaidanese have recruited the same-bito into a fighting force of armored ashigaru... enjoy!

[andrewpintado]

The interface is a complete mess....

[andrewpintado]

Have you tried Hexagon and Sculptris?

[Gamerprinter]

No, haven't tried either Hexagon or Sculptris. For modeling I prefer Wings 3D, because it's based on Nichimen (Izware) Nendo, which I used for 10 years, before switching to Nendo, when that app was no longer supported.

Well I'm back doing the corridors and bays map tile set, which I've only got two left to create before I will prep it for release.

This is a bay that could fit multiple purposes. It could be a cooling pool holding fissionable materials, it could be a sewage/water treatment facility, it could be a plankton growing pool for needed proteins for the food replicators. But it's a water filled chamber with a tranparent bridge crossing it, and some kind of mechanical system under the water's surface...

As it is now, the tile set will be 36 each, double-side printed, full color map tiles to 8" x 10" cardstock, sold through DrivethruRPG.com