Once again, "just" beauty shots, because today is the first sorta-kinda day off I've had in about 10 days, so what happens? You guessed -- big headache. So these are some renders that have been going while I mostly sit tight with the eyes closed and use mind over matter to "will" the headache not to accumulate in my nerve endings!
There's a bit of an ulterior motive behind the art, I guess. I actually set off playing with a prop of a cavalier hat (!) which is giving me all kinds of problems because 1) I need to work out how it rotated to get it to fit properly, and 2) I need to figure out how to tamp down the hair to make said hair NOT show through the aforementioned hat!! These things are not even difficult -- but I can't think properly in 2 dimensions, let alone 3, when I have the headache, so...
The hat actually got abandoned halfway through. It's in the Too Hard For Today basket, and I'll tackle it again later. But along the way I discovered I had this really, really sexy character and couldn't resist doing a few more renders which, of course, suggest a scene.
He went to this creepy old castle to meet someone and wound up nekkid in the candlelight ... and you fill in the blanks as per who he met, and why he's nekkid, and if it's a damsel in distress, or his sweetie from years ago who is now the handmaiden to the Queen of France, or if it's one of his fellow musketeers, and they rendezvous at the creepy old castle for a good snog etc., because if they didn't, they'd soon be seen by the rest of the musketeers ... and if this got back to Cardinal Richelieu there'd be hell to pay.
And who wouldn't head for a castle like something out of Young Frankenstein for a liaison with this guy:
Call this: Three Musketeers: The Untold Story. Like I said, ulterior motives ... and a cavalier hat in the Too Hard Basket for today!
The base model is Michael 4. The skinmap is Raphael (with the beard turned on). The hair is Spartacos. The costume is Leon Clothes, but with all the textures changed out for my own. The background is a wall from the Castle Creator set. The candles are from a set called (!) Candles. There are six or seven lights on the scene and numerous shadows -- but curiously, raytracing made no difference whatever to the shots. Candle glow and smoke were painted in post, in GIMP, using Ron's brushes, Smoke and Bokeh lightsaber.
Hang on, now ...
"Hark, dost thou not hear the Cardinal stealthily approaching? Yea, methinks the time be right proper to make away with all speed."
"Hunh?"
"Grab your pants and run for it, you dope!"
Jade, 14 March (Adelaide Cup Day -- state holiday)
***Posted by MK because the internet is AWOL. Intermittent crap. Be warned, guys: our connection is going to be in and out for a week or two, as of this point: Telstra (or whatever) is doing a lot of work on the landlines in this area. And as you know, if you've been looking at the "poster notes" on these journal entries in my looooong adventure through the world of CG, 3D and digital, even at the best of times we can find ourselves with dialup speeds in this area. This is why MK has been making many posts for me, since Day One -- Keegan has the fast connection, not me! (This should change in the near future, when the cables or whatever are updated, and they stop working on them. At least, s'wot Telstra promises.) Credit where it's due: this blog would not have been possible without the support of a pal with decent internet. Because ours sucks. We moved into this area about six months before I got into Studio and blogging about it, and I almost quit right there: DAYS to download something from the DAZ store, at one point. Argh. Thank gods for friends when you need 'em!
