Magic Happens ... Happy Post 500! I still came up utterly blank when the day came around, so I thought, what the heck? It's Post 500, which is magic in its own way. Five hundred! So why not a study in light and shadow, filled with magic and mystery?
Just the one render, folks ... sorry! My life has been a commotion worthy of Steve Martin and Jim Carey at full throttle, also starring the Face Hugger from Alien, and featuring a cameo spot at the end where Sigourney Weaver and Sam Worthington stand shoulder to shoulder with flame throwers and level them whole shebang. (Seriously ... it's been chaos, and will continue to be chaos for a while, but Dave and I have things halfway under control. By Day Three of whatever the current bust-up you get a bit overwhelmed -- you know what I mean!)
Click on the smaller of the two shots above -- I uploaded it at 1:1 so you can see the whole thing. It's 800x1000 pixels, so it would also look a treat coming off the printer.
It's Michael 4 wearing the Spartacos hair, the Leon pants and boots, the Lockwood shirt -- but all the textures have been switched out for my own. He's standing in a bit of set made up of mix and match odds and ends by DanieNMaforno (DM), which came from object sets from Renderosity -- with the exception of the lectern with the magic book, which is from ADS The Wizard's Study. Then --
The lights! They're are only four lights on this believe it or not! I put a point light in the giant crystal ball, and another one in the lantern. There's one "skylight" set overhead and slightly closer to the camera than Michael, and it's dark blue, and the last one is dim bronze, and it's parked outside the gateway, with the shadows turned ON. Next --
The Photoshop brush effects! These are .abr brushes by DesignFera (Energy globes), and Ron (Bokeh Lightsaber), and there also the moon in there as another brush, but for the life of me I can't remember whose brush set that comes from. (Anyone??) The brushes were used in GIMP, though, not in Photoshop. Who in the world can afford Photoshop?! I was in Office Works this afternoon, and even Photoshop Elements 9 is up to about $275! Ummmm ... I think I'll stick with GIMP!
Otherwise, no post work was necessary. The whole thing just fell together due to the interplay of the colored lights, and the single-shadow-source outside the gate.
Happy Post 500!
Jade, 4 April
