After a very, very long absence ... am I back? I sure hope so!

Richard Vaurien and Sergei van Donne

After a very, very long absence ... I'm back. At least, I hope I'm back. I'm certainly going to try! I've been wrestling with health issues that came close to utterly defeating me, and though I'm still not well, the fact is, I'm bored out of my gourd. So I'm going back to artwork and writing, and nuts to the fact I don't feel so good. My head's going to ache permanently? Fine: be like that. It'll just have to get on and ache, because I'm bored enough to stick out a thumb, just ahead of the next UFO, and bum a ride right out of here. So...

What better place to start than Hellgate. Always my favorite place to "run home" when I need a vacation. I could live there in a heartbeat because I love the places, the people ... everything. All credit to Mel Keegan as the creator of this fantastic universe. [2023 EDIT: the dot-com web address is defunct as of early this year. For some reason, the system utterly denied access to it, and it could not be renewed. Then some joker bought it as a zombie domain name, and MK would have to buy it back at significant cost. Not going to happen, but the web pages are all still there and still viable. Find MK online in the same place.]

I did a lot of Hellgate art years and years ago, and some of it has traveled surprisingly well across time, and some ... hasn't. Generally, it was "okay in its day," but CG art has progressed by leaps and bounds since the last time I dabbled. Michael 4 has become Michael 6, while I was looking in another direction, hunting for my health! Well, I don't have access to Michael 6, or the Genesis figures, or anything remotely similar. But I do know where I am, driving the classic software.

So here's one of my old favorites: Richard Vaurien, talking to Sergei van Donne in the big industrial airlocks on the Wastrel. This is "just" a DAZ Studio raytrace with a modicum of Photoshopping in post-production. No Lux or Bryce involved here. Most textures on the costumes were switche dout for my own textures, and displacement maps added. Depth of field (DOF) is turned ON, and much work was done with lights and virtual camera settings before the whole shebang was raytraced at 3200 pixels wide. Good old Studio 3. Still works -- dead simple, friendly interface. Next, I'll go play with LuxRender!

And just in case you're into Hellgate, here's a wallpaper version  ...

Hellgate wallpapeer: 1600x900

... at 1600 x 900, which suits most monitors. Certainly, if you have Irfanview, you can tell it to "stretch proportionally," and it'll fill the whole screen on a big 26" monitor --

-- like that. Neat. Loads of space on the blank left side of screen for parking icons out of the way, allowing you to keep the art clear. Golly, you'd think it was designed that way, LOL.

So in the days and weeks ahead, look out for new art, with all the bells, whistles and skill I learned and acquired in the seven years since the original art on this blog was done! If I do manage to trade up to new software and Genesis models -- dandy. If I don't, the art will still be suitable eye-candy ... and there's a lot of it, backlogged, from the ten months or so (I know, I know ...) since I had the chance to upload here.

Cross fingers, things are "coming good."

Talk about temptation --!

Have been gone for months -- and for this, my apologies to all. Life has been rough in more ways than you can shake a stick at, and I'm not out of the woods yet by a very long shot. But Smith Micro just emailed to say ... well, okay, they sent their newsletter, on account of I'm on their mailing list! ... and I just had to watch the promo reel for the new version of Poser that's due out today.

Talk abut Temptation! It looks like they've combined the very best of Reality, LuxRender and DAZ Studio, and rolled everything into one smooth-as-silk interface. The new SuperFly render engine is impressive -- to say the least. Where one goes with this is entirely up to the artist. Check this out:

 
 
 And you have GOT to like that!

At the same time, the new Reality is also out -- many times faster than the version I'm using. Ooooh, which to choose?! Sure, switching to Poser will mean a new interface to learn; but I kinda like learning new interfaces, so long as they're well designed, logical, attractive (are you listening, DAZ?!). So, you can see which way I'm leaning right now.

Just a very short post here, largely to touch base and pass along the info that I didn't actually die and go to 3D artist heaven. Only almost.  Like the man said in the movie, "I'll be back." With art. Soon. But not today. It's way up over 100 degrees in the shade, and not even summer yet. I don't do well in the heat, so ... a drink, a cool place to sit, and a book. Yes.

When things go wrong -- you learn something new!

Good old Michael 4 himself ...
The actor: "Screentest, take two!"
(He's pinup size . Enjoy.)

LuxRender: an exterior noonday sun render:
Street scene in Mos Eisley. (Well, that's what it looks like!)

Byce 7 Pro:
A surreal arctic land/seascape with fog and glare

LuxRender: an exterior sunset render:
Sunset in the woods.

WTF?! An all night render, and
Lux gives me crap? Say, what?! And --

Problem could be inherent in the skinmap, because it has gobs of probs
even when you just attempt an old fashioned raytrace, Hmm. But --

LuxRender and a DAZ Studio raytrace of the 100% exact samemodel. You gotta be kidding!

Lovely detail rendering up in the street scene ... LuxRender. Nice.

Extreme closeup in low light ... also LuxRender. Nice!

There's an old saying that you learn a lot more when everything goes wrong than when it's all going smoothly. The old wisdom is absolutely spot on. It's been a long, long time since I had a render go catastrophically wrong and take two days to fix, but I guess you're never too smart to never have this happen!

The other day I had a fancy to create a whole new Michael 4 character. Fact is, I'll be using the old M4 for a while longer at least, because I don't have a spare grand to invest in the Genesis 2 system and new Reality gear. So, if I'm going to be flirting with Michael 4 for the foreseeable future, why not have fun? Cool in theory. So ... okay, one new character coming up. Here's the idea: he's a young actor trying out for a part in a fantasy film. The original idea was to have "ooparts" in there somewhere ... like, a wristwatch, smartphone, camera. In fact, I never got that far!

A new face and phsyique (designed by self), new arrangement of an existing hairdo (Aether hair); one of the really nice skinmaps, with a very good venous map (JM Falcon for M4). Set it all up with a quick series of test renders in DAZ Studio, send it to LuxRender, and --

Urk.  The wheels came off utterly. There's something about this skinmap that Lux hates. I tried a dozen different things to get better results, all to no effect, by which time I was frustrated enough with the process to go right back to Studio and see what I could wring out of a raytrace. Set it up again, and --

Urk. The skinmap is glaring with highlights as if the model is coated up with a gallon of baby oil. I tried everything I know in the surfaces settings to fix this, with absolutely no result at all; and confess to being rather flummoxed. It's been a long time since I abandoned a render! Then, on a whim...

I went into the parameters for the lights. Not the skinmap. The lights. Selected "diffuse only," and did another test render. Well, now. That certainly cured the glaring highlights -- the only trouble being that the "diffuse only" render is so flat, the model now looks like he's wearing a thick coat of body makeup, that "bronzing mud" the catwalk models wear. Then inspiration struck.

The solution was to do two renders and blend them in Photoshop. One shot with the glaring highlights, t'other with the bronzing mud effect. Lay one over the other and fade 'em together till it's juuust right. Then, lay over a blue-gray cast to dial down the brilliant colors, plus a couple of "washes" in the margins of the shot to make them more interesting. Done!

So what you see here is "just" a raytrace, but if I do say so myself, it's a very nice on. Fact: it's way superior to a bad render from Lux. Sure, it ain't gonna  rival the photographic effects they'r getting with Michael 6, whom LuxRender appears to adore; but that's fine. Those days will come.

(Speaking of which, it was mentioned to me that I was "courageous," showcasing the cutting edge figures and art on the blog here, when I know I'm not competing. Courageous? Well, it's not a competition, is it?! And if it were, I know what it'll take to put me on the touchline in front of the Liverpool goal, with the goalie flat on his face twenty yards away. Anybody got a spare grand?! No, I haven't, either! Not right now, anyway.  Next year. Also, am thinking of the thousands of fantastic renders done over several years by great artists in Poser and Studio ... the fact is, if the photographic realism of the later Genesis models, added to the super-realism of the top-end plug-in render engines, will negate all that gorgeous art --! No way. That's not just wrong, it's daft. A great picture will always be a great picture.)

But what went wrong between this skinmap and LuxRender? Search me. I never did get it figured out. And it's not like I haven't used this skinmap before -- I have. A lot! Like ...

L-R, Gil Cronin and Joe Ramos, from the NARC series.
Inspired by, and courtesy of, Mel Keegan.

 ...this one, above, for a start -- posted Feb 15, 2012. Joe Ramos (a key supporting player from Mel Keegan's NARC series of novels) is wearing it. Swoon, am I right? It's a gorgeous skinmap. So what in the name of the patron saint of 3D artists went askew?! if anybody out there knows, drop me an email. You can still reach me at jade @ dream-craft (dot) com. I should mention, for the record, that since Dave and I officially left DreamCraft behind, the domain itself has passed into the hands of Mel Keegan.

Back to the drawing board! There's a lot more to learn about LuxRender ... and it's not to late to learn a thing or two about good old DAZ Studio itself. Experiments will commence, LOL.

Hiding out in the Giant's Cave ... sneaking a peek at Michael 6 ... and more

LuxRender plus DAZ Studio and Photoshop:
Hiding out in the Giant's Cave ... at Morialta!

An old snapshot, taken in 2006 and quite low-rez, provides
the perfect backdrop for the render.

First, raytrace some stone walls and vines on the left.

Second, LuxRender the figure alone, using the same lighting set
as was created for the cave raytrace...

Here's the raytrace test for the shot, which was used as a
map/guide for hand-painting the shadows...

Comparison of LuxRender and the raytrace. Why bother with
an overnight render ...?! You be the judge!

Hiding Out in the Giant's Cave is an idea that sprang to mind just a few days ago, and instantly I had a flash vision of what I wanted to use in the background. Winter of 2006, Dave and I went for a hike at Morialta Falls, and climbed up to the cave, which is set high in a cliff wall overlooking the gorge. The view is spectacular. Though the cameras way back then were low-rez by comparison with today's cameras, the pictures are striking. The weather can be awful at Morialta -- at least at the time of the year when the waterfall will be running. (This is Australia ... you want water in the falls? Then, it's been, or is, raining. Duh.) I remember, on this day in '06 it was drizzling half the time, and cold -- but very beautiful.

Anyway, there was your perfect white-sky backdrop, to which I added some rocks and vines at left, raytraced to complete the illusion of a cave mouth. The rocks are actually Nike Image's The Path, rotated through 90 degrees, and with a lot of heavy bump mapping. Easy to make the cave, and fast to raytrace --

But I hit a snag instantly. I couldn't get the props to load in Studio 4, which is my way of getting onto the Reality bridge across to LuxRender. And I didn't have a lot of time to fight with this, so I thought, "stuff it, render the figure separately, using the same lights, and put the whole thing together in Photoshop."

Which is what you see here. Picture #4 has the figure only. The alpha channel is turned ON in Reality, and -- come back tomorrow for a 3k-samples-per-pixel render. It's a lovely render, and the job of putting it all together was actually pretty simple. Just some touch-up work on the figure, where the mesh showed as a lot of triangles and pyramids (!), and then sky color, clouds, mist, birds, vines and so forth, which isn't a long job at all, using Photoshop brushes.

Am very pleased with the finished picture. You've seen this model before:

Also a Lux render, "the fugitive," from May 11, 2012

...it's the Atlas skinmap by SAV (from Renderosity), though the character face/body is one of mine -- and the above Lux render was the second time this guy had been revamped. Here's the original raytrace, also from May three years ago:

...and that's just about as far as you can drive a raytrace, with  a bunch of painting to make the most of highlights and so on. It's not bad at all ... but still, you can see why LuxRender is such a lure.

Speaking of things which are alluring ... I couldn't resist having a long, hard look at Michael 6, whis is, of course, the second generation Genesis male base figure.

This is what A$50 or so will get you these days:

...and of course, having put down the plastic for the new generation base figure, that's where you start shopping. Now, you want wigs, skin maps, costumes and morphs. So, might as well buy a bundle (link) that has the base figure and several of the above, for "only" about A$175...

And having committed to this upgrade, you're going to want the "mesh smoother morphs," which make the body ultimately malleable (link), able to be posed in any contortion, without the mesh buckling, which was always the problem with poor old Michael 4:

...and for an extra A$40 or so, the line between art/fantasy and reality really is blurring.

So, now you might as well go the whole hog, since you're in over two hundred bucks already, and also get the high-def, high-rez, hand-sculpted add-ons to Michael 6 (link), and be done with it:

...and this one, here ... darned if I can tell this 3D model from the real deal. So your shopping list is going to be the Michael 6 Pro Bundle, which gives you the base model plus a few wigs, a couple of skin maps, some poses and costumes; plus the Ultimate Natural for Michael 6 Body, to get the absolutely perfect body mesh; plus the Michael 6 HD Add-On --

And now you can start shopping for skin maps, toupees, costumes and so forth. As an educated guess, when I upgrade to Genesis 2, I'll need to drop about a grand, Aussie, to get my oars back in the water. Eep. Worth it? Oh, yeah ... when I have the bucks. Check this out:


...and there really is no answer to that! So, yes, of course I'll be going here.

Left: a render appearing over at DeviantArt ... Michael 5 (the precursor to 6) as poster-boy, pinup-boy. The artist has sadly only uploaded two renders, and nothing in years. But it's amazing what's being done with the Genesis figures, even without resorting to the top-end render engines. Have a look at this one, for example! Now, there's pretty. (And if I were a model working in the, uh, artistic category, I'd be starting to get worried, 'cause the stuff that's being done in that zone, with cutting-edge 3D models and the top-flight render engines, is rendering the human element obsolete! Interestingly, the "digital escort, or companion, idea is being toyed with -- pardon the pun -- right now. There's a story at Strange Horizons which is well worth a read: Kenneth: A User's Manual, by Sam J. Miller. Whoa.)

So, yes, of course I'll be upgrading . It's just a question of getting my hands on the cash and at the same time, having nothing pressing to do with it at the time! Right now, if I had a spare grand, well, upgrading software wouldn't be even close to the top of my agenda!

For the moment, I'm just going to chug along, doing what I'm doing -- which is actually having a lot of fun!