So much art, so many pictures, so little time for posting anything these days! This has been a time of computer issues, software issues, frustration, exasperation ... what can you say? You do what you can, and "solider on," as always. Alas, something has to go on the back burner, and these days, what I usually have to let go is blogging, which seems a bridge too far in this day and age of Facebook. Someone said to me the other day, "Nobody blogs anymore." I don't think that's true; but 99% of everything now seems to be Instagram and Facebook...

So we'll play catch-up a little here, and post a motley assortment of images from the last month or so. There's no theme, no "thyme or reason" to this; and they certainly aren't included here in order of rendering! Just images, for the pleasure of images. I'm actually thinking of slithering sideways into Instagram. I've joined three or four art groups on FB; it's interesting to show you work where people can comment on it, like it -- or utterly ignore it. I've been wondering for a long time if people are much more about instant ratification -- "shut up and show me the pictures." Blogs aren't well set up for that; they're about ... blogging. Writing and reading. But Facebook and Instagram are ideal platforms for "shut up and show me the pictures."  Hmmm.

I'll stop here, and post again in a few days, play catch-up some more, with another assortment of images. I'll try not to let the grass grow ...! But honestly, this last month has been such a catalog of dismay as first the new computer went haywire, and then the software! I opened a customer support ticket at DAZ, but to date nothing has come of it -- and they're overdue now. Till next time then ...

Sword masters, mages and -- cats!

Lucky I took a look at the DAZ House Cat this morning ... it's on sale right now, and so are several of the packs of poses. So I treated myself to a few items (inexpensive; the lot added together came to $27) and here's the result --

This is delicious! I'd have to call this picture "Irreverence." This is the Mage's study, with all his massive magic books. He's studying dragon-lore (if you could see the open book in CU, you'd see the pictures), and does his cat care? Not a jot! "Let's just roll in the sun on thid big leather book, and maybe I'll sharpen my claws on it!" It's actually a lovely figure:

Ooooh, the possibilities are endless! I'm going to enjoy this. I've just about caught up with images posted here. There's just a few more, the first of which is a set called The Guildhall, with special lighting set up -- Iray loves it.

So I'll have a pleasant afternoon, playing with my new kitty cat! So I'll sign out here, and --!

A new CPU -- and we're back in business here!

 

It's been an eventful anxious and expensive couple of weeks since the last time I posted. My computer entered a "infinite boot loop," which is exactly what it sounds like. It's been in the workshop twice, and four hundred dollars later, its home with a new CPU and ... fixed. The new CPU makes it astonishingly fast, so I'm far from unhappy; the four hundred bucks is another matter!

Now I'm trying to catch up with myself, and not let all those images slip out of my memory -- I had about twenty ideas while the computer was in the shop; now, of course, I can't remember most of them! Well, they'll come back to me eventually -- I hope. So --

-- I'll just start over, and enjoy being able to do this again. Not being able to for a couple of weeks made me realize how much I enjoy this, and how much I actually need art as a creative outlet. Fantasy is very much on my mind at the moment, probably because of the book I'm reading, so --

-- here's a number of V4 and G8F characters and scenes, and tomorrow I have a raft of G8M scenes, and a couple of M4 characters to catch up with. For now, though --

-- numerous experiments are going on here ... water, dForce, shaders, sun-sky lighting ... all kinds of good stuff that goes to "make" images, though props and characters are the last things being experimented with. I'll post in a day or two, with a raft of new stuff. And yes, I

m loving the new CPU!

Willow Creek -- now, this was a challenge!

 

Stonemason's Willow Creek set is enormous ... so huge, it gave me a major challenge. The first time I rendered it, I saw something I haven't seen yet on this PC. The GPU "choked" before the render was complete. Say, what?! That shouldn't happen. So I took the scene apart and figured out what was eating up the GPU space ... swapped out the water shader and changed the lighting model. Phew! With that done the set renders in something like a quarter of an hour. So it was time to get creative! 

The boat was a prop from Cornucopia, back in the days when I dabbled fleetingly in Vue; new shaders and so forth -- it renders nicely in Iray. Our elven hero is CC Foster, slightly tweaked as an elf; and having designed the character specifically for this scene --

Now, that's nice. I like this character a lot. The planes and angles of his face suit the role so well ... must come back to him again soon!