Kangaroos at Onkaparinga wetlands ... touching base here

Touching base as a wildlife photographer here, before March expires -- speaking of which, Happy Easter to one and all. You must think I was abducted by aliens -- I vanished again! I actually wasn't abducted, but there have been times when it might have been preferable to what's been going on in Life. Long story short: big tussle with health, family, work, all the things we can't avoid, even if we'd much rather pack our bags and run away from home.

Soooo ... Dave and I managed to get a couple of hours to ourselves on Saturday afternoon, and it had been a long time since we'd been down to the Onkaparings wetlands, so I thought, why not? Breath of fresh air, stretch of the legs. Both of which I  needed.

Imagine our delight when we came upon a family of grey kangaroos! There were actually four of them ... the big male was about two meters tall; the female, half the size, petite and so petty; a juvenile about half the size of Mom, and a very little one, out of the pouch but still very much a baby, of joey, as they're called. I never did manage to get all four in the frame at one time, but I managed three once or twice. They're so timid, you have to be quiet as a mouse, whisssper, and use your longest-reach zoom. I'm lucky -- with the Fuji HS-series camera I'm using right now, I have the equivalent of 730mm --

People ask why I don't used a digital SLR and "proper" lenses. Two reasons: I don't want to have to carry around a huge bag of lenses (oh, I used to!), and second, my eyesight ain't what it used to be, so fine focus would be a major problem. The digital "compact" cameras provide a really good alternative. I love them, and you'd have to offer me an incredible deal on an SLR + full set of lenses, to get me to go back. Especially with these eyeballs!

So, if you're looking for he kind of camera that'll give you a long reach, and not set you back so much money, it'd hurt, you could do a lot worse than look at this ... or try this ... or else this. Now, I'm still using the Fuji HS10, but the HS30 is out. The cameras are physically virtually the same, but the later one has a faster shutter response, an extra 4MP of resolution, it's less of a battery vampire ... better screen resolution, a digital zoom (up to 60x) on top of the 30x optical zoom ... and if you have any have use for a 3D camera, this one will take 3D images. The downside is, it's a leeeetle bit heavier, and switching out batteries is not so easy, because it uses lithium ion, not standard AA cells. For me, at the moment, I'll stick with the HS10, because it's doing everything I need. A friend of mine has the HS20, and the output is so similar, you'd need to be a specialist with abnormal eyesight to tell the diff.

Sorry about the camera talk, if you're not into that kind of thing. But if you are, and you're shopping for something right now, you might be interested to take a look.

 Speaking of shopping -- I just discovered a new site for buying 3D models: Xurge 3D ...

The site is specifically about Poser-format costumes for the 3D characters. I bought a couple and will be testing them later today -- in DAZ Studio, mind you. With any luck, DAZ will read the files properly, and I'll shoot back to Xurge 3D and buy a bunch more while the Easter Sale is still on. Cross fingers, because this stuff is really, really cool. (My problem is that I can't get Michael 4 to load into Poser, because my Poser Pro 2010 is installed on E:\,not C:\, on account of me having a very small solid state boot drive. Makes the PC screamingly fast, but you run out of space just as fast. The Michael 4 installer scrams if you put in any other drive than the C:\ drive, as the target. So I need a bigger C:\ drive, right? Right. Soon.)

The truth is, I have piles of new gear ... skinmaps, wigs, costumes, props, the works, none of which you've seen yet. I just haven't had the time and/or energy and/or braincells to do much art lately. Too much going on in the background -- it's so odd: you'd think you'd relish the chance to indulge in art as a form of escapism, but the work takes the energy of creativity, and I "don't got none" right now. (Which is another thing that makes me want to chew a chunk out of people who dismiss 3D and digital art as "done by a computer." Done WITH a computer, people. You just leave the whole thing up to the computer, and see how much art gets done! People don't understand or respect the amount of skill, vision, creativity and energy it takes to do this kind of art, and do it well. *sigh* Maybe one day.)

What can I say? Bear with me, folks! There are images galore going around in my head, and stories, too. If or when life stops being such a bear, I'll be back with goodies to amuse and entertain. Till then -- well, I'm in the business of surviving...

I'll leave you with a few more pictures from the wetlands, and wish you Happy Easter, 2013!

Jade, March 31 (Easter Sunday)

Ice blue ... and summer rain

I'm in a science fiction mood today, and since I wanted to do a bit of work in Bryce 7 Pro ... and I wanted to work some more in layers, where various elements of a painting are rendered and/or painted separately and composited in Photoshop, I thought -- here goes nuthin'. I had a mental snapshot of an idea ...

If you're sharp eyed, you'll recognize the NARC armor, and you might even guess that this is the planet Aurora, from Scorpio. You'd be right! So here's how it worked:

Step one was to render up the landscape in Bryce:

That's the raw render, right out of Bryce 7 Pro. Not even any stars in the sky yet, much less any snow in the air. But the lighting conditions and mountain forms were exactly what I wanted, so the next step was to go back into Bryce and add the spacecraft:

So far, so good. The spacecraft is an OBP, which is the Bryce version of an OBJ. A long time ago I bought two whole packs of these in a Renderosity sale ... there are so many in the packs, I still haven't looked at them all. They lend themselves very well to work like this. Here's the raw render, begging to be overpainted in Photoshop... 

Stars in the sky, ice dust, engine flares ... nice. In and of itself, this picture is actually finished ... but I'd wanted this to be the background, so the next step was to import it into DAZ Studio to have the figure work done right on top of it...

...and there's the raytrace, just as dished up by DAZ. I set a red light and a blue light out of the frame at bottom right and top right, so they would interact and give the impression that something major is out of the shot -- a vehicle, a building. This also provides some color to an otherwise almost mono-tonal shot. And this is begging to go into Photoshop to have the last layers of painting added...

...colors added into the reflective surfaces of the space armor, and ice dust kicking up in the foreground; there's a light snow falling, and some red/green lens flare, which adds that extra little kick. Incidentally, this, above, is 1900 wide, which should be just about perfect for wallpaper for many monitors...

I used Bruce 7 Pro, DAZ Studio 3 and Photoshop Elements 9, and Irfanview for quick adjustments to brightness, contrast and saturation, on the fly. The armor is a composite of several different models. The .abr brushes are Ron's Fog, Ron's Bokeh Lights and Ron's Snow, all of which you can get from the DAZ marketplace. 

Meanwhile, on the other side of the desk, Dave is doing amazing things in Vue. I think Bryce is better suited to rendering alien environments, and I really enjoy this kind of work. Dave is doing fantastic things in Vue, and he has yet to really test the system since having his RAM doubled. The house move stopped everything dead in its tracks ... grrrr.

But we're done, finished, now, and everything is starting to settle in. In fact, some of the new plants we bought are so happy, they're flowering -- especially as we have some "Irish sunshine" right now. For most of the rest of the week there'll be a lovely, fine, cool rain. It's soooo nice ... and my dwarf hibiscus thinks so, too. Check these out:

I call these "Hibiscus in Summer Rain," and the flowers are absolutely perfect in these shots, since they'd only opened a few hours earlier. The rain is a welcome break for us, in South Australia, but I imagine our cousins in Queensland don't want to see another drop of it! As I write this, they're being hammered by storms, and the hotels on the shorelines in Brisbane and other places are said to be sandbagging, because the ocean is breaking right up to their front doors. Ouch. Dave and I had been thinking of a vacation up there to mark our wedding anniversary, which comes up in March, but ... nope. Instead, we're looking at going back to Mount Gambier, which we loved last year. If you've been following this blog for any length of time, you'll remember the images! Twelve Apostles, the Limestone caverns, the Blue lakes ... you remember. Yes, I think we're quite ready for another adventure! (Enough with the Tolkien references already -- want to know something dreadful? With the house move and all, we haven't seen The Hobbit yet! Later this week. Honestly.)

Jade, January 28 (public holiday long weekend, for Australia Day)

Anyone for a stroll in downtown Mos Eisley --?

In all seriousness, that's a gorgeous skinmap (SAV-Eros), and it fits a few of my characters beautifully. I'm thinking, I might switch Neil Travers over to this skinmap and see what happens. He's currently wearing the Elite Lee skinmap, which is very good, but I've always had a couple of reservations about it, and I have a real feelng SAV-Eros might be just what I was wanting. This skinmap comes with a very, very good bump map, which you can dial up or down at whim, or as per need. One wishes other skinmaps came with better bump maps -- it's the one map which, in skins, is often overlooked, and and undercooked bump map can make poor ol' Michael 4 look like plastic.

I believe the SAV-Eros bump maps are either mostly or entirely hand painted, and what can I say? Fantastic work, guys! Call this a "model review," if you like -- see here for the post where you see the skinmap at work. Now --





Here are some nice renders of that new set I've been talking about in the last couple of days ... they were supposed to be posted yesterday, but (surprise!) I ran right out of time. The set is D'Square, which is from Renderosity, and it's a very, very nice set -- absolutely excellent value at the price, too. It has an almost exotic flavor about it ... it makes me think of "downtown Mos Eisley," the better part of town where the scum and villainy don't hang out! In fact, you can imagine the Millennium Falcon in the sky, departing the Tattooine system with its tail feathers on fire and the local contingent of the Imperial Fleet wondering where it went!

You know, I think I'll try the SAV-Eros skinmap on Neil Travers, and see what happens. This afternoon. See you tomorrow, with the results!

Jade, 7 September

***Posted by MK because the internet is AWOL. Intermittent crap.

Reflections? Yes! We got reflections!

It works! No crashes, no monkey business ... just nice reflections, and opacities, texture handling, the works. And the computer is far, far faster than it was pre-restore. Right now, a render that would have taken 15 minutes takes about three -- it's not just "faster," it's amazingly faster.

Also, this gave me the chance to play with a new toy -- the car. This was a model I bought from a site called VanishingPoint.org, which specializes in machines, and their cars are fantastic.

And this also gave me the chance to load up an old favorite character, who's been seen only rarely since he starred in the somewhat abortive Abraxas project (you remember that one ... web comic project. I'm 60pp in, and it gets judged to be porn! Good grief. No full-on nudity and no sex ... one kiss. Porn?!)

Here he is, at 1:1 size, with me playing around with textures:


Suffice to say, I'm very happy, and playing contentedly!

Jade, 1 May (May Day; also Pagan Pride Day)

Junkyard hunk ... and where *do* you buy 3D models?

I was asked an interesting question the other day -- and this is a great place to answer it properly, because shots like these above are all about props. I was asked, do I make all the models?" And when I answered words along the lines of, "No, I'm not that smart! Well, not yet..." the next intelligent question was, "Where do you get these models?"

Well, you can get 3D models in loads of places, but you need to be careful of three things:

One: make sure you buy a format your software can handle, because if you don't have the import filters, you're sunk, and you could have wasted a lot of money;

Two: make sure you have the computer capacity to handle what you're buying. Some of these models can be hee-uge, and even I can't load the very biggest, with a Quad core and 4G of RAM. 3D models are comprised of polygons, and how much memory you have determines how many polygons you can handle. Do a bit of "due diligence," as they say in the stock trading field, and make sure you can use what you're buying; and

Three: shop around, make sure you're paying a good price. 3D models come in loads of "grades," and if you don't need one that was crafted for use by something like a front-line advertising or movie company, buy something with lower levels of detail, for a lot less money. Also, you can often find the same sort of model at waaay different prices. It's like shopping for shoes -- shop around!

If you're using something like DAZ, Bryce, Carrara, which are the popular ones because they're an the affordable end of the market, you can always import one of the unbiquitous .OBJ files. This is what they call the "geometry" of the model -- or the "mesh" of the model. In fact, it's the object itself, and it loads up, or imports, like a piece of white or gray plastic, waiting for you to slap textures and maps on it.

So you're essentially looking for OBJs and textures, at an affordable price, and at a level of detail your computer can handle. So I'll talk you through a few venues and then give you the links at the bottom of the post...

If you're so new that this that you're still asking the "Where" part, I would really advise starting at the DAZ3D site. It's not that they're cheaper (they can be a bit more expensive, in fact, though they're always having fantastic sales), but they do have a vast range of models and (important!!) the models come packaged in INSTALLERS, so that they unpack and feed themselves directly into the content hierarchy in your DAZ Studio 3 program. (Note: the banner on the left *is* an affiliate link. If you're going shopping, do me a favor and start there! Help feed the starving artist and all that. Thanks!

You can get similar models in other places, but none that I know of come complete with the installer. Elsewhere, your models come in ZIP folders, and these unpack to a set of folders: GEOMETRIES, TEXTURES, POSES, CHARACTER, etc. Once the archive is unzipped, you then have to work out where these folders have to be copied to, in the content hierarchy, so that DAZ Studio 3 can load up the goods. The first few times you do this, it can be hairy.

But if you can work this out, your horizons will broaden considerably. You'll be able to get some fantastic models, and deals from Renderosity, for a start. This is a fantastic marketplace that tends to be quite a bit cheaper than DAZ -- and (but?) the models can be a lot racier, too. If you're looking for adult stuff, this is where you'll find it, albeit within reason. Porn is something else again, and for that -- Google it, I expect. Can't really help you there. Always view the "Read Me" file and make sure you're buying the right kind of model. Renderosity also stocks models for Vue and 3D Studio Max, and if you're using DAZ or Poser and you buy one of these, you're way out of luck.

Another great store is Content Paradise, which is Smith-Micro's 3D model shop. Browsing around here, don't worry about the comparatively silly little sample pictures they give. Everything in the catalog tends to look plasticky, like toys, but they're actually lovely models when you get the ZIP files downloaded and unpacked. However, always make sure you're buying files that suit your software. View the "Read Me" file before putting down your cash. Smith-Micro is the company behind Poser, so the models at Content Paradise are aimed at Poser users, but don't let this stop you, because DAZ Studio 3D, Bryce, Carrara etc., all load up the Poser models just fine. (The poser format is PZ2 -- it looks absolutely weird to a long-time DAZ user, but trust me, it works.)

An up-and-coming store with a fantastic range is Vanishing Point. The catalog is organized very differently, and downloading can be an adventure, but it's well worth the effort. Some of the stuff at Vanishing Point is unique -- you can't get it anywhere else. They also have a great range of "fan based" models. Hunh? Well, you know how people write fan stories, and do fan art, and make fan videos, featuring TV and movie characters? You trip over them, all over the Internet, especially at places like Deviant Art and YouTube. Well, dedicated CG artists also make 3D models featuring the clobber from popular shows and movies. You can get anything from Thunderbird 1 to Imperial Storm Trooper Armor to textures for the Moonraker space shuttle!

Cornucopia has quite a nice model store, but their models are almost exclusively in the VOB format, not the OBJ format. In other words, they're Vue Objects. Now, if you paid several hundred bucks for Vue, you can use these and also export them as OBJs. But here's the problem: I have a fast computer, and Vue crashes me to the desktop so often, I almost hardly use it any more, even though I loved the interface and the work it produces. I need a much more powerful computer before I can get into Vue -- which won't be happening any time soon. Also, the range of models you can get for the free version of Vue (which I'm still using) is so limited, you'll tear out your hair, and all the other models requirw you to pay money for the upgraded software before they'll work -- and why would I do that,when all I ever do is crash to the desktop when running Vue?! Now, if you have a faster computer than mine, and laid down the money, well -- you don't need me to tell you where to go to get your Vue models! Cornucopia, right?

Lastly -- in the affordable range -- you can also get some terrific stuff direct from the individual artists themselves. Some of these people are very, very talented, and a lot of their models are either cheap or free or, "free for a donation," with a PayPal button parked somewhere on the page. How do you find these artists? You can get to them via links at Renderosity and Vanishing Point, for a start, and then there are also directories of working 3d model makers.

And there are other sites, loads of them, that are worth a look (and a drool), but unless you have a ton of money, you can't afford them. Look at Turbosquid ... look at The 3D Studio ... wish you had an unlimited supply of money ...

Links, now:

DAZ's own 3D Model Store:
http://www.daz3d.com/i/3d_models/0?_m=d
Great range, bit expensive -- models packed as installers for beginners' ease of use.

Renderosity:
http://www.renderosity.com/
Fantastic range, cheaper -- models packed as ZIP archives, so you're on your own when it comes to installing them. Take care to buy only the format you can use.

Content Paradise:
http://www.contentparadise.com/
Good range, quite affordable -- models packed as ZIP archives etc. etc.

Vanishing Point:
http://www.vanishingpoint.biz/
Great range, "fan" stuff for free, affordable -- models packed as ZIP archives, etc.

TurboSquid:
www.TurboSquid.com
Vast range, and so expensive, your eyeballs will pop out on stalks.

The 3D Studio:
www.the3dstudio.com
Same as for TurboSquid. Look, drool, and pass on.

Happy shopping!

Jade, 2 January

The squire becomes the knight: Powerage's 3D fantasy armor

Now, there's something mildly spectacular! If you've been with me for some time, you'll remember this guy -- back in the days of Deep Shadow Mapping:

Deep Shadow Map

The squire who became a man-at-arms:

Deep Shadow Map

And now he presents himself to his elders and superiors once more...

Deep Shadow Map

...to receive his armor -- and we'll just jump into raytracing here, because today I can:

The sales are racing through the 3D models markets like chickenpox. People are offering their wares at up to 80% off -- one images, in a desperate attempt to move virtual stock off the virtual shelves. It can only mean that people are not buying -- and I can confirm this, from the other side of the business. As many visitors will know, DreamCraft publishes books as well as providing web services, graphic art, PDF creation, book design, that sort of thing. Well, it's no surprise and no secret that sales are waaaay down, right across the board, in the world of ebooks and paperbacks, so I'm not at all surprised that you can get terrific 3D models at a fraction of their usual prices. In fact, some of these models are selling for 20c on the dollar ... the designers are "taking a bath" in order to get sales.

This morning, I picked up something like a hundred bucks' worth of props and sets -- for $23. And it's very true that the only reason Renderosity persuaded me to open my wallet and give the moths a breath of air was a sale you just couldn't pass by!

One of the things I got was Powerage's Supreme Armor, and I'm impressed. It's a pleasure to work with -- in fact, all of Powerage's models are absolutely top-notch and trouble free. Soon as I looked at this costume, I remembered the squire who became the man-at-arms ... and I still have the old files. Was able to open them and hang the new costume on the old character -- which is cool, because it has to be six months since I worked with that model. In fact, it's eight. I just looked at the properties on one of the original renders: April 20. Time flies!

Also today, I did another Jarrat and Stone promo shoot. The idea is, NARC is a major motion picture, and the company called the actors into the studio for the shots for the publicity campaign. These were the portrait shots. Whoa. This is the second "promo" series I've done for Jarrat and Stone, and I still need a lot more. I've been thinking about a "glamor" shoot, too... Hmmm. Food for thought.

Jade, 13 December

Glamour meets fantasy ... not bad!

Remember I said I'd recently got some new toys from DAZ and Renderosity? You're looking at a heap of them in these shots!

New skin map for Michael 4 -- and it's a heck of a nice one. This is the Victor skin map, from Renderosity. It was on sale, and I couldn't help myself.

The mushrooms are the Mykos set by Poisen -- lovely detailing. (Renderosity)

The ground is The Path, by Nike -- great prop. (Renderosity)

The ruins in the background are Stone Arches for Stone Road, from DAZ. Michael 4 is wearing the Real Jeans (also from Renderosity) and the Noemi hair, which was on sale at DAZ. Further in the background are some Deluze Trees and PNature shrubs, from Renderosity. And the sky is one of my Vue skyscapes.

This set of renders is along the lines of "male glamor photography" ... a male model shoot. The jeans -- they're charcoal, or gray, or washed out black rather than the blue you're used to seeing. Ready for this? I just applied the bump map as the diffuse map! Looks like a whole new garment! Is that sneaky --?

Also, I managed to get the Fantasy Book from DAZ, which is an articulable model (say that three times fast after you've had two chardonnays too many) and the Commander starship interior set ... and obviously you don't see them here! Both are lovely, though the book is very, very hard to install, even though it comes from DAZ. It's almost like the file structure they used when the model was made is now obsolete. Just doesn't work. I did manage to get it to install, but some of the textures don't apply properly. I'm working on it...

Jade, 13 July

***Posted by MK: my connection is intermittent, too slow for this. Seriously, guys, I've got dialup speeds. How are you expected to do anything these days, at 1990 dialup speeds?!!!