Posted on February 24, 2007

• I’ve posted an updated version of “Crucible“. Quite a few of the comments I received on the image centered on the lava not looking quite right so I went back and made some changes. I hope you like them. Some of you also asked if I could post a version without the foreground. Both the previous version and the planet-only version are available in the Pickle Jar.

  I had originally intended this piece to be “planet only” and I had crafted a number of interesting volumetric effects to make it appear that the planet was surrounded by millions of rocks and dense clouds of ash. It would have looked cool, but I couldn’t get the ash clouds to work. They were taking far too long to render properly. So I scrapped that idea and decided to go with the image you see posted.

  I plan on doing a multi-screen version in the next few days and then I will move on to something else.

• I realized when I added the comment system back in October that people would not always agree and that there might be arguments. I have no problem with this. Everyone is entitled to their opinions and are welcome to express them through the comment system.

  I do not expect all of the comments to be positive and if something can be improved I want to hear about it (sometimes I lose perspective when I’ve stared at an image for too long). After all I would not have kept putting my work out for everyone to see all these years if I couldn’t take criticism (believe me, I’ve heard it all by now).

  I would really appreciate it, however, if the discussion could be kept civil and the name calling be kept to a minimum. A good rule of thumb is if you wouldn’t say something to someone’s face, then don’t post it. I am referring to some of the comments made regarding the first version of “Crucible” which you can read here if you are interested.

  Thanks!