Posted on June 2, 2011

I added “Dødenfell” to the gallery this afternoon. I’m proud to say it is my first project designed and rendered entirely on my new workstation (Bucephalus). A huge thanks to all the Members and people who pitched in (over $3000!) so I could work with such an insane tower of technology!

After the Chaiten volcano in Patagonia erupted a lot of people sent me pictures of lightning in the ash cloud and asked if I could do something similar. I received more photos last year after the Eyjafjallajökull eruption. At long last the new version of “Vue d’Esprit” (9.5) adds the ability to limit clouds to a certain area, freeing me to make all sorts of “cloud sculptures”.

This one started as a thunderstorm but as I was working on it I was reminded of the volcano and decided to go in that direction. I would say that I am happy with the top 3/4 of the piece but the bottom could still use something. I thought it looked nice enough to post as is however.

My son Ian drew me a picture of this scene and suggested that I call it “Death Mountain”. I suppose that works too. His version did give me an idea about something I may add to a future render however.