Posted on May 30, 2014

So I spent the past few days trying to get this scene to render in under half the time, yet also without the noise that has plauged the earlier versions. In addition to tweaking the renderer I’ve decided to lose the transparency/refractions.

This version renders faster, is cleaner, and I think also has better contrast. The savings in render time allowed me to add a bit of volumetric light as well.

Dual and triple-screen versions are available as well.

Let me know what you think!

Posted on May 26, 2014

Here’s my nearly final version of “Inner Space”. I thought it would be interesting to introduce some purple into the mix. Let me know what you think!

Posted on May 24, 2014

While waiting for a couple of renders to finish I thought I would tackle a site feature that many have requested.

It’s long been possible to buy someone a Membership using a Gift Certificate. My Pay-It-Forward program allowed one to renew a random Member (as a random act of kindness) but it has never been possible to purchase a renewal for an active Member (and thus keep alive the Membership that was initially given).

To fix this I’ve added a Gift Renewal page where all you need to do is enter the recipient’s username or account email address to get started.

It would seem to me that such a renewal would be the perfect gift. After all, the recipient has already shown that they enjoy my work enough to go the extra mile and become a Member.

Let me know if you have any questions or suggestions!!

Posted on May 20, 2014

Continuing my experiments with e-on’s “The Plant Factory” here, exploring possibilities beyond greenery. Here’s a development photo showing TPFs “Grow on Mesh” capability with a non-continuous object.

Sorry the first draft is a little grainy. I used Lightwave’s native renderer here because F2 (my preferred Lightwave renderer) doesn’t work with Lightwave’s new instancing. I will work on cleaning it up for future renders.

Let me know what you think!

Multiscreen users: I have a 7680 x 1600 version of “Endless Blue (Night)” rendering now on Asfaloth. I hope to have it ready soon!!

Posted on May 16, 2014

Here’s a scene that I started on Asfaloth while I waited for “Endless Blue (Night)” to finish rendering on Bucephalus. It’s was inspired by “Relics” from 2000, but I thought it would be interesting to focus down the barrel. I modeled the barrel using Lightwave and then used the “grow-on-mesh” capability of The Plant Factory to create the vines.

Let me know what you think. I know it’s a bit different…