Mixed Media

[Tron]

I thought I would start this thread because as the name implies it is mixed media creations. We of course use our baby Photoshop in conjunction with other media types all the time (that is what we do here), but there are times ( and I have quite a few) where we use 2 or 3 or maybe 4 or 5 different programs in the creation of an image. So I thought a Mixed Media thread might be in order.

Only rule is that you must itemize all the different media types you use to create your images. [confused] [confused] :B

So to start it off I have created the below image.

The amazing Castle and surrounding terrain are a new free prop for Poser, available at Rederosity free stuff, from JS Software, and thanks to them for providing this excellent type of model to the graphic community as a freebie.

The background picture(sky part) comes with the same package, however I modified it by including a seascape I rendered in Terragen.

The dragon is of course from DAZ 3D - Poser

My pirate ship was modeled in 3ds - it was made available as a freebie and the modelers name was not included [slick]

So - I rendered the castle part in Poser, then on a new image in Poser did the dragon and on another Poser render did the ship.

I Photoshop I combined the Terragen image with the free sky scape and after all that was done I took it all into Photoshop to combine the various layers. Did some post work blending the various components together and there you have a mixed media image.

The castle scene and the seascape would have provided a nice enough image by themselves, but I'm a nut for sailing ships and the dragon seemed to go with the castle so there it is

Hope you like it.

PS. You shoud see it at 1300 pixels wide - the detail is amazing

 

[wbiss]

Very nice, whimsical composition, Rick! It has a real storybook quality to it!

 

[Captain Chickenpants]

I have been looking at Terragen a bit myself. It seems quite powerful if you know what you are doing, especially if you start using a few of the plugins available for it.
One neat trick is the ability to make it render masks for your scene, to be used for further image editing in Photoshop etc.

I am currently looking at doing an Iceberg scene, using the Strata overlay capabilities in the Sopack plugin to try and get a kind of bluey gradient in the edges of the Icebergs.

CC

 

[Tron]

Thanks Wendy yea I guess it is kind of story book. I made some changes in the final render, took out the dragon and gave the pic a bit of a canvas texture. If you want to see a larger version it's here
http://www.mts.net/~ricki01/photos/jscastle.html

CC don't forget to show us how you are making out with Terragen

 

[Stroker]

Poser, 3DS Max, and Photoshop.

 

[wbiss]

Looks awesome, Rick, at full resolution!

Good title "Storybook Castle"!

[shhh] I'm just curious as to why you took out the dragon??? [confused]

IMHO, he added that extra element of whimsy to your storybook creation...

 

[Tron]

A new one I did today

Space vehicles 3dMax, rendered in Poser
Planets Truespace5
Composited, starfield and post work in Photoshop CS.

BTW all my shortcut keys work

If any of you space nuts would like a copy of the font I used here (same as used on the Deep Spage 9 series) I posted it over on Gares thread

 

[wbiss]

Good work, Rick! :}

 

[Chester]

nice work rick.. i like it!

 

[gidgit]

I really like the castle pic Rick ... very nice composition indeed... dreamy like...

Hey Stroker... cool stuff... hope that is only paint eh ....or is it blood, as a symbol of the pain inflicted through the tortures of creation... gee, I better take a closer look at my own hands... because I am always feeling tortured when it come to creat'n stuff hehe

 

[Tron]

Terragen, Poser and Photoshop

Someone did a similar pic I saw on one of the boards - can't remember which one - and I wanted to give it a try.

Think this is where Wendy gets her elephants.

 

[Tron]

Been playing with the Firefly render engine in Poser, trying to understand relections. ake about triple the render time once you enable raytracing, but it's coming along [confused]

 

[Alistair]

Poser, 3DS Max, and Photoshop.

I like! Maybe the blood should only be on the hand. :\

 

[wbiss]

[saywhat] Oops... I totally missed your "bloody creation", Stroker! Now there's a picture that paints a thousand words... I love the concept!

Rick... The elephant scene is cool! And I think that the kitty reflection in the mirror would be hilarious as a lion! Great compositions, as always... :}

 

[Tron]

Thanks Wendy - I'm not really happy with the elephants yet - think I will rework it a little :B

 

[wbiss]

I like 'em! I like those ephalents!

Ah well, it's YOU in the end that has to be satisfied, Rick!

[shhh] I could have used one of those elephants today! Seems like everybody was out there starting their Christmas shopping today and traffic was a b****!!!! [doh]

 

[Nikkie]

Wow what a thread!!! :}

I love these contributions

Very nice challenge Rick

Nikkie

 

[Tron]

WIP

This is in progress, using Poser, Terragen and Photoshop and anything else I can find in my bag of trickery.

It certainly is not finished but I have about 20 hours invested so far and because of all of the characters involved my poor old Dell P4 won't stand the strain of manipulating these many all at once in Poser. Therefore the figures are created as single figures in Poser and imported onto a Terragen background in Photoshop.

Having said that my task is to make the figures look at little more like they belong, I have used shadowas and tried to pay attention to the light direction, but I am still not quite happy.

Any constuctive suggestions on how I can make them fit in a little better would be appreciated - like a little snow on thier boots or the like.

The top layer on the image has the snow storm and can be eliminated, but I am trying to show the hardships encountered and I think this helps

The theme of course is Hannabal crossing the Alps,

I though mabey a horse foundering in the snow might add the the idea of the hardship [confused]

anyway thanks for looking

of course this copy of the image has been jpeged to death so keep that in mind.

 

[wbiss]

[stuned] That's a really great scene, Rick!

Man, I have to study it a bit more but straight of the bat I would recommend that you create the aura of the wind that you're showing in your snow storm by having your characters react to it... i.e. elephant tails/ears blowing in the direction of the wind...hair, clothes and that sort of thing.

Also, if you want to stick with the snow storm (and it does create a lot of ambiance to do so), I would suggest adding more realism to it by creating your snow on various layers, depicting various depths visa vis size and clarity of flakes... understand?

 

[Tron]

Wendy you asked for this so here it is

It's not always how others see us, but what we think of ourselves that really matters.