12/8/19
Season of Light (Updated!)
Multi-Screen Render
I've been spending the last week learning how to use Unreal Engine so there isn't much to report on the new render front. I did listen to a few Member requests for a version of "Season of Light" with multi-colored lights. Figuring out how to do it in Plant Factory was a welcome distraction from figuring out the byzantine options in UE4. I can see some interesting uses for the method so stay tuned :-)
My experiments with UE4 haven't born any fruit to show you just yet but that did create an interesting Vue d'Esprit byproduct that I may be able to show you soon! These sorts of "secondary projects" will go a lot faster when I have Rochallor built. What's that you ask?...
Have I mentioned that I would love to replace Bucephalus with something new??
Non-watermarked lossless 8K version available to Lifetime Supporters and Plus Level Members (and above). Dual and triple-screen versions are available!
12/2/19
Season of Light (Merry Christmas!)
Multi-Screen Render
My first version of "Season of Light" (2005) featured the traditional fir tree so I wanted to do something a bit different this time. Around my neck of the woods you will often see bare deciduous trees bedecked with lights so I I thought I would try my hand at something similar using Plant Factory. It's a different vibe from the original but I hope you enjoy it!
Check out the my entire Christmas gallery here!
Christmas present for Ryan?? Have I mentioned that I would love to replace Bucephalus with something new??
DB Cyber Monday!
- Zazzle: 60% off canvases and 50% off Calendars (CODE: CYBRMONDYNOW)
- Displate: 33% off (up to 41% off if you buy more) (CODE: CYBER)
- DecalGirl: 30% off (CODE: CYBER30)
- Society6: Up to 50% off and free shipping
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11/27/19
Sundered Mountain (Winter)
Multi-Screen Render
I created this version of Sundered Mountain a couple of weeks ago but decided to hold on to it until people were a bit more ready for a Winter scene. Not sure if that people are truly "ready" yet (I'm not ready for Winter myself!) but here it is :-) I hope you enjoy it!
Here's the night version if you missed it before.
Have I mentioned that I would love to replace Bucephalus with something new??
Non-watermarked lossless 8K version available to Lifetime Supporters and Plus Level Members (and above). Dual and triple-screen versions are available!
I want to wish all of my American fans a safe and happy Thanksgiving!
11/23/19
The Pioneer Spirit (Night)
Multi-Screen Render
I had been meaning to do a night version of "The Pioneer Spirit" for a while but I got a bit sidetracked with other projects. Late last evening I was able to put everything else aside and create this much darker version. This was another project rendered on my 9 year old Bucephalus workstation while finishing a new Christmas piece on Shadowfax.
Have I mentioned that I would love to replace Bucephalus with something new??
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11/20/19
Badlands (Night)
Multi-Screen Render
I know some folks always prefer darker scenes for their desktop (myself included) so I thought it wise to create a nighttime version of "Badlands". Created and rendered on my Bucephalus workstation during breaks from working on a new Holiday piece on Shadowfax.
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11/11/19
Badlands
Multi-Screen Render
More work learning how to do different types of erosion and texturing with Gaea. A lot of the same techniques that went into "Aspen Lake" are evident here but I decided not to cover up the textures with trees or other plants this time :-)
I hope you enjoy it!!
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11/11/19
Aspen Lake (Autumn)
Multi-Screen Render
I took an informal poll on social media recently asking when folks transitioned to a winter wallpaper. It turns out quite a lot of folks wait until at least December so I decided to attempt one more Autumn render for the year.
This one started out in Gaea as something quite different but I think it works very nicely as an forest scene. I hope you enjoy it!!
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11/4/19
Sundered Mountain (Winter/Night)
Multi-Screen Render
As soon as the Autumn version of "Sundered Mountain" was finished I knew I was going to attempt at least a couple of seasonal variants. Step one was to edit my mountain in Gaea and add a bit more snow...
I hope you enjoy the result. I may have another winter version to post in the days ahead...
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10/26/19
Bad Moon Rising (Happy Halloween!)
Multi-Screen Render
I told myself I wasn't going to do another Halloween render this year but I found myself building a spooky forest and one thing lead to another. A little bit of Sleepwalkers and a dash of Midnight Trooper. I hope you enjoy it and have a safe and happy Halloween!!
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10/18/19
Homeworld
Multi-Screen Render
Exploring how to create different kinds of craters using Gaea here. I still have much to learn. As usual I debated whether or not to add a human to this but in the end decided against it. All of humanity hangs there in the void.
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10/15/19
Water Is Life (Night)
Multi-Screen Render
My original "day version" was set at dusk with a low hanging moon reflecting in the water. I ended up changing the sun position (making the moon position impossible) but I've been able to realign things for the night version. I hope you enjoy it!
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10/14/19
Water Is Life
Multi-Screen Render
I was browsing social media and came across a livestream from the main developer of Gaea (a cool gentleman named Dax Pandhi). He was describing a technique for "warping" dunes around rocks and it looked like something I wanted to try for myself.
In the background you will see some of my other early attempts, but I decided to do something a bit more ambitious for the foreground. I'd done oases before but never viewed from the desert. I hope you enjoy it!
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10/11/19
Two Jack O'Lanterns (Happy Halloween!)
I have a confession to make. I actually created this scene last year but the rendering wasn't finished until early November so I stashed it away.
It's an update to and old favorite called "Two Pumpkins (Jack o'Lanterns)" from nearly 20 years ago. This time I modeled the jack o'lanterns using Oculus Medium. (Haven't really touched Medium since Jason stole my Rift to play Beat Saber)
Anyway I hope you enjoy it! Maybe I'll do another Halloween render this year but I'm having too much fun exploring Gaea (stay tuned!).
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10/04/19
Sundered Mountain (Autumn)
Multi-Screen Render
I mentioned back when I posted "Autumn Cove" that I'd used Gaea to create a mountain scene but then left the mountaintop off when I framed my scene. Here is a much wider view of the scene.
To be honest, this isn't exactly the same mountain. I did a few tweaks in Gaea before zooming out. The trees are a bit different too than in "Autumn Cove", with less "non-Western" varieties. It's a bit less colorful but I think a bit more realistic.
I hope you like it! As the title suggests, I will be returning to this scene...
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9/30/19
The Pioneer Spirit
Multi-Screen Render
You may have noticed that I've been working to learn a new terrain modeler (called Gaea) for the past couple of months. I created this particular piece to get some practice texturing and shading my landscapes (specifically on high-slope areas). Hope you enjoy it!
This render was created on my old Bucephalus workstation while Shadowfax renders another new project. Stay tuned!
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9/23/19
Autumn Cove
Multi-Screen Render
Happy first day of Fall! Working with Gaea here to create a realistic Autumn mountain scene. In the end though I decided to leave off the mountaintop. Believe me, there's quite a bit more beyond the frame here (watch for the multiscreen soon!).
My first version of this had a uniform distribution of trees going up the hillside, but I thought it would be more interesting to have the autumn colors transition to evergreens with altitude.
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9/11/19
Misty Ridge (Autumn)
Multi-Screen Render
It's my birthday today (huzzah!) and if you've been following DB for a while you may have noticed that my favorite birthday hobby is posting new renders. You guys have been great to me so I would rather give you the present :-)
As the leaves start to change I start thinking about Autumn renders. I'd known since posting "Misty Ridge" in June that I was going to do an Autumn version but I didn't know at the time how taxing it would be on my machine. It really pushed Shadowfax to its limits but I hope the result was worth it.
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9/9/19
Endeavor
Multi-Screen Render
Digging deeper into Gaea here to learn more about using different starting shapes to make (hopefully) interesting landforms. Just scratching the surface here so I'm pretty excited about the possibilities.
I'd added a little traveller for scale but decided at the last minute to remove him. Maybe I'll put it in the Pickle Jar later. I hope you enjoy it!
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9/2/19
Hyperion
Multi-Screen Render
Still working with Gaea here, learning a new erosion mode (deposits). The gas giant was created using Lightwave and the moons are all Vue planetary terrains.
I had thought initially to recreate "Majesty" but the foreground doesn't really match the original all that well. I hope you like it regardless :-)
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8/28/19
Carved By Time
Multi-Screen Render
I mentioned last time that I've been diving deep into learning how to use Gaea with Vue. "Snowtop", "Waypoint", and "Chione" have all featured Gaea landscapes and this time I thought it would be interesting to do a desert scene.
With this one I explored a lot of the different erosion modes in Gaea and how they interact. I have a lot more to learn but I thought this scene turned out nicely. Hope you enjoy it!
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8/26/19
Chione
Multi-Screen Render
When I posted Snowtop a little while back I mentioned that it was an experiment learning Gaea. Quite a few folks left comments here and on social media indicating that I should post more Gaea experiments when I had them. I have a couple such projects in the works and this is the first.
"Chione" (named for the Greek goddess of snow) continues my study of Gaea's snow cover node (which I also used in Snowtop). I hope you enjoy it!
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8/19/19
Waypoint (Night)
Multi-Screen Render
If you've been following my work for a while now you will have noticed that sometimes I like to imagine magical portals linking my worlds. Waypoint was planned from the start to depict one such portal. The day version shows it "closed" while this night version shows it opened and ready for use :-)
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8/15/19
Waypoint
Multi-Screen Render
I've been tinkering with this one for quite a while now and the time has come to post it and move on. I've actually created two other renders based on elements I created for this scene. Midnight Sun uses a variation of the foreground and I created Snowtop using a variation of the background mountain here.
The "waypoint" was created using Medium and more will be revealed about its purpose in the near future :-)
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8/7/19
Snowtop (2019)
Multi-Screen Render
Gaea is a lot like Plant Factory for terrains. It's a powerful, deep program that I've only barely started to learn. I hope you don't mind seeing more experiments like this as I teach myself the ropes. If the title sounds familiar please see this Bryce render from 20 years ago :-)
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8/4/19
Origami
Multi-Screen Render
I've been spending the past few days learning how to use another 3D Fractal program called Mandelbulber. So far I've created quite a few different renders but this is the first one I think has been worthy of my gallery. I may add a few of them to the Pickle Jar after a while.
The goal here was to create a fractal that doesn't necessarily look like one. I'm also looking to avoid triggering anyone's trypophobia like my last attempt.
Let me know what you think in the comments. Hope you enjoy it!
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8/1/19
A Moonlit Night in Paradise
Multi-Screen Render
So happy that you guys are enjoying "Rainy Day in Paradise". I thought it would be fun to create a night version but I left out the rain this time. Initially I just had a light inside the bungalow, but decided the image was much more interesting with a campfire on the beach. Hope you enjoy it!
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7/29/19
A Rainy Day in Paradise
Multi-Screen Render
This is the third "minor" render I've created on Bucephalus while my "main" machine was rendering another project. That one is nearly finished but I'm sure glad I have a spare machine.
For this scene I tried something I haven't really worked a lot with before...rain. I still have a lot to learn but I hope you enjoy it!
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7/27/19
Furcati
Multi-Screen Render
I decided to do one more revision of my new landscape on Shadowfax. While it rendered I started another Plant Factory doodle on my old Bucephalus workstation.
If you've been following my work for a while you'll recognize my fascination with branching structures (recall "The Spark"?). This scene is a continuation of that theme. This time the geometry was modeled using Plant Factory and the scene rendered in Vue.
My new landscape should be finished soon so stay tuned :-)
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7/22/19
Unfolding
Multi-Screen Render
Something odd I doodled in Plant Factory on my Bucephalus workstation while my main machine was busy rendering another new project. This is just one of many many abstract shapes and configurations I came up with. Possibly autobiographical.
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7/21/19
Health Update
So I've mentioned before that my Crohn's Disease has returned but I haven't really said what that means. Some of you may have some experience with the disease but it effects different people differently. My problem is...7/14/19
The Midnight Sun
I learned a few weeks ago that my Crohn's Disease was back after a 10 year remission. I'd honestly forgotten that I had a horrible chronic disease until some familiar symptoms started occurring again recently.
Needless to say I've been stressing a bit and this newest render is most likely a manifestation of that. The medical bills have already started rolling in ($2000 for a colonoscopy!) so if any of you would like to help out with them please hit up my tip jar!
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7/9/19
Neptune's Garden
Multi-Screen Render
I was watching a nature documentary on Netflix recently and briefly glimpsed a scene of coral standing before a billowing kelp forest. The contrast was so striking I decided I had to try and emulate it using my tools. The coral and kelp were both modeled using Plant Factory. The title calls back to a similar (but less colorful) scene I created using World Builder way back in 2000.
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7/3/19
Twilight Sonata (Happy 4th!)
Multi-Screen Render
Not sure I am 100% happy with how this one turned out, but I thought it would be a fun exercise to create fireworks using Plant Factory and I wanted to post it before the 4th of July. There were definitely some challenges but I hope you enjoy it nonetheless. It will probably go in the Pickle Jar on 7/5 :-)
If you are celebrating Independence Day tomorrow I hope you stay safe, cool, and have a great time.
Non-watermarked lossless 8K version available to Lifetime Supporters and Plus Level Members (and above). Not sure if I have time to render the multiscreen of this one before 7/4 :-(
6/28/19
Sunrise Sonata
Multi-Screen Render
My last two renders have been a bit on the stranger side so I thought it might be a good time to do something with a little more universal appeal. I created "Sunrise Sonata" over the course of a single morning this week on Bucephalus and rendered it while "The Opening" was finishing up on Shadowfax.
You know I love a good tropical scene from time to time and I hope you do too!
Non-watermarked lossless 8K version available to Lifetime Supporters and Plus Level Members (and above). Multiscreen versions are on the way!
