Author: Ryan
Posted on April 4, 2013
Added “Jelly (2013)” to the Members Gallery this afternoon. Dual and triple-screen images are available.
I’ve wanted to update my jellyfish from 2000 for quite a while now but for some reason never got around to it.
Anyway, I was aiming for a bit more color this time around and to create a better sense of depth. I’ve played with adding more than one of these creatures to the scene but I think it works nicely with one (and works better as a homage to the original).
People are (rightly) fascinated by alien life from other worlds, but mind-boggling creatures do exist on our very own planet…
Let me know what you think of the update!
Posted on April 4, 2013
Around where I live we are still waiting impatiently for Spring to arrive. I’ve gotten so tired of the cold and gloom that I thought it would be therapeutic to create a new Spring wallpaper.
I’ve added “Sakura (2013)” to the Members Gallery this morning. I’ve wanted to update this piece for a long time, due to the fact that the cherry blossoms on the 2006 trees are actually 2D planes that lose detail closer to the camera.
Vue 11’s new “360 Ecosystems” finally allows me to create a proper flowering tree using 3D blooms. I’ve used this tech so far to create Christmas lights and a few glowing blooms but this is my first attempt at cherry trees.
This render itself is actually a “first draft” and there are a few aspects that I would still like to tweak, but I thought it came out nice enough to share while I render my revisions.
If you are curious, the scene contains over 98 billion polygons and took over 38 hours to render at 4096 x 2560. I’m hoping to cut down the render time for future versions.
Let me know what you think in the comments. I hope you like it!!
New Resolution:A lot of Members have been asking me if I could cover the new 21:9 (2560 x 1080) monitors that are coming out so I have finally added around 90 of my latest wallpapers in this format. You will find them in the “single screen” column on the image pages and the zip file is available at on the Downloads page.
Posted on April 4, 2013
By request, here‘s a day version of my Arrakeen render. Of course, my original vision was far darker and more ominous but I do like to provide options. I tried to make this one as bright as the other was dark so to provide a true contrast.
If you swap between the two images quickly you would probably notice that some building and rocks have moved. The reason for this is that certain elements looks fine in the shadows but needed to be retooled for the day version. Hopefully it isn’t too jarring for folks.
And yes, the center figure hasn’t moved. Let me know which version you prefer!
Posted on April 4, 2013
Sticking with the “minimalist” theme, I have added “Arrakeen” to the Members Gallery this afternoon. Dual and triple-screen versions are also available.
This piece was inspired by one of my all-time favorite novels: Frank Herbert’s “Dune“. I realize it is a bit dark in spots, but I wanted a good deal of shadow between the desert and the Shield Wall.
I still have the hard-back copy of “Dune” that to my Mom gave me for Christmas way back in 1984 and I try to read it every few years. The movie was ok but no adaptation will ever compare to the sights I conjured in my mind while reading it all those years ago.
I recall that it was the first work of art that inspired me to be creative and I started writing my own stories around that time. Creative writing was my primary outlet, in fact, until the mid 90s when my Mom (again) gave me a computer on which to compose my first novel. Things took a different turn after that…
Anyway, I hope you enjoy my simple homage to one of my favorite works of art.
Posted on April 4, 2013
A Member recently wrote…
“Would it be possible to do an abstract at some point that is more minimalist? Generally I love the incredible amount of detail that is everywhere in your work, but for some types of wallpapers (mobile mostly) I prefer things which are towards the minimalist side, and abstracts seem like the perfect place for that.”
I decided to try it out so I put together something very quickly, very “minimally”, in Lightwave. I only used Lightwave’s “Textured Environment” for this piece, no geometry at all, and I previewed it for my Members a couple of days ago. The feedback was generally positive so I kept tinkering.
This “finished” version is a bit more complex than I had originally intended but the construction is still fairly minimalist. I added a single 2D plane and some volumetric lights so it is technically a “3D wallpaper”.
All in all it was a fun exercise and nice to render something that only takes 30 min instead of 30 hours. I will try to have a multiscreen up shortly along with some of the early versions. Hope you enjoy it!!