Posted on June 5, 2022
Ever since I discovered that Houdini could help me create custom clouds for my VUE scenes I’ve been fascinated with the idea. The cloud engine built into VUE is powerful but seems primitive compared to what Houdini is capable of. VUE’s clouds also take about 4x longer to render making experimentation difficult.
For this scene I’ve gone back to an idea I had back in 2000 to depict a stormy gas giant from the cloudtop level. I hope you enjoy the update!
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Posted on May 25, 2022
Here’s a new version of “Twister” with a stroke of lightning added for contrast. The first version will remain in the Pickle Jar.
Let me know what you think in the comments 🙂
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Posted on May 23, 2022
For this piece I’ve stuck with the “Pastorale” setting for just a bit longer, but moved away from the peaceful theme to illustrate the highly changeable nature of life on the Great Plains.
I grew up in the Midwest fascinated by the sky (with the land around me nearly as flat as the sea) and even dreamed of studying meteorology to learn all I could about the weather. I grew out of it but the sky and weather still play a huge part in my work. Many 3D artists these days choose photographic skies but I always prefer to design my own.
The tornado here was modeled in Houdini and the scene was rendered in VUE. It took me a bit longer than I’d hoped to finish this one but I do have a few other versions which I will share in the days ahead.
Let me know what you think in the comments 🙂
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Posted on May 10, 2022
I just couldn’t get over how dark the scene looked as a thumbnail. The fireflies help but don’t really show up in the thumbnail, same for the moonlight. All too subtle. I decided to add some distant lightning in the clouds for a bit more color.
The first two versions will remain available in the Pickle Jar. Feedback appreciated 🙂
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Posted on May 9, 2022
Here’s another version of “Pastorale (Night)” with the moonlight angle adjusted slightly to light more of the tree. The challenge with night scenery is always finding subtle places for light 🙂
Let me know what you think in the comments. The first version will remain available in the revamped Pickle Jar.
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