Posted on July 11, 2000
Added “Relics” to the gallery. I’m still trying to learn how best to use World Builder’s “Z-Buffer Composer”, and this image is another exercise.
There’s a version without the cannons in the Picklejar if that it more to your taste. Either way, don’t hesitate to share your thoughts. Do you think the ray-traced objects “stick out”?
Posted on July 7, 2000
If you haven’t noticed, I’ve cut the price for extending your membership. You can add a year to your membership now for $14.95 and another 90 days for $9.95. I’ll be trying out the new prices this month, and if they’re popular I’ll keep them. Otherwise I’ll just go back to the old price.
Lock in another year at the reduced price by clicking here.
Posted on July 2, 2000
After modeling all those buildings, I decided my Spire City needed a more believeable atmosphere. Unfortunately this is not Lightwave’s strong point (unlike a a dedicated landscape modeler like Bryce or World Builder). The sky looked nice but the scene needed some haze to give everything a sense of scale.
The past few days were spent trying out different approaches. I’m not sure any of them were successful, but a couple of the renders came out kind of nice. One is a day shot and the other is the much requested night version. Both are up for your review on the new images page.
Posted on June 28, 2000
My second hi-res render of “Spire City” is now up for your review on the New Images page. As you can see, the city is growing. I’m still painting with broad strokes on this one and I’ll be playing around with it some more before the everything falls into place and I start concentrating on little details.
Thanks to everyone who sent me comments and suggestions so far. Most of you wanted to see a darker image, so I’ve toned down the sunlight somewhat. My mom (of all people) wrote me and said that some bridges would look cool, so I added two simple ones.
Anyway, there’s still lots to do with this one. Hope you like where it’s going.
Posted on June 27, 2000
As mentioned last time, I am working on a new cityscape. I’ve posted my first hi-res test render on the New Images page for your review. Unlike “Gotham 1999” I’m trying to model each building individually instead of using clones, so this one is taking a little more time than my average wallpaper. Gotham ’99 used maybe three different building meshes, this one has over 12 so far.
I plan on adding a lot more to this image. The ocean is really just a placeholder and I plan on adding more architecture to the scene, along with better atmospheric effects. I’d also like to see a few flying craft zipping about here and there. Maybe some billboards…
Anyway, the gist of what I am saying here is that this image is in the rough stages. I’d love to hear your comments on it though.