Posted on June 1, 2021

Misty Mountains

After rendering many nebulae and other ethereal forms over the past week I felt the need to step back and create something relatively solid. The mountain was modeled using Gaea and the scene was rendered using VUE. Yes, I am invoking Tolkien with the title (though I sure some are hearing Zeppelin right now) 🙂

“Far over the misty mountains cold
To dungeons deep and caverns old
We must away ere break of day
To seek the pale enchanted gold.”
~The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

I hope you enjoy the scene! Dual and triple-screen versions available.

Posted on May 24, 2021

Interstellar

I’ve spent the last week or so learning how to use Blender’s volumetric system. My goal is to create 3D nebulae but I still have quite a bit to figure out. This first attempt is pretty rough yet and not quite what I initially had in mind, but I think it’s a nice proof-of-concept for now.

I’ve seen some really interesting things done with Blender’s volumetrics so stay tuned 🙂

Posted on May 14, 2021

Tropical Moon of Amatheia

I designed “Amatheia” in Blender (my first Blender planet) with the end goal of doing a “tribute” to the 20 year old “Tropical Moon of Thetis“. The “day” version was a bit of a departure but hopefully this scene will evoke the original.

I rendered quite a few different atmospheres before settling on this one and I will share some of those in the Pickle Jar down the line.

I hesitate to call this a “night” version, because the sun angle here implies that it’s still day time. How is this possible astronomically?? Easy! Off frame there’s another moon eclipsing the sunlight momentarily 🙂

Posted on May 11, 2021

Tropical Moon of Amatheia

It’s hard to believe that it has been 20 years since I posted “Tropical Moon of Thetis“. I’ve made lots of similar renders over the years but I wanted to create something with Blender and VUE that was something of a more direct tribute. I hope you enjoy it!! Night version forthcoming…

Posted on May 4, 2021

Amatheia

Nothing too fancy or outrageous here; just my first attempt at modeling and rendering a planet in Blender 2.9. I’d had a very quick process for creating planets in Ligtwave but Blender has a whole new system. I plan on using the planet as a backdrop but found it made a nice wallpaper by itself so I’ve added it to the gallery.

Stay tuned for a another view or two 🙂