Description
My first hi-res render using Mandelbulb 3D (not to be confused with Mandelbulber which I have used a few times before).
In some areas it seems more powerful than the other app, but in others it isn’t. It’s a 32-bit program, for example, so I can only use 2 GB of my 128 installed GB to process images. This means some of the post-processing options (like DOF) run out of memory on large images.
I still think it’s worth learning though. Let me know what you think of the first effort!
docster [basicmember]
The fabled “Lizard Glacier” of Omichron 4. Few people know about this … including me….
JCT [basicmember]
I love the alien feel of this; I’m dying to go see what’s over that hill!
OpelCarl [nonmonthly]
This Wallpaper looks like a View from another World. A very interesting picture.
Ali
Since it doesn’t seem like a pickle jar version is forthcoming, I went ahead and bit the bullet and did a manual crop of the triple screen.
Richard H.
Sorry about the double-line gaps in my previous comment(s). The preview looked fine, but when it got posted the gaps looked much larger. Shame I can’t edit the comment to remove the unnecessary extra spaces.
Richard H.
@Ryan: Thanks for the response and for fixing the arrow key navigation in particular. Yes, it seems to be working fine now.
Regarding your idea of cropping sections out of the triple-screen render, I do take your point, as it struck me, too, that there are so many interesting angles in this image that you’re almost spoilt for choice â and you could in theory have loads of PJ alternatives from different viewpoints.
In reality, though, your suggestion of cropping out an arbitrary area has one major problem: the ‘digitalblasphemy’ logo. There are a lot of views where this will appear in a weird place, or partially cropped if people cut out their own bits themselves, which is undesirable. The beauty of trimming out (exactly) the middle third of the 3-screen version is that the watermark still appears in the right place. Shift the viewing angle a bit, though (which can actually produce a possibly nicer result), and it goes wrong.
Plus, I agree with Ali: most people will either not think to do this, or be too lazy(!), or not have the necessary tools/expertise to do it. (I know it’s a trivially easy job, BUT lots of people aren’t graphically minded and don’t really understand about image sizes etc.) And, as Ali says, it’s nice to be able to download official alternatives from a pickle jar. Apart from the convenience, it feels more authentic and like ‘added value’. I always like it when there’s a pickle jar associated with a new image; it makes it more exciting!
My personal tip, though, would be this: my own favourite alternative view is the (exact) central portion of the DUAL-SCREEN version. This is NOT (quite) the same as the central portion of the triple-screen version, and if you try to make it out of the triple-screen version you’ll get a badly-placed ‘digitalblasphemy’ logo in the resulting image.
But if you trim out literally the central section of the dual-screen 5K version (i.e. stripping 2560 pixel columns from each side of the image), what’s left is a really great viewpoint â well balanced and attractive, but quite different from the original. Of course, taking it from the dual-screen image means that it has no ‘digitalblasphemy’ logo at all (that gets lost with the right-hand trim), which is fine (except that it feels a bit wrong to deprive you of your credit, which I always expect to see there!).
If you made this particular view available as a PJ alternative, I think it’d work really well as a different view from the original, and you’d obviously put your credit back in the right place in the corner! Anyway, just a thought.
Spikey
I was struck speechless when I first looked at this wallpaper… it is absolutely fantastic. It has so many nice aspects to it. The colors are warm and atmospheric, which is nicely juxtaposed to the scathingly brutal semblance of the region. The features of the landscape have both pleasing organic and geometric forms, and furthermore, the overall scene has a nice balance between homogeneity and variety – especially the triple screen. It makes me wish I have enough monitors to view it all at full size. Truly a masterpiece and an instant favorite.
Ali
I agree that you should put out a few picklejar versions. I wouldn’t have even thought to look at the triple screen version if I didn’t read Richard’s comment.
Plus, I’m too lazy to do it myself and I want an ‘official’ one from you 😛
Ryan
Thanks for the feedback! I’ve fixed the mis-linked dualscreens and changed up the arrow navigation so it is disabled when you are entering text.As for the Pickle Jar versions, I would hope that for this piece people might just download the triple-screen and crop out a part they like. It wasn’t easy choosing which 16:9 segment to feature for the single-screen!!Thanks again!!
Richard H.
@Ryan: You wrote: “PS: You can now use the R/L arrow keys on your keyboard to navigate through my gallery :-)”
This sounds like a good idea, but in reality it creates a major problem: namely, if you’re writing a review/comment (like this), and want to edit it, then you often need to press the cursor keys to move the caret around. But now, doing so navigates you to another page, which is both a major nuisance and runs the risk of losing the review/comment before it has been finished or submitted. If you can make the arrow keys navigate to other pages only when the caret isn’t active in an editable field, it’d be OK. Otherwise it’s a bad idea!
Richard H.
@Ryan: This is such a visually interesting image that it would really be good to have some alternative views. E.g. I downloaded both dual- and triple-screen versions in order to trim away the outer screens (or half-screens, in the dual-screen version) and leave the single-screen central section. Both results look good, but I particularly like the central portion of the dual-screen version (in which the viewpoint is positioned just a bit to the left of that in the triple-screen version). It seems to me to be good enough (well balanced and interesting) to offer as an alternative Pickle Jar version. What do you think?
Richard H.
I’ve just happened to notice that the link to the dual-screen 5K version (10240×2880) actually points to the triple-screen version. The dual-screen image is present, but not currently directly accessible. For people wanting it: after downloading the incorrect triple-screen version, just edit the URL to replace the two instances of “3” with “2” (i.e. 3x/serpentine15k3x.jpg becomes 2x/serpentine15k2x.jpg). No doubt Ryan will fix this in due course (and by all means delete this comment at that time!).
Richard H.
This is a cool one. Just like Brian, my first impression when I glimpsed this was that it was a close-up of Smaug on his pile of treasure in a cave. Now I realise that it’s just an abstract, but the effect really is of dragon scales in the foreground. Maybe you could create such an image (i.e. a close-up of dragon curled up on treasure)? Anyway, this is really good; I like it a lot.
Suribachi
My first impression was that it was either dragonskin or a scene from Final Fantasy. But seriously, nice work. I am curious to see what this would look like, even as a pickle jar version, in blue/green or red/violet.
Craig
Very desert landscape-like given the color scheme. I think it’d be really cool to see it in other color schemes.
Brian
My first thought when I saw the thumbnail was reptile or dragonskin!. It is really interesting.
Jim
This one is really great. The composition, lighting and colors are awesome and impart a nice soothing warm feeling, yet somehow it still makes me feel like i’m in a desolate place in such harsh surroundings. Very moving…
BobC
Again, something that is either an abstract or a picture of some strange thing that is either a few inches or several miles in scope. (it even has shadows and distance cues). I really like it!