House on Hill

[Ken B]

user_image-1032047469zla.jpg

I suppose I felt like getting outside today, in a manner of speaking.

Sure, it's cozy, but the rent is high.

[Stonecutter]

Once again, you prove your ability to surprise, Ken...This is very Dr. Seuss-like, and the place looks very cozy indeed!

I wouldn't want to be the guy that has to mow that lawn however!

:D :tu: :tu: :tu: :tu: :cool:

[rhom]

Now this one makes me smile-very cool to look at.Well done Ken.

[juandel]

absolutely lovely, all of it - i especially like the myriad of leaves - are they separate objects? tia for any tips!

- juandel

[Ken B]

Yes, the leaves are objects, placed in numbers in the scene with the spray stroke. But, first I created a layer with some spheres drawn in to create the volume of where the leaves would be. Then the spray stroke was used with the leaf object on another layer. It read the Zdepth of the sphere layer. when I was happy with the leaves, the sphere layer was deleted.
user_image-1032077128stq.jpg

On another note, the house was made with Zspheres. Sounds silly, but 2 spheres were used to make an adaptaive skin with a density of 1. That was shaped, then the resolution increased with the divide command a couple times, modeling along the way. finally, only the edges were divided (through masking) to help them remain a little sharper when smoothing was turned on.
user_image-1032077403kwi.jpg

Thanks for dropping by.

[Downwrdspiral]

Thats actually really cool. The textures and colors are perfect!

[Digits]

Love that image! Keep expecting the door to open and one of your slightly off-kilter characters to come struttin out.

Thanks for the show * tell those techniques can come in handy for alot of things

[Flycatcher]

I certainly wouldn't have recognised your hand in this whimsical picture, Ken. But another great image. :tu: :tu: :tu:

Neat trick with the leaves, too. Thanks for sharing. :tu: :)

[Flycatcher]

I certainly wouldn't have recognised your hand in this whimsical picture, Ken. But another great image. :tu: :tu: :tu:

Neat trick with the leaves, too. Thanks for sharing. :tu: :)

[Grub]

Very different from you Ken, but I like it.
Thanks for sharing those leafy techniques.
(as for that joke however, :rolleyes: ) :D :tu: :tu: :tu:

[Slosh]

When I first viewed this yesterday, I thought "how cool! This is really nice." Then I read "Ken B" next to the image and was a little surprised. Such a departure from what we are used to seeing from you, but still a pleasure to view. I like when people surprise me by drifting from their familiar styles.

[DeeVee]

Nice very nice, :tu: :tu: :tu: :tu:
Thanks for sharing the foliage technique :tu: :ex:

[Belleski]

Looks like childrens' book illustration....like claymation. Thank you for the tips on the leaves and the building. :tu: :tu:

[wenna]

wow this is so cute! Great modeling and great tips on how you did this! Thanks for sharing!

[DMerchen]

That is too cute! Thanks for the tip on the trees, very useful! Not just for trees either! :tu:

[Stonecutter]

That leaf technique with the Sphere layer is really ingenious...

(Almost 'Brilliant' one might say... ;) :D )

[JOHNVQ3]

:) Those leaves are as realistic as it gets :eek: :eek: and a great process with a good explanation :tu: :tu: :tu:

[Jaycephus]

I had thought about using this technique shortly after 1.5 came out and I got a load of the spray brush! I just haven't had time!! I primarily thought of using this as a way to show a water or mud splash. Align a torus or some spheres on a different layer around the object that is causing the splash, and then spray or place some mud or water splatters on the spheres. The near-side splatters would require a different object though.

This technique along with shadows and/or depth effects ought to look awesome.

I had hoped that it would look good with a tree, and it looks Fantastic! :tu:

Great Job! :tu: :)

(DIGITS: "...slightly off-kilter characters..." Where do you live? I'd hate to run into a seriously off-kilter character in your neighborhood! ;) )

[Northstarr]

I like this it is different!

:) :tu:

[gughunter]

Nifty picture! And thanks very much for the tip on the temporary layer for building foliage.

[Jaycephus]

Hi,

I have never done foliage or leaves of any sort, so I thought I would learn by a quick experiment, using the techniques found in the QuickLinks. I just moused some colors in the rough shape of a leaf and applied the texture to a 3D Plane, adjusted the leaf origin a bit, and sprayed them on some spheres. The first go was rough. I then created a true volume of spheres, and more carefully applied the leaves so as to maintain a more true orientation for the majority of leaves. When I rendered, I was shocked to see that my sloppy leaf was looking quite good, so I threw in a base plane, a pot, a few dried leaves, and Bam:

user_image-1032236984lme.jpg

Unfortunately, I started at 640x480, so the final is quite small. I also adjusted levels a bit in PS to get it a little brighter. The funny thing is that the texture on the leaves is embarrasingly bad (shocking, I know), but I did not use my now-famous Graphire pen, and we all know drawing with a bar of soap is ridiculous. And I thought it was just an experiment in modeling, not something that would result in a pretty picture!

[Ken B]

Looks great Jay.
When mass producing bunches of objects such as leaves, it's important not to get too caught up in creating a perfect model. Unless it is in super close-up, no one will notice if you've painted all the little veins and what-not. I don't think painters paint every leaf on the trees in their scenes, they just flick and mash the brush around until it gives the impression. It's the big picture that matters.

[Jaycephus]

Yep, Ken. :)

I agree, I was just surprised at how good my 'sloppy' leaf looked even at closer range and fullscale. The best thing I did was to set the specular up a bit on my leaf material. Most of the color variation on the leaves is due to the specular highlighting on the uneven surface. A flat color leaf with lots of curl and 'texture' in its geometery will look 100 times better than a highly textured flat leaf.

Obviously, your tree and leaf prove this as well. You have a rather plain brownish leaf, but a very realistic shape. The lighting and a bit of specularity does all the hard labor.

I also just realized that you probably don't have a 'texture' on your leaf, so the spray brush provides all the color variation you need for the Fall colors. The other mechanism that provides color variation with green or fall foliage is the difuse and specular curves. I think that depending on the leaf orientation, the color reflected could be made to vary quite a bit.

[Le Discot]

Superb!!!!!!!!!!!!! ;) :)

[Flycatcher]

Good work, Jay. :tu: :tu:

And just to voice my agreement 1000% with what Ken said - and not just about leaves. It was an epiphany when this fact dawned on me, and marked what I regard as the turning point in my own attempts at landscape painting. As Ken says, <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>It's the big picture that matters.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

[Jaycephus]

Thanks, Flycatcher. I'm catching on.

[keeleybest]

that's so cute lol