Thu, Mar 28, 10:16 AM CDT

November 2011 Artist of the Month - SIGMAWORLD

Nov 01, 2011 at 12:39 am by Store Staff


file_474874.jpgEach month the Renderosity community votes on the Renderosity Artist Of The Month [AOM] ... November's AOM is SIGMAWORLD!

We congratulate SIGMAWORLD for an outstanding collection of works in the Vue Gallery!


Who is SIGMAWORLD?

First of all, I want to thank everyone who had voted for me, and the Renderosity crew for having nominated me. My real name is Heinz Grybowski. I am 52 years old and my profession is industrial clerk. I have been living in Gelsenkirchen, Germany for a year now. I was born in Dortmund, Germany and lived there for 51 years. SIGMAWORLD is my nickname and it is also the title of an SF book I wrote in 2001-2004 (more than 700 pages). Unfortunately, the book is for private use only and only two copies of it exist.

How long have you been working in digital art?

I made my first attempts with Bryce in 2006. Since March 2008, I have been working with Vue.

display_2262623.jpg
AVADEHL / bewohntes Gebäude?

Do you have any traditional art experience?

Not really, no. I had art classes at school for two years. My ability to draw is mediocre at best. I admire those who can produce breathtaking pieces of art with a graphic tablet.

What are you currently working on?

I am working on two pictures called "Music box (1)" and "Music box (2)." I will publish "Music box (1)" here on Renderosity next week. There are 20 more projects I am working on. I skip between them, working on one project for a time, then turning to another again. Some of these projects are still in their early stages, others are almost finished. Among others, I will continue the S.E.T.I. and the Priest of Doom series.

What all is in your digital toolset and why?

I mainly work with Vue 9 Complete and Poser 8 (I rarely do full scenes with Poser 8. I use Poser 8 almost exclusively to export characters and objects to Vue). I have always been fascinated by pictures created with Vue. The best parts of Vue are, in my opinion, the atmosphere editor, the material editor and the eco painter.

The numerous possible settings in the atmosphere editor enable me to use one picture and evoke totally different moods/visualisations by simply changing atmosphere settings. The material editor has many options for creating partly new/changed materials, in order to use them in scenes, for example, as new textures for objects. The eco painter speaks for itself. Instead of creating single trees, objects, etc, I can "paint" everything on the terrain, so to speak. A great possibility in my opinion. Last, but not least, Vue is easier to master than comparable pieces of software; even beginners can produce quite respectable pictures after a short time.

My hardware consists of a computer with a quadcore processor, 8 GB of RAM, running Windows 7.

display_2062872.jpg
Mehrzweck-Raumkreuzer

What do you think your best piece of work is and why?

That's a tough decision, but there are two pictures I like to look at again and again. I love the picture "AVADEHL," because it is quite different from my normal style of work. It looks more like a painting to me. I think, I did quite well trying to picture an abandoned building in a city of Elves, and I sucessfully created a gloomy mood with the color mix I used.

display_1971587.jpg
AVADEHL

My second favorite picture is "SIGMAWORLD II / The search for survivor / Part 5." Looking at the picture, I really feel drawn into the scene myself. I think the long hours of work on fog/light effects were really worthwhile at the end of the day. These effects make the picture look real to me. That's why it is my second favorite picture.

display_1936230.jpg
SIGMAWORLD II / The search for survivor / Part 5

Who, or what, inspires you?

There are different sources of inspiration for me, scenes of everyday life, as well as SF or fantasy movies, or even documentary movies. For example, I once watched a programm called "XXXX Jahre nach dem Menschen" (Life After People). It was about the question what our world would look like if we suddently ceased to exist on this planet... 100 years after...200, 500, 1000 years...

At the same time, I developed the idea of the S.E.T.I. project and what the world would look like to aliens when they reach this planet 700 years after having received our message. What kind of world will they find then? Are there still signs of human life on this planet? Are there still survivors, few and far between? What has happened during the past 700 years? These questions were the beginning of the S.E.T.I. series, which I still continue from time to time.

Pictures of other users here on Renderosity do inspire me as well, of course. When I look at their pictures, scenes form in my mind, waiting to become pictures of my own later.

display_2008992.jpg
SECRET S.E.T.I. / JANUARY 24, 2017 2:41 pm

What do you enjoy most about Vue?

As I already stated above, the really strong tools of Vue are the atmosphere editor, the material editor and the eco painter. I also like Vue's possibilities to illuminate a scene with the light editor. I think this function is much better and easier to handle than similar functions in Poser or DAZ Studio. Vue offers me tools to create worlds, for example, SF worlds, fantasy worlds or any other kind of world, which would only exist in my mind otherwise. In my eyes, Vue is an ingenious piece of software, because of these options.

Do you have any tips you would be willing to share on the software?

The most important part to me are the settings in cloudy scenes. In these cases I use the TAB sky/fog and mist in the global settings of the atmosphere editor and give it a value of at least 4.0, in order to create clouds which look realistic. Lower values produce clouds which look noisy and ruin the overall impression of the picture most of the time.

How has this online community (Renderosity) enhanced your work, relationships, and learning?

Well, I am a member of various graphic communities, but I get more feedback for my pictures here on Renderosity than elsewhere. The most valuable comments for me are, of course, those criticizing my pictures, making suggestions on what can be improved in my pictures and how it could be done. They help me to work on myself and improve my abilities in these areas.

display_1909256.jpg
Planet Anga-Kesh

Do you have any parting comments, or advice for other artists?

Do not give up quickly. Persist working on it. There is a solution for most problems. Have an open mind, keep on learning. Allow pictures of other artists to be an inspiration for you. Analyze pictures of other users, their construction, camera settings, picture format and so on.

Regards, Heinz Grzybowski

We invite you to have a further look at SIGMAWORLD's Renderosity Gallery while we await the interview!

Be sure to also visit:

**Have a tutorial, animation, demo reel, or MarketPlace product to demo and share with the community? Consider posting your clips to Renderosity's Video Center!**


All supporting images are copyright, and cannot be
copied, printed, or reproduced in any manner without written permission from the artist.

Artist of the Month is highlighting a talented Renderosity artist that has been nominated by mods and admins, and voted by the community. Recognition is given to this member for their collection of works for that year.

Since we only select one AOM per month, it is not about their works for that particular month. Instead, it is about highlighting a talented artist's works for that year, and they are recognized during that month.

To learn more about Renderosity's Artist Of The Month [AOM] award, and to view our past AOM's, please visit the AOM page, which can also be found on the sidebar under Highlights.



Sections: Archives

Comments

or Register to post a comment



Privacy Notice

This site uses cookies to deliver the best experience. Our own cookies make user accounts and other features possible. Third-party cookies are used to display relevant ads and to analyze how Renderosity is used. By using our site, you acknowledge that you have read and understood our Terms of Service, including our Cookie Policy and our Privacy Policy.