In Poser 4, I used Victoria 2 by DAZ as my base geometry to work
from. I selected the various body parts and, using the Parameter
dials, gently nudged the proportions of the figure to a point where
it had an otherworldly feeling, while still maintaining an
indisputable feminine allure. The "Blumen" in the forefront were
based on Michael, also by DAZ. I made modifications to them to give
them elongated bodies and large hands and feet. I then exported the
models as a .3ds (3d Studio) geometry file using File > Export
> 3d Studio. For the female tower, I selected only the upper
body elements for export, with Export All parts as Single Objects
checked. I left the Blumen as complete hierarchies for export with
Export All Parts as Single Objects checked. I then had my raw
geometry ready to take into 3d Studio Max, where I could begin
creating the basis for my illustration.
BASIC COMPOSITION
Once I had the geometry imported into Max, I used the Boolean
function to cut the face from the head. I then deleted half of the
head and face, once again using the Boolean function to make it
easier to work with. The most time-consuming part of the refinement
process was achieving the thickness I wanted the object to have.
This involved the selection and duplication of edges and the
construction of faces within the sub-objects and then the
assignment of smoothing groups to the faces for mapping and
rendering. Once this was complete, I simply mirrored the main
portion of the head, attached the elements, and used the Weld
Selected function under Vertex Selection subset. Mirror was also
used to duplicate the other half of the face door. I then selected
and moved the Pivot Point for the face to create a virtual hinge
where the doors of the face met the head. With the camera in
position, I used Rotate to open and close the face panels until I
was comfortable with the general composition.
Further refinement of the composition came as I began to populate
the scene with additional elements. The foreground layer was now
occupied by my little Blumen, the midground had the lady and her
architectural details, but I had not yet decided on the background
elements. This strict delineation of my composition was essential
to the final results I wished to achieve in the illustration as I
created the layers to be composited in Adobe Photoshop. It is also
worth noting that several elements (meshes) that make up my scene
are a variety of shareware, stock, and custom meshes. The buildings
that form the base of the lady tower are alterations of a
combination of some free sci-fi meshes I found on the Net. Using
existing meshes becomes helpful when you are trying to visualize
very quickly; you can later go back and create from scratch to your
heart's content, or you can just leave it as it is. When used
properly, 3D clip art also works very well.
RENDERING Once the overall composition was set and I was
generally happy with the placement and lighting, I moved on to
prepping the file for output. My technique used multiple renders of
the same objects with a variety of texture solutions that I would
combine in Photoshop. Some elements were to remain flat shaded,
while others would have full diffuse and bump maps. The diagram
provides a much clearer idea of how my final composition was
assembled. I started by rendering each of my compositional layers:
foreground, midground, and background. I selected the elements to
render, and under the Displays tab I choose Hide Unselected, which
isolated the objects to be rendered. I applied default materials to
all of my objects so that when I grouped the layers, I could still
modify the materials for additional renders. These would then be
blended and combined within Photoshop. I usually render my
components at 6500 pixels wide by 4875 pixels high, at 72 DPI. The
settings might seem a tad high, but because I create
limited-edition prints of some of my pieces, it does well to shoot
high and scale down later. Each of the four layers shown was
rendered as a Targa file with an 8 bit alpha channel.
FINAL COMPOSITION My next step was to open Photoshop and
select or create the canvas upon which these illustrative elements
would be composed.
I keep an extensive library of photographs and scans of all sorts
of interesting textures and surfaces. These images become the
canvas upon which I assemble and manipulate my 3D components. In
this case I used some rusty metal, combined with an image of the
planet Pluto and a skyscape photograph I took during a trip to
Mexico. I already knew that I wanted more visual weight at the
bottom of the illustration than at the top,so I accounted for this.
It is also worth noting that I did not collapse my layers for the
background to avoid having some images inserted between these
textural components. I built my composition with the rendered
elements using the alpha channels supplied with the Targa files to
knock out and isolate the elements. This technique is not unlike
glazing in traditional mediums, such as watercolors or gouache. The
weight and density of an illustration are slowly built up by adding
more layers and elements of layers to the composition. I advise
experimenting with the different Layer properties available in
Photoshop. You can create some cool and unexpected effects with
soft light blends and translucent color overlays. At any given time
during this process, I constantly go into the different layers to
hand paint, tweak, and erase elements within the composition.
At this stage, I went back to my 3ds max file and played with the
texture settings on the lady tower. I increased the resolution and
bump of the texture, which I felt was a little too understated. I
then proceeded to add my Blumen and duplicated the Pluto texture to
put it several layers above the current composition, with a
Multiply effect and Translucency set to about 30%. My final
challenge was to introduce the illumination and sky effects within
the head. My first attempt, using 3D objects and texturing within
3ds max, gave me unsatisfactory results, so I opted to create the
elements from scratch within Photoshop. Making the light beams was
a very simple process of using the marquis-select tool with Feather
and a layer set to Color Dodge and creating many layers of such
'light' objects until I goe the effect I was looking for.
Software: Poser 4, 3ds max R4.2, Adobe Photoshop
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