November 2005 AOM - czarnyrobert

Each month the Renderosity community votes on The Renderosity Artist Of The Month [AOM] Novembers AOM is from the Vue Gallery. We congratulate czarnyrobert [Robert Czarny] for his outstanding collection of Vue images.

Who is czarnyrobert and how did you come by your username?

First, I would like to deny any allegations suggesting that I am an alien I am not however, my friend tse60 is one! [laughter] I am only a human [more laughter] ... European, Polish, to be more precise. I am a dreamer. The here and now does not matter that much for me. My mind is wandering far away; somewhere among clusters of galaxies; over dirty backyards of primitive alien cities; above unfamiliar machinery too complex to understand its purpose. Before I discovered 3D, my life was gray and boring. Seven years in French high school in Algiers. Five years of chemical engineering studies. Nine years in the sales departments of some mind-numbing multinationals. I didn't want to spend the rest of my life in the gray matrix of corporate cubicles. So I switched to something new and I am creating the matrix now! I am designing virtual worlds, virtual atmospheres, virtual plants, objects and materials. Funny, yes, but also dangerous! In these modern times, there are people who feel better in virtual worlds of 3D games than in the real world ... and this is just the beginning. My nickname is simply the result of pure coincidence in polish it means "black Robert." It was the result of "10-second thinking," limited by the availability of free domain names when I was creating an account for my personal website. Why black? Perhaps because I have black hair, maybe because I often wear black clothes, yet still maybe because the deep space is black. Or, it could be anything else... Later I used this accidental nickname to register to Internet services, among them was Renderosity. I did not want to remember various nicknames, so I used the one from my website. At that time, I did not expect that I would post anything on Renderosity, or that I would became so well-known as a Vue artist here [laughter]. If I knew that at the time I signed up, I would have imagined a more spectacular nickname [more laughter]. Later, when I started to post images, and get some positive comments, I asked Renderosity moderators if it would be possible to change my account name unfortunately it was not possible, so I stayed with this accidental nickname. My czarnyrobert nickname has one great advantage ... the name is unique, so, when you enter it into a browser, the results come back with sites related to my art. How long have you have you been creating computer graphics? I started with 3D in February 2002 (almost 4 years ago). In 1988 I experimented a little with "Lightwave's grandpa," Videoscape 3D. However, I could not get interesting results with the program, since my Amiga 500 only had a 7MHz processor and 1MB RAM, which was too slow and too small for 3D. Then I played with fractals and 2D painting, but it was just for fun, nothing serious. The Amiga only allowed 32 colors in 320 x 200 size, or 16 colors in 640 x 400. Computers have made some spectacular progress since 1988. In 2002 I bought a computer magazine with a free version of Vue d'Esprit 2. I recalled my unpleasant first experience with 3D on the Amiga, and I was amazed to discover the progress made in 3D. The Amiga had difficulty rendering simple scenes with a couple of primitives. Yet, fourteen years later I could create almost anything I could imagine on my PC with Vue d'Esprit 2. I quickly became addicted to 3D. I started to experiment with other programs (Bryce, Terragen, Lightwave, Poser), but, in the end, I stayed loyal to Vue. Do you have traditional art experience? No, or rather no traditional art education, because I have always liked to draw pictures since my earliest childhood. Until high school I drew quite a lot, later less. When I started my studies I almost completely stopped drawing. Now, I often use classical pencil and paper to sketch plans of my 3D scenes and objects. What are you currently working on? I just started another scene from my War of the Worlds series. I spent quite a lot of time modeling my Martian War Machines, so I plan to use them in another two or three scenes. Then I plan to start something different of course Sci Fi related as usual. The limiting factor is free time. What software/equipment do you use and why? Of course, I use Vue 5 Infinite for final scenes setup and rendering. Why? Because its power/simplicity ratio is the highest I ever encountered in 3D software; because it lets me create large scenes with hundreds of objects (I am not mentioning ecosystems); because scene management in Vue is very effective; because Vue is under constant and intensive development; I expect even more spectacular features from future versions. I also use Cinema 4D for modeling, because it is very ergonomic and stable software, and because I cannot model complex objects in Vue. What do you think your best piece of work is and why? Hmmm ... difficult to select just one - almost each picture I created was a challenge to me. Each time I tried to discover new techniques, better materials, lighting settings etc.

Guardians: this was my first large scene lot of work on texturing objects, on volumetric atmosphere setup, on flames materials. Just imagine, I created it on a Celeron 600MHz with 320 RAM!

Guardians czarnyrobert

Aliens Metropolis: with this scene, I started learning modeling. Everything in this scene was modeled by me (except aliens morphed poser octopus). It was my first scene that give me first place in the Vue Hot 20 which, was a boost of motivation.

Aliens Metropolis czarnyrobert

Aliens Ship Dock: here I also performed my modeling skills also everything in this scene is mine.

Aliens Ship Dock czarnyrobert

Dead City Colony 77: in this scene I got a lot of experience with the simulation of ambient light.

Dead City Colony 77 czarnyrobert

Striders in the Sun: is my only scene where I am satisfied with the composition, however it was a pure coincidence. The striders were added during the final stage, initially I did not plan them for this scene.

Striders In The Sun czarnyrobert

Megaurchins Canyon: with this scene I tried to get advanced terrains with Vue.

Megaurchins Canyon czarnyrobert

Silent Spring: this scene became the most famous and highest ranked Renderosity picture. It shows the power of Vue 5 Infinite ecosystems, and makes use of numerous imported objects really a "mastodon scene. " Even more strange, is that such a complex scene can be less than 1GB.

Silent Spring czarnyrobert I don't have one scene I favor over any of the others each has some elements done well, and others that could be improved. Why do you prefer to work with 3D software? 3D software gives me opportunity to create very detailed photorealistic scenes that I could not achieve by hand painting, as my traditional painting skills are not good enough. I also imagine that one-day, when I will have a more powerful computer, that I will be able to animate my scenes. 3D scene creation is also something more than flat 2D painting. Real 3D structure is created. This is a real creation of worlds, not unlike playing God. It feels really great to create a whole world from scratch: first you create the sky, then the earth, you populate the land with ecosystems plants, add some animals, finally people, aliens and flying saucers. Oh dear! How it great it feels! And, on 7th day, if you are not satisfied with your creation, just click on delete to become "death, the destroyer of worlds " [loud deep laughter]. Who/what inspires you? Good Science-Fiction in general, however I rather imagine my own worlds than just alter someone's else ideas with the exception of my last War of the Worlds [WoW] series, which is a tribute to H.G. Wells who wrote over 107 years ago an excellent piece of Science-Fiction. I intentionally highlight science, as nowadays there is very little good Science-Fiction available.

War of the Worlds Thunder Child czarnyrobert Most so-called "SF" movies or novels are simply brainwashed fantasy on technical background, having nothing in common with the science. What interests me the most is to create a picture and story, which shows some imaginary situations, but that also relies on real world science. My general SF ideology is inspired by such authors as Arthur C. Clarke, Stanislaw Lem, or Carl Sagan. How has the Renderosity online community enhanced your work, relationships, and learning? The Renderosity community gives me a great boost of motivation. Before I start to post images on Renderosity, I just made them for me. They were quite simple. When I started posting on Renderosity I got a lot of feedback. It motivated me to create better, more spectacular and more complex pictures. As I always considered posting images here to be a privilege, I did not want to post a "15 minutes made scrap." That's why each time I design a new scene I try to prepare something worth viewing. Relationships? I have made some friends here, but just two or three, became my real fiends are outside of the 3D world we often speak via skype or net communicators. Unfortunately recently I have very little free time to spend on communicating with people, commenting on artworks or posting to the forums. The reasons work and personal life. Most importantly, don't want to make my girlfriend angry because I spent too much time with computer instead with her. Learning? When you view other artist's images, of course you can find some interesting ideas. I also check tutorials posted on Renderosity, and maybe adopted a couple of ideas. What I get from Vue is mainly the result of my own experiments. I appreciate the comments that people post to my images, unfortunately people posting comments on Renderosity usually don't give many helpful tips or prompts and that does not help a lot. Parting Comments/Advice to other Artists?

Be creative, don't waste your time on banal and simplistic scenes, which were already painted a thousand times invent something original.
Try to prepare the best you can, and ask your rivals what they think about it.
Be sincere when posting comments/ranking, explain what could be improved.
Lastly, let me thank all of you for your support, your votes, your helpful comments and rankings!

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To learn more about Renderosity's Artist Of The Month [AOM] award, and to view our past AOM's, please visit the AOM 2005 page, which can also be found on the sidebar under Highlights.

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November 2005 AOM - czarnyrobert

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