No Stock Images Here

[ChrisHPZ]

So for the last few weeks I've been following a few 3D Photoshop courses on Lynda.com and I'm amazed at what can be done with the tools and a little bit of patience. I started working on this image on the 27th of this month and finished it on the 28th. There's a lot going on here, and I'll do my best to explain in detail. The desert ground is nothing more than a set of repeated layers. I used the fibers filter with two shades of brown and then used the warp tool to give it the appearance of hills and valleys. In the region of this image that looks like a U (it's on the bottom of the image) is the work of the Polar Coordinates filter "Polar to rectangle" option. The two structures that overshadow the buildings are simple rectangle and sphere shapes. The rectangular shapes were made from the repousse tool. Reason I wanted to use this tool is that Photoshop will generate shadows. This is important when trying to create a sense of depth. Also, 3D graphics IMO seem to render at a much better quality than the standard pixel graphics. Not that I'm knocking the quality of Ps graphics but the main objective here was Photoshop's 3D tools. Ok, the structures are also made out from repousse. Essentially, they are multiple rectangles with a few layer styles applied and then converted to a repousse object. Using one the "Bend" preset in the Repousse toolbox is whats responsible for making the curves in the shapes. Afterwards I duplicated the structures and repositioned each with the object rotation tools. I'm aware that there's some areas that need some attention. And the honest truth is that I didn't properly plan some of the things that I wanted to do. Trust me when I say that moving around multiple 3D objects is not easy. Anyway, I learned quite a few things and hope everyone enjoys this as much as I've enjoyed making it. Now the real challenge is going to be animating the damn thing :lol:

 

[ibclare]

Very nice work. Elaborate. I can see that you spent a lot of time learning and doing this.

A big issue I see -- that stands out and is distracting -- is the ground.

• It vies to be the focal point. Nothing really seems to be sitting on it. And in some case what appears to be a rise in the contour continues under the wall of a building as if it were flat.
• The detail in it, even the color, move your eyes away from the most interesting part, the 3D structures.
• The lighting is off, not directional, but diffuse.
• I also question the blurriness in the FG vs. the BG.
• The colors of the structures vs. the ground

The desert floor IMO detracts from the overall composition. I would look for another way to represent it, for example, making it more sandy in color or the buildings more green - it should be stark in contrast to the structures and similar in color as things in hostile country generally are.

But, the rest of your work, impressive. I really like lynda.com. Very helpful videos and a lot of topics. Keep it up!

 

[ChrisHPZ]

Green buildings huh Clare? Ok, I like green. Yeah you're right in that there are somethings missing and features I didn't work on. Reasn being is that I crashed Photoshop quite a few times during this comp. Even though I have 8GB of RAM on my machine, sometimes it's not enough. There are alternatives though such as making smart objects out of the 3D objects and editing them independently while closing the main comp file. I didn't actually think of that until now, so I'll see if it works. I was hoping I would get away with the blur in the FG, but I guess not, :banghead:. Your observations are noted and heeded. I'll work on these before doing the animation thing.

 

[ibclare]

LOL. Just show us your next step Chris.

 

[MikeMc]

The shadows from the towers go different directions...

 

[ChrisHPZ]

Very enlightening post, thank you Mike