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© 1998
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The idea? The idea is to go hog wild nutso schitzo on a HUGE image to A) make as a poster for my cousin and B) win some goodies in the MetaCreation contest. Of course, some mook wrote down the contest deadline was July 31, when in fact, it was actually June 30. :(
This image is only a small thumbnail of the final image. Click on a section of the image map to go to a detail. (Note: Not all sections are fully detailed.) (Once in the details, you can also page through them.)
There is no desktop download for this. The final image will be for sale, as a 10x27" full colour print, so save up your money!
Adobe Photoshop 4, Fractal Design Painter 5, Kai's Power
Tools 2&3, Ray Dream 5/Studio, Blade Pro, Bryce 2
The image was to be printed at 10 x 27" at 300 dpi. I
planned to work on it in sections, but the main background was going to be
one continuous fractal. KPT2's fractal explorer generated it, of course.
After an hour or so...
The main image was then divided into three backgrounds,
the blue, yellow, and red, for further detailed work.
Each piece of background got a separate workup, using tons of layers and stuff to make it quite easy to literally undo anything all the way back to the blank fractal. This is in case I change my mind, or discover a better way to do things, or just totally screw up. It's a big safety net!
As the pieces came together and I began assembling the
three sections, I also began working on even smaller sections. To do
this efficiently, use the rectangle selection tool to grab the area you will
work with. Then, save the selection. Copy the image to a new,
(MUCH) smaller file to work on. When it is done, you can load up the
big image, load the selection, then copy and paste your piece right into
it.
Also as I was working on even the smaller pieces, I ended
up needing to.... well, let's say it's a good thing I had a safety net, because
I needed to copy the original background back over a messed up piece a few
times. For this, I didn't have a saved selection, of course.
Sometimes I didn't even have a proper rectangle selected. But
here is a fun trick to make things line up perfectly! After you paste
your patch, eyeball it into place, then change the Layer mode to Difference.
Nudge it around, until the layer turns completely BLACK! (Well,
except the changed part, that is different, of course.) This is much
more accurate than trying to line up that little fractal curlicue branch
with itself an 75% opacity..... :)
The idea here was to have a big galaxy-like swoop of
KPT Spheroids wending around across half the picture. Naturally, Spheres
on a Path sounds like an optimal choice.
But ya ever notice how Spheres on a Path is NOT spheres
on a path? No, it's "Spheres kinda in a feathered selection."
So are Gradients on a Path. I mean, what's wrong with making
a path, specifying a width along that path, and having Gradients/Spheres
adhere to that??
Here's how you can FAKE an actual path for Spheres to
go on: Make a new channel (it should be all black). With the
RGB channels visible, if you need to see where you're going, grab the airbrush,
crank it to 88% opacity, and paint your path into the alpha channel. Load
it as a selection.
The good news is, now you can draw a path-like path,
instead of trying to select the outline of your path, but the bad news is,
don't go nuts with it, because the Spheroids tend to crash if your selection
outline has too many strong curves in it. Also, don't respray any of
your selection, try to make it all in one pass.
The best way to herd Spheroids is to make a generic,
rounded selection on a piece of your intended path, then run the filter with
about 10 Spheres or so. (I don't know about you, but large numbers
of Spheres make me crash.) (Then again, I am System-Crasher-Supreme.)
Then, (and this is about the ONLY thing that makes me happy that 'Shop
invented this dumb idea of moving selection borders instead of the selection
by default...) grab your shape and move it a bit, then hit the Last Filter
button.
The Spheroid Designer seems to need to warm up a bit.
Sometimes you hit it, and dinky little dots appear. Hit Undo.
Sometimes you hit it and NOTHING appears. Just keep doing/undoing
until it warms up. You can also 'prime' it by hitting the randomize
sphere controls in the filter when you first open it. Keep hitting
the highest mutation til good stuff starts popping up.
There's a pyramidal extrusion up in this area (which you can't see from this image). Bizarre and seemingly useless effects like this can actually liven up a picture, if you don't let it overpower the picture. The best way to do this is to use 'Shop Clouds to make a selection area. For the pyramidal extrusion, I used a feathered lasso to grab the small section where I wanted to contain the effect. In the alpha channel, I used black and white 'Shop Clouds and Difference Clouds to create a nebulous selection that fades in and out randomly. (If you don't have 'Shop, you can kinda fake the effect by alternately spraying white and black with the airbrush. Just wave the airbrush around a lot.)
The same type of fade was used for the Stained Glass effect in the lower left corner, (See Page 2.) and the edges of the Puzzle Pieces (See Page 4.)
copyright: ©1998 All rights reserved. There is no screen download for this image. You may NOT print it, upload it anywhere, use it for a commercial or non-commercial illustration or companion piece, place it (or a link to it) on your web page, without requesting and obtaining PRIOR permission from the artist. For contact details, click here.
price list: This image is not available as a print yet. It will be available soon as a poster. If you can't wait, just let me know. ;)