Computer Arts Gallery

Here’s another image in my Computer Art Series. This one has a twist to it though. It’s wasn’t done in Bryce or Terragen, it’s one of my photos, the Giant Sequoia Sunstar image,  worked over in Photoshop. I had to masked the trees to pull them from the original image, then using a plugin called Glitterato, I was able to make the stars and the clouds in the background. I finished up by adding the fog and some highlights to the trees with Photoshop’s basic brush tool.

 This image was made back in 2002. It was the first time I had ever taken one of my images and changed it so much that it ended up looking nothing like the original. I no longer consider this a photograph, but see it now as computer art, where the camera is just one of many tools that make the final image.

Believe it or not, but this image isn’t a photograph. It was created completely on the computer. I used a free program called Terragen to make it. Terragen creates vitual landscapes that are never the same twice. You can then add in the rock colors, snow, textures, clouds and water. You can also position the sun to create sunrises, sunsets or any time of day. And though this isn’t a photo, I did take the picture. There is a camera that you move around the landscape to compose pictures.

I created this image March of 2005. I first composed the image and then began playing around with the sun angles until I got the nice alpine glow effect. Then I added in the textures, snow and clouds. In the end, Photoshop was used to enhance the contrast and colors. The realism of this image has always amazed me. If a person didn’t know they would think this is a real photo of a real place maybe somewhere in the Sierra.

Here’s another of my computer images for you guys. This one goes out to all the Deadheads out there, (And I know there are a few that come to the site.). It was created in 2005. I wanted to create an image that celebrated all that is good about the Grateful Dead; the music, the dancing, the colors, the community of Deadheads and the celebration of life that it all stands for. I originally named this image “Watching Over His Children” because Jerry is up there in the sun doing just that. But when I looked at the picture tonight I though “Have a Grateful Day” fit a little better.

I have to admit that all of the dancing critters and butterflys were taken from different Grateful Dead sites on the internet. As was the image of Jerry. I then used Bryce to place them in the scene and Photoshop to add shadowing to give them more of a three dimentional feel. The tree was done in Bryce, the grass in Photoshop, the sun and sky was worked on in both.

I really enjoy this picture. It always brightens up my day and makes me smile. It also reminds me of Tammy in so many ways.

“The wind in the willows played Tea for Two
The sky was yellow and the sun was blue
Strangers stopped strangers
just to shake their hand
Everybody’s playing
in the Heart of Gold Band”
~Scarlet Begonias, The Grateful Dead

This is my very first computer art picture. It was originaly created in 2001 using a demo of Bryce 4 and Photoshop 5. At the time my computer was a very old and slow Mac.  In 2004 I went back to this picture and improved it. I had a much better computer by then and more knowledge of Bryce and Photoshop.

I really can’t say what inspired this image. It just kind of evolved as I was first playing around with this wonderful new software I had found. Compared to later images, this one is very basic. But I still love it and find that it’s very nice to look at on a cold winters day.

The main program I use to create these pictures is Bryce. It’s a modeling program that lets you create landscapes and terrain features like mountains, lakes, trees and much more. I also use a free program called Daz Studio. It alows you to pose models in different positions and then import them into Bryce. Photoshop is used to add the final details to the image and get the color and contrast how I want it.

I’m very proud of these pictures. To me this is what art truly is, creating something that doesn’t exist anywhere else except in the heart of the artist and the medium that it’s created on. I haven’t made any new pictures in quite awhile. I’m hoping that by sharing my older ones with you guys that it may help get the old creative juices flowing again.

I’ll put up the first image in the next post. I hope you enjoy this new addition to our SierraVisions world.