Marble Sculpture - Work in progress

Sculpture Torso test.  Rendered in Vray.

Vray Materials - Fast SSS2

I started reading a book on classical drawing.  This got me interested in modeling the human form.  Here is my first try at modeling the human form.  Not great but not too bad. The materials are ( from left to right ) Car Paint - red with silver flakes; Gold - using a high fresnel IOR of 100; Fast SSS2 with a wood texture as the subsurface texture and as the displacement map; just stone texture used as diffuse and displacement map; and a Fast SSS2 material for skin that I made myself - definitely needs something else.  So this is mostly a modeling exercise.

Also, I used After Effects for image adjustments that I'm not sure I really like.

This is the image that was rendered.

Vray Materials - Car Paint - Vray Fast SSS 2

Vray materials.

Glasses on a Beach - Vray glass material

Another Version

Vray Glass

Another version

Last One of this Image - Vray Glass

I think I'm pretty happy with this one.

Glasses on the Shore - Vray Glass

I think this will be my last try with this image.

One More shot. Vray Glass

One more try.

Yet again. Vray Glass

One more time - Vray

Just another try.

Glasses on Beach - Version 2 - Vray glass - Vray Fog.

Version 2.  I'm still looking for something a little more interesting.  maybe something completely different.

I have a long ways to go yet, but I like where this is headed.

Beardshear Hall in Ames, Iowa

This is a drawing that I am working on.  It is of Beardshear Hall in Ames, Iowa.  I'm not use to working on buildings like this.  There are lots of straight lines and it is very High contrast.  I think my drawing should have been a little more high contrast, the columns for example should have been more white. There are alot of things that I think I would handled differently but it still turned out ok.

See more of my pen and ink drawings at http://www.joellueck.com/ArtEndeavors.html

Looking for inspiration. Vray Glass

I made this in hopes of becoming inspired.  I look at this image and I start to think about an hour glass and time.

Glasses with Vray and the Fog Bias Setting

Just a test.  I'm playing around with the fog bias setting in the Vray Refraction settings.  Color corrections and lens blur were added in After Effects.  The render settings are fairly low so there is alot of noise in the image.

Here are the settings for the glass material.  I used an IOR value for crystal.  It isn't great glass as you can  see but it might work as as starting point.  If you are loooking for a particular glass material, try changing the Fog multiplier and Fog bias setting for different looks.

Here is a post that helped me.  http://www.pixelab.be/blog/2008/09/14/fog-bias-parameter-test-in-vray-material/

It is from an older version of Vray but it is still useful.

Halloween Image with Mat

Image with Mat.

Thinking about Halloween - Vray - Vray Fur

Not sure if I like this version. I will do a version with the dark figures.

Here are the dark figures.  Not great and not interesting yet.  I need to movie the figures around so that they will seem to come into our space.

Halloween Scene - House work - Vray

I've done a little work to the house to make it look a little more worn.  I'm not sure how much further I will take this until I see how it looks with the fog and lens blur.

Close up of the house shows areas that still need some work.

Base Image with levels adj and Lens blur.

Added Fog layer.

Darker Sky.

halloween Scene - Part 5 - Adding Figures

This is just a test of grass and  figures.  I have not done much color correction to the image yet.  The geometry of the figures is far from done.  And there is something wierd on the front step of the house.  Some kind of a light problem I think.  Maybe a geometry problem.  I'll need to look at it closer.

Halloween Scene - Part 4 - Vray and Vray Fur

I'm going to try something maybe a little scarier.  I darkened the lighting and the trees.

Thinking of Halloween - Part 3 - Vray Fur

In this version, the T-Rex is gone and Screaming Skulls are in! I think the screaming skulls are way cooler!
Click on the above image to see a larger image.

This image may have a little better color.

Not so Halloweeny - T-Rex and Vray

Not very Halloweeny but I thought that I would try it anyway.  I think I would need to do something about the texture on the T-Rex if I were going to take this any further. I did this as a break from trying to model some ghosts.

I didn't model the T-Rex or the building in the back.

Halloween Image - Part 2 - Vray and After Effects - Vray Fur

The nice thing about these two ideas and images is that it makes me like the first one, from yesterday, even more. I'm not too thrilled with these two ideas.  I think I'll keep trying out ideas.

Thinking about Halloween

I'm kind of thinking about using this tree in some sort of a Halloween image.  I'm not sure what yet.  This image is just a sketch.  It was setup in 3d Studio Max 2011, rendered with Vray and composited with After Effects.  I made the tree with Onyx Tree.

Tree at 801 Grand in Des Moines, Iowa

This is a pen and ink drawing that I am working on of a tree at 801 Grand in Des Moines, Iowa.  I am getting close to being done.

It is a 21" x 15" pen and ink drawing on cold press watercolor paper.
To see all of my pen and ink drawings go to http://www.joellueck.com/ArtEndeavors.html

One more image version of Above the Water. Vray Fast SSS2

I like the last one more.  The last one is more calming.  One problem with the last one is the shadow on the sea. 

Latest Version of Above the Water.

The above image is the latest version.  I'm not sure that I'm real happy with it yet.  Lower image shows the things I might change.

Inspiration continued...

So, from the images below, I might be able to see that the concrete spheres might be concrete ballons with large rusty chains that carry trees!  I will need to rework the balloon locations a little and maybe add some clouds.  Also tilt the balloons a little so they show some motion and direction.

Looking for that Spark of Inspiration.

I'm looking for a spark of inspiration.  The water in the bottom image looks really bad, but thats ok.  These are just doodles to help spark an idea.

Barn #26 - Pen and Ink Barn drawing - Corn Crib in Story County, Iowa

This is a pen and ink drawing of a corn crib located in Story County north of Ames, Iowa.

To see all of my pen and ink drawings go to http://www.joellueck.com/ArtEndeavors.html

Barn #25 - Pen and ink drawing of a corn crib in Iowa

This is a corn crib located not too far from where I live. This is done in pen and ink on watercolor paper.  That is snow on the ground and roof of the crib.

Barn #24 - Maplenol Dairy Barn in West Des Moines, Iowa

Once again this is a poor photo of my barn drawing Barn  #24.  It is known as Maplenol Dairy Barn and it sits on Valley High School grounds in West Des Moines.

To see all of my pen and ink barn drawings go to http://www.joellueck.com/ArtEndeavors.html

Colorado House - Vray

This image still needs alot of work on textures and geometry. And looks to be some GI problems still as well.

House in Colorado - Vray and After Effects

House rendered with Vray

This is a house rendered in 3dStudio Max with Vray.  The lawn is done with Vray displacement. Bushes are Vray Fur.  The trees are from Onyx Tree. The image was color adjusted in photoshop and After Effects.

Interior View.  Really noisy from low lighting with low settings.

This image was done with higher settings.