Awesome Stu. Looks like a photo to me! The new Podium is amazingly fast!

[image: weeku3.th.jpg] [image: thpix.gif]

no easy solution to the effects im afraid... for starters i use nothing but free software, the models are sketchup basic 100% and i use an old program called photo impact (comperable to photoshop) that was packaged with Aiptek's hyper pen (which ironically i dont use) the version i have came out in like 2002 maybe?- nothing i make cost me a dime. in my model i use the shadow and fog functions (if you look at the styles in my model you see i also use a fog overlay that wont obscure my background the way sketchup fog does), and take into consideration the light cast by what im adding, then i export a 2d image and open it with photo impact. with that i use the creative lighting and particle functions and not much else. oh and also the airbrush feature to touch up the smoke effects. the rest is just manual labor placing the effects and touching it up. also i've found that just a simple blur at the end makes the line quality all look better.

Cool!!!

I too was impressed with your work. Kwahmi, you emphasize you are having fun. I think that sense of fun and enjoyment really shows in your work -- they all exude some of that positive energy. I also really enjoy how in your bank design images you show how the fascade is being explored. It looks like an interesting project. Please tell us more about yourself. I couldn't find a profile on your blog. Regards, Ross

Here is one I did last year, before 'Subdivide and smooth', what a pain in the ass it was, nowadays it's a snap with all the new tools. [image: pumpkinxi5.jpg]

Very nice, andyc.

I like the Bedroom images. Very good rendering. Is that room on a earthquake fault? Continue a jagged line of marble across the floor? I wonder what the feel of the conference room ceiling will be with people in it? We had a glass table like that in our conference room. Very cool but I hated it. And a tile floor too. The room could be acoustically challenged and cold. Trying to shorten meeting times? The table causes glare and you get to see everyone's laps (no chance to scratch). The chairs look comfy though!

ah, damn....you're right.. alright.. well i'll just post up the images.. from Stack! Studios.. apparently there are 12 clip mapped planes and 50 textures making up these images.. crazy! http://updown.stack-studios.com/nextlimit/vegetation02.jpg http://updown.stack-studios.com/nextlimit/vegetation03.jpg

this is really making me want to do a lego render! hmmmm.. i do need a xmas card idea...

Thank you for the complements. Yes, that is kerky thea. Most of the renders needed to be rendered quik (deadlines...)so I used High photon map settings with hight fuzzy tracing and high soft shadow quality. For the two inserior renderngs, I used MLT (they kind of look better).

I like the presentation style a lot, for this subject. Nice people.

Nice Bep. I love the style.

Ahhh ok... that makes sense! I've yet to try a Kerky animation but I need some practice as I'm going to have to do one soon... thanks for the info! Great work as usual...

Very nice work, especially that last render- I love the cold light; as Remus said earlier it's very reminiscent of Herzog & de Meuron's Tate Modern or at least it portrays very well the use and feel of concrete and hard materials combined with fluorescent strip lighting. Only criticisms would be that it'd be good to see a few more people dotted around just to make it look a bit more popular and you should reduce the scale of that texture on the concrete columns and beams about 50%- it looks like spray-on foam fire proofing at the moment. I'm curious- what render engines did you use? Irradiance Map primary with Deterministic Quasi-Monte Carlo secondary? The results are excellent but the render time seems very long- perhaps the culprit is the glass doors if they are double-sided with "genuine" refraction? I workaround this by using a zero refraction glass material for the front and back faces of glass and a separate dark green zero refraction glass material for the edges- the results aren't as accurate as yours, but it decreases the render times enormously.[image: zwrT_Table1.jpg]

I know that it lacks shadows... I still have to figure out how to put them in... Thanks for the tips and complements

Thanks for your comment! I know the mech is a bit stiff, I need to move a few joints here and there to simulate some movement. Looking forward to seeing some of your renders!

Nice, you can put it on Clayoquot Sound with this one: [image: freedomcovetofinobc2.jpg] Don't you think she needs a deeper draft?

saw it... so... here's the strip mall!

Durant, thanks for your inspiring comments!