The credit crunch last fall completely shut our operation down - custom and spec homes - there was plenty of buyers but no one could get a loan. We had 8 specs at the time and we had to "short sell" all of them this spring - complete nightmare! We also had 4 big custom homes to start for clients, all designed, drafted, and ready for permits. 1 has been put on hold indefinitley, 2 were canceled because clients lost their jobs, and the 4th client just dissappeared.

We re-focused our operation this summer for the re-model market and, so far, we have work lined up through the winter - god willing.

Interesting times.

jb

Not my favorite. IMHO you've done better work. Great models, though.

jb

as always, looks good modelhead!

looks better?

shadow actually doesn't touch the wall when i put a 3d tree into the scene. however, now that you BOTH mentioned it, it would look better with one - give it more depth - good eye!

tom -
It is funny you should mention about the Sears kit homes. I just finished remodeling one - no. 52, it was assembled in 1912 for around $1,500. I had no idea what a Sears home was until the owner said, "It's a Sears home, son.' and like an idiot I said, "A Sears what? - you mean like the store?" Needless to say, my client was less than impressed with me that day. But I did redeem myself on the next with the help of google, of course. That night I read everything I could about these unique homes. Gave me some food for thought.

jb

thanks for looking.

got any 1973 Datsun 240z prints?

If you had purchased $1,000 of AIG stock one year ago, you would have

$42 left.

With Lehman, you would have $6.60 left.

With Fannie or Freddie, you would have less than $5 left.

But if you had purchased $1,000 worth of beer one year ago, drank all of the
beer, then turned in the cans for the aluminum recycling REFUND, you would have
had $214.

Based on the above, the best current investment advice is to drink heavily and
recycle.

It's called the 401-Keg.....

pretty easy to make su materials from an autocad hatch pattern. export from autocad your desired hatch pattern as a jpg --> open jpg in ps and crop --> import into su as a material.

jb

mirjman - i really like the last one too. really cool look. post more.

jb

i tried several models and it never worked well. 3d pdf model was missing lines and/or had extra mysterious lines. textures were out of wack. spent several hours trouble shooting to no avail. finally gave up.

jb

Pixero - wow! that is really impressive. could you post your method please

Ross - i like your work. i followed your thread awhile back, when you were experimenting with different techniques with the vespa. looks really good.

regards,

jb

thanks PKcast for listing the steps in Majid's actions. i tried them both, but i don't think either one is effective in creating a DWC. it has been my experience that if you want to create realistic DWC there isn't a one button filter or action that will do it for you. you must play with ps filters and adjust to taste.

here is my DWC of your skippy utilizing basic ps techniques.

jb

i'd guess it is sketchup, as perspectives have shadows, and to my knowledge in autocad you would have to render it to get the shadows, thus loose the hatch pattern. pretty easy to make su materials from an autocad hatch pattern, though. export from autocad your desired hatch pattern as a jpg --> open jpg in ps and crop --> import into su as a material.

did attached drawing as described in su - use of hatch patterns to show what can be done not neccessarily what you should do .

jb

can't get your action to work - running ps 4.0. could you post your steps in ps that comprise your action?
this was done with basic ps techniques - took 5 min.

jb

well i guess it must be late. i just re-read your post and you were talking about "Artstudio Pro" not the "Virtual Painter" program. oooooops.
i just downloaded the trial version of "Artstudio Pro" and it looks pretty good - more in line with Mike Lucy's "PhotoArtMaster" recommendation (a lot more artistic control). looks promising - i'll have to play with it more tomorrow.

jb

the big swooooosh looking thing is the program's trial version watermark

downloaded trial ver 5 as a plugin for ps. works a little better than previous version but not sure it is worth the extra $30. don't expect this program to be a one button solution for making realistic watercolor/pencil renderings. you will still need to be proficient in ps to achieve that (ie. overlaying and manipulating different layers/opacities/hues, use of different filters, etc). i would buy it only if you are looking to expand your pool of ps filters.

jb

i've used the previous version of the virtual painter plug-in for ps and it works great.

• extracted the edges with smart blur on a duplicated layer, added a fresco filter and changed to hard light. enhanced some of the faded color, burned in a few areas, duplicated with a blur set on soft light. extracted shadow area onto new layer, added brush strokes with a blur set on soft light.

would of been better with higher res image to start with, but thought it turned out decent.

jb