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Gene Fleeman

Mark Edwards

Stephen Schmitt

Issue 7
March 2011
Premium Edition

Wolfgang Sigl

Moon Dust
Weve interviewed Mark Edwards this month who has a passion and great talent for space art.
In one sense, the ultimate artist for this genre is Alan Bean, the fourth man to walk on the moon and the only
Apollo astronaut to document his experience by artwork. He started painting after working in other NASA projects; his last venture was training astronauts for the soon to end Shuttle programme. He could easily have taken other jobs at organisations such as Rockwell or McDonnell-Douglas, but it was painting he cared about
most. It was a hobby he did at weekends, but he decided to take it to a new level and turn it into a profession.
He paints with acrylics, tending to be impressionistic as well as technically detailed. His images show an eyewitness account of the first human exploration of another world. There is an irony that his paintings somewhat
fill in a missing gap, because the TV camera taken to the moon for Apollo 12 was broken by Alan himself by
inadvertently pointing it at the sun, so no moving footage was taken of this mission, although still pictures
were.
What is remarkable about each painting is that it includes small amounts of materials from his space suit mission patches, the gold foil that insulated the Apollo 12 command module and finally a small amount of moon
dust (gained from his dirtied mission patches). It is a high level of personalisation and real history that Alan includes with his paintings.
The moon has an inherent problem with trying to paint its surface in a realistic way and that is the lack of colour on the moon, as well as a uniformly dark sky. Alan is fully aware of the issue : Theres only a few colours
you can use on the Moon and make it look real; you can use reds and orangeswhich are becoming my
favouriteand yellows. But you use almost anything else and it doesnt look right. It took me years to understand this, but being an art lover, it can still be frustrating. (from MOON DUST, by Andrew Smith, Bloomsbury
publishing 2005, Pg 185).
Including some kind of personalisation in our artwork is a continual goal for all of us. It might not be moon dust,
that we include in our art, but using symbolism, self created models or an image presenting a personal story
may be our own way of showing our uniqueness.

Paul Bussey Editor

mag@3dartdirect.com

Cover art Many Moons by Mark Edwards

The content of this magazine is 2010 3D Art Direct

CONTENTS

Editorial

Page 2

Mark Edwards Terragendigital space art.

Page 4

Stephen Schmitt Creator of World Machineterrain creation software.

Page 15

Wolfgang Sigl Bryce

Page 22

Gene Fleeman Poserextraordinary art

Page 34

MARK EDWARDS
3DAD: Was Terragen your first introduction to 3D digital art? Were you impressed with what it could achieve when you
first came across it? Tell me a little about your background. Did a previous interest in computer graphics lead into 3D
digital art?
ME: I actually started with Bryce but found a free test version of Terragen and was amazed at how real the landscapes looked. Also Terragen can use digital elevation models (DEM) and render real places, like Mars, the moon or
actual places on earth.

Neptune, The Mystic

Mark Edwards lives in Mississippi and
has used Terragen to create a magnificent portfolio of space art. Like many
of us, he was greatly influenced by the
NASA Apollo moon missions. As a 12
year old boy at the time of Apollo 11,
with all the news and excitement
around this achievement learning to
love space and anything to do with it
came easy.

3DAD: You clearly have a love for

Space Art. Where did this passion for
this type of art come from was it
particular books or media in the past
that inspired you to create in this
way?
ME: I was 12 years old when the first
man set foot on the moon so, with all
the news and excitement around this
achievement learning to love space
and anything to do with it came
easy.

MARK EDWARDS
3DAD: What digital artists inspired you when you first started with 3D digital art?

Chesley Bonestell

ME: Don Dixon, Joe Tucciarone, Michael Carrol, Kim Poor, Chesley Bonestell and all the other artists whose art
graced the numerous sci-fi books I read as a kid. I have collected some of the artists listed above in numbered
prints. My office walls are full of space art!
3DAD: Were there any initial barriers as you started out with the learning curve in digital art? How did you overcome
these difficulties?
ME: No difficulties really just experience. Its like playing the piano.you start out with Mary had a little lamb and
with practice and experience you end up playing Beethoven. Hopefully!
3DAD: What do you believe is Terragens greatest strength? Conversely, what is a weakness of Terragen and how
would you suggest it be improved?
ME: TGs strength is its ability to create super realistic images with very little effort. Its weakness is it has too many settings and one slight adjustment usually effects two or three other settings. For improvement perhaps a simplified version without the settings for very advanced users.

Joe Tucciarone

Don Dixon

MARK EDWARDS
3DAD: What were some of the breakthrough images that started to get you a lot more attention?
ME: Jungle Falls surprised me. I thought it was an O.K. image but, people seemed to really like it. I used a lot of postwork. The real breakthrough was
Ashkelon - Valley of Shadows. I used texture maps on a squared terrain and very little postwork. It was different and I think it helped other TG users to
branch out and experiment even more.

AshkelonValley of Shadows
My 2049 Ashkelon terrain made using the
expander filter in World Machine. The verticle slopes or pillars is a 100 x 100 BMP of a
metal grid tiled at 110 x 130. The stone roofs
is a 200 x 200 BMP of a sidewalk, 100 x 120
tile settings. I guess BMP texture files don't
have to be huge to be effective.

Jungle Falls

MARK EDWARDS
3DAD: Holst's "The Planets" series. I think my favourite is Mercury out of this series with the solar flare affects you achieved. Did
Holsts music directly affect your train of thought as you created these images did it provide inspiration as you went to work on
these?
ME: I would set down and begin work on an image in the seriesstopset back and realize that something was missing. Id get
up and put the Holst CD in the player and get back to worksmiling.

MercuryThe Winged Messenger

Jungle Falls

MARK EDWARDS
3DAD: Many Moons. Nice use of the mojoliths clip file and I like how the moons have been aligned with the angle of the rings and their placements behind and in front of the ring. Do you try to provide some elements of realism, according to science, in your planetary artwork?
ME: Realism is important to me but, space art can bend the rules a bit and I do. Fantasy images are the same way. Both genres stretch the limits of reality
and possibilities. Maybe thats why I love space art, I can screw up and write it off to weird science.
3DAD: Early Morning Frost. This image really stands out:- stark, well composed, with the angles of the ground terrain mirroring
details in the sky or star field. How did you construct this scene and were you pleased with its outcome?

Many Moons

Early Morning Frost

Jungle Falls

ME: I hate to sound big headed but I

love all my images. If I didnt like them, I
wouldnt post them or Id re-work them
until worthy. I do have favourites and
am more proud of some over others.
Early Morning Frost started with a spiky
terrain that I tweaked with a twist and
sheer shader. A wide camera angle
made them flare out and I just had to
place the planet in the centre. The colour blue seems to be made for space
art.I just cant use it all the time or the
images would look repetitive.
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MARK EDWARDS
3DAD: Deep Freeze. You mention on your notes with this image that you have a fondness for 50s sci-fi style artwork. Do you have some good resources
(particular artists or books) that you reference for this style of art?

Blue Forever

Deep Freeze

ME: I read a lot of Sci-fi growing up, even into my teens and High School years. The
cover art always drew my attention. Most of these artists were from the 50s and 60s
and I remember some of those book covers and they inspire me to this day.
3DAD: Blue Forever. This includes in the post work an image of the Orion Nebula
from Hubble. Do you do this quite often in your post work, adding in real world astronomical images?
ME: In the older version of Terragen you had to add backgrounds in postwork. With
TG2 you can add these background images into the main render. It makes it a lot
easier. A real image, especially the Hubble images, adds a wow factor as well as
realism.
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MARK EDWARDS
3DAD: Before, After and Way After. Great idea for a series to show the changes of how the planet alters over a significant period of time. Is this one of
your favourite series?
ME: I like doing series or theme type images but, so far I dont have a favourite.

After

Before

Way After
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Rare Rain

MARK EDWARDS
3DAD: Rare Rain. You collaborated with WeeLaddie
(John Robertson) on this
one, whom we interviewed
last year. Have you teamed
up with other artists to create some of your other portfolio.
ME: Ive done quite a few
collaborations over the
years. From the Renderosity
community: Choronr,
Buzzzzz, Corleonis, we did a
3 image series posted under
his name. A few others that
I just cant remember right
now. One series idea Id like
to start over is the Zodiac
series. My idea was to team
up with an artist from each
month of the zodiac. That is:
the artist had to be born in
that month and we would
render an image which fit
that astrological sign/ with
the stars aligned to the symbol in the background.
Maybe Ill try it again later
this yearjust have to find
an artist born in each
month and willing to team
up and share
files..whew!!!
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MARK EDWARDS
3DAD: Tilt. This sounded like a really challenging
image to set up. Is your reference to Terragen 2.I
use to consider myself an intermediate to high end
user until I used this program....its like programming....numbers without any box labels describing
what you're doing...its a guessing game. Is there
quite a high learning curve to Terragen 2 for beginners?

Tilt

ME: There is a slight learning curve. Its just that I was

use to using Terragen .9.43. TG2 is completely different. It takes a little time to get it under control and
use it the way you want.
3DAD: Starbase Crash investigation. Many of your
images dont include as much detail as this one.
Do your prefer to keep to other world landscapes,
rather than filling up an image with models or creating more sci-fi urban environments?

ME: Sci-fi and architecture is another passion of mine, very close to space art. I just dont
have the modelling experience to make buildings or space ships. I would love to do more scifi type images.

Starbase Crash Investigation

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MARK EDWARDS
Mars Rebirth

3DAD: Mars Rebirth. Displaying the great concept of terraforming Mars. I

like how youve called out for honest feedback for this image in your post.
How important has Renderosity been in helping you develop your skills since
you started with digital art?
ME: Artists at Rero are very helpful and most share files or techniques. Feedback on the other hand is wrong. It consists of friends being nice and not
wanting to step on any toes. Comments are not always honest but, they are
nice. I think people should state both good and bad points of the image or
what looks good and what area(s) need more work. Being too harsh on any
image is just wrong.

3DAD: Ashkelon Valley of shadows brought you the most

amount of comments. Theres a note in your post mentioning
that this was created using the expander filter in World Machine. Not being familiar with Terragen, what does the expander filter do and have you experimented with it much
more in your images?
ME: The terrain was created with World Machine. Its a terrain
generator and a great program.
The expander filter can make blocks or circles and yes I have
used it often. I then import the terrain files into Terragen for
rendering.

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MARK EDWARDS
3DAD: Looks like the expander filter was used in
Pirates Cove as well (featured on your Rendo. Home page). Youve created a back story
for this image as well. Do you do this sometimes
with your images? Is there a writer in you?!

Pirates Cove

ME: I tried writing a sci-fi novel once, never got

past the first chapterLOL.
I have a great idea for a fantasy/science type
thriller and may begin working on it with the
help of my sister who has a knack for the English
language and for putting sentences together in
an exceptional way. Its like I have a movie running in my head.I just dont know how to put it
down on paper. It really would be a page
turner or as a movie I think it would do well.
3DAD: Finally What three tips would you have
for those who are just starting out with 3D digital
artwork?
Tip one: Go with what you love. If its portraits,
people, landscapes, photography, abstracts,
architecture, whatever, then do it. Specialize in
a certain genre or style. Very few artists are
masters of all types of art. You have to love it
and have so much passion for it that you want
to show others so they can love it as much as
you do.
Tip two: Develop a style. This is hard because you dont want all of your work to look the same. Yet it has to say YOU. When someone looks at your work
they should know who did it before looking at the signature.
Tip three: Never give up. Their will be naysayers, good stuff and bad just keep going. Never stop reaching for something more or better. Just as Ill never
stop reaching for the stars..

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Stephen Schmitt is an independent software

developer, the creator of World Machine, a
powerful terrain generator. Stephen began
research and development on terrain generation solutions as a hobby while studying applied mathematics at the University of Washington. Stephen resides in the northwest corner of the USA in Seattle and also enjoys hiking, skiing, beer brewing and photography.

3DAD: What is your background and how

did you become interested in 3D terrain
generation?
SS: Hello folks. My name is Stephen, and I am the sole creator of World Machine. I'm a software developer living in Seattle, WSS: I've been interested in
computer graphics for almost as long as I've been into computing -- and since I was one of those kids who geeked out on computers in grade-school, that's
a fairly long time!
I first became interested in 3D Terrain because I love nature, and geology has always fascinated me. Recreating what we see when we step out our door is
a tricky and interesting problem.
3DAD: When and where was World Machine born?
SS: World Machine was born circa 2002. It's hard to believe it was that long ago! At the time I was finishing my degree in applied mathematics at the University of Washington. The inspiration for World Machine came from two different sources:
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WORLD MACHINE
1) As an amateur artist, I was playing with the terrain rendering software "Terragen" and was amazed with the visual results, but unhappy with how difficult it
was to create terrain I wanted to render.
2) As a budding programmer, I was interested in computer game development. At the time, the internet gaming phenomenon was just beginning, and if
you recall back then we were all using slow dial-up modems. It seemed that if we were to keep users from having to wait forever while downloading manymegabyte map files, we would have to have a way for the terrain artist to synthesize the terrain they wanted on the user's computer without having to send
millions of pixels across the wire.
These two challenges were to run right into each other, and World Machine directly grew out of my experiments to solve these problems.
3DAD: You mention that there were some other terrain generation
tools at around the same time that World Machine came into being.
What were these tools and what were their limitations?
SS: As mentioned above, I've long been a fan of the original
"Terragen" software. Its in-built terrain generation was quite good actually, but frustratingly inflexible and unable to produce the kind of terrains that I wanted to create. And every terrain generation tool out at
the time provided what I call the "masterpiece" approach to terrain
creation. You would craft the terrain much like an artist would create
a digital painting (indeed, quite frequently even using Photoshop!),
laboriously detailing the terrain as you desired. Which has two problems: Our brain is surprisingly bad at producing realistic looking terrain
details in height fields, so the results would often be quite fake looking.
You would also have to spend a long time painting this terrain. And if
you decide you want to make major changes --- you lose everything
and start over. There had to be a better way
3DAD: Was the main premise behind World Machine the fact that fractal terrains are difficult to control and edit, and that you were trying to bring greater
control to the user?
SS: Definitely. Fractal terrains are quite useful tools, but getting the result you want can be sometimes difficult. And if you want pleasing results you can almost never directly use the output -- you have to shape, combine, stretch, and process the raw terrain to get the look you want.
It occurred to me that if you were given careful control of how and when all of these steps are used, those very plain-seeming fractal terrains could be rapidly transformed into something very sophisticated. Thus from the very beginning the focus has been to allow you to reach inside the terrain generation
'black box' and design the terrain generator the way you want.

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WORLD MACHINE
SS: As an aside, this is how I came up with the "World Machine" name in the first place. I envisioned WM as a "meta tool", where you design the machine
that then goes and creates the world for you.
3DAD: You have a graph based interface for creating terrains - was this an early part of the software? Was it a top feature for users once this was in place?
SS: This was one of the key original parts to World Machine. I had been introduced to graph based interfaces in other software domains such as audio processing, and to me it "Just Made Sense" to use it to visualize the terrain creation process. It's always been one of the things that's made World Machine
unique.
3DAD: You include some erosion modeling functions in your software, including a river erosion model - was this a
later feature to appear and was this
prompted by users wanting this feature or your own drive to improve
world Machine further?
SS: Just like the graph interface, erosion was actually one of several "killer
features" in World Machine that popularized it. At the time, there were numerous other packages that featured
erosion, but none that neatly fit into
and also allowed the sort of control
that World Machine offered.
Erosion has always been one of the
most popular features of World Machine, and it would be a rare terrain
indeed that has no erosion applied to
it!
3DAD: You include some pre-built
macros that makes it easier to apply
textures to the landscapes. Tell me a
little about this feature?

Graph Based Interface

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WORLD MACHINE
SS: One of the things that I am very proud of in World Machine is its "Macro" capability. A Macro is simply a collection of World Machine actions (called
'devices') hooked together and customized to allow people to control them. A Macro is a black box -- it has knobs and switches, and you put inputs into it
and get results out of it, but you don't have to know what it's doing internally. These macros are stored in a library and can be shared with others easily.
Some of the simple macros I've included with World Machine, in particular the "Basic Coverage" macro, were intended to be simple demonstrations. Instead, I've found that virtually everyone (including myself) uses this macro in real life projects!
I encourage people to share macros they created with other users, and in fact have created on the website an online library where you can upload and
browse other peoples' macros.
3DAD: One function that excites me is the "explorer view" allowing you
to fly, drive or walk through the terrain. Being a Mojoworld fan, this is
quite an appealing feature! Was this idea borrowed from Mojo?
SS: I was a big fan of Mojoworld too! When you have a world that is defined everywhere, its a very natural next step to want to explore it intuitively. Before this was available, users would run into situations where
they might have a great terrain defined, but the mountain you want is
sliced in half right on the edge of the world. Being able to simply look
around and say "OK, lets just move the render output box... THAT way. "
is a very powerful ability.
3DAD: From the last release of World Machine, what new feature or
function are you most proud of?
SS: One feature that I'm extremely proud of was introduced in World
Machine 2, and is called Layout Mode. This is essentially a vector-based
graphics tool that is seamlessly meshed into World Machine. With it, you
can directly control what areas receive which effects, create paths,
roads, or rivers, and much more. It finally provides the bridge between
the world of fully synthetic terrain and artist-painted ones. Unlike working in a paint program your layouts remain a part of the flexible framework of World Machine and allow you to change the underlying terrain
model at any time.

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WORLD MACHINE
3DAD: Do you have some projects where World Machine has been used where you have felt especially proud of?
SS: I hear all the time from users who find that World Machine makes their life better, and I can't emphasize enough how much this feedback matters! The
World Machine website features a lot of these testimonials. Another example comes to mind from the earliest days of WM: I was contacted by the team
behind visual effects for the fantastic television series "Firefly", who wanted to use its terrain generation abilities for a particular shot. Having WM be used at a
high level before it was even for sale as a commercial product was a great encouragement to continue development.
I'm also very proud every time someone does something with World Machine that makes me say "wow, I never thought of doing THAT!"

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WORLD MACHINE
3DAD: The export functions seem very flexible and popular with the users. Are you enhancing this part of World Machine 2 even more in the near future?
SS: Definitely! World Machine now has a fair number of export formats, but there are a few weak spots that I plan to improve upon. In particular, exporting
nice high-resolution normal maps to go along with lower-resolution meshes is more cumbersome than it should be right now, and is one of the areas slated
for imminent improvement.
3DAD: World Machine is targeted to three different types of users:- game developers, skilled artists and enthusiasts. Which group of users tended to take up
the product first? Were you surprised with its initial take up as the software became available on the market?
SS: World Machine developed its original following among enthusiasts first. This is not surprising, because it's what I was too! As WM rapidly grew into a mature product I started getting feedback from people using it in completely different markets than I had imagined, ranging from game developers to architects to visual effect studios.
Indeed, one of the coolest things about developing World Machine has simply been to watch its uptake across so many different segments of the visual art
industry.
3DAD: Which direction will World Machine take next?
World Machine is used in IGNs Lair Game

SS: Good question! There are many improvements that I really

want to add that will keep World Machine on the cutting edge
of terrain creation.
However, smartly developing software as a small business owner
is a constant set of careful compromise between pushing the
technology and not biting off more than you can chew.
I can tell you and your readers, however, about two broad directions I want to encourage. One direction is to increase the
licensing of the core World Machine technology to others, letting the on-the-fly creation abilities of World Machine help power the next generation of video games.
The other direction is to provide artists more tools based upon
natural, geological processes.

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WORLD MACHINE
SS: Expanding briefly on the second point, the existing building blocks in WM consist mostly of digital-art-type, mathematical operations performed upon the
terrain. We're all familiar with how confusing these can be at first. Just try explaining succinctly to someone the meaning behind the various Photoshop
blending modes! My desire is to move to a higher level of abstraction and operate mostly on geological principles, without giving up any of the control currently offered. This is no small task! I'm still deep in research and development along these lines, and don't know when the results will be available.
However, hopefully this does give some insight into the direction I ultimately want to travel with World Machine. I try to post frequently to my development
diary on the website to keep everyone up to date with what's happening with the future of World Machine.
3DAD: Finally what would you recommend to users who are just starting out with 3D art and who want to trial the use World Machine 2?
SS: Whether terrain is your focus or simply the background for the other things you're doing, I truly believe that having a convincing environment is incredibly
important in 3D art. The Basic Edition of World Machine 2 is free for non commercial use. So experiment! Join the forums, ask questions.
You might be amazed at how easy it is to create some pretty unique worlds.

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WOLFGANG SIGL
Wolfgang lives in the north
of Germany and started
working with Bryce beginning in 2002. Since he can
remember, he has liked to
draw and paint. His daughter writes sci-fi models and
Wolfgang creates the cover
art for her books. He regularly adds new images to his
large Renderosity gallery.

3DAD: From your renderosity bio you mentioned you started drawing and oil painting traditional art mediums. Have you
managed to take advantage of certain traditional art skills in your digital art work and if so, what are they?
WS: Yes, I think the imagination and an eye for the composition of a scene.
3DAD: You obviously have a huge passion for digital art and you frequently post your work in Renderosity as well as on your
own website. How did you get started with digital art. Was Bryce your first 3D application?
WS: Early in 2001, a friend of mine who knew that I liked to draw with my computer, gave me information about software to
create 3d scenes and pictures. So I purchased Bryce 4.0 and then Poser 4 a bit later. I dont like to study instruction manuals, so I tried to learn the software by doing trial and error. With Bryce in opposite to Poser - it hasnt been a problem for
me to understand the functions and the handling of the software easily. So I worked with Bryce and learned to love it , and
placed Poser into a lower drawer for some years. Now Im more familiar with Poser, but I still dont love it!
3DAD: What were some of your initial challenges in creating
digital art and how did you overcome these challenges?

The Four Kingdoms

WS: Beside the handling of all the

functions of the software, the main
challenge has been to think tridimensional. For instance: In 3-dsoftware like Bryce you work with 3dobjects on an endless ground area. If
you create a 3d-scene with anything
in the foreground you should not forget the background for instance a
mountain - to give your picture the
necessary depth. And to let the scene look realistic, its much better to
place the mountain object deep
enough far in the background. Its
better to do this than to place the
mountain near the foreground and
make it smaller to give a pretence of
depth.

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WOLFGANG SIGL
3DAD: Were there some digital artists that you first looked up to, when you started out? Who were they and what did you like about their work?
WS:
1.

Andy Simmons alias Hobbit from my point of viewthe Master par excellence.

2.

Primaltruck / Primal - a Poser master.

3.

David Robinson alias BamBam131 creates space ships in a masterful way.

Rocky Desert
3DAD: In your view what are the top two
strengths of Bryce? Is there an area that Bryce
could improve in?
WS: Strengths:
1. Easy handling of the functions (in comparison to other software) to get quick and good
results for the newcomer.
2. It is easy to create simple 3d-objects to
work with inside Bryce.
Improvements:
1. The export functions of self created 3dobjects into other 3d-formats
2. The stability of Bryce when you create a
very complex scene sometimes it crashes and
your scene is damaged.
3. A better function to create stars in the night
skies the actual function is much too crude for
fine small stars ( thats the reason most of my sci
-fi pictures have stars created as postwork with
other software (Universe).

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WOLFGANG SIGL
3DAD: Have you done artwork for your daughters sci-fi novels? Has some of her work inspired your images?
WS: I have created nearly all of her book covers, though she has her own ideas how a cover should look!
I think my daughter has been inspired mainly by my interest (and the interest of my wife as well) in Science Fiction to write her first sci-fi novel.
3DAD: You gain support for your artwork from your family as well as the Renderosity community. Has this support and feedback carried your artwork further
than you first imagined?
Yes. Mainly my family supported me to decide sometimes which version of a picture
would be the best. Also they supported me to
make pictures of other genres not just sci-fi.
3DAD: Youve mentioned that inspiration for a
new piece of artwork can often start with a
new object and grow from this including a
story around the object, which can sometimes
turn into a picture series. Whats your favourite
series youve done so far and tell me why it is
your favourite.
WS: Hmm., very difficult for me to choose..
Basically I love all my artwork in the same
way.
Wonders of the Universe I like very much. Im
an amateur astronomer and have tried to
show some areas of the universe in such a
way that you couldnt see with the equipment
of a hobby astronomer.
That applies to a lot of my Robot-pictures too.
I show them in similar situations like humans.
Ahh, and the living on the rocks, which
shows spectacular points to live, not always a
commendable place to build up a house.!

Somewhere on Mars

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WOLFGANG SIGL

Living on the Rocks

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WOLFGANG SIGL
3DAD: Youve created quite a comprehensive website, including your portfolio as well as various objects, textures and terrains for sale. What has proved
your most popular items for sale so far?
WS: The Bryce-applications I sell via DAZ (the home of Bryce) Im a DAZ published artist for Bryce terrains, materials, scenes, skies.
3DAD: Ive noticed youve also created some Facebook games. Tell me about this how do they promote your artwork?
WS: I have delivered lots of pictures for some games at Facebook, which are coded by a Canadian partner . Until now I cant see any mentionable promotion to sell my artwork. But I had to enter virgin soil by creating lot of characters mainly for Galacticium and for Garden Path with my unloved Poser
I have learned a lot how to manipulate characters in Poser now, which I can use within Bryce for
Somewhere On Mars
my pictures to give them more life. The most
important game is Galacticium. It is still under
development and not online till now. We think,
Galacticium will be a highlight under the Facebook games. The other games where I have delivered pictures have been more training
games for the coding and development of
Galacticium.
3DAD: Youve created a Somewhere on Mars
series. What prompted you to start this series? Is
there a story in this series of 3 images?
WS: As I told before Im a big SF fan, mainly for
classic SF like the stories from Robert A. Heinlein,
Isaac Asimov and a lot of other authors including
the German SF Series Perry Rhodan.
Do we really get all pictures which NASA or ESA
have shot on Mars?!
Just imagine, that there has been a highly developed civilization on Mars long before humans
have reigned the Earth. And now we can find
when we are able to go to Mars with Astronauts
in reality - artefacts on Mars from them.

Somewhere on Mars

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WOLFGANG SIGL
3DAD: Shining Wings. This is an angel type figure placed in front of a
blue background. I presume Bryce has a native import for DAZ 3D studio figures. Do you find the import quite reliable and does Bryce allow a
figure to be posed again, once imported? (This is something that Vue
allows with Poser, but takes a lot of memory to do this!).

Shining Wings

WS: The only acceptable way to import characters with good looking
hair ls via the DAZ Studio software. If you create a character and
change the base poses of the character in Poser it sometimes will be
reposed in the DAZ Studio. So you have to give the character the pose
which you want, again by DAZ Studio and then export into Bryce. Or
you create the character directly in DAZ Studio and export it into Bryce.
If its imported into Bryce you cant change the pose of the character.
So you have to think about the pose before import.
If you export the a figure from Poser as a 3d object f.e. as obj or 3ds file

Frigoris City

and import such file into Bryce the hair looks like made by a plastic clump. You
can use that only for such scenes where the characters are so small that you can
see any difference. But its of course a much easier and faster way to get the figure into Bryce. However, you can only change the textures and the size of the
imported object, not the poses.
3DAD: Galactic Cities - Frigoris City. Youve mentioned that you are a reader
does some of your inspiration come from the classic sci-fi illustrators of books?
Such as Jim Burns, Peter Elson or Chris Moore?
WS: Yep, of course. From books, TV-series like Star Trek, movies like Starwars, 2001,
LoTR (for fantasy) and others. I have collected more than 1000 sf and fantasy
novels now. And I have been very inspired by the artwork of Chris Foss.

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WOLFGANG SIGL
Mysterious Construction

3DAD: Mysterious Construction 1 Brown . You mention that the model

was constructed with "GoBoTo, a modelling package would you recommend using this? What do you like about this software?
WS: I have just started to discover the functions of Groboto. You can get
create very fast some interesting mysterious 3d objects ( I think much
easier as with other software) and export them in the usual file formats to
import them into Bryce or other software.
Basically I have to admit that I have had sometimes a bit of trouble because of the language to understand some functions since nearly all software is only in English and English is not my first language.

3DAD: Asteroid Belt. How did you create the asteroid belt in this
image?
WS: The belt is a sphere from Bryce, the ice boulders are a lattice
object ( you can create such lattice objects with Bryce) and the
texture of the ring is made with Bryce too. I used a texture that I
often use for space scenes with a nebular in the background.

Asteroid Belt

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WOLFGANG SIGL
3DAD: Presidents Visit is your most commented image. It has plenty of
attention to detail is this your most complex render youve done, with the
most amount of imported objects?

Somewhere in this Galaxy

WS: One of them, but I think Terranium City or pictures with lot of robots
like Galactic Empire Alpha Base or Posbi-City western district have
many imported objects as well.
Basically the render time in Bryce is defined by the complexity of difficult
objects like trees with lot of leaves or needles in combination with different
light sources. This can be deadly for the render time. Of course the resolution of the scene is another factor to.

3DAD: Somewhere in this galaxy. Ive noticed one character

you use fairly frequently in your images is the DAZ Droid. Is this
one of your favourite characters?
WS: Yes, indeed, I love robots and androids. I sometimes can create situations for the character in which a real human would not
do, but mostly I show them in humanlike situations .

Presidents Visit

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WOLFGANG SIGL
3DAD: Cracked Rocks is a great surrealistic image that includes a good mood and atmosphere. The rock texture is interesting and the figures are composed nicely. Many of the artists weve interviewed have mentioned that they spend most time on composition and lighting for an image is this the case
with you?
WS: Sometimes, but not in all cases. Often I need more time to find the right sky or texture to let the scene look as realistic as possible.

Cracked Rocks

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WOLFGANG SIGL
3DAD: What are three of your personal favourite images you have created? What
did you learn from creating them and what inspired you to create them?
WS: Mostly the newest creation is my favourite. Basically I have an affinity to dark
and dimly or melancholic pictures. Nessies supper or Bears Shangri Lah are
such pictures I like very much.
And of course darker pictures give the possibility to play with light effects and stars.
Basically I try to show the light in the darkness to give hope for our future. Im a
spiritual man and hope that the light will cast out the shadows in our life. Thats the
reason for some of my darker themed pictures like for instance kid soldier,
apocalypse now-a morning in paradise or where have all the flowers gone.

Bears Shangri Lah

Kid Soldier
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WOLFGANG SIGL
3DAD: What aspect of your artwork would you like to improve
upon next?

Lunchtime

WS: I want to be able to create

3D-objects with software like
Carrara or Hexagon.

3DAD: Finally what three tips

would you give to those who are
just starting out with 3D digital
art?
WS:
1. If you are not a professional
artist and not planning to sell
your artwork, create your pictures mainly for yourself and for
your own pleasure the real
beauty lies in your own point of
view.
2. Dont pay to much attention
to comments in any digital art
communities a lot of them are
pure compliments and dont
give a realistic view of the quality of the commented work.
3. Adhere to copyrights of other artists. If you want to use
things from other artists, ask him
or her before using them.

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Gene Fleeman
3DAD: You started out with ink drawings of
bears and wolves does this spur from an
Gene Fleeman has
interest in the natural world or from elehad an extraordiments of an interest in fantasy stories connary life journey that
taining these creatures?
has been improved
GF: When I started making pictures of
thanks to his artistic
talents. Starting from homelessness on
large mammals and raptor type birds I was
the streets of San Francisco to gaining
actually living on the streets of San Francisa settled family life in Santa Cruz, here
co. A lot of people have no concept of
he remarks on his art and his journey.
living in doorways and eating food donated to you during the day. It is at first degrading. People see you as socially retarded and the reactions you get from
many ranges from pity to real rage.. I found that by making these pictures the
way people saw me was shockingly different. I went from the dreaded Bum
to the socially elevated Artist. My artwork and the reaction of people helped
make drawing in ink a focus for me. It probably kept me sane (Well mostly) and
had the added benefits of putting money in my pockets. Over time one finds
what types of pictures work and sell quickly. I found that carnivorous animals
and raptor type birds went really quick. Out of all of the animals that I made
and sold were my wolves. The pen and ink drawings I made took 45 minutes to
make and sold in another 25 to 30 minutes at $20.00 US and during that time I
would make another $20.00 on donations. The donations came in as people
watched and asked questions. One question that I kept getting was Did you
do that? as if they couldnt fathom a person having talent, as they saw me,
and still being homeless. The animals were a commercial necessity and though
they took most of my time I always experimented. Doing work with the computer came from my wanting to print out my works.

Heroine
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Gene Fleeman
3DAD: You then mention in your Renderosity bio that you discovered Photoshop and Bryce did
you have much enjoyment and success with these applications with your artwork?
GF: I discovered both at the same time. I bought a book about computer applications and it
came with a CD of trial-ware and I tried a few. One was a demo of Bryce 3. I found it fascinating that with a few adjustments to the interfaces sliders I could make all kinds of forms and add materials to make textures for these forms. Even the ability to shade forms and add shadows behind
them. It was totally new to my mindset. I am almost 60 years old now and so I started really late
in life to change how I made my artwork. From 2D to 3D was not easy Bryce seemed to be the
easiest for me to understand so I did a lot of works that in the final outcome were, looking back
now, below par for what most of my more experienced fellow artist were making. For quite a
while I wouldnt even use Poser except to make figures to import into Bryce.
As for Photoshop, it was the second application on the CD that impressed me. I experimented on
every image that I liked the looks of, but I had this thing that I could make it look better by doing
one thing or another to it. Like everything I do I learned by trial and error. By doing different
things I learned which gave me effect I thought looked good. I fell in love with plugins for a
while. Now I have narrowed it down to 3 or 4 plugins that have shortened the process and give
me what I like.. It just takes time to learn what works for you.

Norseman
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Gene Fleeman
3DAD: Were there some digital artists that you first looked up to, when
you started out? Who were they and what did you like about their
work?
GF: I always liked stonemasons works and especially his sale
items. The quality of his work has always impressed me. Estevez
makes excellent scenic works. Fresh and crisp works. Sarsas works
have always been excellent fantasy works. Fabrice Delage, nightcelt, maddelirium and Rgus all have been my favourites for the fine
portraits of women. Masters of lighting and shadow each of these, in
there own manner, are of these far surpass me at realistic types of
works. I was raised on comic books as a child and I have always
loved good sci-fi or fantasy works. My heroes were Frazetta and
magnificent paintings. Such power and mood and energy filled
works were what caught my eye. Boris was another. A lot of barbarians and warriors and beasts. Dynamic poses and healthy looking
warrior princesses. Poser lends itself easy to these two styles of
work. I was also into Sci-fi short stories at the time I was first starting to
work on Sci-fi and Fantasy artwork so it was only natural to add stories
to my pictures.
3DAD: Your main focus is using Poser, are you pleased with how the
software has developed over the years, most especially with its most
recent release? Has the interface improved?
GF: Other than a few more extra functions the interface is the same
simple form it has always been, one that I have become comfortable
with. The program itself works great on my Mac. There was a time
when Poser was a little unstable on the Mac but in the later versions it
has fixed every problem I had. I keep my versions at the last updates
or upgrades. So far it has paid off. I try to keep in mind that I am still
learning and experimenting. Some of them come out just like I wanted them to and some not so much. I dont see any as failures. They
are only ideas that need more refining.

Rosies Grove
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Gene Fleeman
3DAD: What two things would you like to see improved with the Poser software?
GF: I dont see anything that I would change a lot. Most of the problems I
have are through my inability to understand some of the more intricate workings
of the application and its parts. Some things that might be exciting would be a
plugin system, like some of the other 3D programs, to add functionality for those
old codgers, like myself, who cant grasp the math.
3DAD: Do you (or would you like to) create your own Poser accessories and
clothing? If so, what do you feel has been your most successful items that you
have created?
GF: I would love to make my own poser items. As I mentioned earlier I just
dont seem able to grasp the simplest concepts needed to be able to make
mesh and fit textures to them. I do use the material room in Poser but mostly
just to use mats that are different than the ones provided for them. I like to experiment but am mostly lost. I still have a lot of room to progress.
3DAD: You have portrayed quite a journey in your bio from living on the streets
in San Francisco all the way to now living a settled family life with your wife and
daughter. Have some of the experiences during this journey been reflected in
some of your artwork pieces?
GF: Yes. some of my pictures reflect my past and how it effects me is in the
stories. I sometimes get reactions from some that disagree greatly with what is
right or not right in my philosophy invoked in the picture and stories about street
life. Pictures Like Passing Nasty Nancy or Her Two Loves finds me on the opposite end from many as far as how I feel about certain issues and way people
treat each other. Its OK but it shows me that my viewpoint has, at times, been
a really unique glimpse at the workings of the social structure and those that react on that level in what is far different than how I might see things. After some
discussion about this I am sometimes able to see what it might look like had I not
been in the same circumstances myself. So I would have to say that my past life
has influenced how I see the world and it does come out in some of my
works. It may very be the reason I work mostly in Sci-Fi and Fantasy works rather
than a more Modern or realistic work.

Warriors First Christmas Night

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Gene Fleeman
3DAD: You have a strong interest in the fantasy genre
in your work, where have you your main inspirations
come from for your art? Is it from popular fantasy stories?
GF: I have always had a love for stories of Heroes,
Gods & Goddesses, Barbarians and Swords & Sorcery. I love Norse myths and Pagan folklore. A
powerful hero or heroine as a strong central figure
with a myriad of situations to call upon for the background. I love great architecture and scenery items
as well as props that can be worked into some form
of effect. Good Lamp props and a special flame
combined with certain lighting techniques can work
wonders on a fantasy piece.

3DAD: You provide good back stories with your artwork. Have you always been interested in creative
writing? Have you published stories illustrated with
your artwork?
GF: I have never published one of my illustrated stories. Not because I would not like to but because I
am not much of a salesman when it comes to my
work. I do mostly pictures and the stories are to add
an extra dimension to the visual parts. There is a lot
of selling ones self that is involved in being successful
at getting published. I do, however, love making
these stories and fitting them to the pictures. I have
as much fun on the stories as I do the pictures they
accompany.

The Gift of An Angel

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Gene Fleeman
3DAD: Do you have a favourite back story that you
have fashioned?
GF: I would say that the story for If Only I Looked
Like You I had fun with a lot. Trying to see ideas
from two different view points was the story I tried to
fill that image with. With Poser, I keep all parts
needed for any given picture and I find that some
pictures improve the second version. A movement
here, a prop change there or lighting technique that
you found on the way and you see the picture that
develops. As I said, dont be afraid to experiment. I learn through trial and error and sometimes I
keep works that I think have something in them I
need to remember. A few of these together and
the sum inspires you to see different combinations of,
not only, picture effects and possibility but storyline
changes and things that change the mood or colour of a storyline and can make a whole new story. I am as curious as the reader is when making
these stories because I, too, wait to see what different pathways it take me. After all, it is my own fantasies that I am walking through and they seem to
pop up, wholly clothed, as I stumble through. They
seem to be just waiting for me to write them down.
3DAD: Do you have a favourite serial of images that
you have created?
GF: Not really a series but I have many that fit particular themes. Tons of barbarians and Pagan
folk. The Dragon Hunters is one of those, as are
Untamed Clan and Barbarians 1 and 2.

If Only I Looked Like You

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Gene Fleeman
3DAD: What were some of the breakthrough digital art images that started to get you a lot
more attention?
GF: I have never got huge attention like many artists do. I just keep on plugging away in
hopes that my pictures will strike a chord in someone. A story will make a difference to someone and hopefully change their day. After a while you just build a core group of people who
just like your work. I try to stay prolific and do as numerous an amount of pictures as possible. Though I try to please others I never know which picture or what element will effect
them. To say I know just what to do, to create something that will be a popular work, would be
like me driving a car, blind, through crosstown traffic and arriving at my destination. If I put out
enough work then hopefully we will find a place we connect.
3DAD: Could you select three images that have you learned the most by constructing them.
GF: A Gift of an Angel for one. Gathering for Lunch secondly and thirdly I would have to
say An Angel in the Dark Unholy. The first and the last for lighting techniques that I was satisfied with and the second one for learning to plan for my pictures built in layers. One layer in
the wrong order and something shows that shouldnt or doesnt show when it should. The
more complex and plentiful the layers the more chance of an error (or at least for me that has
been the truth). Sometimes it pays to go back and double check.

Gathering for Lunch

Dragon Hunters

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Gene Fleeman
3DAD: Smouldering Eyes. Is used as your current gallery landing page image what makes this one of your favourites?
GF: A couple of people that make almost all of the parts you see in that picture really impress me with their skill at making items. The shapes and textures
are a perfect fit to the type of stories and artwork that I do. It all has an ancient look that add a timeline to the story. A temporal ambiance that makes
the feel of the picture and helps match it to a timeline in the story part of the work. I mix and match a lot and they have such a fine collection that I can fill
the picture with rich textures and detail. Another picture I like because of this is After the Midnight Reading. Danie and Marforno and the stuff they make
inspires me.

After the Midnight Reading

Smouldering Eyes

3DAD: What two tips would you give to those who are starting to use Poser, particularly in grappling with the interface?
GF: I found out over time that the interface grows on you. The advice I would give would be to give it time and play with it. See what it will do when you
make changes. Experiment always. The second advice would be to HAVE FUN. Why did you start to do this at all ? For most of us it is just plain fun. I
love playing with the lighting and the Material room.

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Gene Fleeman
The Self Fulfilling Prophecy

3DAD: What other software do you use in your

workflow apart from Poser?
GF: I use a program called Artmatic Voyager
sometimes. It gives me crisp, detailed scenery. It
is a fractal based program and doesnt allow for
object importing but it works well as a background
shot none the less. I also use Photoshop
(Everytime. It gives me some really crisp work)
3DAD: Which digital artist communities do you use
and recommend (on-line or off-line) and how
have they helped your work?
GF: I stay at Renderosity because I have many
who seem to like my pictures and stories and encourage me. For many of us having people like
our work is important and I have a few friends that
let me know when they like what I have done just
as I have found artists and works that really do inspire me with awe.
3DAD: What direction do you hope to take your
digital artwork through the rest of this year? For instance Do you have some projects with some serial images in mind?
GF: I have just finished a 5 page storyline that I
hope to incorporate into split images (maybe 4 of
them in the series making up 8 different illustrations).

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Gene Fleeman
3DAD: Finally what three tips would you have for those
who are just starting out with digital artwork?
GF:
Tip 1 : As beginners dont feel that your work is inferior.
Tip 2: Know you are yet to learn the things that will
help you place visions in the eyes (and minds) of those
that view your work.
Tip 3 : Scan the galleries for works that impress you. If
you find artwork that overwhelms you (and YOU
WILL..) then by all means feel free to ask questions.

Minister in the City of the Godz

Chronicals of Verlenna
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