http://www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/index.php?image_id=1857268

Decided to enter this instead of the earlier one in the thread.

That’s a sweet image Orbital! The last one was awesome too. You didn't sell it already did you? ;D

I just want to take this opportunity to remind all challenge entrants that the rules stipulate that ALL artists explain the process of their creation. We love seeing all the eye candy but besides showing off all the creative talent we would like to sample your individual tastes of artistic tools and materials. Your processes can spark other imaginations down other inspirational paths. We want everyone to take something away with them as well as participate. It is not enough to simply say; “I used Bryce and …whatever other software”.  It is also important to give credit where credit is due. 
 

I don't know if I will get my entry finished in time, BUT I did learn how to paint nebula (BIG BRUSH LOL) so not a total waste of effort.

How come there are only two entries, but Orbitals is number 3?

As good as it was the second did not meet the challenge criteria and the artist was messaged and asked to re-submit with proper criteria.

LOL! ok mate, thought I couldn't count there for a minute.

...I need to stop in here more frequently.  I'm already a month behind on this.

Well get to it Kyoto! LOL

Late getting started on this - but I saw some of his work growing up in the '50s and '60s and never knew his name. Just spent an hour with his images on Google and really enjoyed them. He and others were responsible for me (and millions of other kids) to want to be astronauts ;-) Thought by now we'd be able to vacation on the moon or at least in earth orbit!
Looking forward to re-creating some of his vehicles i(so retro!).

Quote - Late getting started on this - but I saw some of his work growing up in the '50s and '60s and never knew his name. Just spent an hour with his images on Google and really enjoyed them. He and others were responsible for me (and millions of other kids) to want to be astronauts ;-) Thought by now we'd be able to vacation on the moon or at least in earth orbit!
Looking forward to re-creating some of his vehicles i(so retro!).

Same here Dan, I used to have a book with his paintings, and used to look at it almost everynight when I was all so very young...by torchlight (With calls up the stairs of 'PUT THAT LIGHT OUT, IT'S BEDTIME!'). I always wished I could create something like that when I was young, but I really wasn't that good at art.

It was Dan Dare and Hurge's Adventures of Tin Tin that got me going!

Yeah, Tintin was another favorite.

Open letter to "Quest"

Thanks for this challenge.  It finally got me out of a slump.  I've finished my entry but I'll wait 'til closing week to post it. 

You’re quite welcome Skiwillgee. I’m happy to provide the motivation. I’ve had a bit of a setback. Actually several, first I can’t make up my mind what it is I want to enter. There are so many possibilities and after working on something I find that I’m not totally satisfied with it and I then start all over on another project. I’m on my fifth and this totals 35 drafts. I have 35 Bryce files thusfar all marked April challenge 1 through 35.

But secondly my biggest setback is that I underwent eye surgery last Thursday and although I’m healing just fine the eye cannot take the glare of the screen and it tires quickly and starts to tear then the headache starts and then the eye pain sets in. Hehehe...I'm wearing big dark shades they gave me at the hospital to view the screen. So I don’t know if I’ll have anything ready by the entry date before my Cyborg eye heals completely.

Quote - But secondly my biggest setback is that I underwent eye surgery last Thursday and although I’m healing just fine the eye cannot take the glare of the screen and it tires quickly and starts to tear then the headache starts and then the eye pain sets in. Hehehe...I'm wearing big dark shades they gave me at the hospital to view the screen. So I don’t know if I’ll have anything ready by the entry date before my Cyborg eye heals completely.
 

Best wishes on the healing process mate, i'm sure you'll be back to your best soon... anyways, gives the rest of us a more equal chance with your current handicap. Heres a 'Quest' smiley for you:

Same as what Dhama says.

  Besides that you need the hard drive space apparently.   I do the same.  One idea starts and evolves into something else until after  too many generations a final render happens.  So when it is all over "challenge scene file1" has no earthly connection to "challenge scene file 14"  and I just wonder "what was I thinking?" and delete them all.

Catarack eye surgery?  I Hope you are 100% soon.

Thanks guys! Yep…a little memento from my saintly childhood days when I got hit in the eye with a brick. I didn’t know how to stay out of trouble then. LOL…come to think about…I still don’t! Over the years it developed into a cataract (in my case...a Cadillac...LOL) but the doctors kept telling me that it was better to hold off surgery until it interfered with quality of life. It was never visible and it didn’t hurt. So things started to gradually get dark and vision badly blurred. Last November I went to have my annual eye checkup and the optometrist said I should go see a surgeon. Finally got around to it and sure enough it had gotten to that point. But they weren’t sure if the lens would adhere due to the prior injury and there was a chance of blindness in that eye so I took a gamble and had it done. So far…so good.

Wishing you a speedy recovery too. And remember to stay away from stretchy things that can snap.
Hugs

Hey Ang! You awake today? j/k...thanks! No…no bungee exercise gizmos for me! LOL!

I was telling Ang about my experience and the old timer who was sitting next to me at the hospital. He looked pretty good for an old geezer with flat tummy and all.  It turns out he had knocked his implant lens sideways in his eye while exercising with some kind of bungee cord. Those you but your foot into and then curl your arm with the other end. Well, it snapped and hit him right in the eye knocking his implant around in his eye.

Hugs Back!

Not only am I awake, but at work also. Break is almost over. 2 1/2 more hours till I get to go home and have my st paddy's day supper. Yup, having corned beef and cabbage, somehow didn't get around to having it sooner, lol.
Saw a book at the library too that I almost took out, with hopes it could help me with doing a challenge. But the dang thing had big black circles in the middle of each page. Turned out it was a book about black holes in certain galaxies and so the pictures were useless to me.

I hope it hasn't been in the fridge that long! :tt2:

The corned beef has been, lol. But its in a sealed bag, in that brine. So it should be good. If not you'll hear from me complaining about the food poisoning.

LOL...enjoy!

TTYS!

GWS, Questy!

Oh thanks Bryster. I'm coming along just fine. Not getting the headaches from staring at the screen anymore. Due to see the optomotrist this Friday for eyeball tweaking.

Best of luck Quest. I've had eye ailments before, and they sure do interfere with doing artwork, especially on the computer. Funny thing, since I've switched to flat panel monitors from my old CRTs, I haven't had the probs I did before.

...been trying to convince my IT dept at work about that. 

Used to have a nice flat panel display then was moved from the Digital Print dept (which also had a nice climate controlled area) to the drafty, cold, noisy warehouse to co manage a client's prodiction account.  I now have this gargantuan archaic old CRT that is pretty much on it's last legs taking up a major portion of my desk space. I actually had to set the brightness and contrast up almost to maximum just to be able to see what's on the screen.  To make things even more "interesting" I am under what is bascally outdoor Merc Vapour (not regular florescent) lighting which has a lovely 60hz flicker rate.

...and I wonder why I am so overtired when I get home from work lately.  The desire to work on my 3D projects is there but as of late, the head and eyes have been saying "we need a rest".

I hate flatscreens. I have an old CRT and a couple of spares somewhere.

"*I hate flatscreens. I have an old CRT and a couple of spares somewhere".

• Whatever works for you Bryster.
     I had a HP 21" CRT that I picked up for a pittance at the place I used to work. It served me well for 7 years until it started getting dimmer and dimmer. I hated moving the thing as it weighed approx. 25 kilos, and at least half of that was in the lead shielding alone! It was big and awkward too, and took up most of my desk. Now i have a 22" monitor i can move with 1 hand, and lots of space on my desk for other useful things.

50p: I know what you mean. My last one's screen used to collapse sideways and I had to bash it on the side (exactly 3" up from the bottom right-hand corner) to get it to snap back to the right size. I can't tell you the number of times I've had my wrist in plaster. Not that there's an A&E on Mars. Plastering a fracture is a DIY job over here.

Are we allowed to enter more than one image? I see Thunderstone has two images credited on the entry page.

He did sneak a second one in didn't he? I would think not Orbital. It would afford him twice the advantage over those who are still struggling with the one entry and thus it wouldn't be fair. It's like playing the lottery...the more tickets you have the greater your chances of winning. Maybe he'll have a fourth and a fith posted by the deadline date. LOL...

Questy, you have site-mail.

Orbital, (and others) multiple entries have been allowed in the past. 'If you have the time, you can go for it', seems to have been the thinking. However, I will be asking folks for a consensus in the next challenge. At this late stage I don't feel it would be fair to cry foul and change the parameters of the challenge. Thunderstone posted his work in good faith and according to what the system allowed - a checkbox permits or denies multiple entries.

I hope this clarifies things.

You know, when I saw that the entry box was up, I thought why not post the extra version that I had did. I was going to post the extra one in my gallery but for those of you who thinks that this will increase my chance of winning, I gladly request that the first one be removed as well as the second one and will refrain from entering any more challenges in this forum, since in the first place, I never even win at any of the past challenges. Bryster, I will send you sitemail regarding this.

I have no intention of sharing my art with the likes of those who thinks I am cheating.

@Quest,
 Probably not, 'cause I have just requested that both of my entries be removed. I am not going to enter another challenge in this forum. Have fun and good luck....

@Orbital,
  Your Cloud City tutorial is very very good! I borrowed a few things from you and another tutorial and combined them to produce a good render. Too bad, it will not be seen. Thanks for the tutorial tho.

Thunderstone, you have site-mail.

I'm not bothered if you can enter more than once, I just wasn't aware that you could, thats all. Thunderstaone don't take this to heart pal, put your entries back in!!!!!

Thunderstone, how dare you try to compete with me!! I'm the only moaner in this forum, i'm the only one that'll stamp my feet when something is not how I like it.....

You can do as you please Thunderstone but if you can post more than once then so can all other entrants regardless of talent. In that case it shouldn't be called a challenge but an open gallery and we already have one of those and it has entry limits.  My argument isn’t based on quality vs. quantity since we all know that even the lowly single lottery ticket holder gets lucky.

My understanding is that the system preferences weren’t checked on to disable multiple entries and being this late in the game no alterations will be made. I will stand behind Bryster in this regard.

@Quest,
I thank you  for your gracious decree, allowing me to post more than one. And you know what? I welcome multiple entries from the others as it give us more opportunities to see how many scifi possibilities could be rendered (and perhaps a mini tut in how they did theirs). One doesn't show what the person could possibly do with this type of theme. There are many outcomes as there are imagination.

After all this flack about multiple entries, I can see now, why a lot of people  do not want to enter challenges. All it takes is for one person to taint the challenge with innuendo  and sarcasm.

You also want to know something else?

If I do stay in this so-called challenge, I won't bother the likes of you with entries in future challenges, no matter what the theme is or the number of entries allowed. So glad you are standing behind TheBryster on this point.(or are you really hiding behind him ?   )

Stay in the mix T-stone. 

Don’t thank me TS, if it were up to me your second entry would have been chucked automatically no questions asked…period.

No need to get your panties all in a bunch. You have no idea what TheBryster and me have collaborated about concerning this dilemma. It is presumptuous of you to assume you know what was said between us. I did agree with him that it was late in the game to make the change.  So therefore, I’m not hiding behind him as you so off-handedly tried to convey but with him, so stand corrected.

The one good thing that may come of this is that TheBryster may be taking votes on the issue of multiple challenge entries. Certainly there are many here who don’t care for it. It would certainly be a funny thing if a gifted artist entered multiple entries and won 1st, 2nd and 3rd place consistently. Then no one need apply.

Yes, it’s a wide and interesting theme and I’m sure many artists here have gone through many variations and evolutions of their work. I for instance am on my 48th take. In the process I’ve manage to come up with about 5 - 6 different concepts some good but I put them aside because I wasn’t completely satisfied and started anew down another avenue. Now that you’ve opened the door, should I find myself likewise strangely compelled to upload them all? That now remains to be seen.

I’m astonished to know that I have such diverse power over you that you allow me to control whether or not you would enter future challenges. Personally I can care less what you decide to do. If you decide to enter a challenge, that’s fine by me. If you decide not to enter a challenge, that’s fine by me as well.

Further, there is no innuendo here, no indirect hinting at something but directness.  I don’t think the warranted sarcasm is what has been keeping the folks away from the challenges. For one, this was my first challenge in a very long…long time and my reason for entering it was obvious. No, I think the reason is all the back door sneakiness that has gone on here over the years and the cronyism. 

Sigh, here we go again!!!!! This is supposed to be F U N guys!!!!!!

Quote - ....cronyism. 

You jest?....... Surely not; I don't believe it. :lol: Not here, not at the Bryce forum...... :tt2:

Quote - Lown - Sigh, here we go again!!!!! This is supposed to be F U N guys!!!!!!

Not under His Royal Majesty, King Quest's decree. Or haven't you heard???  :lol:

A final thought, if someone were to post three entries and came in 1st,2nd and 3rd, so be it! The community collectively voted those three images as the best. Posting multiple entries doesnt really give anyone a better chance of "winning", post ten sucking images and they all still suck!!(not having a dig at anyone there just making a point).
Also, and this is not directed at Thunderstone as other people have made similar comments in the past, if you dont win then your image wasnt worthy of a place, as voted by the collective community. Saying "I never win so I wont enter anymore" is something I would expect my 4 year old daughter to say, I take it no-one who posts here is a 4 year old!!
Rant over!!!!!

Wow, Lown that is great! Not to worry, I've made my decision already. I have entered in the past only one entry and so that is that. HRM Quest has decreed that in his domain, only one entry should be allowed and all others should be chucked out the nearest air hole. You're right tho. You can post 10 entries that sucks and it will still suck  or enter 3 great works and be choosen 1st and 2nd and 3rd. The thing is the whole challenge has been tainted by HRM's decree. But as I have stated, it's not fun any more with attitude like HRM's.  :mellow:

OK Time out, you Guys!

In the first place multiple entries have been allowed in the past - before my time.

In the second, the system was set to permit mutilple entries - I didn't mess with it because I was too concerned with getting the upload page working and getting the challenge underway. And let me tell you, that process is harder than making art like Rochr.

TS didn't break any rules and no one - especially me - considered that multiple entries would be an issue. This came as a surprise to everyone.

I have been in touch with the concerned and aggrieved parties and tried to smooth the waters. I think enough has been said on this matter and I will be asking the Forum their views on a couple of challenge questions very soon.

Now get on with making art and don't forget to boolean!

The Bryster
Forum Moderator.

Lown, love the work as usual. I think it’s just wonderful. I can’t wait to see it in all its splendor.

TS, the question was posed and it being my challenge and not knowing I followed up on it. Obviously I don’t agree with the practice but I would certainly go along with whatever is decided in the forum as a whole. There certainly hasn’t been a reason to get all wimpy and girly about it to bring it to a personal level. My posts speak for themselves, I would appreciate it if you didn’t take the low road and stop putting words in my mouth.

Bryster, no one said TS has broken any rules. The question came up and I followed up with you for answers. Yes, I expressed my disapproval of the practice but I’ve made no accusations’. I remember there being some discussion about it in the past but I don’t recall the outcome of those discussions. 

On that note I’ll move onto my 49th take of the challenge. Maybe I’ll change my mind again and start all over.

Quest: I didn't say that anyone accused TS of breaking the rules. I just wanted to make things clear.