This is so beautiful perfect image a Wonderful work!!!!!!!!!!!!

greatwork

OMG ! It's a so precious work and very beautiful texture and color ! Excellent ! Good day :) [I would like to work with your obj freestuff but they don't work with my vue6xs :( ]

This is beautiful indeed. The set is very well built and put together. But I would say there is an inconsistency between the high quality of the set, on one side, and the characters and sky on the other. The sky looks a bit like a photo and the tree and house seem to be "cut" against it. I'm sorry if it's not the case, but that's the feeling I get. Similar applies to the characters, as they seem to me 2D element, more noticeably the dog. The lighting overall seems a bit inconsistent as the main light source doesnt seem to be the orange warm sun but rather some cold blue light on the back of the camera. I understand that if the sun was the only light source, the house and characters would be hardly seen so maybe you really needed to use a second light source but maybe you should make it not as strong as you did. This might have the added advantage of not making the 2D as evident. Sorry for these "improvement points" but if I wouldn't like this scene I wouldn't bother on making these remarks. Anyway, these are just my humble opinions.

Excellent work as usual

I did not even know there was a contest which I quess only shows that I do not spend enough time paying attention. You did some beautiful work with the snow and of course your great model work.

This is so nice, had I known about the competition, I would have voted for you. Excellent work!

Nicely done - very beautiful scene~!

Very illustrative rendering-- which I don't think does as well as photorealistic for competitions. I wouldn't worry-- supposedly it took Picasso 70 years to learn to draw like a child. IOW, it really is in the mind of the beholder. I think your illustration harkens back to an earlier time. It's interesting, because I find I get the most comments from realism, not from technique and illustrative renders.

Well on artistic merit this is a very beautiful picture, in fact quite outstanding in the colouring, I luv it!!

I don't agree with Rutra, I like very much the painting look. IMO this was one of the best images in the 3d contest. Can you tell us, please, how you obtained that painting look?

I also don't agree with Rutra. Its all in the behodlers eye and this type of image I like very much. I think its a job very well done. Sigh.........Only wish I could do this good. :)

Very fine !

Beautiful, beautiful image!!! Bravo!!

Very nice Work!

it's fantastic.... and should have won... but you can never judge the tastes or likes of judges... :)

I don't even know about contests... but I can "vote" here.... this is the MOST BEAUTIFUL thing I have ever seen from vue! I don't know how you added the effect that makes it MORE 3d...and more colorful, rich and just stunning, but WOW!!!

A very incredible and beautiful image!

wonderful scene with excellent postwork

I also don't agree with Rutra, as I told you in an IM, this is the best one of the entries and should of won first place! It is an outstanding job, and should be framed. The colors are just so beautiful and reminds me of a Thomas Kincaid painting!

amazing!!!

I also don't agree with Rutra. Beautiful image & I like the style in which it was done :)

OHHH MY! How wonderful this is. If I was looking for a really Winter Christmas Picture, I sure would have choosen this one. It is indeed so beautiful.. exactly what I mean a Holiday painting should look like. I am not member of the 3D Forum. If I was and saw this, I would have chosen it. This will be one of my favorites.

This is really gorgeous! Looks like a Thomas Kinkade style painting! I agree the votes in the comp were very low - the winner only got 20 and considering how many members this site has it's very disappointing. Shame you didn't win because imo this is the perfect Christmas card image!

Excellent picture. Todd

Beautiful scene, excellent work!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Splendid Xmas postcard ! I love all & especially the sky ! Terrible ! Have a good new year, may it bring you and yours Peace, Happiness and everything you ever hoped for.

A few have asked how I get that painting effect using Photoshop CS3. This is not a one click method and can take hours to get where you need to or want. Being a traditional artist its as close as I get to actual canvas painting these days. Once you save out your image (I save in png) you open Photoshop and you will be using two tools. The brush tool (soft brush) set at a size of about 7 to 10 px and sometimes smaller or lager when needed, set on the "overlay mode" and the dodge tool set on the highlight range. I begin to concentrate on individual areas or objects...adding colors (in overlay mode and not normal mode) I will also highlight areas using the dodge tool using either the color white or black if I need areas darker.(exposure set at 6% to 9%) This way I begin to bring out the colors in the sky or the snow. Sometimes instead of white or black I use other colors as I did for the snow using shades of blue in the shadowed areas. After some time you begin to notice a softer look to your Vue image and you stop when you feel you have reached where you want to be. There isn't a rule here...Stop when your happy with the result. I hope this can help some who would like to experiment with Vue and Photoshop. Thanks for all your positive comments.

How in the world did I miss this? It would have gotten my vote ten times over!!Next time you post in on here and include a link to the vote site.Thats the problem no doubt!I adore this and your attention to detail always gets me.The snow on the plants and the reflection of the sky in the water,so many things to enjoy here.Even the snowshoes against the cabin.Just fantastic Mike and I could not disagree more with Rutra.If this were anymore 3D it would be snowing on my screen!

Excellent!