Who is 'Markal'?
Markal is Mark Edwards who lives in Mississippi – originally from Indianapolis, Indiana. I retired from the U.S. Air Force in 2003 after 23 years and decided to stay here in the warm gulf coast south along with my wife, two daughters and three grandchildren.
How long have you been rendering/doing computer graphics?
My last five years in the Air Force I designed and developed computer-based training. We used PhotoShop, Flash and even wrote code in HTML, so I guess I started in the late 90’s. My terragen work began in 2003.
Do you have traditional art experience?
No real art experience just the standard art classes in high school and college.
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What are you currently working on?
I’m working on a collaboration with a Bryce artist…he is making a ship for one of my space landscape images. Learning Terragen 2 and possibly Vue may be in the works soon.
What software/equipment do you use and why?
Software used is Terragen .9.43, PaintShopPro 7 and LunarCell. I use an outdated Dell Pentium 4, 1.4GHZ, running Windows XP. I was going to upgrade but, this very large screen HDTV deal fell into my lap so I had to upgrade my other love…. watching Blue-Ray movies…first. Hopefully I’ll upgrade to a quad 4 before the end of the year.
What do you think your best piece of work is and why?
One of my latest favorites is Rigel III. The foreground is a stone BMP overlay I applied in Terragen…. the shading and shadows were in-line with the sun angle and it worked very well. The only post work was the LunarCell moons and I think they also add a realistic touch. It still amazes me how computer graphics can make an imaginary place look so real and believable.
Why do you like to work with 3D software?
It’s a fun hobby for me and when I focus on the work it carries me away from the hustle and worries of this world.Â
Who/what inspires you?
All the wonderful artists here at ReRo are great inspirations. National Geographic Magazine, NASA and all the space missions has also influenced and inspired me. Of course our creator….Almighty God….the greatest artist of all.
How has this online community (Renderosity) enhanced your work, relationships, and learning?
Not only comments but also other artists sharing their files have helped me grow artistically by leaps and bounds.
Parting Comments / Advice to other Artists?
I try to focus on what I love. I have a passion for Space Art so 99% of my work is Space art. Some may think I need to branch out and explore other areas but I say branch out to what….something I don’t love? Go with what you love and your rewards will be many.
Comments (37)
efron_241
absolute Fantastic Favo
ledwolorz
Wonderful work.
mikeerson
Make a background... imported into your 3D program as a background.... create more 3d on top of it and render your new 3D stuff with your background... that's how I get away with the lines showing up, I hope it helps. great looking picture.
royo12
Great scene beautyfull done!
Frieso
Hi Markal! Great work as always. About those artifact lines, I guess you're talking about lines in gradients? If so, I can assure you, you've done nothing wrong. I bet you're working on a TFT with a TN panel and people who are complaining about those artifact lines work on the same kind of panel. These kind of panels cannot show enough colors to show a nice gradient. I'm looking at your picture on my screen and it shows no artifact lines (Eizo S2431W with SPVA panel, shows more colors and has better brightness distribution). Even the older CRT monitors don't show those lines because they can show more colors. If you want to know more about this, just check out this wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thin_film_transistor_liquid_crystal_display Hope that gives you some peace of mind. :) If you want to get rid of these gradient lines, there's one way that works even on the TN panels. You have to break up those lines. Simple achieved by giving some kind of noise or texture (very subtle) applied to the sky gradient). Greets Frieso
nosawayne
Beautiful!
geirla
Nice! Didn't and wouldn't have notice the lines if you didn't point them out.
Minaya
Excellently done!
Naoo
Excellent SF!!!
lyron
Fantastic landscape!!
clemens-k
yes, I think Frieso is excactly right! and I have to add: sometimes I have the feeling that the gradients rendered in Terragen (without clouds) are simply not as fine graduated as a gradient done in Photoshop - but I´m not sure about this ..great work!
WeeLaddie
@ Coppens: Notice the black panels either side of the scene; that makes it 1024x800. Frieso has analysed the gradient jpeg artifact lines correctly. I've tried selective blurring, but with only marginal success. Better colour-handling screens, I'm sure, is the more effective solution. Another render for my archive of all-time Terragen greats.
VERITY29
Just great!
Coppens
Looks damn fine!
Chaosphoto
Well, I had to look so hard to see those lines and even then if you hadn't said anything about them I would have thought I was just imagining them. Regardless of them I love this :)
prutzworks
cool brown palette
artgum
Perfect sufaces for this terrain. Excellent atmosphere. Complete harmony.
Alex_NIKO
Cool planet...Excellent atmo!
Savage_dragon
Yup. In PSP add noise at 3 or 4. It works great. & it breaks up those blobs you get around hot reds & deep blues. Don't even bother with the jpg artifact remover. It won't help. If that doesn't work, & it doesn't always, there are several filters you can use. I like 'Bad Dream' from Xero. It softens the image & you get great control of the filter. Plus its one of those you can have a lot of fun with. Being free helps, too. This is a nice terrain for WM. It looks like it could have been made in TerraMaker. I like the grungy surface, & the strata is wicked. Cool moons! That's some really nice haze & water. Well done! ")
Danny_G
Great terrian atmo, The whole piece is top notch
thecytron
Awesome landscaping!
Lightpen
A TERRIFIC WORK AND ARTIIST. I like this work a lot. thanks for posting. Lightpen
shayhurs
I'll buy it! (GRIN) Great work as always!
BenBischop
Great Art....!!!
carlx
Fantastic!!!
IQ200
Outstanding!
ppetersen
Hmmmmm LOL yep those lines always bother most of us but here it does work Mark. Even to matching the planet. It almost appears to be dust rings around it. The terrain is a killer... absolutely love it. Surface is superb as always even to the clarity of the water showing the underwater surfacing. Outstanding planetary show as always.
London224
REally nice image you've done here... I think the space fog really makes this...
choronr
In the morning when I'm first up and look into the mirror, I see gradient lines ...rest assured, these are all natural. Image, as always, a tedious work by you that has paid off with another piece of beautiful Space art.
kasalin
Fabulous !!!