Wichita Lineman by RodS
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Description
"I am a lineman for the county.
And I drive the mainroad.
Searchin' in the sun for another overload..."
- Glen Campbell
I've been doing a bit of playing with several things today - which ultimately resulted in this image.
I spent the last week (off and on) trying to improve my skills in 3D modeling with Hexagon. I modeled this telephone pole, including the crossarms, braces, insulators, and pins the insulators are mounted on. This is typical of the thousands of poles you would see along roads and railways in the mid to late 50s. They are long gone, now - save for a very few lines along certain railroads. The insulators are loosely based on the Hemingray model 42, manufactured by the Hemingray Glass Co. until the very early 60s, I believe.
You can find all the information you would ever want about insulators HERE.
I had one booger of a time trying to get the insulators to look like they were made out of glass (I have a few hundred examples lying aroung my house and yard to refer to... I think bmac62 and auntietk - Bill and Tara - will attest to that! LOL!). The best I could come up with in the mat room made them look like they were made from cheesy plastic.. Well, when one needs shaders, there's only one place to go - Bagginsbill's website. I found a shader there for glass orbs - it works just fine for glass insulators!
I'm learning a little about UV mapping, but I still have a ways to go... I'm pretty happy with the textures on the crossarms (I just scanned a scrap of wood for the texture), but I'm not completely satisfied with the texture on the pole itself... Need to do more work on that..
Anyway, here's a bit of a salute to all those souls that kept thousands of miles of our lines of communications up and running for the better part of 100 years. Our lineman is doing a very common task - replacing a broken (or missing) insulator.
The 'wires' are simple Poser cylinders - I reduced the X and Z scale to 2%, and strrrrrretched them in the Y scale about 2700%.
I used Pixeluna's freebie "Frank" morph for our lineman, and Schonee's "Shawn" for the skin texture. The clothes are Casual Wear for M4 available at DAZ. Frank's hard hat by Adam Thwaites. Frank's safety strap was hand painted in Photoshop by me. The cloud photo is also by me.
Thanks as always for dropping by, and for any comments you wish to leave. I appreciate them all!
Comments (30)
Faemike55
Very sweet work Rod! Good posing and setting love those glass insulators
SidheRoseGraphics
"I hear you singing thought the wires..." Lol, great song and a wonderful picture to go with it, Rod. That was very dangerous work actually. I don't think most people realize how dangerous it was, especially if there were power lines strung on the poles too. There usually were. Telephone signals are just like electricity and can fry you just as quickly. You did a great job on the pole, wires, cross-beams and insulators!! You couldn't use the wood tex on the cross-beams for the pole? I'm thinking that would work but maybe you tried it and it didn't. Where's some creosoted wood when you need it? Anyway, great dedication to these guys and wonderful work!
mgtcs
Amazing composition Rod, your perspective is amazing and the character is really great! Loved it!
ZigZag321
They look perfect to me. The texture on the cross arms looks great too, imo. Really enjoyed reading all your insights! Excellent scene.
Revelation-23
Try a cylindrical projection for the pole's UV map and use that scan you used for the crossarms for a test render. The wires look odd being completely taut, but once you get more comfortable with modeling and learn how to work from curves, you should be able to get something that looks a bit more authentic. We have lots of these still around in parts and nearly all of them sag in the middle, not to mention that some of the posts also lean.
Diemamker
Yes it is a dangerous job, specially for those who have to work on high power lines...and lot of the time while there still powered. one missed step and your dead. I see your working hard on that new program, hope to see more...great work..
magnus073
This is a fantastic image Rod, you did a great job modeling that telephone pole it looks so realistic. Thanks also for providing the background information that was so detailed
clbsmiley
This is great!!! :) But I agree about the wires.
mikeerson
If the lines go down, I'm sure we'll hear Glen sing: "...Getting cards and letters from people I don't even know".... lol so you created this pole in hexigon and imported it into poser? I haven't gone into hexigon to see how it looks.
bazza
This looks pretty awesome to me Rod, I made telegraph and power poles wooden and concrete in a program called gmax for a train sim game many years back and this looks fabulous to me.. I should open hex when I get a free hr or two and see if I can make anything in that..lol.. Anyway love the post, the lines man, and the song.. Another first class posting Rod keep them coming!!
vitachick
Man of many talents.. Now modeling? I think you did a great job but I also agree the lines are too taunt..Glen Campbell...brings back memories..
MineFujiko
Great man! Great work!! RodS-san!
eekdog
always enjoyed that tune from Glen Rod. love you work doing music inspired images my friend. i use to climb them poles myself and snag the insulators, had about 50 or so many years ago, one i had was very rare and got 55 dollars for it back in the 70's. supe work my friend..
MtnMist
One of my favorite Glen Campbell songs. This is one super special image to me my friend - my husband is a chief lineman for a power company. I deeply appreciate your image dedicated to these wonderful people (even if my hubby is an electric and not telephone lineman). We line wives are well aware that when catastrophe strikes, natural or otherwise, we won't see these hard working and dedicated workers possibly for weeks at a time. Thank you, Rod. :)
Rainastorm
Wow I am so impressed with this image Rod! The insulators DO look like glass!!! Did you model this after the one you have (or had?) in your back yard? This is awesome work! I love the look of concentration on this mans face also! I really should install Hexgon and try it...I am a bit of a chicken, sort of. I know it I start playing in it, and get hooked...it will take time to learn the program and that time honestly could be spent in better ways so...I'm not sure yet. But I did get the free programs. You have inspired me here though, Id love to give this a whirl now! LOL Glen Campbell is a perfect fit for this by the way! Yes, I remember the old timers! My mom still to this day has way over 300 vinyls that she STILL listens to...lol Perhaps where I get my love of music? I cant wait to see more of your creations my friend! :-) Hope you and your wife and dad are well hun!
jocko500
this is super cool looking. I have one or two of those glass insulators around my house. i just can not find them for now. anyway this is a wonderful image
debbielove
I also, am very impressed Rod.. I have this programme waiting (just like Rosy..), but I'm awaiting a PC upgrade! I doubt I'll be this good, but I would love to make aircraft, just like Neil one day.....We'll see huh? Fabulous work.. Impressed! Ro9b
vyktohria
I'm so glad to hear you're playing with Hex these days...btw, the model turned out GREAT! So does that mean we may be seeing a new vendor soon?? ;)
mrestey
This looks pretty cool Rod! Especially if one takes the time to look at the larger view as I always do. Those insulators definitely DO look like some I have seen for real - in person! You really put a LOT of work into buddy! Great pose, modeling and ALL! Class A job buddy!
Foink
Awesome scene...don't get too close to the hydro lines...ZAP!!!
pixeluna
Wow, what an awesome put together, Big Bro! You really need to throw a bit of your talent here.:-) I like the composition, so carefully planned and thought of. It just blows me away!
adrie
Fantastic composed image and work Rod, your images are always superb.
Rhanagaz
Excellent work, Rod!! Modelling takes time but when somthing sukcees it it a fien feeling. Wooden textures can be tricky but I think I have done fine wood textures on planks and poles with the simple primitives possible there. The insulators look really great!! :o)
adorety
A wonderful illustration of Americana. As a kid, friends and I would walk the tracks and find those insulators from time to time. I think they came out great. The pole looks great too. You are right on with the look and a little more tinkering on the pole. Obviously you want a finished and textured model, but import the untextured models in to Vue and use some of the glass and wood materials in there. I bet they would look great and it's a great way to explore the material editor.
FaeMoon
I've seen a lot of these poles since I grew up in the south and their electric was late to get modernized in parts. Sometimes you can still see some of them along the rails the insulators intact! And we had a few of the insulators at our house too when I was growing up. They make good paperweights :) It's a great mesh for the set - like the glass material on the insulators. Your instincts are right about the wood - they seemed to be a rough wood and at least towards the bottom had a coating of black grease, maybe to discourage insects? Frank makes a perfect lineman, I think.. awesome work!!!
auntietk
You did a great job on those insulators! Wow! I know you're threatening to learn Blender ... for the sake of comparison (and a nice little practice session) you can take a side-on photograph of an insulator and import it into Blender, trace around one edge, spin it, and have a perfect copy of whatever insulator model you want. Dude! LOL! :) Set the IOR (index of refraction) to something close to glass (I don't remember the numbers now), fiddle with the transparency settings, and you'll be blown away by how good your insulators look. :D Not that there's a damned thing wrong with these ... I'm just sayin' ... (Hook! Hook! Set the hook!) :P I'm no help at all with UV mapping. Every time I tried it the thing came out sideways or upside down. Outstanding image, my friend! I'm totally impressed with what you're doing!
moochagoo
Awesome scene and work
Erestorfan
Nice job!! And a blast from the past with Glen Campbell!! I really remember that song!!! And I remembered that you collect the glass insulators too! Nice!!! Sounds like you have a nice collection!! Nice job!!
KnightWolverine
Show'n my age here when knowing who this is and know'n the song lyric's as well....lol...Immediate Fav!
boobunny
Very unique piece. Great job.