Digital Asset Library

Over the past couple decades,  I have accumulated a large library of digital assets. These digital assets are the bread-n-butter to my digital workflow. A well organized stock pile of high quality 3D model and textures is fantastic, but they come with time.  I remember spending hours looking for free 3D models to use in projects.  Those days are long gone, but sometimes I need something that I just never needed before. My modeling skills are pretty high, but my time is relatively valuable, so off to the internet I go. Unlike a couple of decades ago, I have larger budgets, so a quick trip to Turbosquid usually does the trick, but before I go there, I always stop over at arcive3d.

Archive3d has 100's of 3d models, which are extremely high quality, and 100% free. So, build your library, keep it well organized for fast searching, and if you get stuck, archive3d might have what you need.

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The Sketchbook Project

The Sketchbook Project is the flagship program of the Art House Co-Op, a New York-based organization that stages collaborative art projects. beginning in 2013, participants may sign up at any point and assign their book to multi-city tour of their choices. For further information on entering or viewing The Sketchbook Project, as well as other Art House Co-Op initiatives, visit www.arthousecoop.com

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I Am Now On Google+

Now there's another way you can connect with me. Add me to your Google+ circle where I will share links to blogs and articles, photos, and interesting videos!

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Some say it takes 10,000 hours, or 10 years, to be a master of something. To create photo-real architectural renderings it takes a lot of hard work, and only a few have mastered the craft of photo-real architectural renderings. It takes a lot of screen time, more than you might imagine.

Some say that unless you are in the photo-real business nobody is noticing the subtleties that keep an image from being photo-real, but I would have to disagree. Humans have a keen sense of perception and can perceive even the smallest errors in what they are viewing, which makes them feel uncomfortable. 

The uncanny valley is a hypothesis in the field of 3D computer animation which holds that when human replicas look and act almost, but not perfectly, like actual human beings, it causes a response of revulsion among human observers.

One study conducted in 2009 examined the evolutionary mechanism behind the aversion associated with the uncanny valley. A group of five monkeys were shown three images: two different 3D monkey faces (realistic, unrealistic), and a real photo of a monkey's face. The monkeys' eye-gaze was used as a proxy for preference or aversion. Since the realistic 3D monkey face was looked at less than either the real photo, or the unrealistic 3D monkey face, this was interpreted as an indication that the monkey participants found the realistic 3D face aversive, or otherwise preferred the other two images. As one would expect with the uncanny valley, more realism can lead to less positive reactions, and this study demonstrated that neither human-specific cognitive processes, nor human culture explain the uncanny valley. In other words, this aversive reaction to realism can be said to be evolutionary in origin

Our clients don't understand what it takes to produce a photo-real rendering. But, they expect something that makes them feel comfortable when viewing it, and not something that seems off, or wrong. There is a wide gamut of work, which is being called photo-real, but unless it looks like a photo, it's not photo-real.

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Help Move The Eye Around The Rendering.

While developing a rendering, an artist strives for interest by creating differences that emphasize the degrees of importance of its various parts. These differences result from compositional considerations - some features are emphasized, and others are subordinated. This creates both primary focal points and secondary areas of interest that help move the eye around the rendering.

Areas become dominant when they are emphasized by contrasts that make them stand out from the rest. Contrast draws attention like the spotlight in a dramatic production or crescendo in a musical piece. In general, the greater the contrast, the greater the emphasis and the more dominant the area becomes.

Renderings that neglect varying degrees of dominance seem to imply that everything is of equal importance, resulting in a confusing rendering that gives the viewer no direction and fails to communicate.

girls-looking-at-artedit.jpg

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