3D Art

BE INSPIRED BY 3D DIGITAL ART

Discover New Sci-Fi and Fantasy Worlds

DIRECT

Inspiration for 3D digital artists

Insightful interviews

Vibrant galleries and portfolios

Issue 18

June 2012

Premium Edition

3D

ArtD

ire

ct.c

om

Ali Ries

Mirek Drozd

Suzi Amberson

Tribute to Ray

Bradbury

1920-2012

Christian Beyer

2

3D Art

BE INSPIRED BY 3D DIGITAL ART

Discover New Sci-Fi and Fantasy Worlds

Direct

Paul Bussey

Editor

paul@3dartdirect.com

Main cover art : “Orinarri” by Mirek Drozd

Mickey Mills

Assistant Editor

mickey@3dartdirect.com

Wolfgang Sigl

Translator

Copyright © 2012 3D Art Direct. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means

electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior written permission of the publisher.

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3

Editorial

Tribute to Ray Bradbury, a landmark science fiction and fantasy

author, whose works included ‘The Martian Chronicles’ and

‘Fahrenheit 451’.

0404

CONTENTS

Interview : Suzi Amberson

“I make it a point to view at least 50 to 100 new images a day to

spark my imagination and drive me to improve my skills. It's truly

an incredible experience to watch new artists

on DeviantArt survive and grow. I am happy to

share the knowledge I have gained to help this

0606

Interview: Mirek Drozd

“Most important is the atmosphere of mystery and the

unknown. I, in my imagination, envisage worlds

where the inhabitants have left, creating that

sense of mystery. ”

2626

Interview : Ali Ries

“I still approach each artwork as if I were making it just for me. I

have fun and it is not work. If someone likes it and wants to use

it in a movie or a book cover, then that is a bo-

nus to me. I would have made the art anyway.

“

2222

Interview : Christian Beyer

“In my opinion, Gimp is a fantastic tool for image editing. It

offers all the features included that I need. It is easy to use and

– it's free!”

4848

FULL INTERVIEW IN PREMIUM EDITION

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FULL INTERVIEW IN PREMIUM EDITION

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FULL INTERVIEW IN PREMIUM EDITION

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4

“One minute it was Ohio winter,

with doors closed, windows locked, the panes

blind with frost, icicles fringing every roof, children

skiing on slopes, housewives lumbering like great

black bears in their furs along the icy streets.

And then a long wave of warmth crossed the

small town. A flooding sea of hot air; it seemed as

if someone had left a bakery door open. The heat

pulsed among the cottages and bushes and

children. The icicles dropped, shattering, to melt.

The doors flew open. The windows flew up. The

children worked off their wool clothes. The

housewives shed their bear disguises. The snow

dissolved and showed last summer's ancient

green lawns.

Rocket summer. The words passed among the

people in the open, airing houses. Rocket

summer. The warm desert air changing the frost

patterns on the windows, erasing the art work. The

skis and sleds suddenly useless. The snow, falling

from the cold sky upon the town, turned to a hot

rain before it touched the ground.

Rocket summer. People leaned from their

dripping porches and watched the reddening

sky.

The rocket lay on the launching field, blowing out

pink clouds of fire and oven heat. The rocket

stood in the cold winter morning, making summer

with every breath of its mighty exhausts. The

rocket made climates, and summer lay for a brief

moment upon the land....”

So started the Martian Chronicles, penned by Ray

Bradbury and published in 1950, at a time when Mars

was still wildly thought to harbour life and the age of

atom power was dominating science's highways and

byways.

Ray Bradbury was one of my favourite authors that I

discovered in my teens and he left an enriching poetic

mark on my then limited view of science fiction's

fascinating landscape.

With his death this week, I have to owe a few words to

this wonderful author by a brief review of the Martian

Chronicles. If you’ve read the book, I'm sure you will

come across some worthy scenes in your imagination

that could be rendered as a 3D artwork image.

Now the Martian Chronicles book was also made into an

ambitious TV mini series starring Rock Hudson, which I

thought followed the original storylines very well and

brought further deserved recognition to Ray Bradbury's

work. I say “story lines” since the book is collection of

short stories set in the same timeline, with some of them

linked together.

Now although Ray Bradbury worked with the TV

scriptwriter, he didn't like it and at a press conference just

described the TV adaption as "boring". This negative

publicity caused NBC to delay the airing of the three part

series until January 1980. Despite this, you'll see reviews on

this (for instance on IMDB.com) as being on the whole

positive, despite some of the dodgy special effects!

The stories include Earth sending its first manned probe to

Mars in 1999, but a jealous Martian murders the two

astronauts because his wife has dreams of meeting

them. Members of a second expedition are hypnotized

into believing that they have landed in the childhood

community of the expedition's leader and they are

tricked into thinking they have been reunited with

deceased family and friends, but they are then poisoned

by the Martians.

Col. John Wilder leads a third expedition and learns that

a chicken pox virus brought to Mars by the first two

expeditions has almost eradicated the Martian

population. A member of Wilder's team becomes

obsessed with protecting Mars from humanity’s intrusion

and murders some of the others in Wilder's party, before

Wilder kills him. Colonists then arrive on Mars to settle,

among them priests seeking God. A lone Martian

masquerades as a shape-shifter among some earth

settlers and becomes the figure they most desire as the

settlers fight over possession of this Martian. Meanwhile

Global war on Earth reduces man's native planet to a

radioactive wasteland, serving as a warning to the few

remaining settlers that choose to stay on Mars of how

they should treat their new world.

I liked the activist character of Spender trying to defend

the dying culture and cities of the Martians against man's

un-thoughtful colonisation of mars by modern science

and technological advances (with the rocket

Editorial Tribute to Ray Bradbury, Landmark Fantasy Author

5

symbolizing this portent throughout the book). The more

even-handed character of Captain Wilder, who has

sympathy for Spender's point of view but seems to have

a key role in the Mars expeditions is definitely the hero of

the story. Rock Hudson's Wilder character is used in the TV

mini series as a consistent figure linking together more of

the key short stories than the book does. Wilder is shown

in the memorable last scene of the TV adaption (but the

book doesn’t identify the character as Wilder in the last

chapter) where he shows his family who the Martians

really are:

"The night came down around them, and there

were stars. But Timothy couldn't find Earth. It had

already set. That was something to think about.

A night bird called among the ruins as they

walked. Dad said, "Your mother and I will try to

teach you. Perhaps we'll fail. I hope not. We've

had a good lot to see and learn from. We

planned this trip years ago, before you were born.

Even if there hadn't been a war we would have

come to Mars, I think, to live and form our own

standard of living. It would have been another

century before Mars would have been really

poisoned by the Earth civilization.

Now, of course - "

They reached the canal. It was long and straight

and cool and wet and reflective in the night.

"I've always wanted to see a Martian," said

Michael. "Where are they, Dad? You promised."

"There they are," said Dad, and he shifted Michael

on his shoulder and pointed straight down.

The Martians were there. Timothy began to shiver.

The Martians were there - in the canal - reflected

in the water. Timothy and Michael and Robert and

Mom and Dad.

The Martians stared back up at them for a long,

long silent time from the rippling water...."

Paul Bussey

Editor

paul@3dartdirect.com

Bernie Casey as Spender and Rock Hudson as Col. John Wilder in the TV adaption of the Martian Chronicles

6

3DA: Science Fiction provides huge inspiration for many

digital artists. Our guest today personifies turning

childhood visions into works of art. Like many who

watched the American space program unfold on

network television, Ali Ries has turned her Sci-Fi dreams

into Sci-Fi creation. Welcome to the pages of 3D Art

Direct and thank you for providing such marvelous

images.

AR: Thank you for this great opportunity.

3DA: What was it like for you growing up, watching the

historic adventures of NASA and how do those

memories affect the work you do today?

AR: I was born in Florida, so NASA and Cape Canaveral

was near and dear to my heart. You almost had to be a

Space fan.

When I was in High School the Lunar Landing occurred,

and like most kids my age we followed it in school and

watched it on TV. I didn’t want to move from the TV set

for fear of missing “The Moment” when they finally set

foot on the Moon. This coupled with my already

voracious appetite for all things Sci-Fi served to create

INTERVIEW:

Ali Ries is a 3D digital artist from Salem, Oregon. Com-

ing of age in the NASA era of Gemini and Apollo an-

chored her artist roots in space. Like many children of

the sixties she was mesmerized by Neil Armstrong’s his-

toric first moonwalk, wishing she could be standing be-

side him in the grand adventure.

Her love for Sci-Fi was handed down from her mom.

Their home was always filled with the latest Sci-Fi adven-

tures. When Star Trek premiered on network television

her future was paved with dream of some future in the

world of Sci-Fi and Fantasy art or special effects. She

would later meet the actors and writers of Star Trek at

various fan gatherings.

A career in special effects and the world of science fic-

tion seemed out of reach and Ali became a nurse, but

the dream never died.

With the proliferation of 3D Art software Ali found a way

to express her galactic imagination. With the equivalent

of a mental Hubble platform, Ali began creating astro-

nomical starscapes, nebulae and other space scenes

as real as the night sky.

Today her work is used on book covers, television pro-

jects and other media around the world, including the

recent SyFy network project, BSG: Blood and Chrome.

Her rocket has arrived.

Ali Ries is: Casperium at Deviant Art

ALI RIES

7

an imagination that kept me in Space many years

to come.

3DA: You grew up in a home that embraced

science fiction. Who were your favorite writers and

how do those books impact your artistic style?

AR: Asimov, Bradbury, Sturgeon and Heinlein were

the ones I read the most. These writers gave me the

inspiration to bring my imagination more down to

“earth” and wanting to create alien planets, rocket

ships and aliens. I love creating robots and

cyborgs, for some reason I relate more to them

than I do to the more human elements in the

novels. For that reason I find myself creating scenes

incorporating those same elements more and

more.

3DA: How did you get into 3D art? Were you

always one of those kids doodling in a notebook,

dreaming about your drawings hanging in some

fancy gallery or are you a late bloomer to the art

world?

AR: Oh yes, I doodled a lot. And at the time since I

couldn’t do Space-scapes very well, I turned to a

quasi-abstract form of terrains and aliens. I never

envisioned having my art hanging in Galleries as I

never felt it would ever be good enough. At the

Star Trek conventions I used to see Star Trek artwork

made by artist Keith Birdsong. I was wowed. That

was the first time that I actually made a conscious

decision to one day create Space Art.

Having said that, it took me a lot more years before

I could even get close to beginning the process, so

you could call me a late bloomer in the art world. I

got my first computer in 1997. I spent the first

couple of years using Micrografx Picture Publisher

learning how to make stationery and manipulations

using stocks and other sources. It wasn’t until 1999

that I got a copy of Bryce 3D and learned how to

start making my own art from scratch.

3DA: You started out in 3D art using Bryce. How did

you approach the learning process?

AR: Bryce was a fun process. I started out as most,

making orbs floating over water and small islands. I

look back now and cringe at them, but we all start

someplace. Pushing buttons and seeing what

happens is the way to go. It gets you familiar with

the program and lets you have fun at the same

time. But once I started getting serious I invested in

a good manual, Real World Bryce 4, which was the

Bryce Bible at the time. It is still a good starting point

for new users.

DANTE’S STATION

MOON TRACKERS

STATION’S END

8

At the time there were a few 3D models you could buy

or get for free and those helped. My husband took an

interest in 3D modeling and used Rhino to make ships

and other models for me to use. It was a fun time. A few

years later Daz3D and Renderosity really hit the scene

and getting models became much easier, allowing me

more time to perfect my art.

Now I know that there have been many controversies

over using Bryce and Poser and buying models. That is

not art when you do that. You can have the most

expensive program in the world, but unless you have the

vision to go with it, you won’t create extraordinary art.

I have seen so many artists take those programs and

create awe inspiring art. At the same time I’ve seen

some really lame art made with fantastic models

created by the modeler. It is like those with the talent to

create the models sometimes lack the vision to use them

in a fantastic way, and those of us who do make

incredible art lack the ability for creating the models.

We need each other like two halves of an equation. It

takes both to create unique art.

3DA: You mentioned a couple of software tools that

don’t get much discussion around here – Nik Color Efx

Pro 4 and Diardsoftware’s Universe. What do these

packages bring to your design arsenal?

AR: Diardsoftware’s Universe has been a staple in my art

bag since the very beginning. I use it to create the vast

star backgrounds and to make the beautiful colored

stars that make up my art. I have used it for over a

decade and will continue to use it for as long as my

computer accepts it as a plugin or standalone.

Nik Color Efx Pro 4 I have been using since version one. It

came as a package with some other plugins that I had

bought at the time. Never thinking I would use it, I

INTERVIEW: ALI RIES

REEF NEBULA

9

IS ANYBODY OUT THERE?

MOON TRACKERS LANDING ZONE

Access the FULL INTERVIEW in our

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CONTINUED...

10

3DA: We are fortunate today to be joined by an

amazing character artist, Suzi Amberson

(Kachinadoll at Deviant Art). Her Poser work sits in

the upper echelon with today’s best 3D artists. Her

diverse gallery displays a wide range of vision and

skill. Welcome to 3D Art Direct. Give us a quick

overview of how you started out in art and

ultimately made the transition to 3D characters.

SA: Thank you! It's such an honor to be a

featured artist in your awesome magazine! I have

always had an active imagination. However, I

never painted or hand drew anything until I

discovered digital art. A whole new world

opened up for me when I discovered I could

actually translate the images in my mind into a 3D

environment and then render them into 2D

images. I feel like I am just scratching the surface

and have a great deal more to learn about my

art. I love to discover and explore new and

interesting techniques and I try to incorporate

them into each new image I create. I am very

passionate about my work and the more I feed

the passion, the hungrier it gets.

3DA: Who are some other artists who have

inspired your work?

SA: Frank Frazetta has always been an inspiration

for me. I remember reading the Conan books

INTERVIEW:

Suzi Amberson currently re-

sides in sunny Phonix, Az. She

worked in the Insurance in-

dustry for 24 years before

discovering a passion for

digital art. Once Suzi real-

ized she was not following

her intended path she took

a huge leap of faith and left the Insurance business to

pursue the passion for creating 3D art.

Suzi is a self-taught artist. She earned her wings starting

out with Poser 6 to creating characters and back-

grounds for images in 2007. Her CG toolbox has expand-

ed over the past few years and now includes Poser Pro

2012, Photoshop CS5 Extended, a Wacom Intuos 4 tab-

let, Marvelous Designer 2, Hexagon and Bryce as her

tools of choice.

She entered her first official art contest in 2009 over on

the Daz3D website. The challenge was to create an im-

age in the spirit of infamous fantasy artist, Frank Frazetta.

The final judging was conducted by Frank Frazetta Jr.

One of her entries took third place and fueled her desire

to pursue 3D art as she sought to add interest and depth

to her spectacular body of work.

http://kachinadoll.deviantart.com/

11

12

mostly to view his awesome imagery. I was so amazed

with his fantasy style paintings, especially how he painted

animals and creatures like his wonderful black panthers.

A great deal of my inspiration came from the great

masters. I took several Art History courses in college to

gain a better appreciation for art and artistic style and

have spent hours viewing their work – Da Vinci in

particular. Not only was he an incredible artist, he was

an inventor and scientist as well. I think that is where my

love for Steampunk and the Victorian and Renaissance

eras started.

3DA: You have a very active fan community on Deviant

Art. Your gallery has garnered over 22,000 comments;

nearly 400 watchers. This seems to be a real testament to

how well your work is received. How has being a part of

the DA family helped you evolve as an artist?

SA: It's funny, but I was quite hesitant at first to join the

Deviant Art community. I did not think my work was

polished enough to join the ranks of the incredibly

talented artists who were members there. I finally

summoned the courage to join and never looked back. I

am so glad I did. It has been the most rewarding

experience ever. The artists come from all over the world

and I have met some incredibly talented artists and

made many dear friends.

The inspiration flows like water at Deviant Art. Everyone is

so friendly and helpful. There is a vast amount of

awesome tutorials and resources available to artists in

every medium. Just the sheer number of brilliant artists is

an inspiration in itself. I make it a point to view at least 50

to 100 new images a day to spark my imagination and

drive me to improve my skills. It's truly an incredible

experience to watch new artists survive and grow. I am

happy to share the knowledge I have gained to help this

process along as well.

3DA: You list your software tools on your DA bio as

Marvelous Designer 2, Hexagon, Photoshop, Poser, and

Bryce. I don’t hear many people discuss Marvelous

Designer but it looks like an almost indispensable

package for the dedicated Poser artist. Tell our readers

what the software does and how you apply it.

SA: I discovered Marvelous Designer 2

www.marvelousdesigner.com a little over a year ago. It

is an incredible 3D Modeling application that is used to

create dynamic clothing for 3D characters. It supports

polyline, free curve and dart drawing so you can actually

create your own clothing patterns, sew them together

and drape the 3D clothing on your character in a real-

time simulation.

It is such an incredible 3D tool and it's so intuitive and

efficient. The end product can be exported out to

several 3D applications such as 3DS Max, Maya,

Softimage, Lightwave, Poser, Daz Studio, Vue and Modo.

The wonderful folks at Marvelous Designer are the best I

have had the privilege to work with. They are extremely

helpful and actually listen to their customers and use this

feedback to continually improve the software. Adding

Marvelous Designer to my CG tool box has enabled me

to actually design, construct and texture my own

clothing models in a fraction of the time it would take to

model the clothing with traditional applications. I don't

know what I would do without it!

3DA: What about Hexagon? Are you doing a lot of your

own modeling with it?

SA: Hexagon is a new addition to my CG toolbox. I

mainly use it to tweak the dynamic clothing models I

create in Marvelous Designer 2 and set up the material

zones and grouping for textures and rigging. I also use it

to add small fine details to my clothing models such as

piping and buttons. I plan to dig deeper into this

wonderful modeling tool and eventually create my own

models and props.

3DA: When you plan a new piece do you have a vision

for it immediately and work towards that vision or do you

find it to be a very fluid process where the image evolves

in the building process and the end process is very

INTERVIEW: SUZI AMBERSON

13

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CONTINUED...

14

3DAD: You've been inspired by the work of Salvador Dali,

the Spanish surrealist painter. What do you like about his

artwork in Particular? What are some of your favourite

works of Dali and why?

MD: Salvador Dali said about himself: “I am a genius”. It is

hard to disagree! What do I like most in his work? It is

hyperrealism of the scenes. Colour, which gives each

image a special atmosphere, while the total output is

consistent. Salvador had fun with the laws of physics. The

famous "clocks", for example. Using the brilliant prospects

and deformations of objects. One could go on.

I have a few favourite images. "Christ of St John Of The

Cross". Beautiful perspective, emphasizing the enormity

of the crucified man and the light that comes out of

nowhere. "The Temptation of St Anthony". This includes

fantastic deformation of objects, emphasizing an

enticing vision and the littleness of man. "Windmills". We

are dealing here with something of a fantasy, maybe sf?

Butterfly wings instead of windmills ones. As on the planet

of insects. "Galatea of the Spheres". Dali brilliantly maps

Mirek Drozd was born in Poland and lives

near Warsaw in the small town of Otwock.

A professional optician, he spends his free

time exploring and refining his interests in

digital artwork. Mirek has been inspired

both by the work of Salvador Dali as well

as computer game art found in such titles

as "Myst" and "Riven". “You can find

elements of the atmosphere from those

strange but beautiful worlds in my

pictures", Mirek says. The main program he

uses is Bryce 7 Pro. with the postwork done

in Adobe Photoshop 5. In addition he use

Wings 3D and Blender 2.61.

Some of Mirek's work, along with his

tutorials, can be found in a step-by-step

guide/album "DIGITAL SCI-FI-ART"

published by ILEX (September 2004)

printed in the UK. In March 2004, Mirek was

featured artist showcased in "Science

Fiction Weekly" website and cover artist in

THE BULLETIN OF THE SCIENCE FICTION AND

FANTASY WRITERS OF AMERICA, For several

years, his work can be seen on the cover

of Polish edition of the magazine NEXUS

http://tse60.deviantart.com/#/d4zlmau

http://www.tse60.com/

MIREK DROZD

15

the three-dimensional canvas, applying all the scattered

fragments on the balls. Completely, as if he uses a

computer with a 3D computer program. And finally,

"Autosodomised By His Own Inspiration", Best, autoironical

portrait.

3DAD: Myst and Riven were classic computer games

Introduced That some iconic graphics, with Myst being

released in 1993. 3D Art Direct was fortunate to have

interviewed one of the graphic artists Chuck Carter in

issue 12th What are some of

your favorite scenes from

Myst or Riven That Have

Inspired You Most?

MD: I do not have favourite

scenes. I am inspired by all

the worlds that have been

created in these games.

From all the parts of the saga

Riven is my favourite one. In

2000 I created a work titled

"My Riven". I tried to

reproduce the colors and

atmosphere of these islands.

In 2007, I made "Myst VII",

where for the postwork I

used a wallpaper from the

fourth part of the game-

"Revelation". I think that from

"Riven" I draw a nice sense of

emptiness from this world.

Myst is a bit different,

especially the later parts of

the saga. What captivates

me is the "unknown", which

can be found at almost

every step. It's for example

strange devices that were

created for a purpose, but

you can’t always learn what

that purpose was! Other

elements such as beautiful,

abandoned houses, strange

plants and animals in the

game fascinated me. I try to

include these elements in my

work. Most important is the

atmosphere of mystery and

the unknown. I, in my visions,

visit worlds that have left its

inhabitants. I don’t look for

them. I’m only a visitor.

3DAD: You use Bryce 7 Pro.

Was this your first 3D art application, or did you start with

an Earlier version of Bryce?

“Most

ORINARRI

Access the FULL INTERVIEW in our

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CONTINUED...

16

3DA: We are fortunate this issue to interview Christian

Beyer, (kanzler at Renderosity) a very talented 3D digital

artist from Germany. Welcome to 3D Art Direct. Tell us a

bit about how you first started out doing art.

CB: It all started in 1982 with an ATARI 800 XL home

computer. That was my beginning in graphics. Back then

together with a few friends I wrote some first graphic

demos in Basic. Later on I discovered Terragen and Bryce

and wondered about their potential.

After getting started with Terragen freeware I was

hooked!

3DA: The first thing that stands out about your work is the

extraordinary ability to create fascinating alien worlds.

What is your foundation in this kind of vision? Where do

Christian Beyer from Germany started out exploring computer graphics

on an Atari 800 XL home computer. He moved onto exploring the delights of

Bryce and Terragen but now primarily uses Vue to add to his large portfolio of

science fiction themed images.

http://www.cornucopia3d.com/portfolio/cbeyer

CHRISTIAN BEYER BON VOYAGE

17

you go-to for this kind of inspiration?

CB: The nice thing about sci-fi art is, that you can let

your imagination run wild.

I was inspired by many movies and books. But basically,

most of my artworks are not planned, but the ideas

develop as I create them.

3DA: Let’s talk about your tools for a minute. Looking at

your gallery you are primarily a Vue artist, but you’ve also

used Bryce and Terragen quite a bit. There’s even the

occasional Poser character. Talk about how you’ve

progressed as an artist and how you select which tool

you use for any given piece.

CB: Every software has its own advantage, although I

think Vue is a very comprehensive tool. It is only after

creating a 3D model that I decide, which tool is going to

work best with it.

3DA: One package you use that I don’t see a lot is

Truespace. Tell us how you came to use that software

and what it gives you that some of the more mainstream

packages don’t.

CB: I came across Truespace because it is freeware. It

has nearly all the features I need for 3D modelling.

3DA: I also notice you do a lot of your postwork in Gimp,

a rather uncommon tool in a Photoshop world. Being a

Gimp user myself I applaud your choice. What are the

top three compelling reasons for choosing Gimp over

Photoshop?

CB: In my opinion, Gimp is a fantastic tool for image

editing. It offers all the features included that I need. It is

easy to use and – it's free!

3DA: Let’s talk about some of your images. The most

viewed piece at Renderosity is Future Impressions. You do

a real good job of perspective, shadow, and lighting in

“In my opinion, Gimp is a fantastic

tool for image editing. It offers all the

features included that I need. It is

easy to use and – it's free!”

FUTURE IMPRESSIONS

18

this piece. The little splash of blue is a nice touch. What

do you think makes this a viewer favourite?

CB: I think, the complexity and mass of the architectural

structures and the lighting makes the picture interesting.

3DA: The most favourited is the Dystopia Control Room. It

was clever to add bits of your art in the monitor screens.

Tell us how this piece developed.

CB: Dystopia Control Room originated by chance when I

was experimenting with the featured Poser character. I

practically built the control room around the character.

3DA: Another fantastic image is Pleiades Sector VII. It

brings to mind the floating city of Bespin in Star Wars. The

light blue pallet works nicely to give this piece a wide

expanse. The subtle ships placed in the scene give it a

little motion as well. A soft touch seemed to be needed

here to fade the distant components. How did you put

this one together?

CB: In this scene, I've taken the advantage of the Vue

function of using an aerial perspective; a nice feature to

easily get extra depth effect in the picture.

3DA: You get a lot of comments from your Renderosity

fans. The piece with the most comments is A New Age.

With comments like, “Superb,” “Outstanding,” and

“Awesome,” you must feel a real sense of pride in the

way the community embraces your art. How has your

work been impacted by community feedback?

CB: Of course it's nice to get confirmation and support for

your artwork. I would like to express my gratitude. I

appreciate any kind of critique. If it is positive or

sometimes showing what I could have done better.

Especially with my first publications on Renderosity it has

really helped me.

3DA: Why is Vue is your favourite software for making 3D

art?

CB: Vue is so interesting to me as software because it

covers almost all areas, whether I want to create sci-fi

INTERVIEW: Christian Beyer

DYSOTOPIA CONTROL ROOM

19

worlds, landscapes or abstract

pictures. I’m happy to have

achieved very good results with

Vue.

3DA: What is your biggest

challenge as a 3D digital artist?

CB: I always try to come one step

forward and test new things. I’m

hoping some opportunities will

come along to make this great

hobby a full-time occupation.

3DA: How much time do you

spend to finish a typical image like

Metroplex-Harbour District?

CB: It always comes out on how

much time do I need for 3D

modeling. I do not remember

exactly, but I think, this image I

needed about 8 hours.

3DA: Describe for us your hardware

and working environment. What music do you

listen to as you work

or do you like it quiet

when you create?

CB: Currently my

hardware is a 64-bit

Windows PC with 3.4

ghz quad core and

16 GB of memory—

and I prefer a quite

environment for

working.

3DA: What are a few

tips would you have

for someone just

starting out in the 3D

art world?

CB:

Be playful—always try

new things.

Always publish the

images in respective

communities to get

feedback.

INTERVIEW: Christian Beyer

THE OUTSIDE

BRIGHT DAY IN SECTOR 11

20 3D Art Direct : Be Inspired By Digital Art Issue#18

Elven Rain by Kachinadoll