| » Forum Index » The Friday Challenge » Topic: Challenge 1084: A pod with a view |
|
Posted on 16/12/25 05:39:25 AM |
|
tooquilos
Wizard of Oz Posts: 2940 Reply  |
Re: Challenge 1084: A pod with a view
http://vimeo.com/1146829876?fl=pl&fe=sh David, placing the dome on that structure is a stroke of genius. It belongs there! The rapids are great, Ben.  _________________ Dorothy: "there's no place like home!" |
Posted on 16/12/25 09:17:03 AM |
|
GKB
Magical Montagist Posts: 4095 Reply  |
Re: Challenge 1084: A pod with a view
Very good Anna. I like the ‘refraction’ _________________ Whatever you do in life do it with the enthusiasm of a 4-year old in a Batman suit. |
Posted on 17/12/25 8:22:45 PM |
|
DavidMac
Director of Photoshop Posts: 5947 Reply  |
Re: Challenge 1084: A pod with a view
Sorry to be slow replying. Using the photo as base I drew foreground hexagons in black and background hexagons in grey on separate layers using the brush tool with shift key. I used layer emboss to 'light' these. It's a complete cheat because, as far as I can tell from the photograph, there are no glazing bars in reality. _________________ The subtlety and conviction of any Photoshop effect is invariably inversely proportional to the number of knobs on it ....... |
Posted on 17/12/25 8:43:56 PM |
|
DavidMac
Director of Photoshop Posts: 5947 Reply |
Re: Challenge 1084: A pod with a view
Thank you! "That structure" is the Atomium. Aside from the Mannequin Pis it's Belgium's best know national symbol!  _________________ The subtlety and conviction of any Photoshop effect is invariably inversely proportional to the number of knobs on it ....... |
Posted on 18/12/25 10:05:11 AM |
|
Mariner
Renaissance Mariner Posts: 3202 Reply  |
Re: Challenge 1084: A pod in Venezuela
|
Posted on 18/12/25 10:08:38 AM |
|
Mariner
Renaissance Mariner Posts: 3202 Reply |
Re: Challenge 1084: A pod near Venezuela
|
Posted on 18/12/25 10:45:48 AM |
|
DavidMac
Director of Photoshop Posts: 5947 Reply |
Re: Challenge 1084: A pod with a view
Michael. The opening lights in your waterfall image are very ingenious. I take it the lower part opens downwards and inwards out of sight behind the hull. 
This does make me wonder how do you really get in and out of this thing? I never thought about it until I saw your image. Aside from lifting the whole dome there doesn't seem to any apparent way in or out, but it has be to something easier than that for safety and emergency escape. Do I detect a note of jealousy and suspicion in paradise? The bow wave and spray in the second image are incredibly convincing! _________________ The subtlety and conviction of any Photoshop effect is invariably inversely proportional to the number of knobs on it ....... |
Posted on 18/12/25 12:38:51 PM |
|
Mariner
Renaissance Mariner Posts: 3202 Reply |
Re: Challenge 1084: A pod with a view
David, the only way in that I could think of (besides lifting the roof off) was to create doors. Then the question arose about where the doors go when they are open. The doors' windows were easily decided, but the lower half? This was a big prblem as there is barely enough room for a human to get through the doorways, and making them bigger didn't seem like a good idea. Finally I decided on the little metal stairs by door 3. These look as though you can fold them up and put them inside. On the inside would be an identical set to allow an easier exit through the door. Doors 1 and 2 have no visible steps. This, I imagined is because the doors were only open to provide fresh air. "Do I detect a note of jealousy and suspicion in paradise?". Yes, you do. It took some time to find an attractive, unsmiling, hi-res young woman looking away from the camera, but I think it was worth it. My second entry is inspired by Trump's imminent war on Venezuela. It is not very good, but it has drama. |
Posted on 18/12/25 10:13:26 PM |
|
Frank
Eager Beaver Posts: 1819 Reply  |
Re: Challenge 1084: A pod with a view
Great entries all - some nice work here. Been a busy week but managed to squeeze some time.  |
Posted on 19/12/25 07:29:53 AM |
|
Mariner
Renaissance Mariner Posts: 3202 Reply |
Re: Challenge 1084: A pod with a view
Very picturesque Frank. That's a seriously big polar bear! Good work. |
Posted on 19/12/25 08:46:35 AM |
|
Steve Caplin
Administrator Posts: 7101 Reply  |
Re: Challenge 1084: A pod with a view
First to float the pod this week was Ben Boardman, perfectly immersing it in the rapids. The way the water wraps around the pod is spectacular, Ben: the shading is exactly right. Top job. I like the river entry, although there are some issues with the reflection – the curves need to bend the other way. The second river entry is much better, but just some minor adjustments needed to that reflection. Think of a coin lying on a mirror. The shape of the curve would appear translated, rather than reflected. I enjoyed GKB's saturnine entry, with the jet propulsion showing on the left. Good translucency on the pod, too. That would make for quite a lunch. It’s off to the North Pole for Ant Snell, with a couple of bears getting rather to close for comfort. I think that’s the right approach to take with Nano Banana: use it as a tool, don’t expect it to produce finished images. North Pole again, this time from DavidMac – and it’s polar bear time here too. I like the added igloo, but surely we’re viewing that fishing eskimo from too high an angle? I thought at first it was really just the position of the feet, but then found I had to move the whole leg and arm as well: 
The pod does fit perfectly on the Atomium, a Brussels landmark I really hope to see one day. Bet the food’s cold by the time it gets up there. Don’t do yourself down over the candlelit entry: it was a near-impossible task, and you’ve done it remarkably well. I bet there was a point when you were bored with tracing all those hexagons, though. I think most of the effort for lwc this week must have gone into making the pod transparent – and it’s expertly done, with just the right amount of opacity. But surely that water would produce a reflection? It even reflects that distant cloud. A Jurassic entry from tooquilos, with a very neatly rebuilt canopy on the pod – love those refractions. The passengers don’t seem to be enjoying their ride, though. The refractions are glorious in the animated version, and the slight movement of the passengers is terrific. I like the final scene! Excellent. A complete rebuild from Mariner (I really must set up a keyboard shortcut to type that), with the usual painstaking attention to detail. The real ingenuity here is in the design of those doors. The one on the right seems to have the bottom rectangular panel turning into steps – or have the two bottom panels from the other doorways been moved there to make the stairs? And I like the new setting. But watch your scale: from this distance, the man in the blue shirt shouldn’t appear bigger than the woman in white. And since she’s standing up do leave room for her legs! A very pertinent Venezuela entry. Beautiful work from Frank, with splendid lighting and translucent panels. It fits really well into that scene. Personally I’d have moved it up a bit and put one of the floating pieces of ice in front of it, but then you know how I like putting things in front of other things. Excellent work, everyone. |
Posted on 19/12/25 09:00:17 AM |
|
Mariner
Renaissance Mariner Posts: 3202 Reply |
Re: Challenge 1084: A pod with a view
Thanks Steve. I get it. Better next time. |
Posted on 19/12/25 09:56:56 AM |
|
GKB
Magical Montagist Posts: 4095 Reply |
Re: Challenge 1084: A pod with a view
Thanks Steve Happy Christmas to everyone on HTCIP _________________ Why is it that all the contestants in the ‘Miss Universe’ contest are all from Earth? |
Posted on 19/12/25 12:42:20 PM |
|
DavidMac
Director of Photoshop Posts: 5947 Reply |
Re: Challenge 1084: A pod with a view
I could wriggle on the hook and say the landscape is pretty rugged and the surface is sloping towards us ................ but something tells me I wouldn't get away with it. That simple looking image gave me no end of headaches finding stuff that would fit together plausibly.
The lift is apparently one of the fastest in Europe. It has a glass ceiling so you can watch the speed of your ascent. It's quite impressive! But, in point of fact, that's irrelevant - the kitchens are up there too! Those spheres are much larger than you might imagine. 18m (60ft) in diameter. Vertically that's a six story building. So there's plenty of space for a large 360° dining room on the equator with tons space above and below for kitchens and other stuff.
With the pen tool and shift key it was pretty quick. I tried to make it more entertaining by treating it like one of those problems where you have to draw a complex shape without lifting your pencil from the paper! Thanks, Steve, for an entertaining challenge. By the way do you know the secret of how you get in and out of that thing? There really doesn't seem to be any clue in the photo ........ ....... it's bugging me. _________________ The subtlety and conviction of any Photoshop effect is invariably inversely proportional to the number of knobs on it ....... |
Posted on 19/12/25 1:18:35 PM |
|
Steve Caplin
Administrator Posts: 7101 Reply |
Re: Challenge 1084: A pod with a view
I think there’s a hatch on the right hand side. |
Posted on 19/12/25 1:56:12 PM |
|
DavidMac
Director of Photoshop Posts: 5947 Reply |
Re: Challenge 1084: A pod with a view
So edge on camera that it's effectively invisible. Well I just did what I should have done in the first place if I had any sense. There's a web address on the side of the boat! Therein lies the answer _________________ The subtlety and conviction of any Photoshop effect is invariably inversely proportional to the number of knobs on it ....... |
Posted on 20/12/25 12:54:11 PM |
|
lwc
Hole in One Posts: 3420 Reply  |
Re: Challenge 1084: A pod with a view
Thanks Steve! |
| page: 1 2 last |