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Posted on 10/10/25 08:33:58 AM |
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Steve Caplin
Administrator Posts: 7068 Reply  |
Re: Challenge 1074: Louis Vuitton's River
First to go wading this week was Ant Snell, with an ingenious reference to one of Hockney’s pool paintings – and the artist himself watching from the side. Good use of a poster to cover up the reflection on the column, complete with tape; and I really like the diving board, with its interesting shadow. Very fine work. A Venetian gondola from Ben Boardman, in a scene full of bag-toting people – all LV bags, I assume. Nicely framed, very good ripples, with perfectly shaped reflections for the people and the boat. But of course you shouldn’t see the reflections of the light through them. Aha – fixed! I have to say, the manipulation of the boat’s reflection is exactly right. Or did you find it like that? A charming Tunnel of Love, with dimmed lighting. I particularly like the quartet of lovers on the wall. And the Julers Verne entry really is very fine… I think we’re just going to have to accept that Nano Banana is becoming part of the workflow. (For those who aren’t aware of it, check out this video.) I’m aghast to see that hideous sculpture in DavidMac's entry invading the building – bad enough on the outside. Nicely done, though, with expertly created reflections. Still ghastly. A huge flurry of action in the water sports entry, and there’s a lot going on here. I like the poses of the people on the bank being splashed. The reflections are… interesting. I think they’d be very much more distorted than that, with a lot more gaps where the turbulent water is reflecting a different part of the scene entirely. But what a lot of work! Very interesting to see the AI entry, which is technically accurate but, as is so often the case with AI, lacking in soul. While some parts are entirely lifelike – the reflections, the boats, the riders – there are anomalies. What’s that line of spray right in front of the spectators, for instance? And why are they all bunched together like that? Your original had a lot more life to it. Louis Vuitton branded ducks from GKB, neatly parading down the river. Of course, as with Ben’s entry above, the reflections should be opaque. I like the rippling in the animated version that precedes the ducks’ arrival, and the fun random course they take along the water. The speedy final one is funny. Again – no transparency on their reflections! A very different approach from Frank, who has turned the scene into a skating rink. And I have to say, it works perfectly, with the perspective exactly matching the background. I like the added snowfall, but it’s worth adding a few more flakes, out of focus, in the foreground to give a greater sense of depth. A lily pond from lwc, complete with dragonfly. I really like the composition here, and the subdued lighting. I really hope you manage to find a way to get your animations back on the Forum, I’m really going to miss them. But have you tried rendering the GIF animations as movies? A radically different approach from Mariner, turning the yellow light panels into mirrors – and it’s the subtle reflection of the one concrete pillar that makes that fact clear. What an interesting approach! The only thing that jars slightly is the texture of the water, which somehow doesn’t feel sufficiently liquid. Also, thanks for the video link – fascinating to watch. |
Posted on 10/10/25 09:36:08 AM |
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Mariner
Renaissance Mariner Posts: 3153 Reply  |
Re: Challenge 1074: Louis Vuitton's River
Yes, I had a lot of trouble with that choice of "too transparent or not transparent enough?". Quite a difficult one this week. |
Posted on 10/10/25 09:48:48 AM |
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GKB
Magical Montagist Posts: 4054 Reply  |
Re: Challenge 1074: Louis Vuitton's River
Thanks Steve. Making the reflections opaque is no problem with a still image - just didn’t have time to figure out how to do it with video. I’ll have to work on that for future videos. _________________ Why is it that all the contestants in the ‘Miss Universe’ contest are all from Earth? |
Posted on 10/10/25 10:03:32 AM |
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Steve Caplin
Administrator Posts: 7068 Reply |
Re: Challenge 1074: Louis Vuitton's River
I think just make them solid 100% opacity, and reduce the contrast and brightness. |
Posted on 10/10/25 10:18:38 AM |
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Mariner
Renaissance Mariner Posts: 3153 Reply |
Re: Challenge 1074: Louis Vuitton's River
Thanks, David. It was very difficult to get the reflections more or less right. I spent hours on it and I am still not satisfied, and neither is Steve. Would you like to show me an improvemnt Steve? |
Posted on 10/10/25 10:25:23 AM |
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DavidMac
Director of Photoshop Posts: 5858 Reply  |
Re: Challenge 1074: Louis Vuitton's River
That was I have to confess a deliberate wind up on my part. Creating the reflections was tricky. Quite a lot of puppet warp.
Yes I think that's probably true. It was very tricky. None of the ripple filters did the job - all too geometric. In the end I used a photo of heavily rippling water as a map for the Displace Filter. That was much more organic. Problem was if I used really turbulent water it didn't map well, just became a mess. With the wisdom of hindsight , the best would probably have been by hand with Liquify but I don't really like it and it would have been something of a marathon. By then I was getting a bit tired of it and settled for the displacement.
Yes. And not even technically accurate. It left the water far, far too calm. I could have probably corrected that with a prompt but I was getting rather irritated with Gemini by then. _________________ The subtlety and conviction of any Photoshop effect is invariably inversely proportional to the number of knobs on it ....... |
Posted on 10/10/25 11:33:10 AM |
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Steve Caplin
Administrator Posts: 7068 Reply |
Re: Challenge 1074: Louis Vuitton's River
Er… don’t really have the time! I think a photo of real water might be your best solution. |
Posted on 10/10/25 11:38:51 AM |
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GKB
Magical Montagist Posts: 4054 Reply |
Re: Challenge 1074: Louis Vuitton's River
Okey-dokey I’ll give that a bash when I get back from this trip _________________ Whatever you do in life do it with the enthusiasm of a 4-year old in a Batman suit. |
Posted on 10/10/25 12:29:52 PM |
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Frank
Eager Beaver Posts: 1786 Reply  |
Re: Challenge 1074: Louis Vuitton's River
Thanks Steve, yes I thought of that but declined. Took a bit of coaxing to get the perspective right. |
Posted on 10/10/25 1:49:32 PM |
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lwc
Hole in One Posts: 3373 Reply  |
Re: Challenge 1074: Louis Vuitton's River
The dragonfly was fun to make, thanks Steve. One of the things I enjoy most about making animated gifs is getting the loop to be as seamless as possible, a video makes it pointless to bother. Below is an animation hosted by Giphy, the polar bear was unfinished and I used it for testing the various hosts that claimed to handle animated gifs. I elected not to use it because of the tags and links that are added by Giphy. If no one in HTCIP objects, I might consider using it in the future. 
Whoa... when I reviewed this, the tags and links appear to be gone. Giphy may work ok after all. I can do nothing about the overall size. EDIT- Giphy resizes gif images to 480xXXX without regard to the uploaded dimensions. |
Posted on 14/10/25 11:04:41 AM |
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GKB
Magical Montagist Posts: 4054 Reply |
Re: Challenge 1074: Louis Vuitton's River
Just got home from my scotland trip and tried your suggestion; it works very nicely. Thanks _________________ Why is it that all the contestants in the ‘Miss Universe’ contest are all from Earth? |
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