This blog...

...was initially for pieces done on a computer, but has since become a free-for-all. Here you'll find process work (digital and otherwise), sketch pages and studies, sometimes with commentary.

You can see the rest of my work here.

Remember kids : if you can't make pretty designs, at least make pretty lines!

-Paul

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

paint test - render composite

Clearly I don't understand light and edge treatment the way this guy does, but it was fun to attempt his method.


<--sketch loosely based on Chris "Telekinetic Frog" White, who recently hopped aboard the Vigil train

Still not clear on what ambient occlusion is. As far as I can tell, it's like sharper definition directly around edges mixed with some soft shadows...? Guess this is shit I need to learn if I'm going to roll with the big boys...

Thanks to local artist Jim Perry for passing the tutorial along, and of course to its author Adam Ford -- open source at its awesome-est.

3 comments:

marctaro said...

Well, in games anyway Ambient Occlusion was just fancy talk for what they used to call a Shadow Map. A texture map that 'occludes' or 'blocks out' the ambient light. Thus re-enforcing the little tiny dark shadows cast under ridges and surface detail that wouldn't actually be in the geometry. Makes a vertex lit object look better when not directly lit by a light source. Pure ambient makes things look flat - kind of revealing the painted-on-ness of the diffuse texture maps. Sorry to blab on. It's my OCDnerdness.

Paul Richards said...

No, that's actually exactly what I needed to know. Thank you!

Danny Araya said...

I just finished a painting using most of his methods too, it turned out to be really useful and it was quicker than my usual lack-of-focus approach.