Category Archives: Art

Rendering images from dos till now

I like creating Art, painting, drawing, sculpting but also computer generated. Most of the things i create are for adults. So i can’t post my best work.

Below are some of the programs i’ve used, these are NOT the generic drawing programs like Gimp, Photoshop or alike.
Ony programs that generate (photorealistic) graphics.
I tried to start with the oldest ending with Blender. There is an overlap and sometimes i’m not sure when I used these programs.

BMRT

Blue Moon Rendering Tools, or BMRT, was one of the most famous RenderMan-compliant photorealistic rendering systems.

Could not find examples?

3DS4

3D Studio, not to be confused with the later “3d Studio Max” product, is a DOS-based tool from Autodesk for creating 3d models and animations.

Vivid

This is the Vivid raytracer. It will only run in a dos environment.
http://paulbourke.net/dataformats/vivid/

Povray

The Persistence of Vision Ray Tracer, most commonly acronymed as POV-Ray, is a cross-platform ray-tracing program that generates images from a text-based scene description.

Example povray source
megapov -geometry 1600×1200 +L /usr/share/povray/include/ +L /data/povray/megapov-1.2.1/include/ +L /data/povray/povray-3.7.0.RC3/include/ ./mine.pov

#include "colors.inc"
#include "metals.inc"
#include "woods.inc"

global_settings { ambient_light rgb<0,0,0> }

#declare Jump_Start  = 0.5;
#declare Jump_Height = 7;
#if (clock < Jump_Start )
 #declare Camera_Y = 1;
#else
 #declare Camera_Y = 1
   + Jump_Height*
     0.5*(1-cos(4*pi*(clock-Jump_Start)));
#end

camera {
 angle 38
 location <0.3,Camera_Y,-3>
 right x*image_width/image_height
 look_at <0,1,0>
 rotate<0,-360*(clock+0.01),0>
} 

plane { 
  y, 0  
  pigment { checker color LightGray color White } // checkered floor
}

// deze later spotlight maken
//light_source { <10, 10, -10> color White }
//light_source { <-10, 5, -15> color White }

light_source
{ <100, 200, -150>/50, 1
  fade_distance 6 fade_power 2
  area_light x*3, y*3, 12, 12 circular orient adaptive 0
}


light_source {
  <3,7,-4>     // position
  color White
  spotlight    // specifies spotlight
  radius 15    // cone opening from its axis in degrees. Light start to dim outside of this.
  falloff 20   // outside of this, there is no light.
  tightness 1  // over-all coherence of the light beam
  point_at <0, 2, 0>
}

box 
 { <0,-200,0>, <143,1100,33>
	scale 0.001
      texture {T_Wood4}  
translate <0.42,-1,0.65>
	rotate <-20,0,0>
 }

#declare plank1 = box 
 { <0,0,0>, <143,2200,33>
	scale 0.001
      texture {T_Wood4}  
 }

#declare size1 = union {
object { plank1 }
#declare xpos = 153;
#declare xpos1 = -10;
#declare ypos = 90;
#declare zpos = 16;
#declare xfinal = 1000;
#declare yfinal = 2200;
#declare zfinal = 1000;
#while (ypos <= yfinal)
    #torus { 10,5 rotate<90,0,0> translate<xpos,ypos,zpos>  texture {T_Chrome_4E} scale 0.001 }
    #torus { 10,5 rotate<90,0,0> translate<xpos1,ypos,zpos>  texture {T_Chrome_4E} scale 0.001 }
  #declare ypos = ypos + 200;
#end
}

union {
object { size1 
	rotate <0,0,-20>
}
object { size1 
	rotate <0,180,20>
	translate <1,0,0.033>
}
	rotate <10,0,0>
}

Bryce

Bryce or Bryce3D, is a 3D modeling, rendering and animation program specialising in fractal landscapes.

More about the webcam controls https://www.henriaanstoot.nl/1998/10/23/made-a-webinterface-for-my-diy-webcam/


Poser

Poser (Pro) is a 3D computer graphics program optimized for the 3D modeling of human figures.

Blender

Blender is a free and open-source 3D computer graphics software tool set used for creating animated films, visual effects, art, 3D-printed models, motion graphics, interactive 3D applications, virtual reality, and, formerly, video games. Blender’s features include 3D modelling, UV mapping, texturing, digital drawing, raster graphics editing, rigging and skinning, fluid and smoke simulation, particle simulation, soft body simulation, sculpting, animation, match moving, rendering, motion graphics, video editing, and compositing. (Dutch developers started it in 1994)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blender_(software)

Below here not really for art but graphical generators .

Others: Zbrush, Xara3D, Sketchup, OpenScad
Terrain Maker, Terragen

Planning the cocktail bar, same month i did the whole house in Sketchup
Used an android app before to figure out the picture sizes, sketchup works also

I made the double chanter in blender in this post
https://www.henriaanstoot.nl/2021/07/02/3d-printed-double-chanter-proof-of-concept/

Below my openscad version

difference(){
    difference(){
difference(){
    union(){
cylinder($fn = 180, $fa = 12, $fs = 2, h = 100, d1 = 16, d2 = 16, center = false);

translate([-12.5,0,0]){

cylinder($fn = 180, $fa = 12, $fs = 2, h = 70, d1 = 25, d2 = 25, center = false);
}
translate([12.5,0,0]){
cylinder($fn = 180, $fa = 12, $fs = 2, h = 70, d1 = 25, d2 = 25, center = false);
}
}




translate([-12.5,0,0]){
cylinder($fn = 180, $fa = 12, $fs = 2, h = 70, d1 = 17, d2 = 17, center = false);
}

translate([12.5,0,0]){
cylinder($fn = 180, $fa = 12, $fs = 2, h = 70, d1 = 17, d2 = 17, center = false);
}
}
translate([-12.5,0,65])
rotate([0,90,0])
cylinder($fn = 180, $fa = 12, $fs = 2, h = 20, d1 = 10, d2 = 10, center = false);
}
translate([0,0,70])
cylinder($fn = 180, $fa = 12, $fs = 2, h = 50, d1 = 12, d2 = 12, center = false);



}
translate([0,0,69]){
difference(){
union(){
translate([0,0,0])
cylinder($fn = 180, $fa = 12, $fs = 2, h = 5, d1 = 16, d2 = 16, center = false);
translate([-12.5,0,0])
cylinder($fn = 180, $fa = 12, $fs = 2, h = 5, d1 = 25, d2 = 25, center = false);
translate([12.5,0,0])
cylinder($fn = 180, $fa = 12, $fs = 2, h = 5, d1 = 25, d2 = 25, center = false);
}
translate([0,0,0])
cylinder($fn = 180, $fa = 12, $fs = 2, h = 5, d1 = 12, d2 = 12, center = false);
}
}
SUperb example of generated boxes for 3D printing using dimension variables.

NSFW Galleries:

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Weird comix, doodles and drawings i did

Blind parents often think their children are blind due to genetics.
Miffy learns DNS (Domain Name resolving)
Biological fly fly swatter trap

Here comes the plane!! ..
Fear for flying learned at a young age
More realistic spiderman

Postman, please drop some catfood in the mailbox every day?
Stopcontact = powersocket, spijkers = nails, aquariumslang met water = hose with water, lampje = lamp and using a clothespin to turn light off or dimming it
If you know .. you know
Waldorf and Statler (Vincent and me)
A friend and I having both backpains, mixing pills and alcohol will do the trick? Made a blender image to post in our Mattermost channel

I admire people who excel at things they do

These are my lists, but i’m open for discussions/questions
Work in progress

Actors

  • Tom Hanks
  • John Lithgow
  • Dennis Lee Hopper
  • Jack Nicholson
  • Clint Eastwood
  • Dustin Hoffman
  • Rutger Hauer (RIP) .. see “De kijk van Koolhoven” why

Art

  • H.R. Giger
  • M.C. Escher
  • César Manrique
  • Comics ( Details from  André Franquin, Dark Humor Koen Hottentot,  Don Lawrence, Don Martin ) to name a few, they are spot on
One of my comic collections – Don Martin

Classical Music

  • Paganini
  • Ludovico Einaudi

Composers

  • Ennio Morricone
  • Hans Zimmer
  • John Williams ( with a remark )
    Some of the Starwars Suite was taken from already existing music
    ( See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DN3vl-JnUF8 ! )
    Gustav Holst – The Planets Suite – Mars part for example

Folk/pipers (composers)

  • Gordon Duncan (RIP)
  • Fred Morrison
  • RS MacDonald
  • Paddy Keenan

A (bad) comic i drew about Gordon Duncan in 2012

Opera

Bands (non folk)

Rammstein – I know, seems like a obvious populair choice.
But hear me out.

I like classical till metal. But it has to be musically interesting.

Most (non-german) people don’t listen to the lyrics, i did not either.
I found the music okay. Then i started to listen to the lyrics.

The lyrics are surprisingly deep.
Layers in the text, word jokes like:
Du… (you)
Du hast… (you have, but sounds like hasst .. You hate)
Du hast mich… ( You have me, or sounds like you hate me)
Du hast mich…
Du hast mich gefragt… (You have asked me)

Although people think they are fascists or far-right. Coming from the punk scene, they are kind of the opposite.

Everything they do has a meaning, but sometimes you can “paste” different stories about the song.

Listen to Ohne Dich, and then see the Music Video.

Have a good listen to Germany, and Man gegen man.
There are others better in explaining .. see:

And a AI generated Music Video .. perfectly matching the Lyrics

Bonus:
Check out this YT channel, all kinds of musicians .. transcripted (is this a word?) by this dude.

https://www.youtube.com/@GeorgeCollier

Workshop Cyanotype

The cyanotype (from Ancient Greek kuáneos, “dark blue” and túpos, “mark, impression, type”) is a slow-reacting, photographic printing technique. It produces a cyan-blue print used for art as monochrome imagery applicable on a range of supports, and for reprography in the form of blueprints. For any purpose, the process usually uses two chemicals: ferric ammonium citrate or ferric ammonium oxalate, and potassium ferricyanide, and only water to develop and fix. Announced in 1842, it is still in use.

This technique was also used as a method of copying drawings.
For example buildings and schematics. While making copies of drawings with the exact dimensions of the original, making the result untemperable was another big plus. ( You could not move/redraw walls for example on the copy)

I’ve printed a photo on transparant sheets to experiment with.
(Next time, i’ll take a larger size, and fix the contrast.

The most interesting ones i’ve made today:

3DMouse and blender

UPDATE: 2022-09-29

Yesterday i got two 3DConnexion 3D CAD mouses (mice) from my friend Vincent. While we where fixing his Mikrotik network i got to play with these cool devices.

I always wanted one of those, but they are quite expensive

First i tried to install the Software from 3DConnexion. It kindda worked but needed some workarounds and still wasn’t okay.

Downloaded 3dxware-linux-v1-8-0.x86_64.tar.gz (Maybe this version is TOO new, SpacePilot i a little ouder)
there is a install-3dxunix.sh, but it was made for Suse/Redhat

This program needed motif .. and a lot of libraries (libmotif/libxm)
After that some fonts xfonts-100dpi xfonts-75dpi


workaround was starting by 
sudo /etc/3DxWare/daemon/3dxsvr -userName ${USER} -d usb

After that the demo program worked perfectly … but Blender didn’t
After some tinkering it work a little, it was far to sensitive, and was all over the place.

Luckily i found a opensource replacement. https://spacenav.sourceforge.net/
git cloned the package, then i notished .. there is a precompiled version for ubuntu!

apt-get install spacenavd .. start the service .. and go!

i cloned the test demos (libspnav) and compiled those test programs.

apt-get install libglu1-mesa-dev
git clone https://github.com/FreeSpacenav/libspnav.git
cd libspnav
./configure
make
... fly is a nice little test program

So lets start blender

Pan tilt roll .. nice!

This wil speedup modeling, and for sure sculpting !

Some settings which worked for me .. let the tweaking begin!

UPDATE: 2022-09-29

I removed the version in the apt repository, and installed everything from git. Now i have a cool configure tool

Photoshoots again

Today we did a photoshoot again. (Arja needed some pictures again). Nice to have some practice again.
I’ve been setting up a little studio in our shed. i’ve got a nice interchangeable background with multiple colors/fabrics. (White/Black/Chromagreen/Blue cloth)
I also installed the semi professional lights below.

Nice lightweight stands, with a lightbox, and a remote trigger system.
It has two modes. Flash and permanent lighting. It’s a nice piece of equipment, don’t get me wrong. But lately i’ve been using this!

These are led panels, meant for installing in suspended ceilings. I’ve got these from a friend.

I like these because they are white, and the other one a little yellow. And produce a lot of light!
Unlike the permanent lighting mode of the FalconEyes. (When using the permanent lighting mode you see what the lighting wil be. Unlike using a flash. (Which is also great, when going for other photographs)

When using a reflector like below, you can see the effect instantly.

We used the golden part to get a little warmth into the pictures.

I’m using my big painting-easel to hold the led panels. I just placed the picture holder upside down.

Those led panels are cheap, and you can get them in 3000k,4000k and 6000k (Kelvin) those three i’ve seen in online shops doing a quick search.

The rest of my equipment is for another post.

  • Nikon D750
  • Nikon D7100
  • Lenses: 60mm/35mm/200mm and 300mm

Blender 360 degrees test

Next to try is a VR setup.

Another blender project i’m planning to do this week is a movie displaying my logo to overlay on my videos.
So i have to render a transparent movie for this.

Howto:

Open a scene, i took the liberty to get one from blenderkit.

Change output to cycles, eevee doesn’t work

Make x/y large enough in output tab. X = 2 * Y !

Next select your camera, and open camera tab

Change Type to panoramic and then you can change panorama type to Equirectangular

Position your camera and hit F12, it wil take a long time!

You get something like this

Use a proper plugin for your website, or view with your VR glasses!

MCH2022 Badge

Almost … friday will be the day i’ll attend May Contain Hackers.
Besides the awesome villages and talks.

UPDATE: 20220727
UPDATE: 20220812

You get a hackable badge, this one is more amazing as previous versions.

I can’t wait to have a go at this cool gadget. I personally could do without the pcb fancy design.

  • Espressif ESP32 Wrover-E with 16MB of flash storage and paired with 8MB of PSRAM, for front-end badge computing and compatibility with the badge.team ecosystem back to the 2017 SHA badge.
  • Lattice ICE40UP5K FPGA for hardware-accelerated graphics and user FPGA hardware designs.
  • Raspberry Pi RP2040 for advanced USB communication and board management.
  • 2Ah LiPo battery to give you a full day of fun on a charge.
  • 16-bit DAC with stereo output to headphone socket, onboard mono speaker.
  • ILI9341 2.2 inch TFT display with a 240 by 320 pixel resolution.
  • Bosch BNO055 orientation sensor.
  • Bosch BME680 environmental sensor.
  • The usual array of addressable LEDs.
  • SAO and Qwiic expansion connectors, FPGA PMOD expansion, plus onboard prototyping area.

Downloadable apps, micro python, Arduino ide programming.
All kinds of GPIO pins, leds buttons, sound.
Check out https://hatchery.badge.team/

You can play with this virtually here!
https://wokwi.com/projects/335445228923126356

So much potential! Great start for a DIY project.

I won’t post about the workings, thats all well documented online.
I shall post about the hacks/findings i personally did.

UPDATE: 20220727
Made a micropython program to keep your NameTag level to the ground (Better version)

UPDATE: 20220812

Someone made a 8bit logic analyser using the pmod connector !

Wanted to make a videowall for a video project

I’ve seen some commercial solutions, and some free blender solutions which where too complex or too much hassle.

I’m not paying anything when you can do it yourself for free.
And i wanted a easy to setup wall, using movieclips or pictures.

So below is a blender howto

Above also shows howto enable displaying keypresses for making howto movies and a plugin for distributing objects.

Little example using method above