Xzerizon

... Now I feel stupid. I had no idea it was that simple. I managed it a little while ago using a long, complicated series of stuff including bidirectional blur and fragmentation. And then I learn this. Thanks, EER!

I haven't been able to find a picture yet, let's see... Ah, here we go. It's the sun effect in the center, basically.

There's this bloom effect in many sci-fi franchises. Basically, a bloom effect is applied to lighting it make it look like it's glowing. However, the particular bloom effect I'm trying to figure out how to do is... stretched horizontally, for lack of a better term. Does anyone know how to do this?

Ah. Thank you, BoltBait. As it turns out, the Normal Tools and Heightmap work spectacularly together. Thanks for the links. Yeah, I would have searched if I had any idea that normal mapping plugins existed. Unfortunately, I didn't. Oh well.

I've been using Blender a lot recently, and, not wanting to front the money to buy a Normal Map generation program or (oh dear) use GIMP of all things, I decided to try creating a Normal Map in Paint.NET. What is a Normal Map, you ask? Normal Maps are images that are used in conjunction with a texture to give the texture false 'depth', allowing, say, light to shine onto the bricks in a texture while not getting into the cracks between, or making light come from a specific side. The original texture: The normal map: The result: Not the best, as you can clearly see. How could I make improvements? Is this even practical? Any suggestions?

Another long delay, but I think the pictures are worth it. I haven't had as much time to design, and I haven't been cranking out as many pictures. I think I'm growing up.

Rant: My dad installed a security program on my computer that blocks the most stupid things, like YouTube. :c

Putting it in a bowl of rice does help, like Daniels said. Once, I accidently dropped my iPod Touch into the bathtub somehow. I got it out fast, and turned it on. It appeared to work just fine, but when I tried to turn it on again, it shorted out. Luckily, it wasn't too far gone that I was able to put it in a bowl of rice over night. It worked just fine in the morning.

@HELEN Thank you. Not really much to show this time. I haven't been making as much art as of late, and what I have made, I've spent a long time on. Maybe not as much time as you masters, but still pretty long.

SkullBonz: A nice piece, with some nice texture, but the border is really cutting it for me. pdnnoob: Very, very cool! Very well done. For critique, the planet's brightness seems a bit off, and it would be nicer to have some more obvious/numerous space clouds. Skullbonz: x 15 PDNnoob: x 19 It's a tie. Going to put in this work I made quite a while ago.

@HELEN Thanks.

No one has entered for a long time. I think it's frowned upon to enter twice in a row, but this would be dead otherwise.

I've been trying to create realistic clouds from scratch. This is what I have so far. Make sure you click on it to view it in full size. What can I do to make it look more realistic? Anything about the texture or whatever?

Seriously, how do you do all of this? Your artwork is exactly/nearly the style I adore. It's freaking amazing. Congratulations on the Galleria nomination.

@barbieq25, Thanks for the compliments and congratulations! @HELEN, Yes, coding is fun. That is, if you aren't using some insanely impractical language like jQuery. It may do some cool stuff, but jQuery drives me nuts, .-. Thanks for the compliments. I'm glad to be back.