Digirama: An Appreciation Part 2

Following up on my earlier post, here is the breakdown of the steps the artist went through in arriving at the masterpiece:

Choosing the scene (this take lotsa imagination and inspiration)

And the skills are put to good use...

Adding the rock platform...

Filling in the water...

And the groundwork is done...

Model in her original state...

Previewing the appropriate size to fit in the scene...

and the model is in...

Adjusting the water level...

Leveling the water level...

Trasparancy of the water...

Adjusting the water refraction effect on her clothes that are submerged in water...

Fine-tuning the color of her clothes that are submerged in water...

Fine-tuning the water rippling effect on the water surface... and the background lighting effect...
Adding the water reflection effect on her chest...

Now, the below picture puzzles me though... the tail of her top wasn't there in the earlier few pictures... now its back..

Making the water translucent enough to see the top tails...

And the master piece is completed!

Digirama: An Appreciation

DIGIRAMA, as it is commonly termed in the community, or photo-composition.
The works below are from > 木村世忍 (Kimura-san)

To the amateur eyes, they may look like some "in-game graphics", but they are in fact not.

The Figurines are scaled-down ratios of the "supposedly real size" characters, commonly about 1/8 scale for human characters.


The BACKGROUND scenes are all REAL LIFE settings / environment.

So the catch here is embedding the FIGURINE into the BACKGROUND.

But it is not just a simple "crop & paste" job.

The skills lie in the "Lightings", "Shadow", "Foreground vs Background sizing" and perhaps even more factors.

And below is a very nice Digirama of Ryuuna from Shining Wind.
Next post, I will upload pictures of how the artist came about creating the below picture.

Its my McDonald's~

Points to ponder: McDonald's has been around since our childhood days, even before the Internet was hardly heard of. Now that everyone of you are pretty I.T. savvy, have you ever BEEN to the McDonald's official website before? Hmmm?

Nope, I ain't no McDonald's spokesperson, but here's some of their pretty cool commercials.
(Credits: HH showed this to me couple of years ago, here it is again, from DC's network)

Kureha: Next [Part 2]

Its out! Its out!

By Kotobukiya: A new sculpture of Kureha; painted.
And they still retained her Bow! Hurray!
Scale of 1/8.
How can I not buy her?
Time to start saving!
Can't wait!

Do they deserve my sympathy?

Was home in time for the 10 o' clock news this evening:

News #1: Singapore Dragonboat Team in Phnom Penh - boat capsize, 5 missing.
My first reaction was like "oh dear..." but upon hearing that those fellas were NOT wearing any life-vest to begin with, my concern turned into anger.

This is total crap! The dragonboat team leader and the organizing commitee apparently did not ensure that participants were safety geared-up prior to the event. However, it would be unfair to blame them, since any sportsmen should be responsible for their own safety and their teammates' safety. Anyone engaging in any watersports should be made to wear life-vest. This is common-sense.

Dun want to wear? Fine! At your own risk then! They dun deserve any sympathy.
Hardluck. 咎由自取，不值得同情。

News #2: Lasik surgery gone wrong for Singaporean.
Singaporean went for Eye Lasik Surgery; Surgery was unsuccessful and he might have to go for cornea transplate; more agony.

I was rather concerned over this since this kind of operation is still at its infancy in Singapore; success rate is of many's concern.

Then, as the newscaster reads on, this fella went to a "NEIGHBOURING" country (it was not mentioned which country) to have his Lasik surgery.

I was like "Wat the Heck?!".

This is Stupidity at its peak. When it is YOUR PRECIOUS EYES, and Singapore has the most reliable facilities and doctors, as well as highest success rate, why do you have to have it done in another country?! (its cheaper over there?)

I think that this fella might as well get a brain transplant since he is gonna make trips to the hospital.

Another case un-deserving of any sympathy. 咎由自取，不值得同情。

The power of PUNCTUATION

An English Professor wrote the words:

"A women without her man is nothing"

on the chalkboard and asked his students to punctuate it correctly.

All the males in the class wrote:

"A women, without her man, is nothing."

All the females in the class wrote:

"A woman: without her, man is nothing."

Some photos to share...

Saw this Toyota Rush at a Carpark near the Ubi Driving Centre.
Metal plate finishing.
Really an eye-turner eh? Good thing I brought my camera out with me.


Next.
Will you wear this in public?

This is goodbye my friend.

Introducing "Waowao" (read Wow[3] wow[2]), my stuffed lion.

This beloved lion was bought for me by my late Grandma some 20 years back, when she went Taiwan for a holiday.

Before she left the house, she turned and asked me: "What can I get for you?"

"A Lion!" I replied happily. And Grandma got this Lion back, to the dismay of my aunts who accompanied her there, because this Lion took up 3/4 of her luggage space.

She kept her promise. =)

And this Lion has been religiously placed in front of my bed, where my head is (床头) , for the past 20 years (Rest assure, it went through several washing ^_^).

Its kinda symbolic, I would say - Masculine, Charisma, Pride, Courage, KING - a befitting toy for a boy.

Grandma passes away a couple of years back, and this Lion is probably the only thing from her that is closest to me. Yes, pieces like me are emotional and sentimental creatures.

Couple of days back, Mom managed to convince me that it is time to discard the Lion - it has gonna really dusty and is bad for my health if I kept it at where I sleep.

I personally took it downstairs and carefully placed it at the bulky-items bin, hoping someone would come by and adopt it.

I left it there relunctantly. . .

I am heading for Taiwan in a month's time. Maybe this time, I can bring my Lion back.

Unveiling the Stan-Chart Runner's Pak

Was downtown this morning to settle some errands, and since I was there already, I went to Suntec to collect my Runner's Pak~ (Lucky thing I kept my document file in the carboot).

After like more than an hour of queuing...
Yay~ Got this Runner's Pak finally!
Here's a breakdown:

1) Gym Bag
Lousy material, but nice color though. More importantly, it has a zipper at the side where you can slot in a pair of shoes. Quite useful actually. =)

2) Runner's Bib No.
My Tag ID is 42397~ Go and buy 4D~!!!

3) Championchip
This is an electronic chip that tracks the running timing of the runner (Me)!
To be tied to my shoe. Now my dilemma is... should I tie it to my left shoe, or my right shoe? This will depend on which of my feet crosses the FINISHING LINE first... but wait! I will also have to make sure that the same feet crosses the STARTING LINE last. Aiyo~


4) Goodie Bag
And there is a nice goodie bag inside the Gym bag. This same bag can be used as a "deposit" bag for my personal belongings on the big day itself.

5) Freebies
a) Berocca Energy Drink dissolvable tablets. A combination of Vitamin B group with Vitamin C, and enhanced with calcium, magnesium and zinc; helps the body release the maximum amount of energy from the food consumed.
b) Deep Heating Rub. We all know what it is meant for~
c) A packet of spagetti. (Huh?! Well, Mom's certainly delighted though.)

6) Waste Paper
7) Runner's Guide
No time to read... browsed through only... got map of running route, venue lay-out, timing of shuttle buses, carpark locations, etc...8) My Reason To Run Bib
To be pinned to the back of my shirt.
Ah~ this is interesting. Love it when I can have a bit of my own graffiti... so~ what should I put?

a) To win myself / This is my own marathon (Boring~)
b) I got too much money and time, and I dunno where to spend them. (right~)
c) If u like my bon-bon, overtake, turn, and smile at me. (hmmm... hope gays dun like to run marathon)


9) The Runner's Tee
By Adidas! XS size. Being very particular over my clothing fit, I was really worried that I might choose a wrong size! Because I have to select my Shirt-size online during the registration, and there was no physical sample nor cutting I can estimate over. Thank goodness it was a good fit!

This year's colour isn't as nice as the one last year (last year's colour was the Stan-Chart corporate blue-with-green-stripes). And my sister added a killer-sentence during dinner: "Baby-Blue makes a person look FAT". ( =__= )