My review of 3 masking softwares for image masking in Photoshop

As you know starting up www.texturefly.com in the last few months has been alot of work. We now have over 70 images in our texture store and growing strong.

In my journey to find the best possible methods of creating the highest quality masked images for 3d rendering and architectural illustration, I tried out 3 different masking programs. Fluid Mask3 by Veritus, EZmask v1.5 and  MaskPro by OnOne.  My goal was to cut out a tree with each program, since trees would be the most difficult .

Fluid Mask 3- Initially I started out with the trial of Fluid Mask 3. A nice program but seemed a little overkill for me.  My favorite feature was the histogram where you could select colors by selecting an area on the histogram. I liked this for isolating sky. This program works on the principal of keeping colors and deleting colors then using the blend between both areas. My tree edges weren’t looking as crisp as I’d like and I did have some computer bog down. It was a little bit more difficult to master as well.

EZMask 1.5 – Because this trial would not let you save back into photoshop,  It was hard to see the result with this software. Boasting to be very low on user input, you can basically paint the border of the foreground or image to keep and a border the background. It somehow analyzes pixels and determine the border. I found the boarder rough and I could not even get close to getting a decent tree image cut out. I didn’t  spend a lot  of time on this because the trial was limiting but the time I did spend, I wasn’t impressed.

MaskPro 4.1 by OnOne – What can I say about this masking program except… love it! This program is everything I needed, with the built in link for tutorials it took me maybe 20 minutes to learn it enough where I can use it to cut out a tree proficiently. Using the same keep/delete palette idea, this one lets you airbrush as you go so that you can select certain colors in areas and then go to another area and isolate those colors, you can also select the whole image which takes time to calculate and sometimes bogs down the computer. This program is easy to use yet detailed enough be able to manipulate controls to get the result you want.

I guess you can guess what the winner was… Mask Pro 4.1 A great masking program for creating all my Texturefly images.

Alienware M15x. The mobile office for 3d rendering.

Vray Benchmark M15x Normal mode (non-stealth)

Vray Benchmark image for the Alienware M15x

Are we 3d architectural illustrators and 3d renderers no longer chained to our desks or  in a cube? I recently purchased the new Alienware M15x. I have to say, I was so tired of working at my desk everyday for hours and even though I miss my large flat panel, I like being mobile better.  Now I know a laptop is not a render farm or a Boxx but for a little workstation, its pretty impressive.

I purchased it in March, about 1 week after it was announced. I was a little nervous about NOT purchasing a dell but I really wanted to try something better, and to tell you the truth Dell wasn’t really impressing me with their workstations anymore.

My spec’s are:

Intel Core2 extreme x9000 2.8 ghz

Nvidia Ge-Force 8800M GTX 512 MB

15″ WUXGA LCD with web-cam

4 GB ram

Blue-Ray/DVD Rom

200GB Hard drive with another 200GB Smart-bay drive

Vista Ultimate (no comment)

The cool thing about this laptop is not only is it fast but with its glowing  light pipe around the outside lid and the lighted keyboard, this computer turns heads. I must admit, it was the cool lighting and Alienware FX that pushed me over the edge and made me order it.

It also has stealth mode (low power mode- see above images) built-in blue tooth, built in web-cam and HDMI port for watching off of the Blue-Ray Disc to the TV.

All in all I have been really impressed with this mobile workstation and enjoy being able to leave the confines of my office once in a while…

MORE BENCHMARKS AT THIS THREAD:

http://www.chaosgroup.com/forums/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=36265

Todays Poll: Photorealistic entourage. Time for a new image?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I wanted to talk today about photo-realistic entourage. For those of you not familiar with this term, masked images, or textures or 3d compositing.  Basically, It is using photorealistic images composited over a 3d rendering or 3d view in Photoshop.

One word. IMAGECELS.  I mean seriously, talk about cornering the market. For years I have been using imagecels or realworld Imagery for my compositions. I have to say, no offense to them but its time for some new blood. Ive sat here many times thinking, I could put something like this together. I even bought the URL, texturefly.com.  I know cutting out these images is a lot of work but I think its time to get some new images out so that we don’t have to keep using the same tree, or the yellow mini, or the guy in the tie that looks like a car salesman.

I guess I want some feedback on what you would think about a new site taking over the ungrowing market of Photorealistic entourage in the architectural illustration realm.  Please post comments on this topic. I would like to know if other people feel the way I feel about our options.

How to market architectural illustration during a recession

Recession is when your neighbor loses his job. Depression is when you lose yours… Ronald Reagan.

Times are tough right now in the architectural world. No one is building and no one is investing in architecture. You drive down the street and see the four office buildings that have your 3drenderings in front of it, empty.  Is this the beginning of the end?

I think not. Even though development is slowing down, why should the need to market it. I would think just the opposite. Doing architectural illustration in Phoenix, Arizona for the past 7 years, we’ve seemed to have our work handed on a silver platter. There was so much construction going on that we never needed to do anything to get more than enough work to keep a zillion people busy.  I would say now would be a good time to strike. Just because someone isn’t handing you work left and right, doesn’t mean that there isn’t any. I think we just need to be a little more aggressive.  Here are a couple pointers to get you though a recession.

Stay focused, stay positive. I know in a recession people get really negative. You hear talk, your colleagues get laid off or go bankrupt. But seriously, does a negative attitude really help. Better yet, maybe we shouldn’t spend 23 out of 24 hours blaming the government. Lets be proactive people, not retroactive. Keep a positive attitude, no one has ever succeeded with a negative one.

Use Connections and networking. I found networking to be the most useful tool in a business. People aren’t going to freak out if you call up and get the 411 on there company situation or if you ask them if they need any 3d renderings, 2d graphics, elevations or colored site plans.

Maybe you should give a discount. Seriously, $3000.00 for one 3d rendering. We all know it doesn’t take that long for architectural illustration, and if you have a high overhead, maybe its time to cut back. Ive seen what some people charge in architecture, and although that seemed reasonable  in 2001, its not so reasonable now.

Bottom line, if you have a good 3d rendering that is realistically priced, you should be able to keep afloat in a recession. Put some elbow grease into marketing, pride into your work and a positive attitude.

Our website is: http://www.endisine3d.com

Starting a company in 3d graphics

My company is called endisine3d, Inc. We specialize in 3d architectural illustration, 3d renderings, colored site plans and elevations.  After working in an architecture firm that will remain nameless, I realized that it seemed ridiculous that I should be working for the man and making peanuts. I was seeing what was being billed to the client per hour and what I was making and so I figured, I can do this.

In 2001, I started my company while still working at the architecture firm. My game plan was to find some clients and then, when I couldn’t stand working 16 hours a day, I would quit the firm. This lasted about 4 months. After a triple shot latte and 5 hours of sleep, the boss called me into the office and asked if I was on something. I said, yes, a triple latte. I proceeded to tell him that I was starting my own gig and quiting his. This wasn’t going as planned. I jumped the gun and gave him my two weeks.

Crap, what did I do? I barely had enough clients to tide me over and now I quit my job. Anyway, to make a long story short, starting a business isn’t for everyone, I had to borrow, beg and steal to make it work and now, in 2008, I’m still doing well as a business owner.

I think that this is a good business because not many people do it and a lot of people need it. Also you don’t have to charge too much when you are starting out because its mostly your time that you are billing out. Yes, you do need software (which is expensive) and equipment but I think most people in this industry are overcharging. I also think you need to be really good at creating graphics and very detailed. It’s important to have pride in your work.

So that is pretty much where I am in 2008. Since the market is slow right now, I’m going to be writing about stuff I know in this business, software, hardware, tips, tricks, websites, etc, until we get out of this recession and start building again!

Our website is: http://www.endisine3d.com

A little history about my journey to 3D architectural illustration

Hello and Welcome to my first blog. Someone recently told me that while the market in architecture is less than hot right now, it might be a good idea to start a blog. Now I admit that when it comes to 3d rendering, Adobe photoshop, and Autodesk 3dsmax I feel I’m pretty good at technology. So when I had to ask what a blog was, I felt pretty dumb. Anyway, when I got the DL on the concept, I figured it would be a cool idea to write about my journey through the world of architecture.

Having started out as an architecture major at USC (go Trojans!) I find it ironic that a simple turn of events landed me right back where I started, in architecture. I always wanted to be an artist and convincing my parents that I needed to switch to the art department was not my shining moment. Needless to say after 3 majors and one transfer, I did graduate with a B.F.A in studio art.

I find myself 24, and no idea what I am supposed to do. I literally had spent hundreds of thousands of dollars of my parents money with no jobs, no prospects and no money. My architecture experience starts here. I am sent on an interview from a tip someone had given me. A man by the name of Jon, half Kiwi, half English, half crazy attempts to interview me while running around his design studio working, panicking, and finally telling me to leave and come back another day because he had a deadline couldn’t talk to me. To make a long story short, we clicked right away. I ended up working for Jon for 4 years in the ever exciting world of systems furniture. Yes that cube you have to sit in everyday is system furniture. Don’t get me wrong, we did more exciting things as well. See Jon is an amazing furniture designer.. We would work on interiors for custom houses etc. Jon did all of his drawings by hand, they were works of art, I told him. And the artist side of me loved that unique side to design. But then I got introduced to Autocad….

Actually I don’t even think it was technically autocad but some other program that was way easier. I started drawing plans, elevations, sections. Soon I was onto axonometric, isometric all done in 2D of course. Then I found 3dsmax.

Hail! 3dsmax Release 1. This was hot. It was officially announced at Siggraph 1995 . Completely new interface, object oriented with modifier stacks and allowing for 3rd party plug-in renders and running on Windows NT 3.5.1.

I was determined to learn this program and Autocad LT. I knew it was going to be the future. Jon and I started doing 3d interiors with the few articles of furniture that they gave you on a Viewpoint disk (I wish I could have thought up Turbosquid.com) we added in his custom built-ins and used the fabulous materials they had in the application (not!) and rendered it out on a sweet 800×600 resolution, real high-def stuff.

The clients freaked. They couldnt believe how cool this was. I knew I had to move forward.
Release 1 turned into 2, 3, 4 and finally here we are. Max 2009.

Our website is: http://www.endisine3d.com