Roger Dean Inspired Models
Jason Galterio
Posts: 2,562
I am hoping someone here might be able to point me towards a particular model style, if they even exist...
I am looking for some Roger Dean type stone models for a project that I am working on. I am looking for the large organically shaped rock formations to populate the background of the image, but just can't seem to find anything.
I don't want to link reference pictures, since they would undoubtably be from someone else's website... but they are the type of landscapes that would be on Yes album covers from the 1970s. Gentle Giant, Uriah Heep, and Asia were some of the other bands that he did the art for as well.
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Poison's store at renderosity comes to mind, e.g. https://www.renderosity.com/mod/bcs/badlands-landscape-props/68756/ they also have a number of other similar products. I recall some of the sets may need to be imported as obj into DAZ Studio but the shapes are cool.
Thanks for the link. I think some of those might work... They are a little more pointy than needed, but I can probably shape those down a bit and smooth them out. :)
You could download unity 3D and search their asset store for free stone models...there are plenty of them and many of them are similar and free to that Roger Dean.
There is at least one "morphing rocks" set here in the DAZ store... I wonder if it would be good to try Deformers on those? Another thing to try is the various gooey "stretch" and "motion blur" features that are available in the more recent image editors... eg. grab onto a bit of the rock or the edge of a plateau and "pull" on it to stretch it out, and fill with gentle gradients and so on.
Also (depending on a person's skill level and interest) drawing a certain kind of Bezier curve in a vector art program can let you put controlling "nodes" and "handles" in strategic places... then, tug on the handles to really, really warp the stuff, Roger Dean-style and fill with gentle gradients. Or take your design into Hexagon and build up some polygons to make a more-or-less [Edit: corresponding mesh] version, then extrude some volume out of that, and then apply a bit of smoothing to yield a Dean-like, smooth organic shape and surface like on a metallic meteorite say.
Some image editors like PS allow you to work with meshes, and you can presumably warp the meshs to your liking but I haven't tried that.
1971s has created many models that seem (to my eyes) to be Roger Dean-influenced:
https://www.renderosity.com/mod/bcs/?uid=337539
Dean's artwork for Yes and Uriah Heep has some really interesting abstract graphic qualities, so you're likely going to have to experiment with shaders and post-production techniques in Photoshop to better emulate that style. Those old LP covers are still pretty damn amazing if you take the time to closely examine them.
Here's one of the 1971s items, yeah - https://www.renderosity.com/mod/bcs/spider-rocks/107313/. Interesting...
Also some strange rocks - https://www.renderosity.com/mod/bcs/small-rock-formations/102144/
If this is a commercial project, I personally would stay as far away from looking like his work as possible...
Remember his lawsuit vs Cameron/Avatar?
He is one that pursues things that even look remotely similar to his work.
I've never heard of this person and just looked at his images. He does many styles and I've seen rocks formed like these in lots of artwork in my many years. I don't think that he designed them all so how do we know that he didn't draw something that someone else already drew? It's not like there's that many new ideas out there. Almost everything has been done at some point; it's just how the artist visualizes the idea and creates it. There's going to be elements the same between artists. I mean for example, if you draw a human it will most likely have a torso. Make any sense?
I don't have the facts but I remember a recent news story about one rock band suing another popular rock band (Deep Purple?) over a song that sounded very similar to theirs but the suing rock band's song sounded almost exactly like a song from the midieval period. How can they sue when it was already done 100's of years ago?
Oops, forgot to say, RuntimeDNA in 2005 gaveaway some cool rock props for Halloween. I have no idea how to find a link to them anymore but they might still be around there somewhere. Only a couple of more days to find and download them.
Roger Dean is a very famous artist and designer, noted for his album covers starting in the late 1960s. His work inspired many artists, so its not unusual to see works that similar to his works.
I wouldn't worry about being sued by Dean. I think Dean sued Cammeron over the Avatar works because there was a LOT of money to be made, even if it was settled out of court. Other works have not been disturbed. If you have ever played World of Warcraft you know that most of the Outland setting is directly related to Dean imagry. So if your image makes a billion dollars, then you might hear from Mssr Dean, otherwise I think you'll be ok.
Thanks for all of the notes...
I have a bunch of 1971s models actually. The buildings and vehicles in particular are very similar in design, the rocks and landscapes are the items I am having an issue with. To do this properly, the landscape has to be pretty open, deep and airy. Which means filling the background up with things. Finding the rocks and outcroppings have been an issue.
It doesn't help that 3D isn't really suited to the art style, but I am on a mission to see if it is possible.
This isn't a personal project, so there is no copyright issue either. Just something I am trying to do for an event. I did it one a couple of years for a similar event and wanted to do a second one:
That one was kind of air related and a little more clustered than what I am going for this time. Which was directly because of the same issues I am having now... that &#^$ landscape rocks.
This is my all time favorite image of his:
But vrtually impossible to recreate in this medium; too many organic shapes and structures that break physical rules. But it's the image that indirectly got me into this hobby by buying Bryce all those years ago and attempting to make something like this.
OMG! I still love Bryce!!!
I was going to suggest Bryce; and I still am even though you're apparently not succeeding on that route. Bryce is well suited for Deanian style works.
Although not specifically Deanian, check out Estevez's gallery for inspiration of possibilities.
http://www.daz3d.com/gallery/#galleries/25552/
If you don't have the current version, Bryce7 Pro is very affordable at the moment. (almost PC only now, unfortunately).
Thank you for that link. I have actually reinstalled Bryce 7 Pro and started relearning it. It's been at least ten years since I've used it... but I was inspired to give it a shot.
Glad you're getting back into it, Jason. Don't forget the Bryce forum here:
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/categories/bryce-discussion
for sharing and assistance, etc.
yay as I always say Bryce Rocks
It does, and much of Dean's early 1970s work has echoes of Art Nouveau and certain Japanese woodprints. Of course, Dean took those influences in a different direction and that's why people think of a certain 'Roger Dean' style. His later jungle artwork is where Avatar got in a bit of trouble in much the same way that George Lucas got in trouble with James Gurney over some imagery in the Phantom Menace. It's a bit different when the graphic style of a commercial artist is lifted wholesale in placed in a Hollywood blockbuster without giving anything resembling credit.
You're thinking of the "Taurus" lawsuit wherein the rock band Spirit sued Led Zeppelin over the song 'Stairway to Heaven.' Spirit lost big-time.
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/led-zeppelin-prevail-in-stairway-to-heaven-lawsuit-20160623
A couple of early observations about returning to Bryce...
It certainly will work better for the expansive "landscape" look I was hoping for. And the atmospherics are much better than I remember them. Much better than the hacks that I do within DS.
The only things killing me are the rendering times and not having access to all the DS assets I've purchased. I know I can export / import them, but I have always had mixed results in that respect.
Thank you again for the suggestion, as I would have never come on it myself. I had largely written Bryce off as having any future use to me.
Yeah, my project is more a homage than anything else. There certainly isn't any commercial aspect to it. It's for my cruise ship door for this: https://cruisetotheedge.com/
Mighty Mysterio, that was it...Stairway to Heaven...thanks.
Jason you can use the bridge between DS and Bryce with great results.
Well, here is the end result...