Design Poke

Liquidated Art by Zevs

noreply@blogger.com (Mich) — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 01:07:00 +0000

Another design that capture my attention (wink)

Art by Zevs, his 'liquidated logo' series featured in the exhibition are hand painted versions of the world's biggest brands, with paint dripping.

Graphic Designer's Mistake and Disaster

noreply@blogger.com (Chilly) — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 01:57:00 +0000

I have collected again some of the worst Photoshop mistakes that have been made in recent years, well it's not really Photoshop mistakes but the person manipulating the images. I wonder why they didn't check the quality of their work before posting or showing it to the public. It’s entertaining to see some of the things that you’ve probably seen before but never quite noticed.Take a look at this picture and see if you can spot something wrong.

Squeezing Some Creative Juices

noreply@blogger.com (Chilly) — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 02:19:00 +0000

What's up with me today?

Honestly since we've moved on to our new office, I felt sick and it seems
that I'm always exhausted and though I tried to work hard it's like my mind is nowhere to be found. My creative skills is kinda lost, there are a lot of changes at the office and I think I just lost my motivation too.

There are so many negatives in my career as of the moment but I'm continuously sticking on the positives like learning new things and improving my skills and hopefully in the near future I could end up doing what really makes me interested and happy.

Infrared Photography

noreply@blogger.com (Chilly) — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 00:48:00 +0000

There is nothing like Infrared Photography, but what really is this “Infrared Photography” anyway?

This is the kind of effect mainly caused by foliage (such as tree leaves and grass) strongly reflecting in the same way visible light is reflected from snow. There is a small contribution from chlorophyll fluorescence, but this is extremely small and is not the real cause of the brightness seen in infrared photographs.

At the first glance, a monochrome picture taken in infrared may look similar to just another black and white photograph. And then you start seeing differences: objects which are bright in visible light (like sky) look dark here, while some of those which are "normally" dark (green foliage) acquire a bright glow.

I've collection some of the most stunnng infrared photographs on the web, you might check it out.

Infrared is not a common medium for people shots, but I have seen some very good IR portraits. However due to the arrival of digital photography, we can take infrared pictures whenever we please, mixing them with "normal" ones, and see results on the spot, tweaking the settings to our hearts' desires...

3d Modeling and Animation Softwares

noreply@blogger.com (Chilly) — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 18:38:00 +0000

Before anything else, are you familiar with 3d modeling and animation? 3D models are created by manipulating polygon meshes and molding them into objects,characters and scenes. Even if you don't have formal art training you still have the chance to do great work in 3d. Personally I'm one of those 3d enthusiast, but never had the chance to study it deeper.

I'm having a little research right now about what 3d softwares are popular and easy to use. For sure it would not be easy for beginner like me. The following is a selection of some of the most popular 3d design packages that you can choose from:

Blender - is an all-in-one 3D modeling and animation suite. It can be used to produce computer-generated images and movies. It is open source freeware, so it costs nothing to use. Blender was originally developed by Dutch company NeoGeo, then made available as a commercial product by subsidiary Not A Number. When NaN shut down, one of its founders set up the not-for-profit Blender Foundation and worked to raise funds to buy the rights to Blender. Consequently, Blender is now under the GNU General Public License which makes it open source and free for anyone to use. There are many other 3D modeling suites, but some of them cost thousands of dollars. Blender costs not a single penny.

Lightwave 3d - also is large 3D design software package as Maya and 3ds Max for modeling, animation, rendering, particle FX and dynamics. This graphic software package is available both for Windows and Mac platform. "LightWave 3D 8 Revealed" allows you to master concepts on both a technical and artistic level. Begin by examining the concept behind each task?the goal and the necessary features that are involved. Then go in depth with the objective of your task as you study examples and learn... More the steps necessary to complete it. Working your way through comprehensive, step-by-step lessons, you?ll develop the confidence you need to create amazing animation and graphics using LightWave 3D.

Cinema 4d - has been making a real name for itself in the world of 3D recently by offering an excellent value main application, which provides all the power that most users will ever need, along with the option of adding further dedicated modules if required (the Advanced Render and MOCCA character animation modules have been updated as part of the launch). Further extensibility comes from the program’s excellent integration with wider workflows through unique features such as multi-pass Photoshop PSD rendering and the ability to work hand-in-hand with After Effects and now Final Cut and Combustion. What really makes the program stand out though is its ease of use.

3d Studio Max - dominates the video game development industry, is a popular 3D programs with hobbyists, and some companies use Max in film and television production as well. Max provides a workable modeling, animation, and rendering solution out of the box, but most of the system's power comes from the huge market for plug-ins and add-ons that are available for it, for example, plug-ins are available to render self-shadowing volumetric smoke, or to simulate sophisticated fluid dynamics, and Max was the first program to get plug-ins to render 3D scenes directly into Flash animations. As an industry standard for multi-media content development, Max has been the first to get plug-ins for tasks such as rendering directly to Flash animations. There are even several add-on rendering systems that give Max more powerful raytracing and global illumination capabilities, although the cost of adding high-end rendering capabilities to Max can make it as expensive as a more powerful animation package such as Softimage|XSI.

Now I leave it up to you, which software are you comfortable to use. Different strokes for different folks though.

Graphic Designs in Business

noreply@blogger.com (Chilly) — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 07:56:00 +0000

Can you imagine life without graphic designs? Today's world is full of designs which you might have take for granted out of sheer volume. In every aspect of our lives from the moment we wake up till the time we go home, we see graphics everywhere. It has become a part of our lives and businesses too.

Businesses use Graphic Design in various ways for their marketing paraphernalias such as posters, newsletters, banners, flyers, logos, brochures, business cards, letterheads, websites and etc.

What is Graphic Design Anyway?

Graphic design is the use of graphic elements and text to communicate ideas or information to specific audiences. It refers to a number of artistic and professional disciplines which focuses on visual communication and presentation. Various methods are used to mainly combine symbols, images or words, in order to create a visual presentation. Moreover, graphic design is commonly-used to make marketing materials in businesses such as magazines, advertisements, logo, web design and more so.

Graphic designers or graphic artist, as sometimes called, are the ones responsible for creating unique and amazing graphic designs that we see in our daily lives. They mainly plan, analyze and create visual solutions to communicate an idea to both a general and targeted audience. In today's businesses, graphic artists are in demand since only they have the creative ingenuity of effectively getting a business' message across media platforms whether via print, electronic or film.

Graphic design when done successfully by graphic designers, attracts attention, enhances the message you are sending and adds credibility to your business believe it or not.

Characteristics of a Good Graphic Designer

A good graphic designer can communicate a message through design.
A good graphic designer build trust and confidence in companies and helps in brand development.
A good graphic designer can enhance the image of advertising.
A good graphic designer welds artistic concepts.
A good graphic designer is legible.
A good graphic designer creates appealing and attractive design.
A good graphic designer is unique.
A good Graphic designer considers cognitive, cultural, physical, and social factors in planning and executing designs for the target audience
A good Graphic Designer gather relevant information by meeting with clients, creative or art directors, and by performing their own research.

Graphic Design is important, it simply creates balance between design and technology. Bear in mind that visual effects is far more effective than written communication, even the subtlest emotion are conveyed.

Article by: Lazymask: Clipping Path Provider

The Power of Colorful Advertisement

noreply@blogger.com (Chilly) — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 03:27:00 +0000

Many businesses and organizations both large and small have marketing departments usually or if not someone aided in making or producing marketing plans. Marketing is very important in businesses or organizations simply because this would give sales or growth, out rank your competitors, increase customers and more so. One of the most important marketing strategy is advertisement.

Advertisement would simply make or break your marketing plan, so in order to create a unique ad you must understand and recognize what are those things that attracts your customers/clients. This might not be an easy task since each and everyone of us has different taste.

Colorful Advertisement gives greater impact to us isn't it? Especially if your in the graphic industry where colors is one of the major importance. I bet life would be too boring with colors right? Research shows that colorful advertising can actually increase redemption rates by 30% to 60% and that is why computer-generated visualization of data, such as those with graphics that plays with colors are in high demand for a wide variety of usages for marketing ads because it is believed to attracts attention to the general public.

So if you don't have someone to create your advertisement, you might as well hire graphic designers or outsource your graphic design job to professionals.

Conor and David's Designs

noreply@blogger.com (Chilly) — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 03:16:00 +0000

Amazed by Conor and David's design, they are designers working on print and interactive projects in Dublin, Ireland. What I like in their design is that you can the elegance and sophistication in each designs.

Looking at their website with simply white background, a minimalist type of website but you can still feel the elegance of it. The website is only showing their portfolio's from 2006, 2007, and 2008. Quite mysterious since no photos or biography of them. (just kidding) Anyway, I'm hoping to see more of their work this 2009. Great work guys, Keep it up!

For more you can go to their website at http://www.conoranddavid.com and see some of their works:

What makes an excellent designs?

noreply@blogger.com (Chilly) — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 02:37:00 +0000

“Great design is intuitive. Great design eliminates confusion. But not for everyone, not all the time. The words and interactions you use often have a sophistication that will confuse some portion of your audience."

Not everyone can make an excellent designs and great graphic designers are hard to find this days. But what's the difference between good and excellent designs?

You probably think that creating those amazing designs are easy as if you're like sketching or drawing simple objects. It seems that most of us is trying too hard to be "cool" at the expense of the designs purpose or intent. But if your in the real world, you'll be able to discover how complicated it is actually. I've listed down my ideas of a great designs and what exactly is it about the design that gives you that impression?

A Great design is...

Great design is Unique ...
Great designs pays attention to details ...
Great design is timeless ...
Great design is clear ...
Great design is describable ...
Great design is memorable ...
Great design isn't perfect ...

So what for you is Great Design?

New Year @ Design Poke

noreply@blogger.com (Chilly) — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 02:59:00 +0000

New Year comes along a new year's resolution right? Well that's just for me, anyway for the past year I've realize that I'm not into writing as you can see most of my posts had a few words on it. So this year I would try my best to digg deeper on my thoughts and say so.(crossing my finger) You know sometimes I just cant help fight my lazy mode.(lol)

Other than that I hope I had other editing tool in our office aside from Gimp so I could show some of my works too. I really try to be-friend with Gimp okay hehehe.

And also if you like to exchange links with my blog just email me then.

Happy New Year!

Be Inspired

noreply@blogger.com (Chilly) — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 06:50:00 +0000

Be inspired by these designs.... A collection of designs I've seen online.

Volkswagen Ads

noreply@blogger.com (Chilly) — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 02:59:00 +0000

I always dream of owning a Volkswagen car, coz I find it really cute. I do like the VW advertising, it's always got a swinging 60's kind of feel to it.

Designer Wallpapers

noreply@blogger.com (Chilly) — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 02:33:00 +0000

Another gorgeous wallpaper I stumble upon, actually you can see lots of wonderful wallpapers online this one is the designer edition. I've only posted two but there are more just click here

Vector Avatar

noreply@blogger.com (Chilly) — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 01:58:00 +0000

Presenting the Vector Avatar of our Human Resource Personnel. Created by one of Lazymask graphic artist. Who ever made this vector work, I hope he would give me the favor of doing my photo something like this coz I'm not that good in vectorizing photos. (wink)

Blog Header by chilly

noreply@blogger.com (Chilly) — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 02:17:00 +0000

I think I made this blog header 3 months ago, I forgot to post it here. Well anyway, this is just a simple header with a very minimal design. I did a quick clipping path here with the two vector images, others are just plain Photoshop brushes.

Photography Design

noreply@blogger.com (Chilly) — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 05:09:00 +0000

This is a good inspiration for graphic designs and photography. Taken from a photo expert Ram Martinez. He has some amazing images combining photography and graphic designs, I like it.

Image Enhancing by julz

noreply@blogger.com (Chilly) — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 04:49:00 +0000

Image Enhancing work by Julievive :-)

Before
After

Design by chilly

noreply@blogger.com (Chilly) — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 03:08:00 +0000

I made this two design way back last year, and I'm sharing this to you. This is actually a blog signature of mine when I was still very active with forums. The graphic media is for my other blog and the second one is for my old blog that I deleted coz I don't like it anymore. (lol)

Image Manipulation

noreply@blogger.com (Chilly) — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 02:07:00 +0000

Image Manipulation done by my friend Julievive. This photo was actually composed of 5 pictures combined together to achieve this one. If you want to know more about image manipulation you can go to Lazymask.

Photography by chilly

noreply@blogger.com (Chilly) — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 01:15:00 +0000

Do you believe that I personally photograph myself in this photo? Yeah really I did. As I was looking at some awesome photographs over the net, I was amazed with one particular photo and I thought I could also make the same effect and honestly I find it good, though I only use my camera phone in taking this photo. (wink)

Vector Lady

noreply@blogger.com (Chilly) — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 02:42:00 +0000

A vector artwork done in photoshop. If you want to know how to do vector in photoshop check out Lazymask Vector Tutorial for detailed instructions. I only show the finished image here.

Perpective of a 3D (architectural) Rendering

noreply@blogger.com (Chilly) — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 01:55:00 +0000

What is 3D Rendering?

3D rendering or photo-real rendering is a nomenclature of producing an image based on three-dimensional data stored within a computer. 3D rendering can be designed to be abstract or as realistic as painting or photograph. Unlike photography, however, everything is imaginary and scenes need to be created. 3D Rendering requires a lot of work usually boundless amount of creative control over what may appear in the scene and how it is graphically presented to achieve good results. Before it could be done you first need to do the Modeling or Animating process. It is said to be “real time” because the computer makes the rendering without delay time, at each movement or modification of the 3D model.

The rendering and shading technology was first started during 1960's by venerable designer William Fetter who was attempting to devise a new process in order to maximize the efficiency of the layout inside an airplane cockpits. Over the years on the road of realism goes, 3D rendering was re-develop to increase complexity of the scene. It was called other names such as “Gouraud Shading Model”, “Phong Rendering and later on “Ray Tracing” name by their developers until it was named “3D Rendering”. I personally like the euphony of the word 3D rendering compared to the other names it was called.

The latest technology for photo realistic renderings wade beyond basic ray tracing, through the stimulation of technology, faster computers and a new birth of talents photo realistic 3D rendering has been ubiquitously used among artist.

Why 3D architectural rendering is a niche nowadays?

3D allows you to stimulate your creative horizons with movement, depth and animation. Over the years companies realize how to debouch the power of 3D visualization adds tremendous value to their presentations and other marketing campaigns, resulting to high volumes of sales for their products and services. It is important to heighten the awareness of what 3d can do for a business's growth. In 3d architectural you can easily presents your project/product in a turpitude or more appealing form then gives you an edge over old mediums. 3D photo real renderings play major role in real estate sales. Potential clients repose on the final product, so in order to sell you project its bes to present it realistically through 3d architectural rendering, animation or walkthroughs.

Qualities Of A Good 3D Architectural Rendering?

3D Rendering is a great way to display your products or ideas and deliver visual concepts ostentatiously to your potential clients so it's important to know how to achieve good rendering. Your ideas are translated in 3D to create Photo-Perfect 3D images. The 3D rendering artist must control all aspects of the scene such as Texture, Lighting, Transparency, Getting the right Angle, Detailed Model, and balance of Entourage in order to create a perfect result.

Texture - a method by which you add details, where you specify a color, a level of reflectivity and even a degree of bumpiness to scene. Textures allow 3D models to look significantly more detailed and realistic than they would otherwise. In order to achieve a higher level of realism make sure that the edges match closely to your model, have a larger number of smaller polygons and don't forget to to achieve good accuracy. Textures can also be repeated horizontally and/or vertically across a surface (with our without a degree of rotation), a technique used extensively for modeling surfaces such as brick walls, grass, roads, fences, etc. It can be applied in two ways: either the texture replaces whatever colour is already inherant to the polygon, or the texture colour is blended with the colour and surface properties of the polygon

Lighting - is an important aspect of scene setup in making it look realistic, this is the process where you create lightning sources to your environment, shade, shadows and refections. Lighting effects can contribute greatly to the mood and emotional response effected by a scene and can be a difficult art to master. The visualization of light in space, its effect on model cubature and scenery, is one of the great challenges in architectural rendering. The best bet to gain complete control over your lights is to experiment ,ignore standard practices and investigate exactly how your lighting instruments perform and react. A good lighting means everything in the scene is brightly lit so you can see every details.

Transparency - Transparency and light refraction within a transparent material are the key parameters in order to get a realistic rendering of a material like solid glass. In creating your scene photo realistic put simply, you can see shadows through your elements.

Getting the right Angle – having the right angle is one of the most important factor to consider, you have to make sure the important views are viewable in the scene and should not be distorted.

Detailed Models - Building models, is an extremely labor intensive process, even more so than our 3D models. It requires scrupulous attention to small details in order to achieve perfection. Basically a 3D model is a computer simulated wireframe representation of an object. In creating a good 3d models you need a powerful computer and processor to run most of the software. You can then output your 3D model by rendering it. A process that allows you to create a flat image of the model with texture and lighting added to the model to complete your work.

Balance of Entourage – in order to create a realistic rendering you need to populate your scene with people, cars, landscaping, etc. The trick is to find the right balance of elements, and avoid objects that are too unusual or detailed no matter how appealing may seem.

Last but not the least if your aiming for perfections, create a bit of imperfection to the edges of your scenes such as floor tile, glass, dirt on the street and walls to make it realistic.

What makes a Good Rendering?

* The true measure of good rendering is the ability to accurately and persuasively depicts the client's ideas.

* Good rendering should capture details.

*Each is met with a fresh look, based upon extensive experience with a diversity of media and building types, to create a singular expression for each project.

* Has the benefit of making clear and accurate presentations.

* It should be easy to understand, high impact and quick to inspire architectural renderings which can communicate about a proposed architectural design in the best possible manner.

* Evocative works evolves from an open client-artist dialogue which aims to create visage appearance that faithfully reflect designers' and developers' intentions and aspirations.

*Express the intangible emotional and spiritual qualities architecture can possess.

3D architectural rendering brings new designs to virtual life, allowing you to see everything in it's glory as though it was already built. A renewed interest in humanistic architecture has significantly enhanced the value of architectural rendering as a means of linking concept to reality.

Bigbracket Collection

noreply@blogger.com (Chilly) — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 06:44:00 +0000

Someone posted a comment on my other blog, and as I was looking at his personal blog I found a lot of cool graphics. I can't help but put some of his works on my blog too hope he doesn't mind it (wink)

Rotoscoping and Chroma Keying

noreply@blogger.com (Chilly) — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 02:31:00 +0000

Now let's touch the other side of design, visual effects stuff. Have you heard about rotoscoping and chroma key? Well if not, then let me share you what's this about...

Rotoscoping is an animation technique in which animators trace over live-action film movement, frame by frame, for use in animated films. Originally, pre-recorded live-action film images were projected onto a frosted glass panel and re-drawn by an animator. This projection equipment is called a rotoscope, although this device has been replaced by computers in recent years. In the visual effects industry, the term rotoscoping refers to the technique of manually creating a matte for an element on a live-action plate so it may be composited over another background.

Chroma key is a technique for mixing two images or frames together, in which a color (or a small color range) from one image is removed (or made transparent), revealing another image behind it. This technique is also referred to as color keying, colour-separation overlay (CSO; primarily by the BBC[1]), greenscreen, and bluescreen. It is commonly used for weather forecast broadcasts, wherein the presenter appears to be standing in front of a large map, but in the studio it is actually a large blue or green background.

These two techniques is used in movie editing and post production film. Learning the two techniques gives you higher edge from other usual graphic artist. If you wan to know more about visual effects work I personally recommend Lazymovie - visual effects workforce partner, it has been proven and tested that they do quality rotoscoping and chroma key work.

Light and Serenity (Architectural Rendering)

noreply@blogger.com (Chilly) — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 05:18:00 +0000

As I was surfing around looking for some tips about good architectural rendering, I was amazed by this wonderful work of art which was title as "Light and Serenity". Nicely done by Daloop (don't know the exact name though) The scene looks fantastic, it 's as if a real photo. I love it :-)

You can check out Daloop's Portfolio @ Highend3d. You can see more 3d works on this website.