The Art and Graphics of Nick Stevens. Available for hire.I specialise in unbuilt space projects, and the spacecraft of the Soviet Union.
I’ve not done anything here for too long… Busy with paid work, and research into obscure Soviet Space programs. But on the subject, I did set up a Substack where I have posted quite a few articles on that very subject. You can find the Soviet Space Substack here: https://graphicsnickstevens.substack.com Where it has loads of … Continue reading “Meanwhile, over at the Soviet Space Substack….”
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Ok, this is bound to be highly subjective! But for what it’s worth, here are the ten most beautiful rockets, in my opinion.
The shape is simple but the paint job wins the prize. New Zealand based, which is why we have what is effectively a rocket wearing an All Blacks rugby shirt.
I note they also claim to have the most beautiful launch site in the world, and having visited New Zealand, I am willing to accept that.
My latest commercial project is the Cosmic Exploration Card Decks, which is running as a Kickstarter.
Each card in the deck features a spacecraft, modelled for accuracy and detail. We have had test prints done, and the whole thing is ready to go to print as soon as, (if?), the kickstarter completes successfully.
I have seen some rather good work which centres around astronauts being shown in situations they really don’t belong. It occurred to me that I had some rather good spacesuits, and a selection of settings, so perhaps I could have a go at images in the same style.
Then came a request for me to do something similar as an album cover.
This post shows the results so far…
In every case, a LOT of effort went into getting the lighting right. This led to high render times, but nothing too bad for stills. And it has to be done well to make the combination credible. Continue reading “Out of place astronauts”
I’m pleased to announce that we are going ahead with a second edition of the book, “N-1 for the Moon and Mars”. If you would like to be kept informed of progress, I have set up a newsletter that will report details, and share some early views of new content. You can sign up here: … Continue reading “N-1 For the Moon & Mars, a second edition.”
The post N-1 For the Moon & Mars, a second edition. appeared first on Nick Stevens Graphics.
I’m pleased to announce that we are going ahead with a second edition of the book, “N-1 for the Moon and Mars”.
If you would like to be kept informed of progress, I have set up a newsletter that will report details, and share some early views of new content. You can sign up here:
https://t.co/5h6ZQQz22c?amp=1
I expect to post short updates every week or two.
The first edition has been pretty much impossible to get hold of for some time, with stupid money being asked for a copy.
Continue reading “N-1 For the Moon & Mars, a second edition.”
I notice that people often post old Apollo era shots of Earth, unprocessed, in some cases reproduced from faded prints.
Well, haze in the atmosphere dulls down all shots from space, but it’s REALLY easy to fix. I’ll be using Photoshop elements, but you can do the same with pretty much any image editor, including the free open source GIMP. Similar options are available on tablets and phones.
The same techniques are a good start in restoring scans of old family photos.
Here’s the original image.
Continue reading “A quick guide to getting good colour from old Earth photos”
So, in part 1 I showed you how to locate and work with references.
Here in part 2, I’m going to work an example, the Mercury Atlas. I’ve done it in one long part again so it’s easy to print. (Handy hint! You may be able to print to PDF to get a portable version…)
I’m not going to give blow by blow instructions to build the model yourself, but you should see enough examples of techniques used to address common elements in modelling rockets.
Now I have Rockets of the World, so I can use the dimensioned plans from that – small version follows, (deliberately too small to use, as its copyrighted).
But you can do a good job without. Using methods described in part 1, I was able to locate some perspective free views, at good resolution. Click for a larger image: Continue reading “Modelling CGI rockets, part 2, worked example”
As it came up in a couple of different circumstances, I thought I’d write a post featuring some of my Lunar renderings. The Moon was one of the first things I successfully rendered in 3d – The simple shape made the modelling easy, and just adding a colour channel texture and a bump map meant I could produce nice views of the Moon from any angle.
The current version of my Lunar Model has 46 million polygons, and the craters and mountains are modelled using displacement mapping. In other words, the features are done with proper geometry, so the crater walls cast shadows.The colour texture map is about 1 gigapixel, so really large high resolution views are possible. Continue reading “Lunar Renderings”
Some of the most popular items I model are rockets, and to be honest – they are not that difficult. The basic shape is normally a series of cylinders and tapers, topped with a cone!
So I thought it might be a good idea to write a general guide on how I go about it. I’ve done it as one long article, so it’s easy to print if you wish. Continue reading “A guide to modelling CGI rockets, part 1, references.”
