The Currents Of Space

Thanatos Gate

2012-01-29T13:04:00.000-08:00

Here is a collaboration with DarinK, we spent a long time on this and I'm real happy with the result. Please check it out in full view, the preview doesn't really do it justice.

Backstory:

Location: Komaria, Tk'iln, Scutum-Centaurus Arm
Race: Homo Sapiens Variation 14c (seeded 1.5 million years ago)

The Komar are an advanced Type II civilization controlled by their ruling elite which number about 3% of the population. These wealthy aristocrats, who long ago confirmed the existence of the soul in living beings and the Cycle of Learning, have dedicated themselves to developing life extension technology for the sole purpose of prolonging the privilege, wealth, and trappings of luxury they were born into. Pursuit of this technology must be done at all costs.

They were warned centuries ago by the Dream Travelers, the enigmatic race of nomads that are known primarily for their esoteric study of dreams, that embracing this lifestyle would increase the karmic debt that follows them into the next existence. They choose not to take this advice.

84 life cycles ago a Komari scientist perfected a device that at the moment of death could capture the life force of the departed. The experiments began with the capture and release of single cell organisms and plant life forces. The scientist who created the device noticed that when working in close proximity of the energy hungry device, now known as the Soultrap, that he felt invigorated and energized. He also noticed after decades of work and experiments, that he had not aged visibly more than a few years. A team of researchers and scientists later concluded that being in close proximity to the Soul Trap reduced the aging process drastically and kept the subject in good health, with no adverse effects upon cessation of exposure.

There was a group within the science establishment that wanted to continue these tests using as a catalyst the deaths of more highly developed creatures. Over the protestations of the Dream Travelers, the number of experiments was increased, soon it expanded to include reptiles and native lab animals. These animals' souls eventually proved to be too weak to be of much use for detailed study, and it became obvious that it would require the death of much more advanced life forms. For this purpose, the secret police of the Komar began to gather up the migrants and homeless; these poor and downtrodden were sent to internment camps. Suicide rates were high in these camps, but it proved a bonus for the scientists running the experiment, since they were able to tune their instruments to these suicides and thus began a program known as Project Black Truth. This program worked on identifying and isolating the unknown energy source given off from the captured souls, and attempts to harness that energy.

More research confirmed that the Soultrap needed a constant replenishing of souls; eventually the souls would become drained and the energy levels given off by the device would diminish. Once emptied, a soul was never released from the system, because opening the exit gate on the Soultrap not only allowed drained souls to escape, but also fresh newly captured ones to flee. In effect, the souls were in limbo unable to obtain the light and start the cycle of rebirth.

Where these souls were actually trapped was a matter of almost no debate among the elite, since they cared little what happened to their 'property,' but the scientists began to formulate hypotheses. It gradually became accepted that the trapped souls of the dead were sent to a dark and empty universe, a monstrous abyss of nighted horror. Again there were strenuous objections to what they were doing, but such was the price of their progress. After years of bloody work, finally an interface was created which allowed a Komari individual to directly tap into the life force energy of the captured souls. This required a small, highly controlled gateway to draw the energy in raw form out, without letting the souls themselves through. Plans were drawn for an extended interface which would allow hundreds of elites to receive the reinvigorating soul energy simultaneously. However, this device needed energy to power it – more energy than the planet could provide. In their search for this energy, they decided on the single most powerful source in their entire solar system, their sun. Their plan conceived of building a Dyson sphere around their star to capture titanic amounts of solar energy to power their interface, known now as Thanatos Gate.

The sphere was constructed over a period of six centuries. The building of such a massive structure required suitably gigantic amounts of matter, more even than could be found in all the asteroid belt and available moons, so the Komar began an empire spanning program to mine the cores of both gas giants in the system. Millions of workers' lives were lost, but they were simply fed into the Soultrap network as fresh fuel for the aristocrats and their loyalists. Enormous mines, hanging from orbital stations thousands of miles deep into the gas giants' atmospheres, served to dredge up enough raw materials for the teeming construction stations to create the framework of the sphere. Besides the incredible amounts of carbon, steel, titanium, and other structural materials, there is also a great need for more exotic elements. Perched in the foreground, on the moon's ageless regolith, is N'kai mining base, built to remove the exotic ores from deep veins in the moons crust. Once the pure elements have been separated from the rubble, it is loaded onto freighter ships which leave for flight up to the orbital construction station. From there, the basic parts are sent to massive orbiting construction sites where huge pieces of the sphere itself are built. The sections of sphere are sent on a course towards the star, where they are carefully caught in nets made out of the star's magnetic field lines. There, in a delicate dance of robotic limbs and remote controlled construction craft, all guided by the inhumanely precise Artificial Intelligence, the Dyson sphere has slowly taken shape.

Due to their haste, and impatience to finish the project, the Komar decided it was safe to begin powering up the system in stages, resulting in more and more energy being produced as the sphere was slowly completed. When the Soultrap initially went online and Thanatos Gate was opened, immediately millions of loose souls were devoured from the local stellar neighborhood. This resulting rush of energy caused a blast resembling a nova to light up the surface of the star. Of course, all this excitement has not gone unnoticed by the neighbors ....

The Eye of the Universe

2012-01-04T18:38:00.000-08:00

Inspired indirectly by the song of the same name by Ayreon, the "eye" in this image is an eye-shaped nebula (not a black hole like in the song), the remains of a star forming molecular cloud that is being torn apart by the supergiant at it's center. The glowing parts of the atmosphere in the lower left are portions of atmosphere that were ionized either because of meteorite impacts or massive volcanic eruptions. This is a young planetary system, still in the heavy bombardment stage of its formation, so impacts are still very common. The ring of glowing debris around the planet are the remains of it's other moons, which were obliterated in a series of collisions.

Yes, I'm back! I'm going to try to devote more time to my art (yeah heard that one before :D) I've actually picked up several old projects that I had abandoned, so I've got something to start from.

Serenity

2011-11-01T11:04:00.000-07:00

This image was for a contest at Renderosity that I missed, so I thought I should at least share it (and prove I'm still alive and kicking) The clouds are probably a clip file called "bz Cumulus.tgc" by Buzzz but it's been modified enough that I can't tell anymore where I started.

Taurus

2011-09-11T14:04:00.000-07:00

This is Taurus, an image from the Zodiac project I am working on with Markal; we are creating a terraspace image for each sign of the Zodiac, showing a physical depiction of the sign in some way, and the constellation in the sky. The project is still open and we are still looking for people to collaborate on some signs. If you are interested, there is more information on this page.

Levitated Art

2011-08-27T11:35:00.000-07:00

I have a new website up and running, LevitatedArt.com. In addition to galleries of my artwork organized by year, it also has link to purchase prints and all the resources I have posted online, collected in one place: Photoshop brushes, tutorials, even a slideshow screensaver of my art. The Resources section will grow as I post more. So go and take a look, you won't be disappointed!

Enceladus and CICLOPS

2011-08-07T16:12:00.000-07:00

I recently had the honor of getting the piece "Saturn From Enceladus" included on the Enceladus page of the CICLOPS Art Room. This piece was a collaborative effort between Fahad Suhleria and myself. CICLOPS (Cassini Imaging Central Laboratory for Operations) is the repository for all the Cassini images taken in the Saturnian system. Thanks to everyone on the CICLOPS team!! This really is an honor to be included among such talented artists, so take a minute and browse through all the images. You just might be amazed!

Saturn from Enceladus

2011-07-03T14:17:00.000-07:00

This is a collaboration between myself and the very talented Fahad Sulehria.

This image shows the cryovolcanism near the South Pole of Enceladus, the 6th largest moon of Saturn, and one of the few moons on which active eruptions of any kind have been witnessed. Enceladus is one of the best possibilities for life in our Solar System, based on the presence of salt water ice, which commonly only occurs in large bodies of water; it is thought that it may harbor a large underground ocean, possibly similar to Europa. Enceladus is also believed to contribute material to Saturn's E-ring by blasting water ice and debris fractures where the crust is thinner. These fractures are significantly warmer than their surroundings on the South Pole, and they occur in roughly parallel lines, leading to their nickname, "Tiger Stripes'

There is also a wonderful page at Wikipedia going into more detail on Enceladus and it's ice volcanoes.

Space Art Demo Reel

2011-06-29T11:54:00.000-07:00

I have put together a 3 minute demo reel of my space art from the past few years. It's set to music by Dandel0 (his website with more free downloads). This is still a work in progress, as you can hear the sound was a little skewed somehow - possibly in conversion or upload, it's still under investigation. So check back in the future for newer versions, including more new images!

You can view the demo reel here:
http://www.vimeo.com/25614569

Speedpaint Jun13

2011-06-25T14:32:00.001-07:00

Should have posted this a long time ago. Fullview is recommended! About two hours.

Speedpaint Battle - Reflections

2011-06-01T22:29:00.000-07:00

This was done for a speedpaint "battle" at DeviantArt. Took around an hour.

Speedpaint Apr30

2011-05-23T12:36:00.000-07:00

And a speedpaint, did this back on April 30, wasn't really happy with it ... then after PS crashed and lost the other one I was working on, I opened this up again and did some more on it. Around 1.5 hours total

Spacecraft Work in Progress

2011-05-23T12:32:00.000-07:00

This is a spacecraft I'm working on when I get the time. Sort of a shuttle at this point I think, but one armed with a few big guns.

Speedpaint

2011-05-19T12:45:00.000-07:00

Speedpaint in PS, about an hour and a half.

Interviews

2011-05-13T13:12:00.001-07:00

Recently I was interviewed by SomethingWeLike.com and 3D Art Direct magazine. You can read the SWL interview here, and the 3DAD free Ezine here, or you can order a print-on-demand 3DAD magazine here. So if you are interested in my art, my inspiration, or just want to hear me ramble, go check them both out. They both also have lots of other talented artists discussing how they create their work, what inspires them, etc - fantastic resources for anyone interested in digital art.

Many thanks to Peter Halim and Paul Bussey!

Speedpaint May1

2011-05-13T13:05:00.000-07:00

Here's another speedie. About 2 hours this time, it shows two small human metal refining facilities in front of an gigantic alien structure in the distance.

Self Portrait 04

2011-05-02T10:53:00.000-07:00

And another self portrait, best one so far. About 95% done with oil brushes in PS

Speedpaint April 28

2011-05-01T19:37:00.000-07:00

One hour speedie done the other day. Had an idea in my head: "What if you had to use machines to keep the last remaining plants alive?" .... and this is what happened

Self Portrait 03

2011-05-01T19:36:00.000-07:00

Done in PS with photo reference, took about 2 hours. Getting better, but not there yet

Titans

2011-04-29T10:37:00.000-07:00

This one is the view from an alien moon towards the massive planet it orbits. Four of the five moons are large enough to sustain life, and the planet at their center is a monster 3 times the mass of the Earth. On the near moon it is dusk, when the Lamplight plants turn on, they use bioluminescence to attract the flying insect-like creatures that pollinate their glowing globes.

The "Lamplight" plants are Glowing Piri Balls by Mr Lamppost in .tgo format, available for free here: http://www.mrlamppost.com/

Self Portrait 01

2011-04-29T10:28:00.000-07:00

A self portrait done in Photoshop. Photo reference used, about 1.5 hours. I've got a few more of these to share as well, it's interesting to see the progress I made.

Irresistible Oblivion

2011-04-11T14:36:00.000-07:00

Black holes are known as voracious eaters, caring nothing for whatever is swallowed by their gravity's appetite. This example shows a low mass X-ray binary system which consists of a class K star and a black hole, orbiting near enough to each other that the black hole is able to pull away the outer layers of the star, forming an accretion disk of superheated gas. The sole remaining planet will be tortured by gravity until it is finally torn to pieces. The star will eventually be devoured in a burst of searing radiation which bathes everything within several hundred lightyears. Neither the star nor its orbiting planet have long to live, eventually they will both succumb to the irresistible oblivion that awaits.

This was inspired heavily by Mark Garlick
http://www.markgarlick.com/
http://www.space-art.co.uk/index.php

Speedpaint Mar 24

2011-03-27T13:24:00.001-07:00

Another speedy, about an hour on this one. Still practicing

Escape Velocity

2011-03-24T14:36:00.000-07:00

This is my submission to the 'Low Orbit' themed Artpack for the group Celestreus at DeviantArt.

The story behind this one:
Built by the Fiat-Mitsu Manufacturing Consortium, Scavengers are designed to locate and dismantle derelict spacecraft that have been abandoned or damaged beyond repair. While they have been adapted to a variety of jobs, one variant of these purpose-built ships has no human crew, instead they are guided by an advanced AI system, that processes the input from the sensors and determines the likeliest place for the harvesting of wreckage. If there are no sources of scrap metal nearby, their secondary commands are to engage in low-impact asteroid mining. The Scavengers' AI controllers, while sufficiently advanced to do mining and scavenging work, have trouble dealing with anything more complicated.

The problem arises when the Scavengers have exhausted their local work area of wreckage sources, and have difficulty locating any promising areas for mining. Then they begin to hunt down and take apart craft that are still in near working order, or craft that have broadcast even the most minor of error messages. This has caused serious problems in many systems, since over the last 300 years, this sector has seen a population explosion. Now passenger or cargo vessels breaking down in the midst of a run are a fairly common occurence here; enough so that the number of passengers reporting a sighting of, or worse an encounter with, these Scavengers has skyrocketed. In other systems, when a vessel suffers a problem of any sort, they merely have to send a distress signal to the nearest port, and shortly thereafter they will be found by the ISG [interstellar equivalent of the US Coast Guard] Here in the former hinterlands though, space has become infested with the Scavengers. If one or more happens to intercept a distress signal directed at a port, the Scavenger will interpret it as a call to action and proceed at full speed to the location and begin dissassembling. When a Scavenger is sighted, the passengers must rely on their own spacecrafts capabilities, and the skills of their pilots to escape with their lives, or they will be left adrift in a scrap metal debris field.

Take a look at the entire artpack here

Speedpaint Mar17

2011-03-17T13:25:00.000-07:00

And another one. I think i need to try something besides landscapes next.

Speedpaint Mar11

2011-03-13T12:34:00.000-07:00

Speedpaint of a crashed spacecraft in the middle of the desert under a binary sunset. Photoshop, 1.5 to 2 hours

Dust

2011-03-06T14:26:00.000-08:00

Backstory:
The natives of Raenil have evolved to live with the strange rhythms of their binary solar system. For all of their recorded existance they have worshipped the distant second sun that comes briefly near every 638 years. They have adapted their bodies to live with the rising temperatures and radiation every 319th birthing cycle. But when a strange phenomenon appears in their sky, a glowing ribbon of sunlight that is bright enough to be visible at high noon, they are terrified. Their religions scrambled to come up with explanations, and their scientists observed and discussed it just as fast as they could. But their only real hope is their fledgling spaceflight program. Armed with the knowledge that they have roughly 160 years until its arrival, they built and armed a gigantic spacecraft. After countless trials and awe-inspiring tragedies, they have created a warship upon which rest the hopes of their entire species. Built out of a hollowed-out moon and propelled with gravity wave engines, they point their craft towards the brilliant enemy and pray toward their gods that their weapons will have an effect, any effect. Then without warning they are hailed in a bizarre language from an approaching craft. After only moments, they newcomers are able to understand their own language and speak it back to them. Standing on two legs with pale pink skin and tiny eyes, they offer their aid in only a handful of sentences. But there are those on the titanic spacecraft that would rather see what their own weapons are capable of before submitting the fate of their race to anything so bizarre looking. Deep inside the moonlet, enormous engines of war are powered up ....

Explanation:
The "ribbon" is actually a cosmic string that is inexplicably stable, a phenomenon that has been theorized to exist. It is a one-dimensional distortion of spacetime created during the early universe, and the glowing visible element is actually the 'ripples' that it's existence creates. Wikipedia says: "The formation of cosmic strings is somewhat analogous to the imperfections that form between crystal grains in solidifying liquids, or the cracks that form when water freezes into ice." The strange looking newcomers are humans, who have advanced technology able to either destroy the string or deflect it from its current course. But the big question is: will they get the chance? Or will war break out during the aliens' first contact with another species.

For more info on cosmic strings try here

This is a collab I have been working on with my good buddy Hoevelkamp. You can find more of his work here at his deviantArt page.

Speedpaints Feb 20

2011-02-20T21:05:00.000-08:00

Two speedpaints in Photoshop, about 1.5 hours each

Santa Lucia Range Panorama

2011-02-20T20:52:00.000-08:00

Taken from California Highway 46, overlooking the Pacific Ocean. You can see Morro Rock on the far left

Personal Infantry Tank

2011-01-23T17:34:00.000-08:00

This is based off of a sketch done by Doug Chiang, from his book, Mechanika [link]. I liked the design, and wanted to practice some modeling, so i put those two ideas together and this is the result! Since I wanted something a bit more intimidating, I swapped out his four small anti-personnel cannons for one larger cannon.

Cauldron II

2011-01-23T17:29:00.000-08:00

A revision of this one, thanks to the folks at SV for the feedback!

Inevitable Fury

2010-12-31T13:22:00.000-08:00

This is the final apocalyptic ending to many medium to low mass stars; a planetary nebula is forming as the star expells its outer layers in violent pulsations of solar wind, ionizing the previously ejected gas. This intense UV radiation causes the terrestrial planets to literally boil, outgassing their lighter elements to the stars. The gas giant planets fare no better, getting their outer layers flayed by the intense solar wind, while the shattered remnants of the innermost worlds collide with everything in range. Any comet inside of the Oort cloud is also lit up by the star's inevitable fury. The star itself is becoming a predegenerate star, known as a PG1159 star, after it's prototype, PG1159-035. It will eventually become a white dwarf, and this whole system will begin to resemble the Ring Nebula and the Helix Nebula.

These examples (Ring and Helix nebulae) are actually much larger and older visions (the Helix is believed to be 10,000 years +/- 2,000 yrs) of what my image shows. Here is a close up of the Necklace Nebula, an example that might resemble my situation more accurately, unfortunately it is so small and far away, galactically speaking, that it is difficult to resolve the details.

More information on the interior structure (the knots of gas) of the nebula can be found here (only the first paragraph is in Spanish)

"Never Now" Cover Art

2010-12-30T11:40:00.001-08:00

Cover (and insert) art for the album "Never Now" by Marc Atmost, a real cool guy and winner of Best Track in Ukraine Awards 2010. He makes music that I think a lot of artists would really like, very atmospheric and spacey, and perfect for listening to while you create ;)

You can find more of his music here:

http://soundcloud.com/marc-atmost

http://soundcloud.com/energostatic-records

And his brand new netlabel:

http://www.energostatic.com/

Terragen Terrain Pack 04

2010-12-28T19:46:00.001-08:00

Here's a little present for the holidays, three more Terragen terrains, all 2048x2048 res, zipped up and ready to be unwrapped.

Available here, just click the "download" button in the top right corner:
http://regulus36.deviantart.com/art/Terragen-Terrain-Pack-04-191305664

And also at my Free Stuff section at Renderosity:
http://www.renderosity.com/mod/freestuff/index.php?user_id=401187

Enigma

2010-12-23T20:00:00.000-08:00

This is a collaboration with Volcomman1, he supplied the terrain, and I added the goodies. So if you like it, go take a look at his artwork.

Backstory:
During the height of the Mineral Rush, on the unnamed sixth moon of Orluk, a lost prospector stumbled upon something extraordinary; a cache of bizzare alien structures. They seemed to resemble the description, only whispered in rumors, of other strange structures responsible for the disappearance of a ship and its crew in another arm of the galaxy. Based on the prospector's shakey description, the newly found towers apparently consisted of several different, some possibly new, designs.

These, however, did not appear to be turned on. After raising enough funding, the Planetary Anthropological Society (PAS) built a research outpost here in the heart of the structures to study them. Mysterious questions abound in this system; perhaps the largest is what happened to Orluk's innermost moon approximately 5,000 years ago? Based on extensive astro-surveys, the destruction was not the result of a collision with any known object; at this point the cause remains undetermined. And what can explain the rest of the moons' strange orbits? The structures reveal little about the builders and their intent, even their reasons for choosing such an inhospitable location for their construction.

120 years after the PAS built their outpost on the moon now called Enigma, there has been no change in the status of the towers. Being constructed out of strangely interlinked carbon nanotube-like molecules, they remain impervious to all but the most destructive methods of study. What secrets lie inside them? What were they placed here for in the first place? And perhaps most important of all, who built them? These questions remain unanswered.

Hand of Destiny [Final]

2010-12-20T10:19:00.000-08:00

This is the third version of this image, and i think the last. The final .psd file weighs in at 8000x6000 and around 1.3gb

The Hand of Destiny nebula, also known as the Hand of Ukobach, is devouring the star Abigor. The struggle between the two monstrous powers is causing all of Abigor's planets to boil away their lighter elements to the void between the stars, leaving behind a system full of lifeless cinders. There is no hope for any inhabitants.

Timeless Memories

2010-12-12T15:42:00.000-08:00

Not a realistic view so much, I wanted the feeling of a deep field image but with a more artistic presentation. This is my entry for a contest on DeviantArt [browse entries]

Used Rabieshund brush set (I think) [available here]

"The Ardly Effect" Cover Art

2010-11-16T12:18:00.000-08:00

Cover art for the book "The Ardly Effect" by Mitis Green. It's an entertaining romp through a universe that is just as amusing as it is fascinating, and I recommend it to any fans of Douglas Adams, or scifi with a 'British' sense of humor, or anyone else with an inkling for fun and adventure on a galactic scale. I can say I definitely enjoyed reading it!

The book is available on Amazon and reviews of it can be read here

Galaena Nebula

2010-11-12T12:04:00.000-08:00

I made this one during a short break from the projects I'm working on, about 3-4 hours.

Hand of Destiny II

2010-10-27T14:55:00.000-07:00

Here's something a little scary for Halloween. This is a remake of a very old one.

Art Of JKelly

2010-10-11T17:43:00.000-07:00

A good friend of mine, JKelly, has started a new website to showcase his excellent artwork. He is a talented space and Terragen artist, I've watched him increase his skills tenfold and he's getting better constantly. In addition to the artwork, it will soon have a series of resources to use in digital art; things like Photoshop brushes, tutorials, and hi res textures will be available for download. It's a very cool site, you can visit it here:

Art Of JKelly

Terragen Terrain Pack 03

2010-10-03T17:57:00.000-07:00

Here are three more terrain files, 2048x2048 in .ter format. No restrictions, but I would love to see how you use them, so please drop me a line.

Download them here:

http://regulus36.deviantart.com/art/Terragen-Terrain-Pack-03-181419452

And all of the terrain packs I release are also available here ("click on Free Stuff"):

http://excalibur.renderosity.com/homepage.php?page=2&userid=401187

Departure

2010-09-26T20:06:00.000-07:00

An old one that I decided to fix up and post online.

Burnside Lake Panoramas

2010-09-18T13:30:00.000-07:00

Two panorama photos from Burnside Lake, near Lake Tahoe, California

Far Haven

2010-09-12T16:35:00.000-07:00

The blockade runner "Treacherous Patronage" nears it's destination, Andvari station, carrying it's illicit cargo. The orbital habitat is maintained by the Consortium for Free Trade, a shadowy organization dedicated to advancing their agenda of commerce without any restrictions whatsoever. They operate habitats, depots, and refueling stations scattered around the galaxy, while eluding any laws, regulations, and enforcement organizations with their economic clout and private muscle; in effect building what amounts to a cartel of thieves and smugglers.

I think (I'm not entirely sure) that I used Tsarye's brush set from here

Terragen Terrain Pack 02

2010-09-12T14:30:00.000-07:00

I've released another set of three terrain files for Terragen. All are in 2048x2048 size, with no restrictions, but it would be great if you could let me know how/where you use them

Download them here:

http://regulus36.deviantart.com/art/Terragen-Terrain-Pack-02-179037485

See also:

http://currentsofspace.blogspot.com/2010/09/terragen-terrain-pack-01.html

Flux

2010-09-05T15:11:00.001-07:00

While a nebula evaporates in the far distance with creeping galactic slowness, the crew of a scavenger ship come upon a wreck in the asteroid field. Sending a series of burst messages to their outrider ships, they begin preparations for removing anything of value, and eventually tearing the hulk down to scrap. After the wreck has been picked clean, the bare bones will be pushed into a trajectory that will eventually take it into orbit around the drydocks on the moon Geras. There it will orbit in a vast area of space, littered with the debris of countless mishaps and confrontations, properly named Skyfill 072B but other wise known as the Midden.

Terragen Terrain Pack 01

2010-09-05T14:48:00.001-07:00

I have made available a set of 3 Terragen .ter files, each 2048x2048 resolution. If you are not familiar with Terragen, it is a terrain generator program used in various settings, including Hollywood blockbusters such as Star Trek Nemesis, The Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus, The Golden Compass, The Wicker Man, as well as television including the National Geographic channel, and numerous commercials. These terrains are free to use, but I would appreciate a comment or email to see what you have done.

Download them here:

http://regulus36.deviantart.com/art/Terragen-Terrain-Pack-01-177824684

For more information on Terragen:

http://www.planetside.co.uk/#

Realm

2010-08-27T10:53:00.001-07:00

No story for this one, but there is a lot going on. Fullview is recommended, there are a lot of small details to see.

Also dual and three screen wallpaper packs are available in 1920x1200 resolution.

Dual Screen

3 Screen

Angora Lakes Panorama

2010-08-19T21:44:00.001-07:00

Panorama of Upper Angora Lake. Stitched together from four photos with Microsoft's free Image Composite Editor

Angora Lakes Photos

2010-08-19T21:29:00.000-07:00

Here's some photos of places around Upper and Lower Angora Lakes near Lake Tahoe, Ca.....and one beautiful dog!

Marooned

2010-08-17T11:11:00.000-07:00

After tracking the strange energy signature for more than a week, the survey team decided it was worth the risk to attempt contact with it. With no documented evidence of aliens, beyond single cell organisms, found anywhere in the cosmos; if they were to discover some sort of intelligent life, there's no telling the rewards that might be theirs.

Dropping through the upper reaches of the atmosphere, they could see a blue point of light pouring exotic particles into the sky from somewhere in the cloud wrapped mountains. The boson sensor readouts began fluctuating wildly as they drew nearer, and the froth of subatomic particles began to boil in the space around the ship. Suddenly the pilot gasped in terror as he watched all of their flight systems begin to power down with no apparent cause. Frantic, he tried to transfer full control to his manual hydraulic override. Only due to his skill at forestalling the inevitable were they able to successfully crashland their ship on the side of a mountain not far from the alien tower itself.

Now they are stranded with little supplies and not enough food; and the eerie energy put out by the tower is interfering with their long range communication equipment, making a call for help impossible. Marooned on a foreign world with no way home, their only hope of survival is to make their way to the tower and whatever mysteries lay inside.

This is a collaboration with the awesome JKelly (http://desire2design.wordpress.com/) So if you like this piece, then check out his site and give him some love.

Void

2010-08-02T15:51:00.001-07:00

This image shows Indra, a fast spinning gas giant generating tremendous tidal forces, tearing its moons apart when they stray too close. As it swirls at incredible speeds of more than 28,000 mph (45,000kph), the planet becomes an oblate sphere, with the equatorial radius of the planet being much greater than it's polar radius. This furiously spinning maelstrom is mirrored in the galaxy seen beyond its newly formed rings and the remaining moons: Agni, Vayu, and Antarik.

Beach Panoramas

2010-08-02T15:44:00.000-07:00

Here are two panoramas of Centerville Beach and one of College Cove, they are part of the sets posted previously. The panoramas were stitched together with the free Microsoft Image Composite Editor (ICE)

Centerville Beach photos

2010-07-24T21:43:00.000-07:00

Photos of Centerville Beach, near Ferndale, CA. Taken quite a while ago actually, but i wanted to share.

Pedro's Cantina

2010-07-14T17:20:00.000-07:00

Here's a personal project i started a while back. Pedro's is an orbital bar, using antigrav generators and forcefields to stay in orbit.... a bit like the bar from Spaceballs, only more of a dive. It still needs plenty of work, and I'm not sure yet how I will use this in a scene.

Uncharted

2010-07-07T15:15:00.000-07:00

Two survey craft orbit a terrestrial type planet, still unnamed, as part of the Perseus Arm Astrographic Survey.

Cauldron

2010-06-29T15:42:00.000-07:00

Two freighters travel towards the colony which orbits Banth, the largest moon of the gas giant, Carter. Many lightyears away in the distance, an ancient supernova remnant is exhausting its energy, but in turn it has collapsed nearby clouds of gas and dust, causing a new crop of stars to burst into life, their fusion lighting up the dead carcass of their progenitor.

Stellar Engine

2010-06-16T16:03:00.000-07:00

This shows an enormous stellar power and manufacturing station built around a star, similar to a Dyson sphere (or maybe more accurately a Niven ring or a Halo) A small star [usually a class G or K star] powers manufacturing and construction of interstellar spacecraft which are then sold to whomever can afford them. Raw materials are harvested from asteroids, the small inner planets, and the star itself. See also Stellar Engine

Outpost

2010-06-08T20:53:00.000-07:00

This image shows a sunset on a forested moon which orbits a heavily populated planet. Both the planet and moon orbit around a binary system, consisting of a G class star and a neutron star.

College Cove photos

2010-05-31T18:57:00.000-07:00

Some photos of College Cove, near Trinidad, CA. Went hiking with my brother and three of his friends on what turned out to be a beautiful day.

Screensaver 1.1

2010-05-31T18:36:00.000-07:00

A screensaver of 36 selected scifi and space images. You can download it here:

http://www.mediafire.com/?wjxom2gyzm2

Includes images that have not yet been released anywhere else.

Haldora

2010-05-19T19:04:00.000-07:00

This image was inspired by 'Absolution Gap', the last book in the Revelation Space trilogy by Alastair Reynolds.

Wellspring

2010-04-30T14:25:00.000-07:00

Another older one. This shows the view from a busy planetary system to a nearby stellar nursery. The .psd file has almost 300 layers.

Alien Shores

2010-04-27T20:52:00.001-07:00

This one depicts the scene on a distant moon orbiting in a trinary star system. Simple, large plant-like organisms loom among the rocky seashore, trying to siphon nutrients from the salty water.

Mariners

2010-03-31T13:47:00.000-07:00

Two courier shuttles pass near Eione on their way to Nereus, a large, heavily populated world. Nereus is a pelagic world, so civilization in this system was built up on any available land, including all the moons large enough to have any sort of an atmosphere. This left Eione, a lifeless chunk of rock, suitable only for mining purposes.

Nereus is the 'old man of the sea' in Greek mythology, and the 6 moons, including Eione, are named after Nereids, his daughters

Crater Brushes

2010-03-31T12:53:00.000-07:00

Here are some Photoshop brushes that can be used to paint craters on your planet. The files are in .png format. They were created in Photoshop CS, but should work in just about any version. To use them, open them in PS, and under the 'edit' menu, click on 'define brush preset' Give it a name and you can start bombarding your planet with craters. Also for more interesting effects, you can edit the new crater brush under the brushes palette. You can try adding a subtle texture, turning on scattering, or size and/or angle jitter. Have fun!

The Stars Like Dust

2010-03-24T11:45:00.000-07:00

The blazing ignition of a cluster of bright young T-Tauri stars begin to tear away the clouds of gas and dust that birthed them, exposing their undeveloped protostar neighbors.

Indirectly inspired by Isaac Azimov

Speedpaints

2010-03-09T12:38:00.000-08:00

A couple of old speedpaints, about an hour and a half spent on each one. Both done from photo references, the bird from a photograph I took in my backyard.

Suborbital

2010-03-07T15:07:00.000-08:00

And a new one

Oldies

2010-03-07T14:59:00.000-08:00

Here are some oldies to get started

Welcome

2010-03-07T12:13:00.000-08:00

Alright, I decided to start this thing so I could keep some sort of an online portfolio of my work. I expect to post mainly space art here, along with other random stuff, photography, architectural renderings, sketches, etc. Enjoy!