Cars on the Moon?

[rutherford]

Hi everyone!

This is a photomontage for an ad or a Petrol Company here in Brasil. The art director wanted tyre tracks to be placed on the surface of the moon. The client provided the moon picture. To place the tracks on the surface, i first prepared the moon, removing the unwanted craters and improving contrast, colour and sharpness of the original image. After that we rendered 4 alpha channells with the tire track pattern on 3D (one for highlights, one for shadows, one with the defined tyre pattern and one of motion blur - to be applied with a very low oppacity underneath the other3).

After aplying the alpha channells I drew the volumes on the side of the track with two curves adjustment layers (one for shadow and one for high light). In order to obtain a randomic pattern on the edge of the masks of the two adjustment layers a FILTER_DISTORT_GLASS was applied to the masks.

Cheers!

[Swampy]

Way Kewl! Very well done!

[raniday]

Awesome!

[Panpan]

Hi Rutherford

You did an excellent job creating the tracks. However, the moon is much bigger than your client thinks! The curvature, distance to the horizon and track angles are wrong.

I doubt the curvature of the moon is viewable from the surface with all the obstacles that shorten the horizon. I added a road on earth to show what I mean about the track angles.

This applies to a view from the surface. If the idea is a view from high above it, then the curvature would be viewable, but the tracks would be tiny.

Pierre

[Kraellin]

i have to agree with pierre here about the curvature. the other thing is the scale. most likely those craters are quite a bit larger than the automobile and subsequent tracks. most folks would never really notice and what you're trying to communicate is going to work ok. the message is clear enough regardless of what we fussy folks think

also, your 'volume' shading seems a bit off to me. it's too bright relative to the other shading nearby, especially that one closest to the bottom of the image. it's close, but just a bit bright.

also, by 'volume', i assume you mean the kicked out dust/dirt from the hypothetical vehicle tracks, yes?

very clever image

Craig

[rutherford]

hi everyone!

First of all, thanks for the comments. I agree with you concerning the scale of the tracks in comparison with the craters, but the image is ment to comunicate the concept. So we have to find a balance between the understanding of it by whoever is exposed to it and the realistic factor of the image. What I mean with this is: we have to illustrate the concept as realistic as possible, but also make it inteligible to the public, not forgeting tha it has to be aesthetically appealing also.

I attatched the lay out to the comment so that you can have an idea of how the ad will look when published.

Cheers and Happy christmas to you all!

George Rutherford
www.seagullsfly.com
www.fotolog.net/rutherford

[DannyRaphael]

Your work is positively brilliant, rutherford. I'm sure your client was (will be) pleased.

A few years ago I saw a similar concept using tire tracks the sands of a desert. In that one the artist planted a "Stop Sign" in the middle of nowhere, which made me laugh: "Why would you need a 'Stop Sign' there?" Forgive me, but just for fun I couldn't resist.

Keep up the good work. It is indeed inspiring.

And Merry Christmas to you, too.

[rutherford]

Hi Danny!

i liked your intervention a lot! It is very funny!!

[Kraellin]

looks good, rutherford

but, why'd you take the pushed out of the tracks dust out of it?

and danny, reminds me of the old bill cosby routine about the stop sign at the top of the steep hill in san francisco

Craig

[rutherford]

[quote=Kraellin]looks good, rutherford

but, why'd you take the pushed out of the tracks dust out of it?

Kraelin, the last image I posted is the clients lay-out. the final image is the one I posted first and is also attatched in this post.

[Kraellin]

rutherford,

ok. so the 'client's layout' is sort of a rough draft and your image will be the one used in the final piece?

craig

[rutherford]

Yes, thats it. Here at the studio, we normally receive a lay-out (rough) of the image along with the originals to produce it.

In this case, I only produced the image of the moon. The rest of the photos and also the text of the ad was placed in the agency.

[Kraellin]

ah, ok. thanks rutherford. and very nice job

craig