What photoshop can do in the right hands…
Posted by myg
My friend, a RL graphic artist, took one of my old photos and gussied it up a bit. To really appreciate it, click it and get the full size from FlickR.
Ah, to have photoshop skillz!
Nope, he’s not in SL. But we’re working on it!
(This was taken from on top of my loft in Topgol.)
There is something I don’t understand here. I keep seeing plenty of SL pictures reworked using photoshop to make them look better. Would you need this with screenshots from a MMO with better graphics ?
I am working as a designer for SL and I should do the same photoshopping for my products but I don’t.
Instead of spending (wasting?) time learning photoshop and other drawing tools, why don’t we try to convicing Linden to update their totally outdated graphic engine ?
Thanks for publishing me.
I see your point, and when I look at something like this it does make me wish SL had the graphics capability of other MMOz, for sure. I hope Linden Lab does try to improve them.
That said, there’s not an MMO out there that photoshop wouldn’t make look better–for god’s sake people use it to make RL photos look better, and you can’t beat RL for graphics, can you? ;-P
Welcome to M is for Myg and thanks for your comment.
It’s just the “make it look better” thing that’s bothering me. I mean, my customers are always a bit surprise when they see the final design of a product. I always have to explain that’s because of the capabilities of the platform. Photoshopping pictures would just be lying (just like fashion magazine lies when you see pictures of perfect models).
In my case, I can only live with the current graphic capabilities of SL and if I had time, money and a solid graphic programming background, I would rework the engine in the client’ source code ! Isn’t there passionnate programmers that could do that ? (Personnaly, i would pay for it (not alone of course)).
Well yeah, of course you shouldn’t photoshop your design work if it’s going to mislead your potential customers about the final look of your product. However, this image isn’t trying to sell anything. It’s just a nice snapshot, and I appreciate what my friend is able to bring out of it with his talents. A lot of people use Second Life to make graphic art–Vint Falken and Codebastard Redgrave for example.
Although, you and any designer can use Photoshop to improve the textures on your items–and you should. A lot of what looks like shit in SL are items made by amateur designers who can’t texture properly. A trip to Sanctum Sanctorum, Imtemptesta Nox, Soap, or even Topgol will show anyone that it is possible to make good looking areas and items in Second Life. Maybe they are not as good as some other platforms like WoW, but that’s also the price we pay for having a user-created environment with varying skill level.
And the good thing about SL is that everywhere you go, it does look different.
I’m not at all disagreeing that it’d be great to have better graphics in SL. I do think there’s a lot of great work that can be done before that happens though.
Quite different from the Myg we know from the funny papers! I guess fame and fortune can change a girl.
er, esteban, this is photo is ancient history! I mean, we’re talkin’ January man…
To be honest, while the photo looks great thanks to the work of your graphic artist friend, what it appears he did is add the sky into the background (can’t find the original in your flickrstream…).
While I agree that the general rendering engine of SL could use an update, I think that WindLight will do a lot for the quality of the visuals in SL when it’s released in a few weeks. Check Torley’s flickrstream for an idea of what it looks like!
Damn you look sexy in that picture! I have been so busy in sl and rl that I am way behind on your posts. *sighs* Don’t forget me!
Wow.
And to Hellaynnea: How much of the RL photographs (be it Fashion photographs or not) did not first pass through Photoshop or another program?
I understand the need for photoshop for texturing (i use it myself), my problem comes from the need for post-processing the screenshots (just check the flickR galleries of SL pictures to be convinced). If SL is looking that bad for screenshots being systematically photoshopped, we should adress this issue first ? (its the solve the problem or patch question).
Yes, SL’s graphic engine could use some improvements. Whereas WindLight took some of the need for PS’ing away, it’s gone at the moment and even with Windlight, some things often just don’t look ‘right’. Open source client or not, as far as I know, we - and certainly not I - can improve SL’s graphics engine. So it’s waiting for the Lindens to do so. Also, not all graphic cards are as good, so that can be a reason to use some PS too.
I’ve seen some lovely non-photoshopped SL snapshots, but the majority I like are indeed photoshopped. What I wanted to say though, is that most of the RL photographs we see in magazines, … are photoshopped too, so I don’t see why we could not do so in SL.
But yes, we should be carefull with the editing of product images, as to not paint a false image of the prouct that’s being sold. Although I see no problem with correcting a model’s squared butt to be a bit more round.
i think that pic looks beautiful and you know if your friend doesnt feel like coming to sl to be a designer i think he could make a good ammount by being a photographer.
Thanks, T–I’ll definitely forward the compliment. He’s actually making a decent living as a graphic designer, but his subjects aren’t always as fun as Second Life can be.
@hellaynnea, uhm this is a very nice piece of work and art, myg’s friend did with her pic. it is truly truly amazing and i look at the edited pic from a appreciative art point of view.
it is not possible to make any mmorg to have graphics like that ( in myg’s pic ).
wont be WOW, Vanguard or any other game that is out on the market atm. and the reasons are simple, if a mmorg will deliver a end product with graphics like that, you better be sure you run 10000000 gigs of ram and a have a graphic card that is not even out there yet.
it will be possible in the years to come, but we don’t have the computers yet to run a platform like we all wish to see.
yet if the LL’s would add more intense graphic, first most ATI and NVIDIA cards wont be able to support that amount of graphics, second… SL is already lagtastic as it is, so we just go and make/ enhance our own graphics.
as for flickr, there are some amazing artists and PS buff’s on there who create masterpieces out of sl screenies,
don’t you like these?
imo, there are some fantastic artists on there, maybe you would like to check some of these amazing creations out and appreciate those from a uhmm artistic pov?
gala~
gala! hey girl!
haaaay myg, you dropdead georgous woman :)))
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