I’d like to remix this 2.62 splashscreen by Alexey Lugovoy:
The idea is to create the fire flower’s counterpart: the ice flower. I plan to keep a similar style, but use cooler colors, and shapes more often associated with crystals and ice.
Since it’s one of the older versions, there’s no file available, so I’ll have to create it from scratch. To optimize it for sketchfab, I’ll be using really simple modeling. All of the details will be textures, so I’ll be making use of blender’s procedural shader nodes.
Yep, I’m looking into all of the available post-processing features in sketchfab. For now, I’ll be using eevee for previews until I bake everything down into textures.
To start off, I created a simple sdf and distorted it using textures. Using this, I was able to map it using color ramps, and layer the different components to create a series of masks. Currently, these masks are being used to mix shaders, but they will later be baked down to a pbr setup.
Right now, I’m trying to keep details down to a minimum, to keep performance up to a maximum. Later, I’ll want to add some fine details and noise.
Can’t find you on Sketchfab, you have an acct there yet? I’d appreciate a link, I’m trying to follow everybody there (including non-competitors) in this challenge.
Could you share more details about how you went from your last image to this? How did you distort the SDF- what’s your geometry nodes setup looking like? Sorry, this is just one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen and I’d love to try and replicate it, I’m just not sure where to start
I’m not sure if this is the exact layout I’ll use later on, but it’s a good start for visualizing the overall form. It’s nothing special, because it doesn’t need to be. Most of the work is done in shader nodes.
Secondly, I displace the input vector with noise, in the same way you would distort any texture. The large voronoi helps flatten some edges to give it a crystal look. I made sure to randomize the seed per object so each petal will have a different pattern.
Now, I take this gradient, and map it into a ton of color ramps to create a series of masks. I’m not going to go into detail about each one, but there are a few highlights.
The fade gradient, the inner glow gradient, and the center line were all created by distorting texture coordinates and mapping them. I used absolute to create the center line.
Echoing the words above, the result is great! I hope motivation returns to you, as I think this could become such a wonderful scene. Whatever it will be, though, already your WIP process is great to see!
Maybe try to translate the smoky background of the original into the cold setting. I could imagine some frosty window covered with snow and ice-crystals for example.
Good idea, I’ve been thinking about this as well. The original artwork works because it’s only viewed from one angle. How would I translate this to a sketchfab-friendly structure? I can’t exactly use a bunch of alpha planes, because the scene would fall apart if you view it from another angle.
You’re right, I may be overthinking this. I’ll do a super simple sketchfab version, just to get the feel for it, and I’ll create a more complex blender scene that has an actual composition.
I may need to work on a center for the flower, so there’s a better connection between the stamens and petals, but for now I’ll leave it as is and work on the background.
If you’re still looking for ideas, I think there’s some fun to be had with the background and the snow crystal spreading.
Also, what about sprinkling some geometry with nodes around the edges of the flowers?
This is mostly because of the transparent nature of the petals. I’m not exactly sure how to maintain a balance between the background and the flower. I’ve tried all sorts of things (like mimicking the smoke with frost) but to no avail. Do you have any suggestions?
I really like the sprinkling idea. I could add some magical snowflakes or simple sparkles in place of the sparks in the original image.
