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Posted on 17/02/23 08:59:51 AM

Steve Caplin
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Re: Challenge 942: The spy balloon

First to fly the balloon this week was lwc, with a Pink Floyd tribute. I like the second entry better, as it hovers above the skyline. Nicely done – although to integrate it more I’d have placed it between the skyscrapers, rather than behind all of them:

I greatly enjoyed the third entry, though, with its cockpit view of the scene. Complete with bursts of flame from the machine guns! And an updated plane in the fourth entry, with its futuristic Matrix displays. Very cute. And a very subtle fifth entry with its translucent balloon!

It’s Pink Floyd again, from DavidMac – with a poster celebrating Dark Side of the Moon. I saw them on the Animals tour, back in 1977. A disappointing band to see live – no audience interaction. A good selection of balloons in the second entry, and I’m particularly pleased at how well you matched the lighting direction of the background. The inflatable Elvis is particularly bizarre.

A good selection of balloons from Ant Snell – is that a plasticky Putin holding the remote? The Trump Baby is splendid. I like the camera.

A welcome return from Tom, with a gorgeous retro-futurist assembly. Beautiful work. To get a sense of scale, though, I’d have placed the spaceship between the buildings, rather than having them just as backdrop. I like the drama of the second entry.

Firework time from tooquilos – is it Chinese new year? Beautiful colour matching. Dramatic music in the animated version. I really like how the tornado produces the wipe between the original background and the destroyed version - tremendous!

I enjoyed michael sinclair’s rising Chinese balloons, artfully created. For a better sense of scale and distance, though, the larger ones (which we presume to be nearest to us) should rise faster than those further away:

The same applies to the plethora of balloons in the second entry: the nearer they are to the camera, the faster they should traverse the landscape. I really like the blinking eyes in the third entry.

A bizarre balloon indeed from Ant Snell, set in the City of London. I really must stop eating those beans.

A rather fine translucent balloon from Josephine Harvatt, very nicely realised. I did try adding a view of the ribs on the other side of the balloon (it is translucent, after all) but it was too complicated so I gave up.

An eye in the sky indeed from Frank, neatly placed between the two skyscrapers (see what I mean, Loyd and Tom? It makes all the difference). I really like the merge with real footage in the animated version, as well as the clever rear view. And you’ve got yourself a 3D rocket! With a surprising ending. Brilliant work, Frank. Really enjoyed this one.

A beautiful silver balloon from Mariner, reflecting the city beneath. It took me a moment to work out that was the reflection of the helicopter, largely because of its position on the sphere: assuming the viewer is dead central, then I’d have thought the reflection would be a lot closer to the original. And a curious thing: why are there ghostly brown skyscrapers in the reflection?

Posted on 17/02/23 09:29:36 AM

Mariner
Renaissance Mariner
Posts: 3010

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Re: Challenge 942: The spy balloon

Thanks Steve. I made a mistake with the helipcopter reflection. The ghostly skyscrapers I have only just seen Sorry, the balloon is semi transparent and I forgot to delete an old layer. Must have missed seeing it.

Posted on 17/02/23 11:33:24 AM

DavidMac
Director of Photoshop
Posts: 5575

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Re: Challenge 942: The spy balloon

Steve Caplin wrote:
The inflatable Elvis is particularly bizarre.

I find these ballons quite extraordinary. It's one of those odd things one never really stops to think about, but somewhere, somehow, somebody designs and makes them!

It's not just an unusual skill, it must be quite a difficult one. Quite aside from the topology of breaking down the rounded shapes into segments cut from flat cloth, you can't finally tell if you've got it right until it's inflated ........ and it's BIG. How can you be sure that hot air will fill, for example, a bobble nose low on one side without it sagging?

Do you think they make scaled inflatable models first?

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Posted on 17/02/23 2:09:18 PM

Frank
Eager Beaver
Posts: 1737

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