April Show Off Thread 2023 - Special Effects

[Agent0013]

Welcome to the April Show Off Thread 2023 - Special Effects! Post all of your wonderful images for the month of April here. Remember to keep your images PG, as children can and do view these threads.
The Challenge for this month is a rather easy one: Special Effects. All images to be considered for the challenge prize must have at least one special effect visible within it. The effects can be added to your image in post work, or may be made to be used in your image. You can make your background have the special effect in it. Whatever way you like to do your special effects, we want to see them.
The term 'Special Effects' has a very broad spectrum in this challenge, as the effect can be practically anything you can imagine, and that is what I am wanting you to do, IMAGINE!


To start this off, I have a simple image that I did for an experiment in Bryce 7.1 Pro.
Orb 2
The special effect for this one is the refractive index of the orb. This is an effect that is done by using a slider dial at the bottom of the Deep Texture Editor. I had to place something interesting behind the orb to see what the distortion effect would look like. The first test run was OK, but there was not enough behind the orb to actually show how well the distortion effect works. The refraction index is causing the orb to act as a lens, magnifying the back drop surprisingly well for a 32 bit program, that is nearly 14 years old. Bryce still shows new things it can do after all those years. I encourage everyone to dig into their texture editor sections of their favorite 3D art applications, find the refractive index controls for that program, and just experiment with it to see what you can make it do. And remember: have fun while you're at it.

[Llola Lane]

Woo hoo... I'm on board... I love special effects and this gives me a chance to experiment some more.  Wonderful start for us Agent!!!

[Agent0013]

Got Stars In Her Eyes
I've been wanting to do an image concerning this song "Jukebox Hero" by Foreigner. The video I'm sharing here is from their 2010 concert with the 21st Century Orchestra & Chorus. I have the video disc of the entire concert. This is by far the best version I've ever heard. I highly recommend watching this one, as there is a lot in it that is not in the original version.
Jukebox Hero - https://youtu.be/mi4yPABRElA
This image takes its premise from a line in the refrain part of the song "Got stars in his eyes!" In my image it is a young lady that is the Jukebox Hero. So I changed the gender in that line.
The special effect in the image may be a bit hard to see at first, so make sure you click on the image twice to enlarge it to full size. Look at the eyes of the young lady, and you can see a constellation in her eyes. In her green eye the stars in the constellation are yellow. In her blue eye the stars in the constellation are blue, but that is just part of the special effect. Look close at each eye comparing the positioning of the stars. It looks as though I just used a photo of a constellation, changed the color of the stars for each eye and loaded them in through the Reflection channel in DAZ Studio's Surfaces Editing tab. That is not what I did. I hand painted the stars into each eye manually, in Project Dogwaffle Howler 12. You might think I had to at least copy and paste the stars into at least one of her eyes, but I tell you I painted each star manually in each eye. I painted the first star in her Green Eye, switched to the blue color, and painted the same star again in the blue eye, making sure the brightness matched as well. I did the same with each star I painted, switching back and forth between the eyes, matching each new star fairly close to perfectly. There may be some tiny differences in the positions, but they are not easy to detect at all. The reason I was able to do this is because I have very steady hands, that do not shake at all. This is something I have had for as long as I have been working with my hands, which includes my artistic endeavors, even before I got into digital art. I was told by the pathologist I used to assist, that I had the most steady hands he has ever seen, and he wanted to know why I was not a surgeon!
Anyway, here is the image.

[Saphirewild]

Showing off some new to me jewelry and new hair I just bought through the March Madness sales at Daz 3D!
I worked on this one this morning and this is how it turned out!!

[Llola Lane]

Great one Agent... also the reflection on the floor could be a special effect... Thank you for putting undies in your gal!  lol

Lookin' good Saph... I didn't buy much.  I was less than impressed with the new items for March Madness... Seems like past madnesses were much more maddening!!!  lol

Thanks for sharing you two... I best get on the render wagon!

[Llola Lane]

I think I missed posting a few weeks of artwork from the Daz contests so I'm trying to catch up... no wins but I had fun making them... ENJOY!

This is from Daz+ Inspiration Contest - February 22, 2023 - March 07, 2023

[Saphirewild]

Great one Agent... also the reflection on the floor could be a special effect... Thank you for putting undies in your gal!  lol

Lookin' good Saph... I didn't buy much.  I was less than impressed with the new items for March Madness... Seems like past madnesses were much more maddening!!!  lol

Thanks for sharing you two... I best get on the render wagon!

I only got a few things from the March Madness the jewelry I got for free with the Daz+ coupon for $6 off and the hair was cheap to buy!

[Saphirewild]

Amazing images Llola hun you have really outdone yourself this time!!

[Saphirewild]

Here is one I did up this morning showing off the new textures I bought for Daz Horse 2 and the Horse Buggy!!

[Agent0013]

Saphirewild, your first for this month is gorgeous. I love the dress, as it could make the main part of a wedding outfit! The jewelry enhances her look tremendously. Well Done!


Llola, I like that you did images with a nice musical instrument. The cello is so beautiful. Also those images include an effect I'm sure you worked to perfect; the fog. Your images are so awesome, it will be hard for any of the rest of us to compete with you on the quality and beauty of these images.
And Finally, Saphirewild, I love the effect of the burning horses! It prompted me to collect all the images in this thread, aside for my own, as they are already in my collection. LOLOL
If you ever watched the Marvel movies featuring Ghost Rider, Nick Cage's rides a flaming motorcycle, while in the second one Sam Elliot's version rides a flaming horse! Both were done really well on the flaming effects. You have nearly matched the quality in those movies.