The Big Picture Thread September 2024 - Check Out My Ride

[Agent0013]

Welcome to The Big Picture Thread September 2024 - Check Out My Ride.


Everybody needs a way to get from point A, to Point B, and perhaps even more. This thread is for rides of every kind from a tricycle to a motorcycle, to a golf cart, to a luxury limousine, to a johnboat, to a speedboat, to a sailboat, to a ship, to a submarine, to a diving bell, to a helicopter, to a crop duster plane, to a passenger plane, to a space capsule, to a interplanetary ship, to a starship, and so on. But machines are not the only types of rides. So horses, donkeys, elephants, or any fantasy creature that can be rode are of course rides too.


Your job is to do images of any type of thing something can ride on or in! You could have the owner of the ride showing it off to friends or the cameras. You could also depict these rides in use. The choice is yours.


Please keep your images PG, as kids can and do view these threads.


Image sizes must be at least 1500px, and no more than 3000px, either vertically or horizontally. The other direction can be less than 1500px, but still no more than 3000px.


I will be competing in this thread, so bring your "A" game please!


To start it off, here is my first one.


Cybernetic Steed


A Plastech Girl was given a horse of a new kind to ride. As she is a cybernetic construct herself, it only makes sense that her horse would be also.

Here she is on her horse, making it rear up in a fighting ready stance, for the camera.


Credits:
Plastech Girl - Aiko 3, wearing the MechGirl suit, and sporting the Mitsu Hair.
Horse - Hailey's Comet for Aiko 3, with textures made by me. Platform is a primitive cylinder, flattened and texture by me. Backdrop is from my own Amberlight2 generated images.
Lighting and Camera created and edited in DAZ Studio 4.10.
Rendered using 3Delight render engine.

[Agent0013]

My second image for this challenge:


Wave Skipper Eggs

On Proxima Centauri 2, the homeworld of an advanced intelligent cephalopod species, daring human and cephalopods enjoy racing Wave Skipper Eggs. 

The Wave Skipper Eggs, invented by the cephalopods, are a special type of vehicle that can glide through the air a good long distance between wave skips. The outer skin of the egg part is spinning on its long axis, which facilitates the ability to skip like a thrown stone skipping across a lake, or pond. The curved techno-extensions are stability providers, keeping the Wave Skipper Eggs from tumbling. Inside the egg is a chamber that remains stable enough to be endured by any pilot. Wave Skipper Eggs are for recreational purposes only, and can be built for racing.

How does a Wave Skipper Egg Race work? The interior of the egg is low pressure, but not enough to harm the occupant. The vehicles are towed to a depth of 169 fathoms (1014 feet). The egg exteriors are set to spinning rapidly. This causes turbulence in the surrounding water, and forces the water toward the rear of the vehicle. Pilots must at this time work to steady the angle of the vehicle in the direction the race is to proceed. The tethers holding them at 1014 feet deep are then released. The vehicles rise toward the surface of the water very fast, due to the low interior pressure, the turbulence forcing water to the rear of the vehicles, and the skills of the pilots. When it gets to the surface, it actually jumps out of the water. At that moment the pilot must work to keep the vehicle at no more than twenty feet above the surface, and gliding in the right direction. The rest of the race proceeds without any forward motive thrust. Normally the amount of skips on the water will determine the distance the vehicle travels altogether. The one that goes the farthest is determined the winner. A prize is also given for the longest skip. Some skips can be as long as 0.75 miles! A good wind, blowing toward the front of the vehicles, can provide enough lift to extend a skip distance a long way! The record distance for a single skip is actually 0.83 miles! None have even come close to that distance since that time. The pilots that know how to read the waves have the best chances of winning, as the orientation of a wave can cause differences in the way the Wave Skipper Egg skips. Knowing how to hit a wave to get the maximum distance from the skip is a top skill of all pilots of Wave Skipper Eggs!

So will the Cephalopod win this time? Or will the Human in the other Wave Skipper Egg make it the farthest? It is known that 65% of all Wave Skipper Egg Races are won by Cephalopods; however, the record for longest skip belongs to a Human!

[DreamWeaver]

I didn't get any notifications here so sorta forgot.
Here is an offering for the thread

[Agent0013]

A nice addition for this thread, DreamWeaver!
You got me on this one. I was expecting something with horses, from you, but you did the unexpected, and I like that!

[DreamWeaver]

Heh glad you like it. I don't always do horses lol I'll have to see what else I can come up with

[Agent0013]

This one took several hours to compose, as I had to make all of my parts for the piece unique. I also had to write a relevant story for this piece.


Training a Dragon for Threadfall
(A Dragonriders of Pern Fan Art and Story Piece)


On the planet Pern, a particularly harsh period of Threadfall will begin in 9 days. For many dragons and their riders, this will be their first time going out to fight threadfall. Indications have occurred that indicate this threadfall period will be a rather nasty one. And this is coming when nearly a third of the dragons and their riders, have never even seen threadfall. When the signs of a bad threadfall period were reported, it became necessary to recruit a large number of dragonriders with no experience. They would have to be trained, and very quickly.


'Azyaerii' and her dragon 'Phimvarth' had been together since she was a little girl, when Phimvarth imprinted on her. Before she even touched the dragonling for the first time, she was receiving telepathic images from Phimvarth. He had detected a strong telepathic mind, and found her on that day.


While most new potential dragonriders needed serious training to even mount their dragons, Azyaerii did not even need the training; seeming to have a natural knowledge of what to do, and how to do it. Very soon, she and her dragon were enjoying the view from very high altitudes. When Azyaerii, and Phimvarth were recruited, they had already practiced the Fire Rock Chewing Routine; which involves the rider importantly. The rider has saddlebags filled with fire rocks. The rider must place each rock in the mouth of the dragon. The dragon then has to chew the rock to produce the flammable gas. This allows the dragon to breathe fire; which it uses to burn thread before it reaches the ground. Burning as much thread as possible, while still high in the air, makes the job of ground based thread fighters a lot easier.


"Phimmie, here is a fire rock for you to chew!", Azyaerii sent the thought to Phimvarth. "Now let's get into the air, so we can practice burning thread! Oliveer has scattered some ribbons high in the sky for us to practice on. We must not let any of the ribbons reach the ground. If we do, then the area it reaches will be counted against us!"


"Should you not put my harness on and strap yourself on the back of my neck?" Phimvarth was always thinking of Azyaerii's safety.


"I'm not worried!" She told him. "You will catch me if I should fall!" Her thoughts were filled with confidence, which Phimvarth knew might not be of merit. He knew that this was a new situation they were training for, and there was no way to know just how things might go, even in training. "Hey, it's OK! I'm not planning to die today!" She assured him.


"But you have not even put reins on me!" He was truly concerned.


"OK! If you insist, I'll put the reins on!" She got that done in less than a minute, and then climbed back up onto the back of his neck. She also attached the saddlebags filled with the fire rocks; which stank like rotten eggs, due to a high level of sulfur contained in them. Taking hold of the reins, she thought "Now let's get going!"


Dragon and rider burst forth from the upper cave entrance. Oliveer had sent a picture through his dragon directly to Phimvarth, of the area in the sky they needed to start from. Azyaerii received it at the same time, and gave her command. "Time to go 'Between', and jump to the place we just received from Oliveer's dragon 'Vae'ynn!" As she sent the command, Phimvarth was already making the jump through the 'between'.


It took less than a second to get to the location. There were several ribbons within Phimvarth's flame blast radius, and they seemed to rise and fall on the wind at this altitude. "Test your flame on these ribbons!" Azyaerii commanded.


Phimvarth dove toward the ribbons, breathing a blast of flame toward them. The ribbons were incinerated with a satisfactory sizzling sound. Azyaerii was pleased to see he did it with precision.


Diving to the next level down where a lot more ribbons were drifting on air currents, while also moving slowly toward the ground, he continued his flame blasts, taking out as much with one blast as he could. He expertly widened the blast to cover more area with the flame. This in turn burned several dozen ribbons at the same time.


"Very good, my Phimmie!" Azyaerii thought happily! She placed another fire rock in his mouth, which he chewed vigorously. She looked around her and her dragon, and noticed there was a single ribbon headed toward them. "Don't let that ribbon touch me, or you!" she sent, including what she was seeing with it. "If it touches either of us, we will fail this practice session! Just remember, real thread will hurt both of us, if it touches either one of us, or both! If the touch lasts too long, we will die!"


Phimvarth flipped to belly up, and with a precision micro blast of flame, the ribbon became ash. "See why you need the reins and the harness?" he urgently sent to her. "You just had to tighten your grip on my neck with your legs! What if you had done that a little too late?"


"Like I said, you will catch me, if I should fall!" she replied.


"That may not always be possible! In the heat of a battle, we won't be the only ones in the sky! We'll have to work just as hard to protect our fellow dragons and riders, and at the same time be fighting thread!"


"You're right, Phimmie! But at least for now, we can afford you saving my life, more than not winning in this practice session!" She pointed out. "I know I said we must not let the ribbons reach the ground, but those ribbons are not real thread, and cannot do any real damage to anything they touch!" She thought for a few seconds, and then added "OK, I thought about it! Yes I admit, I was being careless! So here is my promise to you; I promise to include harnessing, the reins, and strapping into the saddle in our practice sessions! You brought up possibilities I had not thought of, and those things will most likely be happening quite often! So, I believe you and I are now in agreement that we should get into the practice of doing those things in preparations to fly, every time; whether it be for practice, or for heading out to battle!" She admonished herself for being so lax on safety, and for thinking she could rely on Phimvarth to save he if she was to fall.


The practice session was finally ended, and was deemed a failure. Not because they missed any ribbons, as they actually burned all of the ribbons well before they reached the ground. Rather it was because Oliveer deemed that the lax safety practice could not be ignored!


Azyaerii expected this outcome, even as she knew they had beaten the simulated threadfall. Even as she accepted the determination of failure, she was thinking about what she had learned from this practice session, and what she knew about the coming threadfall period. She was looking at the approaching red star, (actually the planet that was the source of the thread) which had become visible during the day, just a week earlier. It was obviously approaching Pern a bit more rapidly than usual, as it sped up in it's orbit when it drew closer to the Sun. Large gas giant planets that could affect the red star's orbit had reached a conjunction in the direction that the red star was approaching from, causing it to speed up significantly, and sometimes even slow down, along its orbital path. What was happening here was a conjunction of the two largest planets in the system, coinciding with the approach of the red star in a way that first sped it up along that path, and then slowed it down again while it was close to Pern. It's time near enough to Pern for threadfall to occur would be longer, because of the slowing down when it was close. The coming threadfall period was coming at the time of this odd conjunction of the two largest gas giant planets, and the conjunction of the red star and the planet Pern, as the inner and largest one made its pass by the smaller and farther one. The red star had passed by the two of them during their closest approach to each other, which had the effect of a double slingshot, making the red star move about 22% faster. When the larger gas giant was past the smaller one, and pulling away, a gravitational stretching effect occurred, which caused a rubber band like effect that pulled back on the red star, slowing it down to about 14 % slower than usual.


When she attended the next Dragonriders' Meeting that evening, she knew she would get an opportunity to stand before her fellow Dragonriders to air her concerns! These meetings were to be held every evening, up to and long after the threadfall period began. Today had been the ninth day ahead of the period, and she had learned a lot, and pieced together a plan she hoped would be implemented in the next practice session, and all subsequent practices thereafter, until such time as threadfall began. As the meeting was in progress the time came for any dragonrider to exercise their right to air concerns they may have. Azyaerii stood, when the question was asked: "Is there any among you that has concerns that need to be addressed?" Upon seeing her stand, Oliveer waved her to come forward. She went to the podium.


"While practicing today, Phimvarth brought to my attention certain things we may not be considering!" She looked out at all of her fellow dragonriders. "Here I wish to point out the things I was able to figure out:
1.We newer dragonriders, and yes our experienced ones have not thought out our practice sessions fully, as today we all practiced alone in the sky! This is not how it will be when threadfall begins! We will be fighting thread together, rather than alone! So we should be practicing together, rather than alone!
2. You experienced dragonriders should think of as many possible things that can happen in a threadfall fight, and teach us newbies how to deal with them! This means being up there with us in the practice sessions, acting as captains of an air regiment, directing the battle, coordinating attack procedures, and helping us understand how best to help each other!
3. Before we even go out to practice, you captains should inspect your regiment members, their dragons, and the integrity of our harnesses, our reins, and our securing straps! Any dragonrider that has not met the required integrity must remain grounded until such time as they get these things right! This inspection should also include our fire rock storage in the saddlebags! "

There was a hubbub of discussion going on in the crowd of dragonriders, and one spoke up. "You, young lady, have earned our respect! You've brought up some things we did not think of, and they are definitely important! I think I speak for us all, or at least for the vast majority, when I say, 'Let this be implemented as rules we must abide by!'" He looked around at all the others. "Shall we vote on it now? All in favor, stand up! All who oppose, remain seated!" No one remained seated.

Azyaerii felt good to see that everyone agreed. "Well there we have it! We are all in agreement; unanimously deciding! The motion and implementation shall be so ruled!" She reached out with her mind to her dragon. "Phimmie, what do you think about what we just achieved?"

Phimvarth responded. "It is a good plan, and will make a big difference in how we perform when threadfall begins!"

Azyaerii looked at her audience. "Phimvarth is in agreement also, and if he is in agreement, as are you all, so too are all of our dragons!"

The crowd confirmed that this was the case.

Azyaerii felt good, knowing she had contributed some things that would increase their success rate in the coming threadfall period, and increase the safety of all involved.

Credits:
Phimvarth the Dragon - DAZ's Piccolo enlarged to be the right size to be ridden, and retextured to make him unique.
Azyaerii - DAZ's Genesis 2 Female(s) with morphs to make her have her own appearance.
Clothing for Azyaerii - composed from several different outfits, using single pieces from each.
Lighting - created from two distant lights, each edited to help match the lighting and shadows in the backdrop.
Backdrop - Generated using the AI engine of DeviantArt, and PD Howler 12, to add the depth of field simulation blur.
Render - DAZ Studio's 3Delight Render Engine was used.
Story - A fan written story by L. Cleveland Major, aka Agent 0013!
Disclaimer:
This is an image, and a story written to be in the Dragonriders of Pern series universe. All rights belong to Anne McCaffrey, and/or those to whom the copyright has been given. I make no claims, other than being the one that made the image, and wrote this particular short story. No sales of any kind may be derived from these works.

[SofaCitizen]

Here we go - the render I mentioned earlier which was done for an Mythical/Fantasy Animal thread on the Daz Forums but also happens to fit here as it features two riders.

Took a bit longer than expected because there hasn't been much time for using Daz and I am slow to make stuff as it is :/

E.T. Erinaceus Tecta

A strange spiky creature finds herself stranded in a fantastical land where she befriends Elliegoat and Triler, a pair of young natives. Hunted by the evil Satyrmi who want to steal her spines to make weapons the trio race through the streets in search of the hedge-portal home.

[Agent0013]

SofaCitizen, the render is perfect for this thread! I like it when an artist uses such an unusual imaginative idea, and runs with it! You obviously have an awesome imagination, and I can't wait to see what you come up with next! Well Done!

[SofaCitizen]

Thank you, that's so very kind :)  Hopefully, it also inspires some others to submit their rides here too!

I do now have an idea brewing for the School thread so should be able to contribute to that one. Although currently working on a freebie-challenge submission and I do still have the Stove one to fit in also before the month is out.

[jammixx]

This one took several hours to compose,
Training a Dragon for Threadfall
(A Dragonriders of Pern Fan Art and Story Piece)   You've really been creative this month, Agent.  I really like the Dragonrider story.