18 Unbelievably Realistic Works of 3D Digital Art

By Steph in Gadgets & Geek Art, Technology & Futurism

What can’t artists do with 3D computer graphics these days? Fantasy can be brought to life in ways never before imagined, and realistic scenes as clear as a digital photograph are illustrated with stunning vitality. These 18 CG images from 15 talented artists will blow you away with their depth and attention to detail, from the tiniest little pores on the skin of an elf to the fibers on a fuzzy sweater.

Piotr Fox Wysocki

(image via: cgsociety.org)

The texture of the fabric. The gleam of the metal helmet. The pores, tiny hairs and imperfections of the skin. Piotr Fox Wysocki proves his mastery of 3D art with “The Last Elf”, a truly mind-blowing testament to how powerful 3D modeling programs have become. The project was certainly a labor of love, as Fox Wysocki notes that “As far as I
remember there were 1,300,000 small hair in the fabric.”

Juan Siquier

(image via: siquier.cgsociety.org)

3D artist Juan Siquier has managed to stir together a complex pot of magical ingredients to make this image so believable and moody: perspective, lighting, texture, and all of the little details that make up a personal space. See it full-sized on CGSociety.org to really appreciate the artistry of this image.

Arthur Wiechec

(image via: djdrako.deviantart.com)

Polish artist Arthur Wiechec may design everyday items like wine glasses and chess boards, but he infuses an incredible amount of life into them. Only the physical impossibility of floating wine and precariously balanced quarters of a glass betray the source of the image.

Kuanfu Sun

(image via: apollo13c.cgsociety.org)

Macro photo of a bee, or work of computer art? Kuanfu Sun makes it hard to tell in this image, which is richly detailed down to floating bits of dandelion in the background.

Rodrigue Pralier

(image via: 3dtotal.com)

Principal Artist at Bioware Montreal , Rodrigue Pralier has worked on 3D characters and backgrounds for games like Mass Effect 2 . This particular piece was done using Zbrush, 3Ds Max and Photoshop.
“I wanted to do a piece with an old Samurai. He just had a fight and won over another samurai. He is completely detached, he has done it so many times before. Now he just awaits for the one who will beat him, and end his nonsense life.”

Hong Phi

(image via: hongphi.deviantart.com)

If you saw one of Vietnamese conceptual 3D artist Hong Phi’s interiors in a magazine, you’d never guess that it wasn’t a photograph of a richly appointed home. But all of these images – including the incredible food spread above – were made using CG.

Rick Baker

(image via: monstermaker.cgsociety.org)

Renowned makeup artist Rick Baker turned to CGI to create a stunning likeness of Frankenstein’s monster. “This piece entitled “The Monster” is based on one of my favorite stills, of my all time favorite monster Boris Karloff as Frankenstein’s Monster,” he writes on CG Society.
“I used Modo ZBrush and Photoshop to create this piece. Jack Pierce had crude materials in 1931 to create this makeup but managed to create an image that the whole world knows. Besides trying to do a likeness of Karloff I hoped to show some of the emotion that he put into this character.”

Mauro Corveloni

(image via: maurocor.cgsociety.org)

Mauro Corveloni’s “Muriel” may not quite look like a real woman – there’s something sort of waxy about her – but what’s truly impressive here is both the lighting and all of those tiny, fuzzy fibers on her hat and sweater.

Finn Meinert Matthiesen

(image via: madmaximus83.deviantart.com)

It’s an idyllic scene – a romantic picnic with textured table linens, a glass wine bottle, fruit and a basket full of bread with a lilypad-covered lake in the background. German graphic designer Finn Meinert Matthiesen says he used 3D-Studio Max 2009, VRay and Photoshop to create this image.

Max Wahyudi

(image via: student.vfs.com)

It’s tempting to assume that Max Wahyudi must have just edited an image of Heath Ledger as The Joker for this image – such is its realism. But you can see the whole fascinating modeling process laid out step-by-step at Max’s website, as each element is carefully arranged and enhanced.

Max Kor

(image via: mkor.cgsociety.org)

Each tiny eyelash, fine little hair, bump, wrinkle and scar make this 3D CG image by Max Kor astonishingly realistic – not to mention the reflections on the figure’s chain mail. And this image isn’t even an example of the latest and greatest 3D technology – it was created in 2005, making it all the more impressive.

Ed Whetstone

(image via: edthehobbit.cgsociety.org)

“This project was all about texturing something deceptively simple, the Sultan of Slime, the humble snail,” artist Ed Whetstone explains. “Then, the challenge was to composite it convincingly onto a photographic plate. The trickiest bit was replicating the very particular pattern of bumps and protrusions that snails always exhibit. This particular snail isn’t based on any specific species, but a mishmash of ones I thought looked interesting.”

Pasquale Giacobelli

(image via: karma3d.cgsociety.org)

Pasquale Giacobelli’s images may not have quite the crispness and shocking realism as some of his fellow 3D artists, but his art has a special something that many of them are lacking – humanity. There’s something in the eyes of his subjects that seems more fully alive than most computer-generated portraits.

Cornelius Comanns

(image via: cernulois.cgsociety.org)

Reflections can be tough to get right in any artistic work, but Cornelius Comanns has certainly crafted them convincingly in this piece, featuring an ice cube and two ladybugs.

Alex Stratulat

(image via: alexstratulat.cgsociety.org)

It really takes a moment to realize you’re not looking at an actual photograph of a young woman in this 3D work of art by Alex Stratulat.

‘BUMPS In Beijing’: Breaking Free From Drab Slabs

By Steve in Architecture & Design, Travel & Places, Urban Images

Call it “urban jungle lite.” BUMPS In Beijing is a 5-building, mixed residential and commercial apartment complex located in the Chinese capital’s prestigious Chaoyang District. Japanese architect Keiichiro Sako’s neo-Metabolist “bumpy” design is a stylistic break from slab-sided traditional urban towers, providing optimum sunshine and breezy terraces that brighten up Beijing’s increasingly cramped skyline.

Smokin’ Stacks

(image via: Contemporist)
“BUMPS in Beijing”, a mixed-use, 5-building complex designed by Japanese architect Keiichiro Sako of SAKO Architects, is located in southwest Beijing’s desirable Chaoyang District.
(images via: Zeospot, ArNewDe and Globizen)
Even among a host of new and exciting highrise developments, BUMPS stands out – literally – thanks to its unusual stacked, staggered and yes: “bumpy” appearance.
(images via: Shearyadi’s World and World Architecture News)
BUMPS consists of four residential apartment buildings, each standing 80 meters (262.5 ft) tall and set at the corners of an imaginary square. The fifth member of the complex is a centrally located 6-story commercial building with a restaurant occupying most of the top floor.
(images via: Shearyadi’s World and Contemporist)
Right off the bat, BUMPS breaks with tradition by rotating the buildings’ footprints 45 degrees from the north-south axis. While seemingly unremarkable, one must consider that in Beijing almost all large buildings are oriented with a north-south plan. As Beijing is located north of the Earth’s equator, this means windows looking out of the north sides of these buildings will almost never catch direct sunlight.

Setback To Where You Once Belonged

(images via: Contemporist and World Architecture News)
Sako’s design for BUMPS was predicated on “daylighting” – introducing as much natural light as possible into each apartment unit regardless of its position in the complex. The 45 degree twist immediately doubled the sunlit facings. More ambitious was the staggered look of the individual apartment units and the visual effect the style imparted to the buildings as a whole.
(images via: ArchDaily and World Architecture News)
Looking at one of the towers, one can count 14 stories. Not so fast: each unit is made up of one white and one black module, with the upper section set back 2 meters (6.56 ft) from the lower. This allows each unit to offer not only an upstairs and downstairs, but an outdoor terrace as well.
(images via: Anchor Eighteen and Toki)
Repeated over the entire length, breadth and height of each tower, the series of setbacks gives the whole a unique modular appearance reminiscent of Tokyo’s famous Nakagin Capsule Tower (above, right) which actually WAS built from individual modules.

Let There Be Light!

(image via: Inhabitat)
The bumpy, blocky, Jenga-esque facades of the BUMPS complex with their interspersed rectangular modules remind some of stacked black & white shipping containers, though nothing so bare-bones basic would have a chance of being approved for Chaoyang. In contrast to some other neighborhoods in overcrowded Beijing, Chaoyang today boasts wide green belts, mature trees and widely separated highrise buildings. On the other hand, what’s the deal with the bus parking lot?
(images via: Modresdes, Wallpaper and PropGOluxury)
BUMPS lets in light through hundreds of 1-meter (3.28 ft) square windows. It remains to be seen if interior brightness levels will vary much from other designs offering floor-to-ceiling picture windows but it can be said, at least, that the wealth of identical square apertures add to the complex’s overall design aesthetic.
(image via: Izismile)
The total area of BUMPS is 103,218 square meters (1,111,065 sq ft), which befits its status as a landmark development Beijing urban planners are hoping will attract further projects to this part of Chaoyang. As always, the possibility remains that pressure from well-connected real estate moguls will result in overbuilding but at present, BUMPS literally stands alone as an urban island bathed in sunlight.

Inside Job

(images via: Shearyadi’s World and RoomU)
Construction on BUMPS began in 2006 and by late 2008 the complex was ready to welcome its first residents. If these interior images are any indication, BUMPS offers an abundance of linear space with very few obstructions or obtrusive load-bearing walls. Daylight entering through southeast and southwest facing windows penetrates all the way to the opposite sides, potentially saving on interior lighting costs over time.
(images via: Shearyadi’s World and SAKO)
Staircases linking upper and lower halves of the units are distinctive in their own right, formed from U-shaped segments in alternating black and white that make up the stair treads and the handrails.
(image via: SAKO)
On the downside, some residents may feel put off by the long inside walls and complete lack of any curved surfaces. Sometimes, efforts to increase a sense of spaciousness can impart a feeling of smallness from the perspective of the beholder. Reactions of anxiety, even alienation, have bedeviled urban planners since the first modern highrise apartment blocks were built in the early 1950s.
(image via: Zeospot)
Only time will tell if BUMPS In Beijing will succeed on an emotional level the way it has as a pure design on paper. New kid on the block? We kid you not!

Senior City-zens: The 10 Oldest Still-Inhabited Cities

By Steve in Architecture & Design, History & Factoids, Travel & Places, Urbanism

Urban society may seem a modern phenomenon but cities have been around for a lot longer than one might think. Indeed, once nomadic tribes began to settle in one location, they saw that it was good, became fruitful, and multiplied. Decades, centuries and millennia passed while war, climate change and human migration all took their toll. Relatively few ancient cities have managed to survive the test of time. Here are 10 that have not only survived, but continue to thrive.

Damascus, Syria

(images via: Frederick Highland, Man In Demand and Historic Cities)
Damascus, the current capital of Syria, has a long and colorful history that stretches back nearly 12,000 years. Located in a fertile region well-watered by the Barada river, Damascus was a prime target of numerous kings and conquerors – and often wound up on the losing side.
(image via: EuroMesco)
Over 4 million people live in metropolitan Damascus today and, partly due to a skilfully constructed network of canals built nearly 3,500 years ago, boasts a multitude of parks and green spaces. Since 1979 Damascus has been UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Jericho, West Bank

(images via: Wikipedia and Bible Archaeology)
The ancient city of Jericho is the world’s oldest walled city, with evidence of stone fortifications dating back nearly 9,000 years; long before the “walls came tumblin’ down” events depicted in the Bible. Archaeological digs have turned up traces of habitation that are even older: up to 11,000 years ago!
(image via: SBF)
Not only has Jericho been continually inhabited for over one hundred centuries, scientists have uncovered a virtual layer cake of settlements – 20 in fact, built one on top of the other down to the present day. Now that’s something worth blowing your horn about… oh, wait.

Susa, Iran

(images via: Iran Facts)
Dating back to approximately 8000 BC, the ancient Iranian city of Susa rose to prominence again and again under Elamite, Babylonian, Achaemenian, Greek, Parthian, Sasanian and Persian civilizations.
(image via: CAIS News)
Today Susa is known as “Shush” though things have rarely been quiet there over its very long life. Susa is where the sole representation of the Code of Hammurabi was found. The 7-foot tall basalt stele was taken back to Susa in the 12th century BC and rediscovered in 1901. It now resides in Paris’ Louvre Museum.

Plovdiv, Bulgaria

(images via: Cultural Tourism and Virtual Tourist)
One way of measuring a city’s age is to note the number of names it has had. In the case of Plovdiv, the list begins with Eumolpias, changing to Philippoupolis when it was conquered by Philip II of Macedon (Alexander the Great’s father) in 342 BC. Centuries passed and Philippoupolis became Trimontium, then Philippoupolis again, then Paldin, Filibe and finally Plovdiv.
(image via: Discover Bulgaria)
Presently home to around 380,000 (580,000 in the metro area), Plovdiv is Bulgaria’s second-largest city and one of Europe’s oldest – signs of urban activity there go back nearly 9,000 years.

Jerusalem

(images via: Hamline University and Pierre Tristam)
Holy to a number of the world’s leading religions, 5,000-year-old Jerusalem was already settled centuries before any of them had their tenets put to paper, papyrus or pre-fired clay. According to the entry on Jerusalem in Wikipedia, “In the course of its history, Jerusalem has been destroyed twice, besieged 23 times, attacked 52 times, and captured and recaptured 44 times.”
(image via: Trip Advisor)
Sadly, those numbers are likely not the final score for this exceptional city 747,600 people call Jerusalem, Yerushalayim, Al-Quds and… home.

Tyre, Lebanon

(image via: Skyscraper City)
Source of prized Tyrian Purple dye and home base of those legendary master traders, the Phoenicians, Tyre was truly a wonder of the ancient world. The city was located on a walled island just off the coast of Lebanon and managed to thwart every siege until Alexander the Great built a causeway so his soldiers could march up to the city walls.
(image via: Sophismata)
(images via: Hezbollah Connect and El Baluarte De La Utopia)
The causeway changed the flow of the sea currents and caused the island to become permanently joined to the mainland. Today Tyre is Lebanon’s fourth-largest city and can proudly trace its history back nearly 6,000 years.

Athens, Greece

(images via: Erasmus Student Network, Destination 360 and BiblePlaces)
The capital of Greece is home to over 4 million today and is the 5th-most populous capital city in the EU. With its soaring Acropolis and majestic Parthenon symbolizing the golden age of Classical Greece and the foundation of Western civilization, Athens has been lived in for approximately 3,400 years.
(image via: Theodora)
The city has not always enjoyed prominence, however – by the early 19th century it had deteriorated to a backwater town with only a few thousand citizens. That all changed when Athens was named capital of Greece in 1834, with the city truly coming of age due to the many infrastructure improvements completed in time for the 2004 Olympic Games.

Lisbon, Portugal

(images via: Galen Fry Singer and Lgougo)
Due to its exceptional harbor situated where the Tagus river empties into the Atlantic Ocean, Lisbon has always been an ideal military and commercial location – incidentally attracting settlers to serve the soldiers and traders. Archaeologists have uncovered Phoenician objects at Lisbon dating back to 1200 BC; remnants of what was likely a Phoenician supply base for ships voyaging to and from the British Isles, an ancient source of tin.
(images via: Wall Street Meeting and John P Pratt)
Disaster struck Lisbon in 1755 when one of the most destructive earthquakes ever to strike Europe, accompanied by a massive tsunami and wildfires, leveled much of Lisbon and killed tens of thousands of residents.
(images via: Book Depository and Links On Waves)
Lisbon quickly bounced back from the disaster to regain her rank as one of Europe’s leading cities, a distinction she still holds today.

Varanasi, India

(image via: Sacred Destinations)
The city of Varanasi, formerly known to English-speakers as Benares, has been a religious and cultural center for at least 3,000 years. Over one million pilgrims from across the Hindu world visit Varanasi each year to participate in ceremonies and swim in the sacred Ganges river.
(image via: Without Borders)
Varanasi is as close to being a true “living city” as one could imagine. Every bit of space is utilized, every disused building is re-worked into a new purpose and over centuries of conflict and conquest, the city heals itself through the power of human conviction and devotion to a greater glory.

Cholula, Mexico

(images via: Webshots Travel and Cultura)
Arguably the oldest continually inhabited city in the western hemisphere, Choloula was a contemporary of more famous Teotihuacan yet never suffered the crisis that saw it’s neighbor abandoned in the 6th century AD. By the late Aztec period more than 100,000 people lived in Cholula, and the city near Puebla is home to over 90,000 today.
(image via: Rahuno)
Cholula rose to prominence in the 2nd century BC but settlement on a more modest scale goes back a further thousand years. The partially excavated monumental buildings at Cholula are among the largest in the world, with the Great Pyramid of Cholula being the largest man-made monument ever made! Its base covers approximately 25 acres and the pyramid’s total volume is estimated at 4.3 million cubic yards.
What’s it take to make a long-lived city? The same thing any realtor will tell you: location, location, location! Prime real estate does tend to attract the wrong crowd – conquerors have a way of ruining anyone’s backyard barbeque – but once all the fuss has died down people do what they’ve always done; keep on coming back for more.