The Deeps

This started as a 3D doodle done in Wings 3D. I ended up tweaking it and doing the UV mapping in ZBrush 3.1, texturing it in Maya 7, doing some scene setup in Softimage XSI 6.5, and rendering it with Indigo 1.1.9. I tweaked the final image in Photoshop. (Yes, I know it's weird to own both Maya and Softimage, but I purchased the former before I got the latter for free from the latest CGSociety contest).

EDIT: I didn't quite like the post-processing on the image I'd originally uploaded. This one is a bit greener, and I've taken out some artefacts I'd accidentally introduced in post in the previous one.

EDIT 2: Indigo has now gone commercial, which I find disappointing -- both because it's always better to keep software free, in my opinion, and because I really don't think it was as fully-featured and bug-free as a commercial piece of software ought to be. In particular, there are big problems with the way it handles UV coordinates of subdivided meshes. If you're interested in an unbiased renderer, I suggest checking out LuxRender instead of Indigo. I won't be using Indigo any more, myself.

This image is NOT in the public domain. You may not use it for any purpose without the express consent of the copyright holder. Seriously, folks, it just takes a minute to ask for permission. Image and design copyright © 2008 Vikram K. Mulligan.