Often in paintings the strokes made are as precious if not more so than the accuracy of the representation. But in 3D strokes are most often painted onto surfaces. Obviously I'm generalizing greatly; there are many notable exceptions. Without PhotoShopping a rendering how would you go about painting air in a 3D rendering? (Well, that's not exactly what I mean... I'm not talking about sky domes.) Maybe it's best to show some examples of what I'm getting at: http://www.your3dsource.com/impressionism.jpeg http://www.grumblemagazine.com/articles/fish/whichone-impressionism.jpg http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/collection/features/impressionism/img/feature1.jpg http://www.shannonsauction.com/auct_t/det/124-web.jpg ok, I guess you caught my idea. The marks or strokes are not just describing surface characteristics but atmosphere and lighting and make the images sparkle or swirl. Or, here's another take at it looking towards the East: http://www.dennishollingsworth.us/images/SumiOctop.jpg http://genpo.jp/images/top-sumi.jpg http://www.cuke.com/images/contest3/sr%20sumi%20circle.gif In these the marks are not atmospherically based and are more materially inspired - a bit like: (sorry kind of big) http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/pollock/pollock.number-8.jpg http://siteimages.guggenheim.org/gpc_work_midsize_45.jpg http://www.askart.com/AskART/images/interest/AbstractExpressionism/3.jpg I've seen really great 3D images. I don't mean to knock anyone's work. But I haven't seen many examples that I could point to and say "Wow, look at that expressive brush work." Has anyone tried to get this feel? Entirely in 3D. Sure you can apply an artistic filter to it after it's been rendered but can it be done in 3D? Maybe particles? I'd love to see anything like this if you have a good example! Thanks! Michael
