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230 Comments
- Grimdotdotdot, on 10/12/2007, -10/+90Photoshop games suck, IMHO.
- SupaDawg, on 10/12/2007, -0/+69Stunning, just stunning. I'm looking at it now. if i had some webspace available to me right now i'd upload a copy for ya'll.
"Damen
This is my latest and most ambitious digital paining of a Chicago scene unveiled at Photoshop World in Miami on March 22, 2006.
It is a panorama of the Damen Station on the Blue Line of the Chicago Transit Authority.
Adobe Illustrator was used for generating the majority of the basic shapes as well as all the buildings in the Chicago skyline.
The rest was created in Photoshop.
• The image size is 40 inches by 120 inches.
• The flattened file weighs in at 1.7 Gigabytes.
• It took eleven months (close to 2,000 hours) to create.
• The painting is comprised of close to fifty individual Photoshop files.
• Taking a cumulative total of all the files, the overall image contains over 15,000 layers.
• Over 500 alpha channels were used for various effects.
• Over 250,000 paths make up the multitude of shapes throughout the scene. "
I imageshack'd the images for ya all here:
http://img89.imageshack.us/my.php?image=bermonroy15uk.jpg
http://img89.imageshack.us/my.php?image=bermonroy20pg.jpg
http://img89.imageshack.us/my.php?image=bermonroy34eq.jpg
http://img291.imageshack.us/my.php?image=bermonroy41cb.jpg - scanman20, on 10/12/2007, -4/+68Funny, doesn't look a layer over 14,999.
- beelz, on 10/12/2007, -2/+49http://www.bertmonroy.com/fineart/images/Damen.jpg
http://img82.imageshack.us/img82/2685/damen7ur.jpg
http://rapidshare.de/files/17111867/Damen.jpg.html - PraiseSteve, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4515,000 layers, eh? I hope he named them all.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -3/+27The site's dead.........surprise :)
http://www.plunder.com/15-000-Layers-download-449.htm - swytz, on 10/12/2007, -0/+15I live in Chicago and I see the El and sears tower daily, and this is one of the most accurate and gorgeous pictures I've seen of the city, at least on the Damen station ;)
- Imagine3, on 10/12/2007, -1/+16I have a couple images I have done that have about 300 or so layers, but seriously...15,000? I have to give that guy kudos to being able to first take that amount of time, and secondly haveing a computer with enough memory to be able to run that file and not have Photoshop just crap out on him.lol
- modian, on 10/12/2007, -0/+13Watch Bert work here:
http://movielibrary.lynda.com/demo/bert_monroy/02.underwater_scene.mov
http://movielibrary.lynda.com/demo/bert_monroy/12.reflection_2.mov
http://movielibrary.lynda.com/demo/bert_monroy_v2/01_RustyText.mov
http://movielibrary.lynda.com/demo/bert_monroy_v2/02_PlasticSign.mov
You can get the full tutorials these were taken from from http://www.lynda.com/bertcalendar/ - alecks, on 10/12/2007, -1/+12Wonder what kind of specs you need to work with a file that big and not notice a performance hit....
What would be important here? RAM? i'm sure vid. card doesn't add much.... anyone know? - diggless, on 10/12/2007, -3/+13freehand and illustrator are merging the new program will be called Frustrator.
taking the FR from freehand and ustrator from illustrator.
i think everyone will benefit from the merger of adobe and macromedia. - apotropaic, on 10/12/2007, -1/+11That reminds me... would be interesting to have digg count page views! That would lead to a ratio count too... diggs to pageviews. I have always wondered how many pepole actually click on the link.
- viruz, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10created a complete mirror of the site
http://www.pixpose.com/damen/ - newrecruit, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9Bert Monroy talked about this 2 weeks ago (Mar 18th) on Inside Mac Radio before it was shown to the public. It was created in multiple files and merged after flattened on a Dual G5, Lots of RAM and scratch disk space. Uses a Wacom Cintiq and an additional monitors to display the photo at 100% and another to hold the photoshop pallets.
- iissqrtneg1, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9I'm gonna go off on a limb here, and say that all 2D images are infact 'flat'
I could be wrong though. - rdcapasso, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7I would assume it's all about having a LOT of RAM and a really fast HDD for your paging file.
- strictnein, on 10/12/2007, -5/+12jubaju: Chicago = clean city? Must have been an abnormal couple of days when my wife and I were there. The most lasting impression of the city was "what a dirty city". And yes, we were in the "nicer" parts of downtown.
Maybe I'm just spoiled living in Minneapolis. - lmlloyd, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6Well, you know art isn't just about getting paid by a client. Some people do it because they like it.
- alexhhhh, on 11/28/2008, -7/+13Well I'm digging so I can go back to it later when it is actually viewable...
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6You always know that stories like this don't take long for the 'Digg' to take 'effect'...
- kday, on 10/12/2007, -6/+12If you have an image, and you know how to use photoshop well, this type of work really doesn't take any talent... honestly. Yes, 15,000 layers is a lot of layers, but there is no creativity involved whatsoever. He basically took an image, and traced it by hand. Tracing an image is easy. It just takes a lot of time and patience.
I guess this is impressive to people who don't know how to use photoshop, but for those who do, this is kinda lame. I could do something like this, but why waste 11 months of my time to achieve something that looks nearly identical to the photo you took?
A for effort
A for technical achievement
F for concept and creativity - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7As a photo-realist painter, I have often been asked why I don’t just take a photograph.Good question, when you consider my paintings look like photographs. Well, for one thing, I’m not a photographer. To me, it is not the destination that is important—it is the journey. The incredible challenge of recreating reality is my motivation. — Bert Monroy (From his webpage)
- towsonu2003, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6I call GIMP for a challange ;)
- Brhine, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7Holy cow, I live off the Damen stop and have a digital picture I took that is really close to this perspective. This is amazing Photoshop work.
- Gardenhead, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6Or good planning rather. If you think about it, he can change any single detail he wants. He could take this same image and update it 10 years from now to whatever he wants. I think thats the idea of 15k layers.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6Processing power for one, ram and hd space also will only help. It would be nice to have fast hard drives and a good amount of ram.
- ckrimmel, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6entirely down from what i'm looking at....
If someone gets through, SHARE!!! I want to see this.. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5I also think that the desire to take on a task like this is similar to the desire to climb a mountain. The challenge is its own reward. I'd also guess that it was most certainly a learning experience -- not only of the tools and techniques he used, but also of himself.
I'll add that I agree with CanadianGuy33 that the subject is a bit uninspiring . . . but then there's no accounting for taste. - lukes, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Misleading title, the page says "Taking a cumulative total of all the files, the overall image contains over 15,000 layers". That's the total layers of 50 individual files, which still means that they were an impressive 300 layers each on average!
- jtibble, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5if someone gets through, share!
- navvvv, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4you've never used photoshop I take?
image being able to paint something on one bit of paper, change your mind and not have to do a thousand Ctrl + Z's to redo it, you can just move the layer slightly. - kenvibe, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5Thats the thing... he has discipline and patience. Not many people could follow through with this task. Two characteristics that people lack, including myself. I guess you might say DaVinci wasted his time too...
- jav1231, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Photorealism is one of the most amazing disciplines of painting and one I think really shows a mastery of light and space. This is a brilliant example.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5He's an artist. Artists use different mediums to create art. It's not that he has too much spare time on his hands if this is what he does as a profession. That's why there are paintings, photographs, sculptures, etc. He definitely has a talent.
- 022A, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4He clearly explains that the 15k number is cumulative for all of the (50) individual images that make up the larger picture.
- tobsterius, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4This was for a *photoshop* conference. Why would he do it in a 3D app? I would assume he was commissioned to do this, which would probably mean that he got paid a really really nice chunk of change.
THis would take as much effort to accurately create and render every detail in a 3D app as it did in photoshop.
Finally, maybe the flat look was the look he was going for? Not all art needs to be realistic... - sithvicious, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6i hate when people ask that question. If it sounds interesting I'll digg it, if it happens to be down ill just come back later. I wonder why they call it a social bookmarking site?
- skoobisnaxs, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5I want to see the full res file where can i get it? the image shack ones are like 100k
- chimona, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3In the write up it says that the face of the train was its own file, so i doubt he ever had all 15,000 layers open at once. Or maybe just at the end he put it on a dev system and put it all together.
Its amazing he can keep track of everything, but 11 months of work better have produced a ***** load of layers. i've never had more than 100 layers either, but i've never worked on one file for more than a month (and not consistently).
Fantastic work nonetheless. Props
Does anyone know where this is going to be on display? i live in chi-town and i'd like to check it out. - tobsterius, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Tracing an image in photoshop is 'far from easy' Sure you can use the path tool to get the basic shape but the real work comes from blending the colors and doing the shadows and getting the image to work as a whole. The concept might not be original, but there are just as many artistic/creative decisions to be made in something like this as there is in an original painting from scratch...
- ASMC, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5It feels like HL2. very impresive
- Gardenhead, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I wonder how he did this when photoshop maxes out ram usage at a certain point. Scary.
- 022A, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I like it...
I'm amazed at how effectively PS can be used for original art. I'm also amazed at how much garbage this thread has attracted in the way of comments.
When did fathers stop teaching their boys that jealousy, envy and resentment aren't the qualities of men? You'd think Bert Monroy personally ***** the girlfriends of half the crying ***** on this thread. - ultimate_ed, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I must confess that, while impressed with it as a technical achievement - it seems to be almost a Rube Goldberg Machine. What's the most difficult way you could go about creating an electronic image? This seems like it.
I'll also have to agree that, for something that took that much effort, it's not a thing of beauty to behold.
What a shame. - bossm4n, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Bert Monroy is a genius at Photoshop and digital art. He is a true pioneer as well. I have been doing Photoshop work for 11 years and his stuff just blows me away. His books give a nice idea of what it takes to create some of these works. 15,000 layers is mind blowing--knowing Bert, some of them are very minute details. Great stuff.
- GuineaPig, on 10/12/2007, -3/+6It's an astounding effort. However, it seems like such a waste. If he would have used his time to create a 3D object that could be viewed from infinite perspectives, I think it would have been a lot better.
- phelonius, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4omg i didn't get what all the fuss was about until i saw that it is no photo!
it looks so real! - rlorenzo, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4can someone resize the pics so that they can be used as wallpaper? I think this would be amazing as a dual screen wallpaper.
- diggbuddy, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4I think many are misinterpreting the 15,000 layers. On average, I believe it is 50 files, each with 300 layers.
- MOJIRA, on 05/17/2008, -7/+10Yeah, but for painting you don't really need more than 1-3 layers (even 1 alone can do it obviously), but I guess with something this massive/hi-res/intracite having 15k layers helps a lot.
This is really photo realistic, until you get the close-ups. -
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