This image was inspired by a similar XSI render done by Baruch Zevolun, Israel. The design credit goes to him. You can compare the original at http://www.softimage.com/Community/Xsi/Galleries/Gal_July02/Gal_July02.phpNote : Please do not view this as plagarism. The aim of this tutorial is to show you a different use of Photoshop other than image editing. It is my tribute to the original artist's work. Besides, I wanted to break a tradition here. Most of the 3D work of animators is inspired from 2D work (sketch/painting/photo). This 2D work was inspired from a 3D render. Hats off to Baruch Zevolun !The following example can be done by anyone who is familiar with Photoshop. You don't have to be an artist. Only the basic tools of the software along with a keyboard & mouse have been used. A tablet or digital pen is not required.To playback the full sequence as a slideshow (in ACDSee), you can download the zip file here "Vase_Full.zip".
Ok, lets start now.
Creating the ball
I started by drawing a circle & filling it with white color. A simple linear gradient was then applied and tada - the flat 2D ball is transformed into a 3D ball ! Only the shadows are missing. Lets fix that. I drew an ellipse & filled it with black. Rotated & blurred it slightly. To simulate the effect of area lights (i.e. shadow fades with distance), I used the 'Distort' tool under Edit\Transform menu. Put the shadow back in place & it looks just likean FG/Global Illumination render.
