Tricks

Eleven tricks for creating good Incendia art

Trick #1:
If you want to create some out of the world art..first, I recommend you to read this article: Philip Straub Composition Tutorial
Then go to Incendia and activate the Grid Control.

Trick #2:
Always..Always use 2X AA option.
AntiAliasing is your best defense against these little dots that often appears due to an unfinished work. Also, it removes the "hammered plate" look from the surface of the fractal.

Trick #3:
While shadows add realism to the image, its the Ambient Occlusion shader who really gives the best effect. Combine both types (PerPixel and Averaged).

Trick #4:
If you want to add Volumetric fog, be sure to finish the fractal first (with the shadows turned off), then turn on the shadows, let it render for a while, and finally activate the volumetric fog..That speeds the whole process a lot.

Trick #5:
Never let your backgrounds be more detailed and more brighter than the fractals that you're showing..

Trick #6:
If the shadows looks blocky, use the smooth shadow option at the Shadow Type control.

Trick #7:
If youre using a fractal on where the first baseshape steps are very large compared to the lasts ones, use the Breadth First option, so the first steps of the baseshapes fill faster.

Trick #8:
The Soft Light option always gives an smooth illumination. You will find this option on the Light Distribution control.

Trick #9:
Want to enhance the surface features, well save two different images: One with your standard render schema and the other with the Drawing option turned on. Combine them on Photoshop or the Gimp. For an example of how it ends looking, look at: Dreaming Again

Trick #10:
Baseshape Sizes: Try to follow the Primary, Secondary and Tertiary rules. Heres a link that describe them more clearly: Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary Shapes.