The other day I needed some reference for a new art piece I'm working on for the NEW Rixx Store. It had been awhile since I had done a piece of art for anything to do with mining or industry and I needed to know what stuff looked like. I use a lot of reference when I do these pieces, sometimes literally dozens and dozens of screenshots and older pieces - essentially whatever I can get my hands on to ensure what I'm doing is "right". Or at least as close as possible. But last week I was surprised by the visuals while I was holding down a Porpoise in a belt - so I wanted some fresh first hand experience.
Getting reference for new art pieces might not sound fun, or even interesting, but for me it can often be rather complicated. For example, last week I needed to know what a Triglavian gate looked like. A real one. I say a real one because Google was not being helpful. And frankly I much prefer to take my own references because I need very special up-close images that show details from a lot of different angles. These are not beauty screenshots. So I had to log into the Singularity server and find some filaments that would take my new Pacifier into Trig space and back home. I was successful right up to the moment I dc'd and got podded home. Op success though.
Getting a Procurer fitted up was a completely different challenge. Rixx does not have Mining Barge I trained. I know, shocker. Luckily one of my alts does. So back to Singularity and back to Jita to fit up a proper Procurer and go mine some roids!
Which I did. In several different systems. And I managed to take a lot of reference photos. The visuals have been upgraded a lot since the last time I looked at them. Very pretty.
I realized I have some serious challenges ahead of me. For example, should I want to play around with a Titan and get some nice screenshot references - I can't. Not even on Singularity. I also discovered, or re-discovered to be fair, that the same holds true for Dreadnaughts as well. I want to grab a few references for the Trig Dread and - well, I can't.
Back in the old days (of 2014-15) I'd simply use T'Amber's Eve Designer Tool to grab references, but sadly that tool hasn't been updated since then and doesn't include a lot of new stuff like Trig or Edencom or anything post-2016 era.
So a bit of a roadblock there. As usual I'm sure creativity will find a way and possibly T'Amber will finally release his updated tool at some point. Until then I'll just have to design around that obstacle.
And by the way, the new mining based art piece is freaking gorgeous!
I can't wait for you to see it.