An Introduction, and some questions

[KALASH69]

Hey JoeDios!

Im Kalash, new here (obviously). If I put this thread in the wrong area, I apologize. I just wanted to introduce myself to the community here. Some of you might know me from Hisstank, anyway, Im in college, studying Graphic Design and Photography, and I live in Philadelphia. I've been a Joe' fan my entire life and I've been collecting more or less (ARAH, 12" figures when VvV, JvC, etc was out, and 25th) ever since I was 3 or so. However, I lost almost my entire ARAH collection (vehicles and all) years ago while moving. I still have everything else though. I've begun recollecting 3.75" Joes when the 25th came out, rebuilding my collection, and Im about to get back into ARAH stuff (Just my favorites). Mostly I only collect Joes, but I do have a few Cobra figures.

Alright, well thats that, now I have some questions.

As I mentioned I live in Philadelphia, PA. And as you can Imagine I don't have much room to store and display Joes' and what not, I hardly have enough room to set up my light tent. This leads to a pretty big problem for me. I wanna do some good sized Dios, but I have no room to build anything (a mini-pit, warehouse, nothing!) unless it can break down and be stored away flat. In addition to this I don't have any outdoor area I can shoot a dio like many of you do. I envy those of you with backyards that have grass and such.

So I wanted to ask, is anyone else here in my predicament? If so what do you guys do about making/shooting dios with lack of resources/space?

Are there any solutions to this problem?

I've got so many ideas floating around yet 90% of them require me building a set and such which means its a no go.

Also, I see so many wonderfully lighted dios here, what are you guys using to light your dios? Any particular types of lights that work well?

Any suggestions are appreciated.

Thanks for reading!

-Kalash

[Sonneilon]

Howdy partna!

Alot of us are in the same sort of situation as you in terms of space. I used to have a garage but when I got divorced, well... Anyway... I keep a corner of the room reserved for fotography or painting or whatever. I tend to build on the ground simply cuz it's easier to cut foamboard on my knees than raised up. (I put a piece of wood underneath and I often paint on the floor too.

All my sets are modular. Therefore, i have a bunch of wood bases w/ L-brackets screwed in. I set my foamboard walls against those. They break down easily and i can use them in the future often by just repainting them.

Check out my dios to see what you can do fairly easily with a 48"x40" space. (two cheap tables from the store placed next to eachother, storage space underneath...)

[ender098]

Yup, Graham (Sonneilon) is the master of Modular sets. As for lighting, try looking at the "How-to" section. I use any and every thing to make mine. Christmas lights, floral lights, flood lights....anything!!

[Beast from the east]

Welcome. The how to section has good ideas in there.
You could pack up a few things and take them to a park for some pics.
I took that big step last year to take some pics and never looked back.

[KALASH69]

I will check out the how-to section.

@Beast: I wish I had a park near me...I live in the heart of the city.

[Tracker]

Howdy welcome aboard


I have limited space and I'm current designing cardstock sets that I can use and share wit folks. What i designed thus far is very modular and if need can be disposed of of reused many times


i fact here are some of the things I designed

Hi now that I've got this little camera figured out ...... for the most part, I can show off the wall set I designed. This is a paper model. The original is blank so folks can add in there own textures. For this one I chose a brick wall exterior and a bluish wall paper interior and adding in some of my furniture. The doors can open and close, and while this is basic, the potential to make a more complicated building is there. Included in the set, as well, is wall with a window.

Download here:
Joe Scale Wall Set.zip (http://www.mediafire.com/file/4ztzn1ngmhn/)

Here another site thanks to Hisstank member Crims:
http://www.tacticalconsole.net/tanker/JoeScaleWallSet.zip

Here another site thanks to Hisstank member Freedom:

Tracker's Walls (http://www.vexarentertainment.com/designs/tracker/house.html)

http://img161.imageshack.us/img161/2335/house001.jpg

Here's a shot of the blank with the window.

http://img110.imageshack.us/img110/4447/windowwall.jpg

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I recently finished up B.A.T Repair/Analysis Alcove...I may change the name.

I used media fire to host it an C-net and PC magazine both recommended it. If there any problems with that please delete the link

B.A.T Repair/Analysis Alcove. (http://www.mediafire.com/?nggqy3yn2jw)

Here another site thanks to Hisstank member Crims

http://tacticalconsole.net/tanker/Androd_Alcove.pdf

It can also be downloaded here thanks Hisstank member Freedom

Vexar Designs - Tracker (http://www.vexarentertainment.com/designs/tracker.html)

Thanks to GIJoeKing65 over at TNI Forums for the B.A.T display graphics.

And here is a photo of it. Sorry for the picture quality, but it it not too bad. Amazing what the out doors plus cleaning the lens can do for key chain camera.

Sorry there's no B.A.T in it. I was going to set him in it when it started to rain. I take a picture of it with a B.A.T tomorrow.

http://img159.imageshack.us/img159/9089/androidalcove.jpg
http://img386.imageshack.us/img386/8822/alcove002.jpg

If anyone wants a copy p.m. me or if anyone knows of a place I can up load it to I'd be happy to share it. It's in PDF format

[Scuba Steve]

Welcome to Joe Dios, I too like many of us are also members on the Hisstank board but over there I am BadWolf, hated by many and on the mods s#$t list because I love getting them worked up over there (such wankers) Not here though this place is Joe Zen for most of us! So your schoolin in Philly, it wouldn't happen to be Art Institute would it?
As far as sets, I tend to have plenty of room, I just waist to much time online instead of building them :( If you look at some of my pics most recently I have been photoshoping my backgrounds. Not the easiest way of doing it but definately limitless depending on your skill with PS. most of my photos are done on top of a washing machine with small doller store LED lights a portable desklamp, and a red LED that was built into my old apartment key to help see the lock at night! I did the pack a bag and go on location once for my dio story but its summer here in Arizona and I decided those trips will not be done again until winter :D

[KALASH69]

[QUOTE=Scuba Steve]Welcome to Joe Dios, I too like many of us are also members on the Hisstank board but over there I am BadWolf, hated by many and on the mods s#$t list because I love getting them worked up over there (such wankers) Not here though this place is Joe Zen for most of us! So your schoolin in Philly, it wouldn't happen to be Art Institute would it?
As far as sets, I tend to have plenty of room, I just waist to much time online instead of building them :( If you look at some of my pics most recently I have been photoshoping my backgrounds. Not the easiest way of doing it but definately limitless depending on your skill with PS. most of my photos are done on top of a washing machine with small doller store LED lights a portable desklamp, and a red LED that was built into my old apartment key to help see the lock at night! I did the pack a bag and go on location once for my dio story but its summer here in Arizona and I decided those trips will not be done again until winter :D[/QUOTE]

Im quite handy with photoshop, Infact I fixed the background of that helix photo I posted last night, its made up of two seperate photos that I combined. I had to fix up the background after I merged them to, here are the originals I took to combine:

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g4/KALASHsixtynine/B43.jpg
http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g4/KALASHsixtynine/A42.jpg
I fixed the area above Helix as well, to make this:

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g4/KALASHsixtynine/GIJOE/HELIX.jpg

Ive been using PS for like 5 or 6 years now. So I might just give that a try.

As for school I am going to the University of the Arts.

[Prince Adam]

First off, welcome!

As far as sets go mine are mostly assembled from various pieces I've made or whatnot and therefore can be easily broken down and stored. Personally I prefer homemade sets as opposed to what you could buy in a store as no one else will have it and it will always make for a different looking set than viewers may know.
There's TONS of great stuff to print off on here to really make sets come alive and like Scuba said you can always use photoshop if there are no other options for what you need.

A couple quick tips:

-get yourself to a hardware store like Lowes or Home Depot, obviously there's wood but I recommend getting a couple 12"X12" tiles or sheets of lenolium. There's lots to choose from and it works great for walls and/or flooring.

-Dollar stores are great for odds and ends bits like fake candles, a bags of stones that works well for rocks, you might even find a couple gems in the toy section.

-Household objects can be your best friend. I can't tell you how many times I've seen folks use the inside of a computer or parts from one. Kitchen cabinets can double as warehouses if you're really strapped, hell I used you a spice rack once and it worked perfectly. Wire mesh paper holders make for great fences.

-pocket LEDs are perfect for this hobby as well. I take it you know about lighting since you're in Photography but having one or two pen or puck lights is great for atmospherical lighting.

[Sonneilon]

I use a regular old desk lamp for lighting and then colored tissue paper to change the lighting. *shrug* Too lazy to use x-mas lites now! :P

YOu can also check our FILES section and print them out yourself and glue/tape them to foamboard.

[KALASH69]

I was glancing through, however Im more likely to make my own textures or use photo-realistic ones. I tend to do that in other art work I make.

Also, have any of you guys every used sticker paper?

EDIT: Just thought of something, you guys ever use heavy cardboard or cardstock for a set? Ive used foamboard in the past for dios (I am a former warhammer 40k player, and had a huge city scape in my basement at one point) but never card.

[Self-Modifier]

For my sets, I tend to use pre-existing playsets whenever possible (G.I. Joe HQ, Mobile Command Center, etc.). I'm lucky because my mom has lots of dollhouses and accessories that fit 3.75" stuff very well, and she doesn't mind letting me borrow them.

For sets that I can't replicate with anything pre-existing, I use -- construction paper! I have a big package of multi-colored paper, which I use for all sorts of walls, floors, etc. It works surprisingly well, if, like me, you don't mind your sets looking like they were built on a budget!

I used to be able to take outdoor shots at my parents' house, but they moved recently, and have a much smaller back yard. I haven't really scouted it for photography yet, but I don't think it will work as well as their old place used to...

[Sonneilon]

I was a 40k guy too. So we BOTH are used to foamboard and how they build stuff. I kinda do the same sort of thing.

http://www.joedios.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3605

[Scuba Steve]

Stircker paper and cardstock have been used in some of my stuff too It works great! I've been using Photoshop sense version 3 about 11 or 13 years. In all my graphic design and photo work I find doing Joe stuff very challenging. You never know the simplest of things looks more realistic than something you worked on for weeks! Great Hobby!

[Death_at_Midnight]

Welcome!


Intro:

I'm also on hisstank, Hyporea over there, probably just one or two posts too ;-)

In terms of graphics and such, I came to JoeDios after years of rendering scenes in 3D art programs. Most of my stuff can be found at Renderosity.com, under the same username. However, once I joined JD, I haven't uploaded anything to RD in a while :-) More fun taking Joe pics.


Sets:

For my sets, I build them. Like you I also don't have easy access to the great outdoors for dio shots. I can do some, the house around here has a few small spots and if I angle the camera just right, you won't see the bricks of the house, or the a/c or the car, or the driveway, or the fences.

So I use floral foam for most of my set's building material. Somewhat recently I have settled on a dio story, which will require major set building, so I've been doing a lot of that in the mornings before heading to work. That's part of the challenge, though. Because what will have to be done, to do the scenes I have in my mind, will require a lot of CGI. And this is where I am having to learn Photoshop more deeply than I have had to use it before.

If you can do a combination of a physical set, then blue/green screen a background or more with PS, then probably that would be the best bet, and it's what I'll have to do too.


Lighting:

For lighting, thus far I just use three types: a halogen lamp with a dimmer, LED flashlight (sometimes two of them) and a 650 WATT Tungsten lamp that puts out an amazing amount of heat and white light in seconds--you can actually see dust burning in 1 second of use.


Storage:

For storage, I just have stackable plastic boxes, and stack them as high as I can. I don't have space here for keeping the Joes, so I go up.. hanging from the ceiling the aircraft, shelves all around the Joe room, along with my Microman collection, and the diorama set is assembled on 16"x16" ceramic floor tile at the end of a computer desk that is also home to 7 computers and two laptops.

--Death

[Tracker]

[QUOTE=KALASH69]I was glancing through, however Im more likely to make my own textures or use photo-realistic ones. I tend to do that in other art work I make.

Also, have any of you guys every used sticker paper?

EDIT: Just thought of something, you guys ever use heavy cardboard or cardstock for a set? Ive used foamboard in the past for dios (I am a former warhammer 40k player, and had a huge city scape in my basement at one point) but never card.[/QUOTE]


I use card stock for sets and it work very well. The building in my post earlier with the trooper in the door way is entirely cardstock as well as Bat alcove

[Urban Saboteur]

Welcome to JD! :)

I dont live in the 'big city' however i do have some problems with scenery, infact unless you live 'out in the sticks where no sod lives' theres a good chance most of us on the forum have the same issue with scenery.

We all want our pictures to improve and scenery plays a huge part, the figures are all set to go and now you need your set to display them in.

I guess with you it will depend on a couple of things, how quickly can you build a set and pull it down in your appartment, and obviously the space you have in your appartment will contribute to your set building size. The ideas offered so far have all been fantastic and i'm sure once you try them out you'll be posting up frequently.

I'm currently redecorating cardboard, the great thing is about it, is that like foamboard it can be easily manipulated into city buildings or warehouses.. its also a light material.. and depending on where abouts you shop... its FREE!

And any money saved on building materials can be used on... toys or exterior decorations. :)