Solid Black and White Walls and Floors (December 20, 2006)

[Chairman Greg]

Solid Black and White Walls and Floors


Anne Seladdams Lives in a Colorful World of Black and White
Anne has the title role in a story by Anja Vanderspeigle, Anne's Obsession.  
Now you have proof that Anne can smile!
Sorry kids; the story is rated R18.  Admission to adults only.

By special request

"You can have it any color you want as long as it's black," says photographer Anne Seladdams.  "Well, all right, maybe white, too."

Anne does commercial photography for a living.  Pretty girls and dramatic lighting are her mainstay.  

She needs to make photographs with pristine backgrounds, easy to edit for publication.  Stray light and complicated backgrounds are her worst enemies.  For most of her studio work, she uses a solid, flat black room and adds props, scenery, and lights to complete the mood.  

Lately she has branched out into photograph products for catalogs.  That usually requires a solid white background, so Anne added a bucket of white paint to her arsenal.


These walls and floors are absolutely, solidly, uncompromisingly, utterly black and white; intended for special photographic work.  They look a bit weird if you use them for a normal house, but the floors can be rather dramatic if you cover them with the mirror floor.

At least it was easy to get them to tile seamlessly.

The floors are black and white linoleum, priced at $1.
The walls are black and white paint, priced at $1.

I think I just set a record for tiny downloads.
Make 'em come here to get 'em.  If you post these on the EA Exchange, you'll go blind and your ears will fall off.

[Matt's Workshop]

What a great idea! :thumbup:

[HobbesED]

Thanks Greg! I do appreciate it!

[kathy]

Nice job doll!

[Chairman Greg]

There aren't too many images from Anne's story that I can use here to illustrate the use of these things in creating dramatic imagery, but I did find one!

She tried not to interrupt his reading.
But some times she needed him.

This is one of the most poetical images in the story.  It's rather packed with symbolism that I suspect will breeze right by most of the folks who see it.

I lit this scene entirely with ground-based spotlights, echoing that the story issues from the dark recesses of Anne's mind where only key facts are highlighted and remembered.

On the left, we have Anne's elderly lover, all in shades of gray.  Even his skin tone is grayish, all the more washed out by the harsh lighting.  The only colorful element is the story book he's reading, because stories live on forever.

On the right, the bookshelf provides splashes of bright color that accentuate Anne's vibrant, glowing tanned skin tone.

The two major elements--the graying man in his twilight years and the vibrant young lady in the prime of her adult life--are separated in the image, yet joined by their gaze.

Even Anne's costume is part of the symbolism.  In western culture, black is normally a color of mourning, yet Anne wears it to herald her joy that she finally found her lover during his twilight years.  The youthful glow of her skin shows through her tank top, but intermittently, to emphasize the mixed emotions she felt when she finally had him; it was only for a short time, but that short time made all the difference in her life.

The camera angle is important, too.  Anne is remembering her domestic life with her lover from a detached, third-party view.  It's not the most exciting imagery she remembers about the time she spent with him, but it symbolizes why she fell in love with him so many years before.

[odettesmom]

Wonderful!  Thanks.

[summer_wine]

that pic is awesome and great floors and walls too. i would grab them asap.

[trl]

YAY greg! These are great! Thanks.

[XPTL297]

Do you know where I can find mirror floors? Thanks.

[hotrod50s]

wow finally some walls to match flooring thanks for making these

[Chairman Greg]

Do you know where I can find mirror floors? Thanks.

Yup.  The reflective floors are from Murano Mobilia.  Click on Products and then Millenium.  You will find the mirror tiles in your Buy catalog under mirrors.  There are several sizes so you can cover a large floor rather quickly.

They're really beautiful work!

You install them like rugs.  Whatever floor tiles you have used will show through the reflection so you have essentially unlimited flexibility.

Caution is advised: These are mirrors, which means that the rendering can slow down your game if you install lots of them.  I wouldn't recommend installing them in places that already require lots of rendering, such as steamy showers.

On the other hand, if you would be amused by watching your game grind to a halt, tile a huge area with these reflective floors, install Gunmod's Radiance Lighting mod, furnish the room with lots of high-poly-count furniture, and add in a bunch of sims with intricate meshes!  I did!  It was amusing... once. :lol:

[xK-la]

Pretty.

[XPTL297]

Thanks for the info, Chairman Greg. Lots of delay to answer cause I hardly find my own questions again. lol.
I've been wondering in the meantime and got also the conclusion that it would deal on mirrors. I got some mirror rugs from another site and didn't experiment slow downs cause the comp am using is really powerful.
When I first read your post I thought someone had found a straight way to include reflections on normal tiles.
Unless it deals on special rooms for special pictures I suppose the use of mirror on floors has no practical meaning. I got some time ago, some floor tiles that are transparent. An experiment with those tiles resulted that if I cover whole floor with transparent tiles on different colors, I get a really creepy effect. A lot totally covered with such tiles will show a house without bottom. With all the proper furniture on place and some mirror rugs I get a totally glancing house floor. Am wondering what would be the effect with transparent black tiles and your creations - something to be tried.
Thanks, anyway I will try to get the mentioned floor mirrors, if I can access the linked site. (Got it - thanks)

[homerette]

Thanks for sharing the products of your mind with us, Greg.  In the vernacular of today's youth, "You rock!"

[Chairman Greg]

Gosh, thanks, homerette!

I'm glad you enjoy these things!  It makes it Worth Doing, y'know.