Lan-scapes

Ok, Ok, I know that if you type lanscapes into Yahoo! Then you are presented with several hundred entries (Web Page Matches). But most of those are misspellings the rest refer to some business that operates on computer LAN technology. It is my opinion however that LANscape is just a fun buzzword they invented to catch the eye and ear of potential investors and shoppers. My Lan-Scape is purely aesthetic, well almost.

It used to be that the most skilled painters and artists of the 'ye olde' days would paint landscapes. It was a demonstration of their skills and talents as well as the opportunity to create beautiful art. I think many of the famous artists that art students studying have at least one landscape attributed to their name. Many artists today specialize in just landscape painting. So the tradition has not died.

However there is another type of art that requires more of an eye than a hand, and that is Digital Art. Programs such as Poser, Bryce, POV-ray, and even Corel or Adobe paint products can make artistic adjustments for us. Too often I can see someone put a photograph into a paint program and go through the list of filters and special effects that come with it and call it art. In truth it is a random kind of art that requires no skill other than the ability to operate a mouse.

I will concede that an eye for art, or a brain to create art is necessary to create good art on the computer. I stress GOOD in that sentence. But now the prized and often difficult landscapes of yore can just as easily be created and generated by the computer. Once again a skill of the mind and hand and eye has cut out the process of the hand. We don't need to have a steady grip or an understanding of brush stroke. We only need to understand such terms as Azimuth, Haze Factor, or Fractal Generation Procedures.

It takes a different kind of skill to operate a computer successfully and correctly. It takes knowing and understanding, sometimes, several different computer languages, a few different computer lingoes, and owning a couple different computer programs (not to mention the computer). What I am generally speaking about in this small tirade however is Terregen. Now don't get me wrong for I thoroughly enjoy all the different digital creations of art out there, after all I create some of that stuff also.

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