A Curious Sighting...

I have always liked the idea of finding a mysterious photo tucked in the back of an old family photo album...

Something like this, perhaps...

The large orbiting rings are a 3D render done in Modo...

Here are the same structures in a more straightforward composition...

Descending...

A large spacecraft descends through a dense toxic atmosphere...

3D render done in Modo, with additional painting with Photoshop.

Ralph McQuarrie (June 13, 1929 – March 3, 2012)

Thank you Ralph McQuarrie - for everything.
Your vision made the world a brighter place. 

 Seeing Ralph's painting of the Sandcrawler printed in a magazine changed the course of my life, and set me on my path.

Visible Structures...

At some future time, we may advance to the point where the signs of human civilization are visible even from a very great distance...

This is a 3D render produced in Modo. A high contrast black & white texture was used for micro-polygonal displacement of a simple sphere, which produced true 3D surface relief.