THE HYPERION CORPORATION

INVADES TEMPE

Austin Messer-Forster

DESIGN INTENT

I plan on turning my image of South Mountain into a representation of the Highlands from Borderlands 2 through the viewpoint of a Hyperion Loader.

Original Image

Taken on a trail in South Mountain.

Adjustment One

For my first adjustment I toyed with level adjustments, hue/saturation and color balance to brighten up the image.

Adjustment Two

I copied the terrain and the sky on their own layers and added a gradient to the sky to make it look like it was from Borderlands.

Adjustment ThreeI selected each vault hunter from their respective images and posed them into my image. Then, I played with transformation and color balance for each of them individually so they fit better into the environment.

Adjustment Four

I added shadows to the vault hunters. Then, I lowered the opacity to 63 and used a Gaussian blur filter on the shadows.

Adjustment FiveI used selection tools to single out the phase locked enemy. Then used the spot healing brush to try to blend in the red orange numbers because they did not really fit. Then gave the orb a shadow. I decided to move Zero closer to the center because he was being blocked too much by the phaselock.

Adjustment SixI used various selection tool methods to add a few extra loaders to look like a fight was going on between the vault hunters and the loaders. I played with their levels, saturation, and added shadows to them as well. I also used levels and burn on Axton and his turret to remove the red glow.

Adjustment Seven

I used a quick selection to grab a couple of surveyor bots to add some air support for Hyperion. I then painted exhaust/smoke/steam lines that came from the surveyor bots.

Adjustment Eight

I added a red layer on top with 27 opacity with the linear light blend mode to act as the red filter that covers the Gun Loader’s “eye.”

Adjustment NineI used the custom shape tool to make Identification boxes around the hero’s heads that act like information is being pulled from Hyperion’s archives. The Wanted posters were pulled up to justify the attack on the vault hunters.

Adjustment TenI wanted to add some sort of HUD so I added a functions display, battery display, signal display, and some text. The function display shows that my loader’s arms are dysfunctional because they were shot off and the text indicates response to its injuries and justifies the surveyor bots' arrival.

Adjustment Eleven

I used three filters on my landscape to give it more of that borderlands feel. I used Cutout, Poster Edges, and Cross Hatch.

Adjustment Twelve

To finish it all off I merged the layers and applied the warp transformation, Fisheye, to make the Loader seem to be looking out of its glass viewing mechanism.

comparisonORIGINAL

FINAL

Self Evaluation

I love the way my Hyperion Invasion image turned out, there were however, a couple of things I think I could have done better. I really wish I had attempted to paint more and use selection tools less. Painting would have made it that much more personal but at least I know how to use several different selection methods. I really tried to avoid making my image too busy because I know that could be overwhelming in an image. I wanted there to be more to my HUD but I could not think of anything more and I was afraid it would make my image busier than it needed to be. The rest of my HUD is probably my favorite thing about my image. I really liked the idea of how the loader was pulling up information like a street camera identifying a person on the sidewalk and how the loader’s arm functions went haywire cause they were blown off. Overall, It looks almost as good as I imagined with everything placed like they are fighting each other and they belong in Tempe.