Posted on March 3, 2011

Happy Friday! A few items to mention today.

First, confession time. I posted “Dolmen” unfinished not only because I wanted it to be ready for St. Paddy’s Day but also because I was heading out the door that morning for a little holiday with my family in Florida that we’d been planning for ages .

We just got back last evening (some pics here if you are interested) and I haven’t really had a chance to start any revisions on the dolmen, but I do appreciate all the wonderful feedback!

While waiting for the Dolmen to finish rendering I doodled a little tropical daydream on my laptop. I set it to render on my main machine while I was away and, though it is still in the very rough stages, I thought it looked nice enough to share. I call it (tentatively) “Tropic of Thetis” and I’m thinking it will be a day render in my “Tropical Moon” series (the planet will be added later).

Just a heads up: I am going to have a little “flash contest” on my Facebook page to give away a free 1 year Membership (or renewal) sometime in the next few days. “Fan” me to make sure my posts show up your feed or be sure to check in from time to time if you are interested. If you would like a leg up on the contest take a look at the t-shirts here (specifically the “House” shirts).

Lastly a HUGE to the folks who have been donating to my “new workstation fund” ($14035.97 since 3/3!). My goal with the donations is enough to get me two more 30″ monitors so I can finally have a triple-head system of my own (I will be covering the new workstation myself). If you own multiple monitors and want to see a “multiscreen reniassance” at DB, please think about chipping in because these suckers are expensive!

Stay tuned!

Posted on March 3, 2011

Added “Dolmen” to the gallery this morning. I had wanted to have this one ready for St. Patrick’s Day (it was inspired by an Irish dolmen after all) but I think it is only about halfway there.

Still, I think it looks nice enough to share and I would love to hear your thoughts.

Posted on March 3, 2011

I’ve added “Corona” to the Free Gallery this morning, replacing “Canopy Creek (Autumn)”.

I’ve also added “Facebook Comment” boxes to the free gallery images (on a trial basis). This means if you are currently logged into your Facebook account you will be able to leave comments “as yourself” on my free image pages. Seems like a great way to hear from as many people as possible without having to deal with anonymous posters.

This is on a trial-basis only and comments on the Member images (including works-in-progress) will still be recorded the usual way. Now if I can only figure out how to get the link to go straight to the comments (below the download).

A number of you have made donations to help me finance the workstation upgrade I mentioned on 3/3. Thank you!!

I’ve set up a page from which you can make a donation if you like or keep track of how much is donated so far ($14035.97 since 3/3!).

Donations are completely optional (I would much rather you purchase a Membership or renewal) but I thought I would put up a form for the Lifetime members or folks who would like to help out without becoming a Member.

Thanks and I will post here when I’ve narrowed my hardware options further!

Posted on March 3, 2011

I’ve added the dual and triple-screen versions of “Arcana” to the Members gallery this morning. The different camera angle worked well for the “Inner Workings” multiscreens so I thought I would try it again here. The original single-screen has a bit of an unconventional angle so I moved the camera down to ground level for a more intimate view on the scene.

I’ve also added a crop of the new camera angle for single screen users in the Pickle Jar.

03/03/11

My recent render-times have made it painfully clear that I need some new hardware. In the past I have purchased pre-built systems but this time I am looking to assemble it myself. To that end I have begun a list of components at my favorite online computer store.

As you will see from the list, I am stuck between using a 4U “barebones server” as a starting point, or purchasing the case/mobo/psu a la carte. One system would use SAS drives and the other SATA 6GB/s (I have listed both).

I’m not certain I trust SSDs enough yet. I know they are fast though.

Both systems would use dual six-core Xeons running at 3.46 GHz and would use at least 24 GB of RAM. 48 would be nicer of course…

Anyway I would love to hear in any advice you guys might have on this setup. Also I am thinking of opening this up to sponsorship so drop me a line if you are interested.

Otherwise I will rely, as always, on memberships, renewals, and donations.

Thanks and check back for the “Arcana” multiscreens shortly!

Posted on March 3, 2011

I wasn’t entirely satisfied with the volumetric effects in my first “Arcana” render so I went back to the drawing board yesterday. The particle effects were a little overwhelming in the first version so I cut most of them. I also added some fractal sorcery courtesy of Apophysis.

What do you think of the changes? You’ll find the original version in the Pickle Jar for comparison.