Posted on November 15, 2011

And now for something completely different…

Fans of my work know I am fascinated by fractals. They appear, in one shape or form, in just about everything I do. Recently I learned of programs that allow you to explore them in three dimensions and finally was able to dig in and play with one (called Mandelbulber) over the weekend.

My first render is now up in the Members Gallery for review. I call it “Helios“, suggested by my son Jason (5) who said it looked like a sunrise. My oldest son Ian felt it looked more like a Sarlaac.

I rendered it at 5280 x 3295 and the details (IMO) are just astounding.

This is all the result of only a couple of hours playing with the program so I feel like I have only really scratched the surface of what it can do. I would certainly love to figure out a way of exporting the 3D data to other programs. Maybe Bucephalus could handle it, but then again maybe not.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy it on your desktop! I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Posted on November 14, 2011

I spent the weekend rebuilding my broken “Neptune’s Garden” scene and have posted the updated render in the Members Gallery this morning.

The first change you will notice is the new title. “An Octopus’s Garden” is, of course, borrowed from one of my favorite Beatles songs. It was the title I had in mind when I started the project but my original scene file was corrupted before I had the chance to add much in the way of sea life. Instead I chose a temporary title for the first version (which will remain in the Pickle Jar).

The sun angle is a bit different in this version so there are more shadows. I’ve also tried to vary up the corals in the foreground. There are also quite a few more fish this time around. Maybe too many?

I hope you like the changes!

Posted on November 10, 2011

A few items to report today.

First, I have good news and bad news regarding my latest render. The good news is that I’ve added “Neptune’s Garden” to the Members Gallery this afternoon. The bad news? Let me explain…

I’ve always loved underwater scenes and was thrilled to learn that Vue 10 had a new water rendering engine. I’ve worked on this scene for about a week through quite a few different revisions. Light and color behave differently underwater and this has been a learning experience for me.

My latest render finished this morning and I would say that I am around 80% happy with it. I started in to fixing the last 19% (mostly changing some of the colors on the corals and adding some misc sealife) when tragedy struck. Vue crashed and for some strange reason refused to reopen the scene file that I had just saved 15 minutes before. The backup appears to be corrupted too. What’s up with that?

Fortunately my kids were at school when it happened because I get in trouble when I swear in front of them.

Anyway, I am talking with the folks at e-onsoftware about investigating what happened to my file. They asked me to send it to them but I am not hopeful. I decided to post what I had while I waited to see what could be done about my broken scene. 80% is better than nothing after all. In the meantime I guess I will try to recreate what I can.

Second, I am increasing my regular 20% military discount to 30% in honor of Veterans Day. Active and retired military (of any nationality) may use the coupon code “liberty” to get the discount on all new Memberships and Renewals. The offer is valid until midnight 11/11.

Third, I wanted to mention that I have added two free browser themes for Chrome. You can check them out here. They were coded by Pim Vermeyden last year and have been available for Members only until now. I hope you enjoy them!

Lastly, I have added the “Mystic Halo” Live Wallpaper to the Amazon App Store for Android. It is currently the #5 paid theme and I would love to see it go to #1 (that seems to bring in a lot of sales all by itself). The app is only $.99 and can also be found in the Android Marketplace. Hopefully we will have one ready for Christmas…

Posted on November 3, 2011

I’ve added dual and triple-screen versions of “Elegy (Winter/Night)” to the Members Gallery this morning. You may notice the framing is a bit different than the original multiscreen version of “Elegy“. I ran into a nasty Vue d’Esprit bug which wiped out my scene file for the original multiscreen so I had to recreate it as best I could.

Posted on November 2, 2011

I’ve added updated versions of “The Grand Design” to the Members gallery (because even the grandest design can be improved). The new version incorporates some of the suggestions I received in the feedback (adding nebulae, star clusters, etc). I’ve also added new dual and triple-screen renders that pull back on the zoom a little and show a bit more of the vertical energy streamers.

Hope you enjoy the changes! Check out my Zazzle store for the print and canvas versions!.

If you have a PS3 you can now log into the Playstation Network Store and purchased animated “dynamic” XMB themes based on my work. You can check them out on the Disruptive Media home page or log in the PSN store and find them under New Releases>>Premium Themes.

Hope to have the multiscreen of “Elegy (Winter/Night)” up soon and be looking for a new underwater render in the near future…