Posted on February 19, 2010

• I’ve been working on a scenery wallpaper for the past week or so and I had hoped to have it ready before now. It’s been rendering and rendering and showing very little progress. It’s getting into “Enshrouded” territory now and that’s unacceptable to me. I will have to go back to the drawing board and rework some things to make it render faster.

  When it became apperent to me that the scenery would be an epic render I decided to move it over to my alternate box and work on something new. I fired up an old friend, Xfrog, for the first time in many years and started playing. The result, “Blossom“, was rendered in Lightwave using Fprime and G2. You could call it a direct decendant of my “Cobalt Daisy“.

  On a technical note, Worley needs to release a 64-bit G2. This scene barely fit under 3 GB of RAM. “Blossom” took 12 hours to render at 2560 x 1600 using Fprime, which means it would have taken 12 days using Lightwave’s built-in renderer. Fprime can really speed up renders, but even it has limits and it seems I was born to push them. I may try a different version using LWs Nodal textures.

  I wouldn’t call it a perfect render by any means, but I thought it looked interesting enough to share with my Members while I do further tweaks. I should have my new scenery wallpaper ready before too long as well. No ETAs, just letting you know that it is in the works. Have a great weekend!

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Posted on February 13, 2010

• I’ve added dual and triple-screen downloads for Members running 1680 x 1050 monitors today. There are over 140 dualscreens and 45 triple-screens available. I’ve also added files to fit three 1920 x 1200 monitors. Zip files are available so you can download them all quickly.

  I’ve been doing all of this Photoshop work while my new render chugs away in the background. No ETA on the new render, but just wanted you to know that it’s in the pipeline.

  Lastly, people seem to have been having fun refreshing my front page to see the random images. Awesome! To make it easier I’ve added a link to the side that will send you randomly into my gallery. Click it again when you are ready to load a new random pic. Enjoy!

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Posted on February 12, 2010

• I’ve added five new multi-monitor resolutions to my collection. I’ve only managed to update the most recent 20 of my wallpapers with the new resolutions so far, since I’m doing all of the Photoshop work by hand, but I plan on adding more and all new multi-monitor images will have the new options.

  The new resolutions are: 3840 x 1080 (dual 1920 x 1080), 5120 x 1440 (dual 2560 x 1440), 5120 x 1600 (dual 2560 x 1600), 5760 x 1080 (triple 1920 x 1080) and 7680 x 1440 (triple 2560 x 1440). Members can download them individually from the dual/triple-screen pages or download them all in Zip archives from my downloads page.

  Enjoy!

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Posted on February 11, 2010

• AFTERNOON UPDATE:I should never say “final render”. Added one more revision of “Take Two” this afternoon to bring it in line with the multiscreen versions I posted this morning. The new version brings back some of the bow highlights that were toned down in the second render. If you prefer (or want to check out) the previous versions you will find them in the Pickle Jar.
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• MORNING UPDATE:A couple of items to mention this morning. First, I’ve added the dual and triple-screen versions of “Take Two” to the gallery. I did make a few changes from the single screen version so have a look even if you only have one monitor.

• Second, I was checking out Google Analytics last night and noticed that 1280 x 800 was the single most used resolution amongst DB visitors. It only made sense to add it to my Member download options.

  There are over 250 files so if you want to get them all I recommend a visit to my zip files page. I’m going to work on adding 1600 x 900, 1024 x 768 (the second most popular screen res), and more multi-screen options in the near future. If you have a resolution request you can leave it in the thread below. Thanks!!

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Posted on February 10, 2010

• I’ve posted an updated version of “Take Two” this morning. A lot of the feedback on the original focused on the heart tips but I felt it was also important to update the shafts as well. I gave them their own glow which should keep the hearts from sticking out too much.

  This will be the final update for this one, as the holiday is fast approaching and I have another scenery wallpaper in the works that is calling my name. I’m going to put together a multi-screen render of “Take Two” today and then move on.

  I also wanted to mention that I’ve added education and military discounts to my Membership options. They aren’t limited to US citizens so feel free to use them if you are a student, teacher, or serviceman. The coupon codes are here and the prices are hard coded into my PayPal form.

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