Posted on February 23, 2008

• Added a new abstract, “Axiomatic“, to the gallery this morning. This one (and “Colorwheel” for that matter) continues a theme, Mandalas, that I have had a lot of fun with over the years. Something about them just fascinates me for some reason.

  After my last project hogged my machine for nearly 3 weeks, one of my goals with this one was to create a detailed and interesting piece that rendered in under an hour. I’m happy to report that “Axiomatic” renders in only 6 minutes on my machine. The entire image is composed of cubes.

  As with most of my abstracts, I know some will like it and others will not. It was fun to make however (after the frustration of my last piece) and I think it makes a nice wallpaper. I hope you enjoy it.

Posted on February 19, 2008

• I’ve posted a cleaned up version of the original “Promise of Spring” wallpaper (without blooms) in the Pickle Jar for those of you who prefer that version. I will go back in a couple of weeks and see which one has a better rating and move that one into the main gallery. Now onto something new…

Posted on February 18, 2008

• I’ve posted dual and triple screen versions of “The Promise of Spring” this morning. I’ve read in the comments that some of you would like to see a “cleaned up” version with the original (bloomless) tree. I will try to update the version in the Pickle Jar when time permits but my feeling right now is that I’ve spent enough time on this project. I’m quite ready to move on to something new.

  Thanks everyone for the feedback!

Posted on February 15, 2008

• I’ve posted a new version of “The Promise of Spring” this morning. The changes are mostly minor: I’ve widened a light beam a tad and I’ve also cleaned up some of the “floating twigs” that were in the original. One significant change is that I’ve added some blooms to the tree foliage.

  The version posted on 2/12 will remain in the Pickle Jar.

  Hopefully the changes meet your approval and I can get busy rendering the multi-screen version.

Posted on February 12, 2008

• Thanks to everyone for being patient while I got my latest render sorted out. It’s finally done rendering and I’ve posted it up on the New Images page. There are a couple of rendering errors that I will be cleaning up in the next day or so, but I felt it was “finished enough” to post tonight. Please judge it on the “big picture” as I will be replacing this render with a cleaned up version shortly.

  It’s called “The Promise of Spring” . I’ll leave its inspiration up to you.

  Was it worth a nearly monthlong wait? Only you can decide. I made some mistakes which made it take longer than it should have. I know now that soft shadows + volumetric lighting = ridiculous render times when using Vue d’Esprit, so I will endeavor to find a different solution in the future. Beyond that, I hope that you enjoy it and it serves to remind you that winter cannot last forever.