Posted on January 5, 2001

• I didn’t do an “abstract” gallery in 2000 but I’ll have one this year. “Twine”, now available on the new images page, will be its first resident. I’m also working on a new World Builder landscape which I hope to have up within a day or so.

• Smoking status report: It’s been over two months now since I quit smoking and I think about them less and less every day. I broke down about a month or so ago and tried a cigarette. It tasted nasty though and made me feel ill. I haven’t wanted one since.

  Again, I want to thank everyone who sent me letters of encouragement. Once I told you all that I had quit, I just knew I couldn’t start up again…

Posted on January 1, 2001

• Happy 2001! I’ve added a new wallpaper to the gallery. “Arboretum” is available on the New Images page. I’ve also posted a night version in the Pickle Jar. I did this scene to test out how many polygons my new computer could handle. The final count came out to 4,222,222, and it took about 3 and a half hours to render on one processor. The added light sources in the night version kicked the render time up to 8 hours.

Posted on December 23, 2000

• This will be my first Christmas “away from home”. On one hand I’m sad that I won’t be seeing my family and friends. On the other hand, I’m glad to miss out on the crowded airports and sub-zero temperatures back home. The Christmas forecast for San Diego is sunny and 70.

  My latest wallpaper, “Passage“, is now up for your review. It was inspired by a recent trip to the local mall. I hope you like it.

  Jessie and I want to wish you all a joyous holiday. Please remember to buckle up when you’re on the roads!

Posted on December 16, 2000

• As mentioned last time, I wanted to tweak “Yuletide” a little bit more. The new version is now up for review on the new images page. It’s pretty much a total rework, only the ground remains from the original.

  I’ve also posted a brief animation if you’re interested.

• I’ve added a couple of new animations to the Downloads page.

Posted on December 12, 2000

• A few items to report today.

  I’ve been spending the past couple of days migrating all of my software to my new workstation. Actually, the new machine arrived last week but I didn’t want to start messing with it until I had posted “Yuletide“. If any of you are interested in the machine specs, here they are. I still have a few improvements I want to make to my latest uploads, so stay tuned for that.

• You all know I love using World Builder and Lightwave. Unfortunately, they just don’t play together like I want them to. World Builder, it appears, was built to work with 3D Studio Max and Lightwave support was added as an afterthought. I’ve decided, then, to purchase a copy of 3D Studio Max. The fact that I could upgrade to 3DS Max 4 also played a big part in my decision. It looks way cool.
• Lastly, I received notice yesterday that Digital Blasphemy was chosen as one of Yahoo Internet Life’s Top 100 websites for 2001. My mother (who has a subscription to the magazine) confirmed this for me last night. If you’re interested, the magazine hits the newstands on December 19th. Needless to say, I’m honored.