Posted on September 1, 2000

• My mother flew out to visit this week and we had a wonderful time. Jessie, Mom, and I spent the week “seeing the sights”, capping things off Wednesday night with a hot air balloon ride (my first) over Del Mar and Rancho Santa Fe. Aside from a few moments of extreme terror (as I looked down over the side), it was a wonderful experience. We had a great time, but I’m sad that she had to go back to Illinois.

  Anyway, I did manage to push a few pixels around this week and I’ve posted a few new renders today.

  San Diego is filled with flowers all year round, so I guess it was only a matter of time before they crept into my artwork. “Hibiscus” is my first attempt at flower modeling. The blooms were modeled “by hand” in Lightwave and then rendered over a background plate that I put together in World Builder. What do you think?

  “Hibiscus” is dedicated to my Mom so she’ll remember her visit. Then again, this may have been memorable enough 🙂

  I’ve also posted two new revisions of “Pathway“. I got lot of great comments on things to add, and I did spend quite a few hours trying out different things. Given the imaginative (and diverse) responses to my earlier question, I decided it would be best if I left the scene “empty”. I decided to darken the scene somewhat to create a more brooding environment, and I took out the red and orange leaves (I’ll save the fall theme for a later image). There are two new versions in the picklejar, one with red leaves and one with green. I hope you approve.

Posted on August 28, 2000

• A couple of new items today. The first, “Urchin“, is an abstract that I created in Lightwave. I was trying to create a sea anemone, but somewhere along the line I decided it would look cooler if it were bio-luminescent. I don’t think it looks much like a undersea creature anymore, and if it does I think I’ll stay on the beach. You can download an animated version of this image (MPG format, 1.5 MB) from the Picklejar.

  The second new image, “Pathway“, continues my fascination with trees and fog. As you may or may not know, fog is the only interesting weather I get to see here in San Diego (aside from the rare thunderhead over the mountains to the East), so you’ll have to pardon me if it creeps into my artwork from time to time.

  Both of these images are works in proress and you’ll likely see some changes to them before I’m “done”. I’d be interested in hearing what you think I should add (if anything) to “Pathway”. Drop me a line if you have any suggestions.

• My initial run of CD-ROMS finally sold out last week. Rather than run another copy of the same disc, I going to put together a new one containing everything I’ve done up to this point (over 450 images). The new disc should be available sometime next month, and it WILL ship internationally. The price should be the same as the old disc, with members receiving a $10 discount.

Posted on August 21, 2000

• Added “Canopy” to the gallery today, marking another chapter in my long struggle to master lighting in World Builder. This one is sort of a cross between “Misty Grove” and “Morning Light“. Comments appreciated.
• As you can might have noticed, I’ve finally replaced the old “chair” login page with the new Flash animation. Thanks to everyone who sent me feedback.

Posted on August 11, 2000

• A couple of updates today. First, I posted another render of “First Snow”. This one lacks the white haze and should be a little less blinding. You’ll find it in the picklejar (it’s called firstsnow3), because I stubbornly prefer the render I posted yesterday 🙂

  Second, I started messing with Joe Alter’s cool “Shave and a Haircut” software. My goal was simple: to put some hair on the “swordman” model I posted last week. I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t know anything about “hairstyling”, so please be understanding when you see my results. You can find my render on the new images page, and you’ll find a “detail” render in the picklejar.

• I’ve posted a more colorful version of “Minutiae”, in case you’re interested. You can find it on the New Images page.

• I’m working on a little redesign for the “login page”. Nothing too fancy, though it does require the Flash plugin to get the full effect.

  Click here to check out a preview of the new login page I’m working on. You can see the old login page by clicking here. Comments appreciated (especially from those of you who don’t have Flash installed).

Posted on August 10, 2000

• Added “First Snow” to the gallery today. It’s a continuation of what I started with the “snowy” image that went up last week. I liked that one, but I felt the composition with a little cluttered. Hope you like this new arrangement better, but if not you can still grab the first draft (along with a few intermediate renders) in the picklejar. As always, feel free to write if you have comments or suggestions.