Posted on November 11, 1999

• For all the images I’ve posted over the past couple of weeks, you would think that I have been spending my days at the beach, or on the couch watching the Discovery Channel. Actually I’ve done quite a lot of rendering but everything has been little bits and pieces, trying out new effects and techniques, etc. I feel kind of like a wizard with a new spellbook.

  Anyway. I really liked Fluorescence and I know a lot of you did too. None of my renders over the past few days have given me the “wow” factor I got from the blue shrooms, until now.

  In my last update I posted the original version of Gotham, resurrected from “BR3 heaven” by the latest version of Bryce. My brain cells started percolating while I was looking at that image, and I came to the conclusion that old Gotham needed a little “urban renewal”. Gotham 1999 is new today in the Night Scenery Gallery and the WIP. I hope you like what I’ve done, you may see more of this…hope you like.

• I’ve gotten a lot of mail lately from members asking how to renew their memberships. The answer is: you don’t need to let your memberships ever expire. You can add time to your existing membership at a discounted rate ($20 for another year and $10 for another month, max 2 years). The “extender” link is located on the “When Will My Account Expire Page“, or you can go directly to my secure server and place your order. Thanks!

Posted on November 9, 1999

• Last week went by way too fast. I finally assembled all the right parts for my new workstation and the last few days have been spent migrating my old setup to the new machine. In case you missed it, the system is a Dell Precision 410 with Dual Pentium III 600 processors, 1 GB of RAM and a Diamond Fire GL1 graphics card. Fast? You betcha!

  My “art time” recently has been spent working with the Lightwave renderer. I haven’t done anything yet that I feel especially proud of, or you would have seen it. I will continue, however, to prod it’s mysteries. I did break down last night and I started a Bryce only image which is still rendering as I write this. It should be done sometime later today and will be up soon thereafter.

  I managed to find a few “long lost” Bryce files yesterday. The first is “Red Sky at Night“, and I promptly rendered a 1600 x 1200 version for those of you with large monitors.

  The second file is truly “back from the dead”. You see, the image you know as “Gotham” is a “forced” second draft. The original was quite different but the file was “eaten” by Bryce (meaning it wouldn’t open for me) and I had to abandon it. I have to be honest with you here, I spent a lot less time on the second version of Gotham than the original, but I was definitely pleased with the results as I know a lot of people were.

  Still, the original look has it’s merits and I was thrilled to discover that Bryce 4.1 could “resurrect” it! So here it is, remember that it was designed over a year ago 🙂

  Lastly, I’ve posted my “alternate version” of Fluorescence. I had originally designed two different color schemes for the mushrooms, it was my girlfriend Jessie who chose the one you saw last week (though we were in complete agreement as to which one was superior). The alternate is now available because I think it looks cool, and it’s doing no one any good hiding out on my hard drive.

  More to come…

Posted on November 2, 1999

• Sorry I’ve been sort of incommunicado the past few days. My copy of Lightwave 3D arrives last Friday and, like any good monk, I’ve been cloistered away attempting to unlock it’s powers. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Lightwave, here’s the deal:

  Lightwave is really two programs, a layout/render engine and a modeler, that work together. You’ve already seen some of my dabblings with the modeler (“Rogue Element” and “Fluorescence”). Now I am working to master the Layout portion of the program. It is far more complex a creature than the modeler, but the results can be truly stunning (you’ve all seen Lightwave generated graphics on TV and in the movies). Trust me on this: You are going to be seeing some cool stuff in the weeks to come (though it won’t be that long before I have some new images for you to download). Once again, I ask your patience while I learn the ropes. It will be worth it.

• Thanks to all of you who wrote me with your thoughts on “Fluorescence” (see below). As promised, I’ve collected some of my favorites for your review, along with my own personal comments on the image. You’ll also find my first animation done using the Lightwave renderer. Hope you like it, I think it’s a decent first effort.

Posted on October 28, 1999

• Fluorescence is new today in the Abstracts gallery and the WIP, another image from my exploration of the Inspire modeler. You may look at this one and think “what the **** is that?”. I sat looking at it for about an hour wondering the same thing and I have my own ideas. I just thought it looked nice on my desktop so I posted it for you. You are free to interpret it any way you like. In fact, feel free to send me your ideas and I’ll put together a list of the best ones for your review.
• Here’s a another little movie showing off a few robot poses and his new retractable claws (zipped AVI, [an error occurred while processing this directive]).

Posted on October 25, 1999

• Some people might try to learn new 3D software by modeling something simple, like an apple or a bar of soap. I chose something a little more ambitious for my first Inspire 3D project. The result, “Rogue Element”, is now available for your review in the Posers gallery and the WIP.

  The battlebot in R.E. was modeled entirely “by hand” in Inspire 3D, using no prefab parts. My first attempt (thumbnail/hi-res) was completed Saturday, but it couldn’t be saved in Inspire due to my ignorance of “point econmics” (i.e., the mesh was too complex). I managed to export that first robot as a OBJ file but he was still too complex for Bryce to handle. Luckily for me, Vue d’Esprit handles hi-res meshes with great applomb so I was able to at least render him once to show you.

  My second attempt involved my old standby, Metacreations Poser 4. Basically, I opened up the default skeleton (as you’ve seen before in “Don’t Look into the Light“), and then replaced all of his bones with the robot parts I had designed in Inspire. This took quite a few hours to get right, but eventually I had my own custom robot which could take advantage of all of Poser’s cool features. You can check out, for example, this animation of the robot running (zipped AVI, [an error occurred while processing this directive]) or this “character sketch” showing a few different poses.

  He’s not perfect, but I think he’s a good first effort. You’ll note that he is a far cry from my very first robot attempt (using Amorphium and Bryce). Hope you like “Rogue Element”, and don’t be surprised if you see him again in another wallpaper somewhere down the road. Comments definitely welcome.

• My new workstation arrives tomorrow. Actually it arrived today but since I stayed up all night working on the battlebot, I was asleep when the delivery guy came knocking. Grrr…
• E-on software released a new verison (3) of Vue d’Esprit today. It looked like a good upgrade to me so I ordered it. It should ship from France in a couple of weeks or so, then maybe I’ll take you on a fly-through of “Equatorial” or a boatride around the Tropic of Capricorn“. I can’t wait!