Posted on November 26, 1999

• A couple of updates for you today.

  First of all, I should report that I spent most of this week and part of last putting the finishing touches on my upcomng CD-ROM archive. It’s now in the hands of my distributor and is in the process of being being made as we speak. It should be available early next week, and it will contain every image in the gallery up to “Aftermath”. Personally, it think it would make a nice stocking stuffer, but that’s up to you. Aside from the fact that it will be discounted for members, I haven’t decided what to charge for the CD. I’d appreciate any input you might have on what would be a fair price. Either way, it will be available soon…

  Unfortunately the CD will not contain my latest work. “Early Frost” is up in the Day Scenery gallery and the WIP. It’s my first image created using Animatek’s World Builder 2.2, so it’s a little rough around the edges, I apologize. I gotta level with you now: I don’t think you’ll be seeing much Bryce or even Vue d’Esprit for quite a while. I am completely hooked on World Builder.

  Why? First and foremost, it’s multi-threaded (Bryce isn’t) so it uses my dual-processor workstation to its fullest potential. “Early Frost”, for example, rendered in just under 30 minutes at 1600 x 1200 (compared to 24 hours for “The Turning”). What else? Its vegetation model is a lot more realistic (not to mention more efficient). More? Its landscape system allows for winding roads, rippling rivers (complete with whitewater), lapping waves, waterfalls, and footprints. Oh yeah, it also exports entire scenes into Lightwave, which opens up a whole new set of possibilities.

  Anyway, I’ll stop frothing now. I hope you like the new image, but just remember that it’s only a first attempt. Your comments and feedback are doubly appreciated.