Posted on January 1, 2012

Happy 2012 everyone! I added “The Gardener (2012)” to the Members Gallery this morning. This was either going to be my last project of 2011 or my first of 2012.

It continues themes that I first explored with “The Gardener” in 2000 and 2002 and “Atrium” in 2004.

I hope you enjoy it!

Also wanted to report a bit of a setback in the hardware department. My Hydra workstation (pictured on the right here), which had been my main renderer from 2006 to April of last year, bit the bullet hard last week when the motherboard shorted out. I’m trying to decide right now whether to try salvage the system with a new MB (and potentially dodgy memory/components) or put together an all-new alternate renderer.

Regardless, your Memberships and Renewals are needed more than ever. Thanks!!

PS: Hoping to have the “Gotham Garden (Winter)” multiscreen finished within a day or two!

Posted on December 28, 2011

On Christmas day DB Member “Puritania” asked if I could possibly complete my Gotham Garden seasonal series by adding a winter version.

It took me about a year to get back to it but I am happy to report winter has finally come to Gotham. The changes needed for winter are a bit more complicated than for the warmer seasons but I think it turned out pretty well.

I hope you enjoy it. I will try to have the multiscreen up shortly!

Posted on December 25, 2011

Taking a few minutes out of building Legos with the boys to post a new “night sky” version of “Blue Christmas” in my Pickle Jar.

I still prefer the sunset version myself but it’s nice to have options. You could also load the versions into ChronoWall and have them change with the clock. Which do you prefer?

All of us at DB (myself, Jessie, Ian and Jason) wish you all the happiest of holidays and a wonderful 2012!

Posted on December 22, 2011

I’ve just added dual and triple-screen versions of my “Blue Christmas” update. From the feedback I’ve gotten so far it sounds like the twilight sky is bit polarizing.

For my part; I chose to add some color because so many of my Christmas tree wallpapers have been under black skies. I wanted to do something a little different. Maybe Christmas isn’t the time for “different” though. I tend to think that sometimes polarizing is a little better anyway, because it may be a stronger feeling for the people that do enjoy it.

What do you think? Either way I do think a second render will go up before I am completely finished with this one. The multiscreen in particular needs some nip-tucks before I am fully happy with it. I sort of rushed a few things so it would be ready in advance of the Holiday.

Posted on December 19, 2011

I finally managed to finish my Christmas render today and I’ve just added it to the Members Gallery.

This is, of course, an update to my “Blue Christmas” which I rendered first using World Builder in 1999, then again using Lightwave in 2002. This is my first version using Vue d’Esprit.

It would be an understatement to say that this was a difficult render to produce. Without getting too technical I will just say that you can really get yourself into trouble by cranking up the quality settings in Vue. Also, I’ve found the new version of Vue doesn’t even begin to accurately estimate the render time remaining. I don’t want to spoil the Holiday spirit with any further rantings so I will leave it at that.

Fortunately I was able to finish the render (though I had to restart it a few times) and I think it turned out pretty well. I do see a few things I would like to tweak but I might wait until after the Holidays to do any re-renders.

The multiscreen has been rendering on my alternate workstation for the past few days so it should be up shortly. I hope you enjoy the new wallpaper!

PS: Did you know that I offer Membership Gift Certificates?