Posted on November 21, 2011

I’ve added the dual and triple-screen versions of “Helios” to the Members Gallery this morning. I hope to have the multiscreen for “An Octopus’s Garden” up ASAP!

Posted on November 19, 2011

After rebuilding my “Octopus’s Garden” file last weekend I decided to step away from it and work on something else for a bit. I hope you’ve enjoyed my Mandelbulber experiments. After the fractals went up I set about correcting some of the issues in my underwater scene.

I’ve posted a new version of “An Octopus’s Garden” in the Members Gallery that moves the sun angle a bit lower, loses about half of the fish from v.2 and adds some strategically placed shadows in the immediate foreground. I hope you like the changes!

Now to get the multiscreens rolling!

PS: Here’s a page I set up listing all of the new dynamic PS3 themes available.

Posted on November 17, 2011

I’ve been spending the last couple of days doing further experiments with Mandelbulber. It’s truly an amazing program (and free to boot).

I’ve added one last new version to the Members Gallery this morning where I’ve moved the camera a good deal closer (this image shows the area I focused on). One of the defining characteristics of fractals is that the more you zoom in, the more detail appears. I suspect that the Universe operates in much the same way.

Thanks for everyone’s patience while I learn something new. I hope to have a final version of “Octopus’s Garden” up shortly. I needed to step away from that one for a bit.

PS: Check out ChronoWall!

Posted on November 15, 2011

And now for something completely different…

Fans of my work know I am fascinated by fractals. They appear, in one shape or form, in just about everything I do. Recently I learned of programs that allow you to explore them in three dimensions and finally was able to dig in and play with one (called Mandelbulber) over the weekend.

My first render is now up in the Members Gallery for review. I call it “Helios“, suggested by my son Jason (5) who said it looked like a sunrise. My oldest son Ian felt it looked more like a Sarlaac.

I rendered it at 5280 x 3295 and the details (IMO) are just astounding.

This is all the result of only a couple of hours playing with the program so I feel like I have only really scratched the surface of what it can do. I would certainly love to figure out a way of exporting the 3D data to other programs. Maybe Bucephalus could handle it, but then again maybe not.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy it on your desktop! I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Posted on November 14, 2011

I spent the weekend rebuilding my broken “Neptune’s Garden” scene and have posted the updated render in the Members Gallery this morning.

The first change you will notice is the new title. “An Octopus’s Garden” is, of course, borrowed from one of my favorite Beatles songs. It was the title I had in mind when I started the project but my original scene file was corrupted before I had the chance to add much in the way of sea life. Instead I chose a temporary title for the first version (which will remain in the Pickle Jar).

The sun angle is a bit different in this version so there are more shadows. I’ve also tried to vary up the corals in the foreground. There are also quite a few more fish this time around. Maybe too many?

I hope you like the changes!