Posted on October 14, 2010

In honor of my 25,000th Facebook fan I am offering 25% off my yearly memberships and renewals for the rest of today. Use coupon code “facebookdb”. Huzzah!

Posted on October 13, 2010

“Highland Spring” is one of my most complicated scenes (it contains hundreds of billions of polygons) so adding realistic clouds for a summer version really knocked the render times through the roof.

I tried to mitigate this with my first attempt by making the clouds fairly opaque (the more you can see through the clouds the longer the render), but the final effect wasn’t quite up to par with the original.

Back to the drawing board and, two weeks of render time later, I’ve posted my final version of “Highland Summer” this morning. I’ve tried to make the clouds more wispy and “fog-like” and I’ve strengthened the shadows from the higher cloud levels. The clouds, I think, are the most realistic I’ve attempted to render (detail crop here).

It feels strange posting a summer picture while the leaves are falling outside my window, but I’m sure my fans down-under will under enjoy a timely seasonal wallpaper for a change. I will try to get the multiscreen version of this going ASAP, but it will probably be a while. More renderers would speed up this process for me…

The first two renders will remain in the Pickle Jar for your perusal.

Posted on October 11, 2010

A few items to mention today.

First, I’ve added the dual and triple-screen versions of “Starlight Grotto” to the Members Gallery this morning.

I’ve also added an alternate “Starlight Grotto” to the Pickle Jar.

Lastly, I’ve added 14 new designs to my DecalGirl selection. They are a mix of older pieces and newer stuff. Let me know if there’s anything missing that you would really like to see.

I have a few more renders nearing completion (all of my CPUs are running full-steam ahead now) so stay tuned!

Posted on October 3, 2010

Added “Starlight Grotto” to the Members Gallery today. This one started out as a Vue d’Esprit lesson with my son Ian.

While working on it with him I saw the possibilities as a wallpaper. I worked up my own version and Ian said I could post it as long as I told everyone the original inspiration was his. So here’s our very first “collaboration”. I hope you like it!

Just a reminder: Today is the last day to use my $5 off coupon. You can sign up as a new Member for as little as $10 or renew for a year for only $7. The coupon code is “FIVEOFF”.

No, I haven’t forgotten Autumn. While the Grotto has been rendering on my main machine I’ve been working on an Autumn project on my laptop. Hope to have it ready sometime this week!

Posted on October 1, 2010

A few items to report today. First, I’ve added the dual and triple-screen versions of “Quartet” to the gallery. In the end I went with the arches scene (even though I couldn’t get all the arches into the render). I think I will use the balcony version (in the Pickle Jar) as the basis for a different scene.

Speaking of multi-screens, professional WoW player and YouTuber John Pyle (aka “Swifty”) signed up as a Member last week and asked if it would be okay to feature my wallpapers in his gaming videos. I normally wouldn’t mention this sort of thing here, but his triple-head Eyefinity system is a sight to behold. Here’s the first video featuring my work. Now I need to get a couple more monitors…

On the subject of new hardware, I’ve added a collection of coffee mugs to my Zazzle store 😉

I’m also running a five dollar off special (coupon code “FIVEOFF”) on new Memberships and renewals until midnight Sunday. Current Members can add a year to their accounts for as little as $7.

Why? I’m saving my pennies for this system (or something very similar that I build myself). Hey, I can dream right?

My new render is in progress (showing 71% complete atm) and I will have it up as soon as it is ready. This one is a bit of a collaboration between my son Ian and myself. I will elaborate a bit more when I post it. Stay tuned!