Posted on November 20, 2008

• I’ve posted a new dual-widescreen version of “A New Dawn” this morning. The framing is now more in line with the other multi-screen renders. Hope this one works for everyone!

Posted on November 18, 2008

• I’ve made a change to my Gift Memberships which could save folks quite a bit of money this holiday season. Thousands of people have purchased gift memberships for friends and family over the past 10 years but now it’s even more economical.

  I’ve made it so you will get an increasing discount based on the number of gift certificates you buy. Buy 2 gift memberships and you will receive 10% off the total price. Buy 3 and get 15% off, 4 and get %20 percent off, up to 30% off if you purchase 6 gift memberships. You could get a Lifetime Membership for only $69 or a 1 year membership for only $17.50.

  Happy Holidays!

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Posted on November 17, 2008

• I’ve added dual and triple screen versions of “A New Dawn” to the gallery this morning. It was something of a challenge to reframe this one for multi-screen and I hope you guys approve of the solution I settled on.
• Those interested in purchasing “A New Dawn” as a poster print will find it here in my Zazzle collection.

Posted on November 15, 2008

• Ok, I think I’m done tinkering now. As I mentioned last time, I wanted to rework “A New Dawn” using some of the new tools available to me in the latest version of Vue d’Esprit (released just last week). The new version is up now (the old version will remain available in the Pickle Jar).

  What’s different? Most noticably, the water now has “real” waves rather than being a flat plane. Beyond looking more realistic, the new waves (I think) can be animated which opens up some new avenues for animated wallpaper.

  I’ve also replaced the clouds with Vue’s new cloud technology (“Spectral 2.0”). This took quite a bit of tweaking, but I think these clouds look a little less chunky than the old ones. The lighting is also a little better (IMO) in this version, with a bit of the left side of the cave visable.

  All in all, I’m very pleased with the new version of Vue and I can’t wait to apply what I’ve learned to some brand new scenes. Expect a multi-screen version shortly and then it’s onward and upward.

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Posted on November 12, 2008

• Just wanted to let you all know that I had to spend the weekend in the hospital for a nasty stomach bug. I’d been suffering from it all last week, but late Friday night it hit me hard and I had to seek treatment. I’m feeling a lot better now though and I’m back at the computer again.

  I had a multi-monitor version of “A New Dawn” ready, but this morning I thought I would spend a little time and try to render the scene using some of Vue 7’s new features. Vue 7 has better looking clouds and water and I think I can make some nice improvements to the scene before moving on. I’d also like to see if the new clouds handle the switch from single-screen to multi-screen (a bug in Vue 6 which I have mentioned before).

  Thanks for your patience. Hopefully the results will be worth it.

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