Posted on November 4, 2007

• I’ve posted a revised version of “Song of the Sky (2007) on the new images page. I had really not planned on doing any revisions to this one. It seemed that most of you liked it the way it was.

  Unfortunately I was bit by a nasty Vue d’Esprit bug whereby saving my file actually wiped out some of my work. Most of it was still there but my trees were all messed up. The end result being that I won’t be able to render the image again exactly as I had posted it on Friday.

  So I set about repairing the file and (and trying to avoid the bug). Other than the trees (which I was forced to change) I decided to change the aurora a little. It’s a little softer now and I’ve added more green tones. I’ve also tapered it a little at the top to more closely match the original (2000) render.

  Not much could be done about the reflections in water. The angle and proximity of the trees keeps the aurora from being reflected.

  Hopefully the new render will be as well received as Friday’s (since there’s no going back to it). Next up: Multi-monitor versions.

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Posted on November 2, 2007

• So far this year I’ve updated “Tropical Moon” and “Haiku”, why not try another old favorite? This time I chose “Song of the Sky“, and composed the scene using Vue instead of World Builder (which, as far as I know, is dead software now). The updated render is now up on the New Images page.

  This one may exhibit some of the same darkness problems as “All Hallows Eve” on some monitors. Like most of my night images, this one is supposed to be dark (with mainly silhouettes and shadows) so lack of detail is intentional.

  I hope you like it!

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Posted on October 23, 2007

• I’ve added the multi-monitor versions of “All Hallows Eve” this morning. Enjoy!

• We’ve been watching the developments in Southern California with great concern. Jessie and I (and a 3 month old Ian) were living in North San Diego county during the Cedar Fire back in 2003 and can remember vividly packing our belongings to make a quick evacuation. I had even removed and packed the hard drives from my computers.

  Luckily the evacuation order never came and the fire bypassed us, but we know how scary the situation can be. The experience definitely influenced our decision to move back to Illinois (we lived in a very dangerous “high fire danger” area with only one road leading in and out).

  Any of you in the SoCal reading this, know that you are in our thoughts. Stay Safe!

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Posted on October 21, 2007

• After sleeping on it I’ve decided that I liked the original (smiling) jack-o-lantern better than the frowning one (Ian liked the original better too, said the new one “looked sad”). I’ve posted a new render with a smiling Jack. The “frowning” image will go in the Pickle Jar.

  I think I’m done messing with one now and I hope to have the mulit-monitor version up shortly.

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Posted on October 20, 2007

• I’ve posted an updated version of “All Hallows Eve“. I’ve changed the face on the Jack-o-Lantern to something a little less happy, and I’ve added a rising full Moon in the background. I’ve also made this version a tad brighter (though I darkened the foreground grass slightly). Hopefully it will be usable on more monitor types.

  The original version will remain in the Pickle Jar.

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