Posted on November 19, 2006

• My experiments with the new Vue 6 beta continue. The software is somewhat more stable now since they’ve updated it, and I’ve manage to dig a little deeper into the features. This past week I wanted to see how it would handle a lot of imported Lightwave objects. I thought now would be a good time to update “Metropolis“, one of my favorites from 1999. The new version is now up for your review. I hope you like it!

  Regarding the noise in “Morning Mist”. There’s good news and bad news. The good news is that I think I can render a version without the noise. The bad news is that I think it would take at least a week for the render to complete. I’m going to investigate Vue’s network rendering features (which were broken until the aforementioned software update) and see if I can maybe render it faster.

  My last bit of news is for you gamers out there. I’ve partnered with a company called “Func Custom Gear” to produce some high quality gaming mousepads (or “mousing surfaces” as I believe they are called). They have a rather nifty utility which will allow you to choose the type of surface you want and then choose one of my images to print on it. You can also upload your own logo to lay over the top of my work or add your own custom text. PC Gamer just gave them an “Editors Choice” award in the current issue. Have a look here if you are interested.

Posted on November 10, 2006

• Added my first Vue d’Esprit 6 image to the gallery this evening. “Morning Mist” (thanks to Jessie for coming up with the title) is an experiment testing out Vue’s new “spectral” atmosphere model and volumentric clouds. It’s a pretty simple image, and there are some issues I have yet to work out, but I thought it looked nice enough to share. More to come!

Posted on November 6, 2006

• A couple of items to mention this evening. I received my copy of the “Oversize Wall Calendar” which is now for sale on Cafepress. It’s the best looking DB calendar yet. The print quality is excellent. It helps that I rendered each image for the calendar at poster size resolution. There is quite a bit more detail present than in the largest digital files I have available online. If you bought calendars from Cafepress in the past and are concerned about print quality, let me put those concerns to rest. The new calendar looks awesome.

  Which leads me to my second item. I rendered the calendar images at poster size so I’ve added them to my Zazzle collection. There are 8 new prints available, including “Reverie” and “Desert Snow”. Have a look.

  Lastly, I’ve been playing with the new version of Vue d’Esprit for the past couple of days. There’s quite a bit to digest, and the going is slow because it’s “pre-release” (buggy) software, but I’m learning.

Posted on November 3, 2006

• I’ve added dual and triple screen versions of “Nanocyte“.

Posted on November 2, 2006

• Added “Nanocyte” to the gallery this evening. I had a little trouble deciding which gallery this should go in, but in the end felt it should go with the abstracts. What is it? I have my idea. You are welcome to come up with your own. One thing for sure, this was the first image I’ve done which pushed my new workstation beyond what my old one was capable of (it required move than 2.5 GB of RAM for Lightwave 9 to render it). I realize it might be a little too funky to use as a wallpaper for those of you used to “Reverie’s” and “Sakura’s”, but it was a fun exercise for me.

  Landscape lovers should be happy in the weeks to come. The fine folks at E-onsoftware finally came out with Vue d’Esprit 6 and I purchased (and downloaded) my “pre-release” copy last night. I’ve only had the chance to open it up a couple of times and briefly look around, but it definitely looks like it was worth the wait. Stay tuned!