Posted on April 12, 2000

• Thanks to all of you who shared their thoughts on “Threesome”. It looks like (as usual) Jessie was right. The dark version is by far more popular.

  Immediately after posting “Threesome” I set to work on a new space image. The result is “Companion Star”, which is available now on the New Images page. This image has gone through a lot of tweaking, and you can see some of the early renditions in the Picklejar. I’m sure opinions will differ on whether my tweaking was effective. Please feel free to share your thoughts.

Posted on April 8, 2000

• I decided, after working like a madman to bring this server back up, that I should take it easy for a few days. That means, of course, that I immediately starting playing around with Lightwave 6. Originally I was going to see if I could make any improvements to “Escort”, but I couldn’t get away from the fact that I didn’t like the little submarines that I had made. I took them out, leaving just the dolphins.

  There are two versions of this image available (both in the Picklejar). Jessie liked the darker image but I preferred the brighter one. Both images make use of Lightwave 6’s Radiosity and Caustic effects (don’t worry if this is meaningless to you). Anyway, I’d be interested in hearing your thoughts.

Posted on April 5, 2000

• My secure server is back online for those of you who wish to extend your membership.

  Speaking of extended memberships. I have added 7 days to everyone’s account as a “thank you” for being patient with me.

  I especially want to thank those of you who wrote me with words of encouragement during the downtime. I was feeling very stressed and you helped a lot.

Posted on April 4, 2000

• If you are reading this, then you know that the members server is back online. Some things are not yet functional though, specifically my secure server. I know a lot of you have written asking if your memberships will expire during this downtime. The answer is no. I will have a message here when the secure server is ready. I hope you’ll understand if I take extreme care in setting that up.

  I ask that you not write me with things that look broken at least for the next couple of days. On the other hand, words of encouragement are always helpful and appreciated.

  Now back to work…

Posted on March 29, 2000

• Escort is new today, along with a few related pickles. This is still very rough (only a day or so old) and I still have more in store for this scene. Your comments are more than welcome.

  Unfortunately I’ve been rather tied up recently with ancillary duties and I haven’t had as much “creative time” as I would have liked. My security upgrades (see below) had the intended effect of stopping the dictionary attacks, but I still have a few security releated issues to tackle. I hope you bear will bear with me. Don’t worry though, if I do my job right you won’t even notice the difference when I’m done.