Of CG & other acronyms
Jun/090
I’m always trying to learn something new. As I write that line I know saying so is a way of deluding myself into thinking that I don’t have at least a mild form of ADD. Attention issues or not, some of the stuff I can see coming down the pike work-wise are going to require an improved skill set. So, with that forethought, I’m teaching myself a few things in the 3D realm using Maxon’s Cinema 4D.
The first piece is a modified take on a tutorial I found at GreyscaleGorilla. It uses simple spheres and HDR image to light a scene. A few hours of rendering and I’m pretty stunned at the quality that can come out of a such a simple toolbox of parts.
The second piece uses the hair plug-in and includes some dynamics like gravity and wind. I modified the tutorial from over at Base80.
Each of the pieces was rendered using the built-in global illumination (GI) engine. That’s a fancy process by which the computer calculates how photons (light energy) bounces, refracts and passes through objects from the source to the last falloff distance.
I hope to post more to Vimeo as I get better and know more.
Free Idea Friday : BrainiacTV
May/091
We have channels aplenty, don’t we? Spike to Oxygen (the most polar opposites I could think of) and still I think there’s room to squeeze at least one or two more down that length of cable and into your house along side the others you won’t watch.
At the gym this morning I was a captive audience while using a treadmill as ESPN did the rounds of showing me the latest sporting news I could care less about when something caught my eye — highlights from the Scripps National Spelling Bee. Wait-a-cottin-pickin-minute, I thought, spelling is NOT a sport! It’s not in the traditional sense, I guess.
And that’s when my brain really kicked into gear(as did the treadmill I was using…could have been a coincidence). My brain suddenly filled with images of a new network catering to the more socially akward of us, the brainy ones, I mean.
In that instant, BraniacTV was born. 24 glorious hours of chess matches (current and historical), Mensa puzzles and, of course, the Scripps National Spelling Bee! There would be documentaries about the science of Star Trek, special live events that cover NASA rocket launches, all night computerized rants by Stephen Hawking, etc, etc, etc. And, the channel could be hosted by Danica McKellar.
So there it is. Your free idea on the last Friday of May. Enjoy.
P.S. – Yes, I know there was a show on G4 called “braniac”. All I have to say to that is “GEEEEEEEEEK!”
Family Guy: Stand By Me
May/090
I got a pretty good laugh out of this. Be sure to watch to the end.
I’m still here…
May/090
There hasn’t been a whole lot to say as of late. Bullet points of the recent weeks:
• The wife and kids are good. No serious bouts of human, dog or swine flu.
• Trip to Barber for the AMA races and a chance to hang out with the James Gang / Hoban Brothers racing team. Pics on Flickr can be found here.
• Trying to get my head back into the screenplay I’m writing. Got some great stuff going lately but it’s not flowing out like I want.
• Work is good, steady and still paying the bills.
• I hit three weeks of no smoking and have been getting to the gym regularly. Starting to jog (on the treadmill, not in the wild) I’ve managed to almost hit 20 minutes of running at about 5.5mph.
That pretty much covers it. Just wanted you all to know that I’m still kickin’
