The Life of a Digital Prostitute

Pain does not exist in this dojo

2011-07-13T14:00:00.000-07:00

This weekend I set up a little mini-dojo in our living room and thought I would post a quick picture of it.

A spoon full of cinnamon help the coffee go down.

2011-07-13T06:44:00.000-07:00

I have never liked the taste of coffee so I have never been a big coffee drinker, but as I have been trying to cut down on the sugar free Red Bulls due to them emptying my wallet faster than I can fill it, I decided to give coffee with a spoon full of cinnamon a try. The verdict is that I love it. It somehow masks that awful coffee bite and made it quite enjoyable. so looks like I will get my caffeine fix in the mornings after all.

Testin' my fit'ness

2011-07-11T12:10:00.000-07:00

Did the pre-P90X Fitness test today before I go to the doc tomorrow for a general checkup. Pretty pathetic, but at least I didn't do this a year ago when I could barely sit up by myself. anyway, here are the results.

Body Fat: 42.4%
Weight: 272.4
Chest: 46"
Waist: 51"
Hips: 46"
Right Thigh:27"
Left Thigh: 26"
Right Bicep: 16"
Left bicep: 16"

Pull ups: 0 (hahahahahahaha)
Vertical leap: 15" (Stand Sideways with shoulder against wall and raise arm straight overhead against the wall. Then lower arm, take just ONE STEP back and proceed to jump straight overhead against the wall. Measure the difference.)
Pushups: 10
Toe Touch: 0"
Wall Squat: 34.24 Seconds(act like you are sitting in a chair against the wall and time how long you can hold this position)
Bicep Curls: Purple band - 23
In & Outs: 15

I'm in shape. Round is a shape....isn't it?

2011-07-11T04:32:00.000-07:00

After two months off from various family issues, I am back on the diet again this weekend. I have slacked off on all aspects and have only been pretty good about doing kick boxing. I have scheduled a doctors appointment for a check-up and to talk about my lower back, but I am going to increase the intensity and frequency of my workouts. Not sure yet if I am ready for P90X, but gonna give it a try. will be doing the fitness test very soon and will post the results. In any case this post is just establishing the starts of it all.

The Diet Hits a Speedbump.

2011-02-14T11:04:00.000-08:00

Over the past couple of weeks the diet has hit a bit of a speed bump as the plague moved its way through my family and I drank OJ by the truckloads to keep from getting sick. And although I think I did get a touch of it, I made it through without becoming bedridden like the rest of the house. But I started back on the diet yesterday and it looks like I didn't gain any weight, just stayed at around the 276 mark. Besides the OJ, Dinners are the main area where I blew it, so I am getting an idea of what my maintenance diet will look like one day.

The Real Breakfast of Champions

2011-01-26T05:52:00.001-08:00

Steak and eggs with onions, peppers, and mushrooms with a dash of hot sauce. Man I love this diet!

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The morning after.

2011-01-26T05:29:00.001-08:00

After removing the bandages I was impressed that there was no bleeding. Quite a fine job on the stitching. Anyway, here are the pictures of the morning after.

Surgery Today

2011-01-25T09:29:00.001-08:00

Before The surgery

After the Surgery.

Had a little surgery today to remove a couple of Cysts. The scarest one is pictured above on the back of my head. the other one was pretty tiny, but is the most bothersome after it was finished. It was in the upper Right abdominal region. The worst thing is that I will have to refrain from Karate for a week else I will end up ripping the stitches in my abs.

My Butt Hurts!

2011-01-24T05:50:00.001-08:00

Decided to go and buy a bike this weekend. I have been watching my youngest, Hailee, ride her bike round and round the cul-de-sac for weeks now. I started thinking about how I do this whole Karate thing with my oldest and haille just didn't really like it. She was doing it more because we were all doing it. Well I mentioned the possibility of getting a bike and her eyes lit up at the thought of riding around our neighborhood together, so I bit the bullet and headed on up to Dick's Sporting Goods with her and bought myself this nice mountain bike. When we got back, her and I proceeded to take an hour and a half trip up to Turkey Lake Park up the street from us. It was a lot of fun and I look forward to more rides with her. Although my butt is not very happy with the whole deal. I need to find a better seat. Ouch!

My new bike

Me at The park.

Hailee at the park.

The 4 Hour Body's Slow Carb Diet Continues

2011-01-18T12:33:00.000-08:00

I am into my 4th week on the diet and seemed to have hit a plateau on the weight loss, well that is until you look at all the numbers, then it is staggering at just how much fat I appear to have lost. 29 LBS of fat! Now I know these Biometric scales are not the most accurate, but from what I read they are decent at recording changes over time, and even if I take into account a few percentages for water fluctuations, I am still at over 20 lbs in three weeks. I would say so far so good, and damn good enough to keep me going.

One thing I have learned is that the morning is not the best time to weigh myself as I appear to be too dehydrated to get accurate numbers, so I have opted to just weigh myself later in the day and just keep an eye on water levels as well.

As far as the diet itself I have not had much trouble sticking to it. I rarely get cravings for anything in particular now and if I do, I simply add it to my mental list of things to eat on Saturday. Actually I find myself having to force myself to eat as I am not really hungry that often. I am thinking that might have something to do with my workouts, for even though the diet is presented without having to workout, I am working out like a madman at the moment. 6 times last week, and the workouts at my dojo just keep ramping up. Last night was a solid 50 minutes of 3 minute intervals switching from bag work to jump roping with some alternate exercises such as squat jumps thrown in. I truly hit the brink of death last night, and my body feels like a furnace today, so It will be interesting to see the numbers as I continue.

Still a long way to go to hit 220 though.

Oh yeah, one last note. I also decided to introduce a little cottage cheese into my diet this week, so breakfast has been 3 organic eggs and about half a cup of cottage cheese. In the spirit of 4 hour body, you could say I am doing a little experimenting of my own. The only thing I am confused on is the whole eating carbs or fruit or whatever within a half hour of strength training. Guess I need another read through the book to help try and clear that up.

And another note. Since the number vary so drastically. I decided to change the total to a rolling 3 day total. So it now averages the last 3 weigh ins to give me a more accurate picture of my progress.

My logo being used throughout the dojo.

2011-01-12T05:19:00.001-08:00

A couple months ago I designed a logo for my dojo. Here are a couple of pictures of how it is now appearing on a banner and t shirts throughout the school.

Spinach omelet with salsa

2011-01-12T04:49:00.001-08:00

This morning's breakfast. Diet is still going strong although the weight loss seems to have slowed a bit. Will wait and see what the numbers show for the week.

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Lunch after my CAT scan.

2011-01-11T18:26:00.001-08:00

OMG... Sooo Good.

2011-01-06T10:31:00.000-08:00

How many times do you get to say that about food on a diet? I just had what has to be my new favorite lunch, and man does it suck that my phone is broken to take a picture (Regular Camera is no where to be found, daughter prolly took it to school). Today I made a Wasabi and Ginger glazed skirt steak with California mixed veggies and a side of shrimp cocktail. Oh, that glaze is like heaven. I picked it up last night at Fresh Market and let me tell you it was the best buy of the year. Score! I will make it again, but next time I will get a picture of it.

On a side note, this week has been much easier than the last week. Very few cravings so I don't find myself constantly making lists of things I want on Saturday. I still plan on hopefully doing IHOP soon, but we will see. So far the diet seems to be progressing nicely. The scale is a little funky as according to it I have lost almost 20 lbs of fat in a week and a half. If that is true, then Woah! I see the difference in the mirror in that my face is not quite as fat. Jeans fit a little looser and I end up wearing a belt to keep them from riding down. So something is working. You can see all the stats in the progress widget on the front page of the blog.

More old work that I just found.

2011-01-05T14:15:00.000-08:00

This was from a game for 3D Buzz.

Some other Ships I designed for another Game at 3D Buzz.

And these were done by toastage over at 3D buzz, but I just had to post them cause they were so awesome.

Look what I found.

2011-01-05T09:10:00.000-08:00

Was searching for some files in my backup folders and found these little snippets of gold. Never before seen footage here. This was supposed to be the final project at 3D Buzz, but I finally ended up giving up on it due to time constraints and the fact that it constantly bombed out on the renders.

Anamatic of the explosion.

A render of the explosion with smoke.

Here is the anamatic of a big chunk of the animation.

This was a render of the turret that was supposed to return fire.

This was some R&D for what I wanted to do with the Intro.

Cheat Day the Aftermath.

2011-01-03T10:12:00.000-08:00

Cheat day was legend... wait for it, wait for it... Dary! Ok, so not so much a big deal as I thought it was going to be. Started with the high protein omelet breakfast as I am supposed to and apparently this killed my appetite as I ended up skipping IHOP and having ice cream for lunch and then a normal non-diet dinner. And how did it destroy my diet?? Oh, added 2 lbs first thing in the next morning and throughout various times of the day my weight got up to as high as 292. But with todays weigh in I am back down to 288, so we will see if I am back to 286 tomorrow and continue to loose beyond that. OK, time for black eyed peas and kale, stir fry steak, and peas and carrots! yum!

Yeah Cheat Day!

2011-01-01T07:10:00.000-08:00

It is finally here, the day I have been dreaming of all week. Nope, couldn't care less about the new year, and nope don't give a hoot about the weekend. nope it is my first cheat day on the new diet. As per the regiment I started off with a tall glass of ice water and then did an unofficial weigh in at 286 (285 before the water) for a total of 7 lbs this week. Woot! Nice to be on a diet where you actually see results.

I started off my cheat day with a high protein egg white omelet as I am supposed to so only an hour left before I hit my planned meals for the day including:

Red Bull.
Entiments Doughnuts
IHOP
Oreo Cookies
Beans and cornbread
Mac and Cheese
MILK
Cup Cakes.

Am going to try and remember to document it all somehow, but with my phone being murdered it will be hard so we will see.

Breakfast

2010-12-31T08:36:00.000-08:00

My recreation of Renee's concoction from last night and it is update Day. Oh, and here is the multitude of pills I am taking. Three of them are before each meal. The rest are daily vitamins that seems to have cured my lack of energy that I was feeling the first couple of days.

I weighed in with the following Results. Looks like I am too fat for the scale to measure. I am also thinking I was a little dehydrated this morning, possible from having a glass of wine last night (Recommended on the diet). But I will just continue to track it and see where it goes. At this point as long as the overall weight continues to go down I am happy.

Weight: 287.4
Fat: 50%
Water: 34
Muscle: 33.8
Bone: 8.0

dinner thanks to my sweetie

2010-12-30T18:17:00.001-08:00

Her idea of a fritata using my diet stuffs.

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lunch

2010-12-30T11:35:00.001-08:00

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oh god, again?

2010-12-30T05:11:00.001-08:00

OK, so I am so sick of beans that I want to projectile vomit at the mere thought of them. Funny thing is that I am fine once i start eating, it is just the initial thought that is killing me at this point. This morning was really hard, so i just threw some egg whites and kidney beans in Tupperware containers and threw them in the microwave for 2 and 3 minutes ending up with what you see below.

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I also started taking all the drugs that are recomended including:

Vitiman B Complex
Policosanol
Alpha-lipoic Acid
Green Tea Flavonols
Aged Garlic Extract.

So far taking the vitamins and other herbs sucks because the tear up my stomach, but I took them right before breakfast this morning to see if that will help. So we will see.

more of the same for dinner

2010-12-29T15:34:00.001-08:00

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lunch once again

2010-12-29T10:20:00.001-08:00

Stir fry and veggies.

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yet another breakfast

2010-12-29T05:26:00.001-08:00

Starting day three with the below breakfast; Egg whites, kidney beans, Salsa, tomatoes, and cucumber. The meals themselves have been pretty good although the black eyed peas need something to flavor them, not quite sure what yet, but they taste rather like cat vomit.

The kidney beans are really good with salsa and black beans are of course good with a little garlic and vinegar. The strongest thing about it all is that I am only ever really hungry in the evening but am never satisfied. I may feel comfortably full, but always feel the need to go get a cookie, potato chip, etc. But anytime those cravings hit I just add them to my mental list of things I am going to eat on Sunday. So far my plans are for IHOP in the morning and pizza for dinner with lots of bread in between.

Weighed in today with the following:

Weight: 290.6
Fat: 48.6
Water: 34.2
Bone: 8.2

Holy cow! That is about 5 pounds of fat, with a gain of almost half pound of muscle? I wonder how accurate this is?

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dinner

2010-12-28T17:50:00.001-08:00

Stir fried chicken, salsa kidney beans, and mixed veggoes. Yum.

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Lunch

2010-12-28T10:46:00.001-08:00

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Breakfast

2010-12-28T05:00:00.001-08:00

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Dinner

2010-12-27T16:58:00.001-08:00

Mixed veggies (steamed), black eyes peas, and ham again.

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Todays workout, as sad as it is.

2010-12-27T12:54:00.000-08:00

3 minutes of jump rope
50 jumping jacks
25 squats
10 pushups
25 situps
15 minutes of stretching

Lunch

2010-12-27T09:42:00.001-08:00

Ham, black beans, cucumber, and unsweetened tea...

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The Decoration Begins

2010-12-27T08:51:00.000-08:00

We started decorating various rooms. There is still a lot to do, but here is what we have started with.

Started Decorating the Master Bathroom

Broke the medicine cabinet in the process,

The Family Room all ready for Christmas

The Breakfast nook.

Starting my new diet

2010-12-27T05:01:00.001-08:00

Today marks the start of my new training routine as well as the new slow carb diet to accompany it. Just a quick post to document my breakfast pictured here (Egg whites with salsa, black beans with garlic powder and vinegar, and carrots).

My Starting numbers are as follows:

Weigh: 292.4
Fat %: 50
Water %: 34%
Muscle %: 33.8
Bone: 8.2

These were taken 30 minutes after waking and after 32oz of water.

My Training will also change. I am reading a great new book, The Four Hour Body, and will be trying out a lot of things from it as well as focusing on making sure my next belt test does not kill me. I barely made it through my orange belt test and the fact that I no longer have access to weights I will be doing a more CrossFit style workout. But more on that later as I experiment and figure out my routine.

I did however purchase a Weider power Tower to do Pullups, dips, and knee raises on. Found it at Walmart for a hundred bucks, so can't wait for that to arrive. Below is a picture of it. I am looking into getting some dumbbells and kettlebells, but have yet to find a good deal on them yet.

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Swimming

2010-10-04T06:03:00.000-07:00

My youngest daughter Hailee has been having a little trouble keeping up with the workouts before Karate. Most of it is that she is 9 (10 Next month) and she is in with the 10 to 15 year olds, but she is too big and mature for the 6 to 9 year olds. So she ends up being either too big or too young. But i don't want her to learn that it is OK to give up when things get tough, so I started waking up early this morning and doing a little working out with her. Now every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday we will do push ups, Sit ups and then swim for half an hour. That seemed to get her excited about the whole thing, so hopefully this will help her. I know it will help me.

Swimming is very weird, I was getting more out of breath than I ever get running or even during Karate. At the end I thought I was going to die trying to catch my breath, but my body was not all worn out as usual. I think it will be the greatest way I can imagine to start my day with some aerobics.

Kicking it up a notch.

2010-09-13T07:25:00.000-07:00

This morning I started a new workout routine. Well actually I just added yet another workout to what I am already doing. Without bloviating too much I started with the following:

Push up - 10

Declined sit up - 10

Squats - 20

Calf Raises - 100

Mountain Climber - 10

Declined Dive bomber - 15

Straight Leg Side Kicks - 20

Straight Leg Front Kicks - 20

Bent Knee Front Kick - 20

Rapid Roundhouse - 10

Stretching for better martial arts flexibility. A lot of hip and thigh stretches here.

My goal is to do these each morning adding 1 each day, until I change it all up again.

Last Night's Kickboxing Class

2010-08-05T10:57:00.000-07:00

I have had so much information thrown at me in Karate lately, I Thought I would jot some of it down here to help drill it into my head. Last night we did an entire class of bag work, and because I am the only one in the kickboxing class right now, it was a solid 40 minute workout. I will also use Japanese yogo (terminology) when possible to help me remember it.

The first combo was a one two jab, no problem. Even the sanbon zuki (triple punch variying between the kizami zuki (Jab), gyaku zuki (reverse punch), and another kizami zuki) came easily. It was adding in the kazime geri (front left snap kick) that really threw me off. It was really awkward kicking when in so close and I constantly would step back to kick and would be completely off balance. I mean I could do them, but they just never felt right so i couldn't get into any kind of groove with it. And adding two mawashi geris (roundhouse kicks) to the end of it didn't do me one bit of good.

So on and on I went, fighting through exhaustion I continued to try and get the hang of doing these kicks while trying to remmber to keep my arms up, switch them but not too close to the face, turn the hip over, snap the mawashi geri out, snap the hip to follow through the target, and get it back on the ground as fast as I can.

It is a lot to think about in half a second.

It wasn't until Sensei had me do rapid fire mawashi geris that we finally discovered my balance issue of carying my center of gravity in my solar plexis. Sensei simple told me to breath from my seika no itten I believe it was. The second I started to breath from my stomach I felt my core tighten up and could tell that my center of gravity had moved down. Then when performing the mawashi geris they became almost effortless. I mean after spending half an hour exerting myself trying to stay balanced they were effortless by comparison. In any case, it was one of those aha moments worth blogging about.

Daily Scribbles

2010-08-02T18:58:00.000-07:00

A little creative tonight.

2010-07-23T19:00:00.000-07:00

Nothing major, just practiced my guitar and did some scribbling on the Cintiq to get used to how all the different brushes feel. Loving it more and more every second I use it. It is hard to explain as it is unlike anything I drawn on before. The responsiveness of the pen is amazing, and just feels so natural. Every digital artist should have one of these.

Anyway, here is the tonights random chicken scratches.

A couple new things for my home office.

2010-07-23T14:16:00.000-07:00

Bought a couple shelves to get my monitors up off the desk and make more room for all the crap i have.

To the lower left you will see my newest toy, a Wacom Cintiq 12" Tablet. With all my activities I have had almost no time to actually sit down and play with it even though I have had it for a week now, but I did draw up this nice sketch of my friend Kevin who likes to post half naked pictures of himself all over his blog. I do have to say that I love this thing. I currently have it hooked up to my Mac Mini and it works pretty well. There are times where it will miss a stroke, so not sure what was going on there, but I'll post more about it in the coming months.

And finally a better look at that sketch

Rough Week

2010-07-10T15:17:00.000-07:00

This week began my foray back into the world of martial arts. Although I only ended up doing two kickboxing and one karate class, those on top of my normal workout has made this a very rough week. I ended up not working out at all on Friday due to my body feeling like I had been run over by a truck. I decided to take three days to rest. Today I feel much better, not exactly 100%, but I have more energy than I have had in a long, long, long time. I am dancing and kicking around the house like a stark raving fool!

Over the past three months I have progressed from strength training 2 to 3 times a week to now 4 or 5 times a week with a mile jog as a warm up. I have to remember to say jog, as I am only at about 4.5 MPH pace and although that feels like a run for me, most people would consider that a jog. And this week has only been an average of half a mile as the kickboxing classes have been kicking my ass, but more on that later. After my jog I now work a different body part starting with the chest, then the back and shoulders, followed by the arms, and finally the legs the last day of the week.

I started out doing 8 to 12 reps on the bench with 110 pounds, and this week I moved up to 160 pounds. That is 10 and then 8 reps followed by another 11 at 150 lbs. All other exercises have increased as well, but not quite as much. Also I should point out that I do abs every day and that has increased from 80 pounds to 120 and I notice the biggest difference in the fact that there is a solid layer of muscle now hiding behind my belly. All in all I am happy with my progress at this point even if the scale seems to be here just to taunt me, but I keep focusing on the positives; the biggest being how much better I FEEL. Quite a difference from the fool who threw his back out wrapping christmas presents.

In any case, I guess I decided that I was not punishing myself enough, so I signed up for Shuri Te Ha Karate which is a mixture of Shotokan and Kyokushinkai Karate and Nihin Ryu jujutsu. Along with these classes he also teaches traditional Japanese Kickboxing which complement the classes very well as it is basically an hour of going through all the Kihon (Basic Techniques) in a fast paced and heart pounding manner geared to strengthen and prolong endurance. These classes have pushed me to my limit on both occasions and are a ton of fun. Right now I actually look forward to them more than the actual Karate classes.

Sensei Tim was in a car accident recently so he asked to cancel the first class I was to be a part of, but I did get to take part in the second class, well sort of. See I love the fact that I am getting in on the ground floor here. I feel like a big enough fool as a 6' 4" 300 lbs 37 year old behemoth flailing around in what feels like way to small of a room for me and any other human without the added pressure of others my age leaping from wall to wall like trained ninja, but it also has its drawbacks. I am the only one in the adult class so far, so since I had my kids there for the younger class already, sensei asked that I join in. So now as I tower over these kids a third my age I can see the fear in their eyes as I come lumbering towards them kicking and flailing like some giant sweat flinging panicked elephant.

It has been interesting though to notice how easily it all comes back. When I make a mistake, I instinctively know I am making it and can work to correct it. The biggest problem is that I have almost no endurance at this point, so it gets hard to work on technique when I get worn out so quickly. But that will come in time, and if pushing through the humiliation is not enough proof that I am in this for the long haul, well then you are probably a racist!

Guardian Cross Cover.

2010-07-01T19:31:00.000-07:00

Finally finished with the cover for my daughter Alora's short story, Guardian Cross.

I have an idea

2010-06-23T08:02:00.000-07:00

I was sitting here programming away and a thought occurred to me. It was one of those that I just had to act on, so I took a quick 15 minute break and whipped out the body. Literally 15 minutes, including this post. I was so not looking forward to the body because of the scales, but I thought about using the Stained Glass filter, the Warp transform, and some layer effects and it came out beautifully. Now this is just a proof of concept so it is a little sloppy, but I think it will work out great.

Check it out, check it outers!

And here it is later that night.

And The Following Day...

Painting the Dragon

2010-06-22T19:25:00.001-07:00

Started painting the dragon tonight. Working on the lower jaw, but it is time for some sleep now.

Guardian Cross Mock Up

2010-06-21T18:33:00.000-07:00

Just a quick mock up of a candidate for the cover to my daughters short story Guardian Cross.

E3

2010-06-18T20:37:00.000-07:00

After wasting about half an hour on G4 watching the crappiest games of the year I decided to head on over to YouTube and look for some games that actually look like they are worth a crap. Amazingly enough I found a few. Here they are in no particular order.

The Force Unleashed 2

Oh heck yeah - Can't wait for this one. First one was one of my all time favorite games!

Portal 2

Another one of my favorites gets a sequel!

Star Wars: The Old Republic

Not sure how excited I am for a MMORPG, but this trailer kick ass!

InFAMOUS 2

I really liked the original, so I'll probably give this one another shot.

Transformers War for Cybertron

Something about this trailer that makes me want to run out and buy this next week.

And that is about it. Wow, 5 games is it? And only one of them am I really looking forward to. Good thing there are a thousand and one great movies coming out this year I guess.

Dragon Cross

2010-05-26T18:28:00.000-07:00

Before I could get to far into my last project, my daughter asked me to draw a nice image to use for a short story she is writing. She wanted to make a story about dragons after seeing How to Train your Dragon, so here is a sketch in progress.

2010-05-15T09:14:00.000-07:00

tarting a new project just for practice and thought I would also stretch my Photoshop skill in painting a bit. Hopefully it doesn't come out like complete crap because I am going to attempt to do a body, but what the hell. You gotta start somewhere right. anyway. Here was my beginning progress last night.

First a plate for the background.

And starting to layout the character for the foreground. This may take me all weekend alone as I needs a lot of practice for full figures.

2010-05-13T20:09:00.001-07:00

In getting back into drawing again I have found myself addicted to art books. Although Norman Rockwell has always been my favorite artist, I find that I gravitate more towards the modern artists of which it turns out seems to be in bountiful supply. The first books I ordered were Francisco Herrera's Sketchbox 3 and Berona' Hundred Years War. The later being more of an actual book than a sketch book. Details after the break.

Berona's hundred Years War

Francisco Herrera's Sketchbox 3

No other way to describe this one other than awesome. I love everything about this artist. The only thing that troubles me is that fact that it seems to be impossible to get the first two books. But at least I have # 4 coming out soon to look forward to. Oh that, and wish the books was thicker with more art. At only about 30 pages, I am left wanting more.

2010-05-01T21:08:00.000-07:00

Ended up cleaning and rearranging my den today so didn't get to as much sketching as I wanted, but here are a few sketches to show my progress through the Structure of Man. Jury is still out on how I like this one. The method seems to appeal to me, but Riven is a bit on the dry side when it comes to speaking. Especially when you have to watch the videos several times to get the formulas down that he is teaching. Anyway, I am able to do the side completely from memory now, so tomorrow I will work on the front and continue to the more simplified methods.

So much to do, so little sleep.

2010-04-30T19:02:00.000-07:00

So along with playing the guitar and learning Objective C I am also back at drawing again. Starting with the head, here are some sketches from tonight. In time I will post every drawing I do, but for now, I will refrain from posting thousands of skeletons as I get familiar with the human form. I fond it funny that my first drawing is usually my best, and then they get worse from there. Can you guess the progression of the images here?

Also of note is two new artists that I found that I really like. I am creating a list of all of them on the blog which I am redesigning now that blogger has so many great templates out there.

A day with my iPad.

2010-04-03T17:17:00.000-07:00

I remember a couple months a go having an asinine argument about how much I hated the very thought of the iPad. Actually I hated a lot about Apple. They strike me as the type to think that they are so far above everyone else that they can make there own rules, and you know what, they can. I don't know what it is, but they just seem to get it right. With the exception of Flash, for a first generation device, I don't think they could have done much better. What is it with all other companies and there refusal to put the time and effort into the UI. It has been over two years since the iPhone and the only company to even come close is Palm, but they end up just trying to play catchup.

From an amazing almost 11 straight hours of use without charging, to a great UI to surf the web with I love this thing. Really there were only two sites that I even noticed the lack of Flash on. Beside the occasional blank square where an annoying add should have been playing, 3DBuzz.com and JamPlay.com were the only two that I could not watch training videos on. Now that is a huge downfall in my book, but the browser is so fast that it has me wondering if speed is partially reason Apple ditched Flash. If I can find a remedy for these two sites, I wouldn't even give Flash a second thought as it slipped into the cold dark techno graveyard. Always hated developing in Flash anyway.

In any case, that is just about all I have to say about that. Now time to go see how awesome the Marvel Comics App is.

Got an iPad? I Do.

2010-04-03T09:38:00.001-07:00

So after hearing nothing but rave reviews on the iPad I decide to see if I can pick one up at my local Best Buy. I pull up a couple minutes before they open their doors and join the 10 - 15 people waiting in line. Upon opening the doors we all walk back to the Mac section and everyone starts fondling and ogling the display models where I promptly ask how we buy one and am directed to Customer service. Apparently I am the first to actually ask where to go to buy one as I am the last one to arrive, yet the first one to get one. I have to admit that I did kind of feel bad swiping my card as I heard that some of them had been waiting for hours to get theirs and that guy just strolls on in and gets one before they do. Oh Well, there is no way I would have camped out like that. I learned my lesson a long time ago at a midnight release party for G-N-R Use Your Illusion.

Be back later for more details on how good this thing actually is.

Quick Riff Idea

2010-03-11T17:54:00.000-08:00

Just threw down another idea for Lair of the Wyrm.

Another try at the Wyrm Intro

2010-03-07T20:10:00.000-08:00

This post mostly for posterity. But really started delving into all the settings in my Line 6 GuitarPort and spent literally hours just playing around with all the cabinets, pre amps, and effects. Finally settled on this for the sound so far. I will probably embellish on the backing and solo a bit in later recordings but I think it captures the emotion I am going for right now and I am extremely happy with the structure so far. Now I just need to further my education so I can keep up with the next section as I hear it in my head.

Also of note is that I added a little Slap Bass and some random hi hat. Really starting to learn how important a metronome is. Now I just need to start using it.

Taxation WITHOUT Representation.

2010-03-05T17:22:00.000-08:00

My friend John May and I were having a discussion about politics and everything wrong with the world when the topic of the fair tax came up and it occurred to me that we as a country had operated for over a hundred years without a federal income tax and it got me thinking, just how was that possible. I mean you always hear that we wouldn't have roads without it, or schools, or even welfare right. Wrong, it occurs to me that any of these things being implemented by the federal government would be completely unconstitutional. Now I am a simple man, I'll admit that, but I find that life often gives simple solutions. These should all be the responsibility of the state for the simple reason that if you don't like the way a state is being run and you happen to be in the minority, you have the option of 49 other states to move to. As a federal program, there is no choice.

It really gets my blood boiling lately because the thoughts of "that is the governments responsibility" still rings in the back on my mind from only a year ago. I mean it was the way I was taught to think. Then Obama took office and his policies really turned my world upside down. Its like all these things that I thought were just natural were suddenly thrown into gear and driven off a cliff and I was being asked to give up all my freedom simply because I had worked hard to get where I am and it was "unfair" that others that had no ambition or drive could not share in my success. And I am not even that successful. My parents were unable to give me higher education, I obtained that on my own. I spent many sleepless nights for years learning 3D and programming to get to a middle class job, all the while struggling to pay tuition, Taxes, and take care of a family. Don't tell me that Pooky deserves a piece of my success because he didn't know any better than to rob, rape, and steal. I had those same choices. I had an alcoholic Father. I knew better! The difference is that I had the motivation to do better and to make something of myself. Pookey on the other hand was let out of prison after a fraction of his sentence and handed a welfare check. What motivation did he have to succeed when he could spend the whole day high off the governments payroll? These Progressive reasons don't jive with me anymore.

My problem is that I have been unable to figure out how we get out of this mess and I know the first part is through education, but the more I learn, the more I see how complicated the whole system has become. I think the answer is in simplification of the system. The best place to start is by shrinking the tumor; federal government. The best way to do that is to cut off its support. Killing the 16th (and the 17th amendment). Without a unlimited money supply the states take the role they were designed for and the limited government that is left has to live off of a limited supply of cash.

If you made it this far then you are probably interested enough to read this.

http://www.constitutionallycorrect.org/Political-Philosophy/State-Sovereignty/state-sovereignty-Part-2.htm

Ordered two new books

2010-03-04T18:17:00.001-08:00

Too dang tired to do much tonight although my lessons of learning the notes on the guitar are coming along. Seems that reading music from Middle school has been buried in the recesses of my mind and seems to be coming back to me as it is not all that painful. Sure I feel like a 1st grader playing songs like On Top of old Smokey, but hey, you gotta start somewhere.

In any case it occurred to me that I really don't have a good handle on where I want to go. I mean yes, I know I want to get better, but I have no real heroes right now. So I asked myself who were my favorites guitarists and after a lot of thought I cam up with a pretty short list.

James Hetfield
Jimi Hendrix
Kirk Hammett
Slash

Now sure there are lots of others, but these are my all time favorites. So I started out with Metallica as I already know more of there stuff than any other band and ordered the Art of James Hetfield and Kirk Hammett. Life stories, pictures, practice routines, and other great stuff. Anyway, can't wait for them to arrive.

2010-03-02T22:12:00.000-08:00

Still Playing around with Lair of the Wyrm (Yep, it is no longer a Purple Worm). Working on leading out of the intro in to something heaver. I like where it is going. Basically my whole process right now consists of visualizing the music as if it were a sound track. I picture the beginning like this: panning around a cliff side with bodies strewn about showing many victims, then a foot slams down crushing a skull as the heavy guitar starts and switches from sad to dramatic as a our hero comes into view.

First try at an actual Intro

2010-02-25T20:19:00.000-08:00

Have been having a little fun with this one. And figured since I was learning keyboard as I learn theory I would throw in a little off beat kick drum as well. Ha!

Anyway, first attempt at an Intro to Lair of the Worm.

Lair of the Worm and 100th Post.

2010-02-22T19:41:00.000-08:00

So my friend Kevin Mayle was talking to me about a cover he is about to start working on and after my hand was just about to fall off after practicing tonight, a thought popped into my mind. Well even though I was heading back into my room to put up the guitar, I just had to go with it. See he is about to start doing something or other, might not even be art. Its hard to tell cause I am usually tuning him out and thinking of other more important things like M.C. Hammer's pants and why they ever went out of style. Anyway, for some reason a purple worm came to mind... hmmm, maybe I invented the whole concept of the purple worm.. No I am thinking of the Getto-Thang. In Any case I spent a little while longer just throwing down a few ideas for a song about the purple worm and decided the title would be Lair of the Worm. Below is a little brainstorming. Remember that I still suck at guitar, so this will be a long work in progress, but I already like where it is going, so who knows.

Now back to my earlier thought. Why did Hammers pants go out of style?

Oh Yeah, That's why.

I'm Back

2010-02-10T11:53:00.000-08:00

After a period of trying to update my blog over at LiveJournal I finally got fed up with the DHTML adds that are so obnoxiously obtrusive that I am left wanting really really bad things to happen to the site and any servers that they reside on. So I am moving back here. These days I am not really doing much 3D as I now have a career in Web Development and that seems to satisfy the evil muse that likes to abuse me. But I have picked up the guitar again and am really learning how to play. I am actually holding off on really learning songs until I get the basics down, but have been creating little crappy tunes of my own (Not really sure they can be called music), two of which you will find after the break.

Hate Your Face

Golden Showers

Anyway, I intend to use the blog as a Place to update my progress as I contuninue to learn more and more over at JamPlay.com and other various books.

Clearing Selection on a bound ListBox in SilverLight 2

2009-10-15T06:03:00.000-07:00

Spent way too much time trying to figure out how to unselect an item from a Listbox that had it's ItemsSource bound to a collection. Finally figured out that simply removing the binding and adding it back in with a forced layout update would do the trick.

ListBox lb = sender as ListBox;

var test = lb.ItemsSource;

lb.ItemsSource = null;

lb.ItemsSource = test;

lb.UpdateLayout();

Adding an OnMouseWheelScrolled to DevExpress AgDataGrid

2009-10-13T10:11:00.000-07:00

Just a quick note on adding an event triggered when you scroll the AgDataGrid using the Mouse Wheel.

In the DataGrid.cs file add an event...

public event EventHandler OnMouseWheelScrolled;

then in the DoVerticalScrollChange method add (my code in Bold)...

protected virtual void DoVerticalScrollChange(object sender, MouseWheelHandlerEventArgs args) {

if(!IsMouseInControl) return;

if(Parent == null) return;

if(VerticalScrollBar != null) {

VerticalScrollBar.Value -= args.Delta;

if (OnMouseWheelScrolled != null)

OnMouseWheelScrolled(sender, args);

PerformLayout();

}

Now I am able to hide a popup when the user scrolls the grid.

Music for my wife

2009-07-16T06:40:00.001-07:00

RIP Maya.

Finally Hit the Mark!

2007-12-30T17:44:00.000-08:00

OK, it's been a while since I updated this blog, but it hasn't been because of a lack of progress as I have been spending a lot of my spare time working on the characters. It's just that I haven't had a lot of spare time. I will admit though that I have spent some time playing Guitar Hero 3 and UT3. It's nice to just veg out every once in a while, especially over the holidays.

Anyway's, the latest development is that I have accepted the fact that I will be auditing this class as there is no way I can keep up with the assignments and produce quality work. It is a good thing too, because what you will see as my final Jake below comes from what is actually the 4th concept (one was so off the mark that I ended up not even using it, although you might get to see it changed a bit for Cooper or perhaps the bully character. Stay Tuned.

First here is Concept number one all colored and ready to go. This one was pretty much thrown out from the begriming as it was the first time I had drawn in years, so I kind of knew I would end up not liking it. But I have to say that I am extremely happy to see it is kind of like riding a bike. A little wobbly at first, but I am slowly getting "it" back.

After this we got the assignment bomb dropped on us where we were to do two concepts of each character including neutral, action, and head shot. This also included image planes as well as a rough modeled head in ZBrush. THAT'S 14 total concepts for me!!!! Due by Dec 24th with a holiday Extension until the 2nd as 3D Buzz was pretty much closed down until then. More on this in a few.

Next I decided to throw down some quick (remember quick for me is an hour or two) sketches to get a direction to go. First was this:

Still not working for me, so I moved on to this:

Now this really started working for me. So I spent quite a bit of time on it today and came up with the final sketch and then inked it in. Getting to the coloring now.

Now if I had just followed the assignments just for the sake of getting them done in time I would have never come up with this character. That makes me more than happy to audit the class. I absolutely love this design! And there is also the fact that this is just my hobby, so I am not really interested in pushing myself in that fashion right now. But who knows, A lot of the class is having trouble meeting the deadline even with the extension, so we may get a reprieve and I may still stay in the class. But there is still the rigging that I know will take me quite a while to get those Trip Park / Skottie Young style expressions that I am going for.

On a side note I also did start working on Tweak and have this done. I will end up going through the same exercise even though I really do like it. I just think it needs to be refined a bit more.

Time for Tweak

2007-12-01T18:21:00.000-08:00

OK, finished the rough outline for Tweak and I am gaining my abilities back slowly but surely. Had to borrow a little inspiration from Skottie Young, but it helped a lot on this one. Even though I still favor Trip's style, I don't want this to be a rip off of it. So I am looking for that same style and using it through the skeleton stages and then taking it all on my own from there.

In any case this class has done something that I just didn't think was possible, and rekindled my love for creating 2D art. But I have to give credit to Trip Park as well. If it weren't for his books then I probably wouldn't have been so inspired to even give 2D a shot again.

Tweak

2007-12-01T18:12:00.000-08:00

Jake Takes Shape

2007-11-30T17:55:00.000-08:00

As you can see from the Last post I finally picked up a pencil (Well OK, so it was a Pen for my Tablet PC) and whipped out this concept for Jake. And By Whipped I mean hours and hours of agonizing over many mistakes until I finally came up with something that I like.

I will say that for not having drawn in so long that I guess I am happy with it. Got a lot more to do though, so time to break open the Trip Park, Skottie Young, Gregory Titus, and Francisco Herrera inspiration and get to designing the next character.

Jake Gatsley

2007-11-30T17:51:00.000-08:00

My Story Assignment.

2007-11-12T05:11:00.000-08:00

Sorry I was going to have a little fun with some creative writing on this one, but I haven't really slept in two days because of this bronchitis and the medication has not been very conducive to writing. Anyway Bawlz is the product of four young boys in boarding school. The brain child Jake Gatsley, Bawlz TV is simply a YouTube style show about whatever interests the boys at that particular Moment.

The Characters:

Jake Gatsley: The oldest in the group. He seems to be you average misguided kid of age 11. Not tall, but not short. Black spiky hair, yet not enough to really make an impact. Brown Eyes, Pale skin, Jake blends in well with his surroundings and the only time he really stands out is on the show.

Kaz Livingston: Son of Hollywood Actress Jennifer Livingston, Kaz is a very outgoing young man. He stands out in every way, from his good looks, to his million dollar smile. The intellectual of the bunch, Kaz often writes the skits for the show and because of the fact that he talks with his entire body, he shares as much air time as Jake.

Johnny Lomax - Aka Tweak: An Engendering genius he is responsible for all the technology behind the show as well as quite a few improvised props whenever needed. Very introverted, Tweak has close to no air time and prefers to be left to his "ideas".

Cooper Holloughs: The would be runt of the group if it were not for his size. He is the largest in both height and girth, Cooper is actually a big teddy bear of a boy. Filled with insecurities, he prefers to be left alone but find himself getting into all kinds of trouble at the boys expense and tends to be the blunt of a lot of jokes. Although lately Kaz has been encouraging him to be the Joker more often.

The Short:

Our short opens up like every other episode with Jake announcing the Show and date. Something like "Hello and welcome to Bawls TV for Thursday Mach 15th". But the last word hangs for a moment as Jake tilts his head forming a bewildered expression. A split second of terror washes over him as his forehead explodes in blue gobs that seem to stream in every direction. He is sent reeling back in pain partially from the impact, but mostly from twisting his body to try and avoid the paintball that was launched with pinpoint accuracy. Opening credits role.

Show starts with Kaz in tears of laughter sitting next to Jake who is vigorously trying to clean off the blue paint, but succeeding in only making his forehead even more red beneath the blue now tinting his skin. Kaz introduces the show's lineup of clips including Coopers Midnight release of Halo 3, Jake's sit up challenge, and Tweaks homemade paint ball surprise.

As Kaz gets into the entertainment news he stops to comment on the nasty habit that cooper has of picking his nose. As the camera cuts to Cooper with his finger buried knuckle deep, Cooper shrugs, pulls out his finger and flicks his prize into the air. Slapping and muffled sounds of disgust can be heard as the camera cuts back to Kaz who is standing up wildly wiping off his mouth making "blaugh" noises in an apparent attempt to get the booger dislodged from his lip. This time Jake is in tears almost falling out of his chair who directs the show in the midst of his laughter to Cooper and his midnight launch of Halo 3.

Cooper proceeds to talk about the crazy night of standing in line and how the worst part happened after he actually got the game. He proceeds to explain how Rex, the schools bully, was waiting for him as he cut through a back alley to sneak back to his dorm room. As he starts to explain the encounter the scene fades to a dream sequence where in a Dragon Ball Z Style Rex and Cooper fight for his Limited Edition copy of the game. As he explains the story, he starts talking faster and with a deeper voice as he ends up narrating just how he lost his copy of the game.

Back to Kaz and Jake, Kaz asks if Tweak finished his new project and they introduce the PBG 3000. A homemade paintball grenade. Examining 4 of them Kaz and Jake's faces light up like it's Christmas. And in Bawlz TV style they end up setting all four of them off covering everything in Blue and red paint, including the Camera lens. Voices are heard as they are forced to bring the show to a close.

20 Question - Kaz Livingston

2007-11-10T21:14:00.000-08:00

Time to go to work on Kaz.

1. Pretend you are walking down a street, and you see your character for the first time. Describe them in one word. No matter how far fetched or illogical this initial impact may be, it may prove invaluable. Use clippings from newspapers or magazines as illustrations of how you envisage your character by their ‘looks’.

Most women would react with "What a cute kid" so Cute would be the one word.

2. Take physical impressions next. The posture, stance, the stride and rhythm of movement. Possibly some body gestures, as well as bulk and density of physical build, as these will give some clues to their character as well.

Kaz has blue eyes and blond hair. Real clean cut kid of average build. He has a smile that really sells him as the "looker" of the bunch and he is very energetic, especially when he talks. He will tend to act out situations using his whole body to tell a story. He is not above physical harm to himself in telling a story.

3. Are you reminded of an animal or object? However, be careful of clichés.

Shesh. This is a hard question for all the characters. I don't know, how about a mouse. because he is very quick and very animated.

4. Can you sense or see a color to the character? Are they a bright person, or do they blend in with their surroundings?

Kaz would be a bright color. Like vibrant Yellow or some kind of day glow color. He is very animated and very outgoing. He always stand out in a crowd.

5. What kind of clothes does the character wear? This is usually a key to psyche and social status.

Very clean cut, Kaz wears his uniform with pride. He comes from a long line of men who attended the academy. Although overshadowed by Jake, he is really the most popular of the group.

6. The person’s voice. Tone and quality. Do they speak with an accent? What sort of words do they use? How do they say something, and what do they prefer to leave unsaid?

Kaz speaks perfect English and always like to be the voice of reason but he is not afraid to speak the truth in a way that people can take even the most harsh of criticism.

7. Where does the character live during the story? How does this affect them?

He shares the dorm room with the other three boys and occupies the bottom bunk below Jake. He seems quite happy with the arrangement.

8. Where and when were they born? What about their childhood? How does their background shape their personality?

Born and raised in Hollywood, Kaz was sent to the academy and has been friends with Jake since the first grade. Being the son of Hollywood star, Jennifer Livingston, he has never had an issue with money and is usually the money man for all of their schemes. being in the spotlight is nothing new to him either and affords him the ability to use his Hollywood looks to buy his way into and out of most situations.

9. Early influences? i.e. Parents/teacher/first love/hero? These can be a key to personality.

Kaz hopes to one day follow in his mom's footsteps even though his father hopes that he will go off and follow in his political footsteps. He and his republican father don't usually see eye to eye especially with him dreaming of a Hollywood career.

10. Decade. Does the one your character lives in influence them? Shape them or their style i.e. 60s. Do they accept the standard of their time, or rebel?

Like his Hollywood role models Kaz doesn't accept the way that society needlessly wastes our resources. But around school he is pretty soft spoken about his beliefs, going along with his crew. He sees school as mostly being about having fun.

11. What is the most important thing to the character? What do they want more than anything else? Do they daydream or fantasize at all?

Kaz is all about the Internet. Especially anything that gets his name and picture out there. Like Jake he always has his iPod with him keeping tabs on the latest Hollywood happenings.

12. What is their conflict? Is their conflict imposed by circumstances? Or have they created them? And who will settle them?

The expectations of his father is his biggest conflict and is something that Jake will help him overcome in the years ahead.

13. How far will they go to get what they want? i.e. steal or commit a crime? This may hook the reader by this ploy too.

Kaz has very big dreams but they are really just dreams. In reality he is unsure of what he really wants to do with his life. Hey he's only 11.

14. What does the character fear most? Will it keep them from achieving their ends?

Kaz is pretty go lucky. His only fear at 11 is that he would have to leave school and his fiends.

15. More revealing areas: Gambling/alcohol/money/love how do they handle competition?

Kaz has a healthy sense of competition, but handles it very well. it is the competition he loves and not who wins or loses.

16. How do they react to children, old people, foreigners and the sick?

He is actually very kind to others feelings and is usually the first to stick up for those that don't "deserve" to be picked on. Although he often has to hide it from his friends, he doesn't particularly like getting into trouble. He more enjoys the game than the actual sport.

17. How does the character shape the plot? How does the plot shape the character?

Kaz is always in the lime light and thus is pretty much a part of every aspect of the show. He writes some of the scripts and often has the most screen time.

18. How does the character interact with other members of the cast? Who acts as their foil? Who contrasts or compliments them? And, who threatens them?

Kaz gets along with everyone. His foil would have to be Twitch who is the introvert of the group. The really only threat to Kaz is Rex Stimpleton, the school bully. He often like to pick on Kaz because of his wealth family but usually find protection from Jake.

19. Do YOU like or hate this character? What is desirable or negative about them? What are their faults? Mix and match light with dark, in much the same way a painter would.

Kaz should be a very likable character. He is cute with the million dollar smile, charismatic, and seems to have a genuine heart. The trouble he gets into should always come across as boy just being Boys no matter how bad the situation.

20. Finally, what is there to make the reader care about what happens to them?

The viewer should genuinely care about Kaz because of his uplifting spirit and sense of Fun. Kaz just sees the world as a good place and should reflect this view onto the audience.

20 Questions - Jake Gatsley

2007-11-10T14:31:00.000-08:00

OK, the story is due in less than a week. So time to get my butt in gear. I am going to stay true to what I have done so far and continue my Brainstorming here. I have no clue of what I am doing so we'll see where this goes. First the hard part. 20 questions about Jake.

Unless he was engaging me, then I probably wouldn't notice him at all. When Jake want's his presence known, it is usually very obvious that he is there.

Jake is of average build with wild brown hair and large brown eyes and has unusually pale skin. Not very swift, he lumbers around like a person of much larger stature, tending to blend into his surroundings in appearance.

3. Are you reminded of an animal or object? However, be careful of clichés.

If he were to be compared to an animal it would have to be a cat due to his accepting attention on his own terms. If it weren't for his personality he might be a very forgettable person.

4. Can you sense or see a color to the character? Are they a bright person, or do they blend in with their surroundings?

if anything Jake is devoid of color in appearance. He tends to like cool earth tones if there is any color to his appearance at all.

5. What kind of clothes does the character wear? This is usually a key to psyche and social status.

Like all the other children, Jake will usually be seen in the school issued uniform. He usually has pants that are a couple sizes too big for him, giving them a baggy appearance though and his tie will usually be untied or loosened.

6. The person’s voice. Tone and quality. Do they speak with an accent? What sort of words do they use? How do they say something, and what do they prefer to leave unsaid?

For an American, Jake would have no particular accent. And he will usually be talking about himself or about something negative about others. He will constantly turn conversations away from his family.

7. Where does the character live during the story? How does this affect them?

At the Singleton School for Boys. This is the center of the story and moreover most of the story takes place in his dorm room where Bawlz TV is taped.

8. Where and when were they born? What about their childhood? How does their background shape their personality?

Jake was born in New York, but has been in boarding schools since he started school. He knows very little of his family except what memories he chooses to remember and what he has made up to establish various reasons for their abandonment over the past couple of years.

9. Early influences? i.e. Parents/teacher/first love/hero? These can be a key to personality.

Jake worships his father, who is apparently a Linebacker for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Ironic actually because he has seen him more when watching his games on TV than he has seen in in real life.

10. Decade. Does the one your character lives in influence them? Shape them or their style i.e. 60s. Do they accept the standard of their time, or rebel?

Yes, 100%. He is a child of the 21st century. As such he is never seen without his iPod and has created Bawlz TV for YouTube as well uses his cell phone to keep constant updates to other such sites as Twitter and FaceBook.

11. What is the most important thing to the character? What do they want more than anything else? Do they daydream or fantasize at all?

Jake lives in the moment never taking the future into consideration. He does not give himself the luxury of daydreaming as there is always something to do to keep his mind off of the reality that he is alone.

12. What is their conflict? Is their conflict imposed by circumstances? Or have they created them? And who will settle them?

Jake's Conflict is his longing to be just like all the other kids and have a real relationship with his family. His friends have become his family and no matter how he treats them he would give his life in a heart beat for any one of them. His conflict defines and shapes who he is throughout life and will not be settled until he much older with a family of his own.

13. How far will they go to get what they want? i.e. steal or commit a crime? This may hook the reader by this ploy too.

Jake is very used to getting what he wants and is not above stealing to get it. he has a knack for justifying just about anything to get his way. In a way it is each moment of happiness that he strives for to keep the void filled.

14. What does the character fear most? Will it keep them from achieving their ends?

A fear so deep that he himself does not really even realize it. That is the fear of realizing that his parents have all but abandoned him. In the past couple of years they have stopped sending letters and have even stopped having him down for the holidays.

15. More revealing areas: Gambling/alcohol/money/love how do they handle competition?

Jake lives for competition. It is always a chance for him to rise above others. He is very adept at meeting challenges. This will follow him as he grows, excelling at everything he does. It will not be until he has kids of his own that he will realize that this is the same neurotic drive that his father had and cause him to break the chain in a sense.

16. How do they react to children, old people, foreigners and the sick?

This is a hard one as he really only knows the small world around him. The outside world is only known to him through the Internet and seen as a source of amusement.

17. How does the character shape the plot? How does the plot shape the character?

Jake is the center of the show. He would be the one defining the bigger plot if this ever goes beyond a short.

18. How does the character interact with other members of the cast? Who acts as their foil? Who contrasts or compliments them? And, who threatens them?

Jake usually gets his way and is usually pretty intolerant otherwise unless it his immediate friends. They are the only ones who can get away with poking fun at him, others would usually end up being a part of the show in the most embarrassing ways. His foil would invariably be Cooper. He is usually the blunt of Jake's jokes and has a knack for bringing out the worst in Jake.

19. Do YOU like or hate this character? What is desirable or negative about them? What are their faults? Mix and match light with dark, in much the same way a painter would.

The viewer should love to hate this character because he often says what is on his mind and should make the audience laugh even though they know they should be upset about what just happened.

20. Finally, what is there to make the reader care about what happens to them?

There should be an underlying theme of growing up idolizing parents that are never there for him. Although Cooper is often his foil on the show, it is Kaz that will bring out the true Jake and show that he really is just a scarred and lonely kid trying to cope with his feeling of abandonment.

Wheshew. That was rough. I hope that makes sense, but really I did it just to get me to start thinking about Jake some more. I am hopping it will help not only in the character interactions, but to help drive the story as well. But now it's time for Kaz.

The wonderful world of Disney

2007-11-05T17:28:00.000-08:00

Well there is definitely no better place to find inspiration for this little short that I am doing then Disney World. And let me tell you that even after the grueling day of wading through tourists, waiting in line, and just generally trying not to kill my sweet little girls (Who aren't so sweet after a day at the park) that I was very inspired by some of the great attractions. I actually found inspiration in some of the strangest places.

The most bizarre was, well lets just say that I told my wife "If I don't make it to heaven, this is where I will end up." Yeah, It's a small world is that bad, yet there was something very cool about it this time. And I won't even go into how the ride stopped for like 10 minutes just to torture me even further. Next time I will have to take my iPod or at least load up half an hour on my phone and I will love it. Anyway, it was the first time I actually stopped and looked around and there is some pretty cool characters there. Even though it did not fit the style I am shooting for, my bigger plan for this project is to take Cooper's stories into other styles. So I made some mental notes just in case.

But the big one was one I had never seen before; Mickey's PhilharMagic. It was done in 3D and was a college of different musical tunes from various movies. Now I have always had a soft spot for the good Disney Musicals like Aladdin, Lion King, and even Beauty and the Beast and this had them all. Throw in the reproduction of the characters in 3D and I was just loving it. I do have to admit that the characters did loose a little bit of their original charm in 3D but still I liked them a lot.

Also worth mentioning was the new Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor. I actually thought it was pretty funny, but when I realized that it was real time rendering because of the interaction with the crowd, I was really digging it. This also explained why Sully is not in the show.

In any case this leads me to the actual point of this post. Even if I don't wind up using it I thought of maybe a crush from a female character that would end up being a short musical skit where the girl is all mushy and gets a typical response from a pubescent boy full of insults and disdain.

I would love to do something like this, but I am really pushing the envelope on it because of music. Voicing would be possible with myself and my daughter, not that I have a great voice or anything, but I think enough to pull it off. Especially with my daughters voice to carry the whole skit. But I know no composers and that is the tricky part. Maybe I can find some old Operas to borrow melodies from or something. I will start looking into it and report back here if it is truly dooable or not and if it even fits in.

Testing Multiple Image Posts

2007-10-31T15:14:00.000-07:00

Just Another Story Idea

2007-10-31T12:57:00.000-07:00

Well not so much a story idea as just a general idea. I Like to add to the credits, even though they will be pretty short I was thinking of creating some bloopers. The one that springs to mind is:

The booger blooper

We show Bawlz trying to deliver a news story and starts to crack up. "Cooper man, That's nasty!, I'm trying to do a story here". Camera cuts over to Cooper who is digging in his nose. Surprised he shrugs, flicks the booger in the air and the sudden sound of Bawlz can be heard as the camera cuts back to him standing up and wildly wiping his mouth off "Blak, muwaf.. Bluagh!" The credits will end with Bawlz saying "I can still taste it"

Testing Images

2007-10-30T13:19:00.000-07:00

The power of Google.

2007-10-28T20:10:00.000-07:00

So tonight I get an e-mail from my friend Kevin that Trip Park has contacted him about the man behind these blogs because of a Google alert set up for the Rotten School books. Now on one hand this is really cool, as Trip instantly became one of my favorite artists after seeing his work on the R.L. Stine Rotten School series. On the other hand it then occurred to me that I just kind of whimsically throw up posts on my blogs without thought to who might be reading them and what they could take from them. And up until this moment I didn't really care because after all this is just a hobby and I am just kind of learning as I can.

What this blog is about:

So let me take a moment to spell out the meaning of my ADP Blog for those outside of the ADP class. ADP is short for the Mastering Maya: Advanced Digital Production class over at 3D Buzz. Everything in this blog is about the assignments we as students are working on for the class. Basically a short animation.

My Idea:

Mine started as several original ideas that would have been too much to handle in the class, so I will save them for a time when I have more experience under my belt, and more than 6 months to produce. The idea I decided on was meant to just be something that I could just have fun doing. So I started with the idea to spoof the 3D Buzz TV and News that they put on but to make them kids. It was from here that I decided that I liked the dynamics of the Harry Potter series revolving around a school, and after my daughter explained the Rotten school series the idea of a boarding school really fit well. It is growing from there as I continue to be inspired.

Bawlz TV gets a theme song.

2007-10-27T18:30:00.000-07:00

Last week I started the painful process of trying to find some music for my little short and let me tell you that some of the stuff I had to go through was indeed painful. But I have to say that I was quite surprised at just how much music is out there under the creative commons license with pretty much full rights for usage. And tonight I am almost positive that I found the song that I intend to use for the Bawlz TV intro sequence - Get Shakes - Day like today.

I embedded the file for your listening pleasure.

What's in a Name?

2007-10-27T15:45:00.000-07:00

Ever wonder what Buzz and the crew would be doing if they were all 10 years old? Yeah me neither. So even though I say the Buzz crew, my story (if you could call it that), is more "inspired by" rather than a direct spoof of Buzz TV and the Daily News. The characters are very loosely based on the crew. And in most instances as you will see below, completely different. So try not to think about the crews personalities too much as you read on. I am trying to appeal to a wide audience and not just the 3D Buzz community. So please try not to think, Wow that is just mean, or Zak is nothing like that. If you do, then punch yourself repeatedly about the eye and neck and slap a video of it up on YouTube!

For anyone else reading this that may not know what the hell I am talking about then you need to head on over to 3D Buzz and check it out. And oh yeah, did I mention that viewer discretion is advised on my Blog?

So, in a world where social networks and YouTube is king, I give to you Bawlz TV. Below is a little brainstorming I am starting to do on the whole concept so it may seem quite disjointed as I am just throwing ideas down to see where this whole idea goes. So you can bet that a lot will change as development continues.

Concept Brainstorming:

In today's world, what do four friends stuck in a boarding school deep in the middle of nowhere do to keep them occupied? The same thing every other kid their age does, turn to video games and the Internet. These four have created an Internet phenomenon in their dorm room with their Internet show Bawlz TV. I think I can get away with the word phenomenon as it seems to apply to anything getting more than 100 people involved these days. Well that and a show of the most boring performers you could possibly imagine trying to perform magic tricks for you.

Character Brainstorming:

Jake Bussey - Aka Bawlz

The originator of Bawlz TV, Jake is the obvious leader of the bunch. And although he is a goo kid at heart, he is into anything at someone else's expense. With a tough exterior Jake was often the kid left at school during the holidays but has recently been spending them with Kaz's family. As they are all required to wear school uniforms their looks will basically only differ in the way they wear their cloths and perhaps in between sessions. Jake will often wear pants that are obviously too big for him (Which could be a nightmare to animate). He will also never be seen without his white iPod which is usually playing some sort of hard core music.

Kaz Livingston - Aka Kaz

Jake's best friend and the "Cute" kid of the bunch, he often uses his kind looks to win his way into many situations that people would not usually fall for. He is also the intellectual of the bunch, but tries hard to hide it. And although the clean cut kid he uses

Johnny Lomax - Aka Lugar

An engineering genius he is also he youngest. He is always seen with some sort of contraption that you can bet will end up spelling pain for himself or someone else. His personality is very clean cut and he seems to have a very dry sense of humor.

Cooper Halloughs- Aka Tweak, Trip, or Twitch

(Haven't decided which one I like best yet)

Cooper is your everyday kid into just about anything technology. Cooper is the largest of the group in both size and weight, and although very menacing looking he is the kindest of all the boys. He would rather be playing video games, watching a movie, or reading a comic book than all the mischief that the other boys get him into. He is also leads the Entertainment news section of the show often telling overly fantasized versions of events in his life. These will often be animated in the show to match that of the distorting influence.

Comedy Brainstorming:

The Atomic Sit up

Jake bets Kaz that he can't do an atomic sit up. Jake sets him up to receive the full force of one of Coopers famous "Nukes" as he holds a towel over his forehead and eyes and releases it just when Cooper squats over him and lets it rip.

Note: This one will require that the "Nuke" be setup early to show it's intensity.

Game Day

Cooper relives the midnight launch of "yet to be named video game" in Dragon Ball style while trying to get through the crowds of people waiting in line.

Style:

Well the style is a funny thing. I spent two weeks thinking about which direction to go. I was in Target and my daughter got all excited because they had R.L Stine Rotten School books and she wanted a couple of them. After only a glance at Trip parks art I bought all that they had and the style was chosen. If you are not familiar with the art of Trip Park, then head on over to http://www.tripparkproductions.com/ and check it out. There you can also find a link to http://www.mypetskeleton.com/ which is well worth checking out as well.

Regardless, using ZBrush with this style has me very excited as it should bring a new level to this style in 3D. I am shooting for a gritty and grungy feel to the imagery rather than the traditional Pixar style that has become the norm these days.

So that's it for now. But there is a lot of work to do to get it all together, so look for more posts very soon on the story.

Getting the web page started

2007-10-13T18:45:00.000-07:00

OK, so its time to get my website setup for this class. Actually I have been working on it off and on for over a week now and am taking the opportunity to push my web knowledge a little further. First was CSS, then a little Ajax, and now a lot of Ajax as I ditch Microsoft's Ajax.net and delve into JSON. That is the point that I am at now, leaving the page in a bit of disarray. But it is for a better cause as it will help me out tremendously with my job as well as keeping my schedule in this class.

Right now it may not seem like much but I have started building my own little content system and even though I have the DB tables in place for comments and the such I am going to keep all of that here at blogger for the time being and focus on the important stuff to keep me on track like the scheduling page. I decided that it is inevitable that I will miss a date here or there so I will have to be able to compensate when needed so I have started by making the schedule update the colors according to due dates. It will change to orange when I have a week left on a task and red when I am down to the last day. If I miss the deadline then it will remain red showing that I missed it, otherwise ending up as green. From here I can keep track for future projects where I fall short this time around.

Last is the blog entries contained here on Blogger, but being filtered int the page with a little back end module RSS Toolkit to save time in parsing the XML myself. Although there is a problem in the linking that is making me want to sit down and do it myself, but we will see if time permits. But this should help me in just keeping a normal blog here and filtering it into the different sections of my page by use of labels.

Well that is enough Web talk for now. Time to work on the story a bit.

No GNUs is Good GNUs With GPL GNUs

2006-12-03T18:37:00.000-08:00

Here I thought I was the only person who absolutely hates Walmart. Was stuck in line for 20 minutes (I think this is a record for my quickest checkout at Walmart) and got into a conversation with someone on how we would rather spend twice the amount at Publix just to avoid the Hassle of pushing my way through the isles to finally endure the stampede of people going through the checkout like cattle. But for some reason every two months or so I completely forget that I hate Walmart and up and go there for what must be a masochistic desire to punish myself. But sitting here drinking my freshly brewed iced tea from my new ice tea maker somehow makes it worth it. Well at least I keep telling myself that, besides I have wasted time on worse things; watching Robocop 3 in the theatre comes to mind.

Anyway in between all my bitchly duties of the weekend I found a little time to continue Blocking out the GNU. albeit The the Mastering Maya: Advanced Modeling course from http://www.3dbuzz.com/ taught me an amazing amount, I was still having trouble focusing on this model. It seams that it has been getting worse and worse with each model and I thought it was because maybe I just didn't enjoy modeling as much as I thought. But I sat down and analyzed it today and it has actually been a clash between the two sides of my brain. You see I am completely winging it on this one and just free form modeling. With this style I am really in creative mode and I keep trying to focus on the technical at the same time by trying to keep quads, layout edge loops for animation, and just generally thinking too much about it. It gets to the point that I just want to delete the file. That is when I thought about what Kevin said about drawing Image Planes. He absolutely hates it because it completely takes the fun out of drawing for him by forcing all these rules upon him to make everything line up.

That is when I thought about the fact that the two hemispheres of my brain are probably battling for control the whole time I am modeling, so I decided to take a little bit of a different approach. As of right now I am not giving one ounce of thought about the technical side of things and just laying out the geometry so that it looks good and I actually started enjoying the whole modeling process again. Just like I did when I started and didn't even know about edge loops. Once I have him to a point that I am happy aesthetically, then I will go in and look at it technically, when my brain can switch into logic mode and just go to it. Anyway, here is the little bit of progress I got done today. Everything is as I picture it in my mind with the exception of the face which is a little too moose like a this point, but I will change that soon enough.

Back at it again.

2006-12-02T18:12:00.000-08:00

Well if you havn't figured it out by now I like to jump back and forth between projects, especially when learning on my own. So its time to get back to modeling before I forget everything that Zak drilled into my head. So I was going to do this one in the Silo 2 Beta, but seeing that I hit a couple of bugs right off the bat and the fact that I need to relearn how to use Silo, I decided to stick with Maya to lay out the base of this one. And oh yeah, this one is going to be for a couple of guys doing some Linux VTM's on 3D Buzz. They are offering 50 to a hundred buck for the best model, but seeing that this is all about Open Source, it just wouldn't feel right accepting money for it. :)

I actually wanted to start this one a little sooner and was waiting for a friend, Kevin Mayle, to do me up some concepts, but his lazy ass put it off to long. :) just kidding, I know how it is when someone wants you to do something artistic for them, and you are just not into it. Actually I hate it when people expect me to create something for them, like I owe them because I can do it and they can't. :) Anyway I decided to wing this one like I did the water demon oh so long ago. Anyway here is the start as I rough in some geometry to work from.

SOH-CAH-TOA SOH-CAH-TOA!!!

2006-11-16T09:44:00.000-08:00

So I spent my lunch learning a little about right triangles. What did I learn, well nothing new, just that I hate learning math. Looking around the net I found some videos over on 3D Buzz free to all, but they seem to go a little to fast for me, guess I will have to go back through all the basic math VTM's they have to refresh myself on multiplying and dividing fractions. Anyway, here is what I learned.

I understand the basics of it laying out the formulas, but it is in solving the formulas that I start to get a little intimidated. But it all boils down to why i have always hated math, I have no real use for any of it yet. Once I am able to start applying it to a real world problem then i will get into it and it will start to make sense.

In Too Deep

2006-11-16T06:32:00.000-08:00

So In my quest to really learn all there is to know about being a TD it has become abundantly clear that math is a very important part of it. The problem I have not a clue when it comes to anything higher than basic algebra (yes, I know i should have paid attention all those years ago in school). So I started teaching myself what I could find that I need to know. So far sin, cos, tan, arcsin, and mod seem to be the really important ones. So the next few posts will most likely focus on what I am learning as I go.

Numbers

Seems the most basic concepts need to come first: the types of numbers that I seem to be dealing with in 3D.

Rational numbers - Any number than can be written as a fraction - 3/4 = .75
Irrational numbers - Those that can't be written as a fraction - ∏ and√2

Interesting point I found out is that the float comes from floating point which refers to the decimal point floating back and forth. i.e. .75 x 10 = 7.5 or .75 / 10 = .075. I know I am kind of weird, but I like to know the origins of things like that.

S to the H to the Ape to the Node

2006-11-14T07:07:00.000-08:00

Quick post to get back into rigging and TD information. For some reason I got to thinking about creating rigs and using complex curves for control objects, but only had a slight idea of how to go about it. I figured that it would somehow involve getting multiple shape nodes under a single transform node, but had no clue how to do it. A little looking led me to a CGTalk article (*1): parent -r -s shapeNode transformNode.

Hmm, just parent the shape node to the another transform node, but why the -r for relative. Well looking in the help, I see that relative makes transforms relative to the parent, thus not needing its own transform node. Exactly what I was looking for. Now I will have to play around with it to see what creative uses i can make for it.

*1 - CGTalk Article - http://forums.cgsociety.org/archive/index.php/t-310723.html

What the hell are Z-Men?

2006-11-13T10:11:00.000-08:00

Holy Crap! Check out the whole poast over at CG Talk, gonna have to keep an eye on this guy.

CGTalk thread - http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?threadid=426903

e338's home page - http://www.e338.com/

Emergence Day!

2006-11-13T07:25:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was officially Emergence Day!

Basically, Gears of War was released and is available throughout the U.S. The graphic (if it is still there) to the right of the skull is in tribute to such an awesome game. Now I am not one to be a huge video game player, you know I am busy learning to make them and everything, but this is the type of game i have been waiting for all my life. It is the dawn of a new era in video games where I finally agree with the convergence of cinema and games. Could it have been better? Well sure, but not by much with the given technology I think, but none the less, I love this game. Now I just need more time to play it.

Friends are like roses...you have to look out for the pricks!

2006-11-10T09:27:00.000-08:00

I know, its been like a year since I updated. I started to move it all over to my own web page but that ended up being more trouble than it's worth, not to mention some prick who kept commenting about how my page riped off dataforge.net. Oh well, it actually makes me laugh at all the time he spent trying to defile the page and it took me like what, 5 seconds to navigate to the control panel and press the delet button.

Anyway, I started reading over my past blogs and thought, you know this is really cool to go back and read all this crap. So here I am, back again if for no other reason than to entertain myslef sometime in the future. So with that out of the way on to blogging and other sillyness.

So I'll start things off with something really cool that happened this week and that is getting intouch with an old friend, Darryl Sheakley. It's been twenty years since I last saw him and talking to him was really cool. I'm not talking about another kid on the palyground kind of friend here, but someone who greatly influenced my life. Iron Maiden, Comics, Drawing, it all pretty much started there and became the foundation for the love of 3D that I have today. The coolest thing is that he had a few comics published, and not only that but he is damn good, I love his style. Check him out at http://www.darrylsheakley.com

Catsup!

2005-12-30T12:29:00.000-08:00

So I have a lot to catch up on here. Let me take today’s post to catch up on my Sea Demon entry in the 3D Buzz Contest (Pictured Below). Well to start with it did horrible in th4e contest with only 5 votes. Given that it was a modeling contest I did not kill myself in fighting Maya to get it textured and skinned for the contest. Was this a mistake. It’s all about the presentation I guess. Really I am really happy with this model, and there were only two others in the contest that I thought merited much consideration only because they were so simple. Maybe I am looking at it all wrong, and it really is all about the presentation. Pure and simple.

Don’t get me wrong, I ma in no way bitter about it. Quio did a great job on his winning piece, and I had a blast, as well as learned a ton doing it. So I wouldn’t complain. Just pointing out my thoughts as I watched no one vote for my little demon. But you be the judge, and feel free to comment on anything that you don’t like about the model outside the fact that he is not textured or posed.

Without further ado, my Sea Demon.

Whats the deal?

2005-12-29T12:01:00.000-08:00

Yeah, I know i havn't updated my Blog in for freaking ever, well deal with it, OK. No really, I have been up to quite a bit and time has been very limited lately. But I bought my wife a Toshiba Tecra M4 for Christmas and I had to write about this thing. It Fucking awesome.. yeah, this one deserves the F bomb to get the point across. For thos of you that are not familuar with it, it is a laptop that swivels and converts into a tablet PC. Now I thoght for a couple extra hundred bucks I would just be buying a novelty, but now I am thinking that I am going to have to buy my wife another laptop because I dont want to give this thing up :)

First off it blew me away with the screen resolution; 1400 X 1050! you see I love high resolution to the point that people see my computer and press there faces against it whining things like, "Dang, how can you read that?". fighting to urge to smack them for getting my monitor all greazy, I just smile I and wish I could get a bigger monitor so I could run at a high resolution. The screen on the M4 makes me a happy man. :)

Then I got to play with the pen, and I must say that it is sweet. Presure sensitivity, smooth, and easy to use all in one package. I am just sitting here thinking about using Photoshop with this bad boy. can't wait to get home and thow it on here.

Any way the other big news is that I am making the move to orlando to gear up for the big career change. a little over a week to go and I am out of Fort Myers... Finally, after 33 years I am free... Selling the house also allowed me to buy a few toys like this laptop, and a new desktop with a nice quadro... hehe I feel like a kid at christmas...

Anyway once I get the new system set up I will start posting some more of my work, as I need to get modeling to build up a nice portfolio.

P.S. prob lots of grammer and spelling errors, but hey at least I got an update posted. :D

Underwater Demon Takes Shape.

2005-11-13T10:14:00.000-08:00

Well I may not have taken the time I wanted to work on him this weekend, but he is coming along quite nice. I spent quite a bit of time coming up with the head I wanted and have it pretty much roughed out. Just need to fix some topology here and there and he will be finished.

Pumping him up!

2005-11-10T13:29:00.000-08:00

Spending lots of time trying to get the musculature to look good now. I am liking the look of the shoulders, now I jut need to rearrange the topology so that it animates well. I think i am finally happy with the biceps and chest. Still lots to do, but this did help a lot. http://www.abodybuilding.com/muscoli.htm There really are not all that many muscle references that are of an actual body builder.

Lunchtime update!

2005-11-08T13:39:00.000-08:00

OK did a littlrefining and added a little detail over lunch today. Will need to break out the anatomy refereces when I get home for the foreamr/elbow area. I always screw that area up without ref images.

Another Contest

2005-11-08T10:33:00.000-08:00

Taking a little break from my character as I want to keep modeling but I was starting to get a little burnt out of him, so why not enter the latest 3D Buzz Modeling contest for underwater creatures. Well here is my Entry so far – leviathan.

Another update

2005-11-04T11:15:00.000-08:00

Damn, I actualy Love my latest project.

2005-10-31T06:41:00.000-08:00

OK, just had to post my latest update. I am extremely happy with this project so far. This is such a cool stage in graphics, you know the part where you are learning by leaps and bounds and you are actually satisfied with you work.

TurnX Work

2005-10-27T13:10:00.000-07:00

Doing a little moddeling for the guys over at TurnX.com for a little animation. it is in it's very early stages and still has a lot of work to go, but I am happy with it so far. Created in Silo by the way. I am insterested to see if the Advanced modeling Class will be good enough to turn me away from Silo for my modeling of Characters. :)

Little Plant of Horror

2005-10-27T13:06:00.000-07:00

My latest Finished Modeling project. Well I am not finished rigging itup but it is modeled and textured, So I am finished with it for now. Now on to another modeling project.

Adobe Illustrator images.

2005-10-12T13:10:00.000-07:00

These come from my college days from an Illustrator class. The first was inspired by my daughter and I tried to realy get that feeling she had on a Rainy day in Florida. Next was a simple still life of a Rose, followed by a homage to Stahlberg, and inally another still life with the mesh visible to give some insight into how these images were created.

Introducing the Spine

2005-10-11T12:30:00.000-07:00

So in scouring the net for Examples of really good rigs I finally have started finding some really good information. So today let me focus on a cool little spine setup I ran across. Actually there are several things about David Walden’s Rig that I like, but I will focus on the Spine first.

If you take a look at the image below you will see that when the lower joints, such as the lower torso, are rotated the upper joints (like the upper torso) automatically counter rotate to give a very natural feel to the rig, at least for me. Off the top of my head I would say that this is probably done with a reverse node. Lets find out.

(Only the lower joints were rotated here, the upper joints automatically counter rotate, Rig from www.davidwalden.com)

Looking into the Hypergraph and mapping one of the spine control curves we get the following.

Well there is a reverse node as well as some orient constraints. I will pull it all apart and the next update will be details of exactly how it all works.

Starting Fresh

2005-10-11T10:32:00.000-07:00

Ok, so in looking around I see that it is time to revamp my Blog and make a few changes. Rather than start an entirely separate Blog I want to keep with my original vision of this Blog but produce a lot better material to help others out there from the pain that I have gone through and am going through to become a Digital Prostitute (Selling my talent for money for those that have asked). So I am going to finish uploading all of my work from the past as I have time, but I am going to stop bing so vague about what I am learning so that those that are really wanting to learn this stuff can follow along.

Starting with today’s update I am going to make this more of a live tutorial, or at least as much as I can. I am going to borrow from Jason Busby (www.3dbuzz.com) and try make this a learning to rig on the fly. In other words I am going to post it as I learn it, all of it. Even if it is my own brainstorming, it will go up here.

So first thing is first – Time to clean up.