Trying to add some scifi like settings. In case you can't tell, this is supposed to be an apartment complex.
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2005 meets 2002

2005 meets 2002. I was dusting off some of the early characters I'd made in November 2002 for possible use as "extras." I wondered how they'd fare in size against my latest work. Putting the files together gave this. Copyright Greg M. Johnson 2005.
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An occasion for backing up my HDD! I've now got about 12 distinct characters, most of them named, with personalities thunked up as well. I'm trying to decide how many will be villians and exactly how the concept of villiany should be played out in any future production. Yeah, I know the lighting is off and some of them have vampiric stares off into space, but I was just thrilled to get thim into the same image. I found that with povray, group lights can give amazingly fast renders. The five characters in the front have group lights.


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This is where I'm currently headed with an entry to the POV COMP competition. (Hope I don't invalidate my entry by sharing here.) Almost by accident, I inserted the current code for my character into an old file with radiosity in it. I love how it turned out. It has a very strong sense of depth, yet is lacking in surface normals in a way that evokes cel animation. Yes, the left foot is bent (a bug in my code) and the left hip is so improperly modelled it's almost falling off (first time it's ever been in that position)!
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Some day, I might blog about DDT, ...

... and in the meantime, here's my del.icio.us list of articles you can start reading now:

http://del.icio.us/pterandon/ddt/1

Quote on 3D CG humans

"... The idea of doing him as a human **in 3D** wasn't really appealling either. That's a really difficult thing to do and it usually doesn't turn out really well. "

Brian Roberts, animator, "The Story of St. Patrick" segment on The World of Autotainment, Big Idea Studios.

Can you tell what's happening? Does this image work-- can you tell what the big red blur is in the background-- or do I need to fix the composition and modelling in the back? (Hint: it's supposed to be a bunch of threatening red robots.) Email me or leave a comment.
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Sorry Everybody II
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Sorry Everybody
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The Truth "versus" Love Project

I have been a fan of the writings of Francis Schaeffer, who was an apologist for straightforward relevation of truth in scripture. "God spoke truthfully but not exhaustively," is a quote that quickly comes to mind.

I'm also a big fan of the rock star Bono, who has also been involved in various humanitarian campaigns. Occasionally, he's come up with wonderfully inflammatory quotes about how nonbelievers will view the church if it were seen as indifferent to the great causes of human suffering on the planet.

At the same time, it has been said that Schaeffer's work led the groundwork for the formation of the Moral Majority or Christian Coalition. A voting guide for the CC about a decade ago explicitly advocated the denial of visas to refugees with AIDS; Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell have similarly had a reputation of not being the most humanitarian-minded of individuals. Pat's twice called for a nuclear strike against the U.S. State Department.

Likewise, Bono's web site has information which gives a religious context to the campaign. One such "sermon" really has no religious content in it, certainly no mention of grace or Jesus, and the action called for was a letter to politicians.

I for one believe the world would be a better place-- that the actual God out there would be happier-- if more Christians had the resolute theological grounding of Schaeffer with the humanitarian outlook of Bono. Biblical orthodoxy with human compassion, a respect for revealed truth and fraternal love-- hence I've started the Truth "versus" Love Project. A Homiletics Award or sermon-writing contest for seminary students of my own denomination, the ELCA.

See the following link for an announcement page.
http://www.geocities.com/pterandon//truthvslove.html