Well, here we are, 2010 is now upon us with all it's glory!

So I thought I'd start the new year with a random journal. I've had the last 10 days or so at home over the Xmas/New Year period which was great. Got to spend it with my wife and son and we had a great time. Went to the local Christmas Carols on Christmas Eve and everything.

Haven't spent a lot of time creating on this break but I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to do some testing and promotional renders for a new product that will be released at Renderosity shortly. It was a great challenge as I hadn't done anything like that before. As soon as they products have been released I'll put up the images I've done.

In other news I got myself a copy of Torchlight after reading a number of reviews on it - it's by some of the guys who were involved with Diablo and Mythos. It's quite cool, in a brainless hack n slash way but it's been the basis for the image I'm currently working on.

Back to work in the morning which is a bit unfortunate but these things happen. It's been a really nice start to the year and I have a few things to look forward too as we go along - my sister is due to give birth this month so we will be heading south to Melbourne at the end of the month. Really looking forward to being able to catch up with family and friends, that's the one thing I miss living so far away from them. The other thing is that this year I'm going back to school. Kinda. I'm going to be doing some online education to further what I do with all this 3D stuff - I'm starting a Diploma in Digital Media majoring in Animation. It's a good way to find out if I can do this and also will give me some credits when I take this further.

Anyways, that's enough babbling from me, go look at some art!

Self Promotion:

Red Skull Assassin

Red Skull

Mecha Patrol - White Lion

Heavy Metal

I'm the first to admit that I'm pretty terrible when it comes to keeping track of what I've used in an image, and even worse when it comes to trying to figure out what I used down the track.

So how do you keep track of the content you have used in your work should you need or want to use it again down the track?

Self Promotion:

X-Communicated NEON

Exhausted

Mecha Patrol - White Lion

The Boyscouts Dilemma

Well, thank which ever god you choose that is over.

We moved house a fortnight ago and only got our net connection back up yesterday. So for the last 2 weeks we have been in a state of deprivation. No checking emails, no online games, no dA, no see what was happening in the world of F1 or MotoGP.

We have been in an information blackhole!

But, that's all over now so on to the good stuff.

I'd like the opinions of anyone who bothers to read this far as to what keyboard and mouse combination you use or would recommend. Recently, my MX1000 cordless mouse decided that it's batteries were no longer going to hold a charge and so it sits forlornly on it's cradle blinking at me, begging me to use it but I know that I'll only get a limited time with it before it stop working again. So, I have decided that it's time to replace the venerable mouse with a new one, and the keyboard along with it(the whole lot was purchased as the MX3100 Desktop bundle). That's where you come in.

I've been looking around and the most likely candidates so far for the keyboard are the Microsoft Sidewinder MX6, Logitech Illuminated Keyboard or the Logitech G15. Mousewise, the Microsoft Sidewinder MX8 cordless mouse or the Logitech MX1100 are the frontrunners. What mouse and keyboard do you use or would you recommend? And while I'd love an Optimus Maximus keyboard, even I can't justify that amount of money.

Self Promotion:

X-Communicated NEON

Exhausted

Mecha Patrol - White Lion

The Boyscouts Dilemma

I learnt this week that Harley Davidson has closed the door on the Buell Motorcycles operation they purchased some years ago. The reasons given by HD are financial – Buell has not made them any money over the last few years and they have sunk a lot of capital into the business with no real return. Sales down by around 85% is what is being reported and no company is going to keep a department going that is showing those sort of sales figures. The current CEO of HD said that they would cut off an arm to save the body, and this would appear to be what they have done.

But this journal is an emotional response to the news, not a financial one. Why? Because I own a Buell. I got mine when the XB series was released back in 2001 I think. First one delivered in Victoria and while it has had its niggles (speedo sender unit failing twice) it has been very much a trouble free ride. It’s done some long trips and I’ve used it as a daily ride for a number of years as well. It’s now pushing around 50,000 km’s on the clock and is showing no signs of stopping any time soon.

When I first read about these bikes, I knew I had to take one for a ride. It helped that I was looking for a bike at the time. My test ride was only about half an hour but in that time I found the bike I wanted – I just had to convince myself that spending the extra money on it over a VTR1000 was worth it. It has been. Erik Buell designed a bike that handles like a dream and is so much fun to ride that you never want to get off. Sure, it has its shortcomings – the cable clutch rather than a hydraulic one, the sportster motor and gearbox (god I hate that change between 1st and 2nd) but these are outweighed by the touches of design brilliance – the 17” front disk with 6 pot Nissin callipers that stops harder than anything else I know, the fuel held in the frame, the oil held in the swing arm, the exhaust slung under the engine that leaves the back of the bike so clean. Sure, the looks are not to everyone’s taste, personally, I don’t like the S series, but that’s why I didn’t buy one.

Erik Buell has been designing and building bikes that don’t “fit” for 30 years and I think the motorcycle industry will miss his ideas and passion. Maybe not in the short term with everyone so focused on the financial issues the world is facing, but in years to come. So thank you Erik, for designing and building a bike that I have enjoyed so much over the last 8 or so years. Like a lot of posts on forums around the web, I to hope that Buell rises from the ashes, and how fitting would it be if the first model was named the Phoenix.

Self Promotion:

X-Communicated NEON

Exhausted

Mecha Patrol - White Lion

The Boyscouts Dilemma

Had a bit of an issues over the weekend when the old CRT monitor connected to the 3rd PC put it's foot in the air and played dead.

While this was no major issue for for 2 of us, my son was devastated as he couldn't "play his big game".

So I checked out a number of options on Sunday and this morning I picked up a new LG W2261V monitor. Mmmmmmm. It's nice...

So now I'll get to reset all my UI's in my games and I'll also be able to see more of what I'm working on in both D|S and PS. Odd given I have resisted getting a wide screen for so long.

Oh, my old monitor went onto the 3rd PC which made my son very happy as now he has a screen just like mummy's and daddy's.

Self Promotion:

X-Communicated NEON

Exhausted

Mecha Patrol - White Lion

The Boyscouts Dilemma