Wanton Hubris

Sometimes, you need to store volatile chemicals. The bombastic barrel!

I’m going to do an experimental project in Cheetah. I’m going to try to heavily abuse it’s “Smart Folder” system to create a system like some game engines use where the assets are stored once in a package or folder and then instanced all over the game world. This should be doable but I’m not 100% sure. Let’s find out!

The scene I’m going to shoot for is some sort of human/urban concrete and steel scene. Girders, barrels, support beams, windows, etc. I’m going to create each thing one time, put it into a smart folder, and see if I can them compose them all together in a fresh scene and render it out.

Here’s our first asset. The majestic girder!

The scene will be untextured and done in a matte finish (meaning, no specular highlights). On to the next piece…

My fascination with drumming continues. This is meant to be a set of chrome snare drums.  The details are a little muddy with all the reflections but I like the overall effect.

:: click for a larger version ::

Everything modeled and rendered in Cheetah 3D.

I recorded a few out of time and ham handed drum noodles for you to listen to, smirk during, and laugh about with friends.  It’s OK, go ahead, I’m just getting started.  This should (hopefully) improve with time.  There’s no foot work in these as it’s hard enough to make my hands behave at this point.  We’ll see about adding in serious foot pedals later.

Drum Noodle 1

Drum Noodle 2

Drum Noodle 3

Enjoy!

This is a little more towards the realistic side than I tend to go but it’s sci-fi enough that I still like it quite a bit.  Kind of a sketch that started with extrusions and went from there.  Matrixy in many ways.

:: click for a larger version ::

Everything modeled and rendered in Cheetah 3D.

I finally figured out what my MIDI problem was with my Yamaha DD-55 drums not playing into my Mac properly.  The cable.  You need to have a Yamaha UX16 USB-MIDI Interface or you’re in for a world of hurt.  Once I bought that cable and plugged it in, everything worked great!

So I can now play the DD-55 with GarageBand running and record every note as it clumsily stumbles out of my uncoordinated paws.  I hope to have a little time this weekend to record a few riffs and see if I can post them here.  Should be fun!

Oh, and I’ve sort of changed my mind about Shooter in the Abstract.  I was wrong.  I’m still sick of looking at it so a new version won’t be coming anytime soon.  I can tell that’s true because at the first sign of trouble, I lose interest completley.  I’m not ready yet.

Firstly, Castle Crashers looks super delicious awesome! Old school gaming at it’s best. Can’t wait for this to come out!

Secondly, I’ve decided that ‘Shooter in the Abstract‘ needs an update. I’ve been away from it long enough now that I am no longer sick of looking at it! I have some lofty ideas and I’ll keep the blog updated as things progress. The plans aren’t anything TOO radical but they should improve the game in many ways.

I’ve been doing other misc things with my time lately such as practicing drumming on my DD55. I’m obviously still sucking but it’s a lot of fun. My goal is to allocate a room in the next house we move into for a drum set. My deal with my wife is that when that time comes (maybe 5-6 years from now), if I am still interested in drumming, I can get a real set. Whoop-tish!