I’m working on a project that includes a Nexus 7, so I downloaded this perfect 3D mesh file from TurboSquid and rendered it in Cinema4D. Someday I hope to be able to show you the cool things I’m working on.
Category: Design
Cinema4D Camera Calibration
Learning Cinema4D camera calibration with help from the Gorilla. Extra credit if you find the shot used as a basis for this booklet cover.
Latest Desktop Wallpaper
If you see moiré patterns, it’s time to get that 5K iMac!
Make it Stop Spinning!
Amazing. it never stops! Illusions like this make me question everything I see.
Putting it All Together
It’s not only the knowledge of the HUNDREDS of eyeballs that will see this image on the cover of the extra-geeky Electrophoresis Journal cover that makes it satisfying. It’s also the fact that I get to use all of my graphics skills in one place to produce something this wild and whacky while at work….
More Fun with Materials
Experimenting with Cinema4D materials for an upcoming visualization of some of the amazing things that happen at the molecular level on a Proton chip.
After Hours in the Virtual Lab
While working on a visualization for a new lab space, out of curiosity, I decided to render the scene after dark, and was quite surprised by the results. The dramatic light provided almost entirely by a single omni-directional shadow-casting light somehow makes the scene look more real than it does with the lights on. It…
xfinity Logo Design
You can learn a lot about the process of designing a logo by tracing one. The design appears to be based on the ubiquitous DIN typeface – so popular it has its own web site. Simple tweaks were made to every character but the “n”, and the dots were dropped. You can see the minor…
Practice Makes Perfect
I see so much on TV and in other media that was almost certainly created with Cinema4D. So, to practice, I copy it — with varying degrees of accuracy. To create this, I Googled a logo, downloaded and traced it in FreeHand (Yes, I’m old-school.) The resulting .AI file was merged, extruded and rendered in…
Life Show Logo
Another super-fun project at work. This treatment is over the top again, but so much fun to create, AND it makes a whacky wallpaper for my iMac. Regular readers may notice that the scene was borrowed from an earlier experiment.
Latest Ad Mockup
As is often the case, I have almost no idea what this product is or what it does, but I think I understand what the ad represents – the fact that something which used to require a whole bunch of time, effort and money just got a lot more accessible and way cheaper.
Impossible Photo Shoot
Occasionally marketing asks for things that are (nearly) impossible to shoot. Like when they asked me to photograph a stack of sixty three 96-well microtiter plates on a white background. I don’t have a studio at work, but luckily, I do have one inside my computer. Thank you Cinema4D!
Buglady Logo
The original 2D artwork was created by Andrew, of course. I merely “pulled up a Z” and rendered it in Cinema4D.
You Can Do It Too!
I made this totally original motivational poster for my company last weekend. Model Marina was awesome. She really nailed the part. Shot with a $95 lens and hand-held FourSquare against a yellow wall in the office. PhotoShop makes it perfect.
thedude Meets The Man
I’m very lucky to be involved with the design and rendering of the 2012 Burning Man. I can’t show you the rest yet, but soon after this year’s Man burns, I’ll share more.
Another PGM Rendering
Most of you have noticed that I haven’t been posting a lot lately. The main reason for this is that I am so busy at work. When I’m not tending to IT tasks, I use every spare cycle rendering one thing or another. I really love doing this work, but it consumes a lot of…
Scanning — Again
Yes, Kelly found a stack of old negatives, and I’m back at it. These days, I basically have the scanner running whenever I’m at the computer. I load up the negative carrier, preview scan a bunch of images, and final scan the best ones. The process is time-consuming, but my new computer is fast enough…
Affymetrix Rolls Out New Web Site!
The official launch date is Monday, but lucky readers of thedude.com can take a look at the new site deign now. It’s a huge improvement over the old site, both aesthetically and performance-wise. I’m very proud to have been a part of this effort. Yay!
Affymetrix Rebranding Campaign
Get the Flash Player to see this movie. After focus groups revealed that my company’s current corporate image reminded them of a “dull forty-something white male”, they decided it was time to make a change. So, Affymetrix hired a design team to help freshen our brand. I think the new branding looks great! This is…
Holey Christ
Here’s a sneek peek inside Oakland’s Cathedral of Christ the Light. Although the 190 million dollar addition to the Lake Merrit skyline will not be open to the public until 2:00 PM this afternoon, I was able to sneak in yesterday and shoot a quick panorama. After scratching my head about the outside of the…
A New Feature on thedude.com
Embedded streaming video! Get the Flash Player to see this movie. I found an inexpensive MOV to FLV converter which produces pretty decent results. The files are much smaller that the source Quicktime files, and still have much of the quality – even at large sizes. This means I can now stream video like…
Best Pano Viewer Yet!
When I first used this plugin over at xRez, I was completely blown away. HDView is a must-have plugin! Get it now! Then, click on this link to get a taste of what’s to come. Amazing!!! So much to be excited about!
GigaPan Browser Embedded in a Blog Post!
It turns out it’s easy to embed a GigaPan Panorama on a web page. Hopefully, this will get more of you to check it out. Be sure to drag the the zoom slider on the left. Or, double-click on a region to zoom in on it. Looks like I have a white-balance problem in this…
Gotye » Hearts A Mess film clip
Check out my new favorite song/music video. I LOVE it! Thank you so much, Bill & Rebecca at Radio Paradise for turning me on to this!
Blackhawk Museum
The Blackhawk Museum in Danville, California is home to what is allegedly the world’s best car collection. After visiting it today, it’s hard to imagine a more spectacular collection of rare vehicles anywhere else! We’ve known of its existence for many years, but put off visiting he museum since we’re not really car-enthusiasts. It turns…
The Essence of Dudeness
For the last few years I have been hosting a web site featuring the work of an extremely talented illustrator named Charlie Powell. I have always been a fan of his work, so when he offered to paint a portrait of thedude in exchange for web hosting services, I jumped at the chance. Now thedude…
thedude’s Photo in Copenhagen
Hey Dude, Have a look – it looks super cool! – it’s dye-sub printed directly on a sound-absorbent panel. Thanks for allowing us to use the pic!! Best regards from Copenhagen – Sten Jauer, Art Director LAND DESIGNLAB APS | VESTERGADE 12A 3 | DK-1456 COPENHAGEN | DENMARK Thanks, Sten! I think it looks great…
The Best Wine We’ve Ever Tasted
Last night was our 6th wedding anniversary. To celebrate, I made my soon-to-be-famous skirt steak for dinner with our best friends – Chris and Ben. We opened a 1994 Coppola zinfandel with dinner, which turned out to be outstanding. (Thanks, Dave and Sonja!) But the real treat was the sensational dessert wine Chris was kind…
Dude Radio?
First of all, let me state up front that Kelly is my best wife – ever. There is no second place. She totally rocks. This week she granted me 77 hours of bird-less bliss. (Thank you Darling. The kindness of boarding your four sometimes lovable, but often totally annoying critters has not gone unnoticed. It…
Redesign Complete
Now that IE7 will be distributed through Microsoft’s automatic updates, I feel it’s safe to incorporate PNG transparency into my site design. If you see a white box where the header should appear on this page, please upgrade to IE7 or better still, use a different browser! (Opera, perhaps?)