Author: thedude
Happy New Year
We busted out the champagne and the photo booth to celebrate the beginning of a new year and a very special birthday!
Halloween Photo Booth
Happy Halloween! We had a small celebration yesterday in the office, and the boof was there! It’s a good thing, too. I would not have wanted to be caught without a camera on this fun and colorful day! Here are a few of my favorite shots.
Mission Bio Tapestri
Another fine rendering with Cinema4d and V-Ray. The newest instrument from Mission Bio. Actually, there’s a bit more to the workflow. The original customer-provided SolidWorks file was opened in KeyShot, exported as an .obj file and imported into Cinema4D where V-Ray lighting and materials were applied for output in V-Ray. The resulting layered image was…
OK, That was fun!
No matter how small the job, I always learn a ton of stuff when I work in 3D! (I guess this is why I love it so much.) This time I learned that it’s possible to get really excellent results with a high-res displacement map in Cinema4D. In fact, a displacement map seems to be…
Hoping that one day I can make a career out of producing life-like 3D product renderings.
Hoping that one day I can make a career out of producing life-like 3D product renderings.
Xenophon 2017 Horse Show
For the tenth year in a row, I photographed the kids and the festivities at the annual Xenophon Horse Show. This year I had help from Kelly, who did a great job with my X100F. I used the Fuji XT-2 and the 90mm and 18mm lenses. Here are a few of our favorites. You can…
SeqStudio Genetic Analyzer
I’ll bet you don’t have one of these! A new instrument rendered with V-Ray. It also has this cartridge thingie. I made a little animation which was looped during the launch announcement. Yay! Learn more about the SeqStudio Genetic Analyzer.
Seattle
This was our first visit. We saw most of the obligatory sites – the Space Needle, Chihuly Gardens and the awesome MoPop. We rode the monorail. We enjoyed beautiful weather during most of our brief stay. It was a bit smoky from the numerous forest fires, but we did manage to see Mt. Rainier once…
So Happy on a Horse
A dedicated Kelly and Trini ride despite the heat wave.
Totality
Speechless. https://goo.gl/photos/4mmYCmRgfMyJuFzj6
Laney College Flea Market
I took a short walk today to check out the local flea market. I’ve been in the are for 30+ years and this was my first visit to this market. It was interesting. I made just one purchase – this cool spikey hat – perfect for my photo booth! The big piles of junk treasure…
Thedude Gets Wired, Squared
One of my renders made the Wired Magazine web site in an article titled “Fast, Precise Cancer Care is Coming to a Hospital Near You“. Nice! (Also, our amazing technology totally rocks!) That’s not the only cool place my work appeared recently. Here’s another:
ION Inspector
Combining a bit of photography with 3D modeling and a PhotoShop pinch filter for this quick one. It kind of messes with my vision. That’s a good thing.
Warriors Victory Parade
I joined about a million other fans today to celebrate the Warriors championship win in downtown Oakland today. The jostling crowds made it difficult to get much of a shot of anything, but I tried. There were many challenges. One problem is that I chose the wrong side of the street, lighting-wise. I should have…
Civil War Amputation Saw
My wife thinks I’m losing it, but I decided to create this Civil War era saw after seeing it on this web site. It’s sort of in line with the antique syringe, and easy to model. I know I’m missing some detail where the blade connects to its brass holder, but the decidedly low-res image…
Antique Syringe
More practice using another excellent tutorial from Nikolaus Schatz. This is easily the cleanest 3D model I ever made. It stands up to very close inspection.
Nixie Tubes
I found an excellent tutorial on YouTube for this one. I have always loved the look of these things. I’ve been tempted on more than one occasion to purchase a Nixie tube clock, but really nice ones can be a bit extravagant. Despite the high cost, they are still very much in demand. If you…
Mission Bio
So many favorites from our photo shoot at Mission Bio. What a great group! Thanks to all of you.
Xenophon Gala Photo Booth
The “boof” was a huge hit again at this year’s Gala, held at the amazing Blackhawk Auto Museum, who claims to have the World’s Best Car Collection. Having seen the collection, it’s hard to argue with that. I made a couple of small changes to my photo booth this time. I used a somewhat smaller…
White Background for Business Head Shots
I’ve decided that the white background is my favorite for business head shots. This is mainly because they are so easy to produce consistently, but also because a pure white background is so versatile. To create these, I use a simple two-light setup. First I place a 7-foot umbrella with diffuser behind the subject and,…
Our Fastest Sequencer Ever!
A fun project for this special day. From the e-mail sent to the whole company: Finished with subtle touches from the impenetrable genius of industrial design guru Jim Pire, the new system’s speed will leave the competition in the dust. Have I ever told you how much I love my job?
Isleton and Locke
I visited a part of California I never knew existed with the Johnstone Clan. What a great day it was… Built by the Chinese early in the 20th century, Locke, California is 14 acres of quaintness. The main drag – about three blocks long – is a hodgepodge of rotting and twisty woodwork – an…
Andrew
The first of what I hope will be several shots of my favorite genius in one of his many workspaces. I didn’t realize when I shot it, but at 70 images, this is the highest resolution image I ever made. It would print beautifully ten feet wide. I’d like to see that. The featured image…
Nick’s Cove
Kelly and I stopped here for oysters on the way to Point Arena. The food and the view were both excellent. We also saw this happy furball in need of a trim.
Some graffiti is better
Spotted at the corner of 17th and Broadway today. Look at the artist’s gallery for a better view of this awesome art.
Women’s March, Oakland
Oakland’s contribution to world-wide protests against the Trumpocalypse was as colorful as you would expect. The peaceful event lifted my spirits and those of the estimated 85,000+ who participated. Way to go women (and men) of Oakland! The rest of the day’s shots are here.