There’s a reasonable chance that I’ll be asked to serve on the board of our Home Owner’s Association in a few months, and one topic that will be revisited again is an update of the interior of our building. A facelift is long overdue, and having a few convincing 3D renders may go a long…
Author: thedude
I Truly Hate Hiking
Unless of course it’s near Jackson, Wyoming. Hiking isn’t the only thing we did in Jackson Hole. We also shopped and ate way too much. And of course, we took a few pictures. (Some of the best shots from this trip were shot by the Kellster!) It’s hard to pick favorites. Here are just a…
Don’t Panic
A friend asked for a panic button for an iPhone app he’s thinking of building. Now that he has this button, he’s half way there. My first thought was of an ultra-modern chrome and plastic job, but this is what came out. My creative process with Cinema4D is like a box of chocolates … The…
My 3D Server Room – Yay!
What you see is a fairly accurate view of the server room at work. If you’re interested, here’s how I created this. Note that the method I use is just one way to accomplish this. There are “easier” methods, like rendering directly inside of SketchUp with any number of snap-in renderers, (I like TheaRender) but…
Frank & Dot are Octogenarians!
We took a short trip to Cambria and Paso Robles to celebrate dual birthdays with the Hunter clan. On the way, we stopped at the spectacular Post Ranch Inn for a tasty lunch with a view. We both loved the little town of Cambria. Moonstone Beach is lined with cozy hotels, and the pace is…
Weekend Render Madness
For fun this weekend, I did one of the Cinema4D tutorials by the amazing Chris Schmidt. I learned so much in the process. The techniques used to create the spherical wire mesh on the microphone are awesome and so much fun! Thank your Nick and Chris for the awesome tutorials! Dude mic is based loosely…
This is My Brain on Protein
Did you know that there are databases in the public domain with free 3D models of organic materials like DNA, enzymes and proteins? Accurate and highly detailed, these models can be downloaded from a number of sites and imported into most 3D packages, including my favorite – Cinema4D. I have no idea what I’m looking…
Burtie Num Num
Thanks to ultimate hosts Chris and Ben Burt for the lovely soirée on this gorgeous day.
Tower of Power
I had some free time while kelly was riding Go-Go today at Xenophon, so I went out looking for photos. This PG&E tower, on the Xenophon property in Orinda, is about 18″ square; too small for a dude to crawl into, so I stuck my X100S into the center of the structure and pointed it…
San Francisco Moonrise
Last night I witnessed what has to be one of the most spectacular sites on planet Earth – the full moon rising on a rare fog-free, 75 degree evening over a sparkling San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge. Magical! This one’s for you, Carl.
Bottle Number Two
Modeling this bottle was a great learning experience. I used several cool tools and features to create it. The etched glass on the front of the bottle is a displacement map made by simply assigning a simple image with an alpha channel to the material and sticking it to the front of the bottle. I…
Cinema4D vs. Studio Photography
Inspired by a recent post on Grant’s site, in which he alludes to the many challenges of product photography, I decided to create a challenge for myself. I wanted to see what level of photorealism I could achieve with the Cinema4D Physical Renderer and a few simple 3D objects by recreating Grant’s product shots. To…
Today’s Mystery Render
I often don’t know exactly what I’m rendering or how it works or how it will be used. I certainly have never seen one of these things. I’ve heard it referred to as a “cartridge”, and that’s about all I know. I’m pretty sure the real cartridge shell is not transparent – I’ll bet it’s…
I Walked Five Miles to Get This Shot
The eastern half of an icon of the Bay Area is coming down after carrying up to 300,000 cars per day for 77 years. Progress is slow, but this week a gap appeared in the longest cantilevered section, and I decided that this needed to be captured. Luckily, the replacement span has a very wide,…
Farewell Old Friend
It’s hard to believe that I purchased my D3 six years ago. It is without doubt the best camera I’ve ever owned. Unfortunately, it’s massive size and weight became an inconvenience with the introduction of high-quality mirrorless digital cameras. These days I’m much more likely to be seen shooting with my Fuji X100s. Mirrorless cameras…
March 6th is Day of the Dude
Nobody calls me Lebowski. You got the wrong guy. I’m the Dude, man.
Weekend of Love
We spent a perfect three-day weekend in Gualala with a few of our favorite people. We drove up the coast with no firm plans, loaded down with food and booze. We stayed in our pajamas the first day while we waited out a much-needed rain storm, but things got really nice on the second day….
Loving B&W Photography
I’m having so much fun shooting Black and white. It’s a real timesaver, and as a bonus, images look great. Nowadays, instead of trying to correct weird color shifts in images shot under terrible lighting conditions, I just whack the color altogether – and I’m loving it. (Rollover the image to see the original color…
Happy Birthday Baby!
Austin Powers celebrates the big seven-oh with a bunch of old hippies at Urban Legend.
One Man’s Castle
This is Al. I’ve seen Al and his collection of dozens of customized shopping carts moving – ever so slowly – from place to place along my morning commute. I have never seen such a massive collection of well, stuff. Look closely at some of the contraptions he’s built here. I like the functional bits…
Fresno Bee
What I like most about this shot is the minimal effort it took to get it. I just looked down with my x100S set on macro and shot this in the front of the in-law’s house in Fresno this afternoon. I couldn’t get closer without scaring off the bee, so I cropped the shot about…
Budapest
One of many surprises on the trip was the beauty of Budapest in the morning. Wish we’d had time to see the interior of the Gellert Spa. Finally time for a coffee and treats at Anna Café. More photos of beautiful Budapest here.
Bratislava
The capital of Slovakia was not supposed to be on our tour, but due to some loch work, we took a welcome detour to this interesting city. The rest of the images from Bratislava can be seen here.
Vienna
Vienna, with its 1.7 million inhabitants, is the largest city we visited. The city has a modern (and very expensive!) feel. Dozens of quaint cafés serve some of the best coffee and sweets we’ve ever tasted. We only wish we could’ve had a bite of this edible pony. St. Stephen’s Cathedral and another impressive organ….
Dürnstein
After a pleasant three hour cruise, the sun appeared just in time to see this picturesque village from the Danube. Later in the afternoon, we tasted the exquisite “biodynamic” wines at the Nickolai Winery. The rest of the pictures from this day are here.
Melk
The spectacular Melk Abbey provided plenty of eye-popping splendor on today’s tour. We found a delightful mix of the ultra-modern design and treasures from the past. The library was really stunning, but unfortunately, no photos were allowed. To give you some idea what it looked like, have a look at this amazing 3D shot of…
Salzburg
Scenery along the Danube is starting to become really lovely – especially when the sun (almost) makes an appearance. The Salzburg Cathedral. I’m not sure of the significance of the big gold ball or of the dude standing on top of it! View more pictures of our visit to Salzburg here.
Passau
Now on board the River Beatrice, our first stop is Passau. The site of the worst flooding in 5 centuries, Passau is small and charming. Our guide explains that the city was built at the confluence of three rivers – the Danube, the Inn and the Ilz. More Passau pics here.
Fifty-Eight Big Ones
Can you believe it? thedude certainly can not! We celebrated the auspicious occasion with a marvelous party. A huge thanks to Chris and Ben for hosting the event, and to Red for the super-fine grillin’! Click here if you want to see a few more shots.