The marketing team has decided that at least one of our product manuals should contain line art instead of photographs. I like this idea a lot, especially now that I’ve been able to spend a little time with Cinema4D’s Sketch & Toon renderer. Like everything else about Cinema4D, this tool is amazing. There are more…
Wendy and Jeff
Our dear friends Wendy and Jeff – two of the dorkiest loveliest friends you could ever hope to have. We’re lucky to have them in our lives. More fun here!
3d Loft Project
I’m on the Architectural Committee here in the lofts. We’re hoping to do a little sprucing up next year, so we need a 3D model of the building. I mean, obviously, right? Since Cinema4D 17 includes a new SketchUp importer, I thought it’d be cool to do the modeling in SketchUp. This way, everyone would…
Santa Fe
We had absolutely no plans when we arrived in Santa Fe. Lots of food recommendations from friends, but as always, we wanted the flexibility to do our own thing. So, it was pure luck that drove us to the coolest place in Santa Fe – Canyon Road. We discovered this amazing cluster of galleries one…
Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta
We’ve all seen pictures of this amazing event, rumored to be the most photographed event in the world. While it is an amazing photo-op, pictures cannot capture the controlled chaos of the simultaneous launch of hundreds of whacky, colorful balloons. You can walk right up to the action. Balloon pilots and crew are happy to…
Xenophon Horse Show
As always, the 2015 Xenophon Horse Show was filled with smiles and beautiful children. This is always such a joyful event! It’s a privilege to volunteer my time to such an amazing organization.
Ion Torrent One Touch DX
Some of you will remember my photo of this instrument. The photographic image is used on our website and in printed materials, and it looks pretty good. Well, starting today, I’m hoping that we’ll be replacing all of our photos with renders created with my latest addiction – V-Ray. This renderer blows away anything else…
Thermo CostCalc App Icon
I’ll admit it certainly looks a wee bit garish and not entirely plausible at the enormous size above, but it needs to be bold to stand out on an iPad home screen, where it will be smaller than this: I’m not even sure what this App is, but I know it had to have a…
Ion Torrent PGM Dx II
After many years of practice and tens of thousands of renders, this is probably the most realistic-looking 3D render I’ve ever created. And I’m not satisfied with it. This week I’ll take the plunge and get a copy of what may be the best of the “photo-realistic” renderers – V-Ray. Stand by for a comparison.
60-ish
thedude passes another milestone, and could not feel better about it. Life is good. A few more photos here.
Ion Torrent PII Chip
Today’s eye-candy is a photograph. Well, actually, it’s five photographs combined into a focus stack. This is one of the chips that goes into the S5 and S5XL seen earlier. (It can decode your DNA, dude.) For this shot, the clear plastic flowcell has been removed exposing the extremely high-resolution sensor below. I shot this…
Ion Torrent S5 XL
I’m getting excellent realism with the new Cinema4D version 17. After a few refinements and a days-long render at much higher resolution, a large version of this rendering will hang on the wall of our offices in South San Francisco and Guilford, Connecticut offices. I used Photoshop’s awesome Vanishing Point Filter to create this visualization….
I Am a Material Boy
I’ve been asked to provide several larger-than-life renderings for one of our offices. While I’m excited about seeing my renders prominently displayed, I realize that my materials will need to be absolutely perfect if they are to stand up to scrutiny from the engineers who designed the instruments and selected the actual materials. So, it’s…
2015 Ion Summer Party
We had a company picnic yesterday. As far as I can tell, there was no particular reason for it, but it was a beautiful day, and the pictures worked out well. View the rest of the photos here.
Relaxing on Labor Day
Janet and Ruby, Linda and Dinero, Trini and Go-Go, Kelly and Ozzie, Christine and Ranger begin a trail ride on this gorgeous holiday.
Ion Torrent PGM Dx
Another of my recent Cinema4D renders. From my company web site: The Ion PGM™ Dx System is a reliable and robust in vitro diagnostic (IVD) next-generation sequencing (NGS) platform that is designed to deliver the proven performance and simplicity of the Ion Torrent™ PGM system, while empowering clinical laboratories with the flexibility to develop molecular…
Sausalito Art Fair
I don’t like these wine & crap fairs much. Kelly’s more of a fan. I will say though, that the Sausalito event has to be the best. I think I would be happy to own just about everything I saw today. Among our favorites were the fun paintings of Chris Vance, seen in today’s featured…
It is My Goal…
…to photograph everyone who ever visits our loft. In keeping with that goal, I captured tonight’s visit from the fabulous Johnstone girls. We were happy to provide some much-needed comic relief over a delicious dinner while husband/dad Andrew collects dust on the playa. At first, the girls played coy and would not get into the…
Ion Torrent S5
Now that’s it’s official, I can finally share some of the 3D work I’ve been producing for the last several months. Behold the S5! The ‘S’ is for Simplicity, Speed, Scalability… This amazing instrument has many applications. It has the potential to make the world a better place for all of us. I’m lucky to…
Bruce & Catharine and Blogging Again
After some well-deserved taunting from the Kellster, I took a long look at my blog to see if I could get excited about blogging again. After some searching, I found a WordPress plugin that will make posting image galleries like the one below much easier and this nice-looking theme by Anders Norén. Both make me…
1083 Rosies Set A New World Record
What record, you ask? Why, “The Largest Gathering of People Dressed as a Rosie the Riveter”, of course! (Guinness has a world record category for everything, it seems.) The fun-filled Rosie Rally took place in Richmond, CA – apparently the real home of Rosie the Riveter. Participants were for the most part dressed to perfectly…
That was Fun
Lots of wine and food. Perfect weather. Good times.
Galeries Lafayette
Luckily, Kelly was not the least bit interested in fighting massive crowds at the Louvre, so we blew that off, and instead went shopping.
Palais Garnier
Day Eight In my opinion, one of the most spectacular sites in Paris is the Opera House, better known to locals as Palais Garnier. I’d rank it higher than the crowded Palace of Versailles.
Latin Quarter and Champs Elysee
Day Seven We did a walking tour of the Latin Quarter, and later in the day we walked along the Champs Elysee, which had a huge Christmas market about a mile long, and is where I did much of my street photography. By now, we’ve become quite comfortable using the Paris Metro, which is convenient…
Paris Street Photography
According to Wikipedia, Street Photography – which is not always shot in the street, but which is nearly always black & white – has its roots in Paris. What better place then, to try to master the craft? Luckily, my new Fuji x100T may be the best camera available for the genre. It’s perfect because…
Christmas Day in Paris
Day Six It’s Christmas! The timing of the day’s activities was perfect, as we arrived at Notre Dame during a gorgeous Christmas mass. Aside from the mass, the day felt pretty much like any other. None of the usual Christmas misery. Just fun exploring new places. What a great day! In the afternoon, we strolled…
Auvers Sur Oise
Day Five We visited the last home of Vincent Van Gogh, and stood on the very spot where several of his paintings were made. We learned that he made more than 70 paintings in the last 70 days of his unhappy life. We also got our first glimpse of the sun today, which lasted about…
Les Andelys
Day Four Les Andelys is a town of 9000 people 60 miles from Paris, which makes it close enough to be considered a suburb. Much of the population commutes from here to Paris. Naturally the town has a large church named Notre Dame where we enjoyed a beautiful organ concert.
Rouen
Day Three Our third day finds us in the unpronounceable city of Rouen. Eighteen year old Joan of Arc was burned alive here. A chapel was erected in the 1970’s near the exact spot of her death. This prosperous city of 107,000 people and 70 church steeples is also home to many wooden and stone…