Scott Erstad

Hey all! What are some of the interesting design + visualization conferences out there this year?

One license & render node remains, anyone interested?

I hope it is OK to post here. I would like to sell (1) VRay for Sketchup 3.6 licenses. Price is $500 US This a a workstation license that includes a render node. The render nodes are flexible in that they can be used with other VRay products: https://www.chaosgroup.com/vray/render-node I have talked with Chaos Group sales and support and they've sent me a transfer form, which must be signed from both sides. The reason is that we are doing almost all of our work in Studio Max now and using very little with SketchUp. ! If you are interested please pm or email me! Email: serstad (at) hcm2.com

I agree with Justin - lighting, materials and composition. Lose that car in the center of the image, use people to identify access/egress points of your scene. Add some brighter floral, contrast, sharpness and "specialness" at those points as well. I see no reason to incorporate such vast swathes of paving in any of those scenes you've attached. Ask yourself as you compose "is this element serving a purpose? Is it necessary?" An image is nothing more than patterns of color, value, focus and overlap that should result in a pleasing composition. I am a firm believer that the last 10% of any image delivers 90% of the success. Broad comments I know, but I think that the challenge you have identified in your work lies not in the technical any longer. It's good that you are not satisfied, much to build upon. Enjoy?

I wouldn't necessarily say it like that, but I am thinking I will be in need due to time and it comes down to either do the work faster, or pass on the work alltogether. Question - In lieu of this "Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit 1-Pack for System Builders - OEM", I have a copy of W7 Home sitting here as a coaster. Would that work just as well? Or am I missing something here. The one listed above is out of stock anyway. Thoughts? Scott

Hi all, Hope I can jump in here, not trying to hijack. I took a look at your 3Datstech site. I am in need of a home based render box of some sort. I've got a series of many stills needing to be completed in a short time frame, and although I love my (no so) little HP Envy laptop, this will not suffice on its own. Not decided yet if I would use MR or VRay, but leaning toward the latter. Do you think your specs for your render box still stand? Or how would you update today? Any thoughts on how one of the comparably priced Box render setups might perform against this one? Many thanks Andy, you've helped me in the past btw, and I do appreciate it. Cheers, Scott

Unrelated to the images, but how about a caption " You gotta SKI this!" perhaps to obvious of a play on words? Nice work!

I'm tall too. And I agree, tried lots of stuff but the only ting that ever made a real tangible difference was the yoga, truth brotha. Try it, but you gotta stick it out for a bit to get the impact.

I would highly (read: DO THIS) yoga. Not the kind where you are slowly moving, but the kind they call Hot yoga. You sweat, bend, twist and squat. Bikram, vinyasa, et al. It works best at about 95-105 F degrees. This is a great workout and can be done in these northern climates all year round. Along with Brian's kinetic recomendations, do some hot yoga 2,3 or 4 times a week and not only will your aches and pains go away, but you will be pretty damn fit. AND beer tastes great after. Try it - for two weeks at least- and let us know how you feel. Cheers, Scott

boom - MosDef http://youtu.be/ZchVayIoSDc

Just a quick off topic whileyour here Russel... are those mats on your site still a viable option in Max 2011? Great reference & resource by the way, thanks for that.

I'm reading thinking, wow, this seems really familiar. It is on the "todays post" on the front page ya know. Then, as Jonathon has astutely noted, ITS FROM 2004. wHAT/WHERE WAS i IN 04'? I had even replied to this post THEN. Maybe a dormant post should be closed, maybe after, oh, I don't know, HALF A DECADE OR SO. Talk about a flash back. My 6 1/2 year old son was to be born a week after this post. Just absolutely wild. Don't know what else to say.

This does a real nice job on photographic veg, it almost has the character of acrylic. Thanks for sharing...

Thought I read somewhere that Hex-core chips are coming out, and to the MBP? I think I would strongly consider a laptop for the full on production machine, but the software will inevitably catchup and overheating the thing. just a thought.

bleeding colors is fine, but they should remain colorful. too much bleeding of pigments, in paint, turns muddy and is not desirable. Nice job tho, I like the way you did it.