Here’s some recent work I did – worked with the architect and interior designer of this space to help visualize what a proposed tenant build-out of a space would look like.
Fun stuff. This is a great example of finding the sweet spot of complexity and technical challenge, and blending it with the budget and timeline that the client has. We could have put 400% more time and budget into it, and gotten decent results, but the client wouldn’t have been able to afford it, and we would have had 100% less revenue from the project.
That being said, here is this nice little interior fly-through.
Here’s some recent work. This is what I’d call a “bread and butter” rendering – knocked out in about twelve hours total, including some revisions with the client. Still chasing the right sky and grass tones. Had some grass I liked better, but the client asked for greener grass.
Another lesson on this one – dark browns are very, very tough to dial in.
Posted 4 months, 1 week ago at 3:09 pm. Add a comment
I’m getting a lot of forwarded emails lately. Like, a TON of them. It feels like a whole crop of folks in my life have suddenly discovered the Age of Angelfire.
I remember when I got a chain letter in about 1985. It seemed like a good idea. It was novel, if only to see where you might get responses back from. Turns out, nobody wanted forwarded messages in 1985 either.
In case you’re having trouble distinguishing between the vital pieces of information that friends forward to you (there is an entire discussion wrapped around whether friends even use the forward button in their mail client, but . . .another day) and those pieces of inspirational informational spiritual political satirical mail that fill your inbox, here are some things to look for, when trying to decide if its worth your time.
1. Background images. Really? Flowers?
2. 65 pt Comic Sans and other typographic atrocities
3. Enough email addresses and names in the various chains of forwards to start your own direct mail company
4. FW:(FW:FW:FW:FW:FW:)[FW:MUST READ]FWD:
5. Keywords: Bush, Obama, Lucky, Prayer, Funny, Interesting
On and on.
That forward button? The one you’re thinking about using? don’t do it.
Posted 4 months, 1 week ago at 3:03 pm. Add a comment
Last Saturday, we had family pictures taken. Nice, relaxed, outdoorsy, family pictures. Took a little over an hour.
This took pretty much all the kids had, in terms of good behavior. By the end, we were reverting to the “smile or you’ll be punished” method of taking pictures. The thing is, how did families get PAINTINGS of their kids 200 years ago? To get a kid to sit still long enough to be painted? No wonder nobody was smiling.
We had to promise the kids we wouldn’t do it again for a long time.
Nobody likes having their pictures taken. Everyone likes seeing the pictures.
Posted 4 months, 1 week ago at 10:12 am. Add a comment
Once upon a time, I was a better blogger. Just like video killed the radio star, twitter has killed my blogging.
I’m not sure whether its because I’m bored, depressed, or just out of stories, but I haven’t really felt like writing much lately.
In any case, starting today, I’ve got a new home. In classic egomaniaical style, I’ve moved to my own name as my domain. Don’t count on the content getting any better.
So, lets call this about the fourth reset of my personal blog/site since late 2000. Nine years ain’t bad.
Posted 4 months, 2 weeks ago at 11:03 am. Add a comment
You may not have heard, but we’re in something of an economic downturn. This may or may not be the cause of what I have to tell you today.
As part of this economic downturn, we’re trying some new things with regard to looking for new projects. One of the things I’ve done is to use a site called Craigshelper to build RSS feeds of a couple of searches, so I can keep an eye out for 3D projects that may pop up around the country. I haven’t landed anything yet with this method, but have gotten close a couple times, so it seems worthwhile. We’ve also been watching a site called Elance.com, with similar results. As I’ve been watching the postings that show up, I’ve made some observations about some recurring themes that have shown up on both Craigslist and Elance postings.
First and foremost, is the tendency of posters to want a very high quality product. We all want that. I can see that. People do a pretty good job of explaining what they want. Some even provide examples. Fine.
There is a very simple saying that applies very strongly to the work I do and throughout my industry. It goes something like this; “Time, quality, or money. Pick two.” Another variant is “Good, fast, or cheap. Pick two.” It works. Every time.
Which leads to the second problem. People posting for these jobs are trying to pick all three. I guess thats the bottom line. I don’t have a problem with people wanting to shop their work, or get bids, just to make sure they’re getting a fair price. Heck, I don’t even have that much trouble with someone wanting to outsource work to India (because I know that if someone in India called me asking me to do work, I’d surely do it).
So what’s my problem? My problem is that someone is saying, “I’d like to get Product X. I’m willing to pay $10 for it.” Not a problem, in and of itself, except that a fair market rate for Product X is closer to $200. Its like walking into a Cadillac dealership, saying you need to have a new Escalade, and you have $3500 to spend. They’re going to laugh at you. The price that they’re offering to pay has absolutely no relationship to the actual cost to produce the goods.
Maybe I should just be laughing at these jokers instead of getting mad.
The other thing I’ve noticed is a theme that goes something like “Great for a student to build their portfolio”, which is code for “You should be honored to work for about $.50 an hour, and might even want to consider paying us for the honor of doing the work for us, just because you’re a student.”
Anyway. Just needed to get that off of my chest. Pick two. Seriously.
Posted 1 year, 2 months ago at 3:28 pm. 3 comments
