The Archives

Angry Art, Sketchup
Cobras on the level
08.17.10 | Permalink | Comment?

As promised, here are the beautiful renderings of my amazingly accurate sight-level. Each image rendered for about 12 hours before I stopped them. I’m still just using Indigo (all the other engines I’ve tried are crap compared to my free version of Indigo). In the book, these will appear as just simple line drawings, but I really wanted to see how cool it looked after I rendered it. It’s not the most amazing thing but I’m proud of not only how it turned out, but also how quickly I modeled it.

Click to marvel at my cobra talents.
Roanisms, Video
Cobra Inquisition: Animals
08.15.10 | Permalink | 1 Comment

Rwn

Duhltron

A little while ago I had an idea to ask Roan and Dallas a series of questions. I figure they both have a tendency to let their imagination travel to weird places, and could provide some humorous blog material. It also might be interesting to compare their responses given the 20 year age gap.

Here is the first installment of The Cobra Inquisition: Animals

-What’s your favourite animal?

-Why?

-What animal would you most like to ride?

-How many ACR rounds do you think it would take to bring down a T-rex?

-Would you eat a T-rex? (if it wasn’t full of bullets)

-Who do you think would win in a fight; a monkey riding a donkey with a .50 cal mounted on it, or a magic dolphin?

-Would you rather have the ability to fly like a bird, or stay under water like a fish?

-Why?

-Do you miss the dinosaurs?

-What’s your favourite colour of dragon?

-What is a hybrid?

-If you could combine two animals together to make your own hybrid, which two would you combine, and what would you call the new animal?

-Why do you think tigers and zebras have the same type of stripes?

-If you had to fight cow with your bare hands, what would your plan of attack be?

-If you won the fight, would you eat the cow?

-What animal scares you the most?

-If you could have your own army of one kind of animal, what kind of army would you have?

-Why?

-Can you draw your favourite animal? or the hybrid you created?

-If all the animals turned to zombies, what weapon would you want to defend yourself?

-Where would you hide out?

A special thanks to Dallas’ lovely lady Jenna for filming/interviewing Dal. I’m sure she hears enough stupid things come out of Dallas’ mouth without any encouragement, so I apprectiate her taking the time and being a good sport.
Animals, Video
Cobra cats play catch
08.13.10 | Permalink | Comment?

A few weeks ago we bought our cats a harness. Two of the four love it, the others are terrified. Shakespeare loves it, and he loves chasing apples if you throw them. I set up my camera hoping to catch the act of me throwing the apple, and him chasing, but my angle wasn’t wide enough and the apples are the same colour as the grass.

I wanted to add the Benny Hill theme to this clip, but I can’t seem to edit any video on my laptop, and I refuse to invest the time in figuring it out on another machine. So, imagine the Benny Hill theme as you watch. Enjoy!
Book stuff, Life, Sketchup, Timber framing
Cobras keep on truckin’
08.13.10 | Permalink | 2 Comments

It’s been a while since I posted anything regarding the progress of the book (not to mention a while since I posted much of anything – I’m a slacker), which I’m still working on daily. Just yesterday I received my latest revised edition of the manuscript in the mail, and now it’s a matter of editing pretty much the entire book (images and text). I’ve already finished editing the first half of the book – the Timber Post and Beam section – but didn’t bother with any of the images. I’ll finish the second half of the text – the Timber Bents section – by Monday hopefully, then I’ll start redoing basically every image from scratch.

I’m hoping it won’t take too long because, although I love that I have a job, I want this job to be over. I have been working on my lesson plan and handouts for the course James is interested in having me teach at the ISBA, and it makes me want to be out there teaching, and learning more. I think I might post a tutorial on here when I finish it, in case any of my cobra colleagues have constructive cobra criticism for me.

Along with my revised manuscript, I also received a new version of the appendix and glossary via fax. When I scanned through the appendix I noticed James had included some tools he neglected to mention to me when he originally assigned me the appendix drawings. I immediately started working on them because I love modeling, even though I’m sure he’d rather I focus on correcting the text and images already in the book. Above are a few of the smaller things I needed to model (I left out the really small ones, as well as the really big ones). Later I’ll post some pictures of a neat model I made of a sight-level, but at the moment it’s rendering.

There are still a few models I need to make (an electric hoist, and some clamps) but they are ones I might leave for now. I might also just get some models out of the 3d warehouse and modify them accordingly, but that all depends on how much time I have I guess. I prefer to model everything myself, but occasionally I can’t be bothered to spare the brain-power or the time.
Love, Random
Can’t we all just get a blog?
08.13.10 | Permalink | Comment?

The other night, Holly decided it was time for her to catchup to the rest of the planet and get herself a blog. She set herself up on blogger.com, and spent the evening customizing her layout and fonts. She has a few posts up right now, and lots more to come I’m sure. I highly recommend spending a few moments a day learning more about the lady who loves your favourite cobra. It might also help fill in the gaps between my ever lessening updates, for all you comrades who can’t get enough cobra.

Next stop – Aggravation Station!!!!
Animals, Video
Aquacat
08.13.10 | Permalink | Comment?

I’ve come to the conclusion that Shakespeare is not only obsessed with water, but also an asshole. He loves the sink and the shower (sorry, no clip of us in the shower), and just recently he discovered the aquarium. Last night, Holly and I were relaxing, shooting zombies, when we heard the fish pump making a weird noise. We looked over and saw Shakespeare with his paw in the tank, swatting at fish. I ran upstairs and grabbed my camera, but by the time I got back down he had moved on from torturing fish, to drinking their home. He did dunk his paw back in a few times in this clip, but I really wish I had of caught him on camera right when he started. It was like a kid splashing in puddles after the rain.
Cobra Classics, Photos
Sheet rock slaying statues FTW!
08.09.10 | Permalink | Comment?

Back when I owned a tattoo shop, I had an excess of spare money and time. Most of my time was spent hanging out with my ‘rock star’ friends and partying, but sometimes I put far too much effort into poking fun at people. This image reminded me of one such example.

For years my brother’s first response to just about anything was to punch a hole in the nearest punchable wall. One day, I was sitting around the shop killing time, and my brother came in to tell me about something that happened, and how he’s hurt his hand punching something.

After he left, I came up with the idea of getting him a trophy of a karate guy that said “No wall too tuff!”. I called a local trophy shop, ordered it, and within a day or two I was able to pick it up. My girlfriend at the time added a couple of casts, and a sweet cardboard wall to make it a little more relevant.

Luckily my brother is a good sport, and although he didn’t find it as funny as the rest of us, he still displayed it with pride for a few years. I still find it funny, and even though he no longer punches things, I wish he still had it.
Animals, Video
Shakespeare’s sink shower
08.05.10 | Permalink | 1 Comment

Today I turned the water on for Kanika (she likes to drink out of there) and Shakespeare busted in and stole her spot. I noticed he wasn’t only drinking the water, but also letting it run down the side of his face. I went downstairs and found my camera, hoping he would still be doing it when I got back. He was. I think he’d have spent all afternoon there if I hadn’t have turned off the faucet. To be honest, I could have watched him do it all afternoon, but I felt bad about wasting so much water.

Who would have thought a black cat could be so effin’ cute. Certainly not this cobra.