Federation Aliens part 1

    Well, I was going to work on the 2.0 version of Jethro's armor, but I ran into a snag, Inspire 3D doesn't want to be fixed. I can't reinstall it either because it's ancient (32bit 1995-7) and I have Windows 7 64 bit... which refuses to let me do it! GRR

    So, I'm working on ideas for a work around. But since I didn't want to spend my day surfing and hemming and hawing about this or that, I decided to throw this together I modeled these over the past couple of years, plus a ton more I haven't gotten around to rendering yet. I've been rendering stuff for a while before summer hit, I thought I should put them together as a show and tell.

    There are a lot of aliens in the Federation (Wandering Engineer) Universe. Some you have seen, some I have mentioned, some I am going to mention in future works. Here is a look.
I based a lot of the models on concept art I found on the web. Credit for the design goes to the original artist, I just took the idea and ran with it, throwing my own ideas into the mix as I went along. All models were made in Sculptris. Most of the textures are placeholders I dropped onto the base mesh to keep me from going insane. (or more insane)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZ-A4JIU494

Let me know what you think in the comments!

Firefly and RIP

Okay, finally an update on Firefly.
I've taken some 'artistic licenses' with the ship. In the book it has smart paint, it's base color is an inky black. Obviously I can't have that on the cover, you wouldn't be able to see it!
So, I went with a more traditional pallet. Shrug.

Getting all the pieces to fit was a pain. I finally called a halt on adding detail. The good news is, now I've got Firefly done for both covers. (Jethro 2 and another) Plus, these parts are now in my library so I can model other ships like the North Hampton class cruiser...

You have no idea how tempted I am to do a flyby movie of this ship. Just a quicky, but I know I'd want more. Stuff with the turrets moving, etc. lol No, no, not happening now. Maybe after the heat breaks and I'm in a good mood. I dunno.

EDIT: OOPS! I forgot to add the turret image I did. DUR!

I am looking ahead beyond modeling Jethro's armor to the cover of 13 Degrees of Separation. I am so not looking forward to it now. There are 14 scenes (1 for each story plus the scene with Trinity watching them) so there are a lot of models and scenes to do. UGH! I think I bit off more than I can chew with that one!

In other, sad news:
Rest In Peace Snowflake. 12 years ago I was there when my sister and nephew picked you out at Petsmart's adoption center. You were a bit hard to get to know for the first few years but after a while you warmed up to everyone and became a mellow, lovable cat. We will miss you.

On a roll...

    Just a quick note, I just finished roughing out the 6th short story of the week... the final one for 13 Degrees of Separation!

    Yup, I started Monday by passing Jethro 2 off to Gord, then went on to work on the cover art for the book. I roughed out the Skyhawk/Warhawk in Inspire 3D, worked on Pirates Bane a bit, but then I got sidetracked by taking dad and the family out to a steakhouse for dad's 63rd birthday, and then a short story got stuck in my head and just wouldn't go away.
    One thing led to another and I ended up first roughing it out... and then writing it out. It is in the Founding of the Federation timeline. (The First Steps series I have yet to get back to) When I had it roughed out I picked up on another story in that time period I had half finished and finished it. Then I jumped to the Gottenburg timeline and finished 2 stories there! Finally today, I finished the last 2 remaining stories in the Wandering Engineer timeline, (despite having to listen to dad snore through 9 hours of Barrette Jackson) thus finishing 13 Degrees of Separation! I even got all the stories in the manuscript, the front matter, and most of the back matter! It's all ready to go to Gord!

Wow! Cool! I am so on a roll! lol WOOT WOOT!

   So, I am so psyched! And no, not because it is my 13th book. (Yes I know, I have 8 published and now 4 in the pipeline. There is another....GRRR Go away Yoda!)

    Any who, I really am pretty jazzed. I'm going to go hit the Ice cream and kick back. Tomorrow is another day. Dad's actual Birthday. :)

EDIT: I forgot to mention, Mechmaster is down to 80 pages of Princess Rescue Inc. Since he's off for the next 10 days he (and I) are hoping he'll get the rest done... and get more of his climactic battle to his Dalek comic done. (I know, ambitious) Well, anyway, here's hoping!
Gord just told me he's half done Jethro 2! Cool!

Hopefully next post I'll have more to show regarding the cover of Jethro 2!