Wooden Personality

Finally attached some thread to my wooden sword and give it some character.

Went to the fabric store and found some decent yellow rope to go with the gold tassel (there was blue and orange fleecy there too!).  While Chinese swords commonly now have 2 tails on the end, Chen Tai Chi Swords have one.  I didn't discover that for the longest time.  Regardless, why would you equip a weapon, even a civil weapon, with such a flowery decoration?

According to my research, it was originally a just cord tied up used as a lanyard during fencing.  Naturally the ends would fray after some use and would eventually start resembling a tassel.  The frayed ends imply the wielder as a sword master and eventually the style caught on.  Swordsmen would intentionally fray the ends and make them bigger and bigger, and more and more pronounced.

It makes sense to me.  Right?  Fast forward to today...

Unfortunately, the tassels that come with most swords nowadays are so lousy that it is impossible to use them as they were originally intended or even as stylistic flare.  The length is often too long, making it difficult to bust a move without it getting tangled up around your wrist.

Now, you know I love Jet Li, I really do.  He twirls sword and tassel all awesome in Fearless, but that's movie magic.  It was choreographed with take after take.  I even noticed him holding the sword with a grip that would easily lose him a finger in combat.  The grip looks great nevertheless!  Again, movie magic.  Jet needs to look good!  And he does!

One last ramble.

It has been suggested that some schools have steel wire braided into the tassel to scrape your opponents face and in an attempt to blind him.  I strongly disagree.  That’s like taking a can of mace along with your M16 rifle in a war.  Why the hell would you... ok, ok.  I do not doubt the skills of some grand masters.  I am only saying I'd rather fight  with 2 and a half feet of razor than whip a twisty tie and be forced to dodge my own blade the entire time.

But on the other hand if you do manage get all fancy and blind me with the non-pointy end of a sword, you are indeed a true sword master.  And I really deserved it.

A tassel looks good, gives the sword personality, and can probably be used as a training tool.  But when the zombie apocalypse comes, that's the first thing I take off.  You made it this far in my rant, thanks.  'Preciate it.

Pushing Buttons

Back from the Christmas break and then some.

Got NHL 12 from my sister and 'rents for Xbox (which is pretty sweet).  However, I discovered that a round glowing circle screams "Push the button, PUSH THE GODDAM' BUTTON!!" to little toddlers.

Specifically my 15 month little girl.
So I taped it up.


Got some drawings to upload, just need to straighten it out a little.  I'm still around.
Did you catch the reference to Rush Hour?

Kikoken!!

Spiderman gave me a little something for the pic.  Totally made my day!  ^_^

Lazy Spider

I promised a work friend I’d do something for his blog, and it’s finally here.

The lazy gamer enjoys chilling with a smoke with his Android tablet and has taken Spiderman as one of his main avatars.  Which of course makes a literal interpretation quite easy.  The only thing I’d change if I had a second run would be rolling up the bottom of the mask.  Thereby making it easier to smoke and also exposing his gotee.

I have also noticed the first thing that draw the attention of men is inherently different from the ladies...

Queen's Park

Queen’s Park

Some clay model type renders.  Hardest part on this run was tweaking the grass (FiberFX), and timing the Depth of Field blur.  Still a lot of work left to do, but I figure a nice milestone render would be nice to share.

Planning to tack on the clouds I've been rendering.  Cool.

Also.  I had no idea you could upload videos directly to Blogger.

Head in Clouds

Animated GIF.  Please be patient =)

Finally, a cloud render I am (somewhat) happy about.  Now, I dont love it. I like it.

After playing with volume and particle clouds with not much success, I went for the stacked planes.  This render is a mash up of iaian’s walkthrough, Denis Pontonnier’s plugins, and Matt Gorner’s lighting.

Next, let loose thousands, indeed TENs of thousand of arrows, to block out the sun.
NVM, there is no sun...

Late welcome

Larry is a resident of New Zealand.
This is sooo old news now, but I’d still like to say something.  As stupid late as it may be...

For those in the Lightwave 3D community, Larry “Splinegod” Shultz is one of the best goto person.  Like ever.  I had the honour of hanging out with him years ago (time flies) and remember what an awesome, funny person he is.  Especially when he’s telling stories.

I think the first one I ever heard was the Temple of Meat, there was a lot of blood and a leather wallet and stitches handWha?  I don’t remember, ask him if you get a chance.  Maybe my mind is blocking something disgusting and creepy.  Was there a goat’s head and 2 spikes?

Regardless, people who’ve heard it all before quietly exit the room when Larry starts up.

Anyways!

The one that made me roll on the floor laughing (literally) was when he was telling us about the time he collected a tarantula the size of your head in a grocery bag and brought it back home to scare his freakishly uptight roommate.  Not only did it freak him to breaking down the front door running outside, he had actually ripped the phone off the wall and took it with him.  Why did he have the phone?  He was using it like a light saber vs the hugh jazz spider.  WTF?

That wasn’t even the best part.  The punchline is got the whole thing on tape and spread it around to EVERYBODY!  Who does that?  Seriously!?  This man has a couple wires in his head wrapped up a little too tight.

Larry, I love you man =D