Just an update on things, to share information that hasn’t been present here and it’s high time that something started stirring up.

You see, in between the time the previous post was posted and this one, a lot of things have transpired. A lot of LIFE has transpired. To give you a fragment of the nutshell, since the previous post’s announcement of updates circa May 15, 2008 - Things took a really steep curve towards the no-speed-limits express way. Even before I could reach that date, I landed a full-time job as a broadcast motion graphics designer.

Now, the job involves a good amount of designing, a lot of application testing (yes, we’re always ahead of the latest tech and testing it the hardcore way) and a lot of traveling around the world. So that pretty much takes up all the time I have in a given day.

But yes, the plans for a v3.0 are still burning in the back of my palms, which means the design-binge is just around the corner. So basically… See you soon!

The past couple of months have been, well put, atrocious raised to power barbaric. But all the hard things that I’ve had to put myself through have paid off so I’m not as raged out as I was before and that is a good sign. I don’t have a problem with being challenged or working really hard, it’s just rendered into a thorn in my side when all the effort put into that challenge is unfruitful. And that, I believe, is fair. Aye?

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So I was goofing around with the pjlHogan rig in Maya and decided to do some vocal acting and syncing thing. What better to sync to than the golden words from the histories - THIS IS SPAAAAARTAA!!!

Music composed for the new internet cast - The Kedoa Show. The motion graphics that you see in the first section were done by Andy Jonhson of Kedoa. I just threw some small time graphics for the rest of the 3 sections to prevent blank-screen-starage.

All music was sequenced in FL Studio and mastered in Sony Sound Forge.

Kerem Sogukpinar is the name of a man who weaves the fabric of magic with threads of sonic bliss. A musician who hails from Istanbul, Turkey, he is known in the undergrounds as AxEast and he has a glimmer to show to the world - A glimpse of things to come.

AxEast.com

Now this is some good entertainment at about 2 o’ clock in the morning. When everyone is asleep, I’m taking a little break from night time working and the TV is all jaded and routine; pops up American Idol’s Philadelphia auditions. Now, I believe firmly that American Idol’s prelims are some of the best entertainment possible on TV. Why? Cmon, where else do you get to see people audition to see how well they can make a fool of themselves?
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So the teacher at the animation institute wanted us to make a sucky ball hop on to an even suckier box. Obviously, I’m not interested in such 5-minute-ready-to-go assignment work (Please note: Results may vary. Noobs require 5 days for the same 5 minute poop assignment and they still don’t get it right! And God bless them too. Too many incompetent motherfuckers = Good for personal progress!).

Hence, I decide to go crazy with it as usual. Throw in some dynamic fur, add another ball and throw some dynamic fur on it too. Add another box. Animate the camera angles. Blahdy blahdy blahdy! So there - Enjoy the Furbawlz!

So I was facing some problems with Maya’s fur rendering, through batch renders. Tried what not and all that with Custom Equalization maps and all, finally got it.

The problem was, when a single shot was rendered, everything was fine. As soon as I did a batch render, for some reason the fur in this scene shifted by a couple of hundred coordinates on the Y axis.

This is a WIP and should be finished in at most two days time.

Top class graphical detailing, utmost sense of realism and options to adjust it for the weak of the heart, more resilient physics rendering engine and potentially infinite customization options and yet Need For Speed fails to impress, and terribly so. It’s like a beautiful Aston Martin tricked out, modded, tweaked and given a whole new personality only to find a little later on that the rig is missing an engine and everything else that makes it work. A hollow system.

But the news is not all bad. Here are some really strong points of the game:
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In case you don’t already know or haven’t played Need For Speed: Pro Street yet, let me tell you one thing - This game is a “piece of work”. Near perfect realism in car control response and feel. Really impressive graphic styling to the game with heavy usage of neo-urban design trends used to define the entire interface menu and game environment.

I just got it yesterday afternoon, and I must say, I was overwhelmed by the game by all means. But I have to admit that the game just isn’t as fun without the “freedom” we’ve had in the previous 4 versions from the series. Now, I haven’t beaten the game so I’m not going to write a detailed rant about it (yea, a rant and not a praise because as I see the game, other than the artistic work involved there are absolutely no chances for it to earn a good word) but I can tell you this - On artistic scales and realism, this game is a shocker and anyone will be astounded by the feel it gives. Judging by gameplay however, it is as interesting as skeletons fucking inside a tin can. So there ya have it, direct and concise.

Anyway, this post is more about my personal rant than Need For Speed, at least for the moment anyway, because - I have been procrastinating in front of the computer. And I’ve been doing so on purpose. Because all this past month and the previous month and the one before it, I have been working non stop on anywhere between 3-6 hours of sleep, two half and semi-decent meals and a bowl of soup with some junk food that is greasing me up on the inside, driving around the city due to the most obscure of reasons like a maniac handling everything being thrown at me and then finishing up on design work for clients through the night. I needed a break! And at least a 48-72 hour long break because my entire system is tired and I can’t even seem to focus on what I do anymore.

So all friends and clients and you, who is reading this ass-heated rant of mine - I am not going to work on anything no matter what means you pursue to make me do otherwise. I need a break too. And it’s high time I did exactly that.

So while everything remains in a stagnant state for a while, I’m gonna go and play some more Pro Street and beat it just so I can say I’ve beaten all versions in the NFS series and then I’m going to watch and enjoy The Grudge 2, just like I enjoyed The Island and Scarlette Johanson in white skimpy clothes in there.
Stay tuned and keep watching - The “PhoeniX Can Obliterate Your Existence With A Fart” Show! We’ll be right back.