Just a quick one to say I'm still alive despite the total lack of activity here. I got ill three times in a row and now I'm working on a new design and back end for my website and being frustrated with browsers other than Safari being lame. I'm attempting to teach myself CSS and JavaScript and PHP and it isn't going too badly, but there's still much to do.

Bit of a news related journal post this time. It looks like it's all directed at 3D artists, but it ain't.
Please spread this info so more people get to know about it

1. 3D Community Meetings!
Every Sunday at 6pm GMT / 1pm EST in #dAmn3Dimension there's a 3D community meeting, moderated by the 3D gallery directors. If you're a 3D artist then please do turn up and contribute any ideas or feedback you've got.

The room is always open, however, so feel free to drop in for a chat or advice any time. There's usually someone there, and you can always try to hold a conversation with the bot if things are quiet

Addendum: No 3D community meeting this Sunday (July 5th) due to independence day or summat.


2. Swap Meet!
Next Sunday, the 29th, in the same chatroom we are having a swap shop kinda thing, being organised by ^Bloodredsangre. This will be a chance for people to pull all those dusty old, and shiny new, 3D resources out of storage and share them with the rest of the community. That means textures, models, materials, stages, backgrounds, and anything else you think someone might enjoy making use of. Of course this isn't limited to just 3D people either so, if you have something you think may be useful to those who do 3D, turn up and swap/share it

There are no rules except that you can only share what you yourself have created (because we don't want to get into the shit on this one) so you can decide whether to share your stuff with only people who share things with you or with everybody, and for a limited time only or for longer.

If you have any questions about this, please send a note to ^Bloodredsangre and she will endeavour to help. If you need storage space offsite for files then take a look at MegaUpload rather than using RapidShare, as RS introduces long waiting periods for non paying users. I can also host files for you if you're looking for a long term solution, so drop me a note if that's the case.

Addendum: 3D Swap meets will now be held once a month, the next being on the 27th of July.


3. What Goes Where?
There seems to be a lot of confusion about the 3D gallery when it comes to finding a place for your new deviations. As the description says, the gallery is for "3D digital art created through the use of cartesian coordinates (X,Y,Z) on a 2D digital canvas.". This means that anything not created with a 3D app does not belong there.

Submitting things to the wrong category not only makes it difficult to browse that category, but it adds a lot of work for the gallery directors and everyone else who reports misplaced images. If you're confused as to where something should go then drop into a chatroom and ask, or click the "Gallery Info" button when choosing your category. If you're just too lazy and chuck everything into the first available category then you should be ashamed and, in my opinion, deserve to get b& from the site, so don't do it

Examples of 3D apps are:
- Cinema4d
- Maya
- 3DS Max
- Lightwave
- ZBrush
- Poser
- Bryce
Examples of what not to post are:
- Random sketches
- Anything created with a 2D app such as Paint or Photoshop with a 3D look or representing a 3D object
- Any photos of physical objects such as sculptures, papercraft, or anything created in what appears to be called "3D class".
- Screenshots from games or things like Spore Creature Creator. The latter are flooding the 3D galleries and they should go into your Scraps. If you aren't sure people will see them you can link to them via a journal entry or your sig, but please don't put them in 3D.
- Somebody else's legitimate 3D render that you've worked on or modified in some way using an app such as Photoshop. This should go into whichever of the other Digital Art categories it best fits.

Placing things properly only takes a few seconds of your time but saves others so much work and helps to keep the galleries neat and tidy, so think before you hit submit. For all those who do make sure they've got it right, keep up the good work. You're doing us all a favour


That's about all for now I think.. I hope to be seeing at least some of you in #dAmn3Dimension, and.. everyone enjoy your dabblings

3D Club! Another 3D Club!

So, ive gone through my gallery and updated several of the pics to iron out some problems and hopefully add a bit more polish. I also finally submitted a print of the poker image so hopefully thatll be up for sale in a few days time, and the new tasty treats pic should also be available as a print shortly.

In order to avoid spamming peoples message centres with all the updates, i decided to turn off notify watchers so just take a look through the gallery to see the updated stuff. Insert usual grumble about subscriber only features here.

If you have any suggestions for other updates then please post in here and ill see what i can do

Id just like to say thanks to =DailyDeviants for featuring my gallery and `lazybutt for picking me out, it really is appreciated

Also, this will push my foamy mouthed ranting off the user page, but that has nothing to do with it..

Anyone who watches me may have noticed that ive not submitted anything in quite a while, and heres why (for those who care). It seems that all the colour has been drained out of my life and most things dont seem to evoke any feelings anymore. I have things that i should do and things that others tell me i should do but i cant bring myself to do any of them, because, when i look forward, the end effect just doesnt seem worth the effort. My life is in a holding pattern, and has been for some years now, and the one thing that can get me out of it will, im told, destroy everything i have to live for. Each decision leads to a bad situation, so what the hell am i supposed to do? I feel trapped in my own life.

If youre still reading, and believe me youre not so bad off if youre not already hanging from your neck in your fucking closet, then i applaud you for your resilience. I am, however, gonna have to carry on..

The one thing ive always felt im here for is to help people but, every time i do, its like im losing a piece of myself (whether they appreciate or even notice the help or not). I cant stop tho, its like a compulsion, and if i try to stop i start feeling completely useless. There are a few people who i want to help more than the rest, but they wont let me help them. All this adds up to me not really knowing why i exist. I used to think i knew but now that just hurts me, so im either destined to live in pain or i have to start turning myself into a selfish arsehole and end up causing others pain. I dont think i can do the latter.
Speaking of pain, how do you readers deal with it? What are those strange little things that are able to take you away from the world and make things pleasurable again, if even for a moment? Im curious.

Well i think i should stop now cos i dont want anyone elses blood on my hands, so there is what was an insight into the mind of probably a severely damaged personality. Perhaps itll make you people feel more sane; i hope so.
Love n kisses n all that sappy shit for the girl i love. If youre readin this, dont feel like you have to return the sentiment.