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darkfurmatte

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The Universe continues to have its way with me in yet more hilariously entertaining ways.  

During a hard week of decorating - up a ladder, stripping paint, sanding, re-painting and puttying a large bay window - in which I wrenched virtually every muscle in my body, Fate threw me two curveballs.  Last Friday the brakes on my car went, thanks to a broken brake booster pipe, though I was fortunately able to bring the car to a stop without killing myself.  Then, just yesterday, the hard disk drive on my 18 month-old computer crashed.  Not some kind of fixable soft crash, either - a full on head crash that sounded like someone had taken a chainsaw to it.  

Goodbye data. 

By some miracle I had actually backed up the majority of my important files about two weeks ago, but several hours of 3D-modelling was lost - stuff that I was especially pleased with, too - and now I am relegated to using my wife's laptop for a couple of weeks until I can afford to either fix the computer or replace it entirely.  Given that I can't find my damn recovery disks, it would only cost about an extra £50 to buy a whole new desktop than it would to buy a new hard drive and a set of replacement recovery disks from HP.

To further complicate matters, next Tuesday is my daughter's birthday and tomorrow we are having her birthday party, both of which require money that I barely have, so that scuppers my plans for getting my PC up and running in the near future.  Perhaps I shall put "New Computer" at the top of my Christmas list and hope that someone in my family is well-off enough - and generous enough - to buy me one.

Still, at least I almost have my health...
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Not Dead Yet

2 min read
Hey there, folks!

Summer break is here for the children, and with that comes a complete lack of ability to get anything done beyond entertaining the aforementioned sproglets, watching movies and occasionally braving the heat/rain/howling wind/whatever-weather-we-get-next that beats upon the exterior of my house.  Just this weekend I returned home from a 10-day jaunt to Normandy in France, where several photos were taken, some relaxing was had and exhaustion followed.  Some of those pictures might even be worth posting up, but I'll have to check through them and see which ones aren't hideously out of focus.

In other news, I'm making even greater strides with Daz3D and the Hexagon modelling program.  I've been hard at work (yes, even on holiday) constructing sets for my forthcoming pictures - desks, drawers, chairs and so on...nothing particularly exciting, but I've been going for a very specific look that none of the purchasable items gave me.  After I've UV-mapped them I'll do some renders and you can see what you think of them.

In between these holidays and computing sessions I've been slowly getting back into gaming, thanks largely to a friend of mine who forced me to sit down with him and play Dynasty Warriors 8 in 2-player co-op.  I've never really been into that type of game, but for some reason I find myself becoming addicted to them.  Most notably, I'm now officially hooked on One Piece: Pirate Warriors, which is quite possibly the most bizarre game I've ever played.  The gameplay isn't bizarre, mind you, but the dialogue, characters and actions are positively insane.  And I love it.

So, for now I should probably get on with some real work and leave you lovely Interweb-Folk alone.

:)
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They say that horses sweat, men perspire, but women merely glow.  Well, I must be a horse then, because I am writing this bathed in a pool of my own heat-induced moisture, desperately hoping and praying for the evening to come around quickly with its promise of rain and thunderstorms that will, with any luck, cool things down a bit.  I was in Menorca during a heat wave, many years ago, when the mercury broke 110F and it wasn't as bad as this, despite the fact that presently the temperature isn't even breaking 90.  My exhaustion is exacerbated by the terrible night I had, due primarily to the heat.  Then, just as I was slipping into the cool embrace of slumber, a thunderstorm started right on top of me.  It was 2.30am last time I looked at the clock.  I was awake at 7.00am.  I hate 7.00am.

Still, regardless of the kind of night I have tonight, at least I get to sleep in tomorrow.

Anyway, as I sit here hoping that the beads of perspiration on my brow don't roll off my face and land in the laptop, causing it to explode, I am filled with the hope that I shall soon be posting some more pictures here on DeviantArt.  A couple of weeks ago I was lucky enough to be taken to the Warner Bros. Studio Tour at Leavesden, also known as "Harry Potter World" to some.  I've never seen Harry Potter as a matter of principle - I loathe JK Rowling and the one time I tried to read the first Harry Potter book I was taken aback at how poorly written it was (in my opinion, though others tell me that she is a master of the written word...go figure...) - so I must confess to not being thrilled about the prospect of spending several hours immersing myself in its cinematic universe.  However, much to my surprise I absolutely loved it.  The craftsmanship and creativity that went into the films is absolutely gobsmacking.  So astonished was I by what I saw that not only did I start watching the Harry Potter films upon my return home, but I took over 350 photos while at the studio.  I'd better check on the website that it's okay to post up pictures...knowing my luck they're for personal use only and can't be displayed on a public website, but if I can then I'll upload some next week.

I'm also starting to make something of a breakthrough with Daz3D.  Using their Hexagon modelling program I've made quite a few bits and pieces - buildings, clothing and so on - and I'm beginning to get the hang of UV Mapping.  Right now I'm doing some modelling in Hexagon, importing to Daz3D for rendering, then running the render through GIMP to make the renders look like watercolor paintings.  I'm quite pleased with the results, so I'll be sharing some of those next week as well.

As always, time moves ever onwards, so I shall have to take my leave and get on with the things I really should be doing today (as opposed to the things I really would like to be doing today).

Take care, Interweb Folk!

:)
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Summertime

1 min read
I'm finally starting to come out of my malaise and I hope to be posting up some new stuff soon.  Over the last month I've got into Daz3D in a big way, created some of my own clothing for the models and have just started playing around with creating some morphs to do the things that the existing morph packs don't do.  I'm pretty excited about it all.  Unfortunately it means that I've not been doing any traditional drawing for a while now, so I probably completely suck at it again, but I'll get back to that in due course.

And while I'm here I'll just wish a very happy birthday to my deviantart buddy, DNOStallone.  If ever a man was deserving of cake and llamas, it's him.

:)
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Next Post

1 min read
Scratch what I said last time.  I went to the doctor last week and it turns out that I'm clinically depressed.  Which explains a lot.  I'll get back to you in a couple of week when the Prozac has kicked in.
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Un-Frickin'-Believable! by darkfurmatte, journal

Not Dead Yet by darkfurmatte, journal

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Summertime by darkfurmatte, journal

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