rather than a normal tutorial, this is more an personal explanation of art, as a therapy for coping with life's crappier stuff ;)

** http://www.silverblades-suitcase.com/tutorials/htm/21.html**

don't worry, I'll get back to "normal" vue tutorials soon :)

Heavy stuff, there, Steven. This disease of yours must be a real burden.
So thanks for this tut, and thanks for the giggles too ( stcking a thumb up your arse is boring? Nice one!)

Bruno,
hehe ;)
Better to do stuff and make life better for a smany folk a syou can, than watch soap operas! :tt2:
Art's a great way of dealing with things, IMHO.

Hi Steven,
Good article - you should send it to some of the health magazines.  I suffer from chronic asthma.  There are some days just walking across the room wears me out.  Lucky my job is desk bound and also my hobbies, but being sick does stress you out. 

I finally found some relief by getting allergy shots - come to find out I'm allergic to every tree and grass growing in my area.  Now I only get bad episodes when I get a cold/flu.  The meds suck - I hate using the nebulizer!  Creating something is one of the best therapies!

Peggy,
Thank you :)
Ack! Fortunately I'm not allergic to anything (bar being sick n' poverty stricken, lol!)

Agreed, making things is great way to deal with life's "wobblies" :)
It not only helps take your mind off things, it rewards (n many ways), builds patience, keeps the mind going, etc.

About 5km from where I live (about 3 miles for metrically challenged people...) on the outer wall of a factory some wrote with black spray:

La vita e' come la scala del pollaio: corta e piena di merda

which translated into English means:

Life is like the stairs of the hen house: short and full of shit

Philosophers have used lots of ink about this problem, but the end result is just this...

Bye  :-(

"Pecker contest" Thats a hoot! I am a Manic Depressive with migranes myself.When I want to bash my(or some elses) head with a brick till the white meat is showing i grab the vodka and the Vue,without the Vue life was a mess,I fully agree 110% art does help.It is an outlet for so many different things.You have written a good article,you should be happy to share your trials.As momma said..EVERYBODY has a story,so never think your worse off than anyone else.You really should submit this article to Readers Digest,it is really good.

Alexcoppo,
but you can have fun ont he wya through, though! ;)
You sitll have a choice, to make life better, or worse for you and others.

Trepz,
lol, well, a lot of things do end in such silliness, with folk squaring up to each other over trivial things ;)

Well I can back up every word you say Silverblade, and empathise. For nearly 3 years I have suffered from Sarcoidosis - which may not be unknown to you - as it is in the same group of 'autoimmune' diseases as M.E.

The main symptom I suffer from is extreme fatigue - and yes stress makes it worse. Which is interesting when you know my job is in sales...

Though may be for not much longer.

My writing and my art are the only thing (other than my wonderful wife) that has kept me sane (OK, my version of sane :) ).

'What doesn't kill you makes you stronger!'

Whilst that is true, they forget to mention how much it p***es you off!

Yotna,
ack, sorry, man, not fun :/ and yup, that famous quote certianly misses out a fair bit, lol! ;)

Makes me wonder if the amount of folk on 'Rosity and simialr sites, have higher than normal populations of flok suffering form chronic health problems, hm?
ie as a sub-group, beyond the usual Brycs vs Poser vs Vue etc ! :D

I'm certain that is right; also on chat etc. At least that has been my experience.

Good god, as you say - anything to escape day time TV! Out of the last 3 years I have spent the best part of a year on the sick...

But its an ill wind - I have learnt a great deal in the process. Not least that life is better than the only alternative.

I was told in 2005 it could be terminal cancer or sarcoid. 2 days before Christmas sarcoid was confirmed. I have never looked at the world through weary eyes since :D.

Yotna,
hey, "Diagnosis Murder" is fun ;) (I love Dick Van Dyke's fun and kindly wit, makes a chnage from the angst and nastiness elsewhere)

bar that, and science documentaries and a few others (New Tricks, Foyle's War and the like), TV sucks!!

nod after coming out of 4 years of sheer hell with this, touch wood am determined ot enjoy life and do stuff :) Nothing quite like that to wake you up out of the humdrum, as we both know! :thumbupboth:

kick-butt tutorial, silverblade!!!

indeed, art therapy was what led me to poser (and then to vue)... long long ago in a world far far away (ok, in the 90's), i was lucky enough to end up in a psych ward that actually HAD art therapy.

It helped more than any of the talking crap.

fast forward to ohh.... 2003 when i discovered manipulating photographs with photoshop.... then found the works of boris (ahhh, boris....) and went "there's GOTTA be a way" - meanwhile, my health had declined (fibromyalgia/M.E)

but can i draw a stick figure?  nope.  FINALLY found poser.... and well... between poser and vue (amazing how in 5 months, i became a die-hard vue user - to the point i HATE rendering ANYTHING in poser)... its the best therapy i could ever hope for.  having a bad day?  work it out with poser & vue.  have a great day?  show the world!

unfortunately, the past couple of months i havent been able to sit up much - not due to the fibro... but due to a bad gall bladder.  (its amazing how much pain & nausia one stupid little internal sack can cause)  THAT gets removed tomorrow.  hopefully, in a week or so, i'll be back to "playing" again.  doc and i both are crossing fingers that i wont have a fibro flareup afterwards (second time being "under" in three weeks)

been bookmarking your tuts, silverblade.... cus i intend on going through them when i can sit up for longer than a half hour or so.  what i've been able to see so far - they're great =D

but... back to art therapy =D  in my opinion, it works even when "traditional" therapies do not - both for physical & emotional "issues".... strange how life takes twists and turns... i was studying to be an art therapist when the fibro struck me.  even with me not being able to draw a stick figure... ok, i CAN draw a stick figure - but nobody knows if its a human, or a kitty-cat LOL.

i just took the bits & pieces of it that i've learned, read a lot of books... and plotted my own course =D

thumbs up to you, silver, for not letting the M.E. get you down, and two thumbs up to all those who refuse to let physical and or mental "issues" run your life.

yawns  ok, back to bed for me....

melikia,
another M.E. victim, yikes! Not much I can give but synmpathy and hope the "brain fog" stays away ;)

Least that damnable part of ME isn't bugging me much at moment (brain fogt changed to weird headache nearly 2 years ago, been keeping very unstressed, and testosterone hormone replacement seems to be helping too)

Stress seems ot be the key for making M.E. worse.

agrees with your post

Anyway gentle hugs and get over the gall bladder woe, soon! :)**

**

Steven, What a great article! I took up digital art, when I became disabled by ME or CFS as it's more often called here in the US. When brain fog hits, I don't have to try to remember where I am or what I'm doing in digital art - it's right there on the screen for me to see. And, if I tire, I can leave my project at any stage. Vue is the perfect program for folks with ME/CFS. It's fun to play around with. And it is challenging enough to exercise our brains, which I think helps fight the memory problems. In Peggy's class, I recently ventured into the Function Editor. I figure that should keep brain fog away for months. :biggrin: melikia, Sorry to hear about your Gall Bladder. I went through that in 2006. Getting used to the pain of CFS made me think what I had wasn't a big deal. The docs thought otherwise and rushed me in for emergency surgery. It was a piece of cake - not much pain afterward and the recovery didn't knock me out as much as I anticipated. Good luck to you both, Nelia

Grouch,
renders M.E. Butt Kicker Device, by ACME Inc ;)
now if only such a gizmo existed, hehe.

There does seem to be a lot of artists here with health issues, hm...think it might be something worth taking up somehow, as a broader issue somehow?? No ide aon how ot progress on that though.

I had to re-learn stuff after being away a bit from the editor, lol, brains are past the Sell by Date :D

Quote - renders M.E. Butt Kicker Device, by ACME Inc ;)

Oooooh, I want one of those! Heck, I want 3 or 4 of 'em. Re: larger number of folks with health issues on forums. I think that's quite probable. I know that the computer has been one of the things that's helped me the most. I'm able to cyber-visit friends, when FTF meetings would be impossible. Since I had to quit work, I'm home nearly all the time and can and do go online more than when I was still working. I have a Pocket PC that is my new "brain." It remembers all the things I can't. I set reminders with audible alarms for virtually everything - pills to take, phone calls to make, doctor visits, etc. I set it far enough ahead of time, so that if I totally forget an appoint (which I usually do), I still have enough time to get ready and make it there. I also use it for shopping lists, as shopping without it is a disaster. I think at one point I cornered the West Coast supply of tin foil. I kept buying it, thinking I still needed it - forgetting that I'd bought it on the last 12 trips. :rolleyes: GPS has been a God-send for me. When I go out, I get tired. When I get tired, my memory gets even worse and I sometimes forget how to get home from places I've been going to for years. But there has been a good side to CFS for me. I was struck down at the peak of a sucessful career as a scientist. Loved, loved, LOVED my job. I found all this losing of health, career, fair weather friends, etc. a bit depressing. I heard the siren call of depression and vowed to fight it. As a result, I faced my disappointments and conquered them. I found I was NOT my job. I found that real friends and family were totally supportive. I found that seeking out humor keeps my spirits up. My mental health has never been better. My slower way of life allows me to savor things I missed while working. I used to garden, but never had time to enjoy the results. Now I can no longer garden, but my roses have endured and I can see them from my favorite chair and marvel at their beauty. I guess it's the one door closes, another door opens type of thing. For me, digital art is my open door. Nelia

Silverblade:

Right on! Kick drugs, kick illness and then kick some ass!

Still working on the plan, but we will all get there, and the art will help.

I have sat on  the most miserable days creating gorgeous pin -ups off imagined West Indian islands, beat the hell out of the steroids :D

Haven't time to read all the posts at the mo so maybe someone else has suggested this - Google Sketchup Therapy?

Update:

i made it through surgery... not exactly OK.  my insurence stressed me out before i even went under, and THAT didnt help at all.  (My file was sitting on the insurance doc's desk for 4 business days BEFORE the scheduled surgery, and then, we STILL had to wait for approval!)  i vaguely recall waking up and screaming numerous times, then a day long battle with extreme pain & vomiting.  now, im still recovering and i caught a stupid cold - WHEN will people learn that when i say "i DONT WANT COMPANY" i mean it?

one simple little sentance that means a lot:  1) i'm not up to paying attention to you - i'm barely able to remember to pay attention to ME.  2) i don't want your germs.  3) i'm in enough pain without listening to YOUR woes right now.  when i feel better, we'll talk.  4) i STILL don't want your germs.

my muscles are now screaming as well, because i'm used to being able to move around and stretch a little - it does seem to help the pain.  there is little moving around & stretching is a thing of the past - at least for now.  i wont take the narcotic pain relief now, as ibruporphen seems to control the pain better and doesn't make my brain fog up more than usual.  (darling hubby managed to save this place from burning down - i forgot i put a ot of soup on a few days ago - thankfully, he smelled burned soup)

BUT!!!!!

i do have good news!

my new computer (yes, the one i've been claiming for 5 months and have yet to see) is currently in Fed Ex' clutches, and as soon as they release my precious packages... OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO i cant wait!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

and on top of that, poser 6 is $2.29 for those who have a membership at content paradise - until the 3rd of march.  Thankfully, my membership came with poser 7 (what a piece of work THAT one is - i hate the "streaky" renders)... so, i managed to purchase a copy for my daughter.  now, if i can just get her vue for $2.29 LOL.  am also planning on purchasing a few more copies so i can run it on multiple computers.

i'll be back up to speed here soon, and diving through silverblade's tutorials... and possibly even getting to attend some of those LVS classes Peggy was talking about...

yawns

nap time?

and yes... if it wasnt for digital art, i'd have been lost in the realm of insanity long before now.

Edit:  what is scetchup therapy?

Google Sketchup - a lot of people seem to find doodling with Google Sketchup quite therapeutic - free software from Google.

http://sketchup.google.com/

Melikia,
eeek! :(
yeah since I've got M.E, and my Mum's heart and lungs are shot (she's on an oxygen machine much of the day) so I HATE it when arseholes turn up with cold or flu!! ;)

Glad things are turning out for the better :)
What PC ye get?

And pity Zbrush isn't:
a) MUCH cheaper and
b) Have a decent interface
or for doodling, it would rule ;)

schetchup sounds neat....

now if i can just spell it =D

ouch, Silver... sorry about your Mum, too.... gentle hugs to both if wanted

i usually dont do so bad with colds/flu... but i cannot handle the sneezing - ive already popped stitches.

Zbrush... DROOOOOOL - one day... same with PainterX... and a buncha other programs i've been drooling on for years =D

One day, the companies are gonna sick of me drooling and just reduce the price already =D

as for the PC... honestly to tell the truth, i DONT REMEMBER now LOL.

my brother built it... i do know it has kick-butt capabilities.  4 gigs ram (and yes, XP Pro 64bit to handle it)....  ummm... lots of hard drive space, as well as an external hard drive for moving & storage....

ummm.... oh yeah, space for 4 or 5 more hard drives (he used a tower he was intending on using for a server or something - i dunno, he tried to explain and my eyes glazed over)

and LOTS of POWER to run it =D

not sure exactly about the video card, as he ran out of money and used one he had sitting around that wasn't linux-compatable (thus, i got it)... but he said it was a reallllllly nice one.

guess i'll see when the CPU box gets here... one of the monitors has arrived, one box is on a truck from anchorage to here, the other is "gasp" STUCK IN CHICAGO!!!!!!!!!!!.   if anyone is in chicago and knows anyone who works for Fed Ex - can they please find my package?  its been there for a week now.  whimpers

once it all arrives (or at least the CPU, cus what good are monitors without the vroom vroom to run 'em?).... then its a matter of cleaning this desk off and setting it up =D  (hubby's laptop gets to be used as gasp a laptop once more)

i cant wait to try to load up as many V4's as i can into vue and see when it crashes =D  how about A4.... bet she's a real doozie.

and yes, hubby purchased her for me - even though im STILL angry they made V4 like V3 in having to LOAD the stupid morphs.  bah.

stupid daz.

but smart me still has v4.0 =D

ok... its almost nap time =D and at some point, landlord will hopefully show up with a new propane cook stove for us YAY - NOW i'll be able to SEE when the stupid burners are on.

hugs are always good :)

cough...stitches...eek.

zbrush is awesome,e xcept for the interface :p

64 bit and more ram helps a TON, IMHO

v4, sigh what is what all that that it has to be installed in the actual poser run time,, bah! :p

V4 - a way around that that Daz seems never to have caught onto....

you can trick poser =D

well... not sure about 7, but i managed with 6 (will test 7 here in a while.....)

when you get a product that is SOOOOOOOOOOOO picky about where it goes.... but you WANT most (if not all) of it in another runtime... I let it install to where it wants... then i install another copy of it to a temporary runtime, where i then move the things i want to the runtime directories I want it in.  this way, there is a copy that will work, no matter what - the files ALL point to the right spots....  (or should)... if it wont let you install where you want, then copy/paste always works (i dont bother with the !Daz folders, geometry, and textures, as well as mimic files, etc.  its only in the library itself - figures, materials, poses, props, hair, hands, expressions, lights - anything i can see in poser itself - THOSE i will duplicate.)  I think its the duplicate !Daz folders that cause the issues, but am not sure - i am FAR from an expert - i just know i managed for a LONG time to get around that stupid rule, without problem.

call it inexperience that made it work - i had no idea it wasnt supposed to LOL.

but... bouncies around and squeals so loud they hear me at the south pole

MY COMPUTER FINALLY ARRIVED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  ALLLLLLL of it =DDDDDDDD

will let ya'll know when i finally have it up and running =D

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!