To everyone who offered their images for DragonCon, whether I was able to use them or not, I want to extend my heartfelt thanks to each of you. On Friday, 9/2, we set up at a table just inside the entrance to the Art Show section. Audre, from Renderosity, allowed us the use of the table (on Friday only) in front of the Art on Demand panels. At 1 pm, Moriah Jones and Steve Kondris gave a panel on getting started in 3D, starring DAZ|Studio. I was watching the table while they were presenting, but lots of questions were asked and people who knew about DAZ and the forums spoke up to help answer questions. After the panel, Steve and Moriah handed out copies of DAZ|Studio and the 2005 DAZ Calendar (small version), while I "played" in Bryce and DS. After a while, Moriah took over playing to save her voice (she had a cold). We had a lot of people interested in both Bryce and DS, some came back multiple times to watch and ask questions. We showed them the printed Bryce images and got quite a few "Wows" on many of the images. When the art section closed, there was a reception for the artists and Steve got another opportunity to show DS to any artist interested. We also met SndCastie and Angelique Armae. Both Moriah and Steve thought Atlanta was too hot and humid. They'd never make good Southerners. On Saturday, Moriah slept while I watched TV and crocheted a baby bonnet for a charity group and Steve got a chance to wander around DragonCon with his video camera. That afternoon, we drove Steve to the airport to catch a flight back to Utah. That evening, Moriah and I walked a couple of blocks to find something for supper and the weather had cooled down a few degrees. I mentioned how cold it was and Moriah just glared at me. On Sunday, we had two panels, the first at 10 am where Moriah showed how to make monsters in DS and the second at 10 pm where I showed the basics of Bryce. We gave away five copies of Bryce 5.5 and the winners seemed to be quite happy to get their hands on a copy. Between the two panels, Moriah and I went through the vendor areas and walked around watching the folks in costume. We also attended a panel on the upcoming Robert Jordan book and caught the first hour and a half of the costume contest before having to leave for the 10 pm panel. A guy from Australia was putting together a short documentary on DragonCon that he hoped to present to some guys back in Australia so he could do a full blown documentary next year. He asked permission to ask us a few questions, like what we thought of the costumes, if we'd like to come back next year in costume (me - No, Moriah - Yes). When he asked why we were there, Moriah explained a little about DAZ. On Monday, we arrived at 1 pm just in case Audre needed help. She was losing her voice and wanted us there in case it went completely. At 2:30 pm, we did our fourth and final panel, building some on what Audre had presented, but mostly showed how to do animations in both Bryce and DS, showed a little bit of Project Dogwaffle, talked about post-processing, and showed some of the images you folks sent me. We gave away another five copies of Bryce 5.5 and even got a drumroll for the last name drawing. In the afternoon, I called up Lee Hughey (http://www.3dhighway.com) and he and Arnold picked me up in Lee's red Cadillac Convertible. The seat belt wasn't working but apparently antique cars don't have to have them anyway. They took me to The Varsity for a Frosted Orange then drove me around Atlanta to show me some of the sights, including the CNN building where Lee works. We had early flights out on Tuesday (just after 8 am). Moriah's flight went without a hitch, but I had quite an experience. First, when I got in line to check my bag, one of the AirTran guys announced that if our flight was leaving at 7:55, 8:00, 8:10, or 8:15, then we weren't going to make it through the line in time and we would all be put on standby. However, if you had a boarding pass, you could try to check any bags at the curb. Fortunately for me, Moriah had checked us in the night before and I had my boarding pass and seat assignment. I tore off as fast as I could go to the curb check-in and after waiting in a short line, got my bag checked. I headed to security where they confiscated my embroidery scissors (of course I complained that security in Houston let me keep them). I made it to my gate with five minutes to spare. We took off about 20 minutes late though and headed back to Houston. After about 30 minutes, one of the flight attendants announced that we were heading back to Atlanta. We turned around and the captain came on to explain that his navigational computer had gone down. Once back in Atlanta, we left the plane and boarded another and finally got on our way. I got to Houston about 2 hours late, but even the heat and humidity here felt like home. All in all, I really enjoyed myself, Steve Kondris is a riot and Moriah is a blast. - Cross posted -