In The Forest Of Coloured Lights by KatesFriend
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As always, I would first thank everyone for their support over the last year. I hope you are all getting ready for the upcoming holidays with enthusiasm and low stress levels. Get your wrapping done about two days before the big day. That way, you're just watching DVDs1 on Christmas Eve - with rhum. As for me, Vue 8 brings me back to the Christmas season with another installment of my Christmas Trees In Cyberspace series. If you leaf through the referenced album you will learn of my nostalgia for old style Christmas trees. I am Sagittarius after all - born beneath the coloured lights of the Solstice, as I like to espouse. There isn't much left to add to my six previous manifestos, I think I've laid everything bear by now. Hence, all that is required is a rendered reminder of how Christmas trees used to look in my childhood. Before fashion elders invented pastels. Yeah, I'm talking to you Don Johnston. You, me and the Pope have some old scores to settle. #IveBeenDrinking Of coarse, I always spend too much time trying to perfect one small aspect of any particular rendering. It's my undoing, I always have to do something new. In this case I wanted to direct the orientation of Vue ecology objects so that they would face a specific element of the scene. I originally tried to do this in 'Mooooo Can't Escape Us, Earthling!' with marginal success. The evil alien cows pointed in Nigel's general direction but not directly at him. I added a few foreground stunt cows to better support the illusion. In this scene I wanted to have the people walking towards the great tree from all directions. It took a lot of trial and cursing but I finally worked out the vector mathematics to control the Orientation node - it took about ten (10) days. You have to compensate for the displacement of the landscape when calculating the position of each ecology object. And then you have to calculate the vector difference between the ecology object and the target element. And then you have to convert to polar coordinates. An then you have to... Let's just say that it still requires a little hand holding but once I refine it I'll see if I can publish it in the freebies. Anyways, for tonight I'm off to the Island of Misfit Toys... Check out 'Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer' on YouTube before the Google content Nazis strike it down. Right, "don't be evil", my Royal Canadian Ass! Cheers! Sorry, still no nudity. But if you look closely, there are squirrels.
References: 1For all you millennials, a DVD is what Mommy and Daddy watched before making out. When the Earth was flat and the internets was a, "series of tubes".22For all you millennials, apologies for making you envision a world without streaming and your parents having sex. Now if you really want to know the true meaning of horror, let me tell you of rotary dial phones.... Bhah! Ha-ha! Ha-ha-ha! HA! "The evil laugh comes from the back of the throat."
Comments (13)
Faemike55
just hide your nuts around them... great scene!
anitalee
Excellent
npauling
A very magical Christmas scene. I can see all the people making their way to the biggest and brightest tree, but blow me down I can't see any squirrels. I love the lights though. Have a very happy festive season. 😀
KatesFriend
Thanks Nancy. In all honesty the squirrels are a little tiny.
ACue
Brilliant! As was "Mooooo Can't Escape Us, Earthling!", of course!! Glad you're discovering the intricacies of Vue!!
MagikUnicorn
CONGRATS TORONTO MLS CHAMPION
nefertiabet
Excellent!!!
tetrasnake Online Now!
Lovely!
GrandmaT
Gorgeous scene! Have a wonderful Christmas.
eekdog Online Now!
So very well done, Clayton. Looks like a photo. Love the colored lights and seasonal touch.
LivingPixels
Beautiful Vue imagery very well done!! BTW thanx for dropping by the gallery!!
goldie
Enjoyed your commentary--and, as I am one who was around before dial phones came into existence (actually had to have an operator make the connections--now that would make the Mills' heads explode) I can appreciate your sentiments regarding the beauty of simpler times...your scene is gorgeous...was well worth your endevours...have a merry...
RodS
This is absolutely wonderful! And I love your narrative!
I still have 3 old dial phones sitting on a shelf in my shop!
Deane
Wonderful composition and presentation. Superb scene with impressive attention to detail!