Blender Script: Change Object Visibility Each Frame

Here's a script to make visible only one object per frame in Blender. Visibility goes on for a single object and off for the rest.

import bpy
def ani_handler(scene):
    obj_len = len(scene.objects.values())
    for i, obj in enumerate(scene.objects.values()):
        # obj.hide_set(i != ((scene.frame_current-1) % obj_len)) # Blender 2.80
        obj.hide = (i != ((scene.frame_current-1) % obj_len)) #Blender 2.79b
bpy.app.handlers.frame_change_post.append(ani_handler)

Here's a second iteration of the script, this time it only changes visibility for objects with a specific name. In this case Cube

import bpy
def ani_handler(scene):
    name = 'Cube'
    objs = [obj for obj in scene.objects.values() if name in obj.name]
    for i, obj in enumerate(objs):
        obj.hide_set(i != ((scene.frame_current-1) % len(objs))) # Blender 2.80
        # obj.hide = (i != ((scene.frame_current-1) % obj_len)) #Blender 2.79b
bpy.app.handlers.frame_change_pre.append(ani_handler) 

Notes on EV Batteries Second Life

"Batteries with 70% to 80% of their rated capacity are considered to be less useful in EVs and are typically removed from applications at around five years of use. Moreover, these retired batteries are costly to dispose of and the recycling rate of retired batteries is less than 2%" Hu, S., Sun, H., Peng, F., Zhou, W., Cao, W., Su, A., . . . Sun, M. (2018). Optimization Strategy for Economic Power Dispatch Utilizing Retired EV Batteries as Flexible Loads. Energies, 11(7), 1657. doi:10.3390/en11071657 "However, even with the continued rise of Li- ion battery development and commercialization, the recycling industry is lagging; approximately 95% of Li-ion batteries are landfilled instead of recycled upon reaching end of life." Heelan, J., Gratz, E., Zheng, Z., Wang, Q., Chen, M., Apelian, D., & Wang, Y. (2016). Current and Prospective Li-Ion Battery Recycling and Recovery Processes. Jom, 68(10), 2632-2638. doi:10.1007/s11837-016-1994-y "Renewable energy technologies are a promising way to mitigate the consequences of climate change and the depletability of resources. However, the intermittent electricity output from technologies like solar photovoltaic systems is volatile and depends on daytimes or local weather conditions. Energy storage technologies can help to match supply and demand." "Although battery costs have declined, could not find evidence that investments in battery storage were profitable under present conditions. The costs per kWh decrease further if used battery storage units are taken into consideration. In this case, the benefits from lower costs have to be balanced with the downsides (e.g., lower capacity and efficiency, earlier replacement need of used battery systems)." "the energy generation from PV systems strongly depends on time of day and local weather conditions and brings an element of uncertainty to the power grid. Furthermore, the peak in energy generation around noon produces a mismatch in demand and supply and is a threat to the stability of the electricity system. The mismatch exists because the power supply generated by PV systems is highest during the day with a peak around noon, whereas power demand is low during the day and increases in the evening hours. The use of storage technologies and smart grid technologies represents a promising way to shift energy demand from the evening hours to the hours with a surplus of renewable energy generation." "In the automotive industry the “second life” of retired batteries from electric vehicles is a much debated issue, and nearly all of the major car manufacturers are currently determining possible applications for their batteries after they have reached a capacity between 70-80% through aging during their “first life” in the vehicle. Most industry experts expect them to be used as stationary storage for renewable energy production, since they still retain significant capacity." Madlener, R., & Kirmas, A. (2017). Economic Viability of Second Use Electric Vehicle Batteries for Energy Storage in Residential Applications. Energy Procedia, 105, 3806-3815. doi:10.1016/j.egypro.2017.03.890 "The market for electric-drive vehicles (EDVs), including hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), plug-in hybrids (PHEVs), and electric, pure battery-powered vehicles (EVs), is expected to experience significant and rapid growth over the coming decades. In the year 2013 all EDVs together represent about 1.44 percent of annual vehicle sales in Canada, about 0.09 percent in Mexico and about 3.81 percent in the US, and numbers are expected to grow rapidly in the coming years." "As the market for EDVs expands, there will be a vital opportunity to recapture and recycle the materials used in EDV batteries (nickel, cobalt, steel and other valuable components) once they reach end of life (EOL)." "It is projected that about 276,000 EDV batteries will reach EOL in North America in 2015. Most of these batteries are likely to be nickel metal hydride (NiMH), which is the predominant battery chemistry used in HEVs. By 2030, almost 1.5 million EDV batteries will reach EOL. By that time, close to half the EOL EDV batteries will be lithium-based, with the remainder being NiMH batteries." "In the last ten years, the market in North America for hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHEVs) and electric vehicles (EVs), which are collectively referred to as electric-drive vehicles (EDVs), has surged. Annual sales of HEVs reached almost 520,000 units in North America in 2013. Most of the sales were in the US, more than 495,000 units, or about 3.2 percent of all vehicle sales. HEV unit sales were about 23,000 in Canada in 2013, representing 1.32 percent of all vehicles sales. Available information indicates that about 1,000 units were sold in Mexico in 2013, representing about 0.09 percent of annual vehicle sales. Several factors have contributed to this rising market penetration of EDVs, including greater consumer preference for fuel-efficient cars; increasing gasoline prices; advances in battery technology; low-carbon fuel standards; and government support in the form of tax incentives and rebate programs." "EDVs today use either nickel metal hydride (NiMH) or lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries. In 2013, about 80 percent of HEVs used NiMH batteries. The remaining 20 percent of HEVs and all PHEVs and EVs use Li-ion batteries, though the exact chemistry often varies. Research and development on new and emerging battery technologies, to reduce the cost and extend their useful lifecycle, is ongoing." "There are currently only a handful of companies that have the technology and capacity to process these batteries: Retriev, Raw Materials Company, and Glencore/Xstrata in Canada; Sitrasa and TES-AMM in Mexico; and Inmetco, Retriev, Umicore, and MCT in the US. These companies are particularly interested in recovering valuable metals such as nickel (from NiMH batteries) and cobalt from Li-ion batteries. Industry players expressed a concern that new battery chemistries under development at this time may contain less-valuable components in the future, thereby reducing the incentive for effective recycling. "At EOL, retired EDV batteries still retain about 80 percent of their capacity. While they are no longer suitable for vehicular use, these EOL EDV batteries may still have reasonable energy storage and standby power capabilities that could be used for residential and commercial electric-power management, power-grid stabilization, and renewable energy system firming. Considerable research is underway in the US and elsewhere to fully explore this potential. Directing used EDV batteries to second-use applications could benefit the environment by delaying the recycling of batteries and fully utilizing their capabilities prior to recycling. Over the long term, recycling and refurbishing of EDV batteries will play an important role in reducing the costs of EDVs." "Toyota (the dominant player in the HEV market at this time) uses a NiMH battery for its HEVs, although, as do other manufacturers, it uses a lithium-based battery for PHEVs and EVs. Ford uses a lithium-based battery for its HEVs (Ford Fusion and Ford C-Max). Hyundai also uses a lithium-based battery for its Sonata HEV. Each manufacturer bases the decision on a number of factors. Toyota tested lithium-based batteries in their HEVs but decided to continue to use NiMH batteries. Based on the US market share of each auto manufacturer (the US is by far the largest market for HEVs in North America, as discussed later in this section), about 19 percent of HEVs use Li-ion batteries and about 81 percent of HEVs use NiMH batteries. This value excludes PHEVs, which all use Li-ion batteries." "Many different lithium-ion (Li-ion) chemistries are currently available and are being tested to improve the design and performance and lower the costs of these batteries. Li-ion battery manufacturing facilities are being established in the US with financial support from a US$2.4 billion grant program established by the Obama administration to promote electrical vehicles." - New Technologies In Development Listed in Paper Diaz, J. C. (2015). Gestion écologiquement rationnelle des batteries en fin de cycle de vie provenant de véhicules à propulsion électrique en Amérique du Nord. Montréal, Québec: Commission de coopération environnementale. "The first EV was seen on the road shortly after the invention of rechargeable lead–acid batteries and electric motors in the late 1800s [4]. In the early years of 1900s, there was a golden period of EVs. At that time, the number of EVs was almost double that of gasoline power cars. However, EVs almost disappeared and gave the whole market to internal combustion engine (ICE) cars by 1920 due to the limitations of heavy weight, short trip range, long charging time, and poor durability of batteries at that time." "the current two major battery technologies used in EVs are nickel metal hydride (NiMH) and lithium ion (Li-ion). Nearly all HEVs available in the market today use NiMH batteries because of its mature technology. Due to the potential of obtaining higher specific energy and energy density, the adoption of Li-ion batteries is expected to grow fast in EVs, particularly in PHEVs and BEVs. It should be noted that there are several types of Li-ion batteries based on similar but certainly different chemistry." "The high value of specific energy of gasoline gives a conventional ICE powered vehicle a range of 300–400 miles with a full tank of gasoline. Gasoline has a theoretical specific energy of 13,000 Wh/kg, which is over 100 times higher than the specific energy of 120 Wh/kg of typical Li-ion batteries. It would be too big and heavy to have a battery pack with the same amount of energy as a full tank (e.g., 16 gallons) of gasoline. However, since the electric propulsion is much more efficient than an ICE, less energy is needed to propel an EV. Considering the efficiency of 80% for EV propulsion and 20% for ICE, the total amount of energy stored for EV can be a quarter of what a regular ICE powered vehicle needs for the same mileage. Based on the current battery technology, it is not practical to consider a pure BEV with a mile range of 300–400 miles since it would require a battery pack larger than 100 kWh that can weigh over 900 kg. Nevertheless, it is realistic to have a battery pack around 30 kWh to achieve 100 mile range even based on current battery technologies." "Depth of Discharge (DOD). DOD is used to indicate the percentage of the total battery capacity that has been discharged. For deep-cycle batteries, they can be discharged to 80% or higher of DOD. The higher the DOD, the shorter the cycle life. To achieve a higher cycle life, a larger battery can be used for a lower DOD during normal operations." "Various battery chemistries have been proposed as the energy source to power electrical vehicles since the 1990 California Zero Emission Vehicle was mandated, which required 2 and 10% of the automobiles sold to be zero emission in 1998 and 2003, respectively. These battery chemistries included improved lead–acid, nickel–cadmium, nickel–zinc, NiMH, zinc–bromine, zinc–chlorine, zinc–air, sodium–sulfur, sodium–metal chloride, and, later, Li-ion batteries, with each of these chemistries having its own advantages and disadvantages. Towards the end of the last century, the competition between battery chemistries was resolved with General Motor’s choice of NiMH for its EV-1 pure electrical vehicles. In the following decade, the technology of the HEV developed by Toyota and Honda matured and gained popularity through its combination of fuel economy, acceptable pricing, and clean safety record. Up to this date of 2011, the leading battery chemistry in these HEVs remains NiMH. As the concerns over greenhouse gas emissions and fossil energy shortages grow in the recent years, the development target has shifted from HEV to PHEV, with the eventual target being a purely battery-powered EV. The requirement of a higher energy density in PHEVs and EVs reopens the discussion for automobile battery technologies, giving Li-ion battery chemistry another chance at entering the electric car battery market. In this section, the underlying principles, the current market status, and the future developmental trends of NiMH and Li-ion batteries are discussed." Rodrigo Garcia-Valle, R. (2016). Electric vehicle integration into modern power networks. Place of publication not identified: SPRINGER-VERLAG NEW YORK. doi:https://www.springer.com/gp/book/9781461401339

Uno Menos (Redux)

I found my source files for "Menos Uno". I'm uploading them to HitRECord to remix it and make something new out of it.

Here's a Remixed Scene

Here's another one

And one more

Dr Eco (Redux)

I found the source files of Dr Eco and I'm re-rendering it (it used to be 640x480).

Photogrammetry + VR experiments

Abandoned House by paranoid_alandroid on Sketchfab

Alter Ego by Cyrielle Tremblay by paranoid_alandroid on Sketchfab

Hit Record

I recently joined HitRecord, a social network/production house create by Joseph Gordon Levitt and his brother. The prerogative is that everything you share (audio, music, video, animation, illustration, etc) can be re-used/re-mixed, and at the same time you can do the same with all the uploaded data. This is one of my first records on the platform, which is a re interpretation of Jagama's Robot

Re: Just a Robot (Reprise) on @hitRECord https://t.co/JtBCBBXdCr #HitRecord

—  September 6, 2017

Matt Sanbrook's Batman/Catwoman read by Processing Sketch

This week I stole Matt Sanbrook's Batman/Catwoman Image

Holy matrimony, Batman, this week we drew The Dark Knight & Catwoman's engagement photos https://t.co/U0d85A91Cr pic.twitter.com/pqpyCJvrH4

— Matt (@mattsandbrook) June 24, 2017

I processed the image with a Processing Sketch and here's my result:

#Batman #Catwoman #DcComics #MattSandbrook @mattsandbrook #ProcessingSketch #Coding pic.twitter.com/4ULLRGI3ef

— Alan Estrada (@living_in_iowa) June 24, 2017

Jake (Adventure Time) - Blender 3D

Jake from Adventure Time

Processing / Blender Experiments

With the help of some tutorials on how to translate an image to 3D depending on its brightness, I came up with some tests. Renders were done with Blender and Lightwave. I used a Batman and a Joker image to test the results.

Using Motion Blur / Image Map

The Joker

Image Mapped Render

Positive + Negative

Negative

Positive

More Creative Coding

I Continue to experiment with Processing. These are not big variants from the previous post but the results are somehow different. I like these better.

Sigo experimentando con Processing. Estos videos no tienen cambios muy grandes a los del escrito anterior pero los resultados me han gustado mas.


This video is the shortest and less detailed. I liked how even without great detail is pretty obvious - 2:01

This video is a realistic illustration of Frankenstein, again processing uses an image as reference and interprets the closest color - 4:25

This is a long video, processing scans a Mega Man image and interprets it. I wish I'd done only the silhouette - 10:06 (too long, isn't it?)

Creative Coding

Recently I bought a book called Processing: Creative Coding and Generative Art in Processing 2, I also started playing a little bit with Python in Code Academy and Coursera. 

I modified some code in order to scan a image and create lines according to a color in a specific pixel...you can watch some of my early test results in here:



The video above was generated using an image from a local artist called Blasto (Blast One)



The video above was generated using a cover from The Goon by Eric Powell

Both videos look unfinished because the render took over 2 days and it was not complete. Also as you can notice on the second test, there's a point where the image looks better and then the quality starts degrading again.

Mi Amigo Luis

11JAN2012

Blah! - Stop Motion

11OCT2011

13OCT2011

Finger Sketches

Quick Sketches Done using Ipod Touch. Each one took no longer than 20 segs. The app can work with layers and colors, but this are very quick and simple drawings.

App: Autodesk Sketchbook for Ipod Touch

Souvenir - aniMARCO 2009

New Project:
Nuevo Proyecto:

20MAY2009

10JUN2009

30JUN2009

Short Story: MISSION ACCOMPLISHED

This is my entry for the 3rd Annual Short Story Challenge 2009, the goal was to create a short story (less than 2,500 words) following an assigned subject/genre. In this case I was assigned to Garbage Collection/Sci-Fi. It is the first time I attempt to write something. English is not my native tongue so you may find some odd expressions + wrong grammar/syntaxis.

---
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED

Our planet was over populated; it was getting hard to live comfortably and the science department needed resources, so the government created the space academy. The space academy consisted in small colonies spread in several satellites that were used as moving stations, where it was obligatory to live for several years while studying if you were selected. After graduation everyone wanted a job. The ones that could not get one were sent on scouting missions and no one wanted to be on a scouting mission. Scouts faced unimaginable danger and rarely came back complete, with a leg or arm missing they had to go to the workshop for the bionic replacements and continue with the next mission. I’m not even mentioning how painful the attachment of those mechanical parts was. Most of those who had replacements on their bodies said that those who didn’t make it back to the station were the lucky ones. That’s why when finishing the academy training everyone tried to get a job; no matter how lousy it resulted it couldn’t be worse than scouting. Everyone had two weeks from graduation day to be enrolled working in a science or services department, and as you would imagine the best jobs were usually gone at the end of the first day, the rest of the first week you could always find something barely decent but even so those who weren’t able to find anything until the second week were happy enough to be out of the scouts crew .
The job I got was as a navigator, I had to set the coordinates of the station, for every mission and stay alert to avoid asteroid rings or cosmic debris that could harm our transport. As you would imagine there were long periods of calm and peace, but when we approached our target, stress incremented inversely proportional to the distance left to start the mission. Comrades that you always knew as calm and funny people started to behave in a more violent way. The bravest fellow would start to shake without control or even wet the floor. Scouts knew what they had in front of them, statistics were not bright, and the number of people who returned with no injuries was zero, no matter the mission.
Our mission this time was to explore a planet that was reported as dead, this seemed odd since one of the reasons we went on scouting missions was to catalog all living species and their environments. Scouts were happy to hear this since living organisms were the main reason of injuries. This time as we approached our objective confusion and relief, almost happiness could be felt all around the crew.
The squad this time was programmed to be formed by the captain, a communications expert and five scouts. Captain Roswell had lead a couple missions so far and he was much respected by the crew, he was a natural leader and even when he had been in the field several times his injuries were minimal, no missing extremities, good health and a perfect condition. He knew how to keep the moral up on his team and he was one of the few who were not as relaxed. In his experience no mission had been easy and it was not possible that all of the sudden a non-risk mission was given to us as a gift. Gary, the communications expert started as a scout but due to his multiple injuries translated in bionic extremities and his paranoid state of mind had no chance to survive as an explorer anymore, so his function was mainly as a communications node between the scouts and the ship. The crew was uncertain of his mental state. Five scouts were completing the team: Norman, Neil, Percy, Mr. Anders and Peggy, the only female who had became a scout voluntarily, were ready to start the mission. Their thoughts about this mission were mainly optimistic but there were some doubts: the brief they received from the commander stated that they needed to explore the surface, collect some materials from the surface and return to the ship to make DNA tests on them.
“c’mon, let’s get ready for this, I don’t want you to get too comfortable and careless, we could still face some danger” said captain Roswell and he continued “information has been blurry and limited, there could be more than we were told about, this is not normal in our organization and we need to be extremely careful, we haven’t got the terrain report so we will advance slower than usual”.
I had to stop the engines several hundreds of miles away from the planet, the gravity field was strong and getting pulled by the planet was not an option. The crew had to get there in our population one vessels, those little space pods that were able to hold a single passenger, although the vehicles had space to load tools and samples. The team was ready to leave and they were all inside of their P1 pods, as we knew them. The planet seemed to be dark and irregular but from space things look completely different than scouting level.
The heat from the engines could be felt inside of the bridge and we all knew it was matter of seconds before the ships started their trajectory. The first P1 to leave was Captain Roswell’s, followed by Gary, the always brave Peggy, Neil, Percy, Norman and Mr. Anders tailing the team. It didn’t pass too much time when we watched on the ship’s bridge screen Mr. Anders P1 being hit by cosmic debris, it exploded leaving no trace of the pod or Mr. Anders. “Roswell to station, we have one down. It seems Anders was hit by a big chunk of metal, in some manufactured form. I couldn’t see what it was. Crew: I detected more of this asteroids floating around, be careful”. That was the only communication we were able to hear at the station before they landed. We were all shaked by the loss of Mr. Anders but somehow we were used to lose friends and family on the missions.
Once in land the captain’s orders were for Peggy and Neil to comb the surface on the P1s and for Norman and Percy to follow him. Gary stayed near the P1s with all his equipment. The planet looked dark even at land level and the surface was sticky. Norman introduced a mechanical gadget that looked like a metal stick into the ground, the stick started to crawl deeper and deeper and soon they didn’t see it anymore, it was in fact an environmental reader, it was sending information about the composition of the ground into Norman’s helmet display. What the analysis told them was that the ground was made of rotten materials; it was not the planet’s natural surface but a compressed compost of garbage and waste. “It seems that the commander’s report was wrong, we do have high volume of bacteria living underground and in the atmosphere, the readings say that the planet’s odor is unbearable and toxic. The real surface of this planet is miles deeper into the ground” said Norman, Percy replied “I wonder if there was at any time a civilization living in this planet or if this was just used as someone’s huge garbage can”. Captain Roswell kept walking in silence, wondering if the commander’s real mission was to reach a conclusion that answered Percy’s question, after a couple minutes of walk, with no changes on the landscape the Captain requested a full terrain analysis. Norman and Percy started to unpack a little spider like robot, when it was completely installed they programmed a complete surface analysis. The spider started to walk around and collect data, every time it found an interesting object to carry to the station it fired an organic spider web like material and as it was a crane lifted with its two rear legs that didn’t use previously. Norman and Percy started to dig the ground to search for any trace of life, while waiting for the spider to return.
Meanwhile the captain was receiving live video feedback from Peggy’s and Neil’s P1s. The landscape in the feed showed a similar profile all the time, until they hit some holes in the ground. The captain requested recognition on those caves so they stopped the P1s near the entrance of one of them, Peggy always thought of Neil as a big coward and Neil knew this, that’s why he wanted to impress her by getting there first and showing how brave he was, he was the youngest in the team, had just graduated from the academy and was still very susceptible to other people’s thoughts. Neil got out of his P1 and got off running to the nearest cave, he turned around and saw that Peggy was just getting off her P1 and didn’t notice that she was making him the stop sign with her arms, she was screaming too, but some magnetic field near the cave was blocking the communicators inside the helmet. Neil was happy to be the first on the cave and walked inside a couple steps. The reason Peggy was trying to stop him was because there are important safety measures to follow before entering ground and wall openings, many accidents had occurred because the ground seemed solid but was thinner than a sheet of paper, also because organisms living inside didn’t like any visits. In this case Neil didn’t have problems with the ground breaking apart or hunters tailing him, his problem was that he didn’t notice the air inside was composed of acid vapors and capable of melting his scouting suit almost immediately. Neil died in less than 10 seconds, his body disintegrated completely. Peggy was not able to do a thing and witnessed with anger how Neil’s body sublimated and combined with the cave’s atmosphere. “Captain, we got another one down, high acid atmosphere was detected at the caves, no way to go further” communicated Peggy to Captain Roswell, he replied “I think we better go back now, this team can’t get smaller, get back to Gary’s location, we have enough information to start, I need to get the mission’s scope clearer”.
Peggy started her return while Norman and Percy started to collect all the samples that the spider brought. Norman called back the robot he had introduced into the ground and headed to Gary’s location so they could send the information to the mainframe at the station. They were also meant to carry samples but it was a regular process to send information to the ship before taking off just in case an accident could happen in the way back.
When the captain, Norman and Percy got back to where Gary installed his equipment Peggy was standing with a distance and watching Gary with curiosity, he was on his knees and but the rest of the team had to come closer to see what he was doing. “What is he doing” asked Norman, “beats me” said Peggy, Percy kneeled down to see if Gary had a reaction to his presence but he didn’t. “Gary, are you alright?”, no answer, he asked again and got the same awkward silence. Gary invested his time building with garbage small figures, similar to our bodies as if we were lying down on the ground, with our faces against the floor. He stopped building his last figure and laid down embracing it. Captain Roswell tried to get him up, the rest of the crew tried to help. “We lost him; I don’t think we can do anything”. The crew silently got his equipment in the pods and started his way back to the station, all of them thinking what was the commander’s intent for this mission and trying to understand what had happened to Gary, was that a part of his altered state of mind or had had it something happened to him while everyone was gone scouting?.
At the station, the data had started to be processed, it was a planet with a long history and the scientists were especially interested in the data obtained, I think I’ve never seen them in such a hurry to get things done and with such enthusiasm. Time went by and the crew finally arrived at the station, they took the samples to the laboratory and went to get some rest. They left a communication device for Gary and he still had his P1 in case he recovered his mind and wanted to get back.
Three days passed by, there was no sign of Gary and the crew wanted to go back and see if he was alright. Captain Roswell insisted that it was too dangerous and they needed to get the commander’s approval. Commander Lynch was very secretive; it was a rule of his to never communicate with anyone from the crew but the captains. This time Captain Roswell was wondering why he hadn’t heard back from him after letting him know that the data had been broadcasted to the station, before leaving the planet. Commander Lynch never cleared Roswell’s questions about the mission scope.
Two more days went by and the report from the scientists was posted on the public database. The planet we had visited was part of a once called solar system; it had the third orbital position, having two other planets closer to the sun. Something completely shocking for all of us was to learn that our origin happened there. Several DNA streams were captured and ours was almost identical to one of them, the variations the Scientifics explained were due our adaptation for survival. Life in that planet was menaced by all the waste created by its inhabitants, somehow they didn’t care about it or at least not enough information was gathered to understand why they didn’t control it, and when time was critical and life was starting to see and end some of the inhabitants were able to escape to survive.
Shocking news indeed, but what shocked us the most, specially the scouting crew, was to find out that the figures that Gary modeled in the ground looked exactly as our predecessors from that planet, according to data gathered they were called cockroaches. No other species from that planet survived.

---------------------
ON 09MAY2009 I FINALLY GOT THE FEEDBACK FOR THE STORY I WROTE (MISSION ACCOMPLISHED). BELOW I'M PASTING THE EMAIL I GOT.

The judges’ critique on your 1st Round story is below. We apologize for the delay and are working hard to ensure that our feedback starts going out much faster. We hope you find the feedback helpful and wish you the best of luck in your future projects!

''Mission Accomplished'' by Alan Estrada - WHAT THE JUDGE(S) LIKED ABOUT YOUR SCRIPT - ............The humorous ending of the piece is great. I like how the writer toys with everything from the space age and government to the way civilizations work and learn from one another. The narrator of this piece is great: reading the story is made enjoyable because of the voice that is created. ...Very nice crew-related drama. Nice sci-fi vocabulary............................................................. WHAT THE JUDGES FEEL NEEDS WORK - ............Too much of this story seems told through summary. This delays or stalls the story's rich action or plot, and it makes it hard to take in all of the information. Some of this content could be included in the dialogue between characters and some of it could be interspersed throughout the piece to help build a steady pace for the piece. I do enjoy the idea of the ending, but I think it could be written in a different way. Right now, the final paragraph seems more like a thesis statement or summary than an executed resolution. Consider taking more time to explain this situation and the idea will seem that much more original or interesting. ...The POV shifts and tense changes are awkward to the pacing of the story. At times the story reads as pure exposition rather than action propelling the plot. ..............................…

NYC Midnight, LLC | Inspiring Creative Minds
www.nycmidnight.com
be our friend :: facebook | twitter
©2009 NYC Midnight, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Uno Menos - Animasivo 2009

30DEC2008
Javier Garcia designed the characters for the new project. Thanks to Gerry G for the 3D modeling help.

Lightwave 7 was used for the 3D work.










I will post as we get further into the project.



02JAN2009
Another sketch from Javer Garcia and my 3D models.













Here's the second spaceship, design also by Javier Garcia, 3D models by me. No model has been finished so far.









11JAN2009
Small Update: Javier Garcia's alien sketch and my 3D model. Some updates to the Alien Spaceship, more details to come.









I was trying to complete this tutorial in order to add the thrusters to each spaceship. I'm using Lightwave 7 and I cannot find this option:



So, the result is that I can actually see the thrusters in VIPER but cannot see them in the actual render because the light is inside the object.



HELP!

-------------------------------
Problem Fixed:

By default each light has its SHADOW TYPE set as RAY TRACE. You need to turn off this setting if the light you want to see is inside an object. Thanks to Shrox for the tip.



21JAN2009
Small test of the 3 model using a matte painting by Javier Garcia

Prueba corta del modelo 3D integrado con un fondo 2D creado por Javier Garcia



22FEB2009

Uno Menos from _Pixel on Vimeo.