Moonwolf`s Lair

BBC’s Richard Lister’s Ignorance

Moonwolf — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 18:45:12 +0000

“You might fancy running say, the Jewish Relocation Office, or the German railroads system - agencies which, come to think of it, may have some crossover… “

Anyone think a European journalist would ever dare to write the above paragraph in an article? How about one writing for the BBC?

I didn’t think so.

Except it seems perfectly acceptable for a BBC journalist to do just that, when the topic refers to Native Americans.

Witness the article about the incoming US Administration’s quest for replacements for a myriad of government jobs and appointments, which includes this paragraph.

You might fancy running say, the Office of Hopi and Navajo Indian Relocation, or the American Battle Monuments Commission - agencies which, come to think of it, may have some crossover…

Both this paragraph and the hypothetic one I opened this entry with make light of genocide. I realize that most Brits (and Americans, come to think of it) still think of Native Americans through the lens of John Wayne movies, or TV shows such as Gunsmoke or High Chaparral, but the truth is the US has been responsible for the continuing ethnic cleansing and genocide towards Native Americans for centuries.

So why exactly should some prat of a journalist be allowed to make such an offhanded joke about that genocide, when the same joke applied to the Holocaust would cause such a furore the BBC would be facing even more criticism from the moron they have running their country?

That such a comment can be tossed out so casually without nary a murmor from intelligent people is one more piece of evidence supporting just how successful the US has been in brushing the genocide of Native Americans under the table. The whole “Noble Primitive” attitude is still there, still strong, and still perpetuated by comments such as the one Richard Lister made in his article.

It shouldn’t surprise me really, the BBC has been racist when it comes to Native American issues before - its reporting of the “Live Earth” event continuously and pointedly refused to make any mention whatsoever of the Native American contribution to the event, hosted it right here in the nation’s capital.

Al Gore made a passing reference to that contribution at the opening of Live Earth, saying words to the effect of how it was the Indians riding to the rescue, yet the whole thing was pointedly and deliberately omitted from the BBC’s coverage. Even when the BBC listed all the venues for that event, it never said one word about the Native American one.

But ignoring Native American contributions completely like that is nowhere near as egregiously offensive as cracking jokes about genocide and ethnic cleansing by a so-called reporter such as Richard Lister.

It would never even be considered appropriate if it referred to the Holocaust - yet obviously when it comes to Native Americans, it’s not only perfectly acceptable, it’s “funny”? More Native Americans have suffered and died at the hands of the US Government than the number of Jews murdered in the Holocaust, but the two are totally dissimilar in the minds of people, if this sort of thing is considered acceptable in a civilized society.

Did it even occur to Richard Lister to question why there might be an Office of Hopi and Navajo Indian Relocation in the first place, and just what its existence implies?

The only way people, especially Europeans, will ever begin to see Native Americans as people is if comments such as the one above are stomped on, hard.

The BBC is especially susceptible to criticism right now because the British Government has pushed to make it vulnerable so it can prevent any further disclosures such as the Dr Kelley issue, so now is the best time to complain about this and similar remarks demeaning and marginalizing the history and current practices towards Native Americans.

I urge people to use the BBC Complaints link to file a formal complaint about this racist section of Richard Lister’s article with the BBC. It is only by showing them that they’re totally out of line, how patently offensive such attitudes are in these “enlightened” times, that the continued propaganda minimizing or ignoring US policy and cultural bias against Native Americans can begin to be countered

Comments

November 15, 2008, CatawbaNDNLady writes: Here are some facts, coming from a US government educated First Nations member with degrees in both History and Cultural Anthropology-and yes, I specialize in First Nations cultures. Fact: Adolph Hitler used the US policy of racial extermination for First Nations people as inspiration for the Final Solution the Jewish Question. Fact: US government policy on sterilization of Native women was copied almost entirely by the Third Reich in the mid 1930's. The difference-here in the US that policy was still in effect and being enforced as late as 1980. You read it right-1980. Fact: Behavioral protocols for guards in Concentration and Extermination Camps mirror, and in some cases duplicate precisly many of the same protocols implemented on Native Reservations by Indian Agents in the late 19th and 20th centuries. All of the common elements-deception, duplicity, and cultural oppression were used first here in the US on Indian people more than 100 years before the Nazi German Government began using them against Jewish people. One astounding fact than is not commonly know: The swastika is actually a First Nations symbol used by almost every tribe in North America before 1932. It represented the four directions, the movement of the sun and moon across the earth, the changing of the seasons and cycles of life. It was used quite often by the Dine (Navajo), Hopi and Zuni until it was stolen and bastardized by the Nazis. It has since that time come to have a totally different meaning, one of hatred and racism, and we no longer use it. Another piece of our culture that has been stolen from us, alas. Don't believe me? You have a computer-google it. Miika has made a comparision that is not only completely accurate, but an historical fact. Coming from the perspective of a First Nations woman, they are the same thing-only the victims are different. Without a doubt, had there been Indians in Europe during the Nazi era, we would have found ourselves interred alongside all the Jews, Poles, Czechs, Hungarians, Russians, Gypsys, Homosexuals, Mentally Disabled, and Politically Incorrect people who did not fit the standard of "Pure Human" as defined by the Third Reichs office of racial purity (deliberately left uncapitalized as a way of stressing the inanity of such an agency). Ironically, in Germany today there is strong interest in our culture to the point of obsession. There are groups of re-inactors who imitate us in every aspect of our pre-colonial lives from dress to dance to spending weeks living "traditionally". In the Plum Book there are hundreds of occupations listed. I wonder what made Lister choose the one he did? I can only deduce that Richard Lister is sorely lacking in several areas including sensitivity, and more importantly, EDUCATION. His article comes off as sarcastically stupid and I would be glad to teach him, but I doubt it would do much good. How sad to think that some of my ancestors actually allied themselves with the British. I am constantly surrounded by people in this country who bend over backwards to be Politically Correct, even though the PC terminology currently used to refer to us is so very incorrect, that I might find Listers sarcasm refreshing if it were not so ignorant. Any of you folks in the UK who want to are quite welcome to forward my name to Mr. Lister, just in case he happens to be inclined towards enlightenment. I won't hold my breath waiting for him to contact me though. Rie Miller Catawba Indian Nation

Ahh Diddums
Oh dear, it seems someone has stolen "Chief Zee"'s tomahawk. My heart goes out to the dear gent ... OK, no, that would be a lie - it doesn't. The guy still seems totally incapable of understanding just how downright offensive and racist his antics are considered by many. I guess it can
Too Normal?? Me??
It's kind of frightening to wonder if I might have blown a recent job interview by being too "normal". Most of the time, people seem to be very confused as to how they're supposed to "behave" around people with disabilities, at least in my experience with someone in a wheelchair at
links for 2008-04-25
US court says IP addresses are private | OUT-LAW.COM A US court has ruled that users have a "reasonable expectation of privacy" in their internet surfing records and that police must obtain warrants from higher than usual courts in order to force ISPs to hand over records. (tags: Out-Law legal) BBC - Cult

Copyright © Moonwolf 2008
This feed is for personal, non-commercial use only.
The use of this feed on other websites breaches copyright. If this content is not in your news reader, it makes the page you are viewing an infringement of the copyright.
(Digital Fingerprint: 5f65ef19efc1b7c745be847471d64445 (66.150.96.121) )

Someone Pull Paulson

Moonwolf — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 05:35:27 +0000

So let me get this straight.

Treasury Secretary Paulson goes to Congress and begs for $700 billion of taxpayers money in large part so the government can buy up bad mortgages, refinancing them/guaranteeing them/what have you, because lenders made seriously bad choices in who they lend money to.

Then the week after the election, he wants to use that $700 billion of taxpayer money instead to buy bank shares, on the grounds it will encourage banks to offer more loans to people.

So … the logic goes “Banks made bad loans, let’s buy their stocks so their shareholders get big fat dividends again, and let the banks make … more bad loans”?

And this guy is supposed to be the Treasury Secretary??

What

The

Fuck?

Congress needs to immediately tell Paulson that he has to use the money as he originally called for it to be used, and not to enrich the pockets of shareholders and encourage further financial incompetance and mismanagement by banks.

It’s bad enough that our money is going to fatten the wallets of a bunch of people who screwed up so royally to begin with, but now he wants to turn around and reverse something that was supposed to help homeowners in danger of foreclosure and use it instead to create more debt??

Is he totally incompetant, or is this part of some mysterious plan to totally fuck the country’s economy up so Obama can’t bring it back on track before the next election cycle?

Congress, get off your fat lazy asses and DO SOMETHING. You’re throwing OUR money away.

At best you got fleeced, at worst you’re complicit.

The Story So Far …
The fourth (and final) season of Battlestar Galactica returns to the Sci-Fi Channel on March 4th, after a horribly long delay (not helped, I think, by worries over the writer's strike). Normally, such a long time means you might be forgiven for being somewhat confused about "the story so
Cynical, me? Nah!
Cute ... Hasbro and Mattel try to preserve their copyright of Scrabble, asking Facebook to pull a cloned version of it, and within a day there's a group with 13,000+ people on it all protesting. Someone instructs people to go out and assault and kidnap people in wheelchairs, and the response is

Powwow

Moonwolf — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 15:07:20 +0000

There’s nothing quite like a Powwow to help bring you back on track inside your own head - Especially when you go to two of them in the space of three days, both social ones.

The second one, George Mason University’s Veteran’s Day powwow, is going to be one of the “memorable” ones.

After two years of effort and work, and with the help of 10+ pounds of steel, I finally got to dance standing up (Well, dancing if you use a rather loose interpretation of “dancing”).

It was kind of funny to see the expressions on people’s faces, who are used to seeing me being 4′ tall (all people in wheelchairs are 4′ tall) as they got to see that I’m still 6′2″ tall when vertical

I’m kind of paying the price for being slightly … umm … stubborn, I may have pushed the envelope just a tad. But it was certainly worth it - especially when I realized I was the tallest person in the circle all but one time (a drummer from Black Bear is only slightly taller than I am ).

But it was more than worth it.

Now I have to start re-interpreting the dances again though. It was stubbornness at the idea that wheels meant I couldn’t dance in the arena that led me to try to come up with analogs in the chair.

If I keep working on building up stamina and strength enough to do more than one circuit of the arena before needing to sit again using the legs (that 10+ pounds of steel), that same stubbornness will help me rethink the dances again - it’s hard to sway and bounce using your knees and ankles when they’re locked into a solid straight line

But I have a feeling the same community spirit that helped me develop analogs in the chair will come forwards again, and people will come up with suggestions and helpful ideas on how to do it.

And on the subject of which, special gratitude goes to Rie, who had no idea what I planned until she saw me get up to tower over her, and responded to my plaintive “I need a crash course in dancing standing up so I don’t look like an idiot” request so readily

Also kudos to tainee for not letting me postpone the whole idea for another year as we got ready that morning

Of course, now I have a perfect excuse to get started on making new regalia - all my old dresses were designed to be used in my chair, and look daft if worn when vertical

Hopefully I can download the pictures from this weekend to my computer soon, and we can get them cleaned up and online - only, as usual, don’t expect any of them to feature me … I have a reputation to live down to, y’know!

BAIC 34th Annual Powwow
Woohoo!!! Baltimore American Indian Center (BAIC) has posted details about their next powwow. Happily, it's going to be at Patterson Park in Baltimore again this year. It's a wonderful place - not to mention we know we can reach it in chairs :) I have pictures from last year's powwow
The Difference Between A Soldier And A Warrior
We're at the BAIC powwow this weekend, and honoured to get to listen to the music of Nammy-award winner Arvil Bird. One of the things he mentioned this weekend is his take on the difference between a soldier and a warrior - a soldier serves and follows orders, but a warrior

Is Quentin Davies A Traitor?

Moonwolf — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 16:13:45 +0000

It’s no secret that I hold politicians in general in contempt - they’re a bunch of parasites who produce nothing yet exercise control over as much as possible.

But recent remarks by Quentin Davies, MP (that’s Member Of Parliament in the UK) have me sickened to my stomach and wondering just how low into the depths of cowardice and buck-passing Brit politicians can sink.

As background: Major Sebastian Morley was a commander in the Special Air Service (SAS), an unfortunately publicly well known special operations regiment of the British Army (AKA Hooligans from Hereford).

Marjor Morley resigned from the Regiment while in Afghanistan recently, in a letter quoted by The Daily Telegraph newspaper in the UK he is reported to have accused the UK Government of being “Cavalier at best, criminal at worst” in regards to equipping UK forces over there - in particular the lightly armoured “Snatch Land Rovers”.

Now, the SAS aren’t like most troops - they’re used to making do with what they have, improvising adapting and overcoming any obstacle in the most ingenious ways possible (and yes, I’m complimenting Hooligans - I claim temporary insanity).

So for an SAS officer to quit because the equipment supplied, “Mobile Coffins” as troops deployed to Iraq call them, is inadequate is astounding - these are people who make MacGyver look lost.

Quentin Davies however, as the defence and equipment minister, seems to not have any inkling of just how bad things have to be for a Hooligan to call it quits.

But worse is his apparent attempt, like any “good” politician, to totally refuse any possibility of responsibility, instead attempting to shift the blame onto commanders.

Yes, this jumped up public school snob who has never done anything in life other than be a diplomatic flunky then a politician has the balls, the sheer gall, to actually start throwing out accusations blaming actual fighting men of being irresponsible and culpable for the deaths of British troops through implied incompetence, totally ignoring any accusations they’re dying because of shit kit.

In doing so, I believe Quentin Davies has betrayed every man and woman who serves faithfully in the British armed forces. This martinet with the power to help equip troops to keep them alive, when a respected fighting man is forced to resign in protest at the incompetant and cavalier attitude of these puffed up civil servants, resorts to blaming it on the commanders??

And like most politicians, Quentin Davies essentially betrays those fighting men with ambiguous comments that are designed solely to obfuscate the issue. Let’s look at the ones reported for a moment:

“The idea that we have been cavalier with soldiers’ lives is horrific”.

Well yes, it is - but this isn’t a denial that the UK Government has been cavalier - or criminal.

“I recently visited Afghanistan, and 100 per cent of those I asked said they were now satisfied with their equipment.”

And how many people did he actually ask? How many of them were troops with mud on their boots? How many were officers faced with a pompous snob minister and said what would preserve their careers - given the way Quentin Davies shunted the blame squarely on commanders, does anyone believe he might not be a petty vindictive bastard as well who would destroy the career of anyone who dares to give him a reality check?

The BBC report goes on to state:

However he said the idea the Ministry of Defence was “indifferent” to the need to get the right kit into theatre was a “travesty of reality that it is actually quite difficult to take this at first face value”.

A travesty of reality might be calling it indifferent, yes. How does “apathetic” sound? “Callous”? “Blind”? “In denial”? “Controlled by a politician who has no fucking clue what’s actually needed to begin with”?

Those may actually be closer to reality - but we won’t know, because Quentin Davies is so sublimely convinced of his own knowledge as some REMF ponce stuck in Whitehall that a land rover with paper thin armour is actually sufficient to protect troops from EFPs and IEDs, enough that he’ll totally brush aside the concerns of an SAS commander and lump the blame entirely on the commanders?

He said, given the nature of war, “there may be occasions when in retrospect a commander chose the wrong piece of equipment, the wrong vehicle, for the particular threat that the patrol or whatever it was encountered and we had some casualties as a result”.

What

The

Fuck?

Just what reality is this idiot living in? Oh yeah, I forgot, he’s a politician, reality is a tenuous concept at best for them - but this? This is beyond the pale!

It might help if commanders in the field actually had the right kit to assign to begin with - that’s Quentin Davies’ job. But that might require actually taking responsibility for the laundry list of deaths and injuries caused to British troops who have been inadequately supplied by a minister who seems more interested in lumping the blame on commanders without even bothering to investigate the claims behind a warrior feeling his honour leaves him no choice but to resign his commission, walk away from his people, and make it all public.

I realize politicians rarely understand loyalty (Quentin Davies certainly doesn’t appear to, defecting from the Conservatives to the same Labour Party he condemned two years prior), but is there anyone at this idiot’s ministry that can understand just how desperate things must be for a Hooligan to quit and kick up a stink about shit kit?

Aircraft without fire suppression systems in the fuel tanks, inadequate and not enough body armour, vehicles that can’t stop more than a rifle bullet in an AO rife with high explosives, insufficient air transport options … I believe Quentin Davies is the minister in charge of the department responsible for all of this - but I guess the men and women of the British armed forces can forget him actually doing something about these and other matters.

Because according to his comments above, it’s not his fault, it’s the fault of the commanders for not being able to MacGyver their way out of his arrogance.

I’m curious, Quentin Davies. When you visited Afghanistan, and 100% of the people you spoke to said they were satisfied with their kit, did you land in a -130 with or without fire suppression systems? Did you get ferried around in one of the few Chinooks in theater? I bet you sure as fuck didn’t go driving around in a snatch land rover.

If you have faith that British troops are properly and safely equipped and protected, then let’s see that confidence, let’s see you go for a drive out in the middle of nowhere in a snatch land rover, let’s see you land in theater in one of the -130’s being used there by the rest of the troops, let’s see you use the body armour they’re equipped with - and have to queue to get it like everyone else.

Excuse me if I don’t hold my breath.

Is Quentin Davies a traitor? We’ll only find out when it’s determined if shit kit is responsible for the death of servicemembers.

I only hope that some day there will be an investigation into all these issues, and when the results come out Quentin Davies is put up against a wall for the lives lost because of his arrogance.

Render: A Sight For Sore Eyes

Moonwolf — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 21:37:24 +0000

With gratitude to all the stick jockeys who fly into all kinds of hell to keep the faith - everyone goes come.

With special thanks to one specific crew that made this pickup in ‘91.

A print version of this is now available at my deviantArt store. Profits from sales of this print through that store will be donated to the Special Operations Warrior Foundation, a well respected charity in the US that provides scholarships and help to the families of fallen Special Forces troops from the US< as well as immediate financial help to wounded Special Forces troops returning from combat.

I know it’s not a “popular” topic, one a lot of people shy away from, but please, if you have a mind to, consider supporting the Special Operations Warrior Foundation, either through buying one of the prints, or by donating directly.

And yes, this is something personal for me.

Render - Avatar Commission
I'm so used to rendering in "large" scale, the idea of coming up with an avatar for a friend that would fit in Yahoo Instant Messenger's display image restrictions of 96x96 was certainly different. Figuring out a pose that would work at such a small scale was tricky, but one of
Render: Predator Watcher
This started as a standard Yautja (Predator) render, for a comic I'm creating for Tausha on deviantArt, that pokes fun at fangirls. While I was at it, I decided to try and actually make it look like a comic, and this is the result, courtesy of a Photoshop action.
Render: Cthulhu ‘08 Button
Vote The Lesser Evil Had to be done really :P
Render - Avatar Commission
For Tainee :)
Magess One
Magess One - Lotus- The Magess sits and conjours a ball of energy. This 1280x1024 high-quality Poser render is perfect for your arcane-themed tags and artwork. Format: Photoshop .PSD Multiple Layers: Magess Figure Energy Ball Background Shadows Spell book Price: $10 USD Delivery: Source file will be sent via email to the address given during checkout once your payment has cleared.

Render: Alaska 2012

Moonwolf — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 13:00:32 +0000

It’s a week to the US Presidential elections, and buried amongst the negativity and acrimonious statements being made on the campaign trail, people are forgetting the ramifications of the energy “policy” being promoted.

Ever since the whole idea of shattering the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge open for energy exploitation has been around, it’s bugged me. The push to ruin one of the last pieces of untouched land has been motivated purely by FUD.

Let’s remember a few things here:

Any energy (gas or oil) won’t be seen from any drilling for decades - it’s not going to change the economy or price of energy any time in the near future.
Given the total mismanagement, fraud, and outright theft of existing land funds by the US Government that’s supposed to be for the People, does anyone really believe any of the money the US Government collects from drilling in ANWR will ever really reach the People whose land is being stolen yet again?
Who really benefits from this idea? It won’t be common people, it’ll be the oil companies - like they’re not already raking in billions of dollars in profits already that won’t be taxed?

It’s easy for people to say “We need the energy”, “we need oil independance”, but the fact of the matter is, drilling in the ANWR won’t produce anything for decades, and the people all screaming for such drilling aren’t the ones having land appropriated for the purpose. It’s very easy for them to be all for this idea - they’re not the ones going to have pollution and heavy machinery across the street from their homes.

Is the answer to decades of short-sighted stupidity and ostrich-like behaviour by the United States more of it with another “sounds good on paper and distracts the sheeple from the real issues” proposal as ANWR drilling?

Maybe it’s just me, but if something isn’t working, you don’t just sit there and keep doing the same thing over and over again hoping that this time it will work.

This is an artistic impression of what the real result of ANWR drilling will be - but it’s not that far off the mark. Is this the legacy people want to be remembered for in a hundred years time?

Render: Predator Watcher
This started as a standard Yautja (Predator) render, for a comic I'm creating for Tausha on deviantArt, that pokes fun at fangirls. While I was at it, I decided to try and actually make it look like a comic, and this is the result, courtesy of a Photoshop action.
Render - Avatar Commission
I'm so used to rendering in "large" scale, the idea of coming up with an avatar for a friend that would fit in Yahoo Instant Messenger's display image restrictions of 96x96 was certainly different. Figuring out a pose that would work at such a small scale was tricky, but one of
Render: Cthulhu ‘08 Button
Vote The Lesser Evil Had to be done really :P
Render: A Sight For Sore Eyes
With gratitude to all the stick jockeys who fly into all kinds of hell to keep the faith - everyone goes come. With special thanks to one specific crew that made this pickup in '91. A print version of this is now available at my deviantArt store. Profits from sales of
Render - Avatar Commission
For Tainee :)

Render: Cthulhu ‘08 Button

Moonwolf — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 01:37:26 +0000

: Vote The Lesser Evil

Had to be done really

Render: Predator Watcher
This started as a standard Yautja (Predator) render, for a comic I'm creating for Tausha on deviantArt, that pokes fun at fangirls. While I was at it, I decided to try and actually make it look like a comic, and this is the result, courtesy of a Photoshop action.
Render - Avatar Commission
I'm so used to rendering in "large" scale, the idea of coming up with an avatar for a friend that would fit in Yahoo Instant Messenger's display image restrictions of 96x96 was certainly different. Figuring out a pose that would work at such a small scale was tricky, but one of
Render: A Sight For Sore Eyes
With gratitude to all the stick jockeys who fly into all kinds of hell to keep the faith - everyone goes come. With special thanks to one specific crew that made this pickup in '91. A print version of this is now available at my deviantArt store. Profits from sales of
Render - Avatar Commission
For Tainee :)
Magess One
Magess One - Lotus- The Magess sits and conjours a ball of energy. This 1280x1024 high-quality Poser render is perfect for your arcane-themed tags and artwork. Format: Photoshop .PSD Multiple Layers: Magess Figure Energy Ball Background Shadows Spell book Price: $10 USD Delivery: Source file will be sent via email to the address given during checkout once your payment has cleared.

Michael 4 Released

Moonwolf — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 00:54:09 +0000

So, Daz3D has announced the release of the long awaited Michael 4 figure for Poser and Daz|Studio.

The base, which is free, is pretty basic - it comes with a base morphs set and a default skin (with boxer shorts - presumably to cover up the fact the base figure comes without genitals). A quick browse of the Michael 4 section on the Daz3D site (has anyone told them just how awkward that site is to navigate??) shows a few additional skins and outfits have already been released.

I can’t see anything about upgrades for existing Michael 3 material (skins, morphs, shapes, hair, the usual), but hopefully unlike the Victoria 3 -> Victoria 4 upgrade trap, M4 will be a little less costly to bring up to speed. I expect to see an M4 -> M3 body similar to the V4 -> V3 one somewhere soon.

A Failure To Communicate
What is it about so-called "professional" sportsmen that they think they're able to get away with anything they like? Michael Vick thought it was perfectly fine to set dogs at each other's throats, electrocute or drown those that didn't live up to his standards. Now we have Tripp Isenhour taking potshots at
PGR Ride Report - SPC. Michael L. Gonzalez, 20, Spotswood, NJ, ANC Sep 10 2008
It's been a while since I was able to go on a PGR Mission, but thankfully circumstances have conspired to make them possible again. Today, with the family's permission, we were able to escort them to Arlington National Cemetery to lay to rest Specialist Michael Gonzalez. Specialist Gonzalez hailed from Spotswood, New
Backgrounds
I've added a new section to the catalog, "Free Backgrounds". As each new landscapes/backgrounds pack is created, one image from it will be released under Creative Commons licensing, free for artists to use that image in their own work as long as they keep the attribution link. You can view the catalog
Free Landscapes
Free image samples of the background/landscape packs available. Want to know when new freebies are released? If you have a News Reader, you can subscribe to my RSS Feed! Usage Rights: These images may be used for personal or commercial use in your own artwork, as long as they retain the attribution
Vague Idea
Steve Ballmer is reported to suggest Microsoft's Windows XP's life may be extended beyond the planned termination of sales and some support soon. To be honest, it feels like a lot of spin by Microsoft. Ballmer is quoted as saying: "If customer feedback varies, we can always wake up smarter" If this is

Render - Avatar Commission

Moonwolf — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 15:51:54 +0000

For Tainee

Render - Avatar Commission
I'm so used to rendering in "large" scale, the idea of coming up with an avatar for a friend that would fit in Yahoo Instant Messenger's display image restrictions of 96x96 was certainly different. Figuring out a pose that would work at such a small scale was tricky, but one of
Render: Predator Watcher
This started as a standard Yautja (Predator) render, for a comic I'm creating for Tausha on deviantArt, that pokes fun at fangirls. While I was at it, I decided to try and actually make it look like a comic, and this is the result, courtesy of a Photoshop action.
Render: Cthulhu ‘08 Button
Vote The Lesser Evil Had to be done really :P
Good Idea / Bad Idea
[Updated April 9th 2008] We live next to a wonderful park, beside a branch of the Anacostia River as it wends its way down towards DC and environs. Until recently, it's been impossible for us to use that park to get to the main road leading into town though. The reason? This
Render: A Sight For Sore Eyes
With gratitude to all the stick jockeys who fly into all kinds of hell to keep the faith - everyone goes come. With special thanks to one specific crew that made this pickup in '91. A print version of this is now available at my deviantArt store. Profits from sales of

Render - Avatar Commission

Moonwolf — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 13:15:05 +0000

I’m so used to rendering in “large” scale, the idea of coming up with an avatar for a friend that would fit in Yahoo Instant Messenger’s display image restrictions of 96×96 was certainly different.

Figuring out a pose that would work at such a small scale was tricky, but one of adamthwaites’ freebie PoseKit poses seemed to fit the purpose.

I put it over a curved backdrop to give it a studio feel, and used a three light set-up, one being a spot from below the camera position to bring the eyes out - test renders without it left the eyes as black spaces in the final render.

I used material ambient occlusion instead of light AO, it always seems to give me sharper AO shadowing.

The skin was tweaked using RealSkinShader to give it more texture.

I always render to a higher resolution than the final intended rez, so I set it at 384×384 for the avatar render (4 times larger than the target).

Rendering was done using Firefly, with the settings pretty much maxed out. Raytrace bounces was set to 6, to give the material AO the needed “kick” to show shading at such a small resolution.

The image size was simply reduced down to 96×96 for the final avatar version.

The final version came out really well, so well that I decided to render it again and tweak it with additional postwork as a standalone for my friend.

The setup was the same, except the render resolution was set to 768×768 - twice as large as the one reduced for the avatar. This allowed me to reduce the image back down to 384×384 for the final product.

Because the scale is larger, and the image was going to go for postwork, I did multipass rendering, giving me a “complete” image, an AO pass, a shadow pass, a depth mask pass, and an unshadowed pass.

I took the resulting images into Photoshop and composited them as layers, then stuck a layer on top and added a border. A few layer effects on the border layer, and voila!

I have to admit, I’m dead chuffed with this one - the avatar image came out looking really sharp and even at such a small resolution the impression of depth is evident.

(And yes, I know it seems to look like Paulie Perrette, that was a happy unintended coincidence resulting from the angle, pose, and lighting!)

Comments

October 17, 2008, tainee writes: very good, maybe one day, my sister will make an avatar for her...*smiles*
October 20, 2008, nativedancer5 writes: WOW!!!!!!!! Gee I want one!!!!!! Smiles wonders what I would look like
October 22, 2008, Moonwolf writes: To be honest, hon ... The obvious answer would be something NDN-themed, but the quality of commercial NDN-themed clothing for 3D work is kind of laughable. Actually, if it wasn't so sad, it'd be hilarious. I'd be more than happy to try to come up with something for you, but I'd feel kind of weird offering you an avatar that was NDN-themed using what's out there, because I know that *you* know I know better and that what's available isn't exactly what you'd call "accurate". Just giving you a heads-up so you don't ram me at the GMU powwow :)

Render - Avatar Commission
For Tainee :)
Render: Predator Watcher
This started as a standard Yautja (Predator) render, for a comic I'm creating for Tausha on deviantArt, that pokes fun at fangirls. While I was at it, I decided to try and actually make it look like a comic, and this is the result, courtesy of a Photoshop action.
Render: Cthulhu ‘08 Button
Vote The Lesser Evil Had to be done really :P
Good Idea / Bad Idea
[Updated April 9th 2008] We live next to a wonderful park, beside a branch of the Anacostia River as it wends its way down towards DC and environs. Until recently, it's been impossible for us to use that park to get to the main road leading into town though. The reason? This
Render: A Sight For Sore Eyes
With gratitude to all the stick jockeys who fly into all kinds of hell to keep the faith - everyone goes come. With special thanks to one specific crew that made this pickup in '91. A print version of this is now available at my deviantArt store. Profits from sales of

Moonwolf`s Lair

BBC’s Richard Lister’s Ignorance

Comments

Related posts:

Someone Pull Paulson

Related posts:

Powwow

Related posts:

Is Quentin Davies A Traitor?

Render: A Sight For Sore Eyes

Related posts:

Render: Alaska 2012

Related posts:

Render: Cthulhu ‘08 Button

Related posts:

Michael 4 Released

Related posts:

Render - Avatar Commission

Related posts:

Render - Avatar Commission

Comments

Related posts: