Nice work Ross, and great to see you back posting work here!

With all of the rendering apps and npr techniques around - it is refreshing to see some native su output again. As far as the subject matter goes - aesthetics isn't where they spend the money in these types of facilities. Priorities have changed over the years as I have seen quite a few old jails that had some wonderfull detail, as they typically were in town in proximity of the courthouse!

How are you finding the competition in Canada for correctional work Ross? Seems like everybody here is now an expert, as we often compete (NE-US) with 10-15 firms for projects that typically only had the 3-5 bigger players involved before.

Bytor

I know there have been other post with some of these flash music scenes, but this one is special. Reading Terminal Market is a wonderfull place on it's own in Philadelphia. Just watch the wonderfull reactions of people as the Opera breaks out and builds in the crowd! Hope you enjoy it.

http://lucianne.com/article/?pageid=all_of_a_sudden

Bytor

Tobobo,

The 4th isn't so much a day when reenactments occur in general - though you can find some related to colonial life at historic sites such as the local one linked here http://www.fortroberdeau.org/

The Civil War reenactors are usually pretty fanatical and typically only gather on the specific sites / dates of battles. A popular one is for Picket's Charge @ Gettysburg - which took place on July 3, 1863. The proximity to July 4th is why I made mention of Gettysburg in my original email. I have been there for a reenactment some years back - they have my respect as most all wear historically accurate full uniforms, which were wool. It is usually warm and very humid (High 90's and high humidity this year) then. Gettysburg was pivotal in the war and Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address which was delivered in November of that same year for the dedication of the "Soldiers National Cemetery" is a big part of American history. It is a good read - one which I wish today's politician's would refer to more often.

Some links on Gettysburg you may find interesting are below.
http://www.nps.gov/gett/index.htm
http://www.gettysburgfoundation.org/
http://www.civilwarhome.com/gettysbu.htm
http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Gettysburg_Address

Bytor

Good Evening!

As most of you, regardless of country of origin are aware - July 4th is a special holiday here in the United States where we Americans celebrate our independence. For us - it is a national holiday that we spend gathering at picnics / outdoor concerts / barbeques and the like to share food, beverage and companionship. Due to the typically warm weather (summer months here in the US now) it often includes swimming. And by the general nature of the holiday - fireworks blanket the evening skies. I will be the first to admit that the majority don't think enough about the meaning and sacrifice behind the holiday itself. Beyond the initial reason for the holiday, some also commemorate a pivotal battle in our Civil War that took place July 1-3 some 147 years ago.

The reason I mention this all is that I would like to ask that we all as citizens of this precious planet - take the time to consider what it actually is like where others live across the world. I mean take the time to research it - or ask questions of others here and elsewhere. As has been seen too many times recently - including in some threads here; we are all a bit too naive in our views of other people/nations as our only exposure is often through the main-stream news media. I know a lot of you view America through the eyes of the CNN or other media agency news camera's. What hypocritical fools we must seem when our foremost impression is made by the politicians or celebrities dominating the airwaves.

I was viewing a report on the American WAR in Afghanistan the other day, and a point was made that was a revelation to me. A person interviewed in the report identified that Nation Building in Afghanistan will be extremely difficult as the average afghan has rarely left his remote tribal village let alone the region they reside in. They couldn’t identify a region in the opposite part of their country when you showed them on a map or globe, thus making the notion of nation building irrelevant. This led me to thinking how very different that is compared to the United States, where we have the freedom to travel to other regions within our great country to experience different traditions. This is also why as a people we will fight to the death to preserve our collective and individual rights and freedoms. When you speak to an American serviceman he is likely to tell you he is fighting for his country, his way of life, and the guy next to him. Subconsciously it is as important for him to defend his friends traditions of growing up in Boston as it is his own traditions from the cornfields of Kansas or Nebraska.

So I encourage all of us to learn just a little bit more about one another and where we are from and the traditions we have grown up with. We might just find that the media image has biased and shaped our perceptions to be quite different than the reality!

Regards,
Dean

Thank You Free Agent!

You have single handedly restored my faith in the Gallery! I am going to revisit this post each of the next couple of days so that each image get's the eye time it deserves.

Bytor

Fabiorossi,

That is realy nice - maybe the nicest Shaderlight for SU image I have seen to date. Did you use the same HDR for the background and lighting. Development for materials and in general has a long way to go for Shaderlight - but the HDR speed is pretty good and shows a lot of potential.

Bytor

Bob,

I believe I now understand you passionate responses and desire to tie the Bhopal disaster to the spill. We are all biased by our very nature and existence - there is no escape from it. For the record, as stated before - I have no issue with the extradition of Warren Anderson to India to stand trial. And regardless of the current administration's BS response and spin - the amout of the Bhopal victim award is obscenely inappropriate. I doubt there would be even half that amount left to distribute after all of the lawyers are paid. But I won't go any further into the expanding dialog on US - Indian relations as it doesn't (in my opinion) further the discussion of the original topic. Maybe another time or another thread - but I would think we would likely tend to agree more than you might think.

@unknownuser said:

Someone accused me of hypocracy, and then presumed to know the feelings of the people of Bhopal towards the BP payout. This from another article on the 'nuclear deal' between India and America:

To clarify hypocritical reference - it was aimed at your insistence that BP is an international conglomerate as compared your broader America(n(s))references when discussing Union Carbide. I never claimed to or presumed to know the poeple of Bhopal's feelings towards anything - just questioned your previous query wondering if how they felt about Obama's outrage. None of the links made the connection that I could find, other than the one Indian author.

Why should the rest of the world have any sympathy for us - we bring the majority of this on ourselves. While I deserved the turnabout on the “rats behind” reference - I personally feel the Indian people and Bhopal victims should be concerned about the low payout for the Union Carbide disaster. I don’t see any benefit to the continual comparison between the two - it only seems to fuel the perception of the “fairness” trait of the US that some of the quotes you have linked refer to.

I don’t obviously speak for all Americans - but very few that I know of feel anything is fair as it stands now in the big business run political system we live under in the US. That is the reason why I have no issue with BP paying for it’s mess - which is why this whole discussion took off in the first place. If they don’t pay out too much and can escape intact - British pensions (and yes I understand some American pensions as well - but that isn’t why we got here) will remain intact, and my tax dollars will have to finish the job. And I probably deserve that as I use as much petrol (well maybe not since I have downgraded from my SUV a couple of years ago - but you get the point) as the next ugly American.

I do thank you for the many informative links you have posted (prior to this last post) regarding both the Gulf oil spill and Bhopal. I have benefited greatly, and know a lot more now than I did just a week ago. BTW - the term Comical US Media Reaction is redundant!

Regards,
Dean

Jason,

Your style is fitting as always - nice amount of detail for 6 hours. I have grown to like the whiteout treeline background, but in something like this where there is minimal linwork "grounding" it to a site - I just can't get over feeling a little like it is floating on the clouds.

Dean

Mike and All,

I regret somewhat touching off the debate, but it has been interesting to see the differing perspectives. This is and has always been such a great community - I don't want to see any changes that might limit any participation, or make them feel as if they don't belong. But - I like a couple of the ideas mentioned here, and maybe there is a compromise that would not offend any posters here - but improve the experience. I absoultely think that 95% of the WIP threads here have a value, and in general don't think they need to be relocated. But some guidelines might be in order, after which the moderators would have some basis for dealing with those that stray. WIP's should be clearly identified as such, and should only contain 1 collective work. What I mean by this is to eliminate the individual artist WIP's where they have multiple models added over the course of years and are 57 pages long. Add maybe a button or some type of indicator for posts where the author is asking for and receptive to constructive "critic" of their posted work. Lastly - I like the idea of a seperate "locked" moderated showcase gallery where the mods add a collection of the best work from different fields for all of us to admire.

Thanks,
Dean

Bob,

I share your concern regarding the distribution of the emergency compensation funds. This situation is drawing politicians and lawyers out of the woodwork. Hopefully their profiteering can be minimized so that the people affected are able to receive at least some relief in a timely manner. If not - the people that truly need the help will become even more desperate than they already are, while the BS and political posturing continues.

I don’t agree with you about BP being commended for their response at this point. If they wanted to remain afloat and not suffer even more severe public relations hits - they had to do something. Without the position and persistence of the administrations “outrage” - do you think this step ( or the delay of dividend payouts ) would have happened on it’s own? I don’t, and if I was a BP stockholder - I would have been pissed if they had done this voluntarily. While again I clarify that I am not an Obama supporter, nor do I agree with most of his current spend crazy policies - I feel he did exactly what he had to do, including the 6 month deep well drilling moratorium. While he is taking a blasting politically on this (thousands of jobs in limbo - more damage to gulf coast economies - big $ oil pressure, etc.) it just seems like common sense at first glance.

The thing that bothers me as an American with environmental concerns is why the administration is being blasted on all fronts about the moratorium on NEW deep wells. As a result of the spill - there still is no change in the regulations such that they require the additional safety measures with deep well’s that other countries require. There is no indication that the MMS will be better prepared to monitor compliance of deep well sites, and eliminate the practice of issuing environmental waivers. And even with the existing deep wells that are allowed to continue operating - does anyone really think there is any capacity to deal with an additional incident if it were to occur?

With regards to your continued need to relate the Union Carbide Bhopal disaster to the Deepwater Horizon spill. Beyond your initial perception that the administration and to an extent the American people as a whole were being tougher on BP because they were not an American corporation, your references seem pretty off-base and rather hypocritical to me. Do you seriously think that the people of Bhopal give a rat’s behind about what the current president of the US ( yes the one sworn in 24 years after the Union Carbide disaster) is outraged about? While I think they deserved to see Warren Anderson in the Indian court system - why would they care if he was put in front of the circus clowns that are the US Congress?

Tony Hayward earned his time in that seat. While I agree with Solo that these types of hearings are usually nothing more than political theater for show - there are often occasions where you can take something away from them. What I took away is confirmation that a certain Texas congressman is a complete big $ oil shill that doesn’t deserve to represent working class Americans. I also learned that BP’s CEO is willing to take one for the team, and that BP should seriously be looking for a new PR firm!

Dean

Okay, I must admit that I might be showing my age here .............. but I will risk it anyway. Allow me a brief build up to why I ask this question.

In my job I spend all day working on the computer, and in the evenings about half the week I will get a couple hours of "putzing" around in sketchup or the like. During both times - I often like to browse around a little for 10 min. or so to take a break. So maybe 3 times during a day I will cycle through a couple of sites, including Sketchucation to see what is new in some of the forums. For these brief encounters, in this community I usually check the Gallery and Corner Bar sections to see what is new. For quite some time now I have noticed that it is becoming increasingly difficult to find as much "value" for my time while looking through the gallery section. Don't get me wrong - there are still some quality entries there. But, increasingly they seem to be fewer and further between. While there is still the occasional outstanding entries by the likes of Olishea, or marked001's incredible greytones - the quantity of the work just doesn't seem to be there anymore. We only get rare appearances anymore from the likes of Solo's majical kingdom, or Tom's terrific watercolors. Durante doesn't drop by nearly enough with his thought provoking work and verse. And am I the only one that misses the incredible works of art of Fred Bartels?

It just isn't my thing to see a million updates to the new wave of WIP threads by the "junior car modders of Google" club blowing praise at one another for rounding out that new camaro-esque tail-light. And when did it become bad manners to provide actual critical analysis of works displayed here? I have stopped commenting for the most part because I have seen too many times with the newer crowd that anything critical said is being deemed as an attack.

So I will ask this in a slightly diffferent manner. Have we lost the Sketchucation Gallery section to the Google 3DWH crowd, and if so - where can I go to see creative work and constructive criticism?

Thanks,
Dean

Nice detailed work brookefox!

I agree with your sentiment to some degree - it seems lately that the auto-mdding wip's are the most active. I don't mind the rendered posts at all - but it is great to see some native su work. Your level of detail is great for this stair / railing / deck combination. If I can ask - what do you do with this when you are done in sketchup? Also - I think the furniture on the firstlanding in the first image would make it a little hard to navigate the stairs.

Bytor

Congrats David!

I am sure it will be hectic and stressful- but also lot's of fun. Looks like a nice place - nice job on keeping the grill under cover!

Dean

Bob,

While I can’t account for the American people as a whole at the time of the Bhopal disaster - I can honestly say the answer for me is no - I was young, foolish, and not socially or environmentally conscious at that age. Being in art school in Pittsburgh at the time, I was more concerned with chasing skirts and trying to stretch my art supply budget to cover my beer expenditures. However, I seem to remember several student gatherings / demonstrations @ some of the universities there at the time. I had a friend that was a chemical engineering grad doing a 6 month externship at a Union Carbide facility in West Virginia. At the end of the 6 month period - she decided to leave and go another direction with her life, largely due to the response and the attitude about Bhopal that she encountered within the company.

The subsequent references to the politicians and their nationalistic slanted comments don’t adequately represent the opinions or positions of the American people. Of course it is turning into a political circus now, and you have every right to be concerned for your pensions if they are impacted by BP’s stock price. Paying dividends right now with still so many unanswered questions about the spill and cleanup is easy fodder for the politicians, especially considering the recent experiences the with the banking industry being bailed out and subsequent payouts of obscene bonuses to their top brass.

Washington and the politico’s aside - I don’t get the sense from anyone I have talked to that there is any of the nationalistic finger-pointing anti-British tone that you and Peter seem so miffed about. If there is by the general public - it is ill informed and misguided, which of course we americans are completely capable of. Being irritated by the administration and politicians here in the US is quickly becoming a national pastime - so you will need to take a number and get in line.

The good that may come out of this is that there will likely be more of a willingness to implement improved procedures / regulations / monitoring for deep well drilling, and hopefully a renewed focus on alternative energy development.

Dean

Hatchet Job? So the administration isn't being fair to the international conglomerate that has lied / misled / displayed incompetency since the begining of this monumental disaster. All while defending their intent to pay a large dividend to share holders to try and maintain their stock value. By no means do I intend to support the administration - but BP is and should be on the hook here. The firms working the Deepwater Horizon should be held accountable as well - they were all partners in getting to this point. BP though is front and center as they were the ones responsible fo the well field in the first place. They were the ones who stood in front of the cameras and claimed it was only this small amount originally.......wellll maybe it's about 5 times that amount.......no wait a minute - it's actually about 10-20X what we first said. Their responses are slow and less than effective. When they finally get to "shooting the mud" - we hear that things went OK - but will take longer because we don't have enough mud. Then later when they install the containment system - it's Hooray - we are capturing a big portion of the plume and pumping it to our surface recovery ships......well maybe it's a little less than half of what is flowing, and well we can't really handle any more volume than that with the recovery ships we have in place. All signs of a very competent response.

Meanwhile we are approaching 2 months of flow generating what will undoubtedly be one of the worst environmental disasters the earth has seen. And while americans in the gulf region that are deeply impacted by the disaster are frustrated by the lack of anyone able to help, including the government - they want somebody to DO SOMETHING. The military is the first option we turn to because after Katrina we know the Fed govt. agencies can't get out of their own way let alone mount any type of effective response to anything even approaching the magnitude of this disaster. It is knee jerk to some extent, and as far as being hypocritical - hell yeah we are - so what? That net cast far and wide around the globe on many different levels. And while we americans argue here about what the administration should or shouldn't be doing - I for one have no issue with their approach to BP. And no - I won't be losing sleep at night worrying about their stock price, or if the Chinese will take them over at some point.

End of counter-rant
Dean

Mike

I think the Hannibal reference is interesting. While an excellent movie and definitely a greusome tale - it would be considered relatively tame compared to many of the new releases in the Horror genre. Another good movie example is the godfather series. The early ones were considered extreme depictions of violence in their day. They pale in comparison to some of the current TV shows dientified in this thread.

Another big difference though is the direction / production / writing with the movie examples above and many others from the old school. The talent level of the writers / directors / producers of a lot of today's tv / movies / entertainment media isn't even close to what it was before - of course it could be they are just playing to the audience. We seem to have lost the ability to stimulate the imagination with suggestion and perception. I will dare to compare it to growing up in the 70's when a young lad in social situations could often enjoy where his imaginination might take him. Nowadays - the way the lasses dress - there is nothing much left to the imagination!

Dean

Nice work Tony!

I always enjoy seeing your pure SU work!

Bytor

Daniel - you bring up 2 really good points. While the movie / video game etc. violence is primarily aimed at the young male demographic you identify, I sense that is changing with each generation. The realism of movies and even video games has taken the biggest leap forward in the past 5-10 years, and I fear with the younger and younger ages that the current and future generations are exposed to this sense of "realism" could become dangerous.

I am still I guess in the middle-aged male demographic - but I love an occasional round (or two or seven) of many of the popular FPS games out. The realistic "Call of Duty" and "Medal of Honor" variety is my preference - though I am not opposed to killing some Aliens (outer space variety)for entertainment. I also like some of the driving / racing games as well. The one thing I have noticed that disturbs me a little is that when I leave the house and get into my car to drive somewhere after having played one of the driving games for a while - I have the overwhelming urge to punch it and go ripping down the road at a rediculous rate of speed and try to drift my way around a corner. Now I am old enough to have had quite a few years of driving and paying auto insurance under my belt before I ever played one of the video games. So automatically these urges are suppressed by a subconscious knowledge that this would be "wrong". I don't have a corresponding experience on the gun side as I don't have the occasion to walk around with or handle weapons on a common basis.

BUT.....my fear is that as generations more kids are being desensitized by playing or watching this type of reality at younger and younger ages - they don't have the benefit of life experiences that develop the level of subconscious sense of right vs. wrong. I know it is up to the parents to teach these types of things to their children, and to make sure there is a moderation to the exposure they have to these influences..............that is why it scares me. When they were in their early teens - I made my kids watch "Saving Pivate Ryan", and "Band of Brothers" with me in a hope that they would gain a more realistic understanding of what WAR is as compared to the history books and typical movies / tv shows. My daughter that just graduated HS has made several school trips to DC, and has visited the Holocaust museum. She said she had a better respect for what the people in the concentration camps went through based on having watched the BOB episodes that dealt with the same.

Sorry Mike if we have gotten of the track of your original topic!

Interesting observation and question Mike.

A lot of good reasons given so far - and I for one am hoping to see 2 or 3 good spin-off theads from some of the issues raised. I have a couple theories of my own - but I must confess that 90+% of my TV viewing is done on the pc. The other 10% is mostly live sports, or an occasional movie. These all tie together a little - but here is what I think are the main reasons.

1. Money - which is driven by advertising fees - which are driven by ratings. This IMHO is the only reason so many of the crap reality(yeah right)shows are so popular. The networks know that they need to compete with these shows for the current ADHD generation of viewers limited attention span - so the old sex / drugs / violence approach is their fallback. Sex (thanks to the infamous wardrobe malfunction) has been capped somewhat as Chris mentioned. Drugs have gained somewhat of a who-cares status since so many of the current stars (sports or media) are rehab alumni that we as a nation have become rather desensitized. Violence is what is left then - and it is an easy and relatively cheap thing to do. So they use violence to get our attention, and the more they use or the more they push the limit - the longer they keep us watching.

2. 911 - I know saying this may be taboo - but I will risk it here. Since that fatefull day less than a decade ago - the US as a society has become (in genral terms) more attuned to the moral position that it is acceptable to escalate our response to any perceived threats to our personal and collective welfare. Not wanting to go down any political roads here - but if Americans were to respond honestly - I feel most would say that they are more likely to respond aggresively (or be accepting of an official agressive response - ie. authorities)to a threat than they might have been 10 years ago. Like Solo - I don't mind a bit of violence. But I must admit that this last season of 24 (while entertaining) was really pushing the limits to try and keep on top of it's game with all of the competition out there in that vast TV wasteland.

This has gone long - so I will leave it at those two!

Bytor

As a poster earlier identified - this is likley the result of the market to some degree. IMHO - this sounds much like a mix between a request to hire a structural staff member that they also wantto share and be able to do the visualization work to keep them busy. To me - is sounds like a typical HR pass-by job of asking the person running the department that is making the hire what software applications the new hire will need to be proficient at, and then the combine it with the other 1/2 position they need to hire for. You know - work requirments for 2 ormore staff and the budget to hire one. One of the reasons I feel this way - the broad spectrum of softwares that are identified cover more than one area of expertise in the industry. I am familiar with quite a few of the applications - and to be able to master some of them in combination, you would need every waking hour and then some.

So - likely wishfull thinking on the firms side that these requirements could be met. Dont be intimidated - the worst they can do is say No thanks! Also - I have had people (new, or potential new hires) that have identified a level of competency for numerous applications on their resume, only to find out that they "used them for a semester back in college or trade school". Which of course also turns out to be 3 versions ago, and they aren't evene familiar with the current commands or UI.

Just my 2 take on it!
Bytor