A new toy for me!

 SO I finally upgraded from poser 7 to Poser Pro 2012! The software is amazing, it renders so much faster and also has a feature called wardrobe wizard included which makes rigging clothing, hair etc. between different models much easier. Previously, I would have to do this all manually, moving bones of the skeleton to match each other and working with hair would be very tedious. Well, no longer! The only downside is that because it works so much better and the options are astounding, we are going to re do the comic that we finished titled Collapse, adapted from a story my son wrote. Below are a few pages of the book.

The Adventures Of Mr. Alterniverse

 So my sons and I are into comic books. We read, collect, you know regular nerds haha. Anyway, so the local comic store we go to is owned by a guy I went to school with as a kid. My son and I came up with an idea to stay busy. We proposed that the shop should start a one sheet comic strip, with the hero baring a likeness to the owner. Since the store is called Alterniverse, we used that as a temp name. I made a 3s model of the store and we created the superhero, modeled after the owner. We are still in the process of writing the stories and storyboarding, but I do have a mock cover done! Hopefully this will all work out and we can also create an online digital story of it!

The Basement Door

A few years ago I wrote this story titled "The Basement Door." I have been meaning to do something media related with it. My first thought was to develop it into a script and shoot a short indie out of it. I had also written the sequel which takes place a few years after and thought perhaps if the first tale goes well, I have an immediate set up for a sequel. Well, after almost a year of bouncing ideas in my head and trying to think of castings etc., I decided to create a hybrid type of digital story. I shot live footage of my daughter narrating the story and used cgi and visual effects with stills to set the story. I have also begun another rendition, using all 3d models, because for the sequel, the story gets a bit darker and I receive to subject my daughter into that. I hope that you do enjoy it, it is not perfect, however I feel the story tells well, with the right feeling. I will eventually do something with this story. I promise myself that every once in awhile.

A different kind of digital story

 I have been quite busy working with my eldest son on a comic book. Adapted from one of the stories that he originally was writing as a screenplay, we created 3d artwork for it and formatted it in comic life for mac. The software allows proper panel placement as well as great text features. It even has quite a few filters to give the artwork that 1960's Stan Lee drawn feel, which works well. Here are a screenshot of a few pages in the process.

 We plan on publishing the book in the digital epub format, so that it can be read on ipad, and kindle type devices. I also found a cool website called lulu, which is an online publisher that will print and bind etc. your book. They also sell your books for you if you choose.

 The link to comic life - 

The link to LULU.com -

a cool little app I found

Sorry I am late on this post but I have a treat for you guys. I found this little app that allows you to use text to speach and sync up to cartoons. This would be useful for certain stories.

http://goanimate.com/

Teen Body Image and Self Esteem Project

 Here is a video/ digital story that I worked on with my daughter for her health class. While the overall message is about teen self image issues, it also touches a bit on other important issues such as bullying.

Spring Break

For the past 2 years, our family has traveled down to Orlando for vacation and get away from the colder NY weather. This year, we added an additional stop to our normal ittinerary. We planned a visit to our oldest sons prospective college!

 The house we rented in Orlando was a bit smaller than the previous house, but it was cozier. The weird thing is that this year we saw tons of small lizards everywhere, last year there were none. They even covered the house, especially mid afternoon!

 Since he was in 6th grade or so, my eldest son, Tyler has wanted to attend Full Sail University down in Winter Park Florida. We decided that March would be a great time to visit so, we journey down to take a look at the campus!

 Our trip was not all business! We also visited all the Disney parks that we went to last year but this time around we went to SeaWorld as well as LegoLand! I have to say, SeaWorld is by far my favorite place to be in Florida!