ElekVault

Warcraft 3 maps update

2011-09-11T17:56:00.003+02:00

WesleyIeong alerted me of the missing links to my Warcraft 3 maps, which I totally forgot about. So, the page with the links is up and running, the link is right there at the top of the left sidebar.

Enjoy the maps!

A little update

2011-09-03T13:32:00.001+02:00

Hi everyone! No, I'm not dead yet! Long time without updates to the blog, I know. Well, actually I've been updating the Spanish version with some poetry stuff that I have no patience nor talent to translate, so, yeah, sorry about that!

Anyway, as user SINGBAD pointed out (thanks!), download links for Trancemotion 2 and Trancemotion 3 were broken, so I've re-uploaded both sets to Megaupload. Now you can download them and enjoy!

For those of you too lazy to search, here are the new links:

Trancemotion 2: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=X5KBNO3G
Trancemotion 3: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=8ET2S2ZK

Cheers!

Ice

2011-03-30T21:17:00.000+02:00

A little experiment I just made: I took an old pic I made several years ago of the remainings of a cup (rum, IIRC) and messed around with it a while until reaching the result you can see here.

Black Eyes

2011-02-18T10:05:00.000+01:00

At first I was not going to publish this on English, but I thought I could give it a try and rewrite it as best as I could. It's not literally translated, there are some changes here and there, but the meaning remains intact and although the verses' length does not match in most cases, I think I managed to keep a good rhyme overall.

Please remember I'm not a native English speaker, so I apologize if any of it does not make any sense! Enjoy...

Take me on your hand,

close the amber twilight,

for life is not so much

nor much leaves the soul

put aside in its black

eyes.

'Cause how long it takes

to hear the loud wails

from absent bodies

oozing with creative

winds of so strong

angers?

I don't mean to bore you

thousand times, thousand days,

but please close it tight,

don't let the pupil out

from that hand that life

gives.

And damned be my ground

if I'm not stepping on your hand

yearning for a halo,

joyful black twilight

amber on your faraway

sighs.

And black in your hairs

willing to escape

to poetry sing,

drawing those bites

and black melodies

write

on your black

eyes.

Chronicles of Minecraft

2010-11-15T18:49:00.000+01:00

If you follow me on Twitter, you probably know that I'm addicted to Minecraft, an indie game still in development that is reaching an unexpected success, due to its great freedom and versatility, both in single player and multiplayer.

For me, the strong point of the game is that it encourages player's imagination and creativity, making every world into a unique experience.

As a result of this addiction, I've created a blog which tells, in a journal format, the adventures of my character in the Minecraft world. As an addition, I'm also recording some videos of the huge cave system I've been exploring for a week now, and seems to have no end.
If you wanna know what's this game about, I suggest you go and watch the videos or look for more infor on the Internet. Or even better, you can try
a free, limited version from your browser, and buy it for half the final price if you like it.
Enjoy it!

http://chroniclesofminecraft.blogspot.com/

Housed vol. 2

2010-11-09T14:08:00.001+01:00

Here we are again with another volume of Housed, a series of sets dedicated to the less commercial, more underground House on the scene. I've been several days harvesting some tunes to use them here, tho I had some of them literally months ago.

You can DOWNLOAD the full set HERE (Megaupload, 82 MB)

Tracklist:

01. Lee Burridge & Matthew Dekay - Wongel (Simon Garcia Remix)
02. Dennis Ferrer feat. Bola Belo - Dem People Go! (Kruse & Nuernberg Remix)
03. Ian Pooley & Spencer Parker - Kinderteller
04. Miss Divine & Jon Kong - No Grace
05a. Javier Orduna & Mountage - Isla Decanta
05b. Alex Dolby - City Shark
06. Vito Cacciapaglia - Japan
07. Barrytone - Snowsapiens
08. Rasmus Juul - Aimable
09. Sebastian Davidson - Word and Sounds (Raygun & Ivan I remix)
10. BeatFlippers - Forward (Josh DaFunk & Ovidi Adlert Remix)
11. David Keno - Regina (Roberto Rodriguez Balearic Dub Mix)
12. Karol XVII & MB Valence - Snatches (Soul Minority Remix)
13. Tuccillo - Samantha
14. Blas Marin & Mijail Feat. Sergio Navarro - Solid
15. Tom Demac - Rivalry with Irony

Total length: 59m 49s

Video preview visuals are, again made with R4, but this time with a strong editing in Sony Vegas Pro.

Cheers!

The One Ring

2010-10-25T09:39:00.000+02:00

What to do when you're bored at work? Surfing the Internet? Reading the press? Listening to music? Finish that novel you never have time for? In my case, boredom causes small peaks of creativity that I try to use to try and create something interesting. This time, it all started with a small test to get a realistic explosion effect on Blender. A co-worker saw it and suggested that I could make the One Ring from Lord of the Rings.

Making a jewel is so typical when starting or making tests on 3D, but I thought that I was not so bad an idea anyway. Besides, it was the perfect excuse to test many things that I usually don't tweak when creating a 3D scene.

So, most of my week at work was invested into creating tis scene with my own personal vision of the Ring of Power. I was very happy with the resut, so I uploaded it to the BlenderArtists.org forum to show it and listen to the comments and critics of its inhabitants.

Later, following the forum guys suggestions, I've made a new approach to the scene, improving it as much as possible to get the best result (according to my skills, obviously).

I'm happy of being able to do this scene after such a lengthy break with Blender. I think the final result is good, and it served me well to learn many details about texturing, HDRi, lighting, materials, nodes and composition. My creativity peak continues and I already started a new scene in which I expect to use all that new knowledge. Now I just need the time for it! :)

Greetings!

Trancemotion 6

2010-09-28T20:58:00.002+02:00

Whoa! So, here we are again! The summer passed by, the heat is now gone, and it was fun and full of good house music! Now we're diving into the routine again, at work or studying (or both!), but the music is still around! Since I started my new job more than a month ago I haven't found much time to make anything creative worth of being shared with you; but some days ago I started mixing some old trance tunes and all of a sudden I got a list of songs ready to be mixed! I then made only one change to the final track list and started recording; 72 minutes later, Trancemotion 6 was born!

The preview video gave me lot of troubles while rendering/encoding/compressing/uploading, so I'm afraid the image quality is not as good as I'd like. Anyway, the visuals were made, yep, you guessed it, with R4 and Sony Vegas Pro.

This time there are a lot of recent tunes as well as some decade-old classics, and it has sort of a progressive-hardtrance feeling all around. I'm sure you'll enjoy it!

You can DOWNLOAD the full set HERE (Megaupload, 99 MB)

Tracklist (year of release):

01. DJ Wout - A Brief Period of Rejoicing (1998)
02. Tiësto - Lethal Industry (1999)
03. Tomcraft - The Mission (1998)
04. Marc et Claude - Loving You (Bodyshock Dream Dance Edit) (2001)
05. Pendulum - Watercolor (Deadmau5 Remix) (2010)
06. Simon Patterson - Taxi (Original Mix) (2010)
07. DJ Feel & Aurosonic feat. Ale Haze - Feel (Giuseppe Ottaviani Remix) (2010)
08. DJ Eco - People (Rafael Frost Remix) (2010)
09. Jay Lumen - Body Language (2009)
10. Armin Van Buuren - Shivers (2005)
11. Orjan Nilsen - La Guitarra (Original Mix) (2008)
12. Kirsty Hawkshaw meets Tenishia - Outsiders (Jose Amnesia Remix) (2007)
13. Armin Van Buuren vs Rank1 feat. Kush - This World is Watching Me (Cosmic Gate Remix) (2007)
14. Global Illumination - Tremble (Original Mix) (2007)
15. M.I.K.E. - Turn Out The Lights (Hiver & Hammer Remix) (2003)
16. Sunlounger - White Sand (DJ Shah's Original Mix) (2006)

Total length: 1h 12m 17s

Cheers!

All on white

2010-09-09T22:38:00.001+02:00

If you haven't realized yet, either it's been a long time since you last visited this blog, or something's wrong with your eyes, but probably the re-design of the blog won't go unnoticed. We're going to white from black, a more slick and clean style, and more changes will come for sure.

But for now, this is it; the new header was made with Blender in a rush, there's no background image any more, and some text colors have changed. If you spot anything wrong with the new design or you're not comfy with it, just tell me and I'll try and imporve it if I can.

Thanks.

PS: Sorry about the lack of posts; going back to work has its pro's, but it also takes time away from things like this. But, my post-it-drawings collection is growing and I hope I'll be able to post some new designs that I think will turn into T-Shirts sooner than later.

Remember you can follow me on Twitter to read a lot of my own non-sense. :)

Summer House Lovin' 2010

2010-07-27T15:09:00.002+02:00

Here we go, it's been quite some time since my last update, but I'm coming with a new set for all you people enjoying the summer anywhere and everywhere.

I've been ages waiting for some excuse to mix the awesome "To Be In Love" by Masters at Work and the lovely voice of India, so I decided to dedicate this set to love, I hope everyone finds his/her special other. Summer is as good season as any other for that, if not better!! :)

The visuals for the preview video were made with R4 and Sony Vegas Pro as usual. Now whiter and brighter than ever!! I hope you like it.

You can DOWNLOAD the full set HERE (Megaupload, 113 MB)

Tracklist:

01. Rasmus Faber feat. Emily McEwan - Anyway
02. Tapesh & Maximiljan - Play
03. Whitney Houston - Million Dollar Bill (Frankie Knuckles Director's Club Cut)
04. Physics feat. Bianca Hutchinson - Hold On (Scopes Luxurious Dub Mix)
05. Florian Kruse and Nils Nurnberg - Lovers 'n Fighters
06. Masters at Work feat. India - To be in Love (MAW Mix)
07. Justin Michael & Phonic Funk feat. Maiya - My destination (M-Sol Mix)
08. Souldynamic feat. Emory - On the other side (Souldynamic Deep Mix)
09. Tone Control feat. Adeola Ranson - Take me away (José Carretas Vocal Mix)
10. Jay Sinister Sealee & Louie Vega feat. Julie McKnight - Bittersweet Love Affair part 2
11. Frankie Knuckles feat. Jamie Principle - Because Of Your Love (Groove Junkies Sexy Spoken Word Dub)
12. Harley & Muscle feat. India - Then Came You (Main Vocal)
13. Julien Jabre - Swimming Places (Sebastian Ingrosso Re-Edit)
14. Atnarko feat. Nica Brooke - Solid Ground (Fred Everything's Lazy Dub)
15. Reel People feat. Tony Momrelle - Star (Rasmus Faber Remix)
16. Pete Heller - Big Love (Eric Morillo Mix)
17. David Morales - Needin' You 2005 (Club Mix)
18. Jay-J feat. Michelle Shaprow - If I Wanted You (Harley & Muscle Khanzada Deep Remix)
19. Sophie Ellis-Bextor - Physical

Total length: 1h 22m 17s

Cheers!

Summer Party Special 2010

2010-06-26T10:42:00.001+02:00

Summer is here, as well as the beach, the sun, the clubs, the parties, the beer and the terraces... and a new set full of big hits. The preview video is made with R4+Sony Vegas Pro, and for the first time I started it at the middle of the set instead of the beginning.

This one is specially dedicated to all my friends, thank you for being there, I hope you enjoy this.

You can DOWNLOAD the full set HERE (Megaupload, 93 MB)

Tracklist:

01. Pharrell Williams & Uffie - Add Suv (Armand van Helden Vocal Mix)
02. Lady Gaga - Alejandro (DJ Lobinha Club Mix)
03. Sonique - World of Change (Lissat and Voltaxx Remix)
04. Kelis feat. David Guetta - Acapella (David Guetta Extended Remix)
05. Juan Magan & Marcos Rodriguez - Mueve su pelo (Nick Corline Remix)
06. Sonny Fodera - Penguins
07. Edward Maya & Vika Jigulina - Stereo Love (Molella Remix)
08. DJ Assad feat. Vincent Brasse - For your eyes (Extended Mix)
09. Kelly Rowland feat. David Guetta - Commander (Ralphi Rosario Club Mix)
10. Usher feat. Will.I.Am - OMG (Riva Starr Remix)
11. Katy Perry feat. Snoop Dogg - California Gurls (Liam Keegan Electro Remix)
12. Rihanna - Rude Boy (Sam99889s Club Mix)
13. Junior Caldera feat. Sophie Ellis-Bextor - Can't Fight This Feeling (Junior Caldera Remix)
14. DJ Tiesto vs Diplo - C'Mon
15. Tomcraft & Jerome Isma-Ae - Trouble in Redlight District
16. Remady P&R - No Superstar (DJ Tynho Electro Beating Remix)

Total length: 1h 7m 35s

Cheers!

VaulTales #2

2010-06-23T02:18:00.003+02:00

Trancemotion 5

2010-06-17T10:49:00.001+02:00

Hi again. I'm back to bring you the next Trancemotion, for a total of five. It was completed a while ago but I didn't want to post them so close so you don't saturate, hehe. This time it's a more progressive session and it's loaded with late 20th century classics, including a couple of Fiocco tunes I was willing to mix. And yes, I've used the DJ Commie remix of Out of the Blue, couldn't resist myself, it fitted perfectly! xD

You can DOWNLOAD the full set HERE (Megaupload, 105 MB)

Tracklist (year of release):

01. Framic meets Dopey Clay - Passions of Harmony (1999)
02. Ballroom - 4 am. (1999)
03. Dee Dee - Forever (Perfect Sphere Remix) (2001)
04. Above & Beyond vs. Andy Moor - Air for Life (2005)
05. System F - Out Of The Blue (DJ Commie Remix) (1999)
06. Fiocco - The Spirit (Second Version) (1997)
07. Area - Action (Dragon Progressive) (1999)
08. Final Fantasy - The Sequence of Love (Classic Mix) (1997)
09. DJ Tandu presents Ayla - Singularity (Brainchild II) (Pulsedriver Remix) (2000)
10. Paul van Dyk - Vega (Starecase Remix) (2001)
11. KayCee - Millennium Stringz (Club Mix) (1999)
12. Mike Koglin - The Silence (Neptune Project 2009 Remix) (2009)
13. DJ Edgar vs. Solar System - Elements (2001)
14. Kosmonova vs. Fiocco - Celebrate (Extended Mix) (1998)
15. Universal State of Mind - All Because of You (Mindsweeper Mix) (1996)

Total length: 1h 16m 27s

Cheers!

Follower-Follower-Twitter-Twitter

2010-06-14T11:23:00.003+02:00

Finally, and after carefully reading the Privacy Policy, I've registered an account on Twitter. Not sure yet what for, but surely I'll give it good use, hehe.

For those of you who use Twitter and would like to follow me, you can do it from here. I've also added a live-feed on the left sidebar, and just in case anyone gets lost, a little icon up there. I'll make sure to update my tweets whenever I post new stuff so you don't miss it.

Cheers.

Housed vol. 1

2010-06-11T01:18:00.003+02:00

After making the Summer ClubMix, a lot of tunes fell behind, most of them House style, some of them too dark for your typical, more commercial summer session. But I wanted to make something along these lines, and I'm very satisfied with the result. I'm so satisfied, that I think I'm making more of these ;)

You can DOWNLOAD the full set HERE (Megaupload, 79 MB)

Tracklist:

01. Gramphonedzie - Why don't you (Original Edit)
02. James Flavour feat. Sasse - Who's in the house
03. Simon Baker - The Trick (Glimpse Remix)
04. Inxec & Matt Tolfrey - Hollywood
05. Uffie feat. Pharrell Williams - Add Suv (Martin Aurelius Remix)
06. Agent Matteo - Dark Groove
07. Peter Horrevorts - Escapade
08. Mathias Mesteño - Inbetween
09. Daniel Kampf - Honolulu
10. King Unique - Feniksas (Fergie Remix)
11. Alex Barroso & G-Martin Feat. Tanit Wilson - Breathe again
12. Dogman - The Void
13. Karol XVII & MB Valence - D.O.U.H.M.
14. Dirty Culture - House Is My Religion
15. Affkt & Felipe Venegas - Meilan

Total length: 57m 13s

Cheers!

PS: BTW, new header design, last one was boring already ;)

VaulTales #1

2010-06-08T16:54:00.004+02:00

With all the fuss about the new iPhone 4 presented yesterday -not as much as with the iPad, anyway-, I can't resist myself to think about how Apple and its oh-so-great CEO Steve Jobs are milking the cow again with a product that could have been this good a couple of years ago. Instead, everytime they add some small features, a new version is released.

But this time looks different, if we are to believe what Jobs told us all. The iPhone 4 is a much better version which includes a longer battery life, a front cam, a better rear cam, a LED flash, a higher resolution screen, a gyroscope that combines with the accelerometer for an awesome 6-axis sensor, and it's thinner than ever. None of these features are new at all, but Apple marketing department knows what they're doing; Google's Android powered cell phones are hitting hard in the market and Apple was simply falling back, but this new iPhone and the AppStore might get them back to the top.

Anyway, this topic is as good an excuse as any other to start my own web-comic (yay!), enjoy it.

Trancemotion 4

2010-06-01T02:07:00.002+02:00

Here it is, the new Trancemotion, just in time to welcome June, and full of good trance as usual. Lots of classic tunes that hopefully will cheer you up. The preview video has been made with the visualization software R4 again.

You can DOWNLOAD the full set HERE (Megaupload, 108 MB)

Tracklist:

01. Chicane feat. Marie Brennan - Saltwater (1999)
02. Castor and Pollux - Serenity (2003)
03. Andy Moor feat Carrie Skipper - So Much More (Michael Badal Remix) (2008)
04. Lost Witness - Happiness Happening (1999)
05. ATB - Don't Stop (X-Cabs Remix) (1999)
06. System F - Out Of The Blue (DJ Commie Remix) (1999)
07. Dense Matter - Mooks (2000)
08. Efdemin - Lohn and Brot (2006)
09. Paragliders - Paraglide (1993)
10. Ame - Rej (2005)
11. Dance 2 Trance - We Came in Peace (1990)
12. BT & Paul Van Dyk - Namistai (1999)
13. DJ Tiësto - Suburban Train (2001)
14. Mike Koglin feat. Beatrice - On My Way (Mike Koglin's Rebirth Mix) (1999)
15. Ayla - Into The Light (1999)
16. Aqualab - Journey Into Trance (1999)

Total length: 1h 18m 44s

Summer ClubMix 2010

2010-05-20T15:32:00.002+02:00

A new session for the incoming summer. This one was a surprise to me, 'cause I was just listening to some new tunes and started mixing them, and the full set just came alive, almost on its own.

Most of the songs are from 2010, some of them very new, and you'll be proabably listening to them on the clubs this summer, so I hope you enjoy it. It's a refreshing change from all that trance I've been delivering lately, but sooner than you think I'll be back with more Trancemotion sets.

You can DOWNLOAD the full set HERE (Megaupload, 98 MB)

Tracklist:

01. Dario Nuñez & R. Mendoza feat. Nuria Swan & Patrizze - Papaya Dulce (2010)
02. Blas Marin & Mijail - Kharma (2010)
03. Dada Life - Cookies With A Smile (Francesco Diaz & Young Rebels Mix) (2010)
04. Sophie Ellis-Bextor - Bittersweet (Freemasons Club Remix) (2010)
05. Zoe Badwi - Release Me (Niels Van Gogh Remix) (2010)
06. Joris Voorn - The Secret (2010)
07. Vicente Ferrer feat. Starhoney- Close To Me (Toni Rico Bobkomyns Coco DJ Mix) (2009)
08. Vicente Ferrer feat. Patrizze - Life Is Sound (T.Tommy Remix) (2010)
09. Junior Caldera feat. Sophie Ellis Bextor - Can't Fight This Feeling (Avicii Universe Mix) (2010)
10. Tomcraft - Loneliness 2010 (Niels Van Gogh Remix) (2010)
11. Stephan M & Laurent Simeca - Roxanne (Niklas Gustavsson Remix) (2010)
12. Blas Marin & Mijail - Heart Stood Still (2009)
13. Blas Marin & Mijail - Club Culture (2010)
14. Freemasons feat. Sophie Ellis-Bextor - Heartbreak (Make Me A Dancer) (Club Mix) (2009)
15. Ian Carey feat. Michelle Shellers - Keep on rising (Vocal Mix) (2008)
16. Mathias Mesteño - Bettina (2009)
17. Kerli - Walking On Air (Armin Van Buuren Dub Mix) (2008)

Total length: 1h 12m 13s

Cheers!

Trancemotion 3

2010-04-10T16:46:00.003+02:00

I bet you didn't expect a new session so soon, but I just couldn't resist, and having spare time is all I needed to record it. The mix was actually finished and uploaded a few days ago, but I've been really busy since then and couldn't post this before. Trancemotion 3 delivers a much purer, darker and more trancey experience, with lot of classic anthems that will probably bring back memories to you, if you are a trance-addict like me. Also it contains some recent tunes, since one of the targets of my Tracemotion series is to mix the old with the new, trying to find the nexus between much different sounds. Actually that's a bit tricky here, 'cause I'm using not-so-old remixes of those old tunes, but, what the hell! I really enjoyed mixing this -I must admit it's my favourite so far.

Once again, I made the visuals for the preview video with R4. This time I programmed my own scene from scratch, and editing was made with Sony Vegas Pro.

You can DOWNLOAD the full set HERE (Megaupload, 108 MB)

Happy listening!

Tracklist (including year of release):

01. Zyon - No fate (1996)
02. Trancesetters - The Search (Christian Smith's Tronic Treatment remix) (2009) (Original release: 1995)
03. DJ Sammy feat. Loona - Rise Again (Mark Norman remix) (2004)
04. Lsg - Netherworld (Oliver Prime remix) (2005) (Original release: 1997)
05. Future Sound Of London - Papua New Guinea 2001 (Satoshi Tomiie remix) (2001) (Original release: 1991)
06. Mike Koglin vs P.O.S. - Autumn (2009)
07. Sasha - Xpander (Edit) (1999)
08. Hidden Logic pres. Luminary - Wasting (Andy Moor remix) (2005)
09. Inna - Hot (Dj Grin Dee Club mix) (2009)
10. Storm - Time To Burn (2000)
11. Astral Projection - Mahadeva (John 00 Flaming remix) (2004) (Original release: 1995)
12. Bedrock - Heaven Scent (1999)
13. Johnny Shaker feat. Serial Diva - Pearl River (Vocal mix) (1999) (Original release: 1997)
14. James Holden - Horizons (2000)
15. Lee Coombs - Light and Dark (2009)

Total length: 1h 19m 21s

Trancemotion 2

2010-03-18T22:24:00.007+01:00

Here it is, a new chapter of what I expect to be a long list of sessions featuring all these tunes I like so much that I've listened to so many times during many years. A journey through the history of Trance and Progressive that I hope you enjoy.
Remember that the video is just a preview of the set. Visuals were made with a software called R4, specifically with a Particle Lights scene version modified by me.
You can DOWNLOAD the full set HERE (Megaupload, 103MB)
Tracklist (including year of release):

01. Arnej - Dust in the Wind (2009)
02. Push - The Legacy (2001)
03. Energy 52 - Café del Mar (Three'n One Remix) (1997)
04. Veracocha - Carte Blanche (Hitch Hiker & Jacques Dumondt Remix) (1999)
05. Delerium - Silence (Above and Beyond's 21st Century remix) (2005)
06. Push - Strange World (Airwave Remix) (2001)
07. Art of Trance - Madagascar (Ferry Corsten Remix) (1999)
08. ATB - 9pm (Till I Come) (Sequential One 1999 Mix) (1999)
09. RMB - Deep Down Below (Airscape Remix) (2001)
10. Jay Lumen - Calypso (2008)
11. Three Drives on a Vinyl - Greece 2000 (1999)
12. Binary Finary - 1998 (Ronski Speed Remix) (2004)
13. Tilt - Invisible (Lost Tribe Vocal Mix) (1999)
Total length: 1h 15m 29s
I hope you like it; I'm open to suggestions for the next one! ;)
Cheers!

Warcraft 3 Maps

2010-03-05T10:41:00.008+01:00

For those like me who like videogames, and specifically for those who play Warcraft 3, y offer to you the maps that, some years ago now and under the pseudonym of Mara.Jade, I made for this RTS game, which has one of the best map and mod creation tools ever, WorldEdit, which allows for this strategy game to be transformed into almost anything you can imagine. Warcraft 3 is quite some years old, but it remains very active and many players play online everyday, mostly on the custom maps created with WorldEdit.

The maps I'm offering you are:

Fury of the Tribes TD Pro 3.1: One of the most extended genres on Warcraft 3 is TD, or Tower Defense, consisting on defending an arrival spot against several waves of enemies, building defensive towers of different characteristics. In this case, instead of making one arrival spot, I wanted to innovate and made a triangle layout with three arrival spots and 6 players, and instead of generic towers as in many other TD's, I wanted to give every tribe a different personality. In total, more than 100 towers, 30 levels, 3 difficulty mdes, and great variety of enemies with different immunities and special features that make you rethink your tactics over and over again.
Frozen Chess: A simple chess game, using Warcraft 3 default races. Made for 2 players, though it admits observers, and trying to emulate the classic BattleChess: every unit has its own combat animation. There are several time modes selectable.
Film Maker 2.0c: Film Maker is a map in which players can create a movie in real-time, controlling almost every possible aspect of the scenario: units, buildings, atrezzo, changing terrain, using musics, sounds, controlling cameras and their angle, zoom, orientation, creating ambience effects... even pre-record the dialogues to show it during the exhibition. Imagination is the limit. Very fun and recommended to play with friends.
Film Maker Platinum: Film Maker Platinum is a revision of versión 2.0c, created by player Trophy, who kindly offered himself to improve functionality and fix some bugs. This is the recommended version.
Alunde City Template: a big living city, thought to be the scenario of a RPG, but due to lack of time never was finished. This map is meant to be a resource for other map makers that can use it as a template or inspiration for their own maps.

All the download links can be found at the LEFT sidebar. I hope you enjoy them.

Raptor

2010-02-27T22:11:00.005+01:00

This is a small project I've been doing the past few weeks. Maybe some of you know an old computer game called Raptor: Call of the Shadows, a typical vertical-scroll shoot'em up in which you pilot a fighter plane, destroying anything that moves -and even anything that doesn't. This is truly a classic and I recommend it to anyone looking for a good old game.

So, one day while playing this game, I thought it could be nice to try and model the main room of the game on 3D. Just made a screenshot and started doing it. Not trying to mimic it, but definitely using ti as an inspiration. But the thing felt so empty, I added some more stuff like the helmet. As it turned out, I spent more time making the helmet than everything else; I just got suck into it. It's been really fun to make, and I'm happy with the result considering I didn't use any reference pictures and I'm no expert on fighter pilots helmets, so I also rendered a close view of it.

The next step was making a plane, and I started it, but I think I'm not ready for that yet. Let's say this project is not yet finished, but honestly, anything feels like it could be improved and you just have to stop somewhere!

Oh, I almost forgot: it's modeled, of course, on Blender, and rendered with Indigo (about 8 hours per picture).

I hope you like it.

Ringed

2010-02-16T22:01:00.003+01:00

Hi!

Sometimes inspiration comes at unexpected moments, in unexpected places. In my case, it's not unusual to find me drawing something on a sheet of paper to fight boredom during a class or a seminar.

Today it was something else.

Our Java teacher was two hours late due to transportation problems caused by snowy weather, and after a short while checking out the usual things on the Internet, I said to myself "this could be a good moment to build up those poor 3D skills of you". I downloaded and installed Blender, and started modeling a finger. "Just focus on the material, human skin is always a tough one"; "That material looks nice, but it needs some texturing";"It looks so empty, add a ring"... Two hours later (after the teacher finally arrived), four fingers and one ring were rendering on my screen. I was actually surprised myself, because I never thought I would be able to make something like that in such a short time. When I got back home, I added the cloth, and some filters to enhance the final picture.

It's far from perfect and lacks detail, mostly on the modeling, but I'm proud of it and wanted to share it with you. I hope you like it.

Cheers!

Trancemotion

2010-01-22T08:32:00.006+01:00

Hi everyone! Trancemotion is a new trance set, full of classic tunes, that I've been long time wanting to make. Trance and progressive are two of my favourite electronic music styles, and this is my small tribute to them, and to the artists that gave us such amazing tunes!

The visuals in the preview video come from a plugin called Starlight Aurora made by Vovoid Software & Multimedia for Sonique, an old media player that sadly got discontinued, but it's still awesome. Get the latest version here.

You can DOWNLOAD the full session HERE (FileBox, requires free registration) or HERE (Megaupload) [84 MB].

Tracklist (including year of release):

01. Lost Tribe - Gamemaster [1998]
02. Coast 2 Coast - Be With Me [2002]
03. Offer Nissim feat. Maya - For Your Love [2007]
04. Cosmic Gate - Mental Atmosphere (Midnight Mix) [1999]
05. Push - Universal Nation [1998]
06. Shinobi - This Is The Real Thing [1997]
07. Niels Van Gogh vs. Eniac - Pulvertrum 2.0 (Eric Smax and Thomas Gold Remix) [2006]
08. ATB - 9pm (Till I Come) (Signum Remix) [1999]
09. SHOKK - Isn't It All A Little Strange (Krazy Nut Mix) [2001]
10. RMB feat. Talla 2XLC - Spring (Talla 2XLC Club Mix) [2003]
11. Miss Jane - It's A Fine Day (ATB Club Mix) [1998]
12. Madelyne - Beautiful Child (Hiver & Hammer Remix) [2002]
13. Trance All-Stars - The First Rebirth (Sunbeam Mix) [1999]

Total length: 1h 14m 31s

I hope you enjoy listening to this as much as I enjoyed mixing it! Cheers!

Snowy

2010-01-12T14:06:00.003+01:00

Hi everyone. It's been a long time since my last entry. The Christmas season it's been long and cold, but mostly it's been snowy. My Java course ended, I've been skiing on the Pyrenees, had my share of family meetings, made some presents, had a cold, and still job-less. There has been also a Siberian cold wave striking all over Europe, including Madrid. Two nights ago it snowed a lot, and yesterday roads were slippery, schools were closed (or open but not giving lessons), and kids were enjoying the day. I went out to the park and took some pictures early in the morning, since it's not very common to see snow in this city. Today, the streets and sidewalks are still covered in snow, though not as much as yesterday of course.

While its cold outside, it's a good idea to stay at home, with warm clothes and doing things, so hopefully I can catch up on some stuff I already started but not yet finished. Stay tuned!

The Eye on the Mirror

2009-12-05T23:37:00.004+01:00

Hi everyone! It's been almost a month since my last update, and I apologize for that. My Java classes are now much tougher and also more interesting, meaning that I haven't had much time to draw. Also, my inspiration faded out lately, although I'm already planning my next set, full of trance classics this time. And my video card just broke this week and now my computer is running with a 5 y.o. card I found on my old comp -good thing I kept the old boy safe. Anyway, today I felt like doing something creative, and since my usual source of wallpapers is getting slow updates lately, and my current wallpaper was getting old, I decided to make my own. From a pen picture I made some weeks ago -yes, in class-, I made some modifications to create a wallpaper, and then played with the kaleidoscope filter to create a second one. Nothing really special, but the kaleidoscope picture somehow gives me a good feeling, and I'm using it right now as my wallpaper. The pics are 1680x1050 pixels, if you want another resolution for your personal use, just let me know.

Cheers!

Elek Sessions November '09

2009-11-07T16:10:00.004+01:00

Here it is, a new set I actually finished last week, but the animation for the preview took me more than expected. This session has suffered a lot of changes since I started to think about it, in fact I've had 8 different versions of it, but almost every day I discovered some new track or changed the order of the tracks, but there were always something that didn't fit so well, mostly at the beginning. Anyway, I think it's OK now and I hope you like it. A lot of house music, a touch of trance, and something else. :)

DOWNLOAD the full set HERE (mp3, 82MB).

Total length: 1h 11m 54s

Tracklist:

01. Röyksopp - The Girl and the Robot (Davide Rossi Suite)
02. Annie - Heartbeat (Alan Braxe Remix)
03. Io - Matin
04. Daft Punk - Face to Face (Demon Remix)
05. Alex Celler - La Palma
06. Edu Imbernon and Coyu - Burn Myself
07. Carl Richter – Launch Me
08. Rustler vs. Daft Punk - Around the World (Abel Ramos Versailles With Love Mix)
09. Odissi - Empty Vodka Bottles (Jon Gurd Remix)
10. Mousse T. & Suzie - DISCO (John Dahlbäck Remix)
11. Michael Mind - Gotta Let You Go (Michael Mind's In Love Remix)
12. Axwell, Ingrosso, Angello, Laidback Luke feat. Deborah Cox - Leave The World Behind
13. Daniel Portman - Dark Is The Night For All
14. Satoshi Tomiie - Press
15. Rihanna - Don't Stop The Music (Solitaire Remix)
16. Roger Sanchez - Another Chance (Afterlife Remix)

Halloween

2009-10-31T01:23:00.003+01:00

Many people seem to think that Halloween is some typical American celebration that has become popular all around the world thanks to their movies and the large cultural influence of US. all around the world. Me and my friends have always known/believed that it was actually originated in Ireland, and almost every year we celebrate it going to some Irish pub (yeah, we also like beer, so...). But I never delved into this topic further. Until now.

The word 'Halloween' comes actually from 'All Hallow's Eve', and it was largely established as a celebration all around the US. by Irish immigrants on mid 1800's. But the roots of this celebration go even further, to medieval ages and beyond, when Gaelic cultures celebrated the 'Samhain', the end of the summer and the harvest season, and the beginning of the new Celtic year. The word 'Samhain' comes from the ancient Irish "Samain", which is the equivalent of the month November on the Celtic calendar. The celebration lasted 3 nights and it was believed that during that time, the line separating the worlds of the living and the dead was shorter than ever, and so the spirits could walk freely. The people left food outside to keep the evil spirits away from their houses, and instead of pumpkins like we use today, they used turnips to place candles inside.

All of this could have roots even further in time, Gaelic cultures have been around for a really long time, and I guess mankind has always celebrated the end of the harvest season one way or the other. But it shocks me how much things are pretty much the same as time passes by, and how different they are at the same time.

This week I made this quick drawing of a 3-fingered hand using a blue pen on white paper. I thought it could make a nice Halloween picture and I gave it some color using Paint Shop Pro Photo. I hope you like it.

Have a scary/funny Samhain!

6-pack

2009-10-27T18:46:00.005+01:00

Hi everyone.

October is almost gone, and I can't see autumn anywhere near my house. People even went to the beach today in Alicante, to have a nice, sunny day. Winter-cold is what we need. If it doesn't start to snow soon this ski season will be a no-no! xD

Until that happens, I'm changing some things down here on Earth to celebrate autumn. My room basically. It was all messed up, but after two days of careful planning and execution, I must say that it feels much better now. Though I lost a couple of things in the process, probably on their way to the dumping site. Nothing important.

The good news is I also found things that were either lost or simply forgotten, like these 6 random pictures I made who knows when, all on the same sheet of paper. Actually I think I'm gonna use some of these for a wallpaper or something.

In the meantime, my latest music set is done, and awaiting for the new animation I'm making for the preview. I wanted to make it simple, but it's getting more and more complex every minute. We will see...

Notes

2009-10-10T18:36:00.007+02:00

This has been a very productive pen-and-paper week for me. My Java classes are progressing as expected -that is, slowly- and when we are not writing some code, I'm wasting some more blue ink. In fact, I've already used up a pen this week, and the second one is close to end.

This drawing is called "Notes unleashed", I think it's pretty obvious why. I've had some fun with it and made a nice wallpaper that, maybe this time, I'm gonna use for real. Maybe you will too. Choose your size:

1024 x 768 (4:3)
1400 x 1050 (4:3)
1440 x 900 (16:10)
1680 x 1050 (16:10)
1920 x 1200 (16:10)

Have fun!

FallHorn

2009-10-04T02:29:00.005+02:00

Hi everyone. As you probably noticed -or not- I've been quite a long while without posting anything. Although I changed some things on the blog, there hasn't be any new posts. The main reason for this is that I've started a new course of Java programming, and I'm dedicating not only the course time but also most of my spare time to it, and consequently my hobby projects are stopped or slowly advancing -or should I say crawling.

But this week has been really boring on the course. And there's nothing like being bored, having a pen, and a paper. You just make some stupid lines to waste some time while the rest of the class finishes the practice, and then your hand flows like it's alive -well, it IS alive, isn't it?- and a picture starts to pop out of all those lines, hidden amongst bunches of hand-written block diagrams and code blocks. I used to make a lot of this kind of drawings, mostly on Post-Its and on blank spaces of unusable sheets of paper. I liked this one so much that I scanned it as soon as I arrived home. Then modified it, just 'cause I felt like doing it, until I was happy with it. And then experimented with it some more and got this 'weird green thing wallpaper that I'm not using but maybe someone will'.

I'm also making a new music session, almost done but some of the tracks don't fit so well and I'm having some troubles finding a good balance between melodic an rythmic songs, to avoid redundancy. Hopefully I'll be updating again this next week with the finished session. Keep your fingers crossed.

Cya!

Testing

2009-09-14T15:56:00.002+02:00

This is an animation test I made for the "Dark Office" project. It's made directly from the 3D view window, so you can see the rig moving and some "behind the scenes" stuff. This way is perfect for testing 'cause it's real-time, so I don't have to wait for hours to watch some seconds of animation. Of course there are no shadows, lights or textures, those improve the whole scene a lot, masking some of the rig flaws.

I've been doing some more testing too with Indigo Renderer, but definitely I'll be using Blender internal for the final animation, since it's going to be longer than I first expected and even Blender internal takes a lot of time to render each frame -at a medium resolution, medium quality shadows, no Ambient Occlusion, it's taking nearly 3 minutes per frame, meaning 1h15m to render a second of animation.

I'll have less spare time next months but I'm aiming to finish this before 2010. Wish me good luck.

En español

2009-09-02T22:32:00.003+02:00

En vista de que el traductor de Google es muy malo, y por deferencia a los lectores hispanohablantes, a partir de ahora podéis acceder a una versión en español del blog, haciendo click en la banderita española que aparece arriba a la izquierda. Espero con ésto poder llegar a más gente y facilitar la comunicación lo máximo, que de eso se trata. :)

Un saludo.

Still-life

2009-09-01T00:57:00.008+02:00

When I first started this scene months ago I didn't expected it to be such a useful scene for me to learn so many things about Blender and rendering. It all started with a glass of wine, a common newbie practice lesson. Then came the bottle, the fruits, the milk and the clothes. Then the window. And it laid untouched until yesterday. Some days ago I started experimenting with Indigo, an external unbiased renderer that calculates the real behaviour of light when rendering the scene. And I decided to use it on this. The result, as you can see in the final image on the left, is significantly much better and realistic than when using Blender internal renderer. Of course, it takes a lot more to complete (the final picture took more than 3 hours to render, while the previous version at the right only took about 20 minutes). I wanted to test mirrors and understand materials on Indigo, so I added a bunch of news things like the bottle holder and the curtain. In the end, I'm quite happy with the image, despite the obvious texture issues caused by my inexperience with UV-mapping. And doing it helped me understand cloth modifiers, mirror and transparency, UV-texturing, particles system, some modeling tricks, and materials setup.

Anyway, I'm not sure if I'll use Indigo for the Dark Office animation, because of the long render times that would make the project a pain in the ass. I need to play some more with it, and if I manage to find a good compromise between render time and image noise, then I'll go for it. Meanwhile, I guess I'll just stick to Blender internal.

Cheers!

Back from black

2009-08-21T17:18:00.011+02:00

After a very, very long day without power at home up until midnight, I'm back to duty -actually, back to hobby- updating the "Dark Office" project. It's been slow lately but I'm learning about rigging and animation, and it's harder than I thought, and I admit I'm just a little bit lazy. The room has received new equipment, some of it arrived today. Now it doesn't look so empty, but I still miss something and I don't know what it is (no, not a computer). Anyway, most of my focus is now on the main character, who I am proud (kinda) to present in this little tiny video I just made (Edit: I'm not happy with tinypic videos, so I'll just use YouTube):

I still haven't decided a name for the character, but I did decide that it's a "he". Any ideas? Actually, this little animation is just a test; rigging so far seems to be working nice, but it still needs some tweaking, mostly on the legs. Next step is that and making a "walk cycle" animation. The shirt is also a work in progress, but actually is a bad first try and probably I'll make a new one from scratch. Maybe some pants too :P But that all goes to the end of the list.

I just hope the power doesn't cut out again anytime soon. I need my computer for a whole lot of things. And my fridge too. It's hotter than ever outside (Update: 41ºC at 18:00. No kidding). I'll go for a cold drink now.

See you!

Dark Office

2009-08-14T16:27:00.002+02:00

I have been working on this scene for some days now. Actually I made the basics weeks ago, but I've been improving and adding a bunch of new elements to it. It's not finished yet, and I'm planning to make a short animation with it, but I'm having trouble designing the main character (and probably the only character). I've been trying a lot of different models but can't find the inspiration to come up with a good one that I can use. If anyone want to share his/her ideas, I'll be right here!

Cheers.

Committe - Esperanza (Elek Remix)

2009-08-08T18:27:00.001+02:00

An old remix I made for this song, a perfect excuse to play a little more with Sony Vegas Pro. A wallpaper and a bunch of effects so it doesn't look like the typical slideshow or still image video. Enjoy.

Elek Sunrise Session - Summer 2009

2009-08-03T17:01:00.013+02:00

Hi everyone. Finally I was able to complete the new session; it's full of uplifting, happy house and dance tunes, some new, some old, but all of them catchy! For the YouTube preview I also made this 3D animation with Blender, it's not very complex but it's far more complex than any other animation I did before. The animation is composed of several different scenes that I rendered separately, so I could have more material to work with when editing. Then I put them all together with the music using Sony Vegas Pro (my first time using it). I hope you like it.

You can download the full audio session HERE.

And please stop by YouTube to watch the 11 min. preview. Comments welcome.

Full session tracklist:

01. Spiller feat. Sophie Ellis-Bextor - Groovejet (If this ain't love)
02. DJ Luck vs. Bob Marley - Jammin' (Olav Basoski Remix)
03. Tom Novy - My House
04. Martin Solveig feat. Jay Sebag - Rejection (Ian Carey Remix)
05. Mario Ochoa - Habla con la Luna (Dr. Kucho Remix)
06. Stylus Robb feat. Mattias - Sensation Shot (Marcos Rodriguez Remix)
07. Armand Van Helden - My My My (Klaas Mix)
08. Rasmus Faber feat. Linda Sundblad - Everything is Alright (Richard Earnshaw Main Mix)
09. The Rah Band - No Way (Main Vocal Mix)
10. DJ Cam starring Anggun - Summer in Paris (Montilla's Dub Mix)
11. DJ Tekin - Sunrise in my Soul (Carlos Gallardo Disc Doctor Remix)
12. Joey Negro - Make a Move On Me
13. Delerium feat. Sarah Mclachlan - Silence 2009 (DafHouse Remix)
14. Wez Clarke - Someday
15. Michael Woods feat. Inaya Day - Natural High (Out of Office Full Vocal Mix)
16. Röyksopp - Happy Up Here (Breakbot Remix)

Total length: 1:09:02

Some high quality renders of the animation:

Cheers!

July is over, heat is not

2009-07-31T03:37:00.004+02:00

So finally August is here. Ok, not exactly yet, but it's Friday and people will just leave to wherever they're going on vacation. That's one of the good things about August, the city is emptier than ever, though I'd still like it even emptier. Empty city means less noise, less polution, no queueing, more place to park, etc. There are also not-so-good things, like the super-hot weather that will probably last until mid-september (Southern hemisphere ski down some cold, snowy mountain for me please! :D) and the oh-so-great habit of doing every major city work and repair on August, which partly thwarts the less-noise, more-parking-space side of things. Unfortunately, the financial crisis is noticeable and it's no secret that people won't go on vacation as much as they'd want to. Me included. I might do some trip to who knows where, but having a job first is a must or I won't go too far. Walking is out of the picture, mmkey? Anyway, news say that today there will be more than 3 million car trips, which is not bad at all in a country of 46+ million inhabitants. Expect heavy traffic on the highways if you are in Spain this weekend, mostly to and on the coast zones. And by the way, sunsets are cool at the coast, but seriously, watch a sunrise, you won't regret it.

My picture here could be either; your choice. I drew it with Corel Painter IX and a Wacom Bamboo tablet, and adjusted tone, brightness and contrast with Paint Shop Pro Photo. Actually it was my first drawing with Corel Painter some time ago, I never intended to draw anything at all, I was just training with the Wacom, but inspiration came and this was the result.

Now I'm focused on other things anyway, the new session is more or less planned, and the 3D animation is on the oven, right now taking a lot to render every frame, but things will go faster as soon as I finish the session 'cause the animation will follow the music. Or at least that's the idea. It's gonna be a while till it's done I'm afraid...

Happy August y'all. Just don't melt.

ReAnimated

2009-07-24T00:06:00.005+02:00

I don't really listen to the radio that much. If you ask me what's going to be the summer hit, I say "who cares". Almost all of my music updates come from the Internet and music TV stations. I have a ton of music CD's, but I realized that I have nothing really new, and everything I bought the last year or so is mostly ancient stuff (ancient = 70's). I find myself much confident buying good old music than doing a leap of faith buying any recent release. Specially this last year, everything sounds so similar... I think they're mostly going for the "ka-ching"! Of course, not everything is like that, but it's hard to find a really good album worth it's full price (well, having not a job makes things even more unworthy). And don't tell me about buying song by song on iTunes or whatever, I like to have the physical thing, touch it with my hands, read the booklet and smell the plastic. And here I am, downloading all the "summer hits" just because I want to make a new session, but secretly hoping to find a gem among the garbage.

In the meantime, I've been rather busy trying to make something really cool (finally) with Blender. In the picture you can see a little part of what is planned to be a fully animated scene that will serve as the video for the new session -that, of course, assuming that I really make the session, cause I haven't even started to select the songs. I'm starting to use armatures and paths and IPOs and a lot of other things I just discovered, but I still lack some modelling skills. Whatever, I have lots of time. For now.

Elek Session #2 - House

2009-07-20T23:18:00.000+02:00

I guess I'm quite musical lately, so I decided to upload this Session #2 that I made years ago. You can see the 10 mins. preview on YouTube or download the full length session HERE.

It's a short session, less than 40 minutes, but I hope you enjoy it.

Tracklist:

01. Simply Red - Sunrise (Love to Infinity Club Mix)
02. Röyksopp - Poor Leno (Silicone Soul's Hypno House Dub)
03. ??? - The beat goes on (I'm not sure that's the real name of the song)
04. Tim Deluxe feat. Sam Obernik - It just won't do (Club Mix)
05. Kult of Krameria - Voodoo Drums
06. Laguna - Spiller from Rio
07. Boris Dlugosch Feat. Roisin Murphy - Never Enough
08. Schiller - Das Glockenspiel (Tiesto Remix)

Total lenght: 37:08

Elek Session Summer 2009

2009-07-19T17:58:00.009+02:00

A brand new session I made for this summer. A couple of classics but mostly hits from 2009, I hope you enjoy it.

The YouTube video is a 10 mins. preview. You can download the full session HERE.

Full session tracklist:

01. Francois K - Time & Space
02. Syke & Sugarstarr - Ticket to Ride
03. Spankox - To the Club (Highpass Club Mix)
04. Axwell, Ingrosso, Angello, Laidback Luke feat. Deborah Cox - Leave the World Behind
05. Francois Dubois - Blood
06. Fedde Le Grand feat. Mitch Crown - Scared of me (Extended version)
07. Chris Lake feat. Nastala - If you Knew
08. Le Vernissage - Je T'aime (Bodo Turner Remix)
09. Inna - Hot (Play and Win Club version)
10. Eric Prydz - Pjanoo
11. Faithless feat. Cass Fox - Music Matters (Axwell Remix)
12. Gadjo - So many times
13. Junior Jack - Da Hype
14. Farolfi & Gambafreaks vs. Moloko - A Style Suite
15. Bob Sinclair feat. Sugarhill Gang - Lala Song (Extended Version)
16. Salif Keita - Madan (Martin Solveig Remix)

Total length: 1:16:11

Faces

2009-06-22T22:14:00.006+02:00

Today maybe you heard about these news. I was having dinner with my mother and watched it on the TV News, and inmediately we had a debate about it. My mother, understandably, says that the burqa should be banished as it represents the oppression on islamic women, and that it cannot be accepted in a democratic country. I, on the other side, think that besides the meaning a piece of cloth could have, it's just a piece of cloth, and it may be an instrument used for oppression, but it's as guilty as a knife for stabbing someone. The clothes are not the problem, and all that oppression and abuse is already regulated, by French laws in this case, and banning some clothes is a solution to nothing. And, seriously, it would be ridiculous and way beyond the logic (my logic at least) for a democracy to ban a specific piece of cloth. What if radical islamists forced women to wear sunglasses? Should we ban sunglasses then for what it means?

Anyway, my mother pointed out something that surprised me: if you happen to talk to a person wearing a burqa, you can't see her face... how can you know who are you talking to? Well, don't we use phones to talk to people without ever seeing them? What's the problem then? Obviously the problem is our perception of things, we feel comfortable talking to a machine that transmits our voice across the world to other person, because we're used to it; but talking to a real person with the face covered... it's another thing.

Mathematician Douglas Hofstadter said: The main question about AI (Artificial Inteligence) for me is: what in the world will allow us to turn 100 thousand retinal points into a single word, "mom", in just a tenth of a second?

It's really important for humans to see people's faces, being able to recognize them. That's one of the main problems for robotics these days, making artificial faces that seem natural, otherwise people feels uncomfortable with them. It's one of my problems too, in my never-ending learning process with Blender. First attempts were simply awful, but I think I'm doing better as of late, and finally getting some good face/head structures. Texture is another thing, tho...

Dreaming

2009-06-15T11:40:00.002+02:00

Lately I dream a lot. I can't remember the dreams, but I know that I did. It's kinda weird. My REM phase must be a complete chaos.

This drawing is, like some dreams, recurring in me; a girl sitting on a bench with a skirt. I've made endless variations of that, but this one was different cause I added a new actor: a little bird passing by right below the girl. Originally it was drawn with pencil, but I photoshopped it -not with Photoshop- to give it this old engraving touch or whatever.

It's HOT!

2009-06-04T16:23:00.003+02:00

Summer is right here.

Last night was so hot that I couldn't get some sleep until long past 2am. So I was watching some videos on YouTube, and ended up watching Daft Punk's "Fresh" , one of my favourites from the French duo. And I thought "that's a nice sunset at the beach". And then I made this 3D picture using Blender. I borrowed a sky texture, modified it a little and made everything else from scratch. Let's be honest, the beach part sucks, but I think this is the best looking water I've made so far. I made it all pretty fast, so I guess the result is not that bad after all! Hope you like it! :)

Elek Sessions #1

2009-05-19T10:08:00.012+02:00

[UPDATED 04 June]

Some years ago I made a couple of sessions, which I think are pretty good considering they were not prepared at all, I just made them on the fly. I thought it could be nice to upload them on Youtube for everyone to enjoy them, but what's the point of using a video service if you are only uploading audio? So I made a video-session. :) Here you can see part 1 of 5 (damn Youtube and their 10 minutes limit).

Enjoy!

DOWNLOAD SESSION AS AUDIO FILE (MP3, 49MB)

DOWNLOAD SESSION AS VIDEO FILE (WMV, 483MB)

PS: The audio and video tracklist:

01. Gala - Keep the secret
Video: Gala - Come into my life / Gala - Faraway

02. Watergate - Heart of Asia
Video: Watergate - Heart of Asia

03. JFK - The sound of blue
Video: Chicane - Saltwater / Trance Energy 2008

04. Laava - Wherever you are
Video: Laava - Wherever you are

05. Cosmic Gate - Mental atmosphere
Video: Cosmic Gate - Mental atmosphere

06. (Unknown title)
Video: Bedrock - Heaven scent

07. Mauro Picotto - Komodo
Video: Mauro Picotto - Komodo / Mauro Picotto - Proximus

08. Dj Quicksilver - Trance emotions
Video: Dj Quicksilver - Free / Dj Quicksilver - Ameno

09. Miss Shiva - Dreams
Video: Miss Shiva - Dreams

10. Delicious Delight - Forever mine
Video: Lacquer - Behind

11. Energy 52 - Café del Mar
Video: Energy 52 - Café del Mar / Café del Mar 20th Anniversary

Playing with Blender

2009-05-15T21:51:00.002+02:00

Last few months I've been trying out Blender. It's my first real approach to 3D modelling, and though I'm going slow, I'm learning a lot by just trying. The nearest I've been to 3D modelling before was years ago making maps for Counter Strike -they must be somewhere in a backup CD or something... and I wanted to go more seriously with it. I'm still learning the basics, playing with lighting, textures, sculpting... it's fun and an awesome time-waster. Let's hope I waste enough time with it to make it worth!

While learning bezier curves, I made a butterfly and I thought I could make a little animation for testing. This animated gif is the result. Not much, but it moves! Yay!

Björk

2009-05-12T20:37:00.003+02:00

If you look to the left sidebar you'll see a YouTube player with some videos from icelandic artist Björk. Go check them out if you haven't yet. This woman really knows what she's doing. I'm not very sure how I fully discovered her, but I think it was around the date she realeased her 3rd studio album, Post. Anyway, I first bought Debut, her first studio album as Björk (formerly she was on the Sugarcubes). The lyrics shocked me from the very beginning, but the real strenght for me is in the passionate and intense voice, and how she just makes music with her voice. Shortly after, I was drawing this, her face as seen in a picture on Debut. As usual, I had a paper notebook near and that's what I used for it. Since then, she's been a source of inspiration for me, and a really good medicine for my imagination.

Enjoy.

The Internet is weird

2009-05-11T18:35:00.004+02:00

The Internet is so vast it just boggles your mind. There's so much info, blogs, news, pictures, music, porn, games, spam, forums, software, shops...you know. But sometimes we forget the most important thing on the web, what's behind all that. People. People who feel, cry, laugh, smile; people with problems just like everyone else. We look at the screen and tap the keyboard and that's all we see, and then the words come and they might hurt. The "virtual world" is not virtual, you know. People is real.

Here is a pencil drawing I made ages ago, of my old school people. There were 5 minutes between classes, and I was sitting by the windows. Looked to my left and grabbed my pencil and notebook, and watched. Then started drawing. Time was not on my side so I had to be quick. No time for details. I could've finished it, but... I like it as it is.

The beginning

2009-05-10T18:00:00.000+02:00

I guess more or less everyone has been drawing since childhood, that's what kids do after all. They just draw with their imagination. They don't care about technique, and couldn't care less if their drawings look real or not. They just draw, because it's FUN.

I remember being in the school, maybe at twelve y.o., we made a trip to some museum of History; everyone around was bored (ok, not everyone, but most of them) just looking at the stuff and hearing at the monotone voice of the guide. Good thing I got my notebook on me, I just couldn't stop drawing with my pencil anything cool enough to get my attention. I specially remember this aztec calendar (or whatever), it seemed huge to me, and I made this fast sketch of it (i had to drawn pretty fast, since the group had to keep moving, of course!).

I wish I had some of my baby-drawings... could I watch those paintings and understand my baby-me?

Draw, guys. You'll be happier. :)