Always something pleasent to mix with the bitterness

First the bad news. As if to add alt to the already bad wounds of the fire last year, our land lord stole everything we moved into the new house. Not the computer or any work, thankfully, but that's a small mercy compared to the fact that the kids have NOTHING. All their Christmas presents, everything they owned, what little that was, and 30 years of our life, gone. CD's, Books, collectibles, toys, trading cards you name it. What started out with a a terrible Christmas week (but a nice day all in all) ended in a terrible start to the new year. This project has taken on very new meaning to me now. It's no longer a dream or a hard working wish, its a necessity. I need this to work more than anything. I need this to bring in sponsorship, more than ever. Our children lost everything we lost everything and even though we'll get money back for it, or even most of it returned I am not blind to what he's gone and done. We have had to choose between pressing charges criminally or going Civil, we will do both but it depends in what order, as the Lawyer advises,

Now the good news. Back on track, the Tripod has undergone a complete redesign. But there si something even more exciting for blend now. The After Effects Exporter. This will be a fantastic, and yes free, addition to my arsenal of tools. It will cut rendering times at least by 3 times and speed up the work process. However the only thing thats bugging me is the Character design. I really really hate what I am coming up with.

So I'd appreciate help with this, and yes of course, any I use will get a commisions from the sales.

Next up, I need to contact someone from the Jeff Wayne camp. We have a lot to discuss :)

The good news is...

The computer is fixed, better running faster

the bad news is, only the fighting machine suffered a great loss.. ah well I was going to change it anyways

DISASTER STRIKES!!

There was a fire in my computer room the other night, unfortunatly this means my computer was destroyed in the fire. The good news is the files are not damaged in anyway as the harddrive surived the nitial cook, the bad news is until I have fixed the damage the project is on hold until Early January. Sometimes life can be harsh, if I can find a way to speed up the process I will. Backup disks were caught in the blaze. I'm dissapointed but not diswayed. The cost was miniumn at best and only shows the value one has in the fact that Blender was in fact free.

Have a merry cristmas everyone

Josh

The Observer

"The Observer" is to be the first teaser trailer for the War of the Worlds series. It's kinda fun, creating this alien big brother environment. As you may remember I had some issue creating a convincing alien screen for the footage I got earlier, so I finally gave in and went the simple way (due to time constraints) and used ParticleIllusions and got the effect I needed. Yes I know it's not open source, so sue me, but as Tom pointed out in his interview on the "Making of Elephant Dreams", not every element of the production could depend on Open source software that wasn't available to them at the time. But anyway, just so you can see how it panned out, here is the observer's screen, a small prop of an even greater more complex device.

The War of the Words

No that's not a misspelling, it's an exaggeration. The copyright and trademark issues over the name "The War of the worlds" is a tricky one, but not difficult. Yes there are issues but the story itself is not the issues, artwork, only an issue if I steal it (which thankfully it's all my own work). Characters? define characters in the novel, you can't really, it's all nondescript. Just a name just a name. Oh I could reword it "H.G. WELLS: THE WAR OF THE WORLDS", "WAR OF THE WORLDS" or simply "The War" (which is a title of a novel I am writing already), but hey iif I can use the title without a fight or treading on toes I will, I will. For now I'll use the working title "The War of the Worlds" and hope that a reasonable solution can be made.

Special thanks to Damian Collier who handles the trademark issue for the War Of the Worlds for Jeff Wayne and other matters. Without him I'd be flying blind.

Copyright and H.G. Wells

Europe

Within the United Kingdom and all other countries of the European Union, and also within Hungary, Iceland, Israel, Norway and Romania, the works of H.G. Wells remain in copyright until 31 December 2016. Within Brazil, the copyright lasts until 31 December 2006.

United States

Within the United States, any book first published before 31 December 1922 is in the public domain. Works published after that remain in copyright for 95 years from first publication. Full U.S. copyright laws can be found online at: http://www.loc.gov/copyright/title17/.

Elsewhere

The works of H.G. Wells which were published during his lifetime are now in the public domain in other parts of the world, such as Canada, Australasia, and Africa.

The above remarks refer to works which were published during Wells's lifetime; any works which were published posthumously, such as letters and H.G. Wells in Love, remain in copyright throughout the world for 50 years from first publication.

No copyright material may be produced in any form without permission from the Wells copyright owners, whose primary agents are A.P. Watt Ltd, 20 John Street, London WC1N 2DR. Dramatic rights are handled by the Casarotto Company Limited, National House, 60-66 Wardour Street, London W1V 3HP.

H.G. Wells' Literary Agents A.P. Watt

We have been granted permission by A.P. Watt to reproduce the following copyright information from their website. Other copyright provisions are available through their "Permissions" link. Please visit their website for more information.

How to tell if the work you wish to reproduce is likely to be in copyright.

a) UK (and most of Europe)

Copyright in works published during the author's lifetime lasts for the life of the author plus 70 years (the end of the year)

Unpublished works remain in copyright after the author's death

Any work published posthumously is likely to be in copyright

Copyright in photographs taken before 1 June 1957 expires 50 years from the end of the year in which it was taken, whether or not it was published.

b) USA

Copyright for any work published 1.1.78 or later lasts for the life of the author plus 70 years (the end of the year).

Unpublished works remain in copyright after the author's death

Any work first published before 1.1.23 will be out of copyright

Any work published between 1.1.23 and 31.12.77 is likely to be in copyright

Any work published posthumously is likely to be in copyright

Copyright in photographs is perpetual until published, and then lasts for 50 years from first publication

c) Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa

Copyright in works published during the author's lifetime lasts for the life of the author plus 50 years (the end of the year)

Unpublished works remain in copyright after the author's death

Any work published posthumously is likely to be in copyright

Letters

Copyright in the text of a letter belongs to the person who wrote it (or his/her heirs), regardless of the physical ownership of the letter.

Please note: these notes are guidelines only and cannot cover all scenarios, especially about the period for unpublished and posthumous works. If you have any doubts, please check with A P Watt to see if permission is required.

Photographs

The author images posted on this site are subject to copyright laws and permission must therefore be sought for any reproduction. Under no circumstances should photographic material be used without prior consent from the copyright owner (usually the photographer). In accordance with copyright law there may be penalties for unauthorised use of photographs. The following list gives details of photographers – please contact them directly (unless otherwise specified). A fee may be payable to the photographer.

Source: http://www.hgwellsusa.50megs.com/UK/hgwcopy.html

Of course the War of the Worlds has a few more legal concerns which must first be ironed out before any initial release. Ahh the long boring legal process

And now for something completly different BlenderAnime.com:

Well it's been in the pipeline for sometime now, but I think its safe to announce that starting in the New Year will be a new Blender website dedicated to Blender animators and artists who are looking for tutorials and resources pertaining to anime and manga. I know one of the most asked for tutorials are oft times anime related but are so hard to find. So Blender Anime will dedicate itself all news and education to this one topic, keeping you up to date with the latest news, education, files as well as some freebies and exclusives. The website is currently under construction but will be up February of 2010 at http://www.blenderanime.com