Monthly Archive for September, 2007

Flash Earth

Published
by
Michael
on September 30, 2007
in Technology
. 0 Comments

I’ve tried a number of mapping applications online. One of the coolest, of course, is Google Earth. But even Google Earth is a little lacking. For one thing, it does not have detailed maps of where I live.

Recently I ran across a site called Flash Earth. You can choose from a number of maps. I was happily surprised to discover that one of the maps includes fairly recent data of 3ABN and the surrounding area — the only one that I’ve ever seen with such detail. You can view that here. If you click that click, and click again on the dark area in the middle to dismiss it, you will see a cross-hair in the middle, centered on 3ABN’s Production Center. The Call Center, Sound Center, Worship Center, and school are also visible. You can even see my apartment, but I’m not going to point it out. (Who knows who’s reading this?) If any of my friends are interested, they are welcome to e-mail me, and I’ll show you where it is. In the upper right corner is the little hick town of Thompsonville.

3ABN Fall Camp Meeting Retrospective

Published
by
Michael
on September 30, 2007
in Journal
. 0 Comments

The Fall Camp Meeting was really nice. It was my first time hearing Stephen Bohr speak in person, and that was cool. We had really great music. The items by Stephanie Dawn were my favorites. There was an interesting Bible question and answer session on Thursday. One of the questions had to do with marriage in heaven; it is admittedly a somewhat trivial and speculative subject, but I am sufficiently opinionated that I couldn’t help but comment on it.

I also had a great time visiting with Rob and Christine Neall, and Chuck and Christina Holtry. I joined Rob and Christine on a short walk at nearby Rend Lake with the youth and earliteen group they were supervising. Later we all met at the guest apartment where Chuck and Christina were staying. It was fun to catch up with them. It was the Holtrys’ first time to 3ABN (hopefully not last). On Sunday everyone came over to my place for breakfast. We had yummy scrambled tofu courtesy of Christina H., as well as fruit and cereal. I later kicked myself for not taking any photos the whole weekend.

It would be cool if 3ABN could host an event for young people, like one of the regional GYC-style meetings. This age group is definitely underrepresented at our camp meeting. There are certainly plenty of potential attendees around. The third largest city in the United States, Chicago, is only five hours away. And then there is St. Louis, Memphis, Evansville, Louisville, and Southern Adventist University, all within the same approximate radial perimeter.

PS: I learned a lesson this weekend: I don’t know anything about what’s going on around here. Okay, I admit that’s overstated. The point is, I had opinions about certain 3ABN-related things (mostly minor and unrelated to my work), which turned out to be groundless. Note to self: Memorize the phrases “I don’t know,” “I have no idea,” and “I forgot.”

Apollo 13

Published
by
Michael
on September 28, 2007
in Illustration
. 3 Comments

UPDATE: Art has been updated since the original post.

For the November issue of 3ABN World, we needed to illustrate a devotional article based on the famous Apollo 13 mission. After a futile search for a useful clipart image, I decided to take the plunge and make my own composition. Keep in mind that I do not have much experience in 3D — I think I could count my 3D illustrations on one hand — and I had only six hours or so across two days to work on this. Besides that, my tools were a clunky 3D application called Swift 3D 4.5 (nothing “swift” about it), SketchUp 6, and Photoshop CS2.

I found a number of 3D models. Interestingly, each one was different in various ways, including in regards to the colors and materials used for major pieces of the Apollo command module. So I compared them all, noted the common features, and also perused some online articles about the Apollo 13 mission (characterized by fuzzy, black and white images). In the end, I went for as accurate as I could guess, along with adding a few random stylistic elements that are almost certainly not true to life, but which make it look more believable.

Here is the base model that I downloaded. Note the absence of color and detail, and that the dish antenna is completely missing:

Apollo original

I added basic colors, materials, and textures in Swift 3D, and got the angle set to what I wanted. Then I exported it as a PNG image, and opened that in Photoshop. Then I added more color, shading, and texture. I also added lettering, rivets, the words “United States,” and other little do-dads. In the background I added stars (using a real photo of the night sky, not just random stars), and a view of Earth.

Originally I had added a dish antenna borrowed from another model, which I retouched in Photoshop. But I was not happy with the result. The new graphic below shows the new antenna that I made from scratch using SketchUp, Swift 3D, and Photoshop.

Here is detail of the craft:

Apollo cu

Here is a small version of the final image. The full size one is 11 inches wide at 300 ppi.

Apollo

3ABN Fall Camp Meeting

Published
by
Michael
on September 25, 2007
in Journal
. 0 Comments

3ABN’s Fall Camp Meeting begins September 27. As usual, the main meetings will be broadcast live on 3ABN. More details are available at my other post on Xanga.

One thing I’m looking forward to at this year’s camp meeting is seeing my friends Rob and Christine Neall, and Chuck and Christina Holtry. They will be helping with the youth and children’s programs.

If you are within driving distance of Thompsonville, Illinois, we’d love to see you there!

Pancake Supper

Published
by
Michael
on September 25, 2007
in Creative and Photos
. 2 Comments

In the November issue of 3ABN World magazine there is a recipe for Blueberry “Buttermilk” Pancakes (dairy-free), contributed by Jill Morikone. In her short introduction, Jill tells how these pancakes became a weekly tradition in her home. For the design of this page, I decided it would be nice to show a married couple eating pancakes at a candlelight dinner, as Jill had described the tradition in her home.

This is original photo was taken by my assistant, Kenton Rogers. The couple at the table are Jill and her husband Greg:

Pancakes_2631

It’s a fine photo, and we could have run it just the way it was. But for this intimate candlelight dinner shot, I decided I wanted something more romantic. I also thought the lighting looked a little flat.

In this version, the highlights have been diffused, the candle’s flame is a little softer, and I added additional lighting around the candle and at other places to help illuminate the scene a little more dramatically:

Pancakes_2631_b

Like many designers I know, I often set out with a general idea of what I want to achieve, but along the way I toy around with other possibilities. It is often through play and experimentation that new methods and styles are developed, and sometimes there are very pleasant surprises to be found.

While playing in Photoshop, I also stumbled across a technique that produced this image. Notice the very soft color transitions (especially the candle), the effect on the cabinet in the background, and the hard dark lines defining the shapes. I think it has a very artistic, painterly feel to it. Although I decided not to use it in the layout, I thought it was an interesting effect to file away for possible use on another occasion:

Pancakes_2631_c