Hi guys. Thought i’d just pop in here and mention that we got to the one million hits milestone recently. I’m not entirely too sure from when i started counting (it’s not since the start of rhys-works.com, as i’ve since swapped hitcounters) so it might have happened a lot sooner, but regardless, i feel at least it’s worth mentioning. Woo.



I also must apologise for the lack of updates here. I really must get some new content - i had anticipated the lack of time to make new tutorials in this period and arranged for a few guest pieces, but for largely similar reasons to my own, none have yet materialised. I shall however, persevere. I’m still working on releasing my secret project website for you guys. And the Firefly is coming along, too.



I don’t believe i mentioned the work i had used in Hollywood at Universal Studios for the CA Border Governors conference over the summer, hosted by Arnie Schwarzenegger, which was cool, too.

Hi guys, i share a forum with the gents from Aurellia.net who have set up a site in a similar vein to my own to bring you guys even more video tutorials. There’s some tutorials already available and more sure to come, so add it to your vfx video tutorial bookmarks and check it out.

Speaking of tutorials, there should be a new one here before very long, so look out for that too.

First off, for the aspiring visual effects artist there was a great live podcast of geekza this week featuring Teague ‘Fig’ Chrystie (of Zoic) and Ryan Wieber (of Stargate Digital) which you can check out the recording of at Geekza.com. Yours truly was in the chat room, as was upcoming guest speaker Nate Caauwe (TBA), and good times was had by all. This is a really interesting episode i highly recommend you guys go check it out; it contains all sorts of goodies about getting into the industry, vfx, payment, freelance work and so on.



Secondly, sorry about the lack of posting for a while, i’ve been working hard on new and upcoming projects. If you happen to be at Universal Studios in Hollywood in the coming days, you might just stumble upon my Rain Over Water animation. I’ve got some guest speakers lined up for the site which should be really interesting, and a surprise guest tutorialist (yes, that is a word) with something you guys will definitely like.



Myself i’ve been working on a new site which will hopefully launch in a couple of months that you guys will be hearing all about, and also working on some really cool 3D stuff. I’m still thinking of ways i can turn some of this stuff into tutorials, but mostly i’m holding back at the moment because i’d rather make sure i’ve covered all the ground i can before i dive in and try and tell you guys how to do it.

And now for the java version. My personal favourite (since i’ve worked so hard on the damned thing to get it where it is). Unfortunately, it’s quickly becoming apparent that this will be unviable for my future plans (or at least, what i’d planned it for). Which is a shame since it’s got great potential, especially to build upon. So check it out, you’ll need java installed, but apart from that it’ll load slow the first time as the initial openGL libs are downloaded. Subsequent loads should be faster, and you can follow the on-screen instructions for how to use.


As you can see, this is a lot more versatile and dynamic, so it’s pretty unfortunate i’ll probably not be able to employ it in what it was originally designed for. Although, it actually has a hand in the process of creating the quicktime version, so it’s always going to be useful. Anyway, check them out and tell me your thoughts - which is better; did it work; did it not work; did it blow up your computer, etc.